There happed to be there beside
Tryed a wrestling;

And therefore there was y setten,

A ram and als a ring.

And in the 'Litil Geste of Robin Hood'

By a bridge was a wrestling,

And there tayred was he;
And there was all the best yemen
Of all the west country.

:

A full fayre game there was set up,
A white bull up yspight,

A great courser with saddle and brydle,
With gold burnished full bryght;
A payre of gloves, a red golde ringe,
A pipe of wine, good fay;

What man bereth him best, I wis,
The prize shall bear away.

So Sir Walter Scott, in the 'Lady of the Lake' :—

Prize of the wrestling-match, the King

To Douglas gave a golden ring.

In the Gulistan,' or rose-garden of Sadi, is a pretty story in connection with a prize-ring for shooting. A certain King of Persia had a very precious stone in a ring. One day he went out with some of his favourite courtiers, to amuse himself, to the mosque near Shiraz, called Musalla; and commanded that they should suspend the ring over the dome of Azad, saying that the ring should be the property of him who could send an arrow through it. It so befell that four hundred archers, who plied their bows in his service, shot at the ring, and all missed. A stripling at play was shooting arrows at random from a monastery, when the morning breeze carried his shaft through the circle of the ring. The prize was bestowed upon him, and he was loaded with gifts beyond calculation. The boy, after this, burned

his bow and arrows. They asked him why he did so; he replied That my first glory may remain unchanged.'

At the tournaments held in the reign of Henry VII. (1494) a proclamation was put forth that hoo soo ever justith best in the justys roiall schall have a ryng of gold, with a ruby of the value of a m1 scuttes or under; and hoo soo ever torneyeth the best, and fairyst accumplishit his strokkis schall have a ryng of gold, with a diamant of like value.'

On November 9 (1494) John Peche received from the Ladie Margerete 'the kyngis oldeste doughter, a ryng of gold with a ruby.'

On the 11th, the Earl of Suffolk, Thomas Brandon, received as a reward for his prowess in the lists 'a ryng of gold with a rubee.'

On the third tournament (November 13) Sir Edward A. Borough, as victor, received 'a ryng of gold with a dyamant.'

The Earl of Essex, for his valour in this tournament, received 'a ryng of gold with an emerauld.'

CHAPTER IV.

RINGS IN CONNECTION WITH ECCLESIASTICAL USAGES.

THE ring has, for many ages, formed a part of ecclesiastical insignia. It appears to have had a twofold purpose and signification, the one as a mark of dignity and authority, the other symbolic of the mystical union between the priesthood and the Church.

To commence with the head of the Romish hierarchy : that distinguished authority on antiquarian topics, Mr. Octavius Morgan, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., &c., has contributed to the Archæologia' (vol. xl. p. 392) a very interesting account of Episcopal and other Rings of Investiture;' and, since the publication of that paper, has kindly informed me that Mr. Waterton states, from his own knowledge, that the 'Fisherman's Ring' is the Pope's ring of investiture, and is placed on his finger immediately after his election, before it is engraved. But if, as it sometimes happens, the Pope-elect is not a bishop, he is consecrated prior to his coronation as Supreme Pontiff, and receives the ring with the usual formula, except that the consecrating cardinal kisses his hand after investing him with the ring. There is a ring which the Pontiff wears on state occasions-the stone of which is an exquisitely fine cameo, cut in bloodstone, of the head of Our Saviour-which is known to be more than three hundred

years old, and is, probably, a fine cinque-cento gem. This descends from one Pope to another.

PONT.MAX

'What is called the Annulus Piscatoris, or the "Fisherman's Ring," is the Pope's lesser seal, or signet, used for documents of minor consequence, and the impression is usually made on red wax or stamped on the paper; the Bulla being what may be termed the great seal, employed for giving validity to instruments of greater importance, and the impression of it is always on lead. The origin of the Fisherman's Ring is obscure, but it derives its name from a representation of St. Peter in a fisherman's boat of ancient form, which is engraved on it, and not from any tradition that it ever belonged to St. Peter, as, from its English name, is not uncommonly supposed. The Germans call it Der Fischer-ring, which is "the Fisherman Ring," whereas we, probably in our translation of Annulus Piscatoris, have termed it the "Fisherman's Ring," seeming to imply thereby that it had once belonged to "the Fisherman." The figure of St. Peter forms the centre.'

The Fisherman's Ring.

After the reign of Pope Calixtus the Third, the Ring of the Fisherman was no longer used as the private seal of the Popes, but was always attached to briefs.

On the death of Innocent the Tenth the name was cut out of the ring or erased. At the decease of Pius the Sixth the usual ceremonies were not observed, and the ring was not broken, as was the practice at the elevation of each pontiff. Aimon, in his Tableau de la Cour de Rome,' says that after the Pope's death 'le Cardinal Camerlingue vient en habit violet, accompagné des clercs de la chambre en habits.

'noirs, reconnoître le corps du Pape. Il l'appelle trois fois par son nom de baptême, et comme il ne lui donne ni réponse, ni signe de vie, il fait dresser un acte sur sa mort par les Protonotaires Apostoliques. Il prend du Maître de la Chambre Apostolique, l'anneau du Pêcheur, qui est le sceau du Pape, d'or massif, et du prix de cent écus. Il le fait mettre en pièces et donne ces pièces aux Maîtres des Cérémonies à qui elles appartiennent. Le Dataire et les Sécrétaires qui ont les autres sceaux du Pape défunt, sont obligés de les porter au Cardinal Camerlingue, qui les fait rompre en présence de l'Auditeur de la Chambre du Trésorier, et des Clercs Apostoliques, et il n'est permis à aucun autre des Cardinaux d'assister à cette fonction.'

When it was decided by the French in 1798 that the Pope was to be removed to France, on February 18 in that year the Republican Haller, son of the celebrated Swiss physician of that name, chose the moment when the Pontiff was at dinner in the Vatican to announce to him the resolution of the French Republic. He entered the apartment rudely, and, advancing to the Pope, announced the object of his visit, and demanded the instant surrender of the Papal

treasures.

'We have already given up all we possessed,' replied the Pope calmly.

'Not all,' returned Haller, 'you still wear two very rich rings; let me have them.'

The Pope drew one from his finger: 'I can give you,' he said, 'this one, for it is indeed my own; take it but the other is the Ring of the Fisherman, and must descend to my successor.'

'It will pass' first to me, holy father,' exclaimed Haller,