Art and Science 



ship was an article the University could not 

 do under about five pounds, and that I was 

 not disposed to go sixpence higher than three 

 ten. They again said it was a pity, for it 

 would be very inconvenient to them if I did 

 not keep to something between a bishop and 

 a poet. I might be anything I liked in 

 reason, provided I showed proper respect for 

 the alphabet; but they had got me between 

 " Samuel Butler, bishop," and " Samuel 

 Butler, poet." It would be very trouble- 

 some to shift me, and bachelor came before 

 bishop. This was reasonable, so I replied that, 

 under those circumstances, if they pleased, I 

 thought I would like to be a philosophical 

 writer. They embraced the solution, and, no 

 matter what I write now, I must remain a 

 philosophical writer as long as I live, for the 

 alphabet will hardly be altered in my time, 

 and I must be something between " Bis " and 

 " Poe." If I could get a volume of my ex- 

 cellent namesake's " Hudibras " out of the list 

 of my works, I should be robbed of my last 

 shred of literary grievance, so I say nothing 



about this, but keep it secret, lest some 



'5 



