290 



TABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. 



and wig, to prevent mischief. After 

 much patience, and many a wistful 

 look, Pennant started up, seized the 

 wig, and threw it into the fire. It 

 was in flames in a moment, and so 

 was the officer, who ran to his sword. 

 Down stairs runs Pennant, and the 

 officer after him, through all the 

 streets of Chester. But Pennant 

 escaped, from superior local know- 

 ledge. A wag called this " Pen- 

 dant's Tour in Chester." (Wai- 

 pole.) 



ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 



Some years ago a gentleman, after 

 carefully examining the folio edition 

 of Johnson's Dictionary, formed the 

 following table of English words 

 derived from other languages : 



Latin 6732 



French 4812 



Saxon, ..... 1665 



Greek, . . . . 1143 



Dutch, 091 



Italian, .... 211 



German, .... 106 

 Welsh, .... 



Danish, .... 75 



Spanish, .... 56 



Icelandic, .... 50 



Swedish, .... 34 



Gothic, .... 31 



Hebrew, .... 16 



Teutonic, .... 15 



Arabic, . . . . 13 



Irish, ..... G 



Runic, .... 4 



Flemish, .... 4 



Erse, .... 4 



Syriac, .... 3 



Scottish, .... 3 



Irish and Erse, . . . 2 



Turkish 2 



Irish and Scottish, . . 1 



Portuguese, ... 1 



Persian, .... 1 



Frisi 



Persic, . . . 



Uncertain, ... 1 



Total, 



15,784 



TWO MINISTERS. 



Mr. Pitt's plan, when he had the 

 gout, was to have no fire in his 

 room, but to load himself with bed- 

 clothes. At his house at Hayes he 



slept in a long room, at one end of 

 which was his bed, and his lady's 

 at the other. His way was, when 

 he thought the Duke of Newcastle 

 had fallen into any mistake, to send 

 for him, and read him a lecture. 

 The Duke was sent for once, and 

 came, when Mr. Pitt was confined 

 to bed by the gout. There was, as 

 usual, no fire in the room ; the day 

 was very chilly, and the Duke, as 

 usual, afraid of catching cold. The 

 Duke first sat clown on Mrs. Pitt's 

 bed, as the warmest place; then 

 drew up his legs into it, as he got 

 colder. The lecture unluckily con- 

 tinuing a considerable time, the 

 Duke at length fairly lodged him- 

 self under Mrs. Pitt's bed-clothes. 

 A person, from whom I had the 

 story, suddenly going in, saw the 

 two ministers in bed, at the two 

 ends of the room ; while Pitt's long 

 nose, and black beard unshaved for 

 some days, added to the grotesque 

 of the scene. (Walpole.) 



BOOKSELLERS. 



The manoeuvres of bookselling- 

 are now equal in number to the 

 stratagems of war. Publishers open 

 and shut the sluices of reputation 

 as their various interests lead them ; 

 and it is become more and more 

 difficult to judge of the merit or 

 fame of recent publications. (Wal- 

 pole.) 



WORTHLESS WRITING. 



Gilbert Wakefield tells us that 

 he wrote his own memoirs (a large 

 octavo) in six or eight days. It 

 cost him nothing, and, what is very 

 natural, is worth nothing. One 

 might yawn scores of such books 

 into existence; but who could be 

 the wiser or the better 2 



DR. JOHNSON. 



I cannot imagine that Dr John- 

 son's reputation will be very last- 

 ing. His Dictionary is a surprising 

 work for one man; but sufficient 



