Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/72

 first letter (4 Nov. 1713) advances two objections to the arguments by which Clarke in the Boyle Lectures of 1704–5 sought to demonstrate the existence and attributes of God. Butler doubts whether it is a contradiction to assert the ‘self-existence of a finite being,’ but declares himself convinced (in his fourth letter) by Clarke's arguments. He also doubts whether it is a contradiction to suppose the existence of two independent self-existing beings. This latter difficulty, after some discussion, resolves itself into a question as to the nature of time and space; and at the close of the correspondence Butler is still in doubt. At a later period he professed himself to be fully satisfied upon this point also ('s Remains, p. 18). Butler did not give his name, and sent his letters to the post through his friend Secker, describing himself to Clarke as ‘a gentleman from Gloucestershire.’ [The letters are given in Butler's ‘Works’ and in Clarke's ‘Works,’ vol. ii. 1738.] He declares in the fourth that he designs ‘the search after truth as the business of his life,’ and his obvious candour and ability made a favourable impression upon Clarke, with whom he soon afterwards corresponded under his own name. He had decided to conform to the church of England, and persuaded his father, after a little trouble, to allow him to enter at Oriel, March 1714–15, to pursue the necessary studies. He expresses to Clarke his dissatisfaction with Oxford. He regrets that he is obliged to quit his divinity studies by the want of encouragement to independent thinkers ( Remains, p. 12). He has made up his mind (30 Sept. 1717) to migrate to Cambridge to avoid the ‘frivolous lectures’ and ‘unintelligible disputations’ by which he is ‘quite tired out’ at Oxford (European Magazine, xli. 9). Meanwhile he had become intimate with Edward Talbot, son of the bishop of Salisbury. In 1717 Talbot became vicar of East Hendred, near Wantage; and from entries in the parish registers it appears that Butler helped him in some of his duties. Butler took his B.A. degree on 16 Oct. 1718, and the B.C.L. on 10 June 1721. He was ordained deacon and priest by Bishop Talbot at Salisbury in October and December 1718 (Rawlinson MSS. fol. 16, 144), and was appointed in July 1719, through the influence of Clarke and Talbot, to the preachership at the Rolls Chapel. His friend Talbot died in December 1720, leaving a widow and a posthumous daughter, who became the intimate friend of Mrs. Carter, and speaks with warmth of Butler's continued courtesy and kindness to her through his life (Memoirs of Mrs. Carter, i. 128). Mrs. Talbot and her daughter became inmates of Secker's family after his marriage in 1725. Talbot had on his deathbed recommended Butler and Secker (known to him through Butler) to his father, the bishop. In 1721 Butler became prebendary of Salisbury. In the same year Bishop Talbot was translated to Durham, and in 1722 gave Butler the rectory of Houghton-le-Skerne, near Darlington. Butler was still a poor man, and received money at times from an elder brother, the last sum paid being 100l. in January 1725. A taste for building, which he showed through life, led him to spend more than he could afford upon repairing the Houghton parsonage. Meanwhile Bishop Talbot had ordained Secker in 1722, and in 1724 presented him to the rectory of Houghton-le-Spring. Secker, we are told, now used his influence with the bishop, due in the first instance to Butler's friendship, by inducing him to bestow upon Butler, in 1725, the rectory of Stanhope in Weardale, known in the north as the ‘golden rectory.’ Butler then became independent for the first time; and in the autumn of 1726 he resigned his preachership, and published the celebrated ‘Fifteen Sermons.’ In the preface to the second edition, dated 6 Sept. 1729, he says that the selection of these from many others preached in the same place was ‘in great measure accidental.’ Butler led a secluded life at Stanhope, and little is known of his pursuits. A tradition, collected by Bishop Phillpotts, a successor in the living, tells us that he ‘rode a black pony, and rode very fast’ ( Butler, p. 76), though a remoter tradition adds that he fell into reveries, and allowed his pony to graze at will. We are also told that he found it hard to resist the importunity of beggars, and would try to escape them by shutting himself up in his house. His main occupation must have been the composition of the ‘Analogy,’ which was published in 1736. The ‘Analogy’ is dedicated to Charles, lord Talbot, who became chancellor in 1733, ‘in acknowledgment of the highest obligations to the late Lord Bishop of Durham’ (Talbot's father) ‘and himself.’ Talbot, on becoming chancellor, had appointed Butler his chaplain, and upon this occasion Butler took the D.C.L. degree at Oxford in December 1733. Talbot further made him a prebendary of Rochester (July 1736), and the same month he had become clerk of the closet to Queen Caroline. The old connection with the Talbots might well account for these preferments, to which, however, we are told that Secker again contributed. Queen Caroline took great interest in philosophical discussions. The controversy between Clarke and Leibnitz had been carried on through her, and Clarke, Berkeley, Hoad-