BOYLE, CHARLK8. 



BOYLE, RICHARD. 



rat those arts which refin. and elevate the moral 

 , he was honoured with a public funeral 



i published by Boydeli wan that of 120 

 I from UM Houghton Gallery, which wat purchased by th Ei 

 __rta* of Rusi. In 1777 ha published in folio the 'Liber 

 VeritalW ooolainioc oopia* of 200 of Claud* Lorraine's fint .ketches, 

 ia UM cabinet of the Duke of Devonshire; in 1794. Uie History of 

 the River Thames/ 2 voU.foL; and in 1801, ia 4to, 'An Alphabetic 

 Catalogue of Plato* ensraved by the fint Artists, from th* fint 

 Picture, of UM Italian, FUmiah, Ovmau, French, and English School*, 1 

 BOYLE, CHARLES, Moood ion of Rogw, the Moood carl of Orrery 

 in Ireland, wi bora at Chelsea. August, 1676. He wu entered, in hi. 

 fifteenth year, at Christ Church, Oxford, a* a nobleman. The director* 

 of hi* itudia were Dr. Atterbury, afterwards biabop of Rocheiter, and 

 Dr. Friend, the eminent physician, or, at othen say, hi. brother, the 

 H^AM> of Weatninator ton^flj, The derated rank and occotnpluli- 



m*Bto of their pupil appear to hare given the highest satisfaction to 

 the maeter of the college. Dr. Aldriob, for, in the dedication to him of 

 hi* ' Manual of Lode,' since adopted as the Oxford University text- 

 book, be declare* him to be "magnum axils nostne ornamentum." 

 It is requuite here to say a word or two in explanation of the circum- 

 staaoM which gave ri*e to the famous controversy ostensibly sustained 

 by UM Hon. Charles Boyle against the great Aristarchus of Cambridge, 

 Dr. Bentley, but which in reality was an affair with which Boyle 

 hlsnaslf bad almost nothing to do. In addition to the particulars iu 

 the article on BENTLEY, coL 653, concerning the origin of this fierce 

 contention of wit and learning, it may be observed that Dr. AUlricli, 

 ia order to promote the reputation of his college, encouraged the 

 students in the practice of editing, every year, some ancieut classic 

 author; and as Sir Wm. Temple, in his 'Essay on Ancient and Modern 

 Learning,' had just then asserted (' Works,' voL i. p. 166) that "The 

 oldsrt books we have are still in their kind the best : the two most 

 ancient in prase are ' -tUop's Fables ' and ' The Epistles of Pbalaris :' 

