_Children crying at Baptism_ (Vol. vi., p. 601.).--I am inclined to suspect
that the idea of its being lucky for a child to cry at baptism arose {97}
from the custom of _exorcism_, which was retained in the Anglican Church in
the First Prayer-Book of King Edward VI., and is still commonly observed in
the baptismal services of the Church of Rome. When the devil was going out
of the possessed person, he was supposed to do so with reluctance: "The
spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one
dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead." (St. Mark, ix. 26.) The tears
and struggles of the infant would therefore be a convincing proof that the
Evil One had departed. In Ireland (as every clergyman knows) nurses will
decide the matter by pinching the baby, rather than allow him to remain
silent and unlachrymose.