Opening the text

Rings for the finger : $b from the earliest known times to the present, with full descriptions of the origin, early making, materials, the archæology, history, for affection, for love, for engagement, for wedding, commemorative, mourning, etc.Kunz, George Frederick

History

Rings for the finger : $b from the earliest known times to the present, with full descriptions of the origin, early making, materials, the archæology, history, for affection, for love, for engagement, for wedding, commemorative, mourning, etc.

Name: Rings for the finger : $b from the earliest known times to the present, with full descriptions of the origin, early making, materials, the archæology, history, for affection, for love, for engagement, for wedding, commemorative, mourning, etc.
Author: Kunz, George Frederick

Kunz, George Frederick

Rings; Rings -- Folklore

A more serious and trusting posy runs:

    To me till death
    As dear as breath.

A ring mentioned in an old English record dating from 1473, offers
apparently an early example of a so-called “posy” ring. It is here
termed a “hope rynge with scrytorio” (inscription); this, together with
a brooch adorned with the figure of a “jyntylle woman,” was pledged
with a certain Richard Walker to secure a small loan of £4 8d.[394]

A good example of a “ring posie” is given by Ben Jonson in his play
“The Magnetic Lady, or Humours Reconciled,” first licensed for
performance in 1632, during the reign of Charles I, and but five years
before Jonson’s death. Here, when bride and groom come before the
parson to be wedded, he asks the bridegroom:

    Have you a wedding ring?

To which the latter replies:

                  Ay, and a posie:
    Annulus hic nobis, quod sic uterque, dabit.

This the parson quickly renders as follows:

    This ring will give you what you both desire;
    I’ll make the whole house shout it, and the parish.

On other pages a number of characteristic and striking
ring-inscriptions are given, but in view of the wide range of these
“posies” (poesies) and mottoes, a fairly full list of them, compiled
from various sources, may be of interest here.[395] The French mottoes
are nearly all in Old French, and the English spellings of those of the
seventeenth century are delightfully irregular.

  [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF YOUNG WOMAN. DUTCH SCHOOL

  Large rings on little finders of right and left hands; large ring
  on third joint of left-hand fourth finger, and smaller one on
  second joint of the same finger; plain gold ring (wedding ring?)
  on fourth finger of left hand

  Kaiserliche Gemälde-Galerie, Vienna]

  [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A MAN, BY THE ARTIST KNOWN AS THE
  “MASTER OF THE DEATH OF MARY,” FROM HIS MOST NOTED PICTURE

  Rings on index and little fingers of right hand

  Königliche Gemälde-Galerie, Cassel]

    Till death divide.

    _Nemo nisi mors._
    (No one but Death).

    _Tout pour bein feyre._
    (All to do well).

    _In bone fay._
    (In good faith).

    _Sans mal desyr._
    (Without evil wish).

    _Amor vincit om._
    (Love conquers all things).

    Till my life’s end.

    _Erunt duo in carne una._
    (They shall be two in one flesh).

    _Semper amemus._
    (May we love forever).

    In Christ and thee my comfort be.

    _Honeur et joye._
    (Honor and joy).

    Let reason rule affection.

    God continue to love us.

    _Mon cur avez._
    (You have my heart).

    _Deux corps ung cuer._
    (Two bodies and one heart).

    _Amour et constance._
    (Love and constancy).

    God unite our hearts aright.

    Knit in one by Christ alone.

    God’s providence is our inheritance.

    Our contract was heaven’s act.

    In thee, my choice, do I rejoice.

    God above increase our love.

    My heart and I, until I dye.

    Not two, but one, till life be gone.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

Rings for the finger : $b from the earliest known times to the present, with full descriptions of the origin, early making, materials, the archæology, history, for affection, for love, for engagement, for wedding, commemorative, mourning, etc.

Kunz, George Frederick

Rings; Rings -- Folklore

A more serious and trusting posy runs:

    To me till death
    As dear as breath.

A ring mentioned in an old English record dating from 1473, offers
apparently an early example of a so-called “posy” ring. It is here
termed a “hope rynge with scrytorio” (inscription); this, together with
a brooch adorned with the figure of a “jyntylle woman,” was pledged
with a certain Richard Walker to secure a small loan of £4 8d.[394]

A good example of a “ring posie” is given by Ben Jonson in his play
“The Magnetic Lady, or Humours Reconciled,” first licensed for
performance in 1632, during the reign of Charles I, and but five years
before Jonson’s death. Here, when bride and groom come before the
parson to be wedded, he asks the bridegroom:

    Have you a wedding ring?

To which the latter replies:

                  Ay, and a posie:
    Annulus hic nobis, quod sic uterque, dabit.

This the parson quickly renders as follows:

    This ring will give you what you both desire;
    I’ll make the whole house shout it, and the parish.

On other pages a number of characteristic and striking
ring-inscriptions are given, but in view of the wide range of these
“posies” (poesies) and mottoes, a fairly full list of them, compiled
from various sources, may be of interest here.[395] The French mottoes
are nearly all in Old French, and the English spellings of those of the
seventeenth century are delightfully irregular.

  [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF YOUNG WOMAN. DUTCH SCHOOL

  Large rings on little finders of right and left hands; large ring
  on third joint of left-hand fourth finger, and smaller one on
  second joint of the same finger; plain gold ring (wedding ring?)
  on fourth finger of left hand

  Kaiserliche Gemälde-Galerie, Vienna]

  [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A MAN, BY THE ARTIST KNOWN AS THE
  “MASTER OF THE DEATH OF MARY,” FROM HIS MOST NOTED PICTURE

  Rings on index and little fingers of right hand

  Königliche Gemälde-Galerie, Cassel]

    Till death divide.

    _Nemo nisi mors._
    (No one but Death).

    _Tout pour bein feyre._
    (All to do well).

    _In bone fay._
    (In good faith).

    _Sans mal desyr._
    (Without evil wish).

    _Amor vincit om._
    (Love conquers all things).

    Till my life’s end.

    _Erunt duo in carne una._
    (They shall be two in one flesh).

    _Semper amemus._
    (May we love forever).

    In Christ and thee my comfort be.

    _Honeur et joye._
    (Honor and joy).

    Let reason rule affection.

    God continue to love us.

    _Mon cur avez._
    (You have my heart).

    _Deux corps ung cuer._
    (Two bodies and one heart).

    _Amour et constance._
    (Love and constancy).

    God unite our hearts aright.

    Knit in one by Christ alone.

    God’s providence is our inheritance.

    Our contract was heaven’s act.

    In thee, my choice, do I rejoice.

    God above increase our love.

    My heart and I, until I dye.

    Not two, but one, till life be gone.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Rings for the finger : $b from the earliest known times to the present, with full descriptions of the origin, early making, materials, the archæology, history, for affection, for love, for engagement, for wedding, commemorative, mourning, etc.

Rings for the finger : $b from the earliest known times to the present, with full descriptions of the origin, early making, materials, the archæology, history, for affection, for love, for engagement, for wedding, commemorative, mourning, etc.

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