Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/541

. iv. DEC. 2, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 447 to recall much of the .verse I was well acquainted with half a century ago, but I remember one very pretty stanza of this glee which then took my fancy greatly. GNOMON. "THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE."— With your permission I will supplement the information given at 9th S. ii. 358, to which correspondents have since frequently been referred. It is there stated (quoting from The Church Family Newspaper, 5 February, 1897) that the author of the phrase is William Ross Wallace, but no date is given. Should not the name be William Stewart Ross 1 At all events, he is, under the pseudonym of "Saladin," the author of a book, published in 1894, entitled 'Woman: her Glory, her Shame, and her God,' containing a poem (reprinted in The Agnostic Journal, 8 Octo- ber, 1904, p. 232), each stanza of which con- cludes with the words :— — the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. Further, in the first series (published 1891) of 'The 1,000 Best Poems in the World' (selected and arranged by E. W. Cole) is a poem of three verses entitled 'The Hand that rocks [sic] the World," but no author's name is mentioned. Each verse ends with : For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. The latter is the earlier, and, unless "Saladin" can show a prior claim, would appear to be the original of the phrase. EDWARD LATHAM. RAIN CAUGHT ON HOLY THURSDAY.—At the village of Shudy Camps, in Cambridgeshire, last July, an old man told me that rain caught on Holy Thursday was good to heal sore eyes and cuts. He called it " holy water," and assured me that it "don't never stink." I cannot find any mention of this belief in books at hand. W. M. P. TUNBRIDGE WELLS HARVEST CUSTOM.— The following is a cutting from The Standard of 29 September. As the custom has not been recorded in ' N. & Q.' I send it for in- sertion therein :— "An interesting custom has been revived by the Mayor of Tunbridge Wells, Mr. Alderman H. Thorpe. Discovering an old statute which requires the mayor of the town to send corn to the parish church at the conclusion of each year's harvest, Mr. Thorpe purchased a large quantity and sent it to St. John's Church to be used in connexion with the harvest festival there." EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road. WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct. " PHOTO-LITHOGRAPH."—Will any one send us direct a quotation for " photo-lithograph " before 18701 It ought to be found in 1856 or earlier. J. A. H. MURRAY. Oxford. " PHRENESIAC." — In Scott's ' Waverley,' ch. xliii., we read " like an hypochondriac person, or, as Burton's ' Anatomia1 hath it, a phrenesiac or lethargic patient." This word has, I understand, not been found by any one in Burton : was Baron Bradwardine intended to be speaking loosely 1 or was it a lapsus memoriae of Scott ? On the authority of this passage, some modern dictionaries have, without verification, attributed the word to Burton. J. A. H. MURRAY. THE AUTHOR OF ' WHITEFRIARS.' — In 'N. & Q.'for 4 November, 1865 (3rJ S. viii. 382), under 'Notices to Correspondents,' there appears a statement that a certain historical tragedy, entitled 'The Revolt of Flanders' (published 1848). "is by Joseph Robinson, the author of ' Whitefriars.^&c." Can any of your correspondents definitely clear up the identity of the person who issued so many historical novels as "The Author of ' Whitefriars '" ? The British Museum Catalogue boldly gives "Emma Robinson," and no alternative. Halkett and Laing, in their ' Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature,' give "Jane Robinson." except in their description of ' The Revolt of Flanders' (tragedy above mentioned), wherein _they specify both Joseph Robinson and Emma, Robinson. Turning to William Cushing's 'Initials and Pseudonyms,' I find allusion to "Miss Emma Robinson, 1794-1863," as an English novelist using the pseudonym "Owanda"; while in Cushing's 'Anonyms' the romance ' Whitefriars' is ascribed to " Miss Jane (or Emma) Robinson." Baffled in that quarter, I consult Allibone's ' Dictionary of English Literature,' and find that "Jane Robinson" figures as the authoress of all the various novels—'White- friars,' 'Whitehall,' 'Owen Tudor,' 'Caesar Borgia,' &c.; but apparently Allibone's sole authority is "Olphar Hamst" (i.e., Ralph Thomas) in his 'Handbook of Fictitious Names.' In the last-mentioned work is a note on "Miss J. Robinson, daughter of the publisher." JONATHAN NIELD.