fine figure, there are very many parts in which he was held perfect. His Young Wilding in the 'Liar' was by some esteemed his greatest character. Captain Flash, Face, Dick in the 'Confederacy,' Stukely, Sir Toby Belch, Captain Absolute, Young Fashion, Prince of Wales in the 'First Port of King Henry IV,' Sneer, Don John, Volpone, Sir Frederick Fashion, Henry VIII, Father Philip in 'Castle Spectre,' Villeroy, and Brush are named as his best parts. Boaden declares him 'the most unrivalled actor of modern times!' and says 'he could approach a lady, bow to her and seat himself gracefully in her presence. We have had dancing masters in great profusion since his time, but such deportment they have either not known or never taught.' His biographer says that his want of a 'classical education' was responsible for his defects, which consisted of a want of taste and discrimination, and the resort to physical powers when judgment was at fault. His delivery of Collins's 'Ode to the Passions' was condemned as the one undertaking beyond his strength, and he is charged with unmeaning and ill-placed accents. Dibdin says that he was vulgar, and Charles Lamb says that 'for sock or buskin there was an air of swaggering gentility about Jack Palmer. He was a gentleman with a slight infusion of the footman.' In Captain Absolute, Lamb held, 'you thought you could trace his promotion to some lady of quality who fancied the handsome fellow in a top-knot, and had bought him a commission.' In Dick Amlet he describes Jack as unsurpassable. John Taylor condemns his Falstaff' as heavy throughout. Among innumerable stories circulated concerning Palmer is one that his ghost appeared after his death. He was accused of forgetting his origin and giving himself airs. He claimed to have frequently induced the sheriff's officer by whom he was arrested to bail him out of prison. In his late years Palmer's unreadiness on first nights was scandalous.
The authorship is ascribed to him of 'Like Master, Like Man,' 8vo, 1811, a novel in two volumes, with a preface by George Colman the younger.
Portraits of Palmer in the Garrick Club include one by Russell, which was engraved by J. Collyer in 1787, a second by Arrowsmith as Cohenberg in the' Siege of Belgrade,' a third by Parkinson as Iachimo, and a fourth, anonymous, as Joseph Surface in the screen scene from the 'School for Scandal,' with King as Sir Peter, Smith as Charles Surface, and Mrs. Abington as Lady Teazle. A fifth, painted by Zoffany, representing Palmer as Face in the 'Alchemist,' with Garrick as Abel Drugger and Burton as Subtle, is in the possession of the Earl of Carlisle.
Robert Palmer (1757-1805?), the actor's brother, played with success impudent footmen and other parts belonging to Palmer's repertory, and was good in the presentation of rustic characters and of drunkenness. He was born in Banbury Court, Long Acre, September 1757, was educated at Brook Green, articled to Grimaldi the dancer, appeared as Mustard Seed in 'Midsummer Night's Dream' at Drury Lane when six years old, played in the country, and acted both at the Haymarket and Drury Lane. He survived his brother, and succeeded him in Joseph Surface and other parts, for which he was incompetent. Lamb compares the two Palmers together, and says something in praise of the younger. Portraits of 'Bob' Palmer by Dewilde, as Tag in the 'Spoiled Child,' and as Tom in the 'Conscious Lovers,' are in the Mathews collection in the Garrick Club. Another brother, William, who died about 1797, played in opera in Dublin, and was seen at Drury Lane.
John Palmer the elder (d. 1768), known as 'Gentleman Palmer,' but who does not seem to have been related to the subject of this memoir, was celebrated as Captain Plume, as Osric, and as the Duke's servant in 'High Life below Stairs;' he was also a favourite in Orlando and Claudio, but especially in such 'jaunty parts' as Mercutio. His wife, a Miss Pritchard, played from 1756 to 1768, and was accepted as Juliet and Lady Betty Modish, but was better in lighter parts, such as Fanny in the 'Clandestine Marriage.' 'Gentleman Palmer,' who has been frequently confused with his namesake, died on 23 May 1768, aged 40, his death being due to taking in mistake a wrong medicine.
[A Sketch of the Theatrical Life of the late Mr. John Palmer, 8vo, 1798; Genest's Account of the English Stage; Doran's Annals of the English Stage, ed. Lowe; Thespian Dictionary, Gilliland's Dramatic Mirror; John Taylor's Records of my Life; Boaden's Lives of Siddons, J. P. Kemble, Jordan, and Inchbald; Adolphus's Life of Bannister; Dibdin's History of the Stage; Clark Russell's Representative Actors; Georgian Era; Button Cook's Half-hours with the Players; Garrick Correspondence; Walpole's Letters, ed. Cunningham; Bernard's Retrospections; Cumberland's Memoirs; O'Keeffe's Recollections; Oxberry's Dramatic Magazine; Theatrical Review; Tate Wilkinson's Wandering Patentee; Era Almanack, various years, &c.]
PALMER, JOHN (1742–1818), projector of mail-coaches, born at Bath in 1742, was the son of John Palmer, a prosperous brewer and tallow-chandler, and a member
