An episcopal ring found at Oxford and now in the Waterton Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, is a curious specimen of the adaptation of antique gems to Christian uses. The gold circlet is set with an antique plasma engraved with the bust of a female, the pagan original doing duty for some Christian saint, or perhaps for the Virgin Mary.[432] An intaglio of Jupiter-Serapis was provided by the monks of Durham with an inscription designating it to be a portrait of St. Oswald. Cameos were also used, on occasion, as we read in the enumeration of the precious stones and rings donated by Henry III to the shrine of St. Edward in Westminster Abbey,[433] the following entry: “j chamah in uno annulo pontificali.” Occasionally a stone was taken from some antique ornament and set in an episcopal ring. Of this kind is the pierced sapphire in Mr. Waterton’s collection, and probably another ring described in the Wardrobe Books of Edward I and which belonged to Robert, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, who died in 1295. The old description calls this “a golden ring with a perforated ruby.”[434] The same records mention a gold ring with a sapphire, the ornament being, as was supposed, the work of St. Dunstan, who is reputed to have been a skilful worker in metals. A letter written in 867 by Charles the Bald to Pope Nicholas I, mentions a ring sent to Ebbo, Bishop of Rheims, by Judith, the mother of Charles the Bald. This ring was given by the empress at the time of the birth of her son, so that Ebbo, who had been made bishop because of his piety and sanctity, should remember the child in his prayers. In later years, whenever the good bishop was in trouble, he used to send his ring to the empress with an humble petition for aid, and the letter of Emperor Charles was written as a result of a most earnest appeal of Bishop Ebbo, after he had been deposed from his office and subjected to persecution.[435] [Illustration: Christian ring of glass. Design shows snake and doves, a cross, the Greek letters _alpha_ and _omega_ and the Latin word _Salus_. Bosio. “Roma Sotterranea,” Roma, 1650]] [Illustration: 1, Venetian ring. Bezel with engraved figure of St. Mark is hollowed to enclose relics. 2, poison ring set with a diamond and two rubies. The poison was concealed beneath the bezel. See pages 36–39 Fairholt’s “Rambles of an Artist”] [Illustration: Gold ring of Ahlstan, Bishop of Sherborne (824–860 A.D.) Archæological Journal, vol. xx, p. 226, 1863] [Illustration: Bishop’s ring of investiture. Bezel set with flat crystal; two views. Said to have belonged to Robert of Anjou, King of Naples (1309–1343 A.D.) British Museum] [Illustration: Lady’s memorial ring of enameled gold inscribed “_R. C. Not lost but gone before,_” in gilt letters on a white enamel ground. English, about 1800 Albert Figdor Collection, Vienna]