onstantly by all who study art.

[Illustration]

FOOTNOTES:

[49-*] "History of Ancient Egyptians."

[59-*] "Ars Memorandi notabilis per Figuras Evangelistarum," etc.

FACTS ABOUT FINGER-RINGS.

FACTS ABOUT FINGER-RINGS.

CHAPTER I.

ANTIQUE RINGS.

Archaeology, which was formerly considered by the majority of persons to
be a dull and uninteresting study, abounding with dry details of small
general interest, which, when not pompously pretentious, were, in the
other extreme, of trifling insignificance, has, by a better acquaintance
with its true position as the handmaid of history, become so popular
that most English counties have societies especially devoted to its
district claims, and our large cities have their archaeological
institutes also. This is due to the good sense which has divested the
study of its drier details, or has had the tact to hide them beneath
agreeable information. It is not too much to assert that archaeology in
all its branches may be made pleasurable, abounding as it does in
curious and amusing details, sometimes humorously contrasting with our
modern manners.

In taking up one of these branches--the history of finger-rings--we
shall briefly show the large amount of anecdote and curious collateral
information it abounds in. Our illustrations depict the great variety of
design and ornamental detail embraced by so simple a thing as a hoop
for the finger. It would be easy to multiply the literary and the
artistic branch of this subject until a volume of no small bulk resulted
from the labour. Volumes have been devoted to the history of
rings--Gorlaeus among the older, and Edwards,[74-*] of New York, among
the modern authors. The ancients had their _Dactyliotheca_, or
collection of rings; but they were luxurious varieties of rings for
wear. The modern collections are historic, illustrative of past tastes
and manners. Of these the best have been formed by the late Lord
Londesborough (whose collection was remarkable for its beauty and
value), and Edmund Waterton, Esq., F.S.A., who still lives to possess
the best chronological series of rings ever brought together. We have
had the advantage of the fullest access to each collection.

It is in the oldest of histories, the books of Moses, that we find the
earliest records of the use of the finger-ring. It originally appears to
have been a signet, used as we now use a written autograph; and it is
not a little curious that the