Sentence:  There were several of his Priests and Lawyers present, (as I conjectured by their habits) who were commanded to address themselves to me, and I spoke to them in as many Languages as I had the least <WSD>smattering</WSD> of, which were "High" and "Low Dutch", "Latin", "French", "Spanish", "Italian", and "Lingua Franca"; but all to no purpose. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A superficial or shallow knowledge of a subject.