in the shape of rings. Fig. 160 represents the gold
signet-ring of Mary, now preserved in the British Museum. Upon the face
is engraved the royal arms and supporters of Scotland, with the motto
IN . DEFENS, and her initials M.R. But the most curious portion of the
ring is the inner side of the seal, as shown in the cut, where a crowned
monogram is engraved, which might have been an unsolved enigma, but for
the existence in our State Paper Office of a letter written by Mary to
Queen Elizabeth, in which she has drawn this identical monogram after
signing her name. Sir Henry Ellis, who first traced out this curious
history, says, "It is clearly formed of the letters M and A (for Mary
and Albany), and gives countenance to the opinion that the written
monogram was intended for Elizabeth and Burleigh to study; the
subsequent creation of the title of Duke of Albany in Lord Darnley
ultimately opening their eyes to the enigma." Elizabeth's intense
dislike to the Darnley marriage is well known, as she endeavoured to
force Mary into a match with one of her own favourites, the Earl of
Leicester.

The Waterton collection boasts a gem of no inferior interest in
connection with this unhappy marriage. It is the ring of Henry, Lord
Darnley, husband to Mary Queen of Scots. On the bezel it bears the two
initials M.H. united by a lover's knot, and within the hoop the name
engraved of HENRI . L . DARNLEY, and the year of the marriage, 1565. The
cut, Fig. 161, shows the face of the ring with the initials; below is
engraved a fac-simile of the interior of the ring as a plane surface.

Queen Elizabeth's history, and that of her unfortunate favourite, the
Earl of Essex, has a tragic story connected with a ring. The narrative
is popularly known, and may be briefly told. It is said that the queen,
at a time when she was most passionately attached to the earl, gave him
a ring, with the assurance that she would pardon any fault with which he
might be accused when he should return that pledge. Long after this,
when he was condemned for treason, she expected to receive this token,
and was prepared to have granted the promised pardon. It came not. The
queen was confirmed in the belief that he had ceased to care for her,
and pride and jealousy consigned him to the death of a traitor. But the
earl had, in the last extremity of despair, entrusted the ring to the
Countess of Nottingham, wife of the Lord High Admiral, an enemy to the
unfortunate Essex, wh