Thomas Butler

“ Butler was eminently a gentleman, extremely suave in manner, gentle in dealing with those under his authority, mild and moderate in his ideas of discipline, a genuinely scholarly man in tastes and{74} pursuits, though probably not what experts in such a matter would have called a profound scholar. ”

“ Loyalty to the Prayer Book was his watchword, and he regretted the way in which 'some of the clergy were transforming the church of England into a congregational body.' His affinities were with the tractarian school of thought, though he combined a good deal of Cambridge practicality with it. A man of an austere exterior, Butler had a very kind heart, and felt sorry for people even when he wounded them by speaking the truth. ”

“ BUTLER, WILLIAM JOHN (1818–1894) , dean of Lincoln, eldest son of John Laforey Butler, a member of the firm of H. and I. Johnstone, merchants and bankers, was born in Bryanston Street, Marylebone, London, on 10 Feb. 1818. His mother, Henrietta, daughter of Captain Robert Patrick, was of Irish, as his father was of Pembrokeshire, descent. After schooling at Enfield, he became a queen's scholar at Westminster in 1832, and was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1836. ”

“ At the same time for thirty-five years Butler wrote for the 'Athenæum,' and was an occasional contributor to magazines on his favourite topics Dante, mountaineering, Eton, the Napoleonic campaigns; but much of his most characteristic writing was spent in fugitive contributions to the press, which were always trenchant, original, humorous, and exhibited an unusual blend of inborn churchmanship with an outspoken and militant liberalism.
From school days Butler was also a mountaineer, delighting in Alpine expeditions off the beaten track. ”

“ An article 'Art in the Valley of Saas' followed in the 'Universal Review' (1890) . In 1886 Butler's financial position, which had become a good deal involved, was relieved by the death of his father (29 Dec.) . He now spent most of the summer abroad, but lived habitually at his chambers in Clifford's Inn, London, working steadily at the British Museum.
In 1886 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Slade professorship at Cambridge. Every evening when in London he was wont to visit his friend, Mr. H. Festing Jones, at Staple Inn, mainly for the purpose of musical study. ”

“ Two portraits, dated 1843 and 1888, are given in the 'Life and Letters of William John Butler, late Dean of Lincoln and sometime Vicar of Wantage,' brought out by his daughter, Mrs. Knight, in conjunction with his eldest son, Mr. Arthur John Butler, in 1897. The south chapel in Wantage church was restored in 1895, 'in thankful memory of W. J. Butler, 34 years vicar,' Though he published little, Dean Butler will probably enjoy a high reputation both as a preacher and a letter writer among the worthies of the church of England. ”

“ Church and state man, or advanced member of the broad church party, as he whimsically described himself, Butler, the most versatile of iconoclasts, attacked received opinion in religion, science, painting, archæology, literary criticism, and music; but his most determined onslaught was on the canting, conventional morality in which the genteel children of his age were reared. Commenced by 'Erewhon,' this work was carried to its conclusion in his posthumous novel, imperishably graven out of the flint of life. ”

“ Early attempts at becoming a painter were sternly deprecated by the family, and Butler resolved to emigrate to New Zealand. Taking passage in the ill-fated Burmah, he changed his berth at the last moment to the Roman Emperor, and sailed from Gravesend on 30 Sept. ”

“ Butler, who 'had a Roman integrity of character but no Roman pride,' was an accomplished scholar, owing his reputation to activities lying outside his official or business services. His most important work was his contribution to the study of Dante, under whose spell he came first during his time at Cambridge. ”

“ A translation into Homeric verse of a passage from Martin Chuzzlewit: attempted in consequence of a challenge. From The Eagle.
No date. Prospectus of The Life and Letters of Dr. Samuel Butler.
1887 (27 June) . Words of the Choruses from “Narcissus,” for performance at Mrs. Thomas Layton’s.
1890 (15 Dec.) . Programme of Shrewsbury School Concert, at which some of Butler’s music was performed.
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1892. The Humour of Homer. Butler’s own copy.
1892-4. Butler’s own copies of his Odyssey pamphlets (see above) , with MS. notes. 2 sets.
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p. ”

