Ruby ring

“ I felt myself trembling all over. Where was I to look? Why was I to look? Was the ruby ring going to tell me a secret? Was it going to confide to me—to me, the mystery of Cousin Geoffrey’s unknown heir?
With great difficulty, and with fingers that trembled, I moved the morsel of paper until I got the microscope to bear on the remaining words of the sentence. They came out clear at last. Clear and large they flashed upon my vision. ”

“ Rosamund Lindley and her mother may possibly attend my funeral. I hope they will. In that case, please give Rosamund the ruby ring in the presence of my other relatives, and, although I lay no command upon her in the matter, tell her, if she values the memory of old Geoffrey Rutherford, not to sell the ring. ”

“ I arrived at Ivy Lodge in time for an afternoon cup of tea with my mother. I was very hungry, for I had not ventured on the extravagance of lunch in town, and while I ate, I regaled her with the account of my morning’s adventures. She was by no means astonished when she heard that the old Jew dealer had offered me one hundred and fifty pounds for the ring.
“It is worth a good deal more than that,” she said. “I know the centre ruby has been priced at a very high figure by more than one connoisseur. Nevertheless, you are not going to sell the ring, are you, Rosamund?” ”

“ Tennant, is surmounted by a rose-cut sapphire. There is a tradition that this sapphire was once set in the ring of Edward the Confessor, a ring which, according to popular belief, was endowed with wonderful curative virtues, and gave its successive owners the power to consecrate the so-called cramp rings. [304] This attribution of the sapphire is in disagreement with the early notice of the ruby ring given to Westminster Abbey by Richard II as that of the saintly Edward, and also to the usage long observed of setting a ruby in the Coronation Ring. ”

“ See the delicacy of this ground, and these fairy stitches, and that embroidery. We will spread it over the centre Queen Anne table, and put our lunch on it.”
“You will not,” I said. “The cloth does not belong to us. We have no right to desecrate it.”
“Desecrate! Honour, you mean, Rosamund. Oh! Rupert, Rupert,” continued Lady Ursula, turning to her future husband, “I do pray and trust that you will be discovered to be Cousin Geoffrey’s heir. I absolutely pine for that cloth. I long for it as intensely as I used to long for Rosamund’s ruby ring.” ”

“ A queen consort is given at the ceremony of coronation a ring of pure gold also bearing a ruby, but unengraved; about the stone are sixteen smaller rubies, so graded as to size that the largest are placed nearest to the central stone, the size diminishing as the distance increases. The ruby has been chosen as emblematic of faithfulness. These rings are put on the fourth finger of king and queen, and the king’s ring is called by some writers “The Wedding-Ring of England,” the sovereign being regarded as espoused to the nation over whose welfare he is to watch. ”

“ Any of the corundum gems therefore may be used in any type of jewel without undue risk of wear or breakage. Customers of jewelers should, however, be cautioned against [122] wearing ruby or sapphire rings on the same finger with a diamond ring in cases where it would be possible for the two stones to rub against each other. So much harder than the ruby is the diamond (in spite of the seeming closeness of position in Mohs's scale) that the slightest touch upon a ruby surface with a diamond will produce a pronounced scratch. ”

“ Queen Bertha, consort of King Louis the Seventh, of France, was crowned by the Pope, who also placed a ring on her finger, saying: ‘Receive this ring, emblem of the Holy Trinity, by which you may resist heresy and bring the heathen to a knowledge of the faith by the virtue thus given. God, the source of all dignity and honour, give to thy servant, by this sign of the faith, grace to persevere in His sight, that she may evermore rest firm in the faith by the merits of Jesus Christ.’
[45] The ruby, according to De Laert (1647) , appears to have been very generally used for rings, and unpolished ”

“ Every where, and especially in the lateral caves, human bones of extraordinary size, with bones and teeth of animals, now unknown, have been discovered, and there, with pottery, rings were found.
§ 11. Rings were in use among the Gauls and Britons, [25] but seemingly for ornament only. They are often found in British barrows. Anglo-Saxon rings were common. [34] William de Belmeis gave certain lands to St. Paul’s Cathedral, and at the same time directed that his gold ring set with a ruby should, together with the seal, be affixed to the charter for ever. ”

“ Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose, And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine, And many a Garden by the Water blows. ”

“ VII. THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY.
To give a full account of this precious stone would almost involve the writing of the history of England from the reign of Edward III. down to the present time. We shall therefore limit ourselves to a few of the most striking scenes in which the Ruby figured.
Though differing much in appearance—the one being red and the other blue—the ruby and the sapphire are, chemically speaking, the same, viz. pure alumina. The perfect ruby is very rare and more valuable, size for size, than the diamond. It is tested in a curious manner. ”

“ He wears a very magnificent emerald ring, which is too large for the slender third finger of his left hand, and he amuses himself by twisting it round and round, sometimes stopping to contemplate the effect of it with the plain gold outside, when it looks like a lady's wedding-ring. "It is, I positively assure you," he repeated, looking at the ring, and not at Raymond, "utterly beyond the limited powers of my humble comprehension." ”

“ The most brilliant thing in the room was that wonderful jewel, glowing and scintillating like blood-red fire.
"It was considerably larger than the end of my thumb—as large as a big hickory-nut and, my uncle averred, flawless. Rubies of such a size and without a flaw are extremely rare, I believe; in fact, there are only one or two known to be in existence. The old gentleman declared that one of five carats was worth five times as much as a diamond of equal weight, and that the value increased proportionately with each additional carat. ”

“ The ruby, although as a natal stone it belongs to December, is the gem of summer. It is born in the hot climates,—the pigeon’s-blood ruby in Burma, the pomegranate-red in Ceylon, and the more garnet-hued type in Siam,—these three equatorial countries produce the ruby. Those of large size are always rare, and this is the gem which Job valued more highly than any other, although “garnet” may perhaps be a better rendering. It is on an equal plane in hardness, in composition, in crystalline structure, and in every way, with the sapphire. ”

