278 
Ient man. Descended from an ancient 
family, of which he was the sole represent- 
ative, Mr. Berille was born in the city of 
Lincoln, where he received the first rudi- 
ments of aclassical education; and was, at 
an early age, admitted a pensioner of 
Peter-house in the University of Cam- 
bridge. Here, by talents and assiduity, he 
commanded the esteem of his seniors; 
‘and when, at the usual time, he took his 
first degree, his name stood high in the list 
of wranglers. Shortly after obtaining these 
academical honours he was elected a 
fellow of his college, and, receiving holy or- 
ders, settled in London, where for many 
years he excited the attention of the pub- 
lic, as a popular preacher, first at the cha- 
-pel of Great Queen-street, Lincoln’s-Inn- 
fields, and afterwards at that of Spring 
Gardens. He was also the author of seve- 
ral successful publications, though, in con- 
sequence of a want of confidence in his 
own abilities, he would never allow his 
name to be affixed to any of his works. 
Besides other productions of equal merit, 
the public is indebted to his pen for a very 
able defence of Hammond, whom Dr. 
Johnson had unmercifully criticised in his 
Lives of the British Poets, and for an ele- 
gant translation of Numa Pompilius from 
the original French of M. de Florian. His 
sermons, which had always practical utility 
for their object, were free from sectarian 
violence, and breathed the genuine spirit 
of Christian charity. His delivery was 
dignified, and his language always correct 
and classical, often displaying the higher 
powers of impassioned eloquence. It is 
ibutjustice to add, that, in a review of the 
comparative merits of the then contempo- 
rary preachers of the metropolis published 
not long before his death by the late Mr. 
Jerningham, no trifling praise was allowed 
to the lamented subject of this article, 
who at that time was tle proprietor 
and morning preacher of Spring-gardens 
Chapel. Having been presented by his 
college to a living in Somersetshire, Mr. 
Berille resigned his fellowship, and mar- 
ried the widow of the late William Roch- 
fort, esq. From his first arrival in Lon- 
dou, and more particularly after his mion 
with this lady, he moved in the most 
polished cireles of the capital, where his 
hospitality and urbanity will be long re- 
membered. As a companion, a scholar, 
and a preacher, he cannot fail to be gene- 
rally regretted, while, to the few who en- 
joyed his intimacy, the loss is irreparable. 
‘That with such pretensions to clerical pre- 
ferment heShould nothave attained the first 
honours of his profession, which no one de- 
served better thian himself, can only be at- 
tributed to a noble independence of con- 
duct, which made him. disdain to solicit 
favours, and to an’ excess of modesty and 
diffidence inherent in his character, which 
kept from the world at large a full know- 
ledge of those qualities of mind and heart 
Mr. William Butler. 
_ [Oct. 1, 
which endeared him to his family, and to a 
small circle of attached friends. He died 
at Colcot-house, Berkshire, where he ocea- 
sionally retired from the metropolis, 
[The late Mr. William Butler, whose 
death we noticed in our last, was a native 
of St. John’s, near Worcester, where he 
was born October 12, 1748. His father 
enjoyed a very moderate competency, 
arising from the cultivation of a small 
farm. Mr. Batler received his education 
at the academy of Mr. Fell, in Worcester, 
which belonged to the society usually de- 
nominated Quakers; and his youthful con- 
nexion with that respectable class of 
practical Christians, excited in his mind 
prepossessions very fayourable to their 
character, which were ever afterwards 
retained. From Mr. Fell’s school he re- 
moved to another kept by Mr. Aird, for 
the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of 
land-surveying, a profession he inteaded 
to foliow. Being disappointed, however, 
in this expectation, he quitted Worcester 
in 1765; and from that period, (being 
then only in his 17th year,) he wholly 
maintained himself by his ewn exertions. 
A situation was soon obtained by him. as 
assistaut in a respectable academy at 
Clapton, near Hackney, which, however, 
he left, after a continuance of some years, 
aud embarked as a teacher of writing and 
-geography in London and its vicinity.* 
Mr. Butler might claim a fair and even a 
superior distinction as an able penman; he 
diligently copied and imbibed the various 
excellencies of masters eminent. in cali- 
graphy; particularly those of Bland, his 
great favourite; upon the model of whose 
penmanship his own free, tasteful, and 
elegant runniug-hand was formed; but the 
great reputation and success which he at- 
tained sprang from a different source ; 
they flowed from the improvements intro- 
daced by him into the mode of instruetion 
in writing and geography. The former 
branch of edneation acquired under his 
care a usefulness and an elevation which 
it had not before possessed. He perceived 
that a writing-master has it in his power 
to introduce a copious store of miscella- 
neous information into the schools that he 
attends by means of a judicious choice of 
copies, particularly geographical ones, (sa- 
ered and profane,) and such as contain 
historical facts, dates in chronology, and 
biographical notices of characters illus- 
* In the year 1775, Mr. Butler married 
Miss Olding, daughter of the Rev. John 
Olding, a dissenting minister, at Dept- 
ford, Mrs, Butler for many years kept a 
respectable school in London;, the exer- 
cise of her useful talents in this situation ; 
cher kindness of heart, and her domestic 
virtues, proved a valuable acquisition, as 
the means of bringing up a numerous 
family, ‘ 
trious 
