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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. xn. DEC. 5, im.

phrase "kissed his Majesty's hand" more correctly represents the present procedure in these cases, and have seen it suggested that " kissed hands," a phrase dating from 1768 at latest (see * N.E.D.'), is a mere vulgarism based on the false analogy of " shook hands." An indication that this suggestion is without foundation is to be seen in De Guaras's account of the accession of Queen Mary, where it is said that the ambassadors came to kiss her Majesty's hands ("a besar las manos de su Magestad ") ; see 'Antonio de Guaras,' d. Dr. Garnett (Lawrence & Bullen, 1892), pp. 75, 123. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

FABLE AS TO CHILD-MURDER BY JEWS.

leSSing to JD .ex i_i vyivi. J.J.CUICW _L rttuiuiuii

from Whitechapel.' That it is an absolute falsehood I feel well assured ; but the ques- tion is whether we have here a ghastly fable invented for malicious purposes, or whether it is a transference adapted to English taste from some foreign source. I incline to the latter theory, but know of no evidence in confirmation of it. I have abridged the original, which is too long for ' N. & Q.,' and, indeed, not worth giving in full there or anywhere else. This is how the story runs. Some time in the eighteenth century there was an accoucheur of the name of Roque, Rock, or something like it, for it is worthy of note that the narrator caught the sound imperfectly, or "his memory had failed." This person was called up one midnight to visit " the house of a great Jew family in the environs of Whitechapel." He was pledged to secrecy and blindfolded. When he arrived at the house he was led from the entrance- hall, through passages and up flights of stairs, into a chamber in which, from the sounds he heard, he believed a fierce fire was burning. In an adjoining room the bandage was removed from his eyes, and he there saw a lady about to give birth to a child. " The room, the furniture, the bed and attendance, all indicated a very high degree of opulence and even splendour." Having performed his omce and received a large fee, he was again blindfolded and led through the highly heated room. But the horrible part of the tale is that so soon as he had passed through the room where the great fire was burning, he heard shrieks arid screams and "passionate and bewailing language respecting the child, which he was well aware proceeded from the unfortunate mother." He afterwards heard the tire stirred and crackling and some faint cries of the babe. This, it seems, the doctor

well understood to indicate " the destruction of the unfortunate infant by fire, according to a horrible custom of the Jews, required by their religion in certain cases."

The writer does not give his name. He seems to have been a very ignorant person, and ready to accept any nonsense about the Jews that was reported to him. It would not be without interest to know if there was any one called Roque, Roche, or Rock in medical practice in London at the time, or whether the name, like the rest of the narrative, is mere fabrication. EDWARD PEACOCK.

Wickentree House, Kirton-in-Lindsey.

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

THACKERAY AND ' DAMASCUS AND PAL- MYRA.' In booksellers' catalogues the illus- trations to * Damascus and Palmyra,' by C. G. Addison, 1838, are invariably ascribed to Thackeray. They do not bear his signature, nor does his name appear on the title-page or in the text. Can any one say what autho- rity there is for attributing them to the novelist? M. H.

THACKERAY'S POEM OF 'CATHERINE HAYES.' Can any of your readers inform me where Thackeray's poem of ' Catherine Hayes ' first appeared? Mrs. Ritchie has informed us that this was given to Miss A. A. Procter as a contribution to a magazine in which she was interested, and there is no doubt that it was printed, as a copy of it was sent many years later to Mrs. Ritchie by Dr. Weir Mitchell, of New York. I understand that Mrs. Ritchie is unaware of the source from which the poem was taken by Dr. Weir Mitchell, and a close and intimate friend of Miss Procter's does not remember that the poetess was interested in any magazine, with the possible exception of the Englishwoman's Journal, and the poem does not appear in the indexes to the dozen volumes of this periodical. GEORGE G. HARRAP.

15, York Street, Covent Garden.

MARGARET ROPER, BORN MORE. I have looked through the remarks in * N". & .Q.' upon the articles appearing in the 'D.N.B.' with- out finding any reference to the date of her marriage. In the article on Sir Thomas More it is said that his daughter Margaret, born 1505, was married to William Roper

when about twenty"; and in the article on