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Modern jewellers are known to palm off imitations of gems; and so did sellers of trinkets in ancient times. The moderns only run the chance of a loss of custom; but the latter were well off if they got no greater fright than the jeweller who sold to the wife of Gallienus a ring with a piece of glass in it. Gallienus ordered the cheat to be placed in the circus, as though he were to be exposed to the ferocity of a lion. While the miserable jeweller trembled at the expectation of instant death, the executioner, by order of the emperor, let loose a capon upon him. An uncommon laugh was raised at this; and the emperor observed that he who had deceived others should expect to be deceived himself.

A ring often figures in the old English ballads. Thus, in Child Noryce, the hero of it invites Lady Barnard to the merry greenwood:

“Here is a ring, a ring, he says,

It’s all gold but the stane;

You may tell her to come to the merry greenwood,

And ask the leave o’ nane.”

§ 21. A ring, as an heraldic figure, is found in coats of arms throughout every kingdom in Europe. In Heraldry, it is called an annulet. We find the ring “gemmed” borne in the arms of the Montgomeries, who hold the Earldom of Eglinton; and one of whom figures in the ballad of Chevy Chase: