Butler's "plain, honest man " has formed the theme of much ethical controversy. His very existence has been questioned by some, though not improbably many of us may have known him personally or met with him in books. But I am inclined to think that the great bishop, being an eminently reasonable man himself, hardly realised how unreasonable were most of his fellow-mortals.
Alice Gardner, The Conflict of Duties, and Other Essays (1903), p. 5.
