eXstrV."
Some parts of this inscription might be conjecturally supplied; but I prefer presenting it as I was able to transcribe it. The staircase in question was erected by the Elector Clement Augustus, in or about 1725, in imitation of the Scala Santa at Rome. (See Murray's Handbook.)
W. Sparrow Simpson.
OATHS.
(Vol. viii., pp. 364. 471.)
In Primate Colton's Metropolitan Visitation of the Diocese of Derry, A.D. 1397, edited by the Rev. William Reeves, D.D., it is stated, at p. 44., that several persons therein mentioned took their oath "tactis sacrosanctis Evangeliis;" and in a note Dr. Reeves says that—
"Until the arrival of the English the custom of swearing on the holy evangelists was unknown to the Irish, who resorted instead to croziers, bells, and other sacred reliquaries, to give solemnity to their declarations. Even when the Gospels were used, it was not uncommon to introduce some other object to render the oath doubly binding. Thus in a monition directed by Primate Prene to O'Neill, he requires him to be sworn 'tactis sacrosanctis Dei evangeliis ad ea, et super Baculum Jesu in ecclesia cathedrali Sanctæ Trinitatis Dublin.' (Reg. Prene, fol. 117.)"
The following lines upon the subject in question will be found in the Red Book of the Irish Exchequer:
"Qui jurat super librum tria tacit.
"Primo quasi diceret omnia que scripta sunt in hoc libro nunquam mihi perficiant neque lex nova neque vetus si mencior in hoc juramento.
"Secundo apponit manum super librum quasi diceret numquam bona opera que feci michi proficiant ante faciem Jeshu Christi nisi veritatem dicam quando per manus significentur opera.
"Tercio et ultimo osculatur librum quasi diceret numquam oraciones neque preces quas dixi per os meum michi ad salutem anime valeant si falsitatem dicam in hoc juramento michi apposito."