Home › Posy, Inscription, and Motto Rings › Posy, Inscription, and Motto Rings (Shakspeare in the Merchant)
Posy, Inscription, and Motto Rings (Shakspeare in the Merchant)
Shakspeare, in the 'Merchant of Venice' (act v. scene 1), makes Gratiano, when asked by Portia the reason of his quarrel with Nerissa, answer :
About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring, That she did give me, whose posy was For all the world like cutler's poetry Upon a knife, Love me and leave me not.
Hamlet (act iii. scene 2) says- Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?
In 'As You Like It' (act iii. scene 2) Jaques remarks: 'You are full of pretty answers; have you not been acquainted with goldsmiths' wives, and conned them out of rings?' In Ben Jonson's comedy, 'The Magnetic Lady,' the parson, compelled to form a hasty wedding, asks :
Have you a wedding ring?
To which he receives an answer- Ay, and a posie:
Annulus hic nobis, quod sic uterque, dabit.
He exclaims:
Good!
This ring will give you what you both desire; I'll make the whole house chant it, and the parish.
The following illustration represents a posy-ring of the simplest form, such as would be in use in the early part of the seventeenth century.
Herrick, in his 'Hesperides,' says:
Let Love Encrease What posies for our wedding-rings, What gloves we'll give and ribbonings !
Posy-ring.
And in his 'Church Miserie':
Indeed, at first, man was a treasure; A box of jewels, shop of rarities, A ring whose posie was 'my pleasure.' And in the same work, 'The Posie: ' Lesse than the least Of all Thy mercies is my posie still :
This on my ring, This, by my picture, in my book I write.
Some of these posies and inscriptions are very appropriate and tender; others are quaint and whimsical. Not the least curious among the latter is that, well known, of Dr. John Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1753, who had been married three times. On his fourth espousals he had the following motto inscribed on his wedding-ring :
If I survive I'll make thee five.
Burke, in his 'Anecdotes of the Aristocracy,' states that Lady Cathcart, on marrying her fourth husband, Hugh Macguire, had inscribed on her wedding-ring :
If I survive I will have five.
In far better taste than these was the motto on the ring presented by Bishop Cokes to his wife on the day of their marriage. It bore the representations of a hand, a heart, a mitre, and a death's-head, with the words :
These three I give to thee, Till the fourth set me free. 'On the wedding-ring that Dr. George Bull, Bishop of St. David's (1703), gave to his wife, was the inscription : "Bene parêre, parare det mihi Deus"-a prayer she might be a prolific mother, an obedient wife, and a good housekeeper. The prayer was heard; she had five sons and six daughters, lived in wedlock happily fifty years, and was esteemed a model housekeeper' (Singer).
Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, died 1439, had three daughters, who all married noblemen. Margaret's husband was John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and the motto of her wedding ring was, 'Till deithe depart.' Alianour married Edmund, Duke of Somerset, and her motto was, 'Never newe.' Elizabeth married Lord Latimer, and hers was, 'Til my live's end.' The custom of having posies on rings is thus alluded to in the 'Art of English Poesie,' published in 1589: 'There be also another like epigrams that were sent usually for New Year's gifts, or to be printed or put upon banketting dishes of sugar-plate or of March paines, etc.; they were called Nenia or Apophoreta, and never contained above one verse, or two at the most, but the shorter the better. We call them poesies, and do paint them now-a-dayes upon the back sides of our fruit-trenchers of wood, or use them as devises in ringes and armes.' Henry VIII. gave Anne of Cleves a ring with the posy 'God send me well to kepe '-a most unpropitious alliance, for the King expressed his dislike to her soon after the marriage. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries posies were generally placed outside the ring.
In 1624 a collection of posies was printed, with the title, 'Love's Garland, or Posies for Rings, Handkerchiefs, and Gloves, and such pretty Tokens as Lovers send their Loves.' At a meeting of the Archæological Institute, in March 1863, some curious posy rings were exhibited by the Rev. James Beck; one, of particular interest, dating from the early part of the fifteenth century, had been dug up at Godstow Priory, Oxfordshire. It is a broad massive hoop of gold, of small diameter, suited for a lady's finger. The decoration on the hoop consists of three lozenge-shaped panels, in which are represented the Trinity, the Blessed Virgin with the infant Saviour, and a Saint, nimbed, clad in a monastic habit, with the cowl falling upon the shoulders. The intervening spaces are chased with foliage and flowers of the forget-me-not; the whole surface was enriched with enamel, of which no remains are now visible. Within the hoop is delicately engraved in small black-letter character : Most in mynd and yn myn herrt Lothest from you ferto deparrt.
Also a plain gold hoop of the sixteenth century, found in 1862 at Glastonbury Abbey, within which is engraved 'Devx. corps. vng. cver,' with the initials 'C. M.' united by a true-love knot. Several plain gold rings of the seventeenth century were also shown, inscribed with the following posies, in each case within the hoop :- I haue obtain'd whom God ordain'd.
God unite our hearts aright.
Knitt in one by Christ alone, Wee joyne our loue in god aboue.
Joyn'd in one by god a lone, God above send peace and love.