Notes and Queries, Number 211, November 12, 1853

Still the laying of the hand on the book seems to have been an essential form; for, during the trial, when the oath was offered to Margaret Fell, "the clerk held out the book, and bid her pull off her glove, and lay her hand on the book" (H. M., p. 285.). And directly after, when the oath had been read to Fox, the following scene is described:

"'Give him the book,' said they; and so a man that stood by him held up the book, and said, 'Lay your hand on the book.'

"Geo. Fox. 'Give me the book in my hand.' Which set them all a-gazing, and as in hope he would have sworn."

And it appears from the case of Omychund v. Barker, that, at that time, the usual form was by laying the right hand on the book, and kissing it afterwards (1 Atk. 42.). It seems not improbable that Paley's suggestion, in his Moral Philosophy, vol. i. p. 192. (10th edit.), may be correct. He says:

"The kiss seems rather an act of reverence to the contents of the book, as, in the Popish ritual, the priest kisses the gospel before he reads it, than any part of the oath."

The Query respecting the Welsh custom I must leave to those who are better informed respecting the judicial forms of that country; merely suggesting whether the practice alluded to by your correspondent may not originally have had a meaning similar to that of the three fingers on the book, and two under, as described by Fox in the passage above quoted.

    Erica.

Warwick.

In the bailiwick of Guernsey the person sworn lifts his right hand, and the presiding judge, who administers the oath, says "Vous jurez par la foi et le serment que vous devez à Dieu que," &c. Oaths of office, however, are taken on the Gospels, and are read to the person swearing by the greffier, or clerk of the court. The reason of this difference may be accounted for by the fact that the official oaths, as they now exist, appear to have been drawn up about the beginning of the reign of James I., and that in all probability the form was enjoined by the superior authority of the Privy Council.

Which of the two forms was generally used before the Reformation, I have not been able to discover; but in an account of the laws, privileges, and customs of the island, taken by way of inquisition in the year 1331, but more fully completed and approved in the year 1441, it appears that the juries of the several parishes were sworn "sur Sainctes Evangiles de Dieu par eulx et par chacun d'eulx corporellement touché,"—"par leurs consciences sur le peril de la dampnation de leurs ames."

I remember to have seen men from some of the Baltic ports, when told to lift their right hands to be sworn, double down the ring finger and the little finger, as is done by bishops in the Roman Catholic Church when giving the benediction.

In France the person making oath lifts his right hand. The oath is administered by the presiding judge without any reference to the Deity, but the person who swears is required to answer "Je le jure." I observed that in Britanny, when the person sworn was ignorant of the French language, the answer was "Va Doué," which, I believe, means in the Breton dialect, "By God."

In the Ecclesiastical Court of Guernsey I have seen the book presented to the person swearing open at one of the Gospels; but in the Royal Court the book is put into the right hand of the party making oath, shut. In either case it is required that the book should be kissed.

    Honoré de Mareville.

Guernsey.

COMMINATORY INSCRIPTIONS IN BOOKS

(Vol. viii., pp. 64. 153.)

Many inscriptions, comminatory or exhortatory, written in books and directed to readers, have been commemorated in "N. & Q." Towards the beginning of the present century, the most common epigram of the kind in the French public schools was the following elegant motto, with its accompanying illustration:

"Aspice Pierrot pendu,
Quota librum n'a pas rendu!"

Poor Pierrot is exhibited in a state of suspension, as hanging from the inverted letter L (Γ), which symbolises the fatal tree. Comminatory and exhortatory cautions not to soil, spoil, or tear books and MSS. occur so frequently in the records of monastic libraries, that a whole album could easily be filled with them. The coquettish bishop, Venantius Fortunatus, has a distich on the subject. Another learned Goth, Theud-wulf, or Theodulfus, Charlemagne's Missus dominicus, recommends readers a proper ablution of their hands before turning the consecrated leaves:

"Utere me, lector, mentisque in sede locato;
Cumque librum petis hinc, sit tibi lota manus!"

    —Saith Library.
Less lenient are the imprecations commemorated by Don Martenne and Wanley. The one inscribed on the blank leaf of a Sacramentary of the ninth century is to the following effect:

"Si quis eum (librum) de monasterio aliquo ingenio non redditurus, abstraxerit, cum Juda proditore, Annâ et Caïphâ, portionem æternæ damnationis accipiat. Amen! Amen! Fiat! fiat!"—Voyage Littéraire, p. 67.

