a remedy for
disease. This is doubtless a relic of the old creed which refers all
human ailments to witchcraft and other spiritualistic origins. Mr.
Henderson, speaking of the notion prevalent in the north of England that
sickly infants never thrive until they are christened, relates a story
communicated to him by a clergyman, within whose personal knowledge it
had happened. He says: "The infant child of a chimney-sweeper at Thorne,
in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was in a very weak state of health, and
appeared to be pining away. A neighbour looked in, and inquired if the
child had been baptized. On an answer being given in the negative, she
gravely said, 'I would try having it christened.' The counsel was taken,
and I believe with success." The same belief is found both in North and
South Wales. It is also testified to by a Scottish clergyman, who
moreover adduces the following conversation as illustrative of it and of
"an undefinable sort of awe about unbaptized infants, as well as an idea
of uncanniness in having them without baptism in the house," which is
entertained among the labouring classes in the north-east of Scotland.
"Oh, sir," said the wife of a working man to the minister, on asking him
to baptize her child along with others, whose mothers were present,
"this registration's the warst thing the queentry ever saw; it sud be
deen awa' wee athegeethir!" "Why?" asked the minister, in astonishment
at the woman's words and earnestness of manner. "It'll pit oot kirsnin
athegeethir. Ye see the craitirs gets their names, an we jist think that
aneuch, an' we're in nae hurry sennin for you." How far, as this
anecdote dimly suggests, it was the giving of a name which was supposed
to protect a child, I cannot say: more probably it was the dedication to
God involved in baptism. This is countenanced by the precaution said to
have been observed in Nithsdale when a pretty child was born to
consecrate it to God, and sue for its protection by "taking the Beuk"
and other acts of prayer and devotion.[61]

Putting aside such ceremonies as these which may be supposed distinctly
Christian, there were other charms looked upon as efficacious. Thus in
Scotland it was deemed highly judicious to keep an open Bible always
near a child, and even to place the holy volume beneath the head of a
woman in labour. In some parts of Germany it is enough to lay a single
leaf out of a Bible or prayer-book in the cradle, until by the baptism
of