Charms were quite commonly
employed to defend houses from the inroads of the fairies before the
infants were baptised; but even baptism did not always protect the baby
from being stolen. During the period of infancy, the mother required to
be ever watchful; but the risks were especially great before baptism. It
is difficult to define exactly the power which the queen of elfland had,
for besides carrying off Thomas the Rhymer, she was supposed to have
carried off no less a personage than James IV. from the field of
Flodden, and to have detained him in her enchanted country. There was
also a king of elfland. From the accounts extracted from or volunteered
by witches, &c., preserved to us in justiciary and presbyterial records,
he appears to have been a peaceable, luxurious, indolent personage, who
entrusted the whole business of his kingdom, including the recruiting
department, to his wife. We get a glimpse of both their majesties in the
confessions of Isabella Gowdie, in Aulderne, a parish in Nairnshire, who
was indicted for witchcraft in 1662.
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