extremity of the county, where numerous objects have been found at
various times on the shifting of the sand, such as firearms, an
astrolabe, and silver dollars. This ring is of gold, much bent and
defaced, and inscribed with mystic words inside and outside the hoop.
Their talismanic character seems to be sufficiently proved by the
English medical manuscript preserved at Stockholm, already alluded to,
in which, among various cabalistic prescriptions, is one "for peynes in
theth.... Boro berto briore + vulnera quinque dei sint medicina mei +
Tahebal + Ghether + + + Othman." The last word should probably be read
Guthman, and it is succeeded by five crosses, possibly in allusion to
the five wounds of the Saviour.

[Illustration: Fig. 144.]

[Illustration: Fig. 145.]

As a preventive of peril by travel and sudden death, the names of the
three Magi, or the "Kings of Cologne," as they were more popularly
termed, were believed to be most efficacious. Their bodies travelled
first to Constantinople, thence to Milan, and lastly to Cologne, by
various removals. The faithful may still view the skulls of the Arabian
kings who visited the Saviour in the manger (if they can believe the old
legend), in the richly-jewelled reliquary, guarded so sacredly in the
Cathedral of Cologne. Their possession brought enormous revenues to the
building, and a heavy tax is still imposed on all who would see them. It
was once (and may be still) believed that anything which had touched
these skulls had a protective virtue. Their names acted as a charm, and
were inscribed on such articles of wearing apparel as girdles or
garters, of which many specimens exist in the curious collection of Mr.
C. Roach Smith, and were found at London in excavations or in the
Thames. Upon rings they are most common; two are here selected from the
Londesborough collection. Fig. 144 is a thick gold hoop, inscribed with
their names, Jasper, Melchior, Balthazar, and the abbreviated motto, "in
. god . is . a . r.," which the late Mr. Crofton Croker, who compiled a
descriptive catalogue of these rings, thought might probably mean "in
God is a remedy." Fig. 145 furnishes a good example of a fashion of
hoop-ring prevalent in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, flat
inside and angular outside. Each face is inscribed with the same
talismanic names. It is formed of cheap mixed metal, was found in
London, and presented to the collection by Mr. Roach Smith.

[Illustration: Fig.