the imagination of Horsley, or of Warburton. The style of Bishop Butler has, we think, been condemned undeservedly. It certainly is not formed to any thing like Ciceronian harmony and elegance; but it seldom offends the ear, or violates the purity of the English idiom. The charge of obscurity may be confidently repelled; and, indeed, it is difficult to conceive how it should ever have been advanced by any but a brainless sciolist,

too weak to bear

The insupportable fatigue of thought."

The Dean of Salisbury informed the writer of this Memoir, that a learned friend of his had once translated the Analogy into Latin, with a view to its publication in Germany, and submitted it to the revision of Professor Porson. Dr. Pearson is not, however, aware of the reason why it did not appear in print.

It was observed by Sir James Mackintosh,"Butler's great work On the Analogy of Religion and the course of Nature, though only a commentary on the singularly original and pregnant passage of Origen, which is so honestly prefixed to it as a motto, is, notwithstanding, the most original and profound work extant in any language on the philosophy of religion." The first intention of Butler was, to have incorporated the two dissertations, upon Personal Identity, and the Nature of Virtue, in his great work, the Analogy. The former, he had inserted in the first chapter, Upon

a Future Life; and the latter, in the third chapter, Upon the Moral Government of God. But, as he himself observes, in the advertisement which precedes them," As they do not directly fall under the title of the foregoing treatise, and would have kept the subject of it too long out of sight, it seemed more proper to place them by themselves."

A singular specimen of analogical reasoning by a South-Sea islander, recently extricated from the darkness of paganism, is mentioned by Mr. Williams, in his interesting Narrative of Missionary Enterprise. When the Honourable Captain Waldegrave, who commanded the British frigate, the Seringapatam, touched at the island of Raiatea, where the London Missionary Society had prosecuted their labours with very signal success, some of the officers of the ship expressed a doubt if the capacity of the natives would enable them to understand the doctrines taught them by their instructors. Upon this it was suggested, that some of the converted islanders should be interrogated by Captain W., in the presence of his chaplain, and other gentlemen, at the house of the missionary. When they were assembled, for this purpose, Captain Waldegrave addressed to them the following question :-"Do you believe that the Bible is the word of God, and that Christianity is of Divine origin?" The natives, for a moment, were startled, as a doubt upon the subject had never entered their mind; at length one

of them said, "Most certainly we do. We look at the power with which it has been attended in effecting the entire overthrow of idolatry amongst us, and which, we believe, no human means could have induced us to abandon." The question was then repeated to an old priest, who had become a decided believer in Christianity. Instead, however, of replying at once," he held up his hands, and rapidly moved the joints of his wrists and fingers; he then opened and shut his mouth, and closed these singular actions by raising his leg, and moving it in various directions." Having done this, he said, "See, I have hinges all over me: if the thought grows in my heart, that I wish to handle any thing, the hinges in my hands enable me to do so: if I want to utter any thing, the hinges to my jaws enable me to say it; and if I desire to go any where, here are hinges to my legs to enable me to walk. Now," continued he, "I perceive great wisdom in the adaptation of my body to the various wants of my mind; and when I look into the Bible, and see there proofs of wisdom which correspond exactly with those which appear in my frame, I conclude that the Maker of my body is the Author of that book.”—Chap. 14, p. 235. This answer, which is grounded upon true philosophy, presents a striking example of the same mental process which enabled Butler so fully and so faithfully to trace, throughout the wide range of human experience, the "Analogy of

Religion, natural and revealed, to the constitution and course of Nature."

It was remarked by the Divine Founder of Christianity, that, "A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house."-Mark vi. 4. The truth of this observation in its application to Bishop Butler, will be illustrated by the following anecdote of one of his relatives.

Upon the publication of the Analogy, the bishop presented a copy of the first quarto edition to each of his nephews at Wantage. One of these, John, a wealthy and eccentric bachelor, who had more taste for practical mechanics than for metaphysical research, appeared to attach but little value to his uncle's production. Having occasion to borrow an iron vice of his neighbour Mr. Thompson, a shrewd and sensible Scotch solicitor, who spoke in high terms of the Analogy, and expressed great respect for the author, John Butler proposed, that, as Mr. Thompson liked the Analogy, and he himself liked the iron vice, they should make an exchange. To this suggestion Mr. Thompson cheerfully assented, and John Butler left him highly pleased, and thinking that he had turned his uncle's present to an excellent account, by obtaining for it an implement of so much more useful a character.

It was imagined, by the writer of the memoir of Butler, in the Biographia Britannica, that the

F

Charge, which was delivered at Durham in 1751, was the only one of his publications which provoked a controversy, and arrayed against him a direct literary opponent. There was, however, a tract printed in 1737, termed "Remarks on Dr. Butler's Sixth Chapter of the Analogy of Religion, concerning Necessity; and also, Upon the Dissertation on the Nature of Virtue. By PHILANTHROPUS." The motto upon the title page is, "Non ut majore reprenso."-Horace. In a copy of this pamphlet, which is preserved among Hughes's Tracts, in the library of Queen's College, Cambridge, under the signature "Philanthropus," is written, "The Rev. Mr. Bott, rector of Spicksworth, Norfolk." This gentleman wrote an Answer to Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses, which was published in London, in 1743.

The remarks by Philanthropus consist of two dissertations and a preface. That on the Sixth Chapter of the Analogy occupies twenty-one pages; the other on the Nature of Virtue thirty-nine; and the preface contains twenty-two pages.

It is not a little amusing to find Philanthropus proceeding with as much self-complacency to the discharge of the task he had undertaken, as if he possessed a consciousness of great superiority over Butler. In the first page of the preface he observes, "It is most likely I shall not hereafter publish any more remarks upon this author; and, therefore, I would take this opportunity of re