OCR Text |
Show party wearing ono of the rings. Oeorgn IV gave a geiniuel ring to Miv.. Fitz-herbert. Fitz-herbert. Tho toadstone ring was another quaint media-val conception. It was an outcome, of superstition mid died when superstition died. Tho idea of the toad-stone toad-stone rintr was to prevent mothers and small children from the evil inflneneesof th" fairies. The smallest wedding ring ever fashioned was that used at the marriage mar-riage of Mary, the infant daughter of Henry VI 11 of F.nglainl, to the Dauphin of France, son of Francis I. The marriage was performed by Cardinals Wolsey and Cumpeggio, the bridegroom being 8 months old mid ilie bride 1 year and 10 months old. D iston 'Globe. ' KINGS OF THE ANCIENTS. J STYLES WORN BY THE EGYPTIANS, J ROMANS AND HEBREWS. I Itln-rt Am Uc";ardc(l OilTerclitly N ( I'liun Formerly Worn Not So Much for Ornament a fur Their Intrinsic Value. Some Kanioim King III Hintory. j , Looking at the exhibition of modern , """""'finger' rings, the old timer is forcibly struck by the fact that, whereas n tho good old days the decorative art and design de-sign were almost wholly expended on ' the gold band itself, modern jewelers confined themselves almost exclusively to combinations of valuable stones. It ,is a very ungrateful task to spoil a romance, ro-mance, but cold truth compels the admission ad-mission that this is a practical age, which looks largely to the matter of convert i-k i-k bility in rings, watches and valuable presents. Actors and actresses on their ' travels I are seldom seen without a diamond pin, brooch, necklace or solitaire ring, be-I be-I cause these articles represent a condensation condensa-tion of money in small bulk and undo-preciable undo-preciable form. The finest workman-.? workman-.? ship on the gold itself goes for nothing. t?1 It is simply "old gold" sold by weight. I . i It was very different in "the days of J f old," though there were plenty of pre-jVcions pre-jVcions stones available if they had been f I needed. The Phuraohc and their states-. states-. " men, Hie princesses of Egypt and their fa-fi: fa-fi: vored attendants, undoubtedly wore Ji rings, for quite a numlx-r of mummies V have been found with a dozen finger s rings liberally distributed on the eight r , fingers, besides the indispensable thumb rings. For it is a singular fact that for hundreds of years after the Christian era the enstom still prevailed of wearing V the wedding ring and tho masculine i token of wealth and power on the thumb. I EOY1TIAM KINDS. I The ring is so frequently alluded to in I . the Old Testament as to make it plain i that the greatest importance attached to it, even in the pastoral age. In Cten. xii, i'2, it is stated that "Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand," as a signal mark of favor. In F'stii. iii, 10, mention is made of King Ahasuerus taking his ring from I his hand and giving it to Haitian, and the context shows that certain written documents were "sealed with tho king's ring." The old time rings were made of all sons of material. Pliny mentions that won rings were commonly worn by betrothed be-trothed peisous. It seems tolerably certain cer-tain that rings of gold and silver were worn only by kings, princes and nobles, while less expensive, circlets of brass, ivory, iron und porcelain or gluts were worn by the average citizeti. The oldest gold Egyptian linger ring actually preserved belonged to Aran- Iioph III, who reigned over Egypt foiir-l foiir-l teen centuries before Christ was born, i? Rings of the date of Osirtasen and Thoth- k MT ...1... -.m ..,tt..i .iiw vui'i..e nf :? un a m, n" vw..... - I Joseph and Moses, hare been found, bar. ( they are of common mateiial and doubt ful authenticity. The scarahaeus, a beetle which fonned the Egyptian token of im-inftrtality im-inftrtality (from being a sexual) is a common com-mon emblem in Egyptian tingoi rings, uad ono of Poe's most extravagant "tales of mystery, imagination and humor" lias a well established foundation, so far as the seal-abacus ring is concerned. It seems to tie tolerably certain that Egyptian Egyp-tian women wore as many rings as tliey could crowd on their fingers. ANTIQUITY OK KINGS. The Egyptians and Roni ins undoubtedly undoubt-edly preferred the left hand fur ring pur-poses, pur-poses, while C'-iesar, Livy and Tacitus all seem to insist that the ( iauls and Britons wore their rings on the right hand. In any case, it seeifis to have been tacitly agreed that the third finger was the place of honor. The Hebrew rings worn in those good old days were very ornate and beautiful. Quite "a number of thein have been pre- served, and they put the art of the mod- ' rrn jeweler entirely to the blush. The most beautiful were, the pledges of be-throthal be-throthal or wedding gifts. The ceremonies ceremo-nies in connection with these rings see in to be foreshadowed' in tho redemption process spec ified in Ruth iv, 7. The workmanship of these Hebrew bethrothal ; rings grew still more elaborate in the j Middle Ages, when lowers and miinrets : of gold were most, exquisitely built up on the hoop. The Jewish bride of this era wore the wedding ring on the first 1 Ci ger. but in later days shifted it for Cor. e'lience to the third. j The old style "gemmel" v "gerntuon" ! ri:ig(eviden fly associated with the French jii-iicau jniuelle, uncommon, meaning ' twin") is not fit all an object in col-1". col-1". : ins of antique rings. The iiii'.'iuiv;; of th" indivisible links is sell evident. Usually at the marriage of the parties tho links were severed, each i |