LIVES

OF THE

POETS


* * * * *


EUSTACE BUDGELL, Esq;

was the eldest son of Gilbert Budgell, D.D. of St. Thomas near Exeter,
by his first wife Mary, the only daughter of Dr. William Gulston, bishop
of Bristol; whose sister Jane married dean Addison, and was mother to
the famous Mr. Addison the secretary of state. This family of Budgell is
very old, and has been settled, and known in Devonshire above 200
years[1].

Eustace was born about the year 1685, and distinguished himself very
soon at school, from whence he was removed early to Christ's Church
College in Oxford, where he was entered a gentleman commoner. He staid
some years in that university, and afterwards went to London, where, by
his father's directions, he was entered of the Inner-Temple, in order to
be bred to the Bar, for which his father had always intended him: but
instead of the Law, he followed his own inclinations, which carried him
to the study of polite literature, and to the company of the genteelest
people in town. This proved unlucky; for the father, by degrees, grew
uneasy at his son's not getting himself called to the Bar, nor properly
applying to the Law, according to his reiterated directions and request;