It would be difficult to find a subject more interesting in all its associations than a wedding-ring. From the most remote times it has had a mystical signification, appealing to our most cherished feelings, hopes and wishes. The circular form of the ring was accepted in days by-gone, as a symbol of eternity, thus indicative of the stability of affection. We find some of our noted divines echoing the sentiments of old enthusiasts on the figurative virtues of a ring. Thus Dean Comber and Wheatley express themselves: ‘The matter of which this ring is made is gold, signifying how noble and durable our affection is; the form is round, to imply that our respect (or regards) shall never have an end; the place of it is on the fourth finger of the left hand, where the ancients thought there was a vein that came directly from the heart, and where it may be always in view; and, being a finger least used, where it may be least subject to be worn out; but the main end is to be a visible and lasting token of the covenant which must never be forgotten.’ Jeremy Taylor, in his sermon on a ‘Wedding-ring for the Finger,’ conveys, in quaint and forcible language, the duties and responsibilities of married life.[55] In an old Latin work, ascribing the invention of the ring to Tubal Cain, we find: ‘The form of the ring being circular, that is, round, and without end, importeth thus much, that mutual love and hearty affection should roundly flow from one to the other, as in a circle, and that continually and for ever.’ Herrick has versified this conceit:-- Julia, I bring To thee this ring, Made for thy finger fit; To show by this That our love is, Or should be, like to it. Close though it be, The joint is free; So, when love’s yoke is on, It must not gall, Nor fret at all With hard oppression. But it must play Still either way, And be, too, such a yoke As not, too wide, To overslide, Or be so straight to choke. So we who bear This beam, must rear Ourselves to such a height As that the stay Of either may Create the burthen light. _And as this round Is nowhere found To flaw, or else to sever, So let our love As endless prove_, And pure as gold for ever. The same idea is conveyed in some lines by Woodward (1730) ‘to Phoebe, presenting her with a ring:’-- Accept, fair maid, _this earnest of my love_, _Be this the type_, let this my passion prove; Thus may our joy in endless circles run, Fresh as the light, and restless as the sun; Thus may our lives _be one perpetual round_, Nor care nor sorrow ever shall be found. In modern poetry we have many sweet and tender allusions to the wedding-ring. Thus Byron writes:--