The Express.
London, England, 1862-07-28 00:00:00

MST DAY'S SALE OP THE LIBEL COLLECTION

OF BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS.

The sale of this interesting collection by Messrs.
Sotheby and Wilkins began on Friday ; the attendance
was not extraordinarily peat ; but it consisted
chiefly of those who came to buy, and therefore
the prices realised were, with few exceptions, as high
as could be reasonably expected ; the biddings were indeed,
in some cases, very spirited ; and though a few lots were ob-
tained cheaply, none were sacrificed. Such an opportunity
seldom presents itself to the collector of rare and curious
works ; some of the manuscripts are considerably more
than a thousand years old. Several of the copies are
extremely rare editions ; a great number of the biodings are
either very rich or very curious, and many of the books,
km, are connected with historic names in such a way as
greatly to ►ugment their value and the intonet attached to
them. The books and manuscripts sold produced
1,923!. 13s.

HEBREW OATHS. EXTRAORDINARY SCENE.

At a coroner's court held at the London Hos-
pital, before Mr. John Humphreys, on Saturday afternoon,
the following scene occurred between the jury, which was
oompoeed of individuals of the Jewish persuasion, and Mr.
D. Hyman Dyte, the house surgeon to the institution, re-
lative to the manner in which the latter, who is also of the
Hebrew faith, took the Jewish oath. Some of the jury, it
should be stated, had brought a Bible pnnted in Hebrew in
the year 1662. Mr. Dy te having taken the oath on an
English Bible with his hat off, was proceelling to give his
evidence, when several of the jury said, You are a gas-
Erman of the Jewish persuasion r
Mr. Dyte—Yea.
A Juror—And yet you take the oath with your hat not
on, and from an English Bible bound up with the New Tes-
tament, although there is a Hebrew BibKhere
Several jurors—lt is no oath. We don't believe you.
The Canner—ls the oath you have takes binding on your

Mr. Dyte—Certainly, arr.
The Jury—lt is no oath. We don't want to hear him.
The Coroner—The act of parliament is clear upon that
point, gentlemen, that a witness is to be sworn in the form
that is binding on his conscience. Pray go on with your
evidence, Mr. Dyte.
Mr. Dyte resumed hi evidence, when
The Jury, with great animation, celled out. "We
don't want your evidence. We don't believe you. You are
mot sworn."
_ . .

The Coroner--Pray, gentlemen, do not all speak at
once. The gentleman has stated that the oath is binding
on him, and I, for my part, believe his evidence.
Mr. Dyte—Allow me to explain. I do not believe that
a solemn oath is less sacred hi its obligation because a man
has not a hat upon his head when he takes it Ido not me
what difference it makes whether the Bible is in English or
in Hebrew, for the truth is as much the truth in one lan-
guage as the other, nor is the Old Testament of lees autho-
rity or value because a New Testament happens to be hound
up with it. The oath I have taken is, 1 repeat, perfectly
banding on me.
The jury, being doubtless conciliated by the witimes's
manner, and silenced by the clearness of hi explanation,
then allowed his evidence to be taken.

7' —At the conclusion of the proceedings the members of the
jury declined to sign the inquisition paper personally, as
they were not allowed to write on the Sabbath upon
matters not pertaining to business or law, though it was
allowable for them to write in Hebrew upon other affairs,
such na charity, friendship, &c.; the difficulty was obviated
by Mr. Powuceby writing in their names with their assent.