274
NOTES AND QUERIES. [10* s. v. APRIL 7, 1900.
The Miss Roberts mentioned superintended
the extensive revision of the large * Hoyt
Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations,' com-
pleted in 1895, and in the preface Mr. Hoyt
pays full tribute to her ability. During this
work she made search for the author of the
five-stanza poem with the cradle -rocking
refrain, which, in whole or in part, had been
for several years a waif in literature now
gathered into collections of 'Best Poems,'
and now appearing in newspaper columns
and learned the authorship in conversation
with Mr. Leigh in 1893 or 1894. Later, she
wrote to The Critic of New York the letter
which in 1897 appeared, in substance, in The
Church Family Newspaper and is printed at
9 th S. ii. 358.
Mr. Leigh gave the time of the occurrence rather vaguely as " many years ago," but if he was correct in his recollection of the per- sons who participated in this particular gathering it is easy to fix the date with close approximation. The only time when John Brougham and Artemus Ward could have shared in such a familiar meeting was in the winter of 1865-6. Brougham returned from London to New York in October, 1865, while Artemus Ward, then at the height of his popularity, left New York for England (never to return) some time in 1866. This gives very closely the date when William Ross Wallace wrote 'The Hand that Rules the World.'
M. C. L.
New York.
SIR R. PEEL'S FRANKED AND STAMPED LETTERS (10 th S. v. 48, 216). I am familiar with Sir Robert Peel's letters and " franks." The name "Robt. Peel" is neither litho- graphed nor written by a secretary. The letters enclosed in these envelopes make these matters plain. I inquired only as to uniqueness. The letters were written to a friend, and no secretary intervened. The ink of the frank "Robt. Peel" is a little faded, showing that seven or eight years separated the writing on "franks" from that on the address John Singleton, Esq."
In a collection of about 200 curious franks <1732-1840) mostly Irish the most curious is Henry Grattan's frank of "H. G." I believe initials as franks are unknown except my unique example (done in Cork). The " H. G." letter reached the addressee in Clare unchallenged, such was the popularity of H. G. at this period (1789).
1 am obliged to MR. PIERPOINT for his possibilities in explanation of the curious matter. Hundreds of people who saw these franked and stamped letters of Peel at the
St. Louis Exhibition wrote to me for expla-
nation. I hope the American press will copy
my answer from ' N. & Q. 1 JAS. HAYES. "
Church Street, Ennis.
"ANON" (10 th S. i. 246, 337).- What was said at both the above references seemed to proceed on the assumption that Thackeray's peculiar use of " anon " was restricted to the example quoted from the lecture on George IV. There are, however, other in- stances of precisely the same treatment elsewhere in the author's works. Several of them occur in the 'Roundabout Papers.' In the section, e.g., entitled 'On a Joke I once Heard,' the essayist says, " I saw Hood once as a young man, at a dinner which seems almost as ghostly now as that mas- querade at the Pantheon (1772) of which we were speaking anon." Again, in the happy dis- course which he delivers concerning ' Two Roundabout Papers which I intended to Write,' he opens a paragraph with the re- mark, " We spake anon of good thoughts." As an offset to these irregular applications of the particle, a legitimate example occurs in the paper 'On Letts's Diary.' "The genii of the Theatres, "here observes the homilist, "are composing the Christmas pantomime, which pur young folk will see and note anon in their little diaries." Evidently, as was suggested at the second of the above refer- ences. Thackeray considered that the adapt- able flexibility of "anon" was similar to that which characterized the Latin olirn, and therefore deliberately used it either for past or present, to suit his immediate purpose. Ifc is curious that no one should have drawn his attention to the unwarrantable assumption before the reissue of his lectures and essays.
THOMAS BAYNE.
G. J. HOLYOAKE : CHARTISTS AND SPECIAL CONSTABLES (10 th S. v. 126, 156, 191, 212). My best thanks are due to MR. J. C. FRANCIS, MR. J. C. MARRIOTT, and MR. A. NEWELL, for their courteous correction of my mis- impression. They make it quite clear that it was the late Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, and not Mr. G. J. Holyoake, who during the late fifties lectured at Sheffield under the name of Iconoclast As a matter of fact, it may be pointed out that at that time (I refer to 1858) Iconoclast kept his identity a profound secret, and the outside public at Sheffield were quite unaware who the lecturer really was. The curious part about it is that when, some two years ago, I had occasion to write to Mr. Holyoake, and quite incidentally mentioned that it must have been nearly half a century ago when the lectures in
