“That is a touching pillar planted on the road between Penrith and Appleby, in the year 1656, by Anne, Countess Dowager of Pembroke, to commemorate her final parting with her mother on this spot, on the second of April, 1616. The inscription declares that Anne of Pembroke gave four pounds to be annually distributed ‘upon the stone hereby’ amongst the poor within the parish of Brougham. Well, after forty years of troubles--and troubles that must have cost the ‘pious Pembroke’ many a bitter hour--it is pleasant to think of the daughter returning to consecrate it. Four pounds a year could not do much good, you may say, to the people of Brougham: but it may consecrate the spot in years of scarcity by the thanks of people sorely pressed; and the spirit of tenderness which dictated the bounty is something to think of every year.”[160] In a polyglot dictionary published in 1625, by John Minshew, under the article _Ring Finger_, it is said that rings were worn on the thumb by soldiers and doctors. A thumb-ring would not seem to be always connected with a dignity, if it is to be judged of through its inscription or bearing. A massive thumb-ring of brass, strongly gilt, was formerly in the collection of the late Marquis of Donegal. Its motto, within side, was in quaint Latin, (_Cauda piera meleor cera_,) which may be rendered in this jingle: When God does send, The times shall mend.[161] CHAPTER THREE. RINGS HAVING SUPPOSED CHARMS OR VIRTUES, AND CONNECTED WITH DEGRADATION AND SLAVERY, OR USED FOR SAD OR WICKED PURPOSES. 1. Antiquity of Amulets and Enchanted and Magical Rings; Samothracian Rings; Double Object in Amulets; Substance and Form of them. 2. Precious Stones and their Healing or Protective Powers; Jasper; Diamond; Ruby; Carbuncle; Jacinth; Amethyst; Emerald; Topaz; Agate; Sapphire; Opal; Cornelian; Chalcedony; Turquoise; Coral; Loadstone; Sweating Stones. 3. Enchanted Rings; those possessed by Execustus; Solomon’s Ring; Ballads of Lambert Linkin and Hynd Horn. 4. Talismanic Ring; Elizabeth of Poland; Ring against Poison offered to Mary of Scotland; Rings from the Palace at Eltham and from Coventry; Sir Edmund Shaw; Shell Ring. 5. Medicinal Rings. 6. Magical Rings; Ariosto; Ring of Gyges; Sir Tristram; Cramp Rings; Rings to cure Convulsions, Warts, Wounds, Fits, Falling Sickness, etc.; Galvanic Rings; Headache and Plague Rings; Amulet against Storms. 7. Ordeal. 8. Punishment in time of Alfred. 9. Founding of Aix-la-Chapelle. 10. Ring on a Statue. 11. Bloody Baker. 12. The Borgia Ring. 13. Rings held in the Mouth. 14. Rings used by Thieves, Gamblers and Cheats. 15. Roman Slave. § 1. Rings were made use of by way of charm and talisman in remote ages.