Eustace, an ingenious writer, was the son of Gilbert Budgell, doctor of divinity, and was born at St Thomas, near Exeter, about the year 1685. He was educated at Christ Church College, Oxford, from which he removed to the Inner Temple, London; but instead of studying the law, for which his father intended him, he applied to polite literature, kept company with the gentlest persons in town, and in particular contracted a strict intimacy with Mr Addison, who was first cousin to his mother, and who, on his being appointed secretary to Lord Wharton, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, took Budgell with him as one of the clerks of his office. Mr Budgell, who was then about twenty years of age, and had read the classics and the works of the best English, French, and Italian authors, now became concerned with Sir Richard Steele and Mr Addison in writing the Tatler, as he had soon afterwards a share in writing the Spectator, where all the papers furnished by him are marked with an X; and when that work was completed, he had likewise a hand in the Guardian, where his performances are marked with an asterisk. He was subsequently made under secretary to Mr Addison, chief secretary to the lords justices of Ireland, and deputy clerk of the council. Soon afterwards he was chosen a member of the Irish parliament; and in 1717, Mr Addison, having become principal secretary of state in England, procured him the place of accountant and comptroller-general of the revenue in Ireland. But the next year, the Duke of Bolton being appointed lord-lieutenant, Mr Budgell wrote a lampoon against Mr Webster, his secretary, in which his Grace himself was not spared; and upon all occasions he treated that gentleman with the utmost contempt. This imprudent step became the primary cause of his ruin; for the Duke of Bolton, in support of his secretary, got him removed from the post of accountant-general; upon which, returning to England, he, contrary to the advice of Mr Addison, published his case in a pamphlet. Mr Addison had now resigned the seals, and retired into the country for the sake of his health; Mr Budgell had also lost several other powerful friends, who had been removed by death, particularly the Earl of Sunderland and Lord Halifax. He, however, made several attempts to succeed at court, but was constantly kept back by the Duke of Bolton. In the year 1720 he lost L20,000 by the South Sea scheme, and afterwards spent L5000 more in unsuccessful attempts to get into parliament. This completed his ruin. He at length employed himself in writing pamphlets against the ministry, and published many papers in the Craftsman. In 1733 he began a weekly pamphlet called the Bee, which he continued for above a hundred numbers, and which is printed in eight volumes 8vo. During the progress of this work occurred the death of Dr Tindal, by whose will Mr Budgell had L2000 left him; and the world being surprised at such a gift from a man entirely unrelated to him, to the exclusion of the next heir, a nephew, and the continuator of Rapin's history of England, immediately imputed it to his having made the will himself. Hence the satirist:

Let Budgell charge low Grub-street on my quill, And write whate'er he please except my will.

It was thought that he had some hand in publishing Dr Tindal's Christianity as old as the Creation; for he often talked of an additional volume on the subject, but never published it. After the cessation of the Bee, Mr Budgell became so involved in law-suits, that he was reduced to a very unhappy situation. He was indeed called to the bar, and attended for some time in the courts of law; but finding himself unable to make any progress, and being distressed to the utmost, he determined at length to put an end to his life. Accordingly, in the year 1736, he took a boat at Somerset-stairs, after filling his pockets with stones; ordered the waterman to shoot the bridge; and, whilst the boat was passing under, threw himself into the river. He had several days before been visibly distracted in his mind. Upon his bureau was found a slip of paper, on which were these words:

What Cato did, and Addison approv'd, Cannot be wrong.

Besides the above works, he wrote a Translation of the Characters of Theophrastus. He was never married, but left one natural daughter, who afterwards assumed his name, and became an actress in Drury-lane.