Scott, in his work on Demonology,[196] observes, that in the now
dishonored science of astrology, its professors pretended to have
correspondence with the various spirits of the elements on the
principles of the Rosicrusian philosophy. They affirmed they could
bind to their service and imprison in a ring some fairy, sylph, or
salamander and compel it to appear when called and render answers to
such questions as the viewer should propose. It is remarkable that
the sage himself did not pretend to see the spirit; but the task of
reviewer or reader was intrusted to a third party, a boy or girl
usually under the years of puberty.
As to divination by means of a ring, in the first place the ring was
to be consecrated with a great deal of mystery: “the person holding
it was clad in linen garments to the very shoes, his head shaven all
round, and he held the vervein plant in his hand,” while, before
he proceeded on any thing, the gods were first to be appeased by a
formulary of prayers, etc. The divination was performed by holding
the ring suspended by a fine thread over a round table, on the edge
of which were made a number of marks, with the twenty-four letters of
the alphabet. The ring, in shaking or vibrating over the table, stops
over certain of the letters, which, being joined together, compose
the required answer.[197]
Clemente Alexandrino speaks of enchanted rings which predicted future
events--such were two possessed by Execustus, the tyrant of Phocis,
who was able, by striking them together, to know, by the sound, what
he ought to do and what was to happen to him. He was, however,
killed through treason. The magnificent rings had been able to tell
the time of his death, but they could not point out the means of
avoiding it.
Arabian writers make much mention of the magic ring of Solomon.[198]
It is said to have been found in the belly of a fish; and many
fictions have been created about it. The Arabians have a book called
_Scalcuthal_ expressly on the subject of magic rings; and they trace
this ring of Solomon’s, in a regular succession, from Jared the
father of Enoch to Solomon.[199] Josephus,[200] after extolling the
wisdom and acquirements of Solomon, and assuring us that God had
enabled him to expel demons by a method remaining of great force to
the days of the historian, says:
“I have seen a certain man of my own country whose name was Eleazar,
releasing people that were demoniacal, in the presence of Vespasian,
his sons and his captains and the whole multitude of his soldiers.
The manner of the case was this: he put a _ring_, that had a part
of one of those roots mentioned by Solomon, to the nostrils of the
demoniac; after which, he drew out the demon through his nostrils;
and when the man fell down, immediately he adjured him to return
unto him no more, making still mention of Solomon and reciting the
incantations which he composed.
“And when Eleazar would persuade and demonstrate to the spectators
that he had such a power, he set a little way off a cup or basin full
of water, and commanded the demon, as he went out of the man, to
overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators know that he had left
the man; and when this was done, the skill and wisdom of Solomon was
shown very manifestly.”
In the popular old ballad of _Lambert Linkin_,[201] rings give proof
of a terrible coming event by bursting upon the fingers:
* * * * *
“The Lord sat in England
A drinking the wine.
“I wish a’ may be weel
Wi’ my lady at hame;
_For the rings o’ my fingers_
_They’re now burst in twain_.
“He saddled his horse,
And he came riding down;
But as soon as he viewed,
Belinkin came in.
“He had na weel stepped
Twa steps up the stair,
Till he saw his pretty young son
Lying dead on the floor.
“He had na weel stepped
Other twa up the stair,
Till he saw his pretty lady
Lying dead in despair.
“He hanged Belinkin
Out over the gate;
And he burnt the fause nurice,
Being under the grate.”
We would refer our reader to a beautiful Syrian legend in the
“Household Words,”[202] in which a ring is made to play an
interesting part upon the fingers of a maiden, who is able to know
of the good or ill fortune and faith of her absent lover through its
changes. He, in giving it, had informed her: “If good fortune is with
me, it will retain its brightness; if evil, dim. If I cease to love,
and the grave opens for me, it will become black.” Fitful changes
then come and go upon the ring, as the light and shadow of life
accompany the roving lover.
There is a like notion in the ancient Scotch ballad of _Hynd
Horn_:[203]
“And she gave to me a gay gold ring,
With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan;
With three shining diamonds set therein,
And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.
* * * * *
“What if these diamonds lose their hue,
With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan,
Just when my love begins for to rew,
And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.
“For when your ring turns pale and wan,
With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan,
Then I’m in love with another man,
And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.
* * * * *
“Seven long years he has been on the sea,
With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan;
And Hynd Horn has looked how his ring may be,
And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.
“But when he looked this ring upon,
With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan,
The shining diamonds were both pale and wan,
And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.
“Oh! the ring it was both black and blue,
With a hey lillelu and a how lo lan;
And she’s either dead or she’s married,
And the birk and the brume blooms bonnie.
“He’s left the seas and he’s come to the land,” etc.
John Sterling, whose life has been written by the Rev. Julius Charles
Hare, composed a fiction which is worked up through a supposed
talismanic Onyx Ring. The hero had been reading an old book on
necromancy; it caused him to long to change his lot; he appears to be
able to do this, through the appearance or apparition of an old man.
“Would you,” says this figure, in a sweet but melancholy voice, “in
truth accept the power of exchanging your own personal existence at
pleasure for that of other men?” After a moment’s pause, he answered
boldly, “Yes.” “I can bestow the power, but only on these conditions.
You will be able to assume a new part in life once in each week.
For the one hour after midnight on each Saturday, that is, for the
first hour of the new week, you will remember all you have been and
whatever characters you may have chosen for yourself. At the end of
the hour you may make a new choice; but, if then deferred, it will
again be a week before the opportunity will recur. You will also be
incapable of revealing to any one the power you are gifted with.