“ If Tony Butler took no note of time as he sat at breakfast with Sir Joseph, he was only sharing the fortune of every man who ever found himself in that companionship. From one end of Europe to the other his equal could not be found. It was not alone that he had stores of conversation for the highest capacities and the most cultivated minds, but he possessed that thorough knowledge of life so interesting to men of the world, and with it that insight into character which is so often the key to the mystery of statecraft ”

“ The children followed him, Esk bestowing a wink upon me, Peter grinning and toeing in like a Devon duck, and that wild-cat thing, Silver Heels—
"You need not wait, Captain Butler," said Sir William, politely.
Mr. Butler retired, leaving the door swinging. Out in the dark hallway I fancied I could still see his shallow eyes shining. I may have been mistaken. But all men know now that Walter Butler hath eyes that see as well by dark as by the light of the sun; and none know it so well as the people of New York Province and of Tryon County.
"Michael," said Sir William, "go to the slate." ”

“ He is now pastor of St. Mark’s Church, New York. For the past three or four years, Mr. Butler has taken an active part in the politics of the Empire State, and was sent as a delegate to the National Republican Convention that nominated General Grant for his second term, and in which assembly he exercised considerable influence with the colored delegates from the South.
Mr. Butler is a man of good education, well read, of retentive memory, able in debate, quick to take advantage of an opponent, an eloquent, extemporaneous speaker, and popular with the masses. ”

“ There our author has resided; there he is said to have written something or other, and the very room and spot of its composition are pointed out. It is best not to be too critical; and, on the other hand, if we believe, in general, that where a man of genius has lived he has also written, we shall seldom be far wrong. There is little doubt that here Butler, possessed of more leisure and independence than at any other period of his life, did really revise and prepare his work for press, of which the first part was published in 1663, and the second in the year following. ”

“ Admirers of the German style find little to praise in a cautious bit-by-bit method, content with the tests which have most affinity with common sense, incredulous of exhaustive theories, leaving a large margin for the unaccountable or the unexplained. But it has its merits, one of them being that, dealing very solidly and very acutely with large and real matters of experience, the interest of such writings endures as the starting-point and foundation for future work. Butler out of England is hardly known, certainly he is not much valued either as a divine or a philosopher ”

“ The moral law is the human equivalent of the coherence which knits the universe into unity of purpose; and this same Wisdom, which teaches the circuits of the sun, gives to the man, into whose soul it enters, knowledge of judgement and law, by 'which to frame his life in righteousness, and to execute judgement with an upright heart. She leads him soberly in all his ways; so that his works are acceptable, and he is worthy to sit in his father's seat'.
Butler would delight in bringing the moral life of humanity into this complete accord with the conception of Natural Law. ”

“ Butler's face paled in the waning fire-light. Presently he said, in his slow, even tones: "I shall take care that your good wishes reach the King's ears. Pray, sir, honour me with your name and quality, though I may perhaps guess both."
"No need to guess," cut in the big fellow, cheerfully. "I'm Jack Mount; I burned the Gaspee, I helped dump his Majesty's tea into Boston harbour, and I should be pleased to do as much for the King himself. Tell him so, Captain Butler; 158 tell my Lord Dunmore he can have a ducking, too, at his lordship's polite convenience." ”

“ So Butler continually argues; and all the force of his mind comes out in this splendid confidence that he has in facts, in experience, in the validity of our faculties. He was no metaphysician. We feel this in the chapters on the Future Life, and on Necessity. He is here at his weakest. He fails to convince. He is not in his true atmosphere or element. He comes to himself, and to his full power, when he is flinging aside all the metaphysical problem which underlies life, as freely as the plain man does in practice, in daily experience, in science. ”

