nical councils; he then promised fidelity to the church and clemency to his subjects, and that he would keep from cruelty and follow truth and justice. These things, which are contained in six articles, he ratified by his oath and subscription.

For the GERMAN EMPIRE we may take the oath of Maxi. milian I, which is divided into six heads, chiefly taken from the formulary in the Ordo Romanus. Other copies may doubtless be found in Goldastus and the German antiquaries 36

The oath of the kings of FRANCE has sustained little alteration from the earliest time : it is exactly the same with that of our Æthelred II. but with an additional clause at the end, promising the extirpation of heresy 37, and with the consequent omission of the word tria at the beginning. The same oath I have found set down for the kings of SCOTLAND in the older times.

The kings of BOHEMIA, besides assenting to the first and third interrogatories of the oath in the Ordo Romanus, took also a particular oath to preserve the rights and liberties of their people 38.

In SWEDEN we possess an unusually interesting monument of this kind;-an oath of a time antecedent to the conversion of the country to the Christian religion, and

37"Item, de terrâ meâ ac jurisdictione mihi subditâ universos hæreticos ab ecclesiâ damnatos pro viribus bonâ fide exterminare studebo.”—Recueil du Formulaire, &c. p. 32. The Ordo of Charles V. has also an addition to the first clause; "Et superioritatem, jura, et nobilitates coronæ Franciæ inviolabiliter custodiam, et illa nec transportabo nec alienabo.”— Selden, Tit. Hon. Part 1. cap. 8. v.

38 See Appendix, No. 9.

actually bearing in it the name of ODIN. The antient Sweo Gothic oath consisted of two parts, one relating to the administration of law or justice, (tag gifwa) the other to the preservation of peace. Of the latter clause the following is a copy in the original language: 39 Eg fuer, og set nu hier grid og frið i landi thessu, sie ODIN ad gridum: thus rendered by my author, Pacem vobis juro et firmo in hac regione, Odinus vindex esto. This form of adjuration is said to have been altered to one accommodated to the Christian faith by St Eric, who reigned in 1156.

The following appears from the Swedish law books to have been the later form. "Nu åger Konunger eed sin swårja å book, och Hälgadoma i hand sinne hålda, och swå fiġbia: Swå bidher iag mig Gud huldan både till lijf och fiål, Jomfru Sancta Maria och Sancte Eric Konung, och all Hålgon, och Hälgadoma the iag å halder, at iag skall alla uptalda och förnåmda Articulos styrkia och hålda, effter kunnist ock båsta samwiti mino 40." This I suppose we may read as follows:-Now ought the king his oath to swear by book, and the reliques to hold in his hand, and thus to say: So pray I God help me, both in life and soul, our lady St Mary, and St Eric, king, and all hallowes, and the reliques which I now hold, as I shall all the recited and forenamed articles confirm and hold, after my cunning and best judgement.

39 The authority Lundius in Notis ad LL. W-Goth. p. 98. See Akerman, Ritus Antiquus Regum Sv.-Goth. per Provincias circumeundi, Upsal, 1708. p. 26. 40 Landsl. K. B. c. 4. See Törner, Diss. de Mora-Steen, p. 28. For antient Scandinavian oaths in general see further in Sheringham De Angl. Gent. Orig. cap. xiii. p. 277.

Petition of the Bishops.

WE have here to notice an omission in the Coronation service which appears to have arisen from the change of the oath on the accession of King William III. By old custom, a petition or claim on behalf of the bishops should be addrest to the king by one of the order immediately after the oath is administered, in the following form:

"Our lord the king, we beseech you to pardon us, and to grant and preserve unto us, and to the churches committed to our charge, all canonical privileges, and due law and justice; and that you will protect and defend us, as every good king in his kingdom ought to be a protector and defender of the bishops, and the churches under their government.

The king answers, With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant you my pardon; and that I will preserve and maintain to you, and the churches committed to your charge, all canonical privileges, and due law and justice: and that I will be your protector and defender to my power, by the assistance of God, as every good king in his kingdom ought in right to protect and defend the bishops, and the churches under their government."

The address of the bishops does not appear in the Ordo of Henry I. nor do we know exactly the time of its first being used: It is however of considerable antiquity, and may be seen in the publisht copies of the Liber Regalis. In France, the antiquity assigned to this part of the ceremony is very remote. Louis II. in the middle of the ninth century is said to have received the petition of the bishops

from the mouth of Hincmar, the prelate who crowned him. Speaking of Hincmar and the bishops of his time, the Abbé Vertot says, "Ils ne mettoient point la couronne sur la teste de ces princes qu'ils n'en eûssent obtenu la promesse ou le serment de les proteger et de les défendre: A vobis perdonari petimus, &c. Nous vous demandons, dit le mesmè Hincmare, en addressant la parole à Louis le Begue, qu'il alloit sacrer, que vous conserviez nos droits, nos privileges, et nos libertez. Et le prince repondit, Promitto vobis et perdono canonicum privilegium, &c.”—Mem. de l'Acad. tom. ii. p. 720. The same petition is also in the Ordo of Charles V. and other ceremonials of France, to the latest times, but in these it comes before instead of after the administration of the oath.

P. 190.-Anointing.

ONE of the principal changes which our ceremonial hath undergone is the omission of the practice of anointing with CHRISM after the unction of the consecrated oil. Till the time of Elizabeth, or perhaps of James I.', it was usual for the king to be anointed on the palms of his hands, on his breast, between his shoulders, on his elbows, and on his head, with the holy oil, in formâ crucis, and afterward with the chrism, in the same form, upon his forehead.

The distinction between the oil and the chrism of our rituals may be explained by showing their respective uses in the ceremonies of the Christian church. In the earlier ages three kinds of unction were employed in the offices of religion; 1st, that for sick persons; 2d, that for the catechumeni, or persons not yet baptized or confirmed; and 3d, that used in baptism, confirmation, or consecration. The former of these were with oil consecrated for the two several purposes by the priest, but the latter with an unguent of oil mingled with balm, which was prepared at a particular season, and always consecrated by a bishop, by whom only it could be used, except in cases of necessity in the rite of baptism. This, then, was the chrism of our coronations:

• We know that the chrism was used in the unction of Edward VI. (Milles, Catal. p. 57, &c.): in that of Mary without doubt: and the coronation of Elizabeth is said to have been in the antient form.

2 See Du Cange, vv. Chrisma, Oleum, Ampulla; Durandus, Rationale Divin. Offic. lib. i. & vi. ; and the antient treatises of Alcuinus, Rupertus Tuitensis, Rabanus Maurus, &c. in the collection of Melchior Hittorpius.