Joseph Butler

JOSEPH BUTLER (1692 - 1752)

In 1726, the year in which he published his important Fifteen Sermons, Butler was appointed to the rectory at Stanhope in Weardale, the 'golden rectory' as it was known in the North. Situated in lead-mining country, the living was a rich one, and several of the incumbents went on to occupy the bishopric.

Little is known of his secluded life at Stanhope, beyond his great charity and his habit of riding a black pony very fast. When Queen Caroline inquired whether he was dead, Archbishop Blackburne replied: 'He is not dead, Madam, but buried.' Nevertheless, these years at Stanhope were to produce, in 1736, his Analogy of Religion, the greatest theological work of his time, and one of the most original of any period. Butler became Bishop of Durham in 1750. Horace Walpole, a true product of the age of reason, characteristically remarked that he had been wafted to his see in a cloud of metaphysics and remained in it thereafter.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
JOSEPH BUTLER (1692 - 1752) In 1726, the year in which he published his important Fifteen Sermons, Butler was appointed to the rectory at Stanhope in Weardale, the 'golden rectory' as it was known in the North. Situated in lead-mining country, the living was a rich one, and several of the incumbents went on to occupy the bishopric. Little is known of his secluded life at Stanhope, beyond his great charity and his habit of riding a black pony very fast. When Queen Caroline inquired whether he was dead, Archbishop Blackburne replied: 'He is not dead, Madam, but buried.' Nevertheless, these years at Stanhope were to produce, in 1736, his Analogy of Religion, the greatest theological work of his time, and one of the most original of any period. Butler became Bishop of Durham in 1750. Horace Walpole, a true product of the age of reason, characteristically remarked that he had been wafted to his see in a cloud of metaphysics and remained in it thereafter.
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