In which he snatched the mask from false religion, He lived destitute of most comforts: And that his grave should not also want a monument, By the erection of this marble in 1721, at last provided. No account of the life of the inimitable author of Hudibras can be written with much satisfaction, or be read with any great pleasure; for the only particulars we can gather of it are meagre and conflicting, while the incidents related in it are systematitically adverse and depressing. This is the more to be regretted, because his existence does not appear to have passed away in that dull tenor of seclusion and uniformity, which is so often found to characterize the habits of those who successfully devote themselves to study and literary works; and which must, by a necessary consequence, leave the story of their days barren and uninteresting. The life of Butler, on the contrary, was by no means destitute of changes-nay more, of vicissitudes; he seems to have mixed amongst the world with liveliness, and to have warmly aspired to that rank and consideration his genius so highly merited. Unfortunately, however, for himself, and still more unfortunately for those who have lived to admire the different fragments he left behind him in manuscript, encouragement but scantily sweetened his exertions, and reward never confirmed his labours. Room for a doubt, therefore, does not remain, but that if the reproach of neglecting literary merit, so often bit Satyrici apud nos Carminis Artifex egregius; Ne, cui vivo deerant fere omnia, JOHANNES BARBER, CIVIS LONDINENSIS, 1721. terly made against the great and wealthy of the English nation, had not in this case a severe foundation in truth, the poem of Hudibras would not now stand solitary and unfellowed in our language--what.no other author would have presumed to emulate, Butler himself would have equalled. Butler's father was a country farmer of some substance, holding a house, with a few acres, in fee-simple, which was then worth about 81. a year, and has since been known by the name of Butler's tenement. He moreover rented ground to a larger extent from the Lord of the Manor, and was able to send Samuel to the grammarschool at Worcester, whence he had him passed into the service of a Mr. Jefferys, of Earlscroom, a justice of the peace in the same county. With him young Samuel lived contentedly for some years. His worship appears to have been a kind superior, and a man of letters; for, in the leisure of his household, and by the aid of his library, the author of Hudibras is said to have mainly acquired that deep fund of various knowledge for which his works are so remarkable. In the course of his studies, we are told, that he principally directed his mind to history and poetry; painting and music also engaged a share of his attention, and specimens of his efforts in both these arts were long preserved as honourable relics in the family. They are spoken of, however, not so much for any merit they possessed, as to indicate the bias of his taste; and to let the world know, that they procured for him the friendship of Cooper, a man eminent in the arts during the seventeenth century. In recounting this first section of Butler's life, several of his earlier biographers have endeavoured to make it appear, upon the assertion of his brother, that he received a university education, though his poverty prevented him from matriculating. Yet it has never been stated whether the university was that of Oxford or Cambridge, neither has any Hall or College been assigned for the purpose,-points by no means difficult to establish, if the fact had ever existed. But so far from thinking the absence of this proof a matter of regret, the literary world, perhaps, ought rather to be pleased at finding the case stand as it does. It is infinitely more to Butler's honour that such a work as Hudibras should have been written by a man whose mind was principally selfinstructed, than that he should have brought to the task all those facilities and advantages, which a systematic education under the most studious guidance must ever supply. As it is, Butler may proudly take his stand with Shakspeare, and others of the English nation, whose glory it is, that they have raised brighter and more durable monuments of fame by the impulse of natural wit and self-directed genius, than others have been able to construct with the aid of every force which human learning and experience can afford. How long Butler continued to reside with Justice Jefferys, or why he parted from him, are facts unknown. The next condition in which he is found, is in the family of the Countess of Kent, to whom the learned Selden was steward, where he shared in common with the latter the use of an excellent library, and was required to assist the antiquary in his literary labours. In all probability it was about this period that he was in the habit of making some long visits to, and enjoying the society of, the company at Asket, the Earl of Carnarvon's seat, in Buckinghamshire. During the Commonwealth, he acted as clerk to Sir Samuel Luke, who, besides being a colonel in Cromwell's army, was also Governor of Newport Pagnell, a justice of the peace, and the author of some insignificant pamphlets. These different situations we know