 the latter exhibit every excellence of a statesman, soldier, wit and 

 scholar ; I think they have a greater force of wit and genius than any 

 others I nave ever seen either ancient or modern " these two Greek 

 relics of antiquity, which Temple imagined to be of the age of Cyrus 

 and Pythagoras, were chosen as subjects for the stripling Christ Church 

 editors. Jisop was published by A bop, and Phalaria by Boyle, who 

 was then at the age of 19. The title of his edition is 'Phalaridis 

 Agrigeutinorum Tyranui EpistoUc ex MS. recensuit, versions, annota- 

 tsoeftus et vita insuper authoriu donavit Car. Boyle ; ex JSde Christi, 

 Oxon., 1695.' In the preface it is stated that the text was collated 

 only partially with the manuscript in the King's Library, because the 

 librarian (Bentley) had the ' singular kindnes* ' to refuse the use of it 

 for the requisite time ; the words are " pro singular! sua humanitatc 

 negavit." This petulant passage is said to have been occasioned by 

 Bentley's remarking, at the time of lending the manuscript, that it 

 WM a spurious work, the subsequent forgery of a sophist, and not 

 worthy of a new edition. In the ' Dissertation on tbe Epistles of 

 Pbalaris,' which Bentley annexed to the 2nd edition of Dr. Wotton's 

 ' Retentions,' in 1697, their spurious character, as well as that of the 

 inassui Jisopian Fable*, is clearly exhibited ; the King's manuscript 

 is declared to have been " lent in violation of rules, and not reclaimed 

 for six days, though for collating it four hours would suffice." " To 

 show all the silliness and impertinence of these epistles," says Beutley, 

 " would be endless ; they are a fardle of common-place without life or 

 spirit : the dead and empty cogitations of a dreaming pedant with his 

 elbow on bis desk." That Boyle, in his editorial office, received tbe 

 aid of bis tutor, Dr. Friend, is acknowledged by himself; indeed to 

 those who can justly appreciate the labour of revising the text of nn 

 ancient Greek author, the great improbability needs not be suggested, 

 that a young fashionable nobleman in his teens should, unassisted, 

 aoBOmplish a task so dull and difficult. Of the real circumstances of 

 tbe caao Bentley appears to have been aware when, in his 'Dissertation,' 

 be shrewdly designates Boyle as " the young gentleman of great hoped 

 whose name is set to th* edition," and asserts that the editor no mure 

 than Phalaria wrote what is ascribed to him. 



This declaration of Bentley's critical judgment elicited the witty 

 and malignant attack upon him, entitled 'An Examination of the 

 Diasertstino, Ac., by the Honourable Charles Boyle,' 1698, a work 

 which in reality was the joint production of the leading men of Christ 

 Church, instigated by Dr. Aldrioh, while Boyle himself was absent 

 from the country. This is the meaning of Swift in his ' BatUe of the 

 Hooks,' when he represents Boyle as being "clad in a suit of armour 

 given him by all the god* : " that is, Dr. Friend, Dr. King, Dr. Small- 

 ridge, Dr. Attorbury, Ac. A letter of th* last, in his ' Epistolary Corre*- 

 poadenc*,' vol. & pp. 1-22, upbraids Boyle with ungratefully requiting 

 his services la planning, writing half, and correcting the whole of the 

 ' Kisniination/ See also Warburton's ' Letters,' 8vo, p. 11, for a con- 

 firmation of th* fact that all th* wit and erudition displayed under 

 UM BUM of Charles Boyle was the produce of his fellow-collegian*. 

 Bat UM united efforts of the Oxford scholars resulted in total failure. 

 " Ia many part* of th* ' Examination,' " says Bishop Monk, "the critics 

 sens to hay* parted too soon with their grammars and lexicons." It 



however at the time a very great excitement in the two 

 rival universities ; for though it left unimpaired th* main arguments 

 of UM 'DiisrUUuu,' yet, abounding iu ready wit and satirical viva- 



city, it procured for the young nobleman of Oxford a temporary 

 triumph. Bentley put forth in 1699 hi* 'Dissertation ' enlarged and 

 separately printed ; it effected th* most complete demolition of tbe 

 Oxford wits, who threatened but never attempted an answer. Boyle, 

 in 1700, was elected a member of parliament for Huntingdon; and, 

 in consequence of a quarrel with his opponent, Mr. WorUey, be 

 fought a duel with him in a gravel-pit near Orosvenor date in Hyde 

 Park an affair which, from his extreme Iocs of blood, was nearly fatal 

 to him. In 1708 h* succeeded to th* title of Earl of Orrery. He 

 entered the service of Queen Anne, received the command of a 

 regiment, and was made a Knight Companion of tbe Order of the 

 Thistle. In 1709, as major-general, he fought at the famous battle of 

 the Wood, under tbe Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, at 

 Malplaquet, near Mons in Belgium. On hii return to England he 

 was sworn a member of the privy counc'l, and sent, at the time of the 

 treaty of Utrecht in 1713, as envoy extraordinary to the states of 

 Brabant and Flanders. For his services on this occasion he was 

 raised to th* English peerage with the title of Lord Boyle, baron of 

 Marston in Somerset On tbe accession of Qeorge I. he was made a 

 lord of the bedchamber, and became a confidential favourite at court. 

 In September 1722 he was abruptly committed to the Tower on a 

 charge of high treason, as an accomplice in the sedition called Layer's 

 Plot. After six months imprisonment he was bailed by Dr. Mead and 

 others, and was ultimately acquitted. He amused himself in tbe 

 latter part of his life with philosophical subjects; and patronised 

 George Graham, an ingenious watchmaker, who constructed the 

 mechanical instrument representing the planetary revolutions, and in 

 gratitude to his benefactor gave it the name of an Orrery. " The 

 whole merit of inventing it belongs," says Dr. Johnson, " to Rowley, a 

 mathematician of Lichfield." (Index, voL ii. SuppL Swift's Works.) 

 In the second volume of the works of Roger, earl of Orrery, are 

 several literary compositions of Charles Boyle ; among other trifles, a 

 comedy called 'As you find it.' He published also a volume of 

 ' Occasional Poems and Songs.' But none of his writings display any 

 portion of the wit of the ' Examination,' and his name would scarcely 

 find a place in a biography except for his connection with the con- 

 troversy waged in his name. He died at the age of fifty-six, on the 

 28th of August 1731. 



BOYLE, JOHN, only son of Charles, fourth earl of Orrery, was 

 born February 2, 1706. On the death of his father in 1731, he took 

 his seat in the House of Lords, and was a constant opposer of the 

 administration of Sir Robert Wolpole. He resided in Ireland a good 

 deal, and formed an acquaintance with Swift ; and iu 1752 published 

 'Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Swift.' In 1739 he pub- 

 lished, in 2 vols. 8vo, an edition of the dramatic works of his great- 

 grandfather. In 1741 he wrote 'Imitations of two of the Odes of 

 Horace.' In 1742 he edited his great-grandfather's 'State Paper*,' 

 which were published in one voL folio. In 1752 he published, in 

 2 vols. 4to, ' Pliny's Letters, with Observations on each, and an Essay 

 on the Life of Pliny.' In 1759 appeared his 'Life of Robert Cary, 

 carl of Monmouth.' He wrote several essays for ' The World,' ' Thu 

 ConnoUeur,' and the ' Gentleman's Magazine.' He was fond of i 

 inent, and much attached to literary pursuits. The Earl of Orrery 

 died at bis seat at Marston, Somersetshire, November Itith 17H'-', in 

 his fifty-sixth year. Iu 1774 appeared a volume entitled 'I 

 from Italy,' which he had written while residing in that country in 

 1754-55. 



BOYLE, RICHARD, wu born at Canterbury on the 3rd of October, 

 1566. His family was respectable, and under the name of Biuvile had 

 been settled in Herefordshire for many generations ; but it was Cr-t 

 rendered illustrious by the subject of the present notice, who from 

 having been employed iu the service of the chief baron of the 

 Exchequer as a clerk, rose to the highest honours of the state ; and as 

 if they were insufficient to mark the sense which wns generally ent.-i-- 

 tained of his abilities, it has been usual to style him " the grca 

 of Cork." 



From Bene't College, Cambridge, Mr. Boyle passed to the Middle 

 Temple, but having lost both his father and mother, his resources 

 were probably not sufficient for his maintenance during the usual 

 course of study, and he was thus led to offer his services to Sir U. 

 Msnwood, at that time chief boron of the Exchequer. The circum- 

 stances in which he was now placed afforded him little opportunity 

 for the exercise of his talents, and in his twenty-second year he went 

 to Dublin in quest of a situation more suitable to the activity of hi* 

 disposition. His first employment was to draw up memorials and 

 other documents for individuals connected with the government, by 

 which means he acquired considerable insight into public affairs. Iu 

 1 595 he married one of the co-heiresses of a gentleman of Limerick, 

 who in admiration of his talents overlooked the inadequacy of hit 

 fortune. His wife died in giving birth to her fint child, and left him 

 in possession of 600/. a-year arising from lauded estates, and a sum in 

 cash besides. He lived with strict economy without being parsimo- 

 nious, and as land sold at a very cheap rate in Ireland, ho increased 

 his property by considerable purchases in Ulster. The envy of several 

 influential persons wns excited by his prosperity, and they respectively 

 addressed letters to Queen Elizabeth, stating that Mr. Boyle, who only 

 came into the country a few years before, made so many purchases of 

 landed property as to occasion suspicion of his being aided by some 



