Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1892 — Posy Rings and Their History. [ARTICLE]

Posy Rings and Their History.

The old-fashioued posy ring, which was once so much in vogue, has recently been made the subject of a learned discourse before an audience of scientific men and women. It is an extremely interesting bit of jewelry. It has a history, of course. Posy originally meant verses presented with a nosegay, then came to be applied to the flowers themselves, and finally became the brief poetical sentiment, motto, or legend inscribed upon a ring for the finger. The words marked upon these love-tokens were generally of a stereotyped kind, such as “You never knew A heart more true.” One which was presented by the bridegroom bore the suggestive couplet, “Love him who gives this ring of gold, 'Tis he must kiss thee when thou’rt old.” A Lady Cathcart, when about to take unto herself a fourth husband, inscribed upon her ring the hopeful aspiration, “If I survive I will have five.”