MR. RICH S EXTRAORDiNAHY ACaUlREMENTS. 
429 
deciphering Chinese. This ac(iuaiataace 
with, and study of, eastern languages, induced 
a vehement desire to proceed to India, and 
indulge the passion for eastern literature : to 
be brief, at the age of seventeen he obtained 
a cadetship. While at the India House the 
attention of Sir Charles Wilkins was called 
to young Rich’s aquirement in the oriental 
tongues. Sir Charles was so struck with 
his extraordinary proficiency, that he point- 
ed him out to the Court of Directors as a 
young person of singular and rare talents, — 
one that would amply justify and do honor to 
any exertion of their patronage. On this re- 
presentation of Mr. Rich’s merits was he 
presented with a writership by the late Ed- 
ward Parry, Esq. and appointed to Bombay^ 
and was attached as secretary to Mr. Lock, 
who was at that time proceeding to Egypt as 
Consul-General ; while on this detached 
service, his rank, contrary to the usage of 
the service, was allowed to run on in the 
same way as if he had repaired to India. 
Mr. Lock, however, died at Malta before 
entering on his mission. Mr. Rich, pro- 
ceeded to Constantinople and afterwards 
to Smyrna, with the view of making himself 
thoroughly master of all the niceties and pe- 
culiarities of speaking and writing the Turkish 
language, and of gaining an insight into 
the nature and extent of the acquirements 
of the raussulmans in the various branches 
of learning. He therefore became a fellow 
student with Turks of his own age. While 
in Egypt he perfected himself in the Arabic 
language and its various dialects, and devot- 
ed his leisure hours in attaining skill in 
horsemanship, and in the management of the 
scimitar and the lance ; thus, adding to mild- 
ness of manners and studious habits a man- 
ly deportment, and lively and sportive wit, 
he gained the esteem and friendship of the 
Franks within the circle of his acquaintance. 
Having attained the object of his visit to 
this country, and confiding in his knowledge 
of the Turkish language, he left Egypt in the 
disguise of a Mameluke, travelled over a great 
part of Palestine and Syria, visited Damascus, 
while the great body of pilgrims wereassein- 
bled there on their way to Mecca, and enter- 
ed the grand mosque, — an act which at one 
time would have proved fatal to any one 
known to be a Christian. His host, an 
honest Turk, captivated with his address, 
eagerly intreated him to settle at that place. 
From Aleppo he proceeded, by Mardin and 
Bagdad, to Bassora, whence he sailed for 
Bombay, which he reached in 1807. When 
here, being introduced by the Rev. Robert 
Hall, he resided with Sir James Mackintosh, 
We shall furnish our readers with Sir James’s 
opinion of Mr. Rich, expressed in a letter 
addressed to a friend. 
“ You may recollect, perhaps, to have read 
in the newspapers in 1B03, that Mr. Parry, 
the present chairman, gave a writership here, 
to a young man of the name of Rich, merely 
on Mr. Wilkins’s report of his extraordinary 
proficiency in Eastern languages, without 
interest, and, 1 believe, without even perso- 
nal ..nowledge. He came out as assistant 
to young Lock, who was appointed Consul 
at Alexandria ; and, since his death, has tra- 
velled over the greater part of Tuivish Asia, 
in various directions, with the eye and pencil 
of an artist, and with the address and courage 
of a traveller among barbarians. He acquir- 
ed such a mastery over the languages and 
manners of the East, that he personated a 
Georgian I urk for several weeks at Damascus, 
amidst several thousand pilgrims, on thek 
way to Mecca, completely unsuspected by the 
most vigilant and fiercest Alussulman bigotry, 
He was recommended to me by my friend 
Robert Hall, and I had several letters from 
him. 1 invited him to my house ; and at his 
arrival on this island, on the 1st of Septem- 
ber, 1807, he came to us. He far surpassed 
our expectations ; and we soon considered 
his wonderful oriental attainments as the 
least part of his merit. I found him a fair 
classical scholar, and capable of speaking 
and writing French and Italian like the 
best educated native. With the strongest 
recommendations of appearance and manner, 
he joined every elegant accomplishment and 
every manly exercise ; and combined with 
them, spirit, pleasantry, and feeling His 
talents and attainments delighted me so 
much, that I resolved to make him a philo- 
sopher ; I even thought him worthy of being 
introduced into the Temple of Wisdom, by 
our friend Dugald Stewart; and when I 
w'ent to Malabar, I left him at the house 
of my philosophical friend Erskine, busily 
engaged with the ‘ Philosophy of the Human 
Mind ” On my return, I found that this 
pupil in philosophy w'as desirous to become 
my son in law. He has uo fortune, nor had 
he then even an appointment ; but you will 
not doubt that i willingly consented to his 
marriage with my eldest daughter, in whom 
he had the sagacity to discover, and the vir- 
