* * * * *
The only immediate illustration of the preceding custom that occurs, is
Hutchinson’s mention of it in his History of Northumberland; in which
county, also, infants, when first sent abroad in the arms of the nurse
to visit a neighbour, are presented with an egg, salt, and bread. He
observes, that “the egg was a sacred emblem, and seems a gift well
adapted to infancy.” Mr. Bryant says, “An egg, containing in it the
elements of life, was thought no improper emblem of the ark, in which
were preserved the rudiments of the future world: hence, in the
Dionusiaca, and in other mysteries one part of the nocturnal ceremony
consisted in the consecration of an egg. By this, as we are informed by
Porphyry, was signified the world. It seems to have been a favourite
symbol, and very ancient, and we find it adopted among many nations. It
was said by the Persians of Orosmasdes, that he formed mankind and
enclosed them in an egg. Cakes and salt were used in religious rites by
the ancients. The Jews probably adopted their appropriation from the
Egyptians:--‘And if thou bring an oblation of a meat-offering baken in
the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour,’ &c. (Levit. ii.
4.) ‘With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.’” (Ibid, ii. 13.)
It is also customary in Northumberland for the midwife, &c. to provide
two slices, one of bread and the other of cheese, which are presented to
the first person they meet in the procession to church at the
christening. The person who receives this homely present must give the
child in return “three” different things, wishing it at the same time
health and beauty. A gentleman happening once to fall in the way of such
a party, and to receive the above present, was at a loss how to make the
triple return, till he bethought himself of laying upon the child which
was held out to him, a shilling, a halfpenny, and a pinch of snuff. When
they meet more than one person together, it is usual to single out the
nearest to the woman that carries the child.
Cowel says, it was a good old custom for God-fathers and God-mothers,
every time their God-children asked them blessing, to give them a cake,
which was a God’s-kichell: it is still a proverbial saying in some
countries, “Ask me a blessing, and I will give you some plum-cake.”
* * * * *
Among superstitions relating to children, the following is related by
Bingham, on St. Austin: “If when two friends are talking together, a
stone, or a dog, or a child, happens to come between them, they tread
the stone to pieces as the divider of their friendship; and this is
tolerable in comparison of beating an innocent child that comes between
them. But it is more pleasant that sometimes the children’s quarrel is
revenged by the dogs: for many times they are so superstitious as to
dare to beat the dog that comes between them, who, turning again upon
him that smites him, sends him from seeking a vain remedy, to seek a
real physician.” Brand, who cites these passages, adduces the following