BOY 



th<m have ef:aped oblivion. As a patron and eiicour.iger 

 ol liuiaturc, he has been mentioned witli idpcft and ;ip- 

 plaultf. DioR. Brit. 



BovLE, Robert, iin f minent philofopher, ilKiftrious by 

 birth, learning, and viitne, was the 7th Ion of Richard, 

 earl of Cork ; and bora at I.ifmore In the county of Cork, 

 February I ',lh, l-j^O-y. In his infancy he was committed 

 to the care of a country nnrfc, with inllruftions to bring 

 him up hardily, as if he were her own fon ; and he thus 

 acquired a llrong and vij^orons conlUtution, which was 

 afterward* enfeebled by too tender treatment. About the age 

 of ; years, he loll his mother, whom he mentions with great 

 refped ; and whilll he was under the care of his nurfc he ac- 

 quired, by imitating feme children of his own age, a habit 

 of Ihitttring, which was never entirely cured. In his 

 father's houlc he was taught to write a fair hand, and to 

 fpeak both French and Latin ; and at tliis early period he 

 niaiufellcd a docility and an invari:iblc regard to truth, 

 vhich very much endeared him to his father, <v.:d formed 

 iiiftinguifliing features of his character in the progrcfs of 

 his life. In J 635, when he was about eight years of 

 age, he was fent to Eton college, of which fir Henry 

 Wctton was then provoll, and placed under the care 

 of Mr. Harrifon, to whofe attention and judicious mode 

 of inllrudlion he acknowledged himlelf indibted for tliofe 

 habits of affiduous invelligation in which he afterwards 

 excelled. At Eton he was afflifted with an ague, which 

 rendered it advifable to divert his attention from the 

 courfe of (ludy which he was purfuing, and to allow 

 him to feck that kind of aniufcmcnt, which tiie perufal of 

 romances might aftbrd liini ; but though he was only ro 

 vears old, he was fenfible of the injury produced by this 

 kind of defultoi-y reading ; and as foon as he regained his 

 health, he fouglu a remedy for this evil in the feverer ftudies 

 of mathematics and laborious calculations. After having 

 fpcnt between 3 and 4 years at Eton, he was placed under 

 private tuition for the recovery of his knowledge of the 

 Latin language which he had nrarly loft ; and in l6_j8 he 

 accompanied his brother Francis on his foreign travels, 

 under the care of Mr. Mavcombes. Li their route they 

 palfed from Dieppe to Rouen, Paris, and Lyons, and at 

 length fettled at Geneva, where they were directed to 

 remain and to purfue their ftudies. The principal objefts 

 of Mr. Boyle's attention were mathematics, in the prolecu- 

 tion of which he found great pleafure ; but befides thele, he 

 employed himfelf in the ftudy of rhetoric, logic, and poli- 

 tical geography, and in acquiring the external accomplilTi- 

 ments of fencing, dancing, &c. At this time fonie inci- 

 dents happened, which concurred with his naturally ferious 

 difpofition to direft his thoughts to the fubjeft of religion ; 

 and in examining the evidences of the chnftian revelation, he 

 cbtaii.ed full fatisfaflion, notwithftanding the doubts and 

 difficulties which had occafionally perplexed his mind ; and 

 was confirmed in his belief of lis truth and importance. 

 Having remained a year and three quarters at Geneva, he 

 left it m September 1641, and traverfing various parts of 

 Italy and Lombardy he anived at Venice ; and from Venice 

 he proceeded to Florence, where he fpent the winter. 

 During his refidence in this city, he acquired a knowledge 

 of the Italian language ; and employed a great part of iiis 

 time in reading modern hiftory ; and in acquainting himfelf 

 with the new difcoverics of Galileo, who died in the vicinity 

 of Flofjiice at the period of Mr. Boyle's abode in this city. 

