FARMER, RICHARD, D.D., author of the Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare, was born at Leicester in 1735. He was educated first at the free grammar-school of his native town, and afterwards at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, of which in 1760 he became classical tutor and in 1775 master. In that latter year also he was appointed vice-chancellor, and three years afterwards chief librarian of the university. In 1780 he was appointed to a prebendal stall in Lichfield, and shortly afterwards prebendary of Canterbury; but after holding this office for a few years, he exchanged it in 1788 for that of a canon residentiary of St Paul's. As none of these offices required constant residence, Dr Farmer spent most of his time at Cambridge, owing among other things it is said to a disappointment in early love which disinclined him to the active business of the world; and there, after a long and painful illness, he died in 1797. A monument erected in his honour bears an inscription by Dr Parr, who describes him as Vir facetus, et dulcis festique sermonis, Graece et Latine doctus, in explicanda veterum Anglorum poesi subtilis et elegans. The latter portion of this epitaph has reference to Dr Farmer's only work, his Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare, in which the critic proves that the great poet's knowledge of the ancient classics was derived not from the originals, but from translations of which he copied even the blunders. In proving this point, Dr Farmer incidentally illustrates so well the text of Shakespeare, that no other English criticisms on the great dramatist, save the widely dissimilar Lectures of Coleridge, and occasional digressive comments interspersed throughout the works of Thomas Carlyle, Mrs Jameson, Mrs Clarke, and other authors of our own day, can compare with his in value.
In politics Dr Farmer was a confirmed Tory; and though an obstinate enemy to change of most kinds, he effected great improvements in the sanitary condition of Cambridge. He greatly enjoyed social recreation, and is said to have had more of the spirit of a boon-companion than of a clergyman. He was twice offered a bishopric by Mr Pitt, and on both occasions he declined the honour which would have debarred him from visiting the theatre, which, it seems, he regularly attended when any work of his favourite author was announced.