Rings

“ The discovery of the analogy was a long time retarded by the notion, that the rings must necessarily be solid. The idea of solidity is irresistibly forced upon the mind, when you look upon the rings, as sharply defined as the horizon circle round a school globe. ”

“ There were betrothal rings, memorials rings, gimmal rings, puzzle rings, rings of Roman, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Irish, Scandinavian, English and American workmanship, and many Oriental rings, Sassanian, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, Gypsy and Moorish, one of the latter being a gold circlet with the twelve signs of the zodiac engraved in high relief around it. ”

“ Rings found in all places. 18. Persian Signets. 19. Value of ancient Rings. 20. Love’s Telegraph, and Name-rings; Polish Birth-day Gifts. 21. Rings in Heraldry. 22. Rings in Fish. 23. Riddle. 24. Ring misapplied. 25. Horace Walpole’s Poesy on a Ring.
§ 1. A CIRCLE, known as a finger-ring, has been an object of ornament and of use for thousands of years. Indeed, the time when it was first fashioned and worn is so far in the past that it alone shines there; all around is ashes or darkness. ”

“ Rings as charms and talismans form a class apart. Often the peculiar form of the circlet was conceived to have a symbolic virtue, but more frequently the talismanic quality depended upon some curious engraved device, upon the stones set in the rings, or upon a mystic or religious inscription. ”

“ It is probable, also, that you will find the brighter rings to be of a similar nature, though the bodies of which they are composed may be larger and more closely packed together. The rings have, not without reason, been suspected to be rows of satellites, so closely crowded together that they appear to be one solid body. This accounts for the occasional appearance of divisions, and their subsequent obliteration. On none of the planets will the heavens present so grand a spectacle. The rings, shining with the lustre of the moon, will constantly arch the heavens. ”

“ The Milky Way itself is commonly thought to be a ring, or series of rings, like the coils of the great spiral nebula in Andromeda, and separated from us by a space far greater than the thickness of the ring itself. ”

“ The planet and rings shine by reflecting the light of the sun to us. Though they form immense circles, the rings arc never opened wider than shown in the drawing, which closely represents the appearance of the planet at the present time. Every fifteen years these rings are presented to us on edge, and they are then too thin to be seen from the earth, and the planet appears for a day or two shorn of its beautiful appendages. ”

“ FOREWORD The present volume aims to offer in attractive and convenient form everything that is of importance and interest in regard to finger-rings, from the fabled ring of Prometheus down to the latest productions of the goldsmiths and jewellers of our day.
The subject offers a striking illustration of the wonderful diversity of form, decoration and usage, that the skill and fancy of man have been able to realize in the case of the little circlet constituting a ring. ”

“ He will find many particulars in regard to rings of all sorts, among the different people by whom they have been worn, in ancient and modern times, and of the important part they have played in the history of the world. ”

“ Dreams of rings set with precious stones have a special significance, and Achametis tells us, from his Hindu sources, that if anyone should dream of receiving a ring set with a red stone, the splendor of the stone signified great authority and much joy to the dreamer. If, however, a man had a dream of a ring set with a yellow stone, the vision portended that his wife would be liable to illness and chagrin. ”

“ Lepsius has recently published a bas relief, from an Egyptian tomb, representing a man weighing rings of gold and silver, with weights in the form of a bull’s head; and Layard also gives a seeming outline of the subject, (although its description speaks of “weights in the form of a seated lion.”) It is presumed that these rings are intended for ring-money; the fact of weighing them strengthens this idea; and see Wilkinson’s Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians, (revised,) ii. 148-9.
§ 4. We not only find rings in the most ancient times, but we also trace them in mythology. ”

“ The wonder of the great rings—Saturn's great distance and long year—The least dense of all the planets—It would float in water—What kind of a world is it?—Sir Humphry Davy's imaginary inhabitants of Saturn—Facts about the rings, which are a phenomenon unparalleled in the visible universe—The surprising nature of the rings, as revealed by mathematics and the spectroscope—The question of their origin and ultimate fate—Dr. ”

“ Some of the appropriate rings and stones to be worn by those who hope to attract to themselves the favorable influences of Sun, Moon, and planets, are given in the Syro-Arabic work of the eighth or ninth century on the mystic potencies of stones, put forth under the name of Aristotle. ”

“ Round the point thus disturbed rings are immediately propagated, and the widening of those rings is the exact measure of the divergence of the ripple lines. The rings never cross the lines;—the lines never retreat from the rings. ”

“ Rings have been found in strange places, and under interesting circumstances. We find them upon and below the earth; within the Pyramids; beneath the ashes of Pompeii and Herculaneum; and strewed over battle-fields. [92] They have been discovered on the field of Cressy.
§ 18. In Persia, at the present day, letters are seldom written and never signed by the person who sends them; and it will thus appear that the authenticity of all orders and communications, and even of a merchant’s bills, depends wholly on an impression from his seal-ring. ”

“ If, like Apollonius of Tyana, [547] anyone should wish to wear on each week day a ring set with the stones especially appropriate to the day, the following list gives for the successive days the pair of stones whose combination was believed to unite the most favorable planetary and celestial influences:
The use of fraternity rings is often connected with a certain amount of sentiment or even superstition concerning their emblematic value. ”

“ He does not tell us which is the true one, and in this he is wise. But if he is to have more than one, why limit the number to three? Our Heavenly Father has given His sons more than three rings, and they are not able to discern which is the original, the true ring. ”

“ In the early and middle ages it was not only generally believed that rings could be charmed by the power of a magician, but that the engraved stones on ancient rings which were found on old sites possessed supernatural properties, the benefits of which would be imparted to the wearer. ”

“ All the modern cosmogonies that have come under our notice are founded upon the idea that rings are the seed, as it were, of planets and satellites, and if those of Saturn have been left, as it has been said, to show how the solar system has been evolved, it cannot be said that the supposition is not well founded. ”

“ She wears a profusion of rings, every finger, except the little finger of the right hand, being furnished with one. They exhibit great variety of design, and are valuable as exponents of [126] the fashion of that day. We engrave in Fig. 151 the hands of the lady, as uplifted in prayer, with four of the rings, the full size of the originals. ”

“ An ancient method of divining by the ring is similar in principle to the modern table-rapping. The edge of a round table was marked with the characters of the alphabet, and the ring stopped over certain letters, which, being joined together, composed the answer.
In another method of practising Dactylomancy, rings were put on the finger-nails when the sun entered Leo, and the moon Gemini, or the sun and Mercury were in Gemini and the moon in Cancer; or the sun in Sagittarius, the moon in Scorpio, and Mercury in Leo. ”

“ As on the smooth expanse of crystal lakes The sinking stone at first a circle makes; The trembling surface by the motion stirr'd, Spreads in a second circle, then a third; Wide, and more wide, the floating rings advance, 440 Fill all the watery plain, and to the margin dance: Thus every voice and sound, when first they break, On neighbouring air a soft impression make; ”

“ Jasper; Diamond; Ruby; Carbuncle; Jacinth; Amethyst; Emerald; Topaz; Agate; Sapphire; Opal; Cornelian; Chalcedony; Turquoise; Coral; Loadstone; Sweating Stones. 3. Enchanted Rings; those possessed by Execustus; Solomon’s Ring; Ballads of Lambert Linkin and Hynd Horn. 4. Talismanic Ring; Elizabeth of Poland; Ring against Poison offered to Mary of Scotland; Rings from the Palace at Eltham and from Coventry; Sir Edmund Shaw; Shell Ring. 5. Medicinal Rings. 6. Magical Rings; Ariosto; Ring of Gyges; Sir Tristram; Cramp Rings; Rings to cure Convulsions, Warts, Wounds, Fits, Falling Sickness, etc. ”

“ There is no top nor vallons. The rings are fastened within two and a half or three inches of the top on the inside, which two and a half or three inches stand up, and are an ornament somewhat like a ruffle. ”

“ Silver ring having projecting bezel in form of a spur with revolving rowel. Italian (?) , Fourteenth or Fifteenth Century
British Museum
“Regard ring,” with seven hoops. The initials of the six stones spell the word “regard”
British Museum
Rings of modern Egyptian type. 1, woman’s ring; hoop of twisted gold; 2, man’s ring made by silversmith of Mecca, with stone setting; 3, cast silver ring; stone setting; with guards
Fairholt’s “Rambles of an Artist”
Pipe stopper ring. ”

“ The Ring an Emblem of Power; Pharaoh; Quintus Curtius; Antiochus Epiphanes, Augustus; King of Persia, Egypt under the Ptolemies; Roman Senators; the Forefinger. 2. Rings used in Coronations; Edward the Second, Mother of Henry VIII.; Queen Elizabeth; Charles II.; Coronation Rings, Canute; Sebert; Henry II.; Childeric; Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror. 3. ”

