in 1622-3, M.A. in 1626, and took orders. When the puritan divine, Henry Burton [q. v.], attacked Bishop Hall, Butterfield, with youthful zeal, hastened to champion the bishop's cause in a pamphlet entitled 'Maschil; or, a Treatise to give instruction touching the State of the Church of Rome . . . for the Vindication of ... the Bishop of Exeter from the cavills of H. B., in his Book intituled "The Seven Vialls,"' 12mo, 1629. Burton was not slow to reply; for the same year he published his 'Babel no Bethel. . . . In answer to Hugh Cholmley's Challenge and Rob. Butterfield's "Maschil," two masculine Champions for the Synagogue of Rome,' wherein he retorts, not without point, on Butterfield's boyish presumption and too evident desire to parade his classical and patristic learning, wishing him 'more ripenesse of yeares, and more soundnesse of judgement, before he doe any more handle such deepe controuersies.' Burton was sent to the Fleet prison for his pamphlet. Another reply was published about the same time, under the title of 'Maschil Unmasked,' in which the writer, Thomas Spencer, gent., author of 'The Art of Logick,' seeks to supply the defects of his learning and also logic by versatility of abuse.
[Cooper's New Biographical Dictionary, 334; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
BUTTERFIELD, SWITHUN (d. 1611), miscellaneous writer, is supposed to have been a member of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, as by his will, wherein he is described as of Cambridge, gentleman, dated 1608, and proved in the university court on 21 Dec. 1611, he gave to that college 10l. to buy books, also his manuscripts which are enumerated below, and his geometrical instruments and other curiosities.
He was author of: 1. ‘A Summarie of the Principles of Christian Religion, selected in manner of Common-Places out of the Writings of the best Diuines of our Age,’ London, 1582, 8vo. 2. ‘A Catechism, or the Principles of the true Christian Religion: breifelie selected out of manie good books,’ London, 1590, 8vo. Licensed also to John Flasket, 26 June 1600. 3. ‘A great Abridgement of the Common Lawes,’ MS. 4. ‘An Abridgement of the Civil Lawes,’ MS. 5. ‘Collection of Policies in Peace and War,’ MS., written in 1604. 6. ‘A Book of Physic and Surgery,’ MS. 7. ‘A Book of Controversie out of Bellarmine, &c.,’ MS., written in 1606. 8. ‘A Book of Common-Place in Religion,’ MS., written in 1606.
[MS. Baker, xxvi. 118; Ames's Typogr. Antiquities, ed. Herbert, 1108, 1344, 1378; Cooper's Athenæ Cantab. iii. 53.]
BUTTERWORTH, EDWIN (1812–1848), Lancashire topographer, was the tenth and youngest child of James Butterworth [q. v.], and was born at Pitses, near Oldham, on 1 Oct. 1812. He followed in the footsteps of his father, whom he assisted in his later works, but was more given to statistical research. When Mr. Edward Baines undertook the preparation of a history of Lancashire, he found a useful colleague in Edwin Butterworth, who visited many parts of the county in order to collect the requisite particulars. During the six years in which he was engaged by Mr. Baines he travelled on foot through nearly every town and village in the county. His own notes and those of his father formed a large mass of manuscript material. So extensive was it that in 1847 he conceived the idea of issuing a history of the county in fifty volumes, each of which, while part of the general series, should also be complete in itself. This project was encouraged by the Earl of Ellesmere. Overtures were made to Samuel Bamford, as it was thought that his pleasant style and Butterworth's facts would make a popular combination. The suggestion was roughly treated by the ‘Radical,’ and Butterworth's death occurred before such a plan could have been completed. In addition to his share of Baines's ‘Lancashire’ the following are from the pen of Butterworth: 1. ‘Biography of Eminent Natives, Residents, and Benefactors of the Town of Manchester,’ Manchester, 1829. 2. ‘A History of Oldham in Lancashire,’ London, 1832. 3. ‘A Chronological History of Manchester brought down to 1834,’ second edition, Manchester, 1834. The first edition was the ‘Tabula Mancuniensis’ of his father; a third edition appeared in 1834. 4. ‘An Historical Description of the Town of Heywood and Vicinity,’ Heywood, 1840. 5. ‘A Statistical Sketch of the County Palatine of Lancaster,’ London, 1841. 6. ‘An Historical Account of the Towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge, and Dukinfield,’ Ashton, 1842. 7. ‘Views of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, drawn from nature and on stone by A. F. Tait, with a descriptive history by Edwin Butterworth,’ London, 1845, folio. 8. ‘Historical Sketches of Oldham, by the late Edwin Butterworth, with an appendix containing the history of the town to the present time,’ Oldham, 1856. The previous edition appeared in 1847.
In addition to these labours Butterworth acted as correspondent for the Manchester newspapers, and was for a considerable time registrar of births and deaths for the township of Chadderton. He is described by those who knew him as genial and modest. Such of his books and manuscripts as had not been acci-