And if you once resume your present being, you will never again be
able to cast it off. If, on these terms, you agree to my proposal,
take this ring and wear it on the forefinger of your right hand. It
bears the head of the famous Apollonius of Tyana. If you breathe on
it at the appointed hour, you will immediately become any person
you may desire to be,” etc. The hero hesitates and says, “Before I
assent to your offer, tell me whether you would think me wise to do
so.” “Young man, were I to choose again, my choice would be to fill
the station where nature brought me forth and where God, therefore,
doubtless, designed me to work.” The ring is taken; it is supposed
to be at a time when this same hero is in a suspense of love, and
he appears successively to take the form of those who are around
the maiden of his affections. All this, in fact, is imagined by him
while in sickness. He secures his lady love; and sees upon her finger
an onyx ring like the one which had appeared to have allowed of his
visionary changes. She held up her hand before his face, which his
first impulse was to kiss; but he saw that on one of the fingers was
an onyx ring. “How on earth did you come by that? It has haunted me
as if a magic Ariel were fused amid the gold or imprisoned in the
stone.” “I will tell you.” And then the lady, somewhat lamely for the
story, informs him how she came into possession of it. The author
acted cleverly in coupling Apollonius with this ring: for he is
reputed to have been a most potent magician; not only miracles have
been imputed to him, but one writer dares to rank him above Jesus in
superhuman powers.
§4. Crowned heads have believed in amulets.
When Elizabeth of Poland could not induce her son Andrea to leave his
lustful wife of sixteen, Joan of Naples, and he was determined to be
and act the King of Sicily and Jerusalem, she drew from her finger
a richly chased ring, took Andrea aside, placed it upon his finger,
and, clasping him in her arms, “My son,” she said, in a trembling
voice, “since you refuse to accompany me, here is a talisman which I
never make use of but in the last extremity. While you retain this
ring upon your finger, neither steel nor poison can injure you.” “You
see, then, my mother,” answered the prince, smiling, “thus protected,
you have no reason to fear for my life.” “There are other deaths
besides those by poison or steel,” replied the queen, sighing. When
the course pursued by Andrea had determined Joan that he should be
killed, her paramour Bertrand d’Artois told her of the talisman.
“Nevertheless, he dies,” cried Joan. The next day, and in the castle
of Aversa, this Queen of Naples was working, with her delicate hands,
_a rope of silk and gold_.
When conspirators flew upon him, they attempted to strangle him
with their hands, for it was supposed he could not be slain by
steel or poison, owing to the amulet which his mother had given
him. Struggles and terror were about to allow of his escape, when
Bertrand d’Artois seized the prince round the body and, after a
desperate resistance, felled him to the ground; then dragging him by
the hair of the head to a balcony which looked out upon the gardens
and placing his knee upon his victim’s breast, “This way, barons!”
he cried; “I have got something to strangle him with!” and, after
a desperate struggle, he succeeded in passing _a rope of silk and
gold_ round the unfortunate man’s neck. When strangled, his body was
cast over the balcony. Charles of Duras was the mainspring of this
tragedy; and he afterwards died on the same spot, and was thrown over
the same balcony. Years after and while Joan was a prisoner in the
castle of Aversa, two Hungarian barons, in complete armor, presented
themselves before her, making a sign that she should follow them.
She rose and obeyed in silence; but a dismal cry burst from her when
she recognized the place where Andrea and Charles of Duras had each
died a violent death. Recovering herself, however, she inquired, in
a calm voice, why they had brought her to that place. One of the
barons showed her _a rope of silk and gold_. “Let God’s justice be
accomplished!” cried Joan, falling on her knees. And in a few minutes
she had ceased to suffer. This was the third corse that was thrown
over the balcony of Aversa.[204]
Patrick, Lord Ruthven, a man suspected of occult practices and who
had been appointed of the privy council of Mary, Queen of Scots,
offered her a ring to preserve her from the effects of poison.[205]
[Illustration: (Amulet Ring)]
Amulet rings have been used by persons calling themselves Christians
even in, comparatively, late times. Caylus gives one covered with
letters of the twelfth century. The body of the ring is simple and
square; each of its surfaces is completely filled with characters,
skilfully engraved.
The words are barbarous and the whole is senseless--the name of Jesus
Christ abbreviated with the words Alpha, Adonai and Agla and the
cross repeated appear here as they frequently do upon amulets. At the
end of the lines, two Arabic characters are distinctly marked 7. I.
These sort of characters did not pass, according to common opinion,
from Africa to Spain until the tenth century; and it was through
Spain that they were communicated to other parts of Europe. Rings of
the shape of this one and for similar use often inclosed sprigs of
some herb or hair or other light substance. The present one, however,
is said to be solid and does not contain any foreign matter.
A gold ring has been found in the palace at Eltham in Kent,
England.[206] It is set with an oriental ruby and five diamonds,
placed at equal distances round the exterior. The interior is plain,
but on the sides is this inscription:
Qui me portera exploitera
Et a grand joye revendra.
or,
Who wears me shall perform exploits;
And with great joy shall return.
From these lines it is evident that the ring has been worn as an
amulet; and there is a very probable conjecture that it may have been
presented to some distinguished personage when he was on the point
of setting out for the Holy Land, in the time of the Crusades. The
inscription is in small Gothic letters, but remarkably well formed
and legible. The shape of the ruby, which is the principal stone, is
an irregular oval, while the diamonds are all of a triangular form
and in their native or crystallized state.
A ring of gold was found at Coventry in England. It is evidently
an amulet. The centre device represents Christ rising from the
sepulchre, and in the background are shown the hammer, sponge and
other emblems of his passion. On the left is figured the _wound of
the side_, with the following legend: “_The well of everlasting
lyffe._” In the next compartment two small wounds, with “_The well of
comfort_,” “_The well of grace_;” and afterwards, two other wounds,
with the legends of “_The well of pity_,” “_The well of merci_.” On
the inside is an inscription in Latin which embraces the amulet,
having reference to the three kings of Cologne.[207]
Sir Edmund Shaw, goldsmith and alderman of London, directed by
his will _circa_ 1487, to be made “16 Rings of fyne Gold, to be
graven with the well of pitie, the well of mercie and the well of
everlasting life.”
