Now that she this upon her hand surveys, She is so full of pleasure and surprise, She doubts it is a dream, and, in amaze, Hardly believes her very hand and eyes. Then softly to her mouth the hoop conveys, And, quicker than the flash which cleaves the skies, From bold Rogero’s sight her beauty shrouds, As disappears the sun concealed in clouds. Lydgate, in his ‘Troy book’ (1513), relates how Medea gives to Iason, when he is going to combat the brazen bulls, and to lull to sleep the dragon that guarded the golden fleece, a ring, in which was a gem charmed against poison, and would render the wearer invisible. ‘It was a sort of precious stone,’ says Lydgate, ‘which Virgil celebrates, and which Venus sent her son Æneas that he might enter Carthage.’ In the metrical romance of ‘Richard Cœur-de-Lion,’ King Modard gives him:-- Two riche rings of gold: The stones wherein be full bold. Hence to the land of Ind, Better than they shalt thou not find. For whoso hath that one stone, Water ne shall him drench none. That other stone whoso that bear Fire ne shall him never dere (hurt). In ‘Floire and Blanceflor’ the latter, drawing from her finger a ring containing a small talisman, says to her lover: ‘Floire, accept this as a pledge of our mutual love; look on it every day; if thou seest its brilliancy tarnished, it is a sign that my life or my liberty is in danger.’ In another part of the story, when going in search of Blanceflor, who has been carried away, Floire receives a ring from his mother: ‘Have now, lief son, this ring: whilst thou preservest it neither fire shall burn, nor water drown, nor weapon injure thee, and all thy wants shall be instantly supplied.’ In the ‘Archæologia’ (vol. xix. p. 411) is a notice of a gold ring found in the ruins of the palace at Eltham, in Kent, bearing on the side edges of the interior the following inscription:-- Qui me portera ecploitera Et a grant Joye revendra. Who wears me shall perform exploits, And with great Joy shall return: implying that the ring was an amulet, and may, possibly, have been presented to some distinguished personage when setting out for the Holy Land in the time of the Crusades. The ring is set with an oriental ruby and five diamonds, placed at equal distances round the exterior. [Illustration: Amulet ring.] The inscription is in small Gothic characters, but remarkably well-formed and legible. The shape of the ruby is an irregular oval, while the diamonds are all of a triangular form and in their natural crystallised state. An emerald ring was thought to ensure purity of thought and conduct. In ‘Caltha Poetarium, or the Humble Bee,’ by T. Cutwode (1599), Diana is represented adorning the heroine of the piece:-- And, with an emerald, hangs she on a ring That keeps just reckoning of our chastity: * * * * * And, therefore, ladies, it behoves you well To walk full warily when stones will tell.