Collar of SS

I am surprised that any doubt should have arisen about this term, which has evidently no *spiritual* or *literary* derivation from the initial letters of *Sovereign*, *Sanctus*, *Seneschallus*, or any similar word. It is (as MR. ELLACOMBE hints, p. 248.) purely descriptive of the *mechanical* mode of forming the chain, not by round or closed links, but by hooks alternately deflected into the shape of *esses*; thus, Whether chains so made (being more susceptible of ornament than other forms of links) may not have been in special use for particular purposes, I will not say; but I have no doubt t…