an ingenious and learned writer, born in 1559, at High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. He entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, whence, after taking a degree in arts, he was translated to Magdalen College. He afterwards became master of the free school at Basingstoke, and curate of a neighbouring parish. He was promoted about the year 1600 to the vicarage of Lawrence Wotton, in the same county, and there he died in 1647. He published a book entitled "The Principles of Music in singing and setting; with the twofold use thereof, ecclesiastical and civil;" 4to, London, 1636. This very learned and entertaining book is highly praised by Dr Burney in his History of Music. His various works are enumerated by Wood in the Athenæ Oxonienses. Among these is a curious English Grammar, published in 1633, in which he proposes a scheme of regular orthography, and makes use of peculiar characters, some borrowed from the Saxon, and others of his own invention; and of this imagined improvement he has made use in all his tracts.

Butler, James, Duke of Ormond, was born at London in 1610. To the personal interest which King James took in his early education may be attributed that devotion to the Stuart dynasty, and to the principles of the Protestant faith, that distinguished him through life. In his 20th year he entered the army, and two years later, on the death of his grandfather, he succeeded to the earldom of Ormond. His talents attracted the notice of Strafford, at that time lord-lieutenant of Ireland; and by the influence of this nobleman he was appointed to the command of the army intended for the suppression of the Irish rebellion. Though he checked the progress of the insurgents, and gained many advantages over them, his efforts were so much impeded by the jealous interference of Strafford, that Charles granted him an independent commission under the Great Seal, and raised him to a marquisate. In 1644, three years after the death of Strafford, he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, a situation rendered doubly difficult by the insubordination of the Irish themselves, and by the intrigues of the English parliament. In 1647 he returned to England; and though his administration was publicly approved of by Charles, the state of affairs was such that he resolved to secure his safety by a temporary residence in France. After the king's death he returned to Ireland, and availing himself of the reaction that had taken place in consequence of that event, he caused Charles II. to be proclaimed. Cromwell, however, soon after landed in Ireland, and Ormond once more retired to France and joined the exiled family of the late king. At the Restoration he not only recovered his estates, but was rewarded for his many services with the title of duke. In 1662 he was again appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and retained this office for seven years. In 1670 he narrowly escaped assassination at the hands of the notorious Colonel Blood. At the request of the king, however, he forgave his intended assassin, upon whom no punishment was ever inflicted. In 1667 he was once more appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and governed that country with marked ability and success till 1685, when he resigned his office and returned to England. He died at his seat in Dorsetshire in 1688, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His son, "the gallant" Ossory, had predeceased him by eight years. Many details of his personal history, together with an admirable delineation of his character, will be found in Sir Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peak.