" 1875, vol. iv. p. 314.

Steevens observes that, in the Puritanical times, it was usual to
christen children with the names of moral and religious virtues--a
practice to which allusion seems to be made in "The Tempest" (ii. 1) by
Antonio:

"Temperance was a delicate wench."

So Taylor, the Water-Poet, in his description of a strumpet, says:

"Though bad they be, they will not bate an ace,
To be call'd Prudence, Temperance, Faith, or Grace."

In days gone by a "chrisom" or "christom child" was one who had recently
been baptized, and died within the month of birth, the term having
originated in the "face-cloth, or piece of linen, put upon the head of a
child newly baptized." The word was formed from the chrism, that is, the
anointing, which formed a part of baptism before the Reformation. Thus,
in "Henry V." (ii. 3), the hostess, Mrs. Quickly, means "chrisom child"
in the following passage, where she speaks of Falstaff's death: "'A made
a finer end, and went away an it had been any christom child." In a
beautiful passage of Bishop Taylor's "Holy Dying" (chap. i. sec. 2),
this custom is thus spoken of: "Every morning creeps out of a dark
cloud, leaving behind it an ignorance and silence deep as midnight, and
undiscerned as are the phantoms that made a chrisom child to smile."
Referring to the use of the chrisom-cloth in connection with baptism, it
appears that, after the usual immersion in water, the priest made a
cross on the child's head with oil, after which the chrisom was put on,
the priest asking at the same time the infant's name, and saying,
"Receive this white, pure, and holy vestment, which thou shalt wear
before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thou mayest inherit
eternal life. Amen." It was to be worn seven days; but after the
Reformation, however, the use of oil was omitted, and the chrisom was
worn by the child till the mother's churching, when it was returned to
the church. If the child died before the churching, it was buried in the
chrisom, and hence it may be that the child itself was called a chrisom
or chrisomer.[706] Thus, it will be seen that Dame Quickly simply
compares the manner of Falstaff's death to that of a young infant. In
registers and bills of mortality we find infants alluded to under the
term "Chrisoms." Burn, in his "History of Parish Registers" (1862, p.
127), gives the subjoined entry from a register of Westminster Abbey:
"The Princess Ann's child a chrissom