Benvenuto Cellini mentions that, about the time of his writing,
certain vases were discovered, which appeared to be antique urns
filled with ashes. Amongst them were iron rings inlaid with gold,
in each of which was set a diminutive shell. Learned antiquaries,
upon investigating the nature of these rings, declared their opinion
that they were worn as charms by those who desired to behave
with steadiness and resolution either in prosperous or adverse
fortune.[208] (By way of parenthesis: This dare-devil man of fine
taste, Cellini, having finished a beautiful medal for the Duke of
Ferrara, the patron of Tasso, the magnificent Alfonso sent him a
diamond ring, with an elegant compliment. But the ring was really
not a valuable one. The Duke threw the mistake upon his treasurer,
whom he affected to punish, and sent Cellini another ring; but even
this was not worth one quarter of the sum he owed him. He accompanied
it with a significant letter, in which he ordered him not to leave
Ferrara. The artist, however, ran away as fast as his legs would
carry him, and was soon delighted to find he was beyond the fury of
the “Magnifico Alfonso.”)
§ 5. Ancient physicians carried signets or rings, frequently wearing
them upon the thumb, upon which were engraved their own names,
sometimes written backwards, or the denominations of the nostrums
they vended. With regard to one of these seals, we find the word
_aromatica_ from _aromaticum_, on another _melina_, abbreviation
of _melinum_, a collyrium prepared with the alum of the island of
Melos.[209] A seal of this kind is described by Tochon d’Annecy
bearing the words _psoricum crocodem_, an inscription that has
puzzled medical antiquaries.
It has been suggested that the use of talismanic rings as charms
against diseases may have originated in the phylacteries or
preservative scrolls of the Jews, although it is easy to imagine
that, in the earliest days of medicine, the operator, after binding
up a wound, would mutter “thrilling words” in incantation over it,
which, in process of time, might be, as it were, _embodied_ and
perpetuated in the form of an inscription, the ring, in some degree,
representing a bandage.[210] It appears to us this is much further
from fact than that a barber’s pole represents an arm with a bandage.
Amulet rings for medicinal purposes were greatly in fashion with
empyrics and ancient physicians.[211]
In Lucian’s Philopseudes, one of the interlocutors in a dialogue
says that since an Arabian had presented him with a ring of iron
taken from the gallows, together with a charm constructed of certain
hard words, he had ceased to be afraid of the demoniacs who had been
healed by a Syrian in Palestine.
In another dialogue, a man desires that Mercury should bestow a ring
on him to insure perpetual health and preservation from all danger.
These rings were to be worn upon the fourth or medical finger.
Marcellus, a physician who lived in the reign of Marcus Aurelius,
directs the patient who is afflicted with a pain in the side to wear
a ring of pure gold inscribed with some Greek letters on a Thursday
at the decrease of the moon. It is to be worn on the right side, if
the pain be on the left; and _vice versâ_.
Trallian, another physician who lived in the fourth century, cured
the colic and all bilious complaints by means of an octangular ring
of iron, upon which eight words were to be engraven, commanding the
bile to take possession of a lark. A magic diagram was to be added,
which he has not failed to preserve for the certain advantage of his
readers. He tells us that he had had great experience in this remedy
and considered it as extremely foolish to omit recording so valuable
a treasure; but he particularly enjoins the keeping it a secret from
the profane vulgar, according to an admonition of Hippocrates that
sacred things are for sacred purposes only. The same physician, in
order to cure the stone, directs the wearing a copper ring, with
the figure of a lion, a crescent and a star to be placed on the
fourth finger; and for the colic, in general, a ring with Hercules
strangling the Nemean lion.
In the Plutus of Aristophanes, to a threat on the part of the
sycophant, the just man replies that he cares nothing for him, as
he has got a ring which he bought of a person, whom the scholiast
conceives to have been an apothecary, who sold medicated rings
against the influence of demons, serpents, etc. Carion, the servant,
sarcastically observes that this ring will not prevail against the
bite of a sycophant.[212]
As to medicinal rings, Joannes Nicolaus, a German professor, has most
unceremoniously ascribed the power of all these medical charms to the
influence of the devil, who, he says, by these means, has attracted
many thousands of human beings into his dominions.[213]
Lucati has attributed the modern want of virtue in medicated rings
to their comparative smallness, contending that the larger the ring
or the gem contained in it, the greater the medium power, especially
with those persons whose flesh is of a tender and penetrable nature.
Lord Chancellor Hatton sent to Queen Elizabeth a ring against
infectious air, “to be worn,” as the old courtier expresses it,
“betwixt the sweet dugs” of her bosom.
Ennemoser, in his History of Magic, a work made more visionary by the
unsatisfactory additions of the Howitts, gravely speaks of coming
events manifested in diseases. We have a betrothal ring in the
following extract:[214]
“In the St. Vitus’s dance, patients often experience divinatory
visions of a fugitive nature, either referring to themselves or
to others and occasionally in symbolic words. In the ‘Leaves from
Prevorst,’ such symbolic somnambulism is related, and I myself
have observed a very similar case: Miss v. Brand, during a violent
paroxysm of St. Vitus’s dance, suddenly saw a black evil-boding crow
fly into the room, from which, she said, she was unable to protect
herself, as it unceasingly flew round her as if it wished to make
some communication. This appearance was of daily occurrence with the
paroxysm for eight days afterwards. On the ninth, when the attacks
had become less violent, the vision commenced with the appearance of
a white dove, which carried a letter containing a betrothal ring in
its beak; shortly afterwards the crow flew in with a black-sealed
letter. The next morning the post brought a letter with betrothal
cards from a cousin; and a few hours after, the news was received of
the death of her aunt in Lohburg, of whose illness she was ignorant.
Of both these letters, which two different posts brought in on the
same day, Miss v. Brand could not possibly have known any thing. The
change of birds and their colors, during her recovery and before the
announcement of agreeable or sorrowful news, the symbols of the ring
and the black seal, exhibit, in this vision, a particularly pure
expression of the soul as well as a correct view into the future.”
