Mr. Walford, after tracing the descent, thinks that in all pro¬ 
bability this relic once belonged to Alice, Countess of Salisbury, 
who married Richard Neville about 1424. Her father, Thomas, 
Earl of Salisbury, well known as a distinguished commander in the 
war with France, was killed at the siege of Orleans, 1428. She 
was then about 22 years of age, and had issue a son and heir- 
apparent, who was afterwards the famous Earl of Warwick and 
Salisbury, who gained the soubriquet of the king-maker. Her 
mother had died before her father, and he took for his second wife 
the daughter of Thomas Chaucer, who is generally believed to have 
been a grand-daughter of the poet. 
242. Metal crucifix, perhaps used on a processional cross. 
Finger Rings. 
The earliest examples are found in Egypt. Signet rings were 
much worn by the ancient Egyptians. Their rings were made of 
gold, of silver, of bronze, of ivory, and of porcelain; an example of 
the latter material is now in the Museum. 
The Greeks are supposed to have derived the use of the ring 
from Asia. As with the Egyptians, the primitive use of the ring 
was to serve as a signet, hence to prevent fraud Solon enacted a 
law that no seal engraver was to keep by him the impression of a 
ring he had cut. In the earlier ages the rings were all of metal, 
then stones were set in them; the art of gem engraving became in 
consequence much cultivated, and the Greek engravers arrived at 
a high degree of perfection in it. 
The Etruscans were marvellously cunning goldsmiths, in which 
art their skill has never been surpassed. Rings of extraordinary 
beauty are found in the tombs of Etruria. 
There is no nation with whose individual and personal history 
the finger ring is so closely connected as the Roman. Under the 
Republic and the Empire its use was regulated by laws, subse¬ 
quently rings became immoderate in number and inconvenient 
in size. 
During the Anglo-Saxon times, and throughout the middle ages, 
the use of the finger ring was general, both for personal and official 
uses. Amongst the varieties of the fourteenth and fifteenth cen¬ 
turies, a pleasing class is formed of rings which have sacred mono¬ 
grams and devotional inscriptions, such as No. 243. The wedding 
ring is doubtless of Roman origin, and was usually given at the 
betrothal, as a pledge of the engagement. Strange as it may seem, 
the Jews did not adopt the wedding ring until after they saw it in 
general use with other nations. Then there are the “ posy rings,” 
with their quaint inscriptions ; and during the middle ages many 
stones were worn in rings, and highly esteemed for their talismanic 
and medicinal virtues, such as the ruby, the turquoise, and prin¬ 
cipally the crapon or toadstone. A ring made of the hoof of an 
ass was held to be good against epilepsy. Merchants’ marks, 
which appear to be imitated from the Flemings during the reign of 