“ Butler long took an active part in military affairs, and commanded the Prince of Wales’ Regiment from 1889 to 1898. He organized and became the first president of the Montreal Amalgamated Rifle Association and the Montreal Military Institute. In politics he is a Conservative, and in religion an Anglican, having been a member of the Diocesan and Provincial Synods over thirty years. In Free Masonry, he was Grand Master in 1894, and has been for many years Chairman of the Committee on Jurisprudence of the Grand Lodge of Quebec. ”

“ Why will no one direct his attention to the inquiry as to how far the Tony Butlers—a large class in the British Islands—are more moved to exertion, or hopelessly muddled in intellect, by the soothing influences of smoke? ”

“ Metaphysic itself, when it comes again to its own, will do so by verifying, with a closer intimacy than ever, its inevitable inherence within the very heart's core of our common average experience.
And it is within this human experience of ours that Butler does all his work. It is our daily Experience that he fastens on, clings to, accepts. For him, it holds the entire secret. He has no desire to go behind it, or beyond it. It is sufficient. It justifies itself. It supplies the standard to which reality must conform. ”

“ The triumphant solution of the problem is undeniable, when it has once been enunciated and understood. Upon a canvas thus prepared and outlined, Butler has embroidered a collection of flowers of wit, which only the utmost fertility or imagination could devise, and the utmost patience of industry elaborate. In the union of these two qualities he is certainly without a parallel, and their combination has produced a work which is unique. ”

“ Butler is a typical instance of the English philosophical mind. He will admit no speculative theory of things. To him the universe is no realization of intelligence, which is to be deciphered by human thought; it is a constitution or system, made up of individual facts, through which we thread our way slowly and inductively. Complete knowledge is impossible; nay, what we call knowledge of any part of the system is inherently imperfect. "We cannot have a thorough knowledge of any part without knowing the whole." ”

“ Butler had a visit from Dr. Stewart; he came over, he said, to see Tony, and ask the news of what he had done in England. “I hope, ma'am,” said he,—and there was something dry and reserved in his manner,—“I hope, ma'am, your son has brought you good tidings of his late journey. A big city is a big temptation, and we dinna want temptations in this world of ours.”
“I know it well, doctor,” said she, with a sigh; “and if it had been any other than Tony—Ah, doctor! why do you shake your head? you make me think you 've heard something or other. What is it, sir?” ”

“ Allen does make stepping-stones of his dead selves he jumps upon them to some tune.” And he was perhaps a little inclined to treat his own dead self too much in the same spirit.
Butler did very well with the sheep, sold out in 1864, and returned via Callao to England. He travelled with three friends whose acquaintance he had made in the colony; one was Charles Paine Pauli, to whom he dedicated Life and Habit. He arrived in August, 1864, in London, where he took chambers consisting of a sitting-room, a bedroom, a painting-room and a pantry, at 15, Clifford’s Inn, second floor (north) . ”

“ But they seldom have fair play; as a general rule they meet with foul play, and foul play from those who live by selling them stones made into a great variety of shapes and sizes so as to form a tolerable imitation of bread.
Some are lucky enough to meet with few obstacles, some are plucky enough to over-ride them, but in the greater number of cases, if people are saved at all they are saved so as by fire.
While Ernest was with me Ellen was looking out for a shop on the south side of the Thames near the “Elephant and Castle,” which was then almost a new and a very rising neighbourhood. ”

“ It was a fine sight to see him tucking his napkin under his rosy old gills, and letting it fall over his capacious waistcoat while the high light from the chandelier danced about the bump of benevolence on his bald old head like a star of Bethlehem.
The soup was real turtle; the old gentleman was evidently well pleased and he was beginning to come out. Gelstrap stood behind his master’s chair. I sat next Mrs Theobald on her left hand, and was thus just opposite her father-in-law, whom I had every opportunity of observing. ”