§6. Some of the finest scenes in Ariosto are brought out through a
magic ring. When it was worn on the finger, it preserved from spell;
and carried in the mouth, concealed the possessor from view. Thus, in
the Orlando Furioso, where Ruggiero had Angelica in the lone forest
and secure from sight, she discovers the magic ring upon her finger
which her father had given her when she first entered Christendom and
which had delivered her from many dangers.
“Now that she this upon her hand surveys,
She is so full of pleasure and surprise,
She doubts it is a dream and, in amaze,
Hardly believes her very hand and eyes.
Then softly to her mouth the hoop conveys,
And, quicker than the flash which cleaves the skies,
From bold Rogero’s sight her beauty shrouds,
As disappears the sun concealed in clouds.”[215]
The ring of Gyges is taken notice of both by Plato and Tully. This
Gyges was the master shepherd to King Candaules. As he was wandering
over the plains of Lydia, he saw a great chasm in the earth and had
the curiosity to enter it. After having descended pretty far into
it, he found the statue of a horse in brass, with doors in the sides
of it. Upon opening of them, he found the body of a dead man, bigger
than ordinary, with a ring upon his finger, which he took off and put
it upon his own. The virtues of it were much greater than he at first
imagined; for, upon his going into the assembly of the shepherds, he
observed that he was invisible when he turned the stone of the ring
within the palm of his hand and visible when he turned it towards
his company. By means of this ring he gained admission into the most
retired parts of the court; and made such use of those opportunities
that he at length became King of Lydia. The gigantic dead body to
whom this ring belonged was said to have been an ancient Brahmin,
who, in his time, was chief of that sect.
Addison, in one of his Tatlers,[216] playfully declares he is in
possession of this ring and leads his reader through different
scenes, commencing thus: “About a week ago, not being able to sleep,
I got up and put on my magical ring and, with a thought, transported
myself into a chamber where I saw a light. I found it inhabited by
a celebrated beauty, though she is of that species of women which
we call a slattern. Her head-dress and one of her shoes lay upon a
chair, her petticoat in one corner of the room and her girdle, that
had a copy of verses made upon it but the day before, with her thread
stocking, in the middle of the floor. I was so foolishly officious
that I could not forbear gathering up her clothes together to lay
them upon the chair that stood by her bedside, when, to my great
surprise, after a little muttering, she cried out, “What do you want?
Let my petticoat alone.”
To have the ring of Gyges is used proverbially sometimes of wicked,
sometimes of fickle, sometimes of prosperous people who obtain all
they want. It is alluded to in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Fair Maid of
the Inn:
“---- Have you Gyges’ ring,
Or the herb that gives invisibility?”
The Welsh Sir Tristram is described as having had, from his mother, a
mystical ring, the insignia of a Druid.
Let us now look particularly at the subject of cramp rings.
St. Edward, who died on the fifth of January, 1066, gave a ring which
he wore to the Bishop of Westminster. The origin of it is surrounded
with much mystery. A pilgrim is said to have brought it to the king
and to have informed him that St. John the Evangelist had made
known to the donor that the king’s decease was at hand.[217] This
“_St. Edward’s Ring_,” as it was called, was kept for some time at
Westminster Abbey as a relic of the saint, and was applied for the
cure of the falling sickness or epilepsy and for the cramp. From this
arose the custom of the English kings, who were believed to have
inherited St. Edward’s powers of cure, solemnly blessing every year
rings for distribution.
Good Friday was the day appointed for the blessing of rings. They
were often called “medycinable rings,” and were made both of gold and
silver, and the metal was composed of what formed the king’s offering
to the Cross on Good Friday.
The prayers used at the ceremony of blessing the rings on Good Friday
are published in Waldron’s Literary Museum; and also in Pegge’s
_Curiatia Miscellanea_, Appendix, No. iv. p. 164.
Cardinal Wiseman is in possession of a MS. containing the ceremony of
blessing cramp rings. It belonged to the English Queen Mary. At the
commencement of the MS. are emblazoned the arms of Philip and Mary,
around which are the badges of York and Lancaster and the whole is
inclosed within a frame of fruit and flowers. The first ceremony
is headed: “Certain Prayers to be used by the Queen’s Leigues in
the Consecration of the Crampe Rynges.” Accompanying it is an
illumination representing the queen kneeling, with a dish--containing
the rings to be blessed--on each side of her; and another exhibits
her touching for the evil a boy on his knees before her, introduced
by the clerk of the closet; his right shoulder is bared and the queen
appears to be rubbing it with her hand. The author of the present
work caused an application to be made for leave to take a copy of
this illumination, so that his readers might have the benefit of it:
the secretary of the Cardinal refused.
In a medical treatise, written in the fourteenth century,[218] there
is what is called the _medicine_ against the cramp; and modernizing
the language, it runs thus: “For the Cramp. Take and cause to be
gathered on Good Friday, at 5 Parish Churches, 5 of the first pennies
that is offered at the cross, of each Church the first penny; then
take them all and go before the cross and say 5 paternosters to the
worship of the 5 wounds and bear them on the 5 days, and say each day
all much in the same way; and then cause to be made a ring thereof
without alloy of other metal and write within it Jasper, Batasar,
Altrapa” (these are blundered forms of the three kings of Cologne)
“and write without Jh’es Nazarenus; and then take it from the
goldsmith upon a Friday and say 5 paternosters as thou did before and
use it always afterward.”