That is fierce and fiery, and in very earnest. A MS. of the Bodleian bears this other inscription, to the same import:

"Liber Sanctæ Mariæ de Ponte Roberti. Qui eum abstulerit aut vendiderit … aut quamlibet ejus partem absciderit, sit anathema maranatha."

Canisius, in his Antiquæ Lectiones (I. ii. p. 3. 320.), transcribes another comminatory distich, copied from a MS. of the Saint Gall library:

"Auferat hunc librum nullus hinc, omne per ævum,
Cum Gallo partem quisquis habere cupit!"

Such recommendations are now no longer in use, and seem rather excessive. But whoever has witnessed the extreme carelessness, not to say improbity, of some of the readers admitted into the public continental libraries, who scruple not to soil, spoil, and even purloin the most precious and rare volumes, feels easily reconciled to the anathema maranatha of the ninth and tenth centuries.

P.S.—Excuse my French-English.

    Philarète Chasles, Mazarinæus.

Paris, Palais de l'Institut.

LIVERIES WORN, AND MENIAL SERVICES PERFORMED, BY GENTLEMEN

(Vol. vi., p. 146.)

However remarkable the conduct of the rustic esquire of Downham may appear in the present duly, when he accepted and wore the livery of his neighbour the Knight-Baronet of Houghton Tower, it was a Common practice for gentlemen of good birth and estate to accept and wear, and even to assume without solicitation, upon state occasions, the livery of an influential neighbour, friend, or relation, in testimony of respect and affection for the giver of the livery.

Thus it appears in the Diary of Nicholas Assheton that, in 1617, to the Court at Mirescough "Cooz Assheton came with his gentlemanlie servants as anie was there," and that the retinue of menial servants in attendance upon Sir Richard Houghton was graced by the presence of more than one country gentleman of good family. Baines, in his History of Lancashire, vol. ii. p. 366., also relates concerning Humphrey Chetham, that—

"In 1635 he was nominated to serve the office of sheriff of the county, and discharged the duties thereof with great honour, several gentlemen of birth and estate attending and wearing his livery at the assizes, to testify their respect and affection for him."

Evelyn, in his Diary, gives a similar account of the conduct of "divers gentlemen and persons of quality" in the counties of Surrey and Sussex:

"1634. My father was appointed sheriff for Surrey and Sussex before they were disjoyned. He had 116 servants in liverys, every one livery'd in greene sattin doublets. Divers gentlemen and persons of quality waited on him in the same garbe and habit, which at that time (when thirty or forty was the the usual retinue of the high sheriff) was esteemed a great matter. Nor was this out of the least vanity that my father exceeded (who was one of the greatest decliners of it); but because he could not refuse the civility of his friends and relations, who voluntarily came themselves, or sent in their servants."

The practice of assuming the livery of a relation or friend, and of permitting servants also to wear it, appears to have existed in England in the time of Richard II., and to have had the personal example of this sovereign to support it. He seems, however, to have thereby excited the disapprobation of many of his spiritual and temporal peers. I produce the following passage with some hesitation, because it is by no means certain that any one of the liveries thus assumed by Richard was a livery of cloth:

"17

Richard II. A.D. 1393-4

"Richard Count d'Arundell puis le comencement de cest present Parlement disoit au Roy, en presence des Achevesques de Canterbirs et d'Everwyk, le Duc de Gloucestr', les Evesques de Wyncestre et Saresbirs, le Count de Warrewyk et autres....

"Item q le Roy deust porter la Livere de coler le Duc de Guyene et de Lancastr'.

"Item q gentz de retenue de Roi portent mesme la Livere....

"A qei nre Sr le Roi alors respondi au dit Count … q bientot apres la venue son dit uncle de Guyene quant il vient d'Espaign darrein en Engleterre q mesme nre Sr le Roi prist le Coler du cool mesme son uncle et mist a son cool demesne et dist q'il vorroit porter et user en signe de bon amour d'entier coer entre eux auxi come il fait les Liveres ses autres uncles.

"Item (quant au tierce) nre Sr le Roi disoit q ceo fuist de counge de luy et de sa volunte q gentz de sa retenue portent et usent mesme la Livere de Coler."—Rolls of Parliament, vol. iii. p. 313.

"Richard Earl of Arundel, after the commencement of this present parliament, said to the King in the presence of the archbishops of Canterbury and of York, the Duke of Gloucester, the Bishops of Winchester and Salisbury, the Earl of Warwick, and others....

"Item. That the King uses to wear the livery of the collar of the Duke of Guienne and of Lancaster.