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Token Rings: Ye'se

The Prince is poisoned, and his lady-love arrives just after the funeral, and is told :- 'Ye'se get nane o' his gowd, ye'se get nane o' his gear, Ye'se get nothing frae me.

Ye'se no get an inch o' his good braid land, Though your heart suld burst in three.' 'I want nane o' his gowd, I want nane o' his gear, I want nae land frae thee :

But I'll hae the rings that's on his finger, For them he did promise to me.' 'Ye'se no get the rings that's on his finger, Ye'se no get them frae me; Ye'se no get the rings that's on his finger, An your heart suld burst in three.' In the ballad of 'Broomfield Hill' a witch-woman says to 'a lady bright:' Take ye the rings off your fingers, Put them on his right hand, To let him know when he doth wake, His love was at his command.

The Child of Elle receives from the page of his lady-love, the 'fayre Emmeline,' some tokens of her affection to him in her 'woe-begone' state :- And here she sends thee a ring of golde, The last boone thou mayst have, And biddes thee weare it for her sake, When she is layde in grave.

The famous Guy, Earl of Warwick, after marvellous adventures abroad, returns to his own country, and becomes a hermit. at Guy's Cliff, near Warwick Castle. Falling sick, he sends a ring-token to the fair Félice. He came to his rocky dwelling, Like pilgrim poore, and was not knowne; And there I lived a hermit's life, A mile and more out of the towne, And dayle came to beg my bread Of Pheliss, att my castle-gate, Not known unto my loved wiffe, Who dayle mourned for her mate:

Till, at the last, I fell sore sicke, Yea, sicke soe sore that I must dye; I sent to her a ringe of golde, By which she knew me presentlye.

In the romance of 'Floire and Blanceflor,' the young hero, on his way to Babylon, arrives at a bridge, the keeper of which has a brother in the city, to whose hospitality he wishes to recommend Floire, and for that purpose he gives him his ring. Take this ring to him,' he says, 'and tell him from me to receive you in his best manner.' The message was attended with complete success. 6 King John is said to have made use of a ring to aid his criminal designs upon the beautiful wife of the brave Eustace de Vesci, one of the twenty-five barons appointed to enforce the observance of Magna Charta. The tyrant, hearing that Eustace de Vesci had a very beautiful wife, but far distant from court, and studying how to accomplish his licentious designs towards her, sitting at table with her husband and seeing a ring on his finger, he laid hold of it and told him that he had such another stone, which he resolved to set in' gold in that very form. And having thus got the ring, he presently sent it to her in her husband's name; by that token conjuring her, if ever she expected to see him alive, to come speedily to him. She, therefore, upon sight of the ring, gave credit to the messenger and came with all expedition. But it so happened that her husband, casually riding out, met her on the road, and, marvelling much to see her there, asked what the matter was; and when he understood how they were both deluded he resolved to find a wanton, and put her in apparel to personate his lady.

The King afterwards boasting to the injured husband himself, Eustace had the pleasure to undeceive him.

When Richard III. brings his rapid wooing to a conclusion he gives the Lady Anne a ring, saying :- Look, how this ring encompasseth thy finger, Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart; Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.

Passionate words, but too noble for a man both faithless and cruel.

Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII., married to James IV. of Scotland, when requiring money, sent to her royal husband, not only letters, but a token, as is seen in the Treasurer's accounts: 'June 30 (1504): Given to the Queen to give away, when she sent Master Livesay, Englishman, with a ring in token-18s.' So we have later : 'Luke of the wardrobe carried letters, with a ring, to Stirling to the Queen's grace.' In 1515, while under the tyranny of the Duke of Albany at Edinburgh, Margaret endeavoured to escape to Blackater, a fortress within a few miles of Berwick. She sent a faithful clerk, Robin Carr, to Lord Dacre, who had proposed her flight, and a ring was to be Carr's credential to King Henry the Eighth, whom he was to see afterwards. The King, however, did not recognise the token, though it was one that his sister had worn in her girlish days.

In 'Cymbeline' (act i. sc. ii.) Imogen gives Posthumus a ring when they part, and he gives her a bracelet in exchange :- 'Look here, love; This diamond was my mother's; take it, heart; But keep it till you woo another wife, When Imogen is dead.' Posthumus. -' How! how! another ?

You gentle gods give me but this I have, And sear up my embracements from a next 1 With bonds of death! Remain thou here, (Putting on the ring) While sense can keep it on.' Yet he afterwards gives it up to Iachimo-upon a false representation, however to test his wife's honour :- It is a basilisk unto my eye, Kills me to look on't.

Here, take this too; A diamond ring was sent by Henry the Eighth in 1542 to Sir Arthur Plantagenet (Lord Lisle, natural son of Edward the Fourth) in token of forgiveness, and accompanying an order for his release from the Tower, but the unfortunate prisoner, in his excess of joy, died.

In Shakspeare's 'Henry the Eighth' (Act v. sc. i.) a ring is delivered by the King to Cranmer, in token of royal confidence and esteem :- Be of good cheer, They shall no more prevail than we give way to.

Keep comfort to you; and this morning see You do appear before them; if they shall chance, In charging you with matters, to commit you, The best persuasions to the contrary Fail not to use, and with what vehemency The occasion shall instruct you: if entreaties Will render you no remedy, this ring Deliver them, and your appeal to us There make before them.

The sequel of this incident is related in Foxe's 'Acts and Monuments of the Christian Martyrs,' printed in 1563 :- 'Anon the Archbishop was called into the council-chamber, to whom was alleged as before is rehearsed. The Archbishop answered in like sort as the King had advised him ; and in the end, when he perceived that no manner of persuasion or entreaty could serve, he delivered them the King's ring, revoking his cause into the King's hands. The whole council being thereat somewhat amazed, the Earl of Bedford, with a loud voice, confirming his words with a solemn oath, said: "When you first began the matter, my Lords, I told you what would become of it. Do you think the King would suffer this man's finger to ache? Much more, I warrant you, will he defend his life against brabling varlets. You do but cumber yourselves to hear tales and fables against him." And, incontinently, upon the receipt of the King's token, they all rose, and carried to the King his ring, surrendering that matter, as the order and use was, into his own hands.' By the same capricious monarch a turquoise ring was sent to Cardinal Wolsey, in his last troubles at Esher, by Sir John Russel, as a 'token' from His Majesty, with the assurance that he loved him as well as ever he did, and was sorry for his trouble.' On hearing subsequently from Dr. Buttes of the serious illness of his discarded favourite, he sent a valuable ring to him, and Mistress Anne Boleyn, then at the King's side, at her royal lover's request, took a gold tablet from her girdle, and gave it with a speech expressing sympathy and commendation-false gifts and hollow words !

In after years, when a deputation was sent by the council of King Edward the Sixth to reduce the recusant Princess Mary to conformity with the Protestant religion, she, on her knees, delivered a ring as a token to the King, saying 'she would die his true subject and sister, and obey him in all things, except in matters of religion.' When, as Queen, Mary lay on her deathbed, King Philip, her husband, who did not revisit England after his return to Spain, sent a message and a ring-token to his consort, a ruby set in gold, which she bequeathed to him among other jewels.