Lord Berners, the translator of Froissart, when at the court of the
Emperor Charles the Fifth as ambassador from Henry the Eighth, in a
letter dated 21st June, 1518, writes to Cardinal Wolsey: “If your
Grace remember me with some crampe rynges, ye shall do a thing much
looked for and I trust to bestow thaym well, with Godd’s grace.”[219]
A letter from Dr. Magnus to Cardinal Wolsey, written in 1526,[220]
contains the following: “Pleas it your Grace to wete that M. Wiat of
his goodness sent unto me for a present certaine cramp ringges, which
I distributed and gave to sondery myne acquaintaunce at Edinburghe,
amonges other to Mr. Adame Otterbourne, who, with oone of thayme,
releved a mann lying in the falling sekeness, in the sight of myche
people; sethenne whiche tyme many requestes have been made unto me
for cramp Ringges at my departing there and also sethenne my comyng
from thennes. May it pleas your Grace, therefore, to show your
gracious pleasure to the said M. Wyat that some Ringges may be kept
and sent into Scottelande; which, after my poore oppynyoun, shulde be
a good dede, remembering the power and operacion of thaym is knowne
and proved in Edinburgh and that they be greatly required for the
same cause by grete personnages and others.”
The mode of hallowing rings to cure the cramp is found in what is
entitled an “Auncient Ordre for the hallowing of Cramp Rings,” etc.
It is amusing to read of the degrading course which king, queen,
ladies and gentlemen had to take, each one creeping along a carpet
to a cross. The account runs thus: “Firste, the King to come to the
Chappell or clossett, with the lords and noblemen wayting upon him,
without any sword borne before hime of that day, and ther to tarrie
in his travers until the Bishope and the Deane have brought in the
Crucifixe out of the vestrie and laid it upon the cushion before the
highe alter. And then the usher to lay a carpet for the Kinge to
creepe to the crosse upon. And that done, there shall be a forme set
upon the carpett before the crucifix and a cushion laid upon it for
the Kinge to kneel upon. And the Master of the Jewell house ther to
be ready with the crampe rings in a bason of silver and the Kinge
to kneel upon the cushion before the forme. And then the Clerke of
the Closett be readie with the booke concerninge the halowinge of
the crampe rings, and the aumer must kneele on the right hand of the
Kinge, holdinge the sayd booke. When that is done, the Kinge shall
rise and go to the alter, weare a Gent. Usher shall be redie with a
cushion for the Kinge to kneele upon; and then the greatest Lords
that shall be ther to take the bason with the rings and beare them
after the King to offer. And thus done, the Queene shall come down
out of her closett or traverss into the Chappell with ladyes and
gentlewomen waiting upon her and creepe to crosse, and then go agayne
to her clossett or traverse. And then the ladyes to creepe to the
crosse likewise, and the Lords and Noblemen likewise.”
In 1536, when the convocation under Henry the Eighth abolished some
of the old superstitious practices, this of creeping to the cross
on Good Friday, etc., was ordered to be retained as a laudable and
edifying custom.[221]
Even in the dark ages of superstition, the ancient British kings do
not seem to have affected to cure the king’s evil or _scrofula_. This
gift was left to be claimed by the Stuarts. The Plantagenets were
content to cure the cramp.
In our own time we find three young men in England subscribing
sixpence each to be moulded into a ring for a young woman afflicted
with the cramp.
In Berkshire, England, there is a popular superstition that a ring
made from a piece of silver collected at the Communion is a cure for
convulsions and fits of every kind.[222] Another curious British
superstition, by way of charm, is recorded: that a silver ring will
cure fits if it be made of five sixpences, collected from five
different bachelors, to be conveyed by the hand of a bachelor to a
smith that is a bachelor. None of the persons who give the sixpences
are to know for what purpose or to whom they gave them. While, in
Devonshire, there is a notion that the king’s evil can be cured by
wearing a ring made of three nails or screws which have been used to
fasten a coffin that has been dug out of the churchyard.
There is a medical charm in Ireland to cure warts. A wedding-ring
is procured and the wart touched or pricked with a gooseberry thorn
through the ring.[223]
A wedding-ring rubbed upon that little abscess called a sty, which
is frequently seen on the tarsi of the eyes, is said to remove
it.[224] In Somersetshire, England, there is a superstition that
the ring-finger, stroked along any sore or wound, will soon heal
it. All the other fingers are said to be poisonous, especially the
forefinger.[225] In Suffolk, England, nine young men of a parish
subscribed a crooked sixpence each to be moulded into a ring for a
young woman afflicted with fits. The clergy in that country are not
unfrequently asked for sacramental silver to make rings of, to cure
falling sickness; and it is thought cruel to refuse.[226] There is
a singular custom prevailing in some parts of Northamptonshire and
probably there are other places where a similar practice exists. If
a female is afflicted with fits, nine pieces of silver money and
nine three-halfpennies are collected from nine bachelors. The silver
money is converted into a ring to be worn by the afflicted person
and the three-halfpennies (_i. e._ 13½d.) are paid to the maker
of the ring, an inadequate remuneration for his labor but which
he good-naturedly accepts. If the afflicted person be a male, the
contributions are levied upon females.[227] In Norfolk a ring was
made from nine sixpences freely given by persons of the opposite sex
and it was considered a charm against epilepsy. “I have seen,” says
a correspondent in _Notes and Queries_,[228] “nine sixpences brought
to a silversmith, with a request that he would make them into a ring;
but 13½d. was not tendered to him for making nor do I think that any
three-halfpennies are collected for payment. After the patient had
left the shop, the silversmith informed me that such requests were
of frequent occurrence and that he supplied the patients with thick
silver rings, but never took the trouble to manufacture them from the
sixpences.”
