AUTHORS' FAVOURITE WORDS.
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECIATOR.".1 SIR,—I am a little surprised that—in speaking of authors and. their favourite words—your correspondent does not adduce the word "solitary " in connexion with Wordsworth. It is curious how the word besets him : " a solitary child, " a solitary doe," " a solitary ass," " the solitary reaper," " the solitary " in The Excursion, to say nothing of the synonymous word "lonely ": " lonely as a cloud," "lonely place," e.g., in The Leech-gatherer. Cp. Newton "Voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone." I have by no means exhausted the list. But I agree with your correspondent in thinking that the frequent use of a special word is very likely to be an indication
of the writer's character.—I am, Sir, &c., E. W. P.S.—If Shakespeare had a " pet word" perhaps it was " April." That month seems to have had an extraordinary fascination for him—perhaps because he was born in it.
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