§ 12. In metals the Anglo-Saxons worked with great skill. We read of the gold cup in which Rowena drank to Vortigern. So early, perhaps, as the seventh century, the English jewellers and goldsmiths were eminent in their professions; and great quantities of other trinkets were constantly exported to the European Continent. Smiths and armorers were highly esteemed, and even the clergy thought it no disgrace to handle tools.[36] St. Dunstan, in particular, was celebrated as the best blacksmith, brazier, goldsmith and engraver of his time. This accounts for the cleverness with which he laid hold of the gentleman in black: “St. Dunstan stood in his ivy’d tower, Alembic, crucible, all were there; When in came Nick to play him a trick, In guise of a damsel, passing fair. Every one knows How the story goes: He took up the tongs and caught hold of his nose.”[37] § 13. Ladies used seal-rings in the sixth century; but women of rank had no large seals till towards the beginning of the twelfth.[38] § 14. There is scarcely a hard substance of which rings have not been composed. All the metals have been brought into requisition. First, iron; then, as in Rome, it was mingled with gold. Conquerors wore iron rings until Caius Marius changed the fashion. He had one when he triumphed over King Jugurtha.[39] And while stones have lent their aid as garniture for metal, these too have made the whole hoop. We find rings of two stones; such were those which the Emperor Valerianus gave to Claudius. Near to the Pyramids, cornelian rings have been discovered. Rings of glass and other vitreous material have been found. Emerald rings were discovered at Pompeii, also glass used instead of gems. Some made entirely of one stone, as of amber, have been obtained.[40] With the Egyptians, bronze was seldom used in rings, though frequently in signets. They were mostly of gold and this metal seems to have been always preferred to silver. Ivory and blue porcelain were the materials of which those worn by the lower classes were made.[41] An ancient ring of jet has been dug up in England. There were some rings of a single metal, and others of a mixture of two;[42] for the iron, bronze and silver were frequently gilt, or, at least, the gold part was fixed with the iron, as appears from Artemidorus.[43] The Romans were contented with iron rings a long time; and Pliny assures us that Marius first wore a gold one in his third consulate. Sometimes the ring was iron, and the seal gold; sometimes the stone was engraven, and sometimes plain; and the engraving, at times, was _raised_, and also _sunk_. (The last were called _gemmæ ectypæ_, the former _gemmæ sculpturâ prominente_.)