and rode very fast. Another authority relates that he sometimes fell into reveries, and allowed the pony to graze at will. Beggars he could only resist by shutting himself into the rectory. The Analogy was published in 1736, and dedicated to Lord Chancellor Talbot, elder brother of Edward, who obtained the woolsack in 1733. The Chancellor had made him his chaplain on his appointment, and Butler had at the same time proceeded to the degree of D.C.L.

In July 1736 Lord Talbot made him Prebendary of Rochester, and in the same month he became Clerk of the Closet to Queen Caroline, the able, witty, and philosophical wife of George II.; Secker on these occasions was again helpful. Queen Caroline gave philosophical parties in the evenings at Kensington and St. James's; "the controversy between Clarke and Leibnitz had been carried on through her, and Clarke, Berkeley, Hoadly, and Sherlock had held conversations in her presence." 1 It is possible that while Preacher at the Rolls Butler, as a friend of Clarke, may have been introduced to these reunions; but it must be remembered that he did not become Clerk of

1 Adamson, Dict. of Nat. Biog.

the Closet till the year of the publication of the Analogy. Mark Pattison assumes that the Preachership of the Rolls must have led to intimacy at Court: "The Deistical writers formed the atmosphere which educated people breathed. The objections the Analogy meets are not new and unreasoned objections, but such as had worn well, and had borne the rub of controversy, because they were genuine. It was in society, and not in his study, that Butler learned the weight of the Deistical arguments. . . . At the Queen's philosophical parties, where these topics were canvassed with earnestness and freedom, Butler must often have felt the impotence of reply in detail, and seen, as he says, 'how impossible it must be in a cursory conversation to unite all into one argument, and represent it as it ought to be.""

Butler had given up the Preachership, it will be remembered, in 1726; and it was in 1733 that Secker, having become Chaplain to King George II., mentioned his friend to the Queen. Her reply," she thought he had been dead," she afterwards repeated to Archbishop Blackburne of York, who answered, "No, Madam, he is not dead, but he is buried." After his appointment as Clerk of the Closet, the Queen

commanded his attendance every evening from 7 to 9 when in London. Dying next year (November 20th, 1737), she recommended Butler to Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury; her attendant, Lord Hervey, says it was the only instance of a recommendation by name during her illness. A month after her death, Butler preached before the King on profiting by affliction; he was much moved, and undertook to do "something very good for him."

Next year, 1738, the See of Bristol fell vacant, on the transference of Dr. Gooch to Norwich. Bristol, with all the claims on a bishopric for hospitality and charity, could only be held by a man who had other means, as the endowment was only £400 a year; and this was prudently put forward by Butler, who had no private income, when he sent a grateful acceptance in reply to Walpole's letter offering him that diocese. "It is not very suitable either to the condition of my fortune or the circumstances, nor, as I should have thought, answerable to the recommendation with which I was honoured." It is clear that Butler, who had no ambition, was alarmed by the prospect of struggling with poverty in a high and responsible position. He was allowed to hold

his prebend at Rochester (he gave up that at Salisbury) and the rectory of Stanhope until 1740, when he was made one of the long series of illustrious Deans of St. Paul's. On that appointment (May 24th) he gave up his other preferments, except the bishopric. For excuse, not justification, of these old pluralities, it may be said that population was then small, and duties were more easily performed; and, in the case of Butler, that it would have been difficult in that artificial and polished age to do his duty as bishop without some help besides what was not more than the salary of a head clerk. As a matter of fact, he spent the whole income of the see for twelve years (£4,800) on repairs to the bishop's house at Bristol.

Some personal glimpses of Butler belong to the Bristol period. Byrom, the clerical rhymer, was introduced to him by David Hartley, the moral philosopher, at whose house they met, in March 1737. In a long argument Butler defended reason, Byrom authority. Byrom wished he had Butler's temper and calmness, but thought him a little too vigorous. In 1749 Byrom dined with Butler in a party of fifteen, and found him "very civil and courteous."

In August 1739 John Wesley had an inter

view with the Bishop. Wesley was beginning his great career, and already some of those phenomena had followed his sermons which he attributed to Divine power, Butler to

morbid and misdirected enthusiasm. There had been complaints, and the Bishop, so strongly on the side of reason, could not sympathise with the young zealot; Wesley was then thirtysix, Butler forty-seven. Butler was shocked at "a horrid thing, a very horrid thing, pretending to extraordinary gifts and revelations of the Holy Ghost." Wesley disclaimed administering communion to his societies, and believed he never would. On hearing of fits, and prayers over persons in strong anguish, Butler remarked: "Very extraordinary indeed! Well, sir, since you ask my advice, I will give it freely. You have no business here. You are not commissioned to preach in this diocese. Therefore I advise you to go home." Neither of the two great men appreciated the splendid gifts of the other. It is one of the tragic ironies of history that they were not in a position to learn from each other. David Hume also intended to call on Butler; unhappily the visit was never achieved.

A friend of Butler's at Bristol was Josiah