Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/497

 BUTLER 491 college friend Edward Talbot and of Dr. Clarke he was appointed preacher at the Rolls in 1718, and about 1725 was promoted to the wealthy but secluded rectory of Stanhope. Before leav- ing the Rolls he published a collection of 15 ser- mons, in which he combats those moralists who make self-interest the only motive of action, and affirms the authority of the moral faculty over both the passions and affections of the soul, and the acts of life ; yet he does not pro- nounce upon the nature of conscience, and it is difficult to say whether he regarded it as a power of sentiment or of reason. After seven years of retirement at Stanhope, he was ap- pointed chaplain to Lord Chancellor Talbot, and in 1731! became clerk of the closet to Queen Caroline. In that year he published his " Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature." This work is one of the most profound and ori- ginal theological studies in the language, and is designed to prove that the principal objec- tions which are raised against Christianity may also be raised against the structure of the uni- verse and the course of nature, and thus to show that they are the work of a single author. It was the fruit of many years' reflection, and is composed in a most compressed and ungrace- ful style. Sir James Mackintosh says that no other thinker so great was ever so poor a writer. In 1738 Dr. Butler was made bishop of Bristol, whence he was promoted in 1750 to the see of Durham. His death occurred while on a visit to Bath in hope of recovering his health, which had rapidly declined, and he was buried in the cathedral of Bristol, where two monuments are erected to his memory. BUTLER, Samnel, an English poet, born at Strensham, Feb. 13, 1612, died in London, Sept. 25, 1680. The son of a farmer, he com- menced his education at Worcester, and sought ineffectually the means of studying at Cam- bridge. As clerk to a justice of the peace he obtained leisure during several years to culti- vate literature and the arts. lie was after- ward an inmate of the family of the countess of Kent, where he enjoyed the use of a library and the conversation of the learned Selden, who often employed him as an amanuensis. He next appears, probably as tutor, in the fami- ly of Sir Samuel Luke, one of Cromwell's offi- cers, who is supposed to have been the origi- nal of Sir Iludibras. After the restoration he was appointed secretary to the earl of Car- bury, lord president of Wales, who made him steward of Ludlow castle. At 50 years of age he married a widow of good family and for- tune, but the fortune was lost by bad invest- ment. In 1663 appeared the first part of " Hudibras," a poem ridiculing the Puritans, abounding in wit, learning, satire, and inge- nious thought, and which has remained with- out a rival in English burlesque poetry. The knight Sir Hudibras and his squire Ralph are made to present a most grotesque appearance, in ludicrous exaggeration of the affected lan- guage, dress, and moral severity of the Crom- wellians. The poem suited the prevalent taste of the time, and obtained the highest populari- ty. It was quoted by Charles II., studied by the courtiers, and applauded by the whole roy- alist party. The only recompense received by Butler was a present of 300 from the king. Two other parts of it were published in 1664 and in 1678, but it was left unfinished. Al- though Butler enjoyed a great reputation at a brilliant court and among distinguished men, there is even less known of the later than of the earlier part of his life, and it is only certain that he died in poverty and obscurity in a mean street in London. Among his shorter poems is one on " The Elephant in the Moon," in which he ridicules the philosophical researches of the royal society. Of his few prose works, the " Characters " are the most interesting. BUTLER, Samnel, an English bishop and phi- lologist, born at Kenil worth, Warwickshire, Jan. 3, 1774, died at Eccleshall castle, Staffordshire, Dec. 4, 1839. He was educated at Rugby and at St. John's college, Cambridge, in 1797 was elected fellow of his college, and in 1798 was appointed head master of the endowed school of Shrewsbury, in which he continued 38 years. While thus occupied he received several church preferments: in 1802, the vicarage of Kenil- worth ; in 1817, a prebendal stall in Lichfield cathedral; in 1822, the archdeaconry of .Der- by. He was made D. D. in 1811, and was ap- pointed bishop of Lichfleld in 1836. His best known literary production is his edition of -<Es- chylus, from the text of Stanley (4 vols. 4to, 1809-'16). He also published a "Praxis on the Latin Prepositions," several geographical works, and a number of tracts and sermons. In conjunction with the Rev. Francis Hodg- son he translated Lucien Bonaparte's epic of " Charlemagne." BUTLER, Walter, an Irish soldier of fortune, one of the assassins of Wallenstein, died near Schorndorf, Germany, in September, 1634. He early enlisted as a private in the imperial army, and became an officer of the Irish legion of which one of his relatives (in the Polish and afterward in the Spanish service) was colonel. In 1631 he was captured in defending Frank- fort-on-the-Oder against Gustavus Adolphus, at whose intercession he was speedily ransom- ed on account of his youth and bravery. In 1632 Wallenstein appointed him colonel of a regiment of dragoons, chiefly Irish, and. re- warded him munificently for his valor in the Bohemian campaign, and especially at the cap- ture of Eger. Misunderstandings arose be- tween them, but Wallenstein continued to con- fide in the fidelity of Butler, whom he per- mitted to escort him with other officers to the castle of Eger. Here Butler, in connivance with Piccolomini, became an accomplice with Gordon, Leslie, and Devereux in the assas- sination of Wallenstein, Feb. 25, 1634. The emperor rewarded Butler by conferring upon him the titles of count, chamberlain, and gen-