 Towatdi the end of March, 1642, he commenced his jour- 

 ney to Rome, vifitiiig the moft remarkable places in his 

 route thither ; and from Rome, where his ftay was fliort, he 

 returned to Florence, and from thence he palled to Leghorn, 

 and afterwards to Genoa. Having travelled through the 



B o r 



country of Nice, and croffed the fea to Antibes, he pro- 

 ceeded to Marfeillcs, where he cxpedcd bills of exchange ; 

 but, to his great mortification, he found a letter from his 

 father informing him and his brother, that the rebellion hatl 

 broke out in Ireland, and that it was with confiderable 

 difficulty that he had been able to procure for them a 

 remittance of 250I. in order to defray their cxpences in their 

 rctuintotheirowncountry. But tiiroughthc negligence of the 

 ptrlun, to whom the remittance was eiitrufted, they received 

 no part of this money, and were, therefore, left in a deftitute 

 condition. At Geneva, whither they were enabled to pro- 

 ceed by the aflTftancc of Mr. Marcom.bes, their governor, 

 they waited two years without receiving any fupplies ; and 

 by the difpofal of fome jewels which they, took up on his 

 credit, as thty proceeded on their journey homeward, their 

 travelling cxpences were defrayed, and they arrived fafe in 

 Englaiuf about the middle of the year i'''44. On their 

 arrival they received the news of their father's death ; but 

 Mr. Boyle was amply provided for by the btqueft of the 

 manor of Stalbridge in England and other eftates in Ireland ; 

 and yet on account of the confufion of the times, he was 

 for fome months unable to procure any maney. However 

 be was relieved on his arrival by his fitter the lady Ranelagh ; 

 and by her intereft, and that of his brother lord Broghill, 

 his Englifli and liifli eftates were fecurcd for him. He alio 

 obtained leave to go to France ; and having fettled his 

 accounts with Mr. Marcombts, he foon returned. In March, 

 1645, he retired to his manor of Stalbridge, and for 5 years 

 devoted himfelf to various kinds of literary and fcientific 

 purfuits in this place ; and more particularly to the ftudy of 

 natural philolbphy and chcmiftry. During this period of 

 retirement, when he was about 20 years of age, he com- 

 menced that extenfive corielpondence with the principal 

 perfons of his time, which he maintained, ^^■ith diftin- 

 guifliing reputation to himfelf and benefit to the world, till 

 near the dole of his life. In the lift of his fit ft literary friends 

 and corrcfpondcnts, we may enumerate Mr. Francis Tallents, 

 afterwards known to the world as the author of the " Chro- 

 nological Tables ;" Mr. Samuel Hartlib, whom he greatly 

 efteemed, and who is mentioned with peculiar commendation 

 by Milton in his " Traftate of Education ;" Dr. William 

 Petty ; Mr. John Beale, befides many others. At this early 

 age he manifefted his zeal for religion, as well as his candour 

 and chrirtian charity, by favouring the defigns of Mr. John 

 Drary, for effefting a reconciliation between the Lutherans 

 and Calvinifts. He was likewifc one of the firft members of 

 that learned body, which, after the reftoration was incor- 

 porated under the title of the Royal Saciely. Notwith- 

 ftanding the difcafe of the ftone, with which he was afflittcd, 

 and numerous avocations which his various conneftions 

 impofed upon him, his application to ftudy was affiduous 

 and indefatigable ; and before he had attained the age of 20, 

 he had completed three treatifes, viz. " Seraphic Love," 

 " Eflay on miftakcn Modefty," and " the Swearer filenced," 

 or " Free Difcourl'e againft fwearing." Mr. Boyle was 

 diftinguiftied as a promoter of littrature and fcience, by his 

 patronage of others engaged in iimilar purfuits, as well as by 

 his own labour and writings. Accordingly in 1651, Dr. 

 Nathaniel Highmore, an eminent phyfician, dedicated to 

 him his " Hiftory of Generation," which was a work at 

 that time much efteenied. Wliilft he was unwearied in Ills 

 chemical and philofophical inquiries and experiments, he was 

 no Itfs attentive to the fidijeit of religion ; and with this 

 view he applied to the ftudy of the fciiptures in their 

 original languages. About the year 1652 he began his 

 " Eftay on Scripture ;" and he continued it during trequent 

 interruptions,- occafioned by his journies to Ireland at this 

 period, Ireland, however, vvheri; he fpcnt a great part of 

 2 two 



