144 



FARMER FARNESE. 



doctor Blimey " every excellence of every grea 

 singer united in his voice, strength, sweetness, anc 

 compass ; in his style, the tender, tne graceful, and the 

 rapid. He had, indeed, such powers as never met 

 before or since, in any one human being ; powers 

 that were irresistible, and which subdued every 

 hearer, the learned and the ignorant, the friend anc 

 the foe." 



FARMER, RICHARD, a celebrated scholar anc 

 critic, was born at Leicester, May 4, 1735. His father 

 was a hosier in that town, and after receiving the rudi- 

 ments of education there, he became a student at 

 Emanuel college, Cambridge, where, in 1760, he was 

 appointed classical tutor. He applied himself particu- 

 larly to old English literature. In 1766, he published a 

 well-written and well-received Essay on the Learning 

 of Shakspeare, in which he maintains tliat the bard 

 obtained his knowledge of ancient history and my- 

 thology from translations, and not from original 

 classical authors. This essay obtained a flattering 

 notice from doctor Johnson. In 1767, he was ap- 

 pointed a preacher at Whitehall, which gave him 

 frequent opportunities of residence in London, where 

 he became a distinguished book collector. He was 

 soon appointed to the chancellorship and prebendal 

 stall in the cathedral of Litchfield ; and, in 1775, he 

 was chosen master of Emanuel college. He was 

 afterwards made principal librarian to the university 

 of Cambridge, and filled, in his turn, the office of 

 vice-chancellor. Lord North conferred upon him a 



Erebend, and he was twice offered a bishopric by the 

 ite Mr Pitt, but he preferred a residentiaryship of 

 St Paul's, which he exchanged for his prebend. He 

 published but little. He assisted many authors, in 

 various works, for which he received their public 

 acknowledgments and thanks. Doctor Farmer 

 died at Cambridge, after a long protracted illness, 

 Sept. 8, 1797, aged sixty-two years, much respected 

 for his liberality to the poor, and the various plans 

 by him suggested for the improvement of the town 

 of Cambridge. 



FARMERS-GENERAL, in France ; a company 

 which, on condition of paying a certain annual sum 

 into the treasury, was permitted to levy certain taxes, 

 particularly the monopolies of salt and tobacco, the 

 inland tolls (traites), the import duties at Paris, those 

 on the stamping of gold and silver, &c., on its 

 own account. The duties on salt were first raised 

 by farming the monopoly of salt in each city, in the 

 reign of Francis I., in 1546. In 1599, the farmers- 

 general were obliged, by Sully, to lay their engage- 

 ments with the sub-contractors before the government, 

 and in this way their profits first became known. 

 Sully, therefore, farmed the monopoly of salt to the 

 highest bidder, and thus nearly doubled the revenue ; 

 and, by disposing, in the same manner, the other 

 branches of the public revenue, of which the nobles or 

 favourites of former kings had obtained possession by 

 purchase, donation, or other means, he made addi- 

 tions to the royal revenues. In 1728, the government 

 united several individual leases into the ferine gen- 

 erate, which, after the lapse of six years, was 

 renewed by public auction, with a company consist- 

 ing of sixty members. In 1789, the number of far- 

 mers-general was forty-four, who paid a rent of 186 

 millions. They composed a kind of court of finances, 

 which, in eleven different deputations, administered 

 the various objects of their contract, the appointment 

 of officers, the system of accounts, the procuring of 

 the salt and tobacco, the collection of the revenues, 

 and presided over a host of inferior officers. This 

 mode of managing the public revenues cost the 

 subjects far more than it produced to the king. The 

 government, therefore, from the time of Henry IV.. 

 endeavoured to reduce the profit of the farmers- 



general, which was estimated by Necker, but evi- 

 dently too low, at two millions annually. This loss 

 to the state treasury would have been very moderate 

 in comparison to tliat which took place under the old 

 system, of which Sully asserts, that when the man- 

 agement of the finances came into his hands, the 

 nation had to pay 150 millions, while the treasury 

 received only thirty millions. And, indeed, if Neck- 

 er's estimate, according to which every farmer-gen- 

 eral would have received only an annual profit of 

 45,000 livres, was correct, it would not aflbrd a 

 sufficient reason to explain the hatred which was 

 generally entertained against this class. It is true, 

 however, that this national feeling, which contributed 

 so much to the eruption of the revolution, must be 

 ascribed, in part, to the nature of the taxes tliat were 

 raised in this manner, as will appear in the article 

 France. Every system of customs and tolls is more 

 or less odious to the people, on account of the diffi- 

 culties which it throws in the way of commerce ; 

 and this odium was peculiarly great in the case of 

 the salt and tobacco monopolies in France, because 

 of the unequal distribution and great amount of the 

 duties paid on these articles. Necker observes, in 

 the chapter on the wealth accumulated by the 

 financiers (De V Administration des Finances, III., 

 ch. 12), that the indignation of the people at such duties 

 is founded upon a just moral feeling, though he 

 expresses himself with great lenity and precaution 

 on this head. The people saw clearly that the 

 wealth of the financiers (among whom must be reck- 

 oned, besides the collectors-general, the directors of 

 the finances, which were administered by the govern- 

 ment itself, the treasurers, and bankers of the court, 

 but particularly the farmers-general) was amassed 

 without any merit on the part of the principal per- 

 sons. The greater portion of them did not even 

 know how to enjoy their treasures with dignity, but 

 squandered them in a tasteless as well as offensive 

 luxury. A man destitute of all talent, ignorant and 

 stupid, might obtain, by the favour of a person of 

 influence at court, a place in the administration of the 

 finances, and he was raised to a state of affluence. 

 The hatred of the people was increased by the rigour 

 and rudeness with which the French farmers-general 

 exacted the duties from the inferior classes of the 

 people. Without the least regard to humanity, they 

 commonly chose the season the most inconvenient to 

 the country people, and then proceeded against them, 

 confiscating and selling their property by public 

 auctions. This system of violence was adopted to 

 compel the more speedy payment of the taxes. The 

 merciless seizure of the property of the subjects, the 

 numerous military occupations, the odious distrair- 

 ings, presented daily to the eyes of the people the 

 image of a country occupied by hostile troops. These 

 causes produced a hatred of the government deep 

 and general, and contributed principally to the 

 breaking out of the revolution. 



FARNESE ; an illustrious family of Italy, whose 

 iescent may be traced from about the middle of the 

 thirteenth century, at which time it had possession 

 of the castle of Farneto, in Orvieto, and gave to the 

 church and the republic of Florence many eminent 

 generals, among whom was Pietro Farnese, to whom 

 ;he Florentines were indebted for an important vic- 

 tory over the people of Pisa. Pope Paul III., a Far- 

 nese, bent on the aggrandizement of his family, confer 

 red rich establishments, not only on his natural son, 

 Pietro Luigi, but also on the five sons of the latter. 

 Paul was particularly eager to secure the promotion 

 of Pietro Luigi, a man disgraced by every vice, as is 

 well known to the readers of Benvenuto Cellini. 

 The pope requested the emperor Charles V. to grant 

 to his son the duchy of Milan, then in dispute be- 



