D O Y 



wiili a la.ly pofTifling jocl. ^<t jmii/m of landed property, 

 ffrvtd to ac'cclcrat.: Ins udvaiiccmcnt. By fcveral advantajre- 

 ouj ptinrhafcs, at a time wlicii land was of precarious temire, 

 ■lid confeqiitntly cheap, he laid the foinidation of his future 

 .^mple ellate ; and the office of cltrk of the council, under 

 fir Georfje Carew, in the province of Miinllcr, to which he 

 vas appointed by queen tli/abcth, fcrvcd to give liim ad- 

 ditional importance. His conllant attendance on fir George 

 in all his exptditions againll the Irilh rebels, offered him va- 

 rious opportunities of hngular fcrvice to the llaic, and of 

 juftif)iii< the confidence that was repofed in him. Accord- 

 inglv, after the battle of Kinpfale, A. D. l^'ioi, in which 

 the irith and their Spanifli auxiliaries were totally routed, lie 

 was difpattlud by his patron, the prcfidcnt of Munfter, to 

 communicate the news of the vidory to the queen ; and he 

 executed this cominiflion with futli difpatch, and fo much 

 to the fatisfadion of lir George, that he was employed in 

 another cmbalTy to Lngkind, in order to obtain tlic queen's 



fermidion for the prcfident's return to his own country, 

 n confequence of the advice of his patron, Mr. Boyle pur- 

 chafed, at a low rate, fir Walter Raleigh's ellate in Ire- 

 land, confilling of i2,oco acres, in the counties of Cork 

 and Waterford, which he fo cultivated and improved as very 

 much to enhance their value. In 1603 ho married the 

 daughter of fir Geoffrey Fenton, and in the fame year rc- 

 reivcd the honour of knighthood from his friend and patron 

 lir G. Carew, then loid deputy of Ireland. TlienextiUp 

 of his progrefiive advancement to the high honour and 

 ample fortune, which he afterwards acquired, was the ofiice 

 of privy-counfellor for the province of Mundcr, to whicli 

 he was appointed by king James in 1^06; and as he had 

 confiderable eftatcs in this province, he was enabled, by this 

 promotion, to pay due attention, at the fame time, to his 

 own interell and to that of the p\iblic. With a view to both 

 thefe objefts, he took care to let his eftatcs to Enghfli pro- 

 tellants only, and to ereft feveral towns and boroughs, as 

 well as fome callles, for tlieir fecurity. His conduct was 

 fo much approved, that in 161 a he was promoted to the 

 dignity of privy-counfellor for the kingdom of Ireland, and 

 in l6l6'to tlie rank of peerage, by the title of baron of 

 Youghall, in the county of Cork, and in 1620 to that of 

 vifcount Dungarvan and earl of Cork. By his aftive and 

 unremitting exertions for promoting the fecurity and prof- 

 perity of the Engliih and protellant intereft in Ireland, and 

 improving the arts and nianufaiSurcs of the country, he 

 conciliated the favour of king Charles I., and obtained for 

 his fons, even in their infancy, feveral titles of dillinAion. 

 As they grew up he fettled them in feparatc eilates, and 

 formed connexions for his daughters with the bed families 

 in the country. At the caltle of Lifmore, the centre of very 

 ample domnins, which on this account he chofe for his own 

 rcfidcnce, he lived in a llyle of princely fplendour. In 1629 he 

 was appointed one of the lords jullices of Ireland ; an ofiice of 

 high dignity and influence, which he held for many years ; 

 and in 1631 lie was appointed lord trealnrer of the king- 

 dom, accompanied with the unprecedented circunillance of 

 hereditary- fucceffi')ii in his family. But it has not continued 

 in the folc line of the houfe of Boyle ; for, on the death of the 

 lad earl of Burlington, in i^jjvthc office was conferred by 

 his late majefty, on the then marquis of Hartington, who 

 was not of the Boyle family ; and it is now enjoyed by his 

 fon, the prelent duke of Devonfhire, who defcends from a 

 female b'anch. In the exercife of the powers with which 

 he was invefted, he afTIduoully executed the rigorous laws of 

 queen Elizabeth againll the papifts; and for the more effec- 

 tual fupprefTion of the popilh religion and vvorfhip, he Ihut 

 up feveral mafs-houfes both in Dublin aud in the country. 



BOY 



lie was alfo aflive in providing a regular and coinpctcnt 

 fubfillence for the army ; and ini tranfplanting a multitude 

 of barbarous Irilh " fe'pts," or « chins," out of the fertile 

 and well cultivated province of Leinller, into the wilds and 

 deferts of the county of Kerry. He alfo took great pains 

 in endeavouring to procure a mint to be fettled in that coun- 

 ty. Upon the arrival of lord Wentworth, who was ap- 

 pointed lord-deputy of Ireland in 1633, the high powers 

 pofTeffed and exereifed by the earl of Cork excited j.-aloufy 

 and oppofition ; and the cold civilities which at firit pafTed 

 between thenl terminated in open and avowed hoftihty. 

 Thishollility continued for feveral years; very much to the 

 mortification' and dlfquietude of both parties. However, when 

 the earl of Strnftord was impeached before the houfe of lords 

 in i6.| r, the earl of Cork, who was then in England, had an 

 opportunity of retaliating by giving evidence againfl him. 

 Soon after tliis event, and juft before the commencement of 

 the fatal rebellion in that country, he returned thither; and 

 alTuming a military capacity, exerted himfelf with all the 

 ardour of youth, and collefled an army among his tenants 

 and dependants, at his own expence, which he committed 

 to the command of his four fons, dillributing them through 

 various parts of his extenfive domains, fo as to fecure them, 

 in a great degree, againft the depredations of the fuperior 

 forces of the Irifli, and to gain many advantages over them. 

 In this contcll he loll one of his Ions, who fell at the battle 

 of Lifcarrol in 1642 ; nor did the earl himfelf, whofe adive 

 exertions overpowered a conlhiiition already impaired by 

 age, long furvive. In September 1643 he clofed his ho- 

 nourable career of private advancement and public fervice, 

 and was interred in his own chapel, in the parilli church of 

 Youghall, near the noble monument he had erefted for his 

 family. How well he deferved the title of the " Great earl 

 of Cork," under which appellation he is always mentioned, 

 even among the native Iriili, the hillorians of the intereft- 

 ing period in which he lived have amply teflified. " The 

 noble earl of Cork, lord high-treafurer," fays fir Richard 

 Cox, an intelligent and impartial writer, in his introdudion 

 to the 2d volume of his Hiflory of Ireland, " was one of 

 the moll extraordinary perfons, either that or any other 

 age hath produced, with refped to the great and juil acqui- 

 filions of eftate that he made, and the public works that he 

 began and finifhed, for the advancement of the Englifh in- 

 terell and the protellant religion in Ireland, as churches, 

 alms-houles, free-fchools, bridges, callles, and towns, \iz. 

 Lifmore, Tallow, Cloghnakilty, Inilkeen, CalUetown, and 

 Bandoii, (which lall place coll him fourteen thoufand pounds,) 

 infomuch that when Cromwell favv thefe prodigious improve, 

 raents which he little expected to find in Ireland, he de- 

 clared «' that if there had been an earl of Cork in every pro- 

 vince, it would have been impofilble for the Irifli to have 

 raifed a rebellion." And whilll he was carr)-ing on thefe 

 folid works, he lived in his family at a rate of plenty that 

 exceeded thofe who confumed great eilates in the lavifli ways 

 of ill-ordered excefs. His motto, " God's providence is my 

 inheritance," ihews from whence he derived all his bleffings, 

 the greatell of which was the numerous and noble poftenty 

 he had to leave his ellate unto." By his fecond lady he li;.l 

 fifteen children, of whom many furvived him, and rofe to 

 great eminence. Biog. Brit. 



Boyle, Roger, earl of Orrery, fifth fon of the great 

 earl of Cork, was born in 1621, and created baron Brog- 

 hill, of the kingdom of Ireland, at the age of feven years. 

 At Dublin, where he received his education, he was dif- 

 tmguilhed by his genius and application; and, in 1631^, he" 

 fet out on the tour of France and Italy. Upon his return 

 from his travels, he found the country in great confulion ; 



and 