Brande, in his _Popular Antiquities_,[229] says: “A boy, diseased,
was recommended by some village crone to have recourse to an alleged
remedy, which has actually, in the enlightened days of the nineteenth
century, been put in force. He was to obtain thirty pennies from
thirty different persons, without telling them why or wherefore
the sum was asked; after receiving them, to get them exchanged for
a half-crown of sacrament money, which was to be fashioned into a
ring and worn by the patient. The pennies were obtained, but the
half-crown was wanting--the rector of the place, very properly,
declined taking any part in such a gross superstition. However,
another reverend gentleman was more pliable; and a ring was formed
(or professed to be so) from the half-crown and worn by the boy.” A
similar instance, which occurred about fourteen years since, has
been furnished to the same work by Mr. R. Bond of Gloucester: “The
epilepsy had enervated the mental faculties of an individual moving
in a respectable sphere in such a degree as to partially incapacitate
him from directing his own affairs; and numerous were the recipes,
the gratuitous offering of friends, that were ineffectually resorted
to by him. At length, however, he was told of what would certainly
be an infallible cure, for in no instance had it failed; it was, to
personally collect thirty pence, from as many respectable matrons,
and to deliver them into the hands of a silversmith, who, in
consideration thereof, would supply him with a ring, wrought out of
half a crown, which he was to wear on one of his fingers--and the
complaint would immediately forsake him. This advice he followed; and
for three or four years the ring ornamented (if we may so express
it) his fifth or little finger, notwithstanding the frequent relapses
he experienced during that time were sufficient to convince a less
ardent mind than his that the fits were proof against its influence.
Finally, whilst suffering from a last visitation of that distressing
malady, he expired, though wearing the ring--thus exemplifying a
striking memento of the absurdity of the means he had had recourse
to.”[230]
Quite recently, a new means has been contrived for deluding the
public in the form of rings, which are to be worn upon the fingers
and are said to prevent the occurrence of and cure various diseases.
They are called galvanic rings. Although by the contact of the two
metals of which they are composed an infinitesimally minute current
of electricity (hence, also, of magnetism) is generated, still, from
the absurd manner in which the pieces of metal composing the ring
are arranged and which displays the most profound ignorance of the
laws of electricity and magnetism, no trace of the minute current
traverses the finger upon which the ring is worn; so that a wooden
ring or none at all would have exactly the same effect as regards the
magnetism or galvanism.[231]
Epilepsy was to be cured by wearing a ring in which a portion of an
elk’s horn was to be inclosed; while the hoof of an ass, worn in the
same way, had the reputation of preventing conjugal debility.[232]
Michaelis, a physician at Leipsic, had a ring made of the tooth of a
sea-horse, by which he pretended to cure diseases of every kind.[233]
Rings of lead, mixed with quicksilver, were used against headache;
and even the chains of criminals and iron used in the construction of
gibbets were applied to the removal of complaints.
Rings simply made of gold were supposed to cure St. Anthony’s fire;
but, if inscribed with magic words, their power was irresistible.
With regard to rings supposed to possess magical properties, there is
one with an inscription in the Runic character, on jasper, being a
Dano-Saxon amulet against the plague. The translation is thus given:
“Raise us from dust we pray thee,
From Pestilence, O set us free,
Although the Grave unwilling be.”[234]
On another ring, inscribed with similar characters, and evidently
intended for the same purpose, the legend is as follows:
“_Whether in fever or leprosy, let the patient be happy and confident
in the hope of recovery._”[235]
Rings against the plague were often inscribed Jesus--Maria--Joseph or
I. H. S. _Nazarenus_--_Rex_--_Judæorum_.
A ring was dug up in England, with the figure of St. Barbara upon
it. She is the patroness against storms; and it was most likely an
intended amulet against them.[236] However, St. Barbara was not
solely here depended upon, for it has around it Jesu et Maria.
§ 7. The ordeal of touch, by a person accused of murder, remarkably
appears in an English trial.[237] There, the murdered woman, at the
touch of the accused, “thrust out the ring or marriage finger three
times and pulled it in again and the finger dropped blood upon the
grass.” The report goes on to say, that “Sir Nicholas Hyde, seeming
to doubt the evidence, asked the witness, ‘Who saw this besides
you?’ _Witness._ ‘I cannot swear what others saw; but, my lord, I do
believe the whole company saw it; and if it had been thought a doubt,
proof would have been made of it, and many would have attested with
me.’ The witness observing some admiration in the auditors, spake
further: ‘My lord, I am minister of the parish and have long known
all the parties, but never had any occasion of displeasure against
any of them, nor had to do with them or they with me, but as I was
minister, the thing was wonderful to me; but I have no interest in
the matter, but as called upon to testify the truth, that I have
done. My lord, my brother here present is minister of the next parish
adjoining, and, I am assured, saw all done that I have affirmed.’”
The clergyman so appealed to confirmed the statement; and the accused
were convicted and hanged.
§ 8. Amongst the dooms or punishments which Æthelbirht, King of Kent,
established in the days of Augustine, the amount of what was called
_bot_ or damages to be paid for every description of injury to the
person is fully detailed.[238] The laws of King Alfred comprise,
likewise, numerous clauses respecting compensation for wounds
inflicted; and the term “_dolzbote_” occurs in c. 23, relating
to tearing by a dog. A silver ring was found in Essex, England,
inscribed with the Anglo-Saxon word _dolzbot_, the exact meaning of
which is compensation made for giving a man a wound either by a stab
or blow.[239]
§ 9. We find a romantic story coupled with the founding of
Aix-la-Chapelle. Petrarch relates[240] of Charles the Great of
France, that this monarch was so fondly attached to a fair lady that,
after her death, he carried about her embalmed body in a superb
coffin and that he could not indeed forsake it, because, under the
tongue, was a gem “enchassée” in a very small ring.
A venerable and learned bishop, who thought a living beauty was
preferable to the remains of a departed one, rebuked his sovereign
for his irreligious and strange passion and revealed to him the
important secret that his love arose from a charm that lay under
the woman’s tongue. Whereupon the bishop went to the woman’s corse
and drew from her mouth the ring; which the emperor had scarcely
looked upon when he abhorred the former object of his attachment
and felt such an extraordinary regard for the bishop that he could
not dispense with his presence for a single moment, until the good
prelate was so troubled with royal favor that he cast the ring into
a lake or marsh. The emperor happened to be attracted to the site of
the submerged ring; and, in consequence, founded upon it a palace and
church, which gave birth to Aix-la-Chapelle.
