"_Forms of Public Meetings._"--Can any of your readers inform me of the name of the publisher of _Forms and Proceedings of Public Meetings_ referred to in _The Times_ of Sept. 16 or 17 last, and supposed to have been written by the Speaker of the House of Commons? Z. Y. {175} * * * * * Minor Queries with Answers. _Queen Elizabeth and the Ring._--Has the common story, respecting the Earl of Essex sending a ring to Queen Elizabeth by the Countess of Nottingham, in order to procure his pardon, any foundation in fact? T. T. W. [Miss Strickland seems to have examined the traditionary notices of this love-token. She says: "The romantic story of the ring which, it is said, the queen had given to Essex in a moment of fondness as a pledge of her affection, with an intimation 'that, if he forfeited her favour, if he sent it back to her, the sight of it would ensure her forgiveness,' must not be lightly rejected. It is not only related by Osborne, who is considered a fair authority for other things, and quoted by historians of all parties, but it is a family tradition of the Careys, who were the persons most likely to be in the secret, as they were the relations and friends of all the parties concerned, and enjoyed the confidence of Queen Elizabeth. The following is the version given by Lady Elizabeth Spelman, a descendant of that House, to the editor of her great-uncle Robert Carey's _Memoirs_: 'When Essex lay under sentence of death, he determined to try the virtue of the ring, by sending it to the queen, and claiming the benefit of her promise; but knowing he was surrounded by the creatures of those who were bent on taking his life, he was fearful of trusting it to any of his attendants. At length, looking out of his window, he saw early one morning a boy whose countenance pleased him, and him he induced by a bribe to carry the ring, which he threw down to him from above, to the Lady Scrope his cousin, who had taken so friendly interest in his fate. The boy, by mistake, carried it to the Countess of Nottingham, the cruel sister of the fair and gentle Scrope, and, as both these ladies were of the royal bedchamber, the mistake might easily occur. The countess carried the ring to her husband the Lord Admiral, who was the deadly foe of Essex, and told him the message, but he bade her suppress both.' The queen, unconscious of the accident, waited in the painful suspense of an angry lover for the expected token to arrive; but not receiving it, she concluded he was too proud to make this last appeal to her tenderness, and, after having once revoked the warrant, she ordered the execution to proceed. It was not till the axe had absolutely fallen, the the world could believe that Elizabeth would take the life of Essex."--_Lives of the Queens of England_, vol. iv. p. 747.]