French origin, made a great deal of his mother, was silent as to his
father, and always signed himself C. Leroy Butts, although I don't
believe the second Christian name was given him in baptism.
Notwithstanding his generosity he was egotistical and hollow at
heart. He knew nothing of friendship in the best sense of the word,
but had a multitude of acquaintances, whom he invariably sought
amongst those who were better off than himself. He was popular with
them, for no man knew better than he how to get up an entertainment,
or to make a success of an evening party. He had not been at his
school for two years before he conceived the notion of setting up for
himself. He had not a penny, but he borrowed easily what was wanted
from somebody he knew, and in a twelvemonth more he had a dozen
pupils. He took care to get the ablest subordinates he could find,
and he succeeded in passing a boy for an open scholarship at Oxford,
against two competitors prepared by the very man whom he had formerly
served. After this he prospered greatly, and would have prospered
still more, if his love of show and extravagance had not increased
with his income. His talents were sometimes taxed when people who
came to place their sons with him supposed ignorantly that his origin
and attainments were what might be expected from his position; and
poor Chalmers, a Glasgow M.A., who still taught, for 80 pounds a
year, the third class in the establishment in which Butts began life,
had some bitter stories on that subject. Chalmers was a perfect
scholar, but he was not agreeable. He had black finger-nails, and
wore dirty collars. Having a lively remembrance of his friend's
"general acquaintance" with Latin prosody, Chalmers' opinion of
Providence was much modified when he discovered what Providence was
doing for Butts. Clem took to the Church when he started for
himself. It would have been madness in him to remain a Dissenter.
But in private, if it suited his purpose, he could always be airily