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Ch. 3: Signet Rings

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150                                  RINGS
ringe wth the seale of myne armes, desirenge him to be good to my wiife and my childringe as my trust is in him." Besides this seal ring, the testator willed " a golde ringe wth a turkes [turquoise] in it " to his " singular good Lord the Lord Eueerye," with a plea for friendship toward his wife and children. A ring set with a diamond was bequeathed in 1427 by Elizabeth, Lady Fitzhugh to her son William.74 This was almost certainly one of the uncut, pointed diamonds used for settings at this early time.
The signet ring of Mary Stuart is one of the chief treasures in the ring collection of the British Museum. It was made for her use after her betrothal to the French Dauphin, later, for a few months, King of France as Francis II (1543-1560), just before her marriage, as after that time the arms of France would have been combined with those of Scotland. The following descrip­tion is given of this ring in the exceedingly valuable catalogue of the Franks Bequest by O. M. Dalton75:
316. Gold; the shoulders ornamented with flowers and leaves once enamelled; oval bezel containing a chalcedony engraved with the achievement of Mary, Queen of Scots. The shield is that of Scotland surrounded by the collar of the Thistle, with the badge, and supported by two unicorns chained and ducally gorged ; the crest, on a helmet with mantlings and ensigned with a crown, is a lion sejant affronté, crowned and holding in the dexter paw a naked sword ; in the sinister a sceptre, both bend-
74  0. M. Dalton, " Catalogue of the Finger Rings, Early Christian, Byzantine, Teutonic, Mediaeval and Later, bequeathed by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, K.C.B. (British Museum)," London, 1912, p. li, footnote.
75 Franks Bequest, Catalogue of Finger Rings, Early Christian, Byzantine, Teutonic, Mediaeval and Later (British Museum), London, 1912, p. 53.
Ch. 3: Signet Rings Page of 513 Ch. 3: Signet Rings
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