ROBERT BOYLE. 



^5 



here he continued to reside during the remainder of his life. 

 (Jp to this time his attendance at the meetings of the Royal 

 Society had been only occasional, but he was now seldom 

 absent. Science, indeed, was as much the occupation of his 

 life as if it had been literally his business or profession. No 

 temptations could seduce him away from his philosophical 

 pursuits. Belonging, as he did, to one of the most powerful 

 families in the kingdom — having no fewer than four brothers 

 in the Irish peerage, and one in the English, — the highest 

 honours of the State were open to his ambition if he would 

 have accepted of them. But so pure was his love of science 

 and learning, and, with all his acquirements, so great his 

 modesty, that he steadily decHned even those worldly distinc- 

 tions which might be said to lie strictly within the sphere of his 

 pursuits. He was zealously attached to the cause of religion, 

 in support of which he ^vrote and published several treatises ; 

 but he would not enter the Church, although pressed to do so 

 by the king, or even accept of any office in the universities, 

 under the conviction that he should more effectually serve the 

 interests both of religion and learning by avoiding everything 

 which might give him the appearance of being their hired or 

 interested advocate. He preferred other modes of showing his 

 attachment, in which his wealth and station enabled him to do 

 what was not in the power of others. He allowed himself to 

 be placed at the head of associations for the prosecution of 

 those objects which he had so much at heart; he contributed 

 to them his time, his exertions, and his money ; he printed, at 

 his own expense, several editions of the Scriptures in foreign 

 languages for gratuitous distribution; if learned men were in 

 pecuniary difficulties, his purse was open to their relief. And, 

 as lor his OAvn labours, no pay could have made there more 



