FARMER, RICHARD (I 797) , Shakespearian corn mentator, the son of a maltster, was born at Leicester and edu cated at the local grammar school and at Emmanuel college, Cam bridge. He graduated in 1757, became classical tutor, and in 1775 master of his college. In 1788 he became a canon at St. Paul's. In 1766 he published his famous Essay on the Learning of Shake speare, maintaining that the poet's acquaintance with ancient and modern Continental literature was exclusively derived from translations, of which he copied even the blunders. "Shake speare," he said, "wanted not the stilts of language to raise him above all other men." Farmer was immensely popular in his own college, and loved, it was said, above all other things, old port, old clothes and old books.