Thumb Rings in Literature and History

We read of:

"--an agate stone

On the forefinger of an alderman;"

but cannot discover whether an alderman in Shakspeare's time wore a ring in connection with his office. We however find this: "Grave persons, such as aldermen, used a plain broad gold ring upon the thumb." It may be that Shakspeare was not thinking of an alderman whose duties were attached to a mere city, but of the earl or alderman of a whole shire, to whom the government of it was intrusted. Such a person, from the authority he possessed, might have worn a ring of power in former times. The word had the same signification in general as senator. By Spelman's Glossary it appears there was anciently in England a title of aldermannus totius Anglioe; and that this officer was in the nature of Lord Chief Justice of England.

It will be seen that there is an incorrectness in Mercutio, a Veronese and in Verona, referring to an alderman. Knight, in his edition of Shakspeare, sees this and proposes that we read, instead of alderman, burgomaster. It has been observed that in whatever country Shakspeare lays the scenes of his drama, he follows the costume of his own.

In a portrait of Lady Ann Clifford, the celebrated Countess of Pembroke, she wears a ring upon the thumb of her right hand.

The mention of this lady will, at once, call up Ben Jonson's epitaph of the "wise, fair and good," and excuse us for quoting:

"That is a touching pillar planted on the road between Penrith and Appleby, in the year 1656, by Anne, Countess Dowager of Pembroke, to commemorate her final parting with her mother on this spot, on the second of April, 1616. The inscription declares that Anne of Pembroke gave four pounds to be annually distributed 'upon the stone hereby' amongst the poor within the parish of Brougham. Well, after forty years of troubles--and troubles that must have cost the 'pious Pembroke' many a bitter hour--it is pleasant to think of the daughter returning to consecrate it. Four pounds a year could not do much good, you may say, to the people of Brougham: but it may consecrate the spot in years of scarcity by the thanks of people sorely pressed; and the spirit of tenderness which dictated the bounty is something to think of every year."

In a polyglot dictionary published in 1625, by John Minshew, under the article Ring Finger, it is said that rings were worn on the thumb by soldiers and doctors.

A thumb-ring would not seem to be always connected with a dignity, if it is to be judged of through its inscription or bearing. A massive thumb-ring of brass, strongly gilt, was formerly in the collection of the late Marquis of Donegal. Its motto, within side, was in quaint Latin, (Cauda piera meleor cera,) which may be rendered in this jingle:

When God does send,