e him, and out of sympathy he was pleased to slacken that,
wherein he was, as I may so speak, swaddled; but, if I right remember,
he signified, he did not recover."--_Account of the Parish of Suddie,_
apud _Macfarlane's MSS._

According to the earlier doctrine, concerning the original corruption of
human nature, the power of daemons over infants had been long reckoned
considerable, in the period intervening between birth and baptism.
During this period, therefore, children were believed to be particularly
liable to abstraction by the Fairies, and mothers chiefly dreaded the
substitution of changelings in the place of their own offspring. Various
monstrous charms existed in Scotland, for procuring the restoration of a
child, which had been thus stolen; but the most efficacious of them was
supposed to be, the roasting of the suppositious child upon the live
embers, when it was believed it would vanish, and the true child appear
in the place, whence it had been originally abstracted.[A]

[Footnote A: Less perilous recipes were sometimes used. The editor is
possessed of a small relique, termed by tradition a toad-stone, the
influence of which was supposed to preserve pregnant women from the
power of daemons, and other dangers incidental to their situation. It
has been carefully preserved for several generations, was often pledged
for considerable sums of money, and uniformly redeemed, from a belief in
its efficacy.]

The most minute and authenticated account of an exchanged child is to be
found in Waldron's _Isle of Man_, a book from which I have derived much
legendary information. "I was prevailed upon myself," says that author,
"to go and see a child, who, they told me, was one of these changelings,
and, indeed, must own, was not a little surprised, as well as shocked,
at the sight. Nothing under heaven could have a more beautiful face;
but, though between five and six years old, and seemingly healthy, he
was so far from being able to walk or stand, that he could not so much
as move any one joint; his limbs were vastly long for his age, but
smaller than any infant's of six months; his complexion was perfectly
delicate, and he had the finest hair in the world. He never spoke nor
cried, ate scarce any thing, and was very seldom seen to smile; but if
any one called him a _fairy-elf_, he would frown, and fix his eyes so
earnestly on those who said it, as if he would look them through. His
mother, or at least his supposed mo