Ringside

“ George, Devon, who from quite a young man has entered deeply and fully into all matters of interest relative to Church Bells and Ringing, and who now supervises that bell-ringing page in the interesting weekly paper called Church Bells, where from time to time much is given which is interesting to all who may wish to become ringers in practice or performance, with good and reliable information as the groundwork upon which they desire to ultimately place their edifice of knowledge of the subject in question. ”

“ I know that I have become so accustomed to a ring on my little finger, that if perchance I have forgotten it, and gone into society, I have blushed to the roots of my hair, and stammered and been distracted, thinking myself insufficiently clothed, simply because I had left my ring on the washhand-stand. ”

“ But not only is there a general lack of knowledge upon ringing church bells on the part of the majority, even in this bell ringing isle—it can well be added that, as to change ringing, the really scientific, very useful, and interesting part of ringing is “dog Latin” or “double Dutch” to ninety-nine persons out of every hundred, or even more, the general impression being that it is all very easy, and only to pull—that anyone can do all that is to be done in a very short time ”

“ The sense of intimate connection between a valued ring and the wearer, finds expression in Shakespeare’s lines (Cymbeline Act I, sc. 5) :
My ring I hold dear as my finger; ’tis part of it.
And if we go back 2200 years to a far distant quarter of the globe we meet with the same feeling of intimate [135] connection in the inspired words of the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah (xxii, 24) :
As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim King of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee hence. ”

“ 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. ”

“ To ring, and to ring changes, on either church or musical hand bells, are three very different subjects. In order to ring changes, however, it is absolutely necessary to have a good knowledge of ringing, or the means adopted to make the bells sound in their proper time and place, whether it be in the church tower, on the large swinging bells with ropes, or in the parlour or drawing-room, upon the musical bells, held in the hand or hands. ”

“ Whoever can pick up the flourish of a coach-horn, the note of a bird, the rhythm of the postman's knock or of a horse's gallop, will be at no loss in picking up the themes of The Ring. No doubt, when it comes to forming the necessary mental association with the theme, it may happen that the spectator may find his ear conquering the tune more easily than his mind conquers the thought. ”

“ The young man took the ring, and scarce had he put it on his fingernail his yard stretched itself a cubit's length.
"Well, what of it?" asked the aged woman. "Doth thy yard reach to thy knees?"
"Yea, good woman. It reacheth even below my kness."
"Now, my little dove, pass the ring down thy whole finger."
He passed the ring over his entire finger, and his yard lenghtened out even unto seven versts. [3]
"Ah! good woman! where shall I lodge it? It will bring me ill fortune with my wife."
"Thrust up the ring to thy finger nail; thy yard will be but a cubit's span. ”

“ A bearded man holding a flower in his hand cut on carnelian, and set in a tin ring, the ring being made on the change of the moon on a Friday, the 1st or the 8th of the month, whomsoever thou shalt touch therewith he shall come to do thy will. Man standing on a dragon, holding a sword, must be set in a leaden or iron ring; then all the spirits that dwell in darkness shall obey the wearer, and shall reveal to him in a low-toned song the place of hidden treasure and the mode of winning the same. ”

“ One is formed like a badge of the Order of the Garter, with the buckle in front and the motto of the Order outside the hoop; withinside are the words, ‘I’ll win and wear you.’ The other is the ordinary form of wedding-ring, inscribed, ‘Let likinge laste.’ They were generally inscribed withinside the hoop. Thus Lyly, in his ‘Euphues’ (1597) , addressing the ladies, hopes they will favour his work—‘writing their judgments as you do the posies in your rings, which are always next to the finger, not to be seen of him that holdeth you by the hand, and yet known by you that wear them on your hands.’ ”

“ One soft little white hand peeps out from the dainty lace, and on one ringer is a gold ring. There is just such another upon my own finger; and these two rings bind us to one another for ever and ever. ”

“ He wished to restore the ring to her in person, to replace it on her finger as a memento of himself; for the repossession of it made him restless and uneasy, as the crazed Halfheller with his bottle-imp; and if he was to do this, there was no time to be lost, as he had but one day to spend in Cornwall now. ”

“ A ring at the front-door bell is a bolt from the blue, a call from the vast, a message from out of the infinite. It presents to the imagination such a boundless range of possibilities. There are fifteen hundred million people on the planet, and this may be any one of them. ”

“ When a lover leaves his mistress for a time, he gives her a golden ring (pérsten’, a signet-ring, or one set with gems—from perst, a finger) and receives from her a gold ring in exchange (Kol’ tsë, a plain circlet like our own wedding-ring, from Kolo, a circle) . ”

“ In the Riazan Government, water that has been dropped through a wedding-ring is supposed to have certain merits as a lotion; and at a Little-Russian marriage the bride is bound to give the bridegroom to drink from a cup of wine in which a ring has been put. From the mention of a ring made in the ‘Dodola Songs,’ and in others referring to storm and rain, it is supposed that a golden ring, in mythical language, is to be taken as a representation of the lightning’s heavenly gold. ”

“ What is to prevent one single ring from doing all the work? Why go about with your left hand loaded,—a ring to every finger? nay, they overflow; the right hand must be forced into the service. And you have left out the most important ring of all, the one to stop your drivelling at this absurd rate. ”

