be confirmed by the alleged finding in Egmont's lodgings of a hollow ring filled with poison.6 la
A
writer on poison mysteries describes a possible poison ring in the
great British Museum collection. The bezel has a repository covered by
a thin-cut onyx on which is engraved the head of a horned faun.elb However,
in the British Museum Catalogue of Rings by Ο. Μ. Dalton, the statement
is made that there are no authentic poison rings in the Museum, and
that "the mere possession of a locket-bezel does not suffice to lend
romance to a ring perhaps intended to contain a harmless perfume.610
A
golden ring-dial in the British Museum collection is a fiat band around
the middle of whichruns a channel in which another, movable ring fits
closely. The month-names are engraved on the band, six above the
channel and six below it;—The movable ring has a small hole with a star
on one side, and a hand with index and second fingers extended on the
other. Inside, the numbers of the hours from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. are
engraved in two lines, the hour of noon being beyond them at the point
opposite to the ring which suspends the dial. In using a dial-ring the
aperture in the movable ring was brought in a line with the month in
which the observation was
61a
John Lathrop Motley, " The Rise of the Dutch Republic," New York,
1856, Vol. iii, pp. 558, 559, citing a curious Dutch pamphlet published
at Ley den in 1582 and consisting of two letters, one from Bruges,
dated July 25, 1582, the other written two days later from Antwerp.
61b C. J. S. Thompson, " Poison Romance and Poison Mysteries, London, n.d., 2d. ed., p. 123.
elc
O. M. Dalton, " Catalogue of the Finger-rings, Early Christian,
Byzantine, Teutonic, Mediaeval, and Later [British Museum]," London,
1912, p. Iv.
