Samuel Butler (1613 – 1680) was a poet and satirist. He is remembered now chiefly for a long satirical poem titled Hudibras. The farmer's son received his scientific education at Worcester Cathedral School and Cambridge University. He became a clerk to a justice of the peace. After spending some time in the house of Countess Elizabeth of Kent and using her library, he entered the service of Sir Samuel Luke, an officer of Cromwell and a fanatical Puritan, with whom religious and political sects had their way. Their strange behavior pressed the satirical scourge into his hand, and he wielded it mercilessly in his comic epic "Hudibras" (Part 1 u. 2, London 1663-64, part 3, 1678; then often printed together). The poem, apparently an imitation of Don Quixote, describes the adventures of the Presbyterian knight Hudibras and his squire Ralph, who roam the country to exterminate all manner of evils, but, hypocrites and parasites that they are, reap only blows everywhere. The work, bubbling with wit and written in a peculiar style, breaks off unfinished, but even in this guise deserves high praise as a reflection of the times and mores. Butler's other poems are also satirical in character. King Charles II read his works with lively interest and had the sum of 300 pounds paid to him. But neither this gift nor his marriage to a wealthy widow protected the poet from oppressive hardship. His wife's fortune was lost through unfortunate speculation, and he died in poverty in 1680; 40 years later a monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey.