"Cal. I'll swear upon that bottle to be thy true subject. for the liquor is not earthly.

Ste. Here; swear then, how thou escap'dst.

Trin. Swam a-shore, man, like a duck; I can swim like a duck, I'll be sworn.

Ste. Come, swear to that; kiss the book; I will furnish it anon, with new contents: swear.'

771

The most common form of oath, by the use of the gospel, is that here adopted. This form of oath obtains in countries subject to the English and Roman law. The witness took the book in his hand and then assented to the words: "You do swear that," etc., "so help you, God," and then kissed the book. The origin of this form of oath may be traced to the Roman law. Kissing the book is perhaps an imitation of the priest's kissing the ritual, as a sign of reverence before reading it to the congregation.*

That the central idea of the oath was thoroughly understood by the Poet is apparent from the language used, for an oath is but an outward pledge that the witness makes his attestation under an immediate sense of his responsibility to God and promises to accomplish the transaction to which it refers, according to His laws."

'Tempest, Act II, Scene II.

29 Carr & P., 137.

Nov. 8, Tit. 3; Nov. 124, cap. 1.

'Rees, Cycl.

Tyler, Oaths, 15.

The Jew is sworn on the Pentateuch, or Old Testament, with his head covered. Strange, 821, 1113. The Mohammedan, on the Koran, 1 Leach, Cr. Cas. 54. The Brahmin, by touching the hand of a priest, Wils. 549.

In Love's Labour's Lost, the Poet justifies a false oath, as follows:

"Biron. Let us once lose our oaths, to find ourselves,

Or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths;

It is religion to be thus forsworn;

For charity itself fulfills the law;

And who can sever love from charity." (Act IV, Scene III.)

In Merchant of Venice (Act II, Scene II), the oath, by swearing on the book, is again spoken of, as follows: "Laun. Father, in: I cannot get a service, no:-I have ne'er a tongue in my head.-Well; (looking on his palm) if any man in Italy have a fairer table, which doth offer to swear upon a book.-I shall have good fortune," etc. And Shylock said: “An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven: Shall I lay perjury upon my soul? No, not for Venice." (Act IV, Scene I.)

In All's Well That Ends Well, (Act IV, Scene II) the Poet makes Diana say: "Dia. 'Tis not the many oaths that make the truth;

But the plain single oath, that is vow'd true.

What is not holy, that we swear not by; but take the highest to witness."

In Winter's Tale, the messengers from Apollo's priest, took the following oath:

"Offi. You here shall swear upon this sword of justice,

That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have been both at Delphos;
And from thence have brought this seal'd-up oracle,
By the hand deliver'd of great Apollo's priest; and that,
Since then, you have not dar'd to break the holy seal,
Nor read the secrets in't.

Cleo. Dion. All this we swear." (Act III, Scene II.)

On pronouncing their banishment, King Richard II exacts the following oath from Bolingbroke and Norfolk:

"K. Rich. Return again, and take an oath with thee.

Lay on our royal sword your banish'd hands;
Swear by the duty that you owe to heaven,

(Our part herein we banish, with ourselves,)

To keep the oath that we administer:

You never shall (so help you truth and heaven:)

Embrace each other's love in banishment;

Nor never look upon each other's face;

Nor never write, regret, nor reconcile

This lowering tempest of your home-bred hate;

Nor never by advised purpose meet,

To plot, contrive, or complot any ill.

'Gainst us, our state, our subjects or our land.

Boling. I swear.

Nor. And I, to keep all this." (Act I. Scene III).

In 1 Henry IV, Francis said to Prince Henry: "Fran. O lord.

sir; I'll be sworn upon all the books in England, I could find in (Act II, Scene IV.)

my heart."

The Poet "Fal.

. .

makes Falstaff say to Bardolph, in 1' Henry IV: If thou wert any way given to virtue, I would swear by thy face; my oath should be, By this fire." (Act III, Scene III.)

Hostess Quickly, in 2' Henry IV (Act II, Scene II), puts Falstaff upon his oath, as follows: "Host. Thou did'st swear to me upon a parcel-gilt goblet, sitting in my Dolphin chamber, at the round table, by a sea-coal fire, upon Wednesday, in Whitsun week, when the Prince broke thy head for liking his father to a signing man of Windsor, thou did'st swear to me then, as I was washing thy wound, to marry me and make me my lady thy wife. Can'st thou deny it? . . And did'st thou not kiss me and bid me fetch thee thirty shillings? put thee now to thy book-oath; deny it, if thou can'st."

Pistol, enraged at corporal Nym, comes quite near taking an oath, in Henry V, as follows: "Pist. Base tike, call'st thou me— host? Now, by this hand I swear, I scorn the term; nor shall my Nell keep lodgers. (Act II, Scene I.)

And in attempting to part the combatants, Bardolph said: "Bard. By this sword, he that makes the first thrust, I'll kill him; by this sword, I will." And Pistol replies: "Pist. Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course." (Act II, Scene 1.)

In 2' Henry VI, the earl of Salisbury, thus abjures his oath of allegiance to the King:

"Hen. Hast thou not sworn allegiance unto me?

Sal. I have.

Hen. Can'st thou dispense with heaven for such an oath?
Sal. It is great sin, to swear unto a sin;

But greater sin, to keep a sinful oath.
Who can be bound by any solemn vow
To do a murderous deed, to rob a man.
To force a spotless virgin's chastity,

To reave the orphan of his patrimony,

To wring the widow from her custom'd right;
And have no other reason for this wrong,

But that he was bound by a solemn oath?"

(Act V, Scene 1.)

Richard thus reasons that a non-official oath is without effect, in 3' Henry VI:

"Rich. An oath is of no moment being not took,

Before a true and lawful magistrate,

That hath authority over him that swears;
Henry had none, but did usurp the place;
Then seeing 'twas he that made you to depose,
Your oath, my lord, is vain and frivolous."

(Act I, Scene II.)

Clarence thus excuses his violation of his oath in 3' Henry VI: "Clar. Perhaps, thou wilt object my holy oath,

To keep that oath were more impiety,

Than Jeptha's, when he sacrificed his daughter." (Act V,
Scene I.)

In his attempt to woo the daughter of Queen Elizabeth, his own niece, King Richard III swears as follows:

"K. Rich.

crown,

Now, by my George, my garter and my

Q. Eliz. Profan'd, dishonored and the third usurp'd.
K. Rich. I swear.

Q. Eliz. By nothing; for this is no oath.

Thy George, profan'd, hath lost its holy honour;
Thy garter, blemish'd, pawn'd his knightly virtue;
Thy crown usurp'd, disgrac'd his kingly glory;
If something thou would'st swear to be believ'd,
Swear then by something that thou hast not wrong'd."
(Act IV, Scene IV.)

Lucius thus swears to perform his promise to Aaron, in Titus Andronicus:

"Luc. Even by my God, I swear to thee, I will."

(Act V, Scene I.)

And Hamlet and the Ghost insist upon Horatio and Marcellus being sworn, as follows:

Hor. Propose the oath, my lord.

Ham. Never to speak of this that you have seen.

Ghost.

(Beneath)

Swear by my sword.
Swear.

Нат.

Hic et ubique? then we'll shift our ground:

Come hither, gentlemen,

And lay your hands upon my sword:

Swear by my sword.

Never to speak of this that you have heard.

Ghost. (Beneath.) Swear by his sword." (Act I, Scene V.)

Sec. 3. The marriage contract—

"Pro. If thou dost break her virgin knot before all sanctimonious ceremonies may, with full and holy rite. be ministered,

No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall to make this contract grow."

To guarantee deliberation and preserve the positive evidence of such an important transaction, the laws of most civilized countries require certain forms in the celebration. of the marriage ceremony. In one form or another marriage is the oldest institution of society and the source of its most antique laws. At the basis of the marriage celebration is the necessity of society for some rule for the appropriation of the opposite sexes to one another and the protection of the relation established. The higher the standards of civilization, no doubt the greater regard is paid to the established ceremonies through which the marriage is celebrated. Hence the suggestion, by the poet that "No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall, to make this contract grow," until "all sanctimonious ceremonies may, with full and holy rite, be ministered." In all Christian countries, the marriage contract is celebrated by the accompaniment of a religious ceremony. Hildebrand declared marriage to be a sacrament of the church; Calvin declared it to be an institution of God, while Grotius defined it as a contract of partnership. The legal idea of the marriage ceremony is presented in the above verse, as well as the recognition of the institution from a spiritual standpoint, for in legal contemplation, even where the intervention of the priest is essential, on grounds of public policy, marriage is nothing more nor less than a civil contract, differing from other contracts in that its incidents are fixed by public law and in so far as it affects the status of the contracting parties."

Lubbock's Origin of Civilization; Tylor Early History of Mankind. 'Bishop's Marriage and Divorce.

Bishop's Marriage and Divorce.