" Mr. Peer, it seems, especially distinguished himself in
two characters, "which no man ever could touch but himself." One of
these was the Apothecary in "Caius Marius," Otway's wretched
adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet;" the other was the speaker of the
prologue to the play in "Hamlet." It is plain that Mr. Peer's
professional rank was not high; for these characters are not usually
undertaken by performers of note. Steele admits that Peer's eminence
lay in a narrow compass, and to that attributes "the enlargement of
his sphere of action" by his employment as property-man in addition to
his histrionic duties. Peer, however, is described as delivering the
three lines of prologue "better than any man else in the world," and
with "universal applause." He spoke "with such an air as represented
that he was an actor and with such an inferior manner as only acting
an actor, as made the others on the stage appear real great persons
and not representatives. This was a nicety in acting that none but the
most subtle player could so much as conceive." It is conceivable,
however, that some of this subtlety existed rather in the fancy of the
critic than in the method of the player.
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