Transactions. 37 
Folk-lore of Glencairn. By Mr Joun Corrie. 
At the present day it is a matter of no little difficulty to realise 
the solicitude with which the fathers and mothers of a past gen- 
eration must have watched over their offspring during the tender 
years of infancy. The hour, the day of the week, the month, and 
even the year of birth were all supposed to exercise an important 
influence upon the future fortune and character of the child; 
while witch and warlock, fay and fairy, had each the power, under’ 
certain limitations, of bestowing upon young and especially upon 
unbaptised children their unhallowed attentions. Starting with 
the initial step in life, we find a very prevalent belief to the effect 
that a child born with a “ caul”—a thin membrane occasionally 
found covering the head at birth—is sure to be attended by good 
fortune in after life. In some districts of the country this “caul,” 
or ‘ holy hood,” is supposed to indicate that the child will never 
be drowned, but in inland Glencairn this part of the belief has 
failed to perpetuate itself. A child, on the other hand, born with 
teeth is doomed to misfortune or early death, evils which the 
mother usually does her best to’ counteract by having the offend- 
ing incisors pulled as soon as possible. Among other prevalent 
notions associated with infancy may be mentioned the belief that 
specks on the finger nails are prophetic of coming fortune, a belief 
by no means confined to Scotland, for the poet Crabbe, in his 
poem of ‘‘ The Village,” says : 
“©Tn moles and specks we Fortune’s gifts discern, 
And Fate’s fixed will from Nature’s wanderings learn.” 
Infant feet have their superstitions as well as infant hands, and 
when the two toes next the great toe lie close together it is looked 
upon as a sign of riches. Again, a child should go up in the world 
before it goes down, otherwise it will never rise to distinction in 
life. Weighing a child was long supposed to have an injurious 
effect upon its prospects in life, but of late years this belief has 
been set at open defiance. It was at one time customary through- 
out the south of Scotland—and we believe the practice is to some 
extent observed still—to hold a tea-drinking on the birth of a 
child, when all who wished the child well were expected to taste of 
tke “blyth-meat,” as it was called. A similar custom, we are told, 
prevails throughout the northern and. midland counties of 
England, where “ birth-feasts” have long been popular owing to 
