y could
persuade him to do, namely, to rise in the morning, to go to bed at
night, and to settle an account.[81] His reluctance to settle his
accounts, however, was not caused by avarice, but indolence, for he
spent a considerable portion of his large income in the relief of
distress, and in assisting in the publication of literary works; while
his pupils frequently borrowed of him sums of money, well knowing there
would be but little chance of a demand for repayment. Dr. Parr, who was
one of Farmer's intimate friends, remarked of him 'that his munificence
was without ostentation, his wit without acrimony, and his learning
without pedantry.' Farmer was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the
Society of Antiquaries. His only published work was an _Essay on the
Learning of Shakespeare_, which appeared in 1767 and went through four
editions, besides being prefixed to several issues of Shakespeare's
plays.

Dr. Farmer possessed a well-chosen library, which was rich in old
English poetry and plays. He himself said of it 'that not many private
collections contain a greater number of really curious and scarce books;
and perhaps no one is so rich in the ancient philological English
literature; but Dibdin tells us that the volumes 'were, in general, in
sorry condition; the possessor caring little for large margins and
splendid binding.' The collection was sold by auction by Mr. King, of
King Street, Covent Garden, on May 7th, 1798, and the thirty-five
following days. The catalogue, of which a priced copy is in the British
Museum, contains three hundred and seventy-nine pages, and the lots,
including a few pictures, number eight thousand one hundred and
fifty-five. The sale realised two thousand two hundred and ten pounds, a
sum said to be greatly in excess of that which Farmer gave for his
books.

There is a portrait of Dr. Farmer by Romney in Emmanuel College, which
has been engraved by J. Jones.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 81: _Dictionary of National Biography._]

RICHARD GOUGH, 1735-1809

Richard Gough, the eminent antiquary, was the only son of Harry Gough,
of Perry Hall, Staffordshire. He was born in Winchester Street, London,
on the 21st of October 1735, and was privately educated until about
seventeen years of age, when he was admitted a fellow-commoner of Benet
(now Corpus Christi) College, Cambridge. He left the University in 1756
without taking a degree, and commenced a series of antiquarian
excursions in