before his
decease he had a slight stroke of the palsy, which affected his speech.
He died on the 15th of May, 1773, in the sixty-third year of his age. A
decent monument of marble was raised to his memory in the chapel of the
English college at St. Omer's, with the following inscription upon it,
composed by Mr. Bannister:

Hic jacet
R. D. Albanus Butler (Bouteillier) Praenobilis Angius.
Sacerdos et Alumnus Collegii Anglorum Duaci.
Ibidem S. T. Professor, Postmodum Missionarius in Patria.
Praeses II. Collegii Regii Anglorum Audomari.
Vicarius Generalis
Illustrissimorum Philomelien. Deboren. Atrebaten. Audomarea
Ex vetusta Ortus prosapia
In utrisque Angliae et Galliae Regnis
Ampla et Florente.
Suavissimis Moribus,
Summis acceptissimus, Infimis benignus,
Omnium necessitatibus inserviens,
Pro Deo.

Propter Doctrinam et Ingenium, Doctissimis,
Propter Pietatem, Bonis omnibus,
Percharus.

Nobilissimaee Juventutis Institutionem,
Sacrarum Virginum curam,
Reverendissimorum Antistitum negotia,
Suscepit, promovit, expedivit,
Opera, Scriptis, Hortatubus.
Sanctorum rebus gestis a Puentia inhaerens,
Acta omnia pernoscens,
Mentem et Sapientiam alte imbibens.
Multa scripsit de Sanctorum vitis,
Plena Sanctorum Spiritu, librata judicio, polita stylo,
Summae ubertatis et omnigenae eruditiouis.
Apastolicae sedis et omnis officii semper observantissimus.
Pie obiit 15 Mensis Maii 1773.
Natus annis 63.
Sacerdos 39.
Praeses 7
Hoc m[oe]rens posuit Carolus Butler
Monumentum Pietatis sum in Patruum Amantissimum.

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PREFACE

As in corporal distempers a total loss of appetite, which no medicines
can restore, forebodes certain decay and death; so in the spiritual life
of the soul, a neglect or disrelish of pious reading and instruction is
a most fatal symptom. What hopes can we entertain of a person to whom
the science of virtue and of eternal salvation doth not seem
interesting, or worth his application? "It is impossible," says St.
Chrysostom,[1] "that a man should be saved, who neglects assiduous pious
reading or consideration. Handicraftsmen will rather suffer hunger and
all other hardships than lose the instruments of their trade, knowing
them to be the means of their subsistence." No less criminal and
dangerous is the disposition of those who misspend their precious
moments in reading romances and play-books, which fill the mind with a
worldly spirit, with a love of vanity, pleasure, idleness, and trif