(Vol. viii., p. 364.)
There can be no doubt that, as your correspondent suggests, the judicial
oath was originally taken without kissing the book, but with the form of
laying the right hand upon it; and, moreover that this custom is of Pagan
origin. Amongst the Greeks, oaths were frequently accompanied by sacrifice;
and it was the custom to lay the hands upon the victim, or upon the altar,
thereby calling to witness the deity by whom the oath was sworn. So
Juvenal, _Sat._ XIV. 218.:
"Falsus erit testis, vendet perjuria summa
Exigua, et Cereris tangens aramque pedemque."
Christians under the later Roman emperors adopted from the Greeks a similar
ceremony. In the well-known case of Omychund _v._ Barker, heard in
Michaelmas Term, 1744, and reported in 1 Atk. 27., the Solicitor-General
quoted a passage from Selden, which gives us some information on this
point:
"Mittimus hic, principibus Christianis, ut ex historiis satis obviis
liquet, solennia fuisse et peculiaria juramenta, ut per vultum sancti
Lucae, per pedem Christi, per sanctum hunc vel illum, ejusmodi alia
nimis crebra: _Inolevit hero tandem, ut quemadmodum Pagani sacris ac
mysteriis aliquo suis aut tactis aut praesentibus jurare solebant, ita
solenniora Christianorum juramenta fierent, aut tactis sacrosanctis
evangeliis, aut inspectis, aut in eorum praesentia manu ad pectus amota,
sublata aut protensa_; atque is corporaliter seu personaliter
juramentum praestari dictum est, ut ab juramentis per epistolam, aut in
scriptis solummodo praestitis distingueretur, inde in vulgi passim ore."
Lord Coke tells us, in the passage quoted at p. 364., that this was called
the corporal oath, because the witness "toucheth with his hand some part of
the Holy Scripture;" but the better opinion seems to be, that it was so
called from the ancient custom of laying the hands upon the _corporale_, or
cloth which covered the sacred elements, by which the most solemn oath was
taken in Popish times.
As to the form of kissing the book, I am inclined to think that it is not
of earlier date than the latter part of the sixteenth century, and that it
was first prescribed as part of the ceremony of taking the oaths of
allegiance and supremacy. In the _Harl. Misc._, vol. vi. p. 282. (edit.
1810), is an account of the trial of Margaret Fell and George Fox, for
refusing to take the oath of allegiance, followed by "An Answer to Bishop
Lancelot Andrewe's Sermon concerning Swearing." At p 298., Fox brings
forward instances of conscientious scruples among Christians in former
times, respecting the taking of oaths. He says:
"Did not the Pope, when he had got up over the churches, give forth
both oath and curse, with bell, {472} book, and candle? And was not the
ceremony of his oath, to lay three fingers a-top of the book, to
signify the Trinity; and two fingers under the book, to signify
damnation of body and soul if they sware falsely? And was not there a
great number of people that would not swear, and suffered great
persecution, as read the _Book of Martyrs_ but to Bonner's days? And it
is little above an hundred years since the Protestants got up; and they
gave forth the oath of allegiance, and the oath of supremacy: the one
was to deny the Pope's supremacy, and the other to acknowledge the
kings of England; _so we need not tell to you of their form, and show
you the ceremony of the oath; it saith_, '_Kiss the book_;' and the
book saith 'Kiss the Son,' which saith 'Swear not at all.'"
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.