in Rose-street, Covent Garden, in a ftudious retired manner, and died there in the year 1680.-He is faid to have been buried at the expence of Mr. William Longueville, though he did not die in debt. Some of his friends wifhed to have interred him in Weftminster Abbey with proper folemnity; but not finding others willing to contribute to the expence, his corpfe was depofited privately in the yard belonging to the church of Saint Paul's Covent Garden, at the west end of the faid yard, on the north fide, under the wall of the faid church, and under that wall which parts the yard from the common highway.* I have been thus particular, because, in the year 1786, when the church was repaired, a marble monument was placed on the south fide of the church on the infide, by fome of the parishioners, which might tend to mislead posterity as to the place of his interment: their zeal for the memory of the learned poet does them honour; but the writer of the verses feems to have mistaken the character of Mr. Butler. The inscription runs thus, "This little monument was erected in the year 1786, by "fome of the parishioners of Covent Garden, in memory of See Butler's Life, printed before the fmall edition of Hudibras, in 1710, and reprinted by Dr. Grey. "the celebrated Samuel Butler, who was buried in this church, "A. D. 1680. page, "A few plain men, to pomp and state unknown, In the year 1721, John Barber, an eminent printer, and alderman of London, erected a monument to our poet in Westminster Abbey, the infcription as follows: M. S. Samuelis Butler Qui Strenshamiæ in agro Vigorn natus 1612, Vir doctus imprimis, acer, integer, Ne cui vivo deerant fere omnia Deeffet etiam mortuo tumulus Hoc tandem pofito marmore curavit Johannes Barber civis Londinenfis 1721. On the latter part of this epitaph the ingenious Mr. Sa muel Wesley wrote the following lines: While Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive, No generous patron would a dinner give ; See him, when starv'd to death, and turn'd to duft, Prefented with a monumental bust. The poet's fate is here in emblem shown, He afk'd for bread, and he receiv'd a stone. Soon after this monument was erected in Westminster Abbey, fome perfons proposed to erect one in Covent Garden church, for which Mr. Dennis wrote the following infcription: Near this place lies interr'd He was a whole fpecies of poets in one: In which no one else has been tolerable: Nat. 1612. Ob. 1680. Hudibras is Mr. Butler's capital work, and though the characters, poems, thoughts, &c. published by Mr. Thyer, in two volumes octavo, are certainly wrote by the fame masterly hand, though they abound with lively fallies of wit, and display a copious variety of erudition, yet the nature of the subjects, their not having received the author's last corrections, and many other reasons which might be given, render them lefs acceptable to the present taste of the public, which no longer relishes the antiquated mode of writing characters, cultivated when Butler was young, by men of genius, fuch as Bishop Earle and Mr. Cleveland; the volumes, however, are very useful, as they tend to illustrate many paffages in Hudibras. The three small ones entitled, Pofthumous Works, in Profe and Verfe, by Mr. Samuel Butler, author of Hudibras, printed 1715, 1716, 1717, are all spurious, except the Pindaric ode on Duval the highwayman, and perhaps one or two of the profe pieces. As to the MSS. which after Mr. Butler's death came into the hands of Mr. Longueville, and from whence Mr. Thyer published his genuine Remains in the year 1759; what remain of them, still unpublished, are either in the hands of the ingenious Doctor Farmer, of Cambridge, or myself: for Mr. Butler's Common-place Book, mentioned by Mr. Thyer, I am indebted to the liberal and public fpirited James Maffey, Efq. of Rofthern, near Knotsford, Cheshire. The poet's frequent and correct use of law terms * is a fufficient proof that he was well versed in that science; but if further evidence were wanting, I can produce a MS. purchased of some of our poet's relations, at the Hay, in Brecknockshire: it appears to be a collection of legal cafes and principles, regularly related from Lord Coke's Commentary on Littleton's Tenures: the language is Norman, or law French, and, in general, an abridgment of the above-mentioned celebrated work; for the authorities in the margin of the MS. correfpond exactly with those given on the fame pofitions in the first institute; and the subject matter contained in each particular section of Butler's legal tract, is to be found in the fame numbered fection of Coke upon Littleton: the first book of the MS. likewise ends with the 84th section, which fame number of fections also terminates the first institute; and the second book of the MS. is entitled by Butler, Le fecond livre del primer part del institutes de ley d'Engleterre. The titles of the respective chapters of the MS. also precisely agree with the titles of each chapter in Coke upon Littleton; it may, therefore, reasonably be presumed to have been compiled by Butler folely from Coke upon Littleton, with no other object than to impress strongly on his mind the sense of that author; and written in Norman, to familiarize himself with * Butler is said to have been a member of Grey's-inn, and of a club with Cleveland and other wits inclined to the royal caufe. C |