Samuel Wesley’s first and chief antagonist was Samuel Palmer, an Independent minister of some repute, upon whom Dunton lavishes the highest praise. He tells us that he was educated by Dr Kerr, and pursued his studies at the rate of seventeen hours a-day; that his temper was open and sincere, and that he abhorred all trick and flattery; that he was a man of great generosity, very charitable, and very humble; that he never courted the rich, and was always ready to attend the poor; that he preached without notes, and that his delivery, voice, and style were excellent; that he took great pains with the rising generation, and that his catechetical lectures were plain, easy, and full; that he was well-beloved by all the clergy and gentlemen of the Church of England who knew him, and that he was well skilled in law and politics— “Sum all in him that’s good, and learn’d, and great, Place him in learning’s, and in Bates’ seat; He shines in wit, and yet is so sedate, That none can equal, best but imitate. In Palmer see, in Palmer all admire, What nature, books, and honour can inspire. Were Wesley but impartial, he would own His learned answer lash’d him to the bone. A better vindication none could write, Nor any satire show us half the wit.”[165] ----- Footnote 165: Dunton’s _Life and Errors_. ----- Samuel Palmer, as Dunton intimates, pursued his academical studies under Dr Kerr, a gentleman of considerable reputation for classical learning, who was first a tutor in Ireland, but was driven thence by the tyranny of the Earl of Tyrconnel, and then settled at Bethnal Green, where he met with great encouragement, and trained several Dissenting ministers, who were ornaments to religion and learning. Palmer entered upon the ministry at Grave Lane Chapel, Southwark, in 1698. His first two publications were his replies to Wesley, published respectively in 1703 and 1705, and which were accounted very able performances, and procured the author considerable reputation. Within a year or two after the second of these publications, he, like Wesley, left the Dissenters, and took orders in the Church of England, and had conferred upon him the living of Malden in Essex. It is said that this conversion to the Church of England arose out of his disappointment at not being rewarded according to his apprehended merit for his pamphlets against Wesley. It is further said, that, after he joined the Establishment, he grew lax in his morals until his conduct became scandalous. We are not informed as to the time and place of his decease; but, in 1710 he published an octavo volume, entitled “Moral Essays, founded upon English, Scotch, and Foreign Proverbs.”[166] Such was Wesley’s principal antagonist. ----- Footnote 166: _History of Dissenting Churches in London_, by Wilson. -----