made
and had a lock of her hair enclosed in it. As she lay dying she put the
ring on her father's finger with the words of the inscription. The loss
of this dearly beloved daughter appears to have finally determined the
madness of the unhappy king, for he never recovered his reason after
the event.
Another
interesting ring is that dedicated to the memory of the rather
notorious Lord Lovat, who was beheaded in London, April 9, 1747, for
alleged comÂplicity in the Jacobite rising of 1745. This is set with a
crystal, beneath which is some hair between two rose diamonds, and
bears Lovat's last words, the famous line of Horace, " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."68
The
extravagance and tastelessness shown in many of the more elaborate
forms of the memorial ring, have had the natural result of causing a
reversion to the severe simplicity of the earlier types, and al plain,
but massive
gold ring, with the words, " To the memory of---------"
became the usual type.
Seven
Nelson memorial rings were shown at the Royal Naval Exhibition at
Chelsea in 1891 ; two of these contained some of the hero's hair, and
one belonged to those distributed among Nelson's captains and other
officers after his death. Of the two rings enclosing hair, one set with
a diamond was loaned by Messrs. Lambert & Co. and the other by
Admiral Sir Arthur Farquhar, K.C.B.69 A fine specimen of
a/Nelson ring is in the British Museum. The broad, flat hoop expands at
the shoulders, and in a raised oblong bezel are figured a viscount's
coronet and a ducal coronet with Ν beneath
68 No. 165, p. 69.
69 Notes and Queries, 11th ser., No. 311, December 11,1915. p. 469.
