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Ch. 5: Engagement Wedding Rings

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BETROTHAL AND WEDDING RINGS            221
dicating an association of the respective objects with Turkey, as the land from whence they were erroneously believed to come. As Shylock's turquoise seems to have been set in a betrothal ring, it is singular to note that at the present day the turquoise is a favorite stone for betrothal rings in Germany.
In Shakespeare's Cymbeline, where the diamond is so often mentioned in connection with a ring given as a sign of faithfulness, a passage occurs denoting that this stone was sometimes set in a betrothal ring in Shake­speare's time. The line runs (Act I, sc. 4) :
This diamond was my mother's: take it, heart; But keep it till you woo another wife.
The preciousness and dazzling lustre of diamonds are also alluded to in this play. It is worthy of note that while in all of Shakespeare j plays the diamond is only mentioned twenty-one times, seven of these men­tions are in his Cymbeline.
An emblematic wedding-ring with a deep, and per­haps somewhat ambiguous significance, was bestowed upon his spouse by Bishop Cokes. Upon it was en­graved a hand, â heart, a mitre, and a death's head, the inscription reading:
These three I give to thee Till the fourth set me free.50
A frankly humorous inscription was that placed upon the wedding-ring of Lady Cathcard when, in 1713, she wedded her fourth husband, Hugh Maguire. This was as follows:
If I survive I will have five
50 Evans, " Posy Rings," London, 1892, p. 13.
Ch. 5: Engagement Wedding Rings Page of 513 Ch. 5: Engagement Wedding Rings
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