Butler to have been in; but the circumstances that introduced him to them, the time he spent in them, and the causes that led him to change them, are, one and all, matters which have never been related, and cannot now be learned. After the restoration, he was made Secretary to the Earl of Carbury, the President of the Principality of Wales, who, upon the re-establishment of the Court of Arches, made the author of Hudibras Steward of Ludlow Castle. While in this post he married Mrs. Herbert, a lady of good family and fortune, and studied the common law, though he never practised it. His wife's money was vested in securities, which unfortunately soon turned out to be bad ones, and he thus lost the means of independence as casually as he had acquired them. The first part of Hudibras, in three cantos, appeared in 1663. This extraordinary poem is said to have been written, or at least begun, while the author was in the employ of Sir Samuel Luke, who was generally fixed upon as the busy character from whom the idea of the mock hero was borrowed. Certain it is, at least, that the materials for such a work are most likely to have been collected in a situation which presented, in the clearest manner, an ample view of the principles and practices of that infatuated body which then overran the three kingdoms with confusion and outrage. No work at the time, and probably no work before it, attracted so general a portion of public regard, and that so readily bestowed. It was read by every one, praised by courtiers, and for a while habitually quoted by the king, who is said to have been directed to its merits by the Earl of Dorset, himself a poet of popular repute. Under these pleasing circumstances, Butler looked anxiously forward to the posts of honour and emolument, which, according to every one's prophecy, were sure to fall upon the matchless efforts of his genius. Still amused with bright expectations, he proceeded with the subject, and finished and circulated the second part in 1664. It concentrated as decidedly and quickly as its predecessor had done, the praises of the public, and the promises of the great: the Lord Chancellor Clarendon is reported to have spoken of places and employments of value and credit for the author; and the Duke of Buckingham is said to have urged the pretensions of Butler's wit and loyalty upon royal bounty to the king, who returned an assurance that they should not pass unrequited. Unrequited, however, they did pass; the words of all were fair and full of promise, but no advantage followed them. Notwithstanding the distresses which such repeated disappointments must have subjected him to, the plan itself still prospered, and the third part was issued forth into the world in 1678. Neglect, however, still continued to cloud the poet's energy, and with this effort the design hung abruptly suspended and incomplete. It is now, therefore, vain to conjecture what the extent of the deficiency may be, or in what fortunes the issue of the plot would have terminated. Solitude and depression are the natural consequences, of neglect and poverty; and to the extreme of these it is with a feeling of national shame, the biographer must reluctantly confess that Butler was now reduced. On this account the world can know even less of the manner of life in which he henceforward subsisted than has been already narrated. A conveyancer, named Longueville, who raised himself from humble circumstances to the dignity of Bencher of the Inner Temple, is said to have had the generosity to administer that relief to his declining years, which actually saved another child of poetry and fame from the tortures of starvation. Under the shelter of this charity, the author of Hudibras spent the close of his days in Rose-street, Covent-garden, where he died during the year 1680, aged 68. Mr. Longueville, with a spirit becoming the excellence of his heart, solicited a subscription for an honourable grave in Westminster Abbey; and upon the failure of his endeavours, incurred the expence of an interment in St. Paul's Church, Covent-garden. Upon a work so generally known, and so repeatedly reviewed as Hudibras, and an author so highly esteemed as Butler, all disquisition is now superfluous. The poem, both in style and matter, is one of the most original ever produced, and the poet, in eccentric wit and recondite learning, has been equalled in no age or country. The prevailing character of all his compositions is decidedly burlesque; satire predominates throughout some of his lesser pieces, but even upon them a vein of ridicule is generally sure to break in. One solitary gem of kinder feeling is to be found his among pages; it is entitled a Song to my Mistress,' and is here transcribed as a curiosity. Do not unjustly blame My guiltless breast, For venturing to disclose a flame So long suppress'd. In its own ashes it design'd For ever to have lain, But that iny sighs, like blasts of wind, Made it break out again. And do not mine affection slight, Because my locks with age are white; Your breasts have snow without and snow within, Immediately after Butler's death, the booksellers collected three small volumes of minor poetry under his name, of which the contents, though occasionally striking, are in the bulk too gross |