Nov. 12. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



471 



Sir Walter Scott (Swift's Works, vol. xvi. p. 76.) 

 says " it was formerly in the possession of Lord 

 Lansdowne, and is now in the British Museum." 

 I have never been able to find it. F. B. 



[The Diary here referred to by Sir Walter Scott 

 ■will be found at p. 428. in Lansdowne MS. 1024., 

 which forms the third and last volume of Bishop 

 Kennett's " Materials for an Ecclesiastical History of 

 England. "J 



Milton's widow. 

 (Vol. vi., p. 596.; Vol. vii., pp. 12. 134. 200. 375.) 



It may be worth recording, that among the 

 MS. papers of the late James Boswell, which were 

 I believe sold by auction by Messrs. Sotheby and 

 Co., there was the office copy and probate of the 

 will of Milton's widow. She was described as 

 Elizabeth Milton of Namptwich, widow ; and it 

 was dated the 27th of August, 1727. In the will 

 she bequeathed all her effects, after the payment 

 of her debts, to be divided between her nieces and 

 nephews in Namptwich ; and named as her execu- 

 tors, Samuel Acton and John AUcock, Esqs. Pro- 

 bate was granted to John Allcock, October 10, 

 1727. 



Beside this, there was a bond or acquittance, 

 dated 1680, from Richard Mynshull, described of 

 Wistaston in Cheshire, frame-work knitter, for 

 100/. received of Mrs. Elizabeth Milton in con- 

 sideration of a transfer to her of a lease for lives, 

 or ninety-nine years, of a messuage at Brindley 

 in Cheshire, held under Sir Thomas Wilbraham. 



There were also receipts or releases from Mil- 

 ton's three daughters, Anne Milton, Mary Milton, 

 and Deborah Clarke (to the last of which Abraham 

 Clarke was a party) : the first two dated Feb. 22, 

 1674; the last, March 27 in the same year; for 

 lOOZ. each, received of Elizabeth Milton their 

 step-mother in consideration of their shares of 

 their father's estate. The sums were, with the 

 consent of Christopher Milton and Richard Powell, 

 both described of the Inner Temple, to be dis- 

 posed of in the purchase of rent-charges or an- 

 nuities for the benefit of the said daughters. 



Two of these documents appear to be now in 

 the possession of your correspondents Mr. Marsh 

 and Mr. Hughes ; but I have met with no men- 

 tion hitherto of the destination of the others. 



These msiy seem trifling minutiae to notice, but 

 nothing can fairly be considered unimportant 

 which may lead to the elucidation of the domestic 

 history of Milton. S. W. Singer. 



Mickleham. 



(Vol.viii., p. 364.) 



There can be no doubt that, as your correspon- 

 dent 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.** 



The Christians under the later Roman em- 

 perors adopted from the Greeks a similar cere- 

 mony. In the well-known case of Omychund v. 

 Barker, heard in Michaelmas Term, 1744, and re- 

 ported in 1 Atk. 27., the Solicitor- General quoted 

 a passage from Selden, which gives us some in- 

 formation on this point : 



" Mittimus hie, principibus Christianis, ut ex his- 

 toriis satis obviis liquet, solennia fuisse et peculiaria 

 juramenta, ut per vultum sancti Lucae, per pedem 

 Christi, per sanctum hunc vel ilium, ejusmodi alia 

 nimis crebra : Inolevit vero tandem, ut quemadmodum 

 Pagani sacris ac wysieriis aliquo suis aut tactis avi prce- 

 sentibus jurare solebant, ita solenniora Christianorum 

 juramenta fierent, ant tactis sacrosanctis evangeliis, aut 

 inspectis, aut in eorum prcesentia manu ad pectus amota,.- 

 suhlata aut protensa ; atque is corporaliter seu persona- 

 liter juramentum praestari dictum est, ut ab juramentis 

 per epistolam, aut in scriptis solummodo pra;stitis dis- 

 tingueretur, 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 cor- 

 porate, 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 in- 

 clined 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 INlargaret 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 conscien- 

 tious 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^ 