The Germans have a legend which they connect with what must have
been this ring. It runs thus: Charlemagne, although near his
dissolution, lingered in ceaseless agony, until the archbishop who
attended him caused the lake to be dragged and, silently placing the
talisman on the person of the dying monarch, his struggling soul
parted quietly away. This talisman is said to be in the possession
of Louis Napoleon; but it is described as a small nut, in a gold
filagree envelopment, found round the neck of Charlemagne on the
opening of his tomb and given by the town of Aix-la-Chapelle to
Bonaparte and by him to his favorite Hortense, _ci-devant_ Queen of
Holland, at whose death it descended to her son. In the German legend
it is said to have been framed by some of the magi in the train of
the ambassadors of Aaroun-al-Raschid to the mighty Emperor of the
West, at the instance of his spouse Fastrada, with the virtue that
her husband should be always fascinated towards the person or thing
on which it was.[241]
§ 10. Some of our readers are lovers of operatic music, and have
heard _Zampa_. The placing of a ring on the finger of a statue and
its consequences must have been gathered from a story by Floriguus.
He mentions the case of a young gentleman of Rome, who, on his
wedding day, went out walking with his bride and some friend after
dinner; towards evening, he got to a tennis-court and while he played
he took off his ring and placed it upon the finger of a brass statue
of Venus. The game finished, he went to fetch his ring; but Venus had
bent her finger upon it and he could not get it off. Whereupon, loth
to make his companions tarry, he there left it, intending to fetch
it the next day, went then to supper and, so, to bed; but, in the
night, the truly brazen Venus had slipped between him and his bride,
and thus troubled him for several successive nights. Not knowing
how to help himself, he made his moan to one Palumbus, a learned
magician, who gave him a letter and bade him, at such a time of the
night, in such a crossway, where old Saturn would pass by with his
associates, to deliver to him the epistle. The young man, of a bold
spirit, accordingly did so; and when Saturn had read it, he called
Venus, who was riding before him, and commanded her to deliver the
ring, which forthwith she did.
Moore has even made use of this tale. He calls it “The Ring,” and
uses upwards of sixty stanzas on it. He seems here to have laid
aside, as much as it was possible for him, his usual polish and tried
to imitate Monk Lewis. The scene is laid in Christian times; his hero
is one Rupert; and the deliverer a Father Austin. Moore says he met
with the story in a German work, “Fromman upon Fascination;” while
Fromman quotes it from Belaucensis.
It is remarkable how often we find stories, which have originated in
heathen times, made a vehicle for Catholic tales. The above has found
its way into monkish legend.
In _The Miracles of the Virgin Mary_, compiled in the twelfth
century, by a French monk,[242] there is a tale of a young man, who,
falling in love with an image of the Virgin, inadvertently placed on
one of its fingers a ring, which he had received from his mistress,
accompanying the gift with the most tender language of respect and
affection. A miracle instantly took place and the ring remained
immovable. The young man, greatly alarmed for the consequences of his
rashness, consulted his friends, who advised him, by all means, to
devote himself entirely to the service of the Madonna. His love for
his former mistress prevailed over their remonstrances and he married
her; but on the wedding-night, the newly betrothed lady appeared to
him and urged her claim, with so many dreadful menaces that the poor
man felt himself compelled to abandon his bride and, that very night,
to retire privately to a hermitage, where he became a monk for the
rest of his life. This story has been translated by Mons. Le Grand,
in his entertaining collection of _fabliaux_, where the ring is
called a marriage-ring.
Perhaps this last story grew out of the legend of St. Agnes. A
priest, who officiated in a church dedicated to St. Agnes, was very
desirous of being married. He prayed the Pope’s license, who gave
it him, together with an emerald ring; and commanded him to pay his
addresses to the image of St. Agnes in his own church. Then the
priest did so and the image put forth her finger and he put the ring
thereon; whereupon the image drew her finger in again and kept the
ring fast--and the priest was contented to remain a bachelor; “and
yet, as it is sayd, the rynge is on the fynger of the ymage.”[243]
§ 11. There is a legend of a Sir Richard Baker, who was surnamed
_Bloody Baker_, wherein a ring bears its part.[244] This Sir Richard
Baker was buried in Cranbrook church, Kent, England, and his
gauntlet, gloves, helmet and spurs are suspended over his tomb. The
gloves are red. The Baker family had formerly large possessions in
Cranbrook; but in the reign of Edward VI. great misfortunes fell on
them; by extravagance and dissipation they gradually lost all their
lands, until an old house in the village (now used as the poor-house)
was all that remained to them. The sole representative of the family
remaining at the accession of Queen Mary was Sir Richard Baker.
He had spent some years abroad in consequence of a duel; but when
Mary reigned he thought he might safely return, as he was a papist;
when he came to Cranbrook, he took up his abode in his old house;
he brought one foreign servant with him; and only these two lived
there. Very soon strange stories began to be whispered respecting
unearthly shrieks having been heard frequently to issue at nightfall
from his house. Many people of importance were stopped and robbed in
the Glastonbury woods and many unfortunate travellers were missed
and never heard of more. Richard Baker still continued to live in
seclusion, but he gradually repurchased his alienated property,
although he was known to have spent all he possessed before he left
England. But wickedness was not always to prosper. He formed an
apparent attachment to a young lady in the neighborhood, remarkable
for always wearing a great many jewels. He often pressed her to
come and see his old house, telling her he had many curious things
he wished to show her. She had always resisted fixing a day for her
visit, but happening to walk within a short distance of his house,
she determined to surprise him with a visit; her companion, a lady
older than herself, endeavored to dissuade her from doing so, but she
would not be turned from her purpose. They knocked at the door, but
no one answered them; they, however, discovered it was not locked and
determined to enter. At the head of the stairs hung a parrot which,
on their passing, cried out:
“Peepoh, pretty lady, be not too bold,
Or your red blood will soon run cold.”
