646 Dr. Pei-ci'val's Notes and Illi^ratietis. 



nor to declare lumfelf ignorant ; he is likewife to remind him, not 

 only of the importance of that obligation, but alfo that he is liable 

 to be obliged to confirm by oath, at the requeft either of the 

 accufed, the plaintiiF, or the injured party, whatever he is about 

 to declare, in reply to the fimple queries that are to be put to 

 him." 



" And we order that, in whatever cafe and circumftance it 

 may be permitted to adminifter an oath, let it be to whom it 

 will, and on any occafion whatfoever, the judge or public officer, 

 carrying on the trial, before he adminifters the faid oath, fliall 

 reprefent, to the perfon, the obligation that accompanies it, ex- 

 plaining to him its meaning and importance ; and to the end that 

 it may make a greater impreffion, we abolifh the fimple formality 

 of touching a leaf of the Bible only, inftead of which the perfon 

 ftiall kneel down, and fwear before a crucifix. When the perfon, 

 who is about to fwear, is of a religion different from ours, he 

 {hall take his oath in the form the moll refpefted and dreaded by 

 thcfe of his own perfuafion, the great importance of the under- 

 taking having previoufly been reprefented to him." 



Mr. Howard, in his Obfervations on Foreign Prifons, informs 

 us that, in La Prifon Ordinaire at Bern, a ferious exhortation is 

 hung up, concerning the awful nature of an oath, together with 

 the forms ofthofc, which are to be taken. He tranfcribes the 

 one following. " My depofition, which has now been read to 

 " me, I confirm before the face of God omnipotent, omnifci- 

 *' ent, and true, to contain the truth, as I defire that God may 

 " be mv help, at the end of my days." The fame excellent 

 author fpeaks, with much approbation, of the mode of admini- 

 ftering oaths in Scotland ; and afferts that perjury is not frequent 

 in that country. But 1 know not how to reconcile this obferva- 

 tion with what Lord Kaims, a late refpeftable judge of the court 

 of feffion, has delivered, in his Loofe Hints on Education. 

 " Cuftom-houfe oaths," fays his Lordfhip, " now a days, go for 

 " nothing. Not that the world grows more v/icked, but becaufe 

 ' " no perfon lays any ftrefs upon them. The duty on French wine 

 " is the fame in Scotland, and in England, But as we cannot 

 *' afford to pay this high duty, the permiflion, underhand, to pay 



" Spaniih 



