fessor were remarkable for the large grasp of his subject, his aspiring views, and power of eloquent exposition. A noble person and countenance added to the impressiveness of his delivery. The same eloquence appears, with perhaps more appropriateness, in the sermons which he addressed to educated audiences; with rustic hearers he could be plain and simple. In his lectures on Plato, perhaps the most important thought is that the Platonic idea was no mere mistaken form of abstract notion, but was Plato's mode of expressing the fact that there is an objective element in perception. Butler's ‘Lectures on the History of Ancient Philosophy,’ 2 vols. were edited after his death with notes, by W. H. Thompson (Cambridge, 1856). The second volume, which is chiefly occupied with Plato, is the more valuable of the two. Two volumes of ‘Sermons Doctrinal and Practical’ have been published, the first series edited with a memoir of his life by the Rev. Thomas Woodward (Dublin, Hodges and Smith, 1849, 3rd. ed. Cambridge, 1855); the second series, edited by J. A. Jeremie (Cambridge, 1856). Besides his many poems and prose articles contributed to the ‘Dublin University Review,’ he published a sermon on the ‘Eternal Life of Christ in Heaven,’ in first series of sermons for Sundays, &c., edited by Alex. Watson (Joseph Masters, 1845); a sermon on ‘Self Delusion as to our State before God’ (Dublin, 1842); a sermon on the ‘Atonement,’ in a volume of sermons on that subject published by the Religious Tract Society (no date); and a memoir of Mrs. Hemans prefixed to her ‘National Lyrics and Songs for Music’ (Dublin, Curry and Co. 1839).
[Memoir by Woodward, prefixed to the first series of Butler's Sermons; article on Butler by J. T. Ball, afterwards Lord Chancellor of Ireland, in Dublin University Review, May 1842; article ‘The late Professor Butler,’ in same Review, July 1849.]
BUTT, GEORGE (1741–1795), divine and poet, was the son of Dr. Carey Butt, physician, of Lichfield, at whose house it is said that Dr. Johnson when a boy was a constant visitor (Hawkins, Life of Johnson, p. 6), though this must have been before Butt was born, 26 Dec. 1741. The Butts were of the same family as Henry VIII's physician, Butts, though they had dropped the final s. After receiving his early education at the grammar school at Stafford, Butt was admitted, through the influence of his father's friend Thomas Newton (afterwards bishop of Bristol), on the foundation at Westminster in 1766, and was thence elected to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1761, where he graduated B.A. in 1766, M.A. in 1768, taking the degrees of B.D. and D.D. on 29 Oct. 1793. Having received deacon's orders in 1765, he was appointed to the curacy of Leigh, Staffordshire, which he shortly afterwards resigned for the post of private tutor to the son of Sir E. Winnington of Stanford Court, Worcestershire, and in October 1767 accompanied his pupil to Christ Church. While acting as young Winnington's tutor, Butt, his daughter Mrs. Sherwood says, 'kept company with the noblemen and gentlemen, commoners of Christ Church, to whom the vivacity of his genius rendered his society acceptable,' though he was careful not to forget what was due to his profession. In 1771 he was presented by Sir E. Winnington to the rectory of Stanford and the vicarage of Clifton, and in 1773 married Martha Sherwood, the daughter of a London silk merchant. Expensive habits and especially his love of company had by this time involved him in debt. He was rescued from his difficulties by the good management of his wife, who, among other economical schemes, persuaded him to take private pupils. With these pupils, mostly young men of good family, he was popular, though his desultory mode of imparting instruction could not have been of much benefit to them. In 1778 he was presented by Newton, now bishop of Bristol, to the vicarage of Newchurch, in the Isle of Wight, which he held along with Stanford, where he continued to reside. About this time he occasionally joined the coterie of Lady Miller at Batheaston, and dropped verses into her vase. He exchanged the living of Newchurch for the rectory of Notgrove, Gloucestershire, in 1788, and the same year was appointed chaplain in ordinary to the king, and gave up taking pupils. In 1787, on application from Dr. Markham, his old master at Westminster, he was presented by Lord Foley to the rich vicarage of Kidderminster, which he held along with his other cures. He changed his residence to Kidderminster the next year, and lived there on good terms with the many dissenters of the town. In 1794 he returned to Stanford, and used to ride into Kidderminster to do duty. On 30 June 1795 he was struck with palsy, and died on 30 September following at Stanford, where he was buried. He left a son, John Martin Butt, who took orders and became the author of some theological works, and two daughters, afterwards the well-known authoresses, Mrs. Cameron and Mrs. Sherwood. Butt published 'Isaiah versified,' 1784, with a dedication to the king; several sermons on special occasions, and in 1791 Sermons' in 2 vols, dedicated to Dr. Mark-
