Letter 4389

[fol. 22] York 7r. 27. 1731. Sr. It may seem a piece of great presumption in a stranger, & at this vast distance, to address a Person of Your figure in life, but tho’ I am unknown to you both in Character & person, you must forgive the impertinence of a Brother Antiquarian, who has heard enough of your last that was to expect it. Enclos’d is an exact draught of an Antique Gold Ring found lately in these parts, with an inscription round the verge, the letters in size & shape are exactly drawn, & by an alphabet in Dr. Hicks’s Thesaurus that I have met with, I take them to be Runick; but the interpretation I leave to better Judgments. The Ring weighs 5 guineas within a trifle, & is soe cumbersome that I cannot suppose it ever work on finger or thumb; I rather conjecture it to have been some amulet or charm which possibly the inscription may discover. The three strokes four times repeated as you see on one side are exactly the same on the other. The letters have been left rais’d in the casting & are fill’d up in the interstices, smooth, with a kind of Enamel. This is the best description I can give of it, & sho’d be glad you wo’d please to send your sentiments about it to Sr. your most obedient humble servant F. Drake. surgeon in York.