ABOUT THE WEDDING-RING. 



7S 



rings. That the practice of wearing thumb-rings extended to the case 

 of married ladies and their wedding-rings, is amply attested, not only 

 by allusions in contemporary literature, but by the portraits of ma- 

 trons of that age, a great many, where the hands are shown, displaying 

 the wedding-ring on the left thumb. In the time of Charles II, the 

 ring seems to have found lodgment on the forefinger, sometimes on 

 the middle finger, occasionally on the third finger also, and, by the time 

 George I came to the throne, the third finger was recognized as the 

 proper place for it, not universally, however, for William Jones in his 

 treatise on rings, declares that even then the thumb was the favorite 

 place for the wedding-ring, and gives instances of the ring being 

 made of large size, and, although placed on the third finger at the 

 ceremony, immediately afterward removed to the thumb. 



An English work on etiquette, published in 1732, says it is for the 

 bride to choose on which finger the wedding-ring shall be j^laced. It 

 further states that some prefer the thumb, since it is the strongest 

 and most imj^ortant member of the hand ; others, the index-finger, 

 because at its base lies the mount of Jupiter, indicating the noble as- 

 pirations ; others, the middle finger, because it is the longest of the 

 four ; and others, again, the fourth finger, because a " vein proceeds 

 from it to the heart." 



The " British Apollo," however, decides the proper place of the 

 ring to be the fourth finger, not because it is nearer the heat than the 

 others, but because on it the ring is less liable to injury. The same 

 authority prefers the left hand to the right. The right hand is the 

 emblem of authority, the left of submission, and the position of the 

 ring on the left hand of the bride indicates her subjection to her hus- 

 band. A curious exception to the rule placing the ring on the left 

 hand is, however, seen in the usage of the Greek Church, which puts 

 the ringrs on the riffht hand. 



As the symbol of matrimony, it is not strange that many of the 

 superstitious fancies which have arisen in connection with the wed- 

 ding should cluster about the ring. Dreaming on a bit of wedding- 

 cake is common among American young ladies ; but they should be 

 informed that, for the dreaming to be properly done, the piece of 

 cake thus brought into service should be passed through the wedding- 

 ring, for so it is done in Yorkshire, Wales, and Brittany, in which 

 localities the custom has been observed from time immemorial. The 

 Russian peasantry not only invest the cake with wonderful qualities 

 by touching it with the two rings used in the ceremony, but deem that 

 water in which the rings have been dipped has certain curious bene- 

 ficial properties. 



In many country districts of Great Britain it is believed that a 

 marriage is not binding on either party unless a ring is used ; hence, 

 curtain-rings, the church-key, and other substitutes, including a ring 

 cut from a finger of the bride's glove, have been mentioned as devices 



