274 



TABLE-TALK AND VAEIETIES. 



he expressed a desire to dedicate 

 it to the Duke of Northumberland, 

 who was just returned from being 

 lord - lieutenant of that country. 

 For this purpose he waited on Dr. 

 Percy, and met with a very polite 

 reception. The Duke was made 

 acquainted with his wishes, and 

 Dr. Percy went as the messenger 

 of good tidings to the author. But 

 there was more to be done than 

 a formal introduction: the poor 

 writer intimated this to the good 

 doctor ; who, in the most delicate 

 terms, begged his acceptance of an 

 almost new suit of black, which, 

 with a very little alteration, might 

 be made to fit. This, the doctor 

 urged, would be best, as there was 

 not time to provide a new suit, and 

 other things necessary for his debut, 

 as the Duke had appointed Mon- 

 day in the next week to give the 

 historian an audience. Mr. Wynne 

 approved of the plan in all respects, 

 and in the meantime had prepared 

 himself with a set speech, and a 

 manuscript of the dedication. But, 

 to digress a little, it must be under- 

 stood that Dr. Percy was consider- 

 ably in stature above Mr. Wynne, 

 and his coat sufficiently large to 

 wrap round the latter, and conceal 

 him. The morning came for the 

 author's public entry at Northum- 

 berland House ; but, alas ! one 

 grand mistake had been made : in 

 the hurry of business, no applica- 

 tion had been made to the tailor 

 for the necessary alteration of his 

 clothes : however, great minds are 

 not cast down by ordinary occur- 

 rences. Mr. Wynne dressed him- 

 self in Dr. Percy's friendly suit, 

 together with a borrowed sword, 

 and a hat under his arm of great 

 antiquity ; then taking leave of his 

 trembling wife, he set out for the 

 great house. True to the moment 

 he arrived. Dr. Percy attended, 

 and the Duke was ready to receive 

 our poet, whose figure at this time 

 presented the appearance of a suit 



of sables hung on a hedge-stake, or 

 one of those bodiless forms we see- 

 swinging on a dyer's pole. On his 

 introduction, Mr. Wynne began 

 his formal address ; and the noble 

 Duke wa-s so tickled at the singu- 

 larity of the poet's appearance that, 

 in spite of his gravity, he burst the 

 bonds of good manners ; and at 

 length, agitated by an endeavour 

 to restrain risibility, he leaped from 

 his chair, forced a purse of thirty 

 guineas into Mr. Wynne's hand, 

 and hurrying out of the room, told 

 the poet he was welcome to make 

 what use he pleased of his name 

 and patronage. 



IGNORANCE. 



Sir John Germain was so ignorant,, 

 that being told that Sir Matthew 

 Decker wrote St. Matthew's Gos- 

 pel, he firmly believed it. I doubted 

 this tale very much, says Walpole,. 

 till I asked a lady of quality, his- 

 descendant, about it, who told ine- 

 rt was most true. She added, that 

 Sir John Germain was in conse- 

 quence so much pei*suaded of Sir 

 Matthew's piety, that, by his will,, 

 he left two hundred pounds to Sir 

 Matthew, to be by him distributed 

 among the Dutch paupers in Lon- 

 don. 



SIR JOHN HARRINGTON'S EXTRAVA- 

 GANCE. 



Sir John Harrington, the cele- 

 brated epigrammatist in the reign 

 of Queen Elizabeth, was a man of 

 great wit, but thoughtless in his 

 conduct, and extremely careless in 

 the management of his affairs ; so 

 that, in consequence of his extrava- 

 gance, he was obliged to part with 

 several of his estates. Among the 

 rest, he sold a very fine one, called 

 Nyland, in Somersetshire, concern- 

 ing which Dr. Fuller, in his account 

 of Harrington, relates a whimsical 

 anecdote. 



Sir John while riding over this 

 manor, accompanied by an old and 



