Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 43.djvu/161

 ter of the presbyterian congregation in Gravel Lane, Southwark. John Dunton describes him (1705) as an excellent preacher without notes, a diligent catechist, a good classic, and ‘beloved by all the clergy and gentlemen of the church of England who have had an opportunity to know him.’ In 1703, in the midst of the ‘occasional conformity’ agitation, Samuel Wesley (1662?–1735) [q. v.], father of John Wesley, published a ‘Letter’ to parliament censuring the dissenters' private academies. Palmer published anonymously a spirited ‘Defence of the Dissenters' Education in their Private Academies: in answer to Mr. W——y's … Reflections,’ 1703. In reply to Wesley's ‘Defence’ of his ‘Letter,’ Palmer issued in 1705, with his name, a ‘Vindication of the Learning, Loyalty, Morals, and most Christian Behaviour of the Dissenters towards the Church of England.’ This Dunton thought conclusive, and Matthew Henry [q. v.] wrote highly of it. Of Wesley's ‘Reply’ (1707) Palmer took no notice. Palmer's pamphlets throw important light on the aims and methods of nonconformist training. Between October 1706 and October 1709 Palmer took orders in the established church. Orton's Northampton manuscript of 1731 alleges that he thought himself neglected by dissenters. On 20 April 1710 he became vicar of All Saints' and St. Peter's, Maldon, Essex, and held this living till 1724, the year of his death, according to Morant. There is no entry of his burial at Maldon. Wilson cites a doubtful rumour that ‘his conduct became scandalous.’

He published, in addition to single sermons (1703–26?) and the pamphlets noticed, ‘Moral Essays on … English, Scotch, and Foreign Proverbs,’ &c., 1710, 8vo.

[Morant's Hist. of Essex, 1768, i. 334; Protestant Dissenters' Magazine, 1799, p. 13; Wilson's Dissenting Churches of London, 1814, iv. 196; Dunton's Life and Errors, 1818, i. 379 sq., ii. 724; Williams's Memoirs of Matthew Henry, 1828, p. 184; Calamy's Own Life, 1830, i. 459, ii. 505; information from the Rev. E. R. Horwood, Maldon.]  PALMER, SAMUEL (d. 1732), printer, worked in a house in Bartholomew Close, London, afterwards occupied by the two Jameses the typefounders (, Dissert. upon English Typogr. Founders, 1778, pp. 61–3). In 1725 Benjamin Franklin ‘got into work at Palmer's, a famous printing house in Bartholomew Close,’ where he ‘continued near a year,’ and ‘was employed in composing the second edition of Wollaston's “Religion of Nature”’ (Autobiography in Works, Boston [1840], i. 56–9). In March 1729 Palmer circulated a prospectus of ‘The Practical Part of Printing, in which the Materials are fully described and all the Manual Operations explained’ ( and, Bibliography of Printing, ii. 109). But as the letter-founders, printers, and bookbinders feared ‘the discovery of the mystery of those arts’ (, Memoirs, 1765, p. 240), the Earls of Pembroke and Oxford, Dr. Richard Mead [q. v.], and others, persuaded him to change his plan, and write a history of printing, of which several parts were actually published—about two-thirds of the book—when Palmer died.

On 15 Feb. 1731 a printing-press was set up at St. James's House for the Duke of York and some of the princesses to work under Palmer's supervision (Gent. Mag. i. 79). Although his business was large and successful, and he was ‘a sober, industrious man, and free from all extravagance,’ Palmer ultimately became bankrupt (, p. 242). He was ailing two years before his death (History of Printing, p. 311), which took place on 9 May 1732 (Gent. Mag. 1732, p. 775). He ‘was a good printer, but a bad historian, ignorant, careless, and inaccurate’ (J. Lewis's ‘Letter to Ames’ in Illustr. of Lit. iv. 174). Dibdin speaks still more contemptuously of ‘that wretched pilferer and driveller, Samuel Palmer’ (Bibl. Decameron, ii. 379).

Palmer's ‘History of Printing’ was completed after his death by George Psalmanazar [q. v.], the Formosan impostor, who expressed the hope that he would ‘find the materials in so good an order that there will be little to do but to print after his [Palmer's] manuscript.’ In his ‘Memoirs’ (pp. 241–3), however, Psalmanazar claimed to have written the whole book. It appeared as ‘The General History of Printing, from its first invention in the City of Mentz to its first progress and propagation thro' the most celebrated cities in Europe, particularly its introduction, rise, and progress here in England,’ London, 1732, 4to. A ‘remainder’ edition was issued by A. Bettesworth and other booksellers with a new title in black and red, ‘A General History of Printing from the first Invention of it in the City of Mentz,’ &c., 1733. Ames's copy of the ‘History,’ with manuscript notes, was purchased by Bindley in 1786. The second part, containing the practical part, ready for printing, was also in the possession of Ames (, Lit. Anecdotes, v. 264).

It could not have been, as is sometimes stated, Palmer the printer who accompanied John Dunton as apprentice and servant in his American tour, since Dunton relates