BUTE, JOHN STUART, THIRD EARL OF, statesman, born of an old Scotch family; Secretary of State, and from May 1762 to April 1763 Prime Minister under George III., over whom he had a great influence; was very unpopular as a statesman, his leading idea being the supremacy of the king; spent the last 24 years of his life in retirement, devoting himself to literature and science (1712-1792).

BUTE, MARQUIS OF, son of the second marquis, born in Bute; admitted to the Roman Catholic Church in 1868; devoted to archaeological studies, and interested in university education; b. 1849.

BUTLER, ALBAN, hagiographer, born in Northampton; head of the college at St. Omer; wrote “Lives of the Saints” (1710-1773).

BUTLER, CHARLES, an English barrister, born in London; wrote “Historical Account of the Laws against the Catholics” (1750-1832).

BUTLER, JOSEPH, an eminent English divine, born at Wantage, in Berks; born a Dissenter; conformed to the Church of England; became preacher at the Rolls, where he delivered his celebrated “Sermons,” the first three of which contributed so much to the stability of moral science; was raised, in virtue of his merits alone, to the see of Bristol; made dean of St. Paul’s, and finally bishop of Durham; his great work, “The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature,” the aim of which is twofold—­first, to show that the objections to revealed religion are equally valid against the constitution of nature; and second, to establish a conformity between the divine order in revelation and the order of nature; his style is far from interesting, and is often obscure (1692-1752).

BUTLER, SAMUEL, a master of burlesque, born at Strensham, in Worcestershire, the son of a small farmer; the author of “Hudibras,” a poem of about 10,000 octosyllabic lines, in which he subjects to ridicule the ideas and manners of the English Puritans of the Civil War and the Commonwealth; it appeared in three parts, the first in 1663, the second soon after, and the third in 1678; it is sparkling with wit, yet is hard reading, and few who take it up read it through; was an especial favourite with Charles II., who was never weary of quoting from it.  “It represents,” says Stopford Brooke, “the fierce reaction that (at the Restoration) had set in against Puritanism.  It is justly famed,” he adds, “for wit, learning, good sense, and ingenious drollery, and, in accordance with the new criticism, is absolutely without obscurity.  It is often as terse as Pope’s best work; but it is too long; its wit wearies us at last, and it undoes the force of its attacks on the Puritans by its exaggeration” (1612-1680).

BUTLER, WILLIAM ARCHER, a philosophical writer, born near Clonmel, Ireland; professor of Moral Philosophy at Dublin; author of “Lectures on the History of Ancient Philosophy” (1814-1848).

BUTT, CLARA, operatic singer, born in Sussex; made her debut in London at the Albert Hall in the “Golden Legend,” and in “Orfeo” at the Lyceum, ever since which appearances she has been much in demand as a singer; b. 1872.