endow.” The plain hoop of gold as a marriage or betrothal-ring appears to have been of very early origin. In the latter part of the fourteenth century it was customary to have a motto or “Posy” engraved outside the ring; this continued during the fifteenth century; in the sixteenth and seventeenth the “Posies” were engraved inside. The practice of inscribing rings existed largely in France and Germany as well as in England. Martin Luther on his marriage had a wedding-ring consisting of two parts, one portion of which was set with diamond, the other with ruby, the motto being
“What God doth join no man shall part.”
Rare “Ben Jonson” thus alludes to mottoes on betrothal or marriage rings in his comedy of the “Magnetic Lady”; the clergyman has to perform a hasty marriage, and asks, “Have