“ Martin’s rings and counterfeit bracelets as ‘commodities of infinite consequence. They will [Pg 286] passe for current at a May-pole, and purchase a favour from their May-Marian.’
So also in ‘Plaine Percevall, the Peace-maker of England’: ‘I doubt whether all be gold that glistereth, sith St. Martin’s rings be but copper within, though they be gilt without, sayes the goldsmith.’
The materials of which wedding-rings have been made are numerous; besides the various metals, we have an instance of a leather ring made on the spur of the moment out of a piece of kid cut from the bride’s glove. ”

“ Arms were sometimes blazoned on rings by enamel applied to the base of a setting; thus the arms engraved on a rock-crystal or a white sapphire, would appear with their proper hues, the colors showing through the transparent stone, and their effect being heightened by the brilliant medium. A fine example of this kind of ring is one made for Jean Sans-Peur, Duke of Burgundy (1401–1419) ; another is the signet ring of Mary, Queen of Scots, now in the British Museum. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It was always considered more fortunate to wear the ruby on the left hand or left side of the body. The colours of the gem vary from a light rose to a deep red, the most expensive colour being that nearest to pigeon’s blood. Submitted to a high temperature it turns green but when cooling returns to its original colour. A particularly fortunate and rare variety is the Star or Asteriated ruby which exhibits a perfect star on its beautifully rounded cabochon surface, coming as it were from a chatoyant interior. ”

“ Thus, towards the end of the tenth century, Beorhtric, a wealthy noble in Kent, left in his will a ring worth thirty mancuses of gold that the queen might be his advocate that the will should stand. In the Braybrooke Collection is a plain silver ring, inscribed on the top of the exterior of the hoop, with the Anglo-Saxon word ‘Dolȝbot,’ the meaning of which is, compensation made for giving a man a wound, either by a stab or blow. This ring is ornamented by a simple wavy line, and dots, as if to represent a branch, and was found in Essex. ”

“ Press it: not too hard. A light touch is sufficient—a heavy one might break the delicate machinery.”
“I see,” I answered, “thank you. No, I won’t disturb my rubies again now. It might break the charm if I got my ring to tell its secrets too often.”
“Rosamund,” said Lady Ursula, suddenly, “it strikes me that you and Rupert must be some kind of relations; that is, if that ring were left to you by a relation.”
“My mother’s cousin left me the ring,” I said.
“Your mother’s cousin?” said Captain Valentine. “Do you mind giving me some particulars? It is interesting to trace relationships ”

“ Excepting the diamond and sapphire, each of the precious stones—the emerald, the topaz and amethyst—possesses a more noble, a harder, and more highly-prized counterpart of itself, alike in colour, but superior in brilliancy and hardness; still more strange, the precious stone to which its special name is usually attached is the variety the least prized. The ruby itself might almost be included in the same category. The true ruby consists of the earth alumina, in a clear, crystalline form, having a minute quantity of the element chromium as the colouring matter. ”

“ In the “British Apollo” it is said that, during the time of George the First, the wedding-ring, though placed in the ceremony of the marriage upon the fourth finger, was worn upon the thumb. [345]
The use of the ring has become so common in England that poor people will not believe the marriage to be good without one; and the notion also is that it must be of gold. At Worcester (England) on one occasion, the parties were so poor that they used a brass ring. The bride’s friends indignantly protested that the ring ought to have been of gold ”

“ Gifts of rings to the Virgin were common in the Middle Ages. Monstrelet relates that at the execution of the Constable of France, Louis de Luxembourg, in the reign of Louis XI., he took a gold ring set with a diamond from his finger, and, giving it to the Penitentiary, desired he would offer it to the image of the Virgin Mary, and place it on her finger, which he promised to perform. ”

“ A ‘jet’ ring belongs to the late Roman period. A white cornelian ring has a smaller part of the hoop cut down, so as to form an oval bezel, on which is engraved a standing figure of Æsculapius. A gold ring, Roman, set with oval intaglio, on cornelian, of a trophy consisting of a horse’s head bridled, and two Gallic shields crossed, with the name of Q. Cornel Lupi, is the seal of Quintus Cornelius Lupus, commemorating a victory over the Gauls: the setting is modern. Another gold ring, with oval bezel, set with an intaglio on yellow sard, has a youthful bust, full-faced ”

“ The red sun, like a ball of fire, is setting behind the dark, leafless tree-tops when at last they turn to go, and everything is very still, save for the faint ripple of the burn through the long flats of field as it flows out to meet the sea. Fast clasped in Jack’s is Ruby’s little hand; but a stronger arm than his is guiding both Jack and Ruby onward. In the dawning, neither Wat nor Ruby’s mother need fear disappointment now. ”

“ The gold of the ring is massive at the face, making a strong setting for the cornelian, which is engraved with the figure of a female bearing corn and fruit. By far the greater majority of Roman rings exhumed at home and abroad are of this fashion, which recommends itself by a dignified simplicity, telling by quantity and quality of metal and stone its true value, [Pg 24] without any obtrusive aid.’ Sometimes a single ring was constructed to appear like a group of two or three upon the finger. ”

“ In olden wills they are frequently mentioned as heir-looms of great value.
What are termed DECADE-rings, having ten projections at intervals all round the hoop, were common in former times, and were used as beads for repeating Aves. In the Braybrooke Collection a ring is mentioned with eleven knobs, the last being larger than the others, indicating ten Aves and one Paternoster. Each of the knobs is separated by three small beaded dots across the hoop from its neighbour, probably symbolic of the Trinity. ”