Because the wedding-ring’s a fashion old, And signifies, by the purity of gold, The purity required i’ the married pair, And by the rotundity the union fair, Which ought to be between them endless, for No other reason, we that use abhor. _A Long-winded Lay-lecture_ (published 1674). They will not hear of wedding-rings For to be us’d in their marriage; But say they’re superstitious things, And do religion much disparage: They are but vain, and things profane; Wherefore, now, no wit bespeaks them, So to be tyed unto the bride, But do it as the spirit moves them. _A Curtain-lecture_ (‘Loyal Songs,’ vol. i No. 15). The objections of the Dissenters to the ring in marriage were answered by Dr. Comber, (‘Office of Matrimony,’ &c., folio edition, part 4,) by Dr. Nicholls upon the Office of Matrimony, and Wheatley in his ‘Rational Illustration.’ In the ancient ritual of marriage the ring was placed by the husband on the top of the thumb of the left hand, with the words, ‘In the name of the Father;’ he then removed it to the forefinger, saying, ‘and of the Son,’ then to the middle finger, adding, ‘and of the Holy Ghost;’ finally he left it on the fourth finger, with the closing word ‘Amen.’ The English ‘Book of Common Prayer’ orders that the ring should be placed on the fourth finger of the woman’s left hand. The spousal manuals of York and Salisbury assign this practical reason for the selection of this finger: ‘quia in illo digito est quædam vena procedens usque ad cor.’[58] Other reasons than its connection with the heart are assigned by Macrobius. The author of the ‘Vulgar Errors’ had entirely overthrown the anatomical fiction. On the subject of ring-fingers, a ‘Polyglot Dictionary’ by John Minshew (1625) says: ‘Vetus versiculus singulis digitis Annulum tribuens, Miles, Mercator, Stultus, Maritus, Amator. Pollici adscribitur Militi, seu Doctori; Mercatorum, a pollice secundum; Stultorum, tertium; Nuptorum vel Studiosorum, quartinum; Amatorum, ultimum.’ Amongst the Hebrews, the finger of God denoted his power, and it was the forefingers of the gods of Greece and Italy which wore the ring, the emblem of divine supremacy. Why the ring is worn on the left hand is said to signify the subjection of the wife to the husband; the right hand signifies power, independence, authority, the left dependence or subjection.[59] Columbiere remarks: ‘Some of the ancients made the ring to denote servitude, alleging that the bridegroom was to give it to his bride, to denote to her that she is to be subject to him, which Pythagoras seemed to confirm when he suggested wearing a straight ring, that is, not to submit to over-rigid servitude.’ It is very observable that none of the Hereford, York, and Salisbury missals mention the hand, whether right or left, on which the ring is to be put.