The sun., 1883-11-04


lian. or the Calabrian in their own dialects as
nuently us with the most accom- pished Floren-
tine. He could do the same with French. join
| ing to a knowledge OF the pure language wide
and curious acquaintance with patois and
| argot. Mindful Of his own experience. Palmer
aiterward maintained that any intelligent per-
son can learn to road language In few weeks,
| and to speak it in few months. unless 1t be his
| first attempt atan Oriental tongue.
| Even the incident OF palmcr's rescue from
the threatened death by consumption reads
| like the story OF euro in the Arabian
| Nights" Given up. as wo have said. by the
physicians, he allowed an hcrbalist in ono OF tho
villages near Cambridge to experiment upon
him and took q strong dose OF lobelia. an herb
which 1t seems produces effects similar to those
| OF hemlock. The first result OF this pres Grip
| tion was apparently to paraly2e him. even the
| pulse being arrested. and the regular ply
| sician who had been sent for pronounced hi m
dead. But he recovered suddenly and. strange
| to say was no moro troubled with consump-
| tion for the rest Of his life. 1t was during the
| period Of oonvalescence which followed that
| Palmer's attention was first directed TO the
| study OF Oriental languages. He made tho
acquaintance Of Syed Ablu,lah an nble man
and teacher Of Indian languages. who had
come to Cambridge to read with class OF men
who were going out in the India civil service
Picking up some of his now friends writings
out OF puro curiosity. Palmcrs imagination
was Hired. and having learned tho Arabic char
acter Tor himself. he was presently stimulated
to begin nn exploration OF the vocabulary
until what had been begun as n half idle and
languid inquiry became the passion Of his life
Syed Abdullah found that he had pupil. not
only apt. but with an extraordinary natural
genius for Eastern languages. After while
| D.l,
among them tho late George Skinner at that
| time Chaplain of Kings College. with whom he
read Hebrew. Soon. too. he was introduced to
the Nawab Ikba- I'D Dnwlah who for three
years at least. furnished him generous assist
ance. allowing him to live in his house whom
he peased and giving him the assistance OF
two erudite Munshis. with whom he read
Arabic. Persian. and Urdu. or Hindustani. Be-
sides his obligations to tho Nawab Palmer
was much indebted to Bengalee Eentle.
man. Mohammedan who spent much
time in the supervision of the young mans work
and who, on his return to India gave Palmer
900 to help him in his studies. sending him be-
sides valuable present of Oriental MSS. and
books Prof. Mir Auad Ali OF Trinity College.
Dublin. seems also to have been from the first
his adviser. teacher. friend. and sympathizer.
These facts explode the theory by which good
many mon tried subsequently to excuse the
measreness OF their own attainrn ents and to
minimize the merit Of Palmers-the theory
that Arabic and Persian came naturally 10 him.
Unluestionably this man was endowed with
an extraordinary natural gift for the acuui-
sition Of languages. but it is made evident by
his biographcr that. without an equal power
OF industry. this gift would have beon Of no
avail. or course some men can learn and some
cannot. But In Palmer's case. as in all other
anil bal I,l~
incessant, ardor inextinguishable and resolu-
tion undaunted.
IL Palmer was to turn his requirements in
the Oriental languages to account it seemed
to be indispensable that he should take uni
versity degree. He was enabled to do this
through two Follows OF st. Johns. who brought
his case before the governing body and pre-
vailed on it to permit Palmer to enter his name
at the college and stand for a sizarship which
ho obtained In October 1863 and which was
subsequently followed by n scholarship. 1t is
not to be inferred that oither was gained by at
tainments In classics or mathematics both be-
ing. In fact. conferred on him solely on account
OF his proficiency in Arabic and Persian. Math.
ematics he always disliked. and he considered
the hours which he was now compelled to
spend over Latin and Greek us q grievous
waste OF time We are not surprised, there
foro. TO learn that when no was admitted TO his
Bachelors degree in 1867 he won only third
class classical honors. This subsequently,
proved serious misfortune to him. 80 far rs
university advancement was concerned for the
heads OF houses who possessed the power of
appointment to university professorships
were then and probably still are governed by
tho old-fashioned conventional tests in the
graduation OF fitness and ability. His own COL
lego. indeed. st, Johns. gave him Fellowship
a III kaip
first instance OF n man getting Il Fellowship at
that college tthe Baliol of Cambridgcy who had
not taken high honors In either classics or
mathematics. But whom. in 1871 the University
Professorship OF Arabic. also worth $500 "A
year. feli vacant. it was refused to Palmer not
withstanding the most eulogis,ic testimonials
from Continental Orientaists and from
learned Mohammedans in British India, and
in spite OF the fact that Palmer was the only
Cambridge man who could possibly be a candi-
date. The place was given to DIR. Wright
man unqucstionably well qualified. but who
was not u momber Of the University. Subse.
luently. in tho same year. Palmer was ap-
pointed to tho Lord Almoncrs Profcssorship
Of Arabic n little thing SO far as stipend goos.
being worth only EiU yoar, but this was sub
seIuently augmented by G2j0 in consideration
OF three courses Of lectures in Arabic Persian.
and liindustani.
In tho interval between graduation and tho
assumption Of procssorial duties, Palmer
mado the two journeys in tho East which were
TO give him an exhaustive knowledge Of tho
Bedouin character ind country. and to mark
him out for the daring expedition which cost
him his life. 1t was because he was known to
speak Arabic with extraordinary huency that
hc was invited to Join the party which in 1868,
made minute survey OF the Sinai Peninsula
a work OF great importance to that portion OF
tho world which is Interested in the history OF
Tho lsraelites. One of Palmers special fuuc-
lions was the dcciphering Of tho Snaitc in
scripions and hs became the historian of the
expedition in "A book. now out Of print. called
" Tho Desert Of the Exodus" In the followin.
year. Palmer was commissioned by tho Pales-
tine Exploration Society to traverse tho whole
distance between Suez and GAIA and II was
this journey in particular. which ho performed
with one companion. that brought him into
contact with the Towarah and other powerful
tribes OF the desert. and that gave him an in
luence over them by which he was enabled TO
undertake and carry through the great achieve