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carried to Bristol, to try the waters of that place; but these proving ineffectual, he removed to Bath, where, being past recovery, he died on the 16th of June, 1752. His corpse was conveyed to Bristol, and interred in the cathedral there, where a monument, with an inscription, is erected to his memory.

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On the greatness of Bishop Butler's character we need not enlarge; for, his profound knowledge, and the prodigious strength of his mind, are amply displayed in his incom parable writings. His piety was of the most serious and fervent, and, perhaps, somewhat of the ascetic kind. His benevolence was warm, generous, and diffusive. Whilst he was bishop of Bristol, he expended, in repairing and improving the episcopal palace, four thousand pounds, which is said to have been more than the whole revenues of the bishopric amounted to, during his continuance in that see. Besides his private benefactions, he was a contributor to the infirmary at Bristol, and a subscriber to three of the hospitals at London. He was likewise a principal promoter, though not the first founder, of the infirmary at Newcastle, in Northumberland. In supporting the hospitality h

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and dignity of the rich and powerful diocese of Durham, he was desirous of imitating the spirit of his patron, Bishop Talbot. In this spirit, he set apart three days every week for the reception and entertainment of the principal gentry of the country. Nor were even the clergy who had the poorest benefices, neglected by him. He not only occasionally invited them to dine with him, but condescended to visit them at their respective parishes. By his will he left five hundred pounds to the society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts, and some legacies to his friends and domestics. His executor and residuary legatee was his chaplain, the Rev. Dr Nathaniel Forster, a divine of distinguished literature. Bishop Butler was never married. Soon after his decease, the following lines, by way of epitaph, were written concerning him; and were printed first, if we recollect aright, in the London Magazine.

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Beneath this marble Butler lies entombed,
Who, with a soul inflamed by love divine,
His life in presence of his God consumed,
Like the bright lamps before the holy shrine.
His aspect pleasing, mind with learning fraught,
His eloquence was like a chain of gold,

That the wild passions of mankind controlled;
Merit, wherever to be found, he sought.

Desire of transient riches he had none;

These he, with bounteous hand, did well dispense;
Bent to fulfil the ends of Providence ;

His heart still fixed on an immortal crown.
His heart a mirror was, of purest kind,

Where the bright image of his Maker shined;
Reflecting faithful to the throne above,

The irradiant glories of the Mystic Dove.

PREFACE

BY THE

EDITOR.

"When I consider how light a matter very often subjects the best "established characters to the suspicions of posterity, posterity often

66

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66 as malignant to virtue as the age that saw it was envious of its glory; and how ready a remote age is to catch at a low revived "slander, which the times that brought it forth saw despised and forgotten almost in its birth; I cannot but think it a matter that "deserves attention."-Letter to the Editor of the Letters on the Spirit of Patriotism, &c. by BISHOP WARBURTON. See his Works, Vol. VII. p. 547.

THE Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese of Durham was printed and published in the year 1751 by the learned Prelate, whose name it bears; and, together with the Sermons and Analogy of the same writer, both too well known to need a more particular description, completes the collection of his works. It has long been considered as a matter of curiosity, on account of its scarceness; and it is equally curious on other accounts, its subject, and the calumny to which it gave occasion, of representing the Author as addicted to superstition, as inclined to popery, and as dying in the communion of the church of Rome. The improved edition of the Biographia Britan nica, published under the care of Dr Kippis, having unavoidably brought this calumny again into notice; it may

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