Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-04-11
TIE ROMANCE OFRINGs.

| prdltlul hnu lOVtnB icellnG lOr tllclr KIM
and genial host.
| TIE ROMANCE OF RINGS.
| Popular Superstit,o-~ and Legends of
the ages.
| Some of our most well known legends
concerning rings originated in Greece.
says the Chicago Inter- Ocean. There is
the story of Gyges's ring, for instance,
which having the stone turned in on the
hand rendered the wearer invisible, and
which is the progenitor of n host of fairy
tales, IN ee-- tongue, in which a similar
ring plays part. Then .hers is the story
of Polycrates, which is especially inter
esting rs illustrating n superstition very
foreign to latter-day notions. In those
| times it was held that "nothing is so sue
cessful as succesa," and Polycrates, king
of Sarnia, vGf rs fortunate and happy
that he was firmly conTitced that the
the gods had some calamity i'll Store for
| him. Accordingly, mis- friend, the Egyp
| tian King, Amasis, advised him to throw
some one of his most valued POSSESSIONS
into the sea. He obeyed, throwing in his
most beautiful emerald signet ring A
few days afterward, a fish purchased for
the kinS's table, was found to contain
this ring. At this fresh
instance Of Good Luck,
Amasis dared 20 longer to continue his
alhantC nth She Sarnian King, and dis
solved it in tlmo T." snve himself from
taking part in n disastrous c-r7raign
against the Persians, during which the
too o-successful Polycrates was taken pris-
mn ,1 t,Nl Ip Esl, anil rip
part of this story makes subsequent APP
pearance ill folklore in hundred differ
ent guises, and always probably with
covert allusion to the uncertainty of hu
man affairs. The incident is quite possi-
BILE, and there is evidence in comparative
" recent times of it's actual occurrence
Witness n story trld in the Gentlcnan's
Magazine Of 1765 A Mrs. Todd, of
Deptford, a well-to-do notable woman,
was accustomed to assert that no one need
ever be poor save through his own fault
One day iourueyiug III boat to White
stable she was speaking on this subject,
and becoming excited with her argument
took off n valuable ring and throwing it
into the sea, declared that it would be as
easy to find that ring again as to find
poor person who was not idle or vicious.
The second day after this having landed,
she
Purchased some Mackerai.
and the servant in dressing them for din
ner found in one the very ring which her
mistress lad thrown away.
In Venice, II curious custom which pre-
vailed for several centuries was the we'd
ding Of the Doge with the Adriatic Sea.
Amid music and artillery salutes fleet
of gondolas proceeded to the Isle of Ida.
Here the Doge, taking ring from his
finger, dropped it into the water with
these words "We espouse thee, O sea,
in token of our just and perpetual do
minion." Thus Byron, in the 1.-TWO Fos-
carl, makes the deposed Doge say
There's the ducal ring,
And there's the ducal dalem. And 50
Tne Adrlatlcs free 10 wed another.
The use Of the apparently harmless
fnger-ring as a vehicle OF deadly poison
was known before medieval times, for
Hannibal carried this means Of speedy
death about with him, and when all hope
of victory or successful retreat was lost
swallowed the poison and died. But tke
practice became chiefly known through
the infamous assassinations thus commit
ted in the Middle Ages. One of Caesar
Borgia's poison rings is now IN the pos
session of an English clergyman. 1t has
a small box set in the front of the ring,
and behind it is slide, within which the
poison was carried which this handsome
old villain was in the habit of dropping
into the wine of his unsuspecting guests.
Another member of this same family,
Pope Alexander VI, had habit quite as
disagreeable. An old form of ring had a
key attached to or carried upon the seal.
This Pope had one of these which was
hollow in the handle Of the key and
FILLED with Poison,
and also provided with a very small, hol.
low pin, which, by slight puncture, i'll
iected poison under the skin When this
ecclesiastic desired to remove a superflu.
Gus friend he would politely request him
to open the Papal cabinet The lock be-
ing rather hard to open the pressure upon
the key was usually sufficient to give the
fatal prick.
Not more than ten years ago an Ameri'
can gentleman who was purchasing some
objects of art in the Rue st. HonOre
PARIS, noticed very curious medieva
ring. On the inner part Of the ring were
, what happened to he two sharp claws
and while examining these the gentleman
, iuiilcted II slight scratch on his hand. A
few minutes later lie felt strange numb
, ing sensation creeping over him, and thel
, suddenly became SO i'll that IL doctor wa,
quickly summoned. His symptoms be
, Ing evidently those of poisoning, strong
, autdotes We're administered, ana the gen
. tlemau recovered. The RUG mentioned
WAS again examined and found to he one
: OF the "deuth rings" of the seventeenth
century. The small claws on 1t were tille'
/ with violent poison, 50 violent, Indeed
, that though thus concealed some tive
hundred Years 1t still retained its dead
| properties, Ms the American gentlemaI
, had proved, we'll nigh fatally. THIS rini
. was probably worn by the Italian pohti
: cian for the express purpose of shaking
r hands with the "rival candidate"
e The marriage ring has always beel
q placed on the fourth finger of the lei
1 hand, counting from the thumb, a custom
$ said to have its origin in nm ancient be
lief that nerve from that finger was di
rectly connected with the heart. Nor
' probably it was chosen because that fin
' ger is less used than others, and it can b
e moved but slightly without the aid OF til
@ other fingers of the hand. This bein
r the case, it was n strange fashion whic
n prevailed for n long time in England, 10
|. the ring to be removed from the fourt
i, finger after the ceremony and worn upo
g the thumb, n custom which explains tn
n curious verse in Hudibras, alluding
: the Puritan prejudice against the MAJ
e riage ring
c Others were fO~ abOishing
e That tool Of matlimOny, a ring
a Win which the unsanctlned bridegroom
Is married only to thumb
!, There has always been prejudice i
e favor of plain gold ring for the ma
It riage ceremony. In Ireland ring of tn
: material is regarded as essential to til
+ Legality Of the ceremony, and, as man