_Midwives licensed._--In the articles to be inquired into in the province
of Canterbury, anno 1571 (_Grindal Rem._, Park. Soc. 174-58), inquiry to be
made
"Whether any use charms, or unlawful prayers, or invocations, in Latin
or otherwise, and _namely, midwives in the time of women's travail of
child_."
In the oath taken by Eleanor Pead before being licensed by the Archbishop
to be a midwife a similar clause occurs; the words, "Also, I will not use
any kind of sorcery or incantations in the time of the travail of any
woman." Can any of your readers inform me what charms or prayers are here
referred to, and at what period midwives ceased to be licensed by the
Archbishop, or if any traces of such license are still found in Roman
Catholic countries?