Fosterage
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Fosterage was common to the Celts of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. By it the child of one person was adopted by another, who gave him bed and board and sometimes education, and treated him in every respect as his own child. Sometimes men exchanged children. The custom probably originated in the troubles of olden times, the constant danger to life and property, and the consequent desire to form alliances for mutual protection, not only by marriage and bonds of manrent, but also by fosterage of children. Numerous instances are recorded by extraordinary love and fidelity between foster parents and foster brothers - the best known in literature being that told by Sir Walter Scott in The Fair Maid of Perth, where Torquil and all his sons sacrifice their lives for his foster child, Eachin Maclan. The contract of fosterage was, commonly, by word of mouth, but it was sometimes committed to writing.
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