xiv 



on his marriage, in 1823, to Elizabeth daughter of Mr. Dawson 

 Turner of Great Yarmouth. 



The bankruptcy of his father, at the beginning of this century, 

 compelled Palgrave to exchange the dream of foreign travel and the 

 expectation of a life of competence for the necessity of working for 

 his living. But he neither shrank from the duties thus unexpect- 

 edly laid upon him, nor neglected that mental cultivation which his 

 father's unstinted care had commenced. In his sixteenth year he 

 entered a lawyer's office, and continued there, on the expiry of his 

 articles, as managing clerk till the year 1822. 



A home education gave early maturity to his abilities. When 

 but eight years old he translated the ' Battle of the Frogs and Mice,' 

 attributed to Homer, from Latin into French. Before he had at- 

 tained his twentieth year he had contributed many articles to the 

 minor periodicals of the day ; and not many years later he became a 

 regular contributor to the 'Edinburgh* and 'Quarterly Reviews.' 

 Writing for the press and writing anonymously were alike distasteful 

 to him ; but as he devoted the whole of his only certain income, that 

 derived from the lawyer's office, to his father, he was compelled to 

 this means of support. His early promise of talent did not fail of 

 fulfilment. He was endowed with a mind quick to acquire languages, 

 to grasp the laws of physical science, to appreciate the beauties 

 of poetry and art. He was also gifted with a bright imagination, a 

 thirst for knowledge, and the power of patient industry. Honesty 

 and simplicity of nature ennobled all he said or did, and true humi- 

 lity made him unwilling to trust his own researches, and ready to 

 receive suggestions from minds however different in stamp from 

 his own. 



In 1821 Palgrave submitted to Lord Spencer a scheme for the 

 publication of the national records, which was unanimously approved 

 by the Commission of Records, "many glorious things," according 

 to Mr. Hudson Gurney's friendly report, being said of him by all. 

 This took place in 1822, and from that time till 1838 he was occu- 

 pied in the publication of the ' Parliamentary Writs,' ' Exchequer 

 Calendars,' and other works of great magnitude and historical im- 

 portance connected with the Commission. He was also engaged 

 on his own literary undertakings, and in practice as a barrister, 

 chiefly in pedigree cases. Much labour also devolved on him as one 



