222 



TABLE-TALK ASD VARIETIES. 



of the town. Grub Street then 

 abounded with mean and old 

 houses, which were let out in lodg- 

 ings, at low rents, to persons of 

 this description, whose occupation 

 was publishing anonymously, what 

 were then deemed libellous or trea- 

 sonable works. 



But it was here that honest John 

 Foxe compiled the greatest portion 

 of his Martyrology; and it is gene- 

 rally believed that John Speed 

 wrote his Chronicle, and Daniel De- 

 foe several of his publications, in 

 the much-abused Grub Street. 



SCHILLER'S NOBILITY. 

 Schiller, the German poet, had 

 a patent of nobility conferred upon 

 him by the Emperor of Germany, 

 which he never used. Turning 

 over a heap of papers one day, in 

 the presence of a friend, he came 

 to his patent, and showed it care- 

 lessly to his friend, with this ob- 

 servation, "/ suppose you did not 

 know I was a, noble;" and then 

 buried it again in the mass of mis- 

 cellaneous papers in which it had 

 long lain undisturbed. Schiller's 

 friend might have answered, after 

 this action, "If I did not before 

 know you were noble, I know it 

 now." 



The following curious particu- 

 lars relating to this celebrated 

 man deserve to be revived, and 

 will be interesting to his admirers. 



Budgell gives this account of a 

 conversation between Lord Hali- 

 fax and Addison, at which he him- 

 self was present : it happened a 

 little before they went to wait on 

 George the First at Greenwich, at 

 his first landing after his accession 

 to the throne. Lord Halifax told 

 them that he expected the white 

 staif, and intended to recommend 

 Mr. Addison to the king for one 

 of the secretaries of state. "Mr. 

 Addison, I believe," says Budgell, 



"very sincerely told his lordship 

 that he did not aim at so high a 

 post, and desired him to remember 

 that he was not a speaker in the 

 house. Lord Halifax briskly re- 

 plied, ' Come, prithee, Addison, no 

 unseasonable modesty. I made 

 thee secretary to the regency with 

 this very view. Thou hast the- 

 best right, of any man in England, 

 to be secretary of state ; nay, it 

 will be a sort of displacing thee 

 not to make thee so. If thou 

 couldst but get over that silly 

 sheepishness of thine, that makes, 

 thee sit in the house and hear a. 

 fellow prate, for half an hour to- 

 gether, who has not a tenth part 

 of thy good sense, I should be glad 

 to see it ; but since I believe that 

 is impossible, we must contrive as 

 well as we can. Thy pen has al- 

 ready been an honour to thy coun- 

 try, and will be a credit to thy 

 king.' " 



The well-known modesty of Ad- 

 dison is confirmed by this conver- 

 sation ; but Lord Halifax was too 

 partial to his friend, when he sup- 

 posed him endowed with the la- 

 lents of a statesman. 



CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTING. 



M. Eoulle, an eminent French 

 chemist, was not the most cautious 

 of operators. One day, while per- 

 forming some experiments, he ob- 

 served to his auditors, " Gentlemen, 

 you see this cauldron upon this 

 brazier; well, if I were to cease 

 stirring a single moment, an ex- 

 plosion would ensue, which would 

 blow us all into the air." The 

 company had scarcely time to re- 

 flect on this comfortable piece of 

 intelligence, before he did forget 

 to stir, and his prediction was ac- 

 complished. The explosion took 

 place with a horrible crash; and 

 all the windows of the laboratory 

 were smashed to pieces. Fortu- 

 nately, no one received any serious 

 injury, the greatest violence of the 



