which he now valued the more as it seemed to be
returned by divine interposition.

[Illustration: Fig. 83.]

[Illustration: Fig. 84.]

In the comparatively modern era of Roman rule in Egypt, rings of more
fanciful construction were occasionally worn. In the British Museum is a
remarkable one (Fig. 83), having the convolutions of a serpent, the head
of Serapis at one extremity and of Isis at the other; by this
arrangement one or other of them would always be correctly posited; it
has also the further advantage of being flexible, owing to the great
sweep of its curve.

The ancient Assyrians, though remarkable for that love of jewellery
which has ever been the characteristic of the Eastern nations, appear to
have worn no finger-rings. Yet many of their bracelets are admirably
designed for the purpose if produced on a limited scale; and they were
worn by men as well as by women. Bonomi, in his "History of Nineveh and
its Palaces," observes, "that not a single case occurs, amidst all this
display of personal jewellery, of a finger-ring; the entire absence of
this ornament in sculpture, wherein details of this nature are so
elaborately and carefully attended to, leads to the conclusion that the
finger-ring was an ornament then unknown."

[Illustration: Fig. 85.]

[Illustration: Fig. 86.]

Among the earliest traces of western civilisation the finger-ring
appears. Fig. 84 is an Etruscan ring of gold, now in the British Museum;
upon the face are chimerae opposing each other. The style and treatment
of this subject partake largely of the ancient character of Eastern art,
and, like that, is very decisive and conventional.

The Greeks and Romans literally revelled in rings of all styles and
sizes. Nothing can be more beautiful in design and exquisite in finish
than Greek jewellery, and the custom of decorating their dead with the
most valued of these ornaments has furnished modern museums with an
abundance of fine specimens. Figs. 85 and 86 are copied from originals
found in the more modern Etruscan sepulchres, and are probably
contemporary with the earliest days of the Roman empire. Fig. 85 is
admirably adapted to the finger; being made of the purest gold, it is
naturally slightly elastic; but the hoop is not perfected, each
extremity ending in a broad leaf-shaped ornament, most delicately banded
with threads of beaded and twisted wire, acting as a brace upon the
finger. Fig. 86 is equally meritorious; the solid half-ri