BUTLER, JOSEPH (1692-1752).--Theologian, _b._ at Wantage, _s._ of a Presbyterian linen-draper, was destined for the ministry of that Church, but in 1714 he decided to enter the Church of England, and went to Oxf. After holding various other preferments he became rector of the rich living of Stanhope, Bishop of Bristol (1738), and Bishop of Durham (1750), and was said to have refused the Primacy. In 1726 he _pub._ _Fifteen Sermons_, and in 1736 _The Analogy of Religion_. These two books are among the most powerful and original contributions to ethics and theology which have ever been made. They depend for their effect entirely upon the force of their reasoning, for they have no graces of style. B. was an excellent man, and a diligent and conscientious churchman. Though indifferent to general literature, he had some taste in the fine arts, especially architecture. B.'s works were ed. by W.E. Gladstone (2 vols. 1896), and there are Lives by Bishop W. Fitzgerald, Spooner (1902), and others, _see_ also _History of English Thought in 18th Century_, by Leslie Stephen. BUTLER, SAMUEL (1612-1680).--Satirist, was the _s._ of a Worcestershire farmer. In early youth he was page to the Countess of Kent, and thereafter clerk to various Puritan justices, some of whom are believed to have suggested characters in _Hudibras_. After the Restoration he became Sec. to the Lord Pres. of Wales, and about the same time _m._ a Mrs. Herbert, a widow with a jointure, which, however, was lost. In 1663 the first part of _Hudibras_ was _pub._, and the other two in 1664 and 1668 respectively. This work, which is to a certain extent modelled on _Don Quixote_, stands at the head of the satirical literature of England, and for wit and compressed thought has few rivals in any language. It is directed against the Puritans, and while it holds up to ridicule the extravagancies into which many of the party ran, it entirely fails to do justice to their virtues and their services to liberty, civil and religious. Many of its brilliant couplets have passed into the proverbial commonplaces of the language, and few who use them have any idea of their source. Butler, notwithstanding the popularity of his work, was neglected by the Court, and _d._ in poverty. Ed. of B.'s works have been issued by Bell (3 vols., 1813), and Johnson (2 vols., 1893). BUTLER, SAMUEL (1825-1902).--Miscellaneous writer, _ed._ at Shrewsbury and Camb., wrote two satirical books, _Erewhon_ (nowhere) (1872), and _Erewhon Revisited_ (1901). He translated the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ in prose, and mooted the theory that the latter was written by a woman. Other works were _The Fair Haven_, _Life and Habit_, _The Way of all Flesh_ (a novel) (1903), etc., and some sonnets. He also wrote on the Sonnets of Shakespeare.