174 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



clever man," appointed by Bishop Hoadly, " without 

 any manner of application," direct or indirect, on his 

 behalf ! Dr John Butler was Chaplain to the Bishop 

 of Norwich and became a popular preacher in London. 

 One sermon, preached before the Sons of the Clergy, 

 was described by a contemporary as " a mighty clever 

 sermon." In 1760 he became a prebendary of Win- 

 chester, and later on was made Archdeacon of Surrey. 

 During the American War he issued a number of political 

 pamphlets, strongly supporting the policy of Lord 

 North. In 1777 he was appointed Bishop of Oxford, 

 and during his occupancy of that See he assisted Dr 

 Woide in transcribing the far-famed Alexandrine MS. 

 of the Bible. He was afterwards translated to the 

 bishopric of Hereford. Dr Butler did much to improve 

 still further the residence by the Deans stables. He 

 spent over 100 on wainscot, and " marble chimney 

 pieces," and other improvements ; and most gener- 

 ously, on becoming Bishop of Oxford, he refused to 

 accept the " wainscot money " due to him, but made 

 it over as " a benefaction for the use of the church." 

 He was succeeded by another prebendary of the name 

 of Butler, who signs himself " Will Butler," who eventu- 

 ally became Bishop of Exeter. At the beginning of the 

 last century the house was occupied for some years by 

 Prebendary Edmund Poulter, a county magistrate of 

 considerable notoriety, who figures in the pages of 

 Cobbett's Rural Rides. He was followed by Mr William 

 Gamier, another rector of Droxford and brother of the 

 Dean of that name. 



In the middle of the eighteenth century a number of 

 able men, members, most of them, of Corpus Christi 

 College, Cambridge, and belonging to the Latitudinarian 



