Update

[Adrian Heathcote]

Hi All

A few months ago I asked on this list how to get oldstyle numbers with 
Fonts that originate from the Linotype Foundry. It was apparent from a 
few responses that a number of others had the same 
problem---particularly with Palatino.

Well I discovered the solution---more or less by accident.

The answer is that if you've installed the small caps the old style 
figures are already there. And you can call them by typing some numbers 
inside the usual command \textsc{}. Thus you have a perfect solution: 
lining figures and non-lining figures available within the same 
fontfamily and the ability to choose with a simple command.

I've checked this out with Sabon, Granjon and OldStyle 7---and it works 
for all three. (I don't have Palatino.)

What is more these numbers install just using the \latinfamily interface 
for Fontinst.

At any rate I hope this helps any other poor benighted bugger who---like 
this poor bugger--spent days trying to finesse this annoying little 
problem.

Cheers

Adrian Heathcote