A pledge or token ring of remarkable interest was exhibited by Mr. J. W.
Singer at the Loan Exhibition of Ancient and Modern Jewellery, South
Kensington Museum, in 1872. This ring (of silver, set with a yellow topaz,
diamonds, and a small ruby of English manufacture) has been preserved in
the Penderell family, as that given by King Charles II. as a token of
gratitude for the fidelity which saved him in the oak-tree at Boscobel,
after the battle of Worcester. At the King’s Restoration the five
brothers Penderell attended at Whitehall, ‘when his Majesty was pleased
to own their faithful service, and graciously dismissed them with a
princely reward’ (‘Boscobel Tracts’).
This ring now belongs to Mrs. Whiteby, of Beckington, Somerset, fifth in
descent from Penderell. A yearly pension of one hundred pounds for _ever_
was conferred upon the family, a portion of which (forty pounds) is now
only received by a male relative.
A ring-token, of sinister omen, is mentioned of the same monarch. This ill
bestowal of a ring from royalty is exemplified in the case of that hideous
judicial monster Jeffreys. With thorough want of judgment, Charles II., in
a fit of imprudency, habitual to him, gave the infamous judge a ring from
his own finger. This was popularly termed _Jeffreys’s blood-stone_, as he
obtained it soon after the execution of Sir Thomas Armstrong. Roger North
says: ‘The King was persuaded to present him with a ring, publicly taken
from his own finger, in token of his Majesty’s acceptance of his most
eminent services; and this, by way of precursor, being blazoned in the
Gazette, his Lordship went down into the country as from the King,
_legatus à latere_.’ And a mission of blood and brutality it was!
A ring-token or present is mentioned in the ‘True Remembrances’ of Richard
Boyle, the great Earl of Cork, who says: ‘When first I arrived in Ireland,
June 23, 1588, all my wealth then was twenty-seven pounds three shillings
in money, and two _tokens_ which my mother had given me, viz. a diamond
ring, which I have ever since and still do wear, and a bracelet of gold
worth about ten pounds.’
Many other instances of ring-tokens might be mentioned, but the limits to
which this work is confined prevent me from enlarging on the subject. I
will merely allude as a memorable instance in modern times, to the
ring-token presented to George III. on his birthday in 1764 by his Queen.
It was a ring splendidly ornamented with brilliants, and contained an
enamel in which were the portraits, exquisitely represented, of their
children.
I will conclude these notices of token rings with a very stirring ballad
by Mr. Planché, entitled ‘The Three Rings’:--
‘Good morrow, lovely lady! Is thy noble lord with thee?’
‘Sir knight, since to the wars he went, full moons have wasted three;
Three weary moons have wax’d and waned since he sail’d o’er the main,
And little wist I when these eyes shall see my lord again.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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