Miss Strickland considers that the story of this ring should not be lightly rejected. There are two rings extant claiming to be the identical one so fatally retained by Lady Nottingham. The first is preserved at Hawnes, Bedfordshire, England and is the property of the Reverend Lord John Thynne. The ring is gold, the sides are engraved and the inside set with blue enamel; the stone is a sardonyx, on which is cut, in relief, a head of Elizabeth, the execution being of a high order. The second is the property of a Mr. Warner, and was given by Charles the First to Sir Thomas Warner, the settler of Antigua, Nevis, etc. It is a diamond set in gold, inlaid with black enamel at the back and sides.[273] And now let us turn to one of Elizabeth’s victims, who had her talent and was her contrast: for Mary of Scotland was womanly and beautiful. So charming was she in the mind of the French poet Ronsard that he tells us France without her was as “a ring bereft of its precious pearl.”[274] The nuptial ring of Mary, Queen of Scots, on her marriage with Lord Darnley, is extant.[275] It is, in general design, a copy of her great seal, the banners only being different, for, in the great seal they each bear a saltier surmounted by a crown. (In her great seal made when Dowager of France, after the death of Francis the Second, the dexter banner is St. Andrew’s Cross, the sinister the Royal Arms of the Lion.) The ring part is enamelled. It is of most beautiful and minute workmanship. An impression is not larger than a small wafer. It has the initials M. R.; and on the interior is a monogram of the letters M. and A., _Mary_ and _Albany_: Darnley was created Duke of Albany. A use of the arms of England by Mary came to the knowledge of and gave great offence to Elizabeth and Burghley; and the latter obtained a copy of them so used, which copy is now in the British Museum. It is endorsed by Burghley, “False Armes of Scotl. Fr. Engl. Julii, 1559.” The following doggrel lines are underneath the arms: “The armes of Marie Quene Dolphines of France The nobillist Ladie in earth for till aduance, Off Scotland Quene, and of England also, Off Ireland als God haith providit so.” A letter has been discovered in the handwriting of Mary herself which presents the monogram of M. and A. that is upon the ring. This epistle is in French; and the following is a translation: