statesmanship, and was entirely destitute of
that experience which sometimes fills the place of natural aptitude. His
short administration was one of the most disgraceful and incompetent in
English history, originating in an accident, supported only by the will of
the sovereign, by gross corruption and intimidation, the precursor of the
disintegration of political life and of a whole series of national
disasters. Yet Bute had good principles and intentions, was inspired by
feelings of sincere affection and loyalty for his sovereign, and his
character remains untarnished by the grosser accusations raised by faction.
In the circle of his family and intimate friends, away from the great world
in which he made so poor a figure, he was greatly esteemed. Samuel Johnson,
Lord Mansfield, Lady Hervey, Bishop Warburton join in his praise. For the
former, a strong opponent of his administration, he procured a pension of
L300 a year. He was exceptionally well read, with a refined taste for books
and art, and purchased the famous _Thomason Tracts_ now in the British
Museum. He was learned in the science of botany, and formed a magnificent
collection and a botanic garden at Luton Hoo, where Robert Adam built for
him a splendid residence. He engraved privately about 1785 at enormous
expense _Botanical Tables containing the Different Familys of British
Plants_, while _The Tabular Distribution of British Plants_ (1787) is also
attributed to him. Bute filled the offices of ranger of Richmond Forest,
governor of the Charterhouse, chancellor of Marischal College, Aberdeen
(1761), trustee of the British Museum (1765), president of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland (1780) and commissioner of Chelsea hospital.

By his marriage with Mary, daughter of Edward Wortley Montagu of Wortley,
Yorkshire, who in 1761 was created Baroness Mount Stuart of Wortley, and
through whom he became possessed of the enormous Wortley property, he had,
besides six daughters, five sons, the eldest of whom, John, Lord Cardiff
(1744-1814), succeeded him as 4th earl and was created a marquess in 1796.
John, Lord Mount Stuart (1767-1794), the son and heir of the 1st marquess,
died before his father, and consequently in 1814 the Bute titles and
estates came to his son John (1793-1848) as 2nd marquess. The latter was
succeeded by his only son John Patrick (1847-1900), whose son John (b.
1881) inherited the title in 1900.

BUTE, the most important, though not the large