by
the browbeating of witnesses and accused, and the imposition of capital
sentences, wherever possible. It was at a somewhat later date, in 1685,
just after the accession of James II, that Jeffreys conducted the
trials of the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth's adherents, which came to
be known as the " Bloody Assize." This fact of the presentation was
published in the Royal Gazette, thus notably strengthening Jeffreys'
prestige. So general, however, was the reprobation of his heartÂless
and bloodthirsty administration of his judicial office that the ring
was called " Jeffreys' blood-stone." 55
In
March, 1748, as some ploughmen were tilling a field seven miles from
Mullingor, County Westmeath, Ireland, they discovered a grave, the
bottom, sides and ends of which were formed each of a single slab of
stone. Within the grave were the bones of a man of gigantic stature,
and also an urn and a valuable ring, set with twenty-five diamonds.
Bishop Pococke, treating of this ring, mentions the fact that Rosa
Failge, eldest son of Cathoir More, known as Cathoir the Great, who
reigned in 122 a.D., was
called the " Hero of Rings," but the writer adds that the ring could
scarcely have belonged to him, since diamonds do not appear to have
been known in Ireland at this early date.56
A
most interesting Washington relic is a pearl and gold ring made in his
lifetime and containing a lock of his hair placed beneath a conical
glass. This is encircled by a setting of blue and white enamel, a
square of red being set at each corner, and around this a circle of
thirteen pearls, the number of the original States. This
55 Gilbert
Barnet (Bishop of Salisbury), "History of His Own Time," London, 1724,
1736. First published by his son Thomas, after the bishop's death in
1715.
66 Archeologia, vol. ii, pp. 32-35, London, 1773. Figured on plate i, figs. 1 and 2.
