however, spend quite
so much, for the article goes on, after bringing them back to England,
"Next day came safely home to dear old St. John's, cash in hand 7d." {1}

Butler worked hard with Shilleto, an old pupil of his grandfather, and
was bracketed 12th in the Classical Tripos of 1858. Canon M'Cormick told
me that he would no doubt have been higher but for the fact that he at
first intended to go out in mathematics; it was only during the last year
of his time that he returned to the classics, and his being so high as he
was spoke well for the classical education of Shrewsbury.

It had always been an understood thing that he was to follow in the
footsteps of his father and grandfather and become a clergyman;
accordingly, after taking his degree, he went to London and began to
prepare for ordination, living and working among the poor as lay
assistant under the Rev. Philip Perring, Curate of St. James's,
Piccadilly, an old pupil of Dr. Butler at Shrewsbury. {2} Placed among
such surroundings, he felt bound to think out for himself many
theological questions which at this time were first presented to him,
and, the conclusion being forced upon him that he could not believe in
the efficacy of infant baptism, he declined to be ordained.

It was now his desire to become an artist; this, however, did not meet
with the approval of his family, and he returned to Cambridge to try for
pupils and, if possible, to get a fellowship. He liked being at
Cambridge, but there were few pupils and, as there seemed to be little
chance of a fellowship, his father wished him to come down and adopt some
profession. A long correspondence took place in the course of which many
alternatives were considered. There are letters about his becoming a
farmer in England, a tutor, a homoepathic doctor, an artist, or a
publisher, and the possibilities of the army, the bar, and diplomacy.
Finally it was decided that he should emigrate to New Zealand. His
passage was paid, and he was to sail in the _Burmah_, but a cousin of his
received information about this vessel which caused him, much against his
will, to get back his passage money and take a berth in the _Roman
Emperor_, which sailed from Gravesend on one of the last days of
September, 1859. On that night, for the first time in his life, he did
not say his prayers. "I suppose the sense of change was so great that it
shook them quietly off. I was not then a sceptic; I had got as far as
disbe