“ Rings of healing were talismans valued for their special power to cure disease; the “cramp rings,” dated in legend back to the time of Edward the Confessor, were notable in this series.
The rings of famous men and women will always be prized as mementos, and in the various chapters of this book a large number of them will be found, both rings of the mighty dead and those of distinguished living persons; among these latter we are happy to be able to produce an illustration of the inscription of President Wilson’s ring from an impression of his seal courteously made by his own hand. ”

“ She faced him again. "Well, then, I suppose I must tell you about it—though that seems to me just as funny as throwing the ring into the river. Funnier, in fact! You needn't hold me. I won't throw it in until you give me leave. There, let it lie on the parapet between us. No, the wind may blow it away; you hold it." She gave it to him, and clasped her hands again.
The policeman looked at the ring—a single pearl of no great size, plainly set in gold. ”

“ In God and thee my joy shall be.
Absence tries love.
Virtue surpasseth riches.
Let virtue rest within thy breast.
I lyke my choyce.
As circles five by art compact shews but one ring in sight,
So trust uniteth faithful mindes with knott of secret might;
Whose force to breake no right but greedie death possesseth power,
As time and sequels well shall prove. My ringe can say no more.
(The Earl of Hertford’s wedding-ring consisted of five links, the four inner ones containing the above posies of the Earl’s making. See page 318, ‘Betrothal and Wedding Rings.’)
Joye sans fyn. ”

“ Among the numerous applications of rings to various purposes, one of the most curious is the custom, once prevalent in the Isle of Man, that if a man grossly insulted a married woman he was to suffer death, but if the woman was unmarried the Deemster, or judge, gave her a rope, a sword, and a ring, and she had it put to her choice either to hang him with the rope, or to cut off his head with the sword, or to marry him with the ring. ”

“ The peculiar inherent virtue of a ring given by, or exchanged with, a loved person, renders it far more prized than a merely beautiful or costly ring. While we may regard as superstition any fancy that the material ring possesses any magic quality, that lent to it by association or by memory is none the less real though it is only in the brain or heart of the wearer. The effect of this association of a ring or other jewel with a person is also to be seen in the case of rings bestowed by royal personages as tokens of gratitude or favor. ”

“ Fortunately, even from this point of view, The Ring is full of extraordinarily attractive episodes, both orchestral and dramatic. The nature music alone—music of river and rainbow, fire and forest—is enough to bribe people with any love of the country in them to endure the passages of political philosophy in the sure hope of a prettier page to come. ”

“ 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. ”

“ THE PENETRATIVE RING. Fasten one end of a needleful of silk, of the colour of a handkerchief, to the middle of the handkerchief, and to its hanging end tie a brass ring. Always keep the ring on your own side, so that no one can see it while you shake and rumple the handkerchief. Offer to send a ring through a cup and saucer and the table they are on. ”

“ To ring-in rounds, it matters little which bell is taken to perform upon, as each takes its place in proper turn, whether it be first, middle, last, or any other position, which will be very well understood if the new ringer has practised, as he should do, rounds upon hand bells. ”

“ A gold “sphere-ring” in the British Museum collection has an outer hoop in two parts, working like a gimmal, and three interior hoops which are almost concealed when the ring is closed. The exterior hoop is chased; on the inner surfaces, concealed from view when the ring is closed, appears in sections the following inscription in black enamel: Verbo Dei celi firmati sunt. Dixit et creata sunt, ipse mandavit et creata sunt. (The heavens are founded in the word of God. He spoke and they were created; he commanded and they were created.) ”

“ Many other instances of ring-tokens might be mentioned, but the limits to which this work is confined prevent me from enlarging on the subject. I will merely allude as a [Pg 352] memorable instance in modern times, to the ring-token presented to George III. on his birthday in 1764 by his Queen. It was a ring splendidly ornamented with brilliants, and contained an enamel in which were the portraits, exquisitely represented, of their children. ”

“ A character in the Lord Mayor’s show in 1664 is described as ‘habited like a grave citizen—gold girdle and gloves hung thereon, rings on his fingers, and a seal-ring on his thumb.’
In Labartes ‘Hand-book of the Fine Arts in the Middle [Pg 89] Ages’ is a representation of a fine thumb-ring, of Hindoo workmanship, cut out of a single piece of jade, decorated with gold filagree, and incrusted with rubies. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Somewhat distantly related to the betrothal or wedding rings were those given by lovers to the objects of their affection. Of such a ring the Roman poet Ovid writes, apostrophizing it as “a ring soon destined to encircle the finger of a beauteous girl, a ring having no worth except the love of the giver.” It was to be a gift to the poet’s ladylove Corinna. [334] The ring sent by [194] a fair lady, as a token of love to a handsome soldier, in the “Miles Gloriosus” of Plautus was also of this class. ”

“ Some there are who heap several rings on the little finger alone; while others, again, wear but one ring on this finger—the ring that sets a seal on the signet-ring itself; this last being carefully shut up as an object of rarity, too precious to be worn in common use, and only to be taken from the cabinet (dactyliotheca) as from a sanctuary. And thus is the wearing of a single ring upon the little finger no more than an ostentatious advertisement that the owner has property of a more precious nature under seal at home. ”