y of Syriac. Finding that the best Syriac
grammar was written in German and had not been translated, he decided
to learn German also. He was advised that Switzerland was a suitable
place in which to study German, and accordingly, after taking his
degree, he started in the summer of 1890 for Switzerland. The two
following letters are inserted in order to illustrate his sense of
humour, as well as to describe the way in which he spent this summer.
He eventually returned from Switzerland, having made more progress in
Syriac than in German, but without having obtained any great knowledge
of either language. Soon after his return he decided to commence the
study of Moral Science instead of the Semitic languages.

_To H. M. S._

'Habkern: July 1890.

'A few days after I got to Switzerland, by dint of incessant inquiries
and correspondence I found out the name of a pastor who lived in a
sufficiently healthy place and who talked German. So I girded up my
loins and went to visit him. "Sprechen Sie Englisch, mein Herr?" I
asked. "Nein" was the reply. As I scarcely knew a word of German I
was in a considerable fix. But I found out that the Pfarrer spoke
"Lateinisch" and could read English a little when it was written. So I
went up to his study and we got paper and pencil and began. I tried to
tell him in a mixture of broken English and dog-Latin that I intended
to give him the honour of my company. He said he would be pleased to
take me "en pension." He then {15} asked how much I wished to pay. I
hadn't for the life of me an idea of what I ought to pay. "Ut tibi
optimum videtur," I said. But he made me fix my price. Then, when I
had fixed it, I had to turn it into Swiss money. The good Pfarrer was
so pleased with the honour of my company that he took me for less than
I asked. Our greatest difficulty next arose: How was my luggage to be
conveyed the five miles from the nearest town up a steep hill? Latin,
French, English, German, failed to make me understand the situation.
At last I took in the Pfarrer's meaning. I was to send it by the
milkman after leaving it at a certain hotel. "Ja," I cried in an
ecstasy of joy, at last grasping his meaning, "Ja, ich mittam der
Gepaeck von der milkman." I arrived the next day. I found the Pfarrer
knew Latin, Greek (but he pronounces both quite differently from me),
German, French, Russian, Syriac, Hebrew, and a little English. His
usual custom is to address me in G