Finger Rings

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Irish Jesuit Province Finger Rings Author(s): E. K. O'Byrne Source: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 45, No. 528 (Jun., 1917), pp. 393-396 Published by: Irish Jesuit Province Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20504824 . Accessed: 17/06/2014 18:00 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Irish Jesuit Province is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Irish Monthly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 91.229.229.162 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 18:00:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Transcript of Finger Rings

Irish Jesuit Province

Finger RingsAuthor(s): E. K. O'ByrneSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 45, No. 528 (Jun., 1917), pp. 393-396Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20504824 .

Accessed: 17/06/2014 18:00

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Irish Jesuit Province is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Irish Monthly.

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This content downloaded from 91.229.229.162 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 18:00:52 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

[ 393 ]

FINGER RINGS

BY E. K. O'BYRNE.

O F all jewels, or personal ornaments, there is perhaps

none more precious or charming, and withal

none more apparently useless, than the ring. The

origin of this little object which, by reason of the wide spread interest attached to it, stirs our curiosity, can be traced to the very earliest periods of civilisation. The ring is, in fact, a direct result of civilisation, and the fashion now so uniiversal of decorating the finger with this

ornanment did not develop, as iiay be supposed, from

primitive man's love of self-adornment. Rings were invented bv an extrenmelv civilised people to

supply a pressing need, that of carrying always with one a sign of one's identity. It was a custom with the Egyptians

to lhave always on their person a seal, whichl served as a

sign of their identity, and with which they stamped the

tablets of wax on 7hich their commands, orders or engage

ments were written. These seals were, for the most part, small stones, chiselled in the form of a scarab, the top

being convex and often beautifully ornanmented, the under neath being plain, and engraved with the inscription or device l)eculiar to the owner. For the convenience of carrving this seal, and to prevent its being lost, it was

usually pierced lengthiwise, a thread or fine wire being passed through the hole. It was at first worn round the neck or wrist; graduallly, as it was witlh the hand it was

used, it came to be worn round the finger. Later, as the tlhread or wire was found to break easily,

the resourceful Egyptians substituted for it a gold clasp shaped like a horseshoe, the two ends of which were flat tened and pierced; the seal was then placed between these extremities, and attached so that it cotuld be tuirned as the

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394 THE IRISH MONTHLY

wearer desired, either showing the plain inscribed surface or the ornamental convex side. Soon it becanme a wide

spread practice to ornament the fingers with this trinket,

whichl combined beauty witlh usefulness. Some of the finest examples of Egyptian rings date

from the eighteentlh to the twentieth dynasty. They are of pure gold and simple in design, and have uisually an

oblong gold bezel, on which the name and titles of the

owner are fouind. Rings worn by the poorer classes in Egypt were made of less costly materials-bronze, silver,

glass or pottery, sometimes ivory or stone. From being a sign of identity, thie ring became an

emblem of power. The annals of antiquity are full of instances of tlhis. Thuls, when Pharaoh wished to delegtate h'is power to Joseplh and to place him over the whole land of

Egypt, lhe took the ring from his own hand and gave it

into Joseph's, thereby investing him with regal authority. Again, when the dying Alexander desired to point out whom he wished as regent after his death, he sent his ring to

Perdiccas. In our own day, the Sovereian Pontiff and

other Princes of Chuirch and State still wear this seal of

authority and syvmbol of power.

There are numerous kinds of rings, the examination of

any one class of which would prove an interesting and recrea

tive subject of study. There were ecclesiastical, civil and military rings, marriage and engagement rings, posy rings, heraldic, talismanic and symbolic rings. Other miscel laneous classes, too, are interesting; for instance, mourning rings. These usually bore the name and deathi-date of the mourned one; they were often in the form of two

skeletons holding between them the bezel on which was engraved a coffin. Portrait rings also are an interesting class. The celebrated ring given by Elizabeth to Essex

was set witlh a fine cameo portrait of the Queen cuit in

Sardonyx. Poison rings also figuire largely in history; for even as the ring has been a token of friendship and a pledge of happiness, so also has it been an instrument of passion and tragedy.

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FINGER RINGS 395

Many of the ancient rings were quite plain, but others were highly ornamented, many of -them-betrothal rings

especially-being wonderful masterpieces of the jeweller's art. Betrothal rings are of special interest, for they are the precursors of the "plain gold ring," the visible emblem of love and marriage. Their exact origin is rather obscure,

but the use of the ring as a token of love and a symbol

of betrothal was probably evolved from the custom of giving

one's ring as a sign of identity and a mark of absolute

confidence. Then, again, the ring may have been selected

as an outward sign of the "love that hath no ending."

In the matter of engagement rings, many and divers were the designs used in order to express appropriately the giver's

wishes. Nowadays, they have lost much of that sweet

sentiment and quaint originality which characterised them formerly; very rarely does one come across anything re sembling those beautiful inscribed posy rings, so universally used in the Middle Ages as offerings of love and testimonies of affection.

The real development of the wedding ring can no longer be traced, but as far back as the eleventh century we read

of the ring receiving ecclesiastical sanction and formal benediction.

Shakespeare frequently mentions the giving of rings as tokens of fidelity. In Twelfth Night he alludes to the " interchangement of rings " in the sealing of " a contract

of eternal bond of love." In Two Gentlemnen of Verona we find Julia and Proteus exchanging rings as love-tokens, and when, in The Merchant of Venice, Portia gives the ring to Bassanio, it is that he may carry with him a silent pledge of her affection. Then, too, when Romeo is filled with dread lest his misdeeds have killed Juliet's affection, Juliet sends her nurse to him with a ring to assure him of her unchanging love. In All's Well thiat Ends Well, a ring also plays an important part, and is described by Bertram, Cotunt of Rouisillon as being

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396 THE IRISH MONTHLY

"An honour longing to our house Bequeathed down from many ancestors."

There are numerous other incidents in literary and historical works to show that, although to-day little more than a means of adornnment, the ring has been tlhrough

all history an intimate associate of man, the sign of his

identity, the silent witness of his solemn contracts, the emblem of his friendship, the badge of his belief, and the symbol of his dreams.

TO CHRIST

For every gift and every grace, On every day, in every place, I give Thee thanks, for Thou didst live And die, to have the grace to give.

For all the good that I have done Throughout my life beneath the sun, I give Thee praise, for it was Thine, And only the defect was mine.

For all the ill, so mlclh in all, When I did stumble or did fall,

I pledge my pronmise (help me Thou!) To work no other mischief now.

For every grief and every loss, For every portion of the cross, I bless Thee, Who permittest me To walk with Simon after Thee.

J. W. A.

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