770 



BUTLER. 



This work fs remarkable, both for its splendour, In 

 \vhich it excels all former botanical works, nnd for its 

 rarity. Only twelve copies were printed, at an ex- 

 pense of more than 10,000 sterling. B. died in 

 1792. He had more pretension than ability. By en- 

 gaging in politics, for which he luui neither talent nor 

 knowledge, he lost his own quiet, and his imprudent 

 measures brought trouble and confusion on the nation. 

 He was reproached with haughtiness ; but this was 

 1 1 it- fault of a noble spirit ; and he steadily refused, 

 during his ministry, to employ venal writers. Dis- 

 trustful and reserved, he lias been described as harsh, 

 imperious, and obstinate ; yet he was generally irre- 

 solute, and even timid. His morals were irreproach- 

 able. In private life he displayed an amiable sim- 

 plicity. 



BUTLER, James, duke of Ormond ; an eminent 

 statesman in the reigns of Charles I. and II. He was 

 born at London ; succeeded his grandfather, in 1632, 

 and, although all his connexions were catholics, his 

 wardship being claimed by James I., he was brought 

 up a member of the church of England, to which he 

 ever after constantly adhered. When Strafford be- 

 came, lord lieutenant of Ireland, B. was made com- 

 mander of the army, which, consisting of only 3,000 

 men, he could do little more than keep the enemy in 

 check, and was obliged to agree to a cessation of 

 hostilities ; after which, having been created a mar- 

 quis, he was appointed lord lieutenant. On the ruin 

 of the royal cause he retired to France. After the 

 execution of Charles he returned to Ireland, with a 

 view of raising the people ; but, on the landing of 

 Cromwell, he again returned to France. While 

 abroad, he exerted himself to further the restoration 

 of Charles; and, when that event was brought about 

 by Monk, returned with the king. Before the coro- 

 nation he was created duke, and assisted at that cere- 

 mony as lord high steward of England. In 1662 he 

 was again appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland, which 

 country he restored to comparative tranquillity, and 

 was an active benefactor to it, by encouraging various 

 improvements, particularly the growth of flax and 

 manufacture of linen. On the exile of lord Claren- 

 don, his attachment to that nobleman involved B. in 

 Inuch of the odium attached to him, and although, on 

 his recall from Ireland, nothing, on the most rigorous 

 inquiry, could be proved against him, he was removed 

 by the machinations of Buckingham. In 1670 a des- 

 perate design was formed by the noted colonel Blood, 

 whom he had imprisoned in Ireland, to seize his per- 

 son, and hang him at Tyburn. The project succeeded 

 so far, that he was one night forcibly taken out of his 

 coach in St James's street, placed behind a horseman, 

 and carried some distance ; but at length he threw 

 tlie man and himself from the horse by his personal 

 exertions, and obtained assistance before he could be 

 replaced. The king sent lord Arlington to request 

 the duke to forgive the insult ; who calmly replied, 

 that, " if his majesty could pardon Blood for his at- 

 tempt to steal the crown, he might easily pardon that 

 upon his life ;" adding, that " he would obey the king, 

 without inquiring his reason." For six years he was 

 deprived of court favour, but at length was again ap- 

 pointed lord lieutenant of Ireland, which place he held 

 during the remainder of the reign of Charles, but 

 soon after resigned, his principles not suiting the po- 

 licy of James. He died at his seat in Dorsetshire, in 

 1688, leaving behind him the character of a man who 

 united the courtier and the man of honour and integ- 

 rity better than any nobleman of the time. 



BCTLER, Joseph ; an English prelate of distinguished 

 eminence as a writer on ethics and theology. He 

 was born in 1692, at Wantage, in Berkshire, where 

 his father was a shopkeeper, and a Presbyterian dis- 

 s nter. After some previous education at a grammar 



school, he was sent to an academy at Tewkesbury. 

 with a view to ordination as a minister among the 

 dissenters. While occupied by his studies, he gave a 

 proof of his talents by some acute and ingenious re- 

 marks on Dr Samuel Clarke's Demonstration of the 

 Being and Attributes of God, in private letters ad- 

 dressed to the author. He likewise paid particular 

 attention to the points of controversy between the 

 members of the established church and the dissenters, 

 the result of which was a determination to be no 

 longer a nonconformist; he therefore removed to 

 Oxford in 1714. Having taken orders, he was, in 

 1718, appointed preacher at the Rolls chapel, and, in 

 1736, he was appointed clerk of the jcloset to the 

 queen. The same year he published his celebrated 

 work, the Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, 

 to the Constitution and Course of Nature. In 1738 

 Dr B. was promoted to the bishopric of Bristol, on the 

 recommendation of queen Caroline ; and, in 1750, ob- 

 tained his highest preferment the bishopric of Dur- 

 ham. He died in 1752, and was interred in Bristol 

 cathedral. A charge, delivered to the clergy of the 

 diocese of Durham, on the subject of external reli- 

 gion, together with the circumstance of his setting up 

 a marble cross in his chapel at Bristol, gave rise to 

 suspicions that he was inclined to the principles of 

 popery ; and, after his death, a report was spread that 

 he had died in the Catholic faith ; but this story was 

 satisfactorily contradicted by archbishop Seeker. 



BCTLER, Samuel, a celebrated English poet, was 

 the son of a farmer in Strensham, in Worcestershire, 

 where he was born in 1612, and educated at Cam- 

 bridge. He resided some time with Sir Samuel Luke, 

 a commander under Cromwell. In this situation B. 

 acquired the materials for his Hudibras, by a study 

 of those around him, and particularly of Sir Samuel 

 himself, a caricature of whom constituted the cele- 

 brated knight Hudibras. The first part of Hudibras 

 was published in 1663, and was brought into the no- 

 tice of the court by the well known earl of Dorset. 

 It immediately became highly popular with the pre- 

 vailing party in church and state, and served as a 

 general source of quotation ; the king himself per- 

 petually answering his courtiers out of Hudibras. 

 Celebrated as it rendered its author, it did nothing 

 towards extricating him from indigence. All the 

 bounty of Charles was a gratuity, said to amount to 

 300. Thus unpatronised, but respected for his in- 

 tegrity, and beloved for his social qualities, he died in 

 1680, and was buried in St Paul's church, Covent 

 garden, at the expense of his friend Mr Longueville, 

 of the Temple. A monument was, forty years after, 

 erected to his memory, in. Westminster abbey, by al- 

 derman Barber, the printer, lest, as the inscription 

 observes, cut vivo deerant fere omnia, dcesset etiant 

 mortuo tumulus (he who, when living, wanted every 

 thing, should, when dead, also want a tomb). Of 

 Hudibras it is scarcely necessary to observe, that, both 

 in its style and matter, it is one of the most original 

 works that was ever written, and that it exhibits the 

 faculty especially denominated wit, meaning the power 

 of rapid illustration by remote contingent resemblan- 

 ces v to a most remarkable degree. Possessed of much 

 wit, of great knowledge of life, and extensive learn- 

 ing, B. united in himself all the requisites for his very 

 peculiar undertaking. As a work intended to ridicule 

 the Puritans, the attraction of Hudibras was great, but 

 temporary. As applicable to classes of character 

 which exist for ever, its satire always will be relished. 

 Fanaticism, hypocrisy, and time-serving venality, are 

 of all ages. Its diction, though coarse and negligent, 

 is adapted for the conveyance of the odd and whimsi- 

 cal notions and associations with which the work 

 abounds. In fact, the originality of B., as to matter, 

 elicited equal originality in its delivery. In 1759 up- 