And cold did run the blood of the adventurous damsel when, on opening
one of the room doors, she found it filled with the dead bodies of
murdered persons, chiefly women. Just then they heard a noise and on
looking out of the window saw Bloody Baker and his servant bringing
in the murdered body of a lady. Nearly dead with fear, they concealed
themselves in a recess under the staircase. As the murderers, with
their dead burthen, passed by them, the hand of the unfortunate
murdered lady hung in the baluster of the stairs; with an oath,
Bloody Baker chopped it off and it fell into the lap of one of the
concealed ladies. As soon as the murderers had passed by, the ladies
ran away, having the presence of mind to carry with them the dead
hand, on one of the fingers of which was a ring. On reaching home,
they told their story; and, in confirmation of it, displayed the
ring. All the families who had lost relatives mysteriously were then
told of what had been found out; and they determined to ask Baker to
a large party, apparently in a friendly manner, but to have officers
concealed. He came, suspecting nothing; and then the lady told him
all she had seen, pretending it was a dream. “Fair lady,” said he,
“dreams are nothing; they are but fables.” “They may be fables,” said
she, “but is this a fable?” and she produced the hand and ring. Upon
this the officers rushed in and took him; and the tradition further
says, he was burnt, notwithstanding Queen Mary tried to save him on
account of the religion he professed.
§ 12. Dumas has it[245] that Cæsar Borgia wore a ring, composed of
two lion’s heads, the stone of which he turned inward when he wished
to press the hand of “a friend.” It was then the lion’s teeth became
those of a viper charged with poison. (His infamous father, the old
poisoner Alexander VI., kept a poisoned key by him, and when his
“holiness” wished to rid himself of some one of his familiars, he
desired him to open a certain wardrobe, but as the lock of this was
difficult to turn, force was required before the bolt yielded, by
which a small point in the handle of the key left a slight scratch
upon the hand, which proved mortal.)
§ 13. Liceto, as referred to by Maffei, gives an example of a ring
forming part of the Barberini collection, which has engraved upon
the stone a Cupid with butterflies; and, on the hoop of it, _Mei
Amores_, _i. e._ My Loves. This shows a freedom of subject that may
have reference to pretty plain flirting or wantonness. A fragment of
Ennius, which runs thus: _Others give a ring to be viewed from the
lips_, is coupled with a wanton custom (in full vigor in the time
of Plautus) for loose characters to take the hoop of the ring with
the teeth and, leaving the stone out of the mouth, thus invite young
persons to see either the figure or minute characters and who had to
approach very close to do it.
§ 14. We have heard of rings with delicate spring-lancets or
cutting-hooks, used by thieves to cut pockets before they pick them.
It is said that gamblers have rings with movable parts, which will
show a diminutive heart, spade, club or diamond according as a
partner desires a particular suit or card to be led.
Thieves in America will often wear a ring with the head of a dog
projecting and its ear sharpened and still further extended, so that
a blow with it would cut like any sharply pointed instrument. The
present Chief of Police in New-York is in the habit of clipping off
these sharp ears whenever he has a rogue in custody who possesses
such a ring. And characters of the like class wear one bearing a
triangular pyramid of metal, with which they can give a terrible blow.
The crime of ring-dropping consists, generally, in a rogue’s stooping
down and seeming to pick up a purse containing a ring and a paper,
which is made in the form of a receipt from a jeweller, descriptive
of the ring and making it a “rich, brilliant, diamond ring;” and in
the fellow’s proposing, for a specified payment, to share its value
with you.
When Charles VIII. of France crossed the Alps, he descended into
Piedmont and the Montferrat, which was governed by two Regents,
Princes Charles Jean Aimé and Guillaume Jean. They advanced to meet
Charles, each at the head of a numerous and brilliant court and
shining with jewels. Charles, aware that, notwithstanding their
friendly indications, they had, nevertheless, signed a treaty with
his enemy, received them with the greatest courtesy; and as they
were profuse in their professions of amity, he suddenly required
of them a proof: it was, to lend him the diamonds they then wore.
The two regents could but obey a request which possessed all the
characteristics of a command. They took off their rings and other
trinkets, for which Charles gave them a detailed receipt and, then,
pledged them for twenty-four thousand ducats.[246]
§ 15. When the Roman slave was allowed his liberty, he received, with
a cap and white vest, a ring. The ring was of iron.[247] We have
not heard the origin of this stated, but it appears to us it was
gathered from the fable of Prometheus. The slave had been fastened,
as it were, to the Caucasus of bondage; and when freed from that,
he had, still, as Prometheus had, to wear an iron ring, by way of
remembrance. He was not permitted to have one of gold, for that was
a badge of citizenship.[248] However, vanity is inherent in bond and
free; and slaves began to cover their iron rings with gold, while
others presumed to wear the precious metals alone.[249] The iron
rings of slaves were alluded to by Statius, who died about thirty
years later than Pliny.[250] Apuleius introduces a slave, with an
iron ring, bearing a device.
We all remember Moore’s lines, beginning with:
“Rich and rare were the gems she wore,
And a bright gold ring on her wand she bore.”
This was rather an Irish way of wearing a ring, on the top of a
snow-white wand, instead of upon a lily-white finger. The poet works
out and polishes and varnishes these verses from the following story
in Warren’s History of Ireland:[251] A young lady, of great beauty,
adorned with jewels and a costly dress, undertook a journey alone,
from one end of the kingdom to the other, with a wand only in her
hand, at the top of which was a ring of exceeding great value; and
such an impression had the laws and government of the then monarch,
Brian Borholme, made on the minds of all the people that no attempt
was made upon her honor, nor was she robbed of her clothes or jewels.
Ireland may or not be changed since that time; yet the monarch Brian
does not seem to have worked through moral suasion, if we may believe
an Irish verse-maker, who certainly uses neither the delicacy of
sentiment nor the polish of Moore:
“Oh, brave King Brian! he knew the way
To keep the peace and to make them pay;
For those who were bad, he knocked off their head;
And those who were worse, he kilt them dead.”