BUTLER, SAMUEL ( 1612-80 ) . An English satirist. Ile was baptized at Strensham, Worces tershire, February S, 1612. and educated at the Worcester Grammar School. tt is a tradition that he also attended one of the universities, most likely Cambridge. When a young man he entered the household of the Countess of Kent, where he became acquainted with Sel den. He also studied painting at this time. Leaving the service of the Countess, he be came attendant to a succession of country gen tlemen. During this period he wrote much of Iludibras, the hero of the poem being one of his masters—Sir Samuel Luke. of Cople Hod). near Bedford. In 1660 he was made secretary to the Earl of Carbery, who appointed him steward of Ludlow Castle. Soon after he mar ried a woman of good family and some prop erty, which, however, was lost in bad securities. lie published the first part of /Judi/was in 1663, and its reception at Conrt was immediate and triumphant. Then the coffee-houses and taverns took up the poem. Though the King had wit enough to see the merit of the work, he lacked generosity to relieve the necessities of the writer. Poverty is almost the only thing
in Butler's life that one is certain of. In 1664 he published the second part of his book, and a third part appeared in 1678. lie died in Rose Street, Covent Garden, September 25. 1680.
Ibudibras is a kind of metrical Don Quixote. The Puritans are the subject of ridicule, and King Charles must have felt that the poet avenged for him the battle of Worcester. But ler thinks in witty couplets, he argues in them, lie spears his foes with a jest, he routs and chases them into oblivion with inextinguishable laughter. Ilis best things have become proverbs. In 1759 appeared The Genuine Remains, in Prose and Verse, of R. Butler (London). which contains a series of character sketches and much brilliant satire in the manner of Hudi bras. Consult: The new edition of Iludibras, in Morley's Universal Library (London. 1894) ; and l'octical Works, edited by Johnson (London and New York, 1893).