It is of gold, weighing 12 dwts.;
having the initials W.S. braced together by a tasselled cord; the only
other ornament upon the ring being a band of pellets and lines on the
outer edge of the bezel.

Is it Shakspere's? It is evidently a gentleman's ring, and of the poet's
era. It is just such a ring as a man in his station would fittingly
wear--gentlemanly, but not pretentious. There was but one other person
in the small town of Stratford at that time to whom the same initials
belonged. This was one William Smith, but _his_ seal is attached to
several documents preserved among the records of the corporation, and is
totally different.[136-*] Mr. Halliwell, in his "Life of Shakspere,"
observes that "little doubt can be entertained that this ring belonged
to the poet, and it is probably the one he lost before his death, and
was not to be found when his will was executed, the word _hand_ being
substituted for _seal_ in the original copy of that document."[136-[+]]

In the great poet's will, five of his friends have bequests of memorial
rings. Two are his townsmen, Hamlett Sadler and William Raynoldes, who
each have twenty-six shillings and eightpence left them "to buy them
ringes;" the other three being the actors ("my fellows," as he
affectionately terms them) John Heminge, Richard Burbage, and Henry
Condell,[137-*] each of whom has a similar sum.

Rings were at this time an almost necessary part of the toilet of a
gentleman; they indicated rank and character by their style or their
devices. Hence the wills and inventories of the era abound with notices
of rings, many persons wearing them in profusion, as may be seen in the
portraits painted at this time. The Germans particularly delighted in
them, and wore them upon many fingers, and upon different joints of the
fingers, the forefinger especially; a custom still followed by their
descendants. The ladies even wreathed them in the bands of their
head-dresses. Rabelais speaks of the rings Gargantua wore because his
father desired him to "renew that ancient mark of nobility." On the
forefinger of his left hand he had a gold ring, set with a large
carbuncle; and on the middle finger one of mixed metal, then usually
made by alchemists. On the middle finger of the right hand he had "a
ring made spire-wise, wherein was set a perfect balew ruby, a pointed
diamond, and a Physon emerald of inestimable value."

Italy now furnished the most splendid and tasteful jewellery; the
wo