Release date : September 13, [eBook ] Most recently updated: October 23, In thus contributing to the extension of knowledge, the subject of ring-lore has a close affinity to that of numismatics, but it possesses the supreme advantage of appealing to our sympathies and affections. So Herrick sings of the wedding-ring:. It must be admitted that in many cases of particular rings it is sometimes difficult to arrive at concurrent conclusions respecting their date and authenticity: much has to be left to conjecture, but the pursuit of enquiry into the past is always pleasant and instructive, however unsuccessful in its results.
My acknowledgments are due to friends at home and abroad, whose collections of rings have been opened for my inspection with true masonic cordiality. I have also to thank the publishers of this work for the liberal manner in which they have illustrated the text. Many of the engravings are from drawings taken from the gem-room of the British, and from other museums, and from rare and costly works on the Fine Arts, not easily accessible to the general reader.
In conclusion I will adopt the valedictory lines of an old author, who writes in homely and deprecatory verse:. The use of signet-rings as symbols of great respect and authority is mentioned in several parts of the Holy Scriptures, from which it would seem that they were then common among persons of rank.
They were sometimes wholly of metal, but frequently the inscription was borne on a stone, set in gold or silver. The impression from the signet-ring of a monarch gave the force of a royal decree to any instrument to which it was attached. Hence the delivery or transfer of it gave the power of using the royal name, and created the highest office in the State. In Genesis xli. The ring was also used as a pledge for the performance of a promise: Judah [Pg 3] promised to send Tamar, his daughter-in-law, a kid from his flock, and for fulfilment left with her at her desire his signet, his bracelet, and his staff Genesis xxxviii.
Darius sealed with his ring the mouth of the den of lions Daniel vi. Queen Jezebel, to destroy Naboth, made use of the ring of Ahab, King of the Israelites, her husband, to seal the counterfeit letters ordering the death of that unfortunate man.
