o wear "ne ring ne brooche," and
to deny themselves other personal adornments.

Archbishops seem to have possessed numerous rings in ancient times.
In the romance of "Sir Degrevant" a couplet alludes to:

"Archbishops with rings
More than fifteen."

Episcopal rings were originally made of sapphires, said to be typical
of the cold austerity of the life of the wearer. Later, however,
the carbuncle became a favourite, which was supposed to suggest fiery
zeal for the faith. Perhaps the compromise of the customary amethyst,
which is now most popularly used, for Episcopal rings, being a
combination of the blue and the red, may typify a blending of more
human qualities!

[Illustration: HEBREW RING]

In an old will of 1529, a ring was left as a bequest to a relative,
described as "a table diamond set with black aniell, meate for my
little finger."

The accompanying illustration represents a Hebrew ring, surmounted
by a little mosque, and having the inscription "Mazul Toub" (God
be with you, or Good luck to you).

It was the custom in Elizabethan times to wear "posie rings" (or
poesie rings) in which inscriptions were cut, such as, "Let likinge
Laste," "Remember the ? that is in pain," or, "God saw fit this
knot to knit," and the like. These posie rings are so called
because of the little poetical sentiments associated with them.
They were often used as engagement rings, and sometimes as wedding
rings. In an old Saxon ring is the inscription, "Eanred made me and
Ethred owns me." One of the mottoes in an old ring is pathetic;
evidently it was worn by an invalid, who was trying to be patient,
"Quant Dieu Plera melior sera." (When it shall please God, I shall
be better.) And in a small ring set with a tiny diamond, "This
sparke shall grow." An agreeable and favourite "posie" was

"The love is true
That I O U."

A motto in a ring owned by Lady Cathcart was inscribed on the occasion
of her fourth marriage; with laudable ambition, she observes,

"If I survive,
I will have five."

It is to these "posie rings" that Shakespeare has reference when
he makes Jaques say to Orlando: "You are full of pretty answers:
have you not been acquainted with goldsmiths' wives, and conned
them out of rings?"

In the Isle of Man there was once a law that any girl who had been
wronged by a man had the right to redress herself in one of three
ways: she was given a sword, a rope and a ring, and she could decide
wheth