In mediæval times a child on being baptized was arrayed by the priest in a white robe, which had been anointed with sacred oil, and was called a Chrismale. This robe was called the Chrisom, and if the child died within a month, it was shrouded in this robe, and was called a Chrisom-child. Parochial registers very frequently have the expression applied to children who are buried, and it will be remembered by readers of Shakespeare. Sometimes the cloth was called the Christening Palm. Later, say a hundred years ago, though the arraying by the minister was not in use, a newly baptized child was arrayed in a palm or pall to be brought down to see company. In Perthshire, it is said, a child who was about to be privately baptized was placed in a clean basket covered over with a cloth, in which was placed a portion of bread and cheese. The basket was then hung on the iron crook over the fire, and turned round three times. It was to counteract the malignant spells of witches and evil spirits. Here is an inventory of christening garments of the seventeenth century (_Notes and Queries_):-- 1. A lined, white figured satin cap. 2. A lined, white satin cap, embroidered with sprays in gold coloured silk. 3. A white satin palm, embroidered to match. Size 44 in. by 34 in. 4. A pair of deep cuffs, white satin, similarly embroidered, trimmed with lace, evidently intended to be worn by the bearer of the infant. 5. A pair of linen gloves or mittens for the baby, trimmed with narrow lace, the back of the fingers lined with coloured figured silk. 6. A palm, 54 in. by 48 in., of rich still yellow silk lined with white satin. According to Sarum use, yellow was the altar colour for confessors' festivals. This yellow pall may have been considered specially suitable at the child's being first openly pledged to confess the faith of Christ crucified. Another name for the christening palm is the christening sheet or "cude cloth." This is a superstition that if it is not burned within a year of the child's birth it will never be able to keep a secret. The gift of "Apostle Spoons" by sponsors is said, by Stow, to have originated in the days of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare, on being godfather to one of Ben Jonson's children, gave him "a dozen of Latten spoons." In the days of James I. it was the fashion for sponsors to give shirts with little bands or cuffs wrought with silk or blue thread, but this did not last, they went back to spoons or cups. Brand quotes from "The Comforts of Wooing":--"The godmother hearing when the child was to be _coated_, brings it a gilt coral, a silver spoon and porringer, and a brave new tankard of the same metal." According to Shipman the custom of making presents at baptisms declined in the time of the Commonwealth.