“ Ring of Mary of Scotland and one sent by her to Elizabeth; Darnley; The Blue Ring; Duke of Dorset; Ring in the Isle of Wight supposed to have belonged to Charles the First, and Memorial Rings of this Monarch; Earl of Derby; Charles the Second; Jeffrey’s Blood-Stone; The great Dundee; Nelson; Scotch Coronation Ring; The Admirable Crichton; Sir Isaac Newton; Kean; Wedding Ring of Byron’s Mother. 5. Matrons of Warsaw. 6. The Prussian Maiden.
§ 1. When Egypt is mentioned, the Pyramids rise in their sublimity—a sublimity made perfect by their vastness and mysterious age. ”

“ The verdant hue of the emerald signified how we should believe, the celestial purity of the sapphire, how we should hope, the warm color of the garnet, how we should love, and the clear transparency of the topaz, how we should act. Moreover, the ring-form also possessed a symbolical meaning, roundness denoting eternity, which has neither beginning nor end. Hence the royal conscience had in the ring a monition to pass from terrestrial to celestial matters, from temporal to eternal things. ”

“ Shakspeare’s Ring; Earl Godwin. 2. Words symbolum and ungulus. 3. Ring-money. 4. Rings in Mythology; Theseus; Prometheus Inventor of the First Ring. 5. Seals from the Scarabæus. 6. Rings in Greek Urns. 7. Judah and Tamar; Alexander. 8. Ring a Symbol of Fidelity, Eternity, and of the Deity. 9. Roman Rings. 10. Rings in German Caverns. 11. Rings of the Gauls and Britons. 12. Anglo-Saxon Workers in Metal. 13. Ladies’ Seal-rings. 14. Substance, Forms and Size of Rings; Number, and on what fingers worn; Pearls; Carbuncle; Death’s-head Rings. 15. Law of Rings. 16. Order of the Ring. 17. ”

“ On the smooth inner side of the head is engraved a mystic design, consisting of a double triangle, interlaced to form a six-pointed star, and enclosed by a circle; within the triangles appears in blue emerald the “mystic number” 15, that of the wearer, blue being his astral color; the triangles symbolize the inseparability of the Holy Trinity, and the circle typifies Eternity, this word being engraved above, as well as the date of the wearer’s birth, and a legend commemorating the gift of the ring. It is made of fine gold, so that it may the better denote absolute purity. ”

“ Mei Amores, upon a ring, 144. Mexican officers’ rings, 154. Michaelis, (physician,) had medical ring made of tooth of sea-horse, 136. Mithridates, ring of, 155. Money in the form of rings, 13. Months, Polish idea of their being under the influence of precious stones, 56. Moore, his mother’s gift of her wedding-ring, 223. N. Name-rings, 55. Navarre, College of, gives ring to Crichton, 188. ”

“ Nadir Shah, entire emerald rings of, 101, 102 Nails, horseshoe, rings of, 110, 326 Names of rings in ancient and modern India, 78, 79 in various modern languages, 364–365 “Naoratna” (navaratna) ring, 78, 321 Napoleon memorial rings, 47, 48 Napoleonic rings, 173 Narwhal tusk, rings of, 341 Natal rings, 90, 91, 328, 329 “Nathan der Weise,” tale of rings in, 346, 347 National Geographic Society, 83 National Hungarian Museum, 16, 318 National Museum at St. ”

“ Urns, rings in Greek urns, 18. Urns, rings in Roman urns, 19. Value of some ring, 54. Venus, story of placing ring on brazen, statue of this goddess, 139. Virgin, the, story of placing ring on finger of statue, 141. W. Walpole’s poesy upon a ring, 63. Warsaw, matrons of, give their wedding-rings to be coined in aid of the Polish struggle, 190. Warts, taken away by ring touching them, 132. Warwick, Sir Philip, intrusted with use of the ring of Charles I., 178. Washington bequeathed rings, 229. Wedding-ring touching wart to take it away, 132; rubbing on “sty” to cure it, ib. ”

“ On that paper the never-resting heart of the earth is now tracing, in telegraphic symbols which will one day be interpreted, a record of its pulsations and its flutterings, as well as of that slow but mighty working which warns us that we must not suppose that the inner history of our planet is ended. ”

“ If such a stone were set in a gold or silver ring, at the time when the planetary or stellar control of the stone was in the ascendant, the wearer of the ring was sure to have the fullest possible benefit from its powers. [475] The idea that serpents were endowed with supernatural wisdom was held by many ancient peoples, and in India legend assigned to these mysterious and dreaded reptiles the guardianship over diamonds, and also over the corundum gems, chief among which are the fair sapphire and the glowing ruby. ”