"A seventh child has gifts denied to others."
(p.249)
"Seventh child - The seventh son of a seventh
son, or the
seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, is commonly said to have
magical gifts, particularly the gift of healing.
This old and very widespread belief is
sometimes stretched
to include any seventh child of a family, whether the parent of the
same sex was similarly born or not.
More usually, however, the magical gifts are
looked for
only in the second generation of sevens. In some districts, it is
thought necessary for the child's birth to be preceded by those of six
brothers (or sisters) in an unbroken line, with no child of opposite
sex intervening." (p.301-302)
From
a book on English
folklore: "Encyclopedia of Superstitions" by E. and M.A. Radford,
edited and revised by Christina Hole, Barnes and Noble Books, 1996.
First published in 1948.