BOY 



■umvfrfity before he Ind fmillicd his (lujius, and to fcek re- 

 lief for liimfclf, his wife, her filler, and faii.ilv , from his 

 fjihcr at Dublin. NotwillUlnndiiif; tlic aflillaiice he re- 

 ceived, very much to the injury of his father's circumftaiici-^, 

 his own coiidudl, wliich was marked by indolence and didi- 

 patiun, and that of his wife, who was diHuliite and vicious, 

 contributed to increafe his diftrefs, and toacceleiate liis ruin. 

 After the death of liis father, all his rtfources failed, and 

 he vrai under a necclTity of repairing to Edinburgh, where 

 hii poetical talents procured for him a confiderable degree 

 of patronage. In I7;ii he pnblilhed a vohuuc of poems, 

 to which were annexed a tranllation of " The tablature of 

 Ccbcs ;" and " A letter upon liberty ;" which liad been 

 printed in the Dublin journal, in i/.'G. This publication 

 gained him reputation, and recommended him to the patro- 

 nage of the counttfs of Eglinton, to whom it was addrelled. 

 Upon the death of the vifcoiintefs Storniont he wrote an 

 elegy, entitled " The tears of the nnifes," for which lie 

 received a handfome prefcnt from her luilhand, lord Stor- 

 mont. Thefc tokens of favour, on the part of his lovdfhip, 

 and of the countcfs of Eglinton, ferved to prociire for him 

 the patronage of the duchefs of Gordon, who employed her 

 intercll in obtaining a place for him in the cuftoms at Edin- 

 burgh, but he loil tlie intended benefit by his own negli- 

 gence. Having reduced himfelf by his own imprudence 

 and indolence to extreme poverty and dillrtfs, he was under 

 a neceffuy of leaving Edinbnrgli ; and with recommenda- 

 tory letters to Mr. Pope and llr Peter King, then lord 

 chancellor of England, as well as to other perfons of 

 rank, falhion, and influence, obtained from the duchefs of 

 Gordon, and from lord Stormont, he removed to London. 

 But his own indifcrction defeated tlie kind dcfign of thefe 

 recommendations, and he again experienced the dillrels of 

 indigence, without making any attempt to extricate himfelf, 

 befidcs writing a variety of mendicant letters. Tiicfc ferved 

 to procure him a temporary fupply, which he foon expended 

 by the moft unaccountable and inexculable extravagance. 

 About the year 1740, his penury and wretcliednefs were fo 

 extreme, that he pawned his apparel, and even his bcd-cloatlis, 

 and confined hinifeif in Jiis lodgijigs and his bed, with no 

 other covering befides a blanket. Wrapped only with tiiis 

 covering he iat up in bed, having cut a hole through it 

 large enough to receive his arm ; and placing the paper on 

 his knee, he fcribbled in the bell manner he could the verfes 

 he was obliged to make. When he was under a necclTity 

 of appearing abroad, he occafionally fupplied the want of a 

 (hirt by flips of white paper round his wrifts, and neck. In 

 this flate he remained for feveral weeks, without any other 

 fubfiftcncc except what he could obtain by writing verfes 

 for the magazines, and from benefaflions procured bv the 

 moll abjedl fupplications, and by the nieaneil arts of deceit. 

 When he was employed in tranflating from the French, 

 it was his conllant prattce, after fending a (lieet to the 

 prcfs, to pawn the original, and to repeat this as often as it 

 ^vas redeemed during the courfe of his work. After paf- 

 fmg through various fcenes of a wretchednefs that is fcarcely 

 paralleled in the records of human mifery, in the viciilitudes 

 of fpunging-houfes, garrets, and ale-houfe.s, he refided at 

 Reading, in 1745, where, having loll his wife, he was em- 

 ployed in compiling an hillorical work, entitled " An hif- 

 torical review of the tranfadlions of Europe, from the com- 

 mencement of the war with Spain in 1739, to the infurrec- 

 tion in Scotland in 1745, &c." and publifhed in 1747 in 2 

 vols. Svo. This work, for which the author was paid at a 

 very low rate, is not deftitutq of merit, and contains much 

 iifeful information refpeding the hillory of that period. 

 After Lis rtluin from Reading, he married a fecond wife of 



BOY 



low conditio:!, but he afTumed a more decent behaviour, 

 and fonie hopes were entertained of liis reformation. He 

 was employed by a bookfcller to tranflate Fenelon's " Dc- 

 monllraiion of the being of a God." At this time his ap- 

 pearance was very different from that to which he had been 

 accullomed, and he feemcd to pay fome regard to his cha- 

 rafter. Towards the clofe of his life, and during a linger- 

 ing illnefs which preceded his diflbhition, the principles 

 whicli he hud imbibed, coiitralled agaiiill the liceiitioufncfs 

 and profligacy of his conduft, produced a degree of re- 

 morfe and iclf-ieproach, which he could not evade or fup- 

 prefs. So deep, indeed, and fo permanent were the im- 

 prcflTions of his good education, that his whole life was a 

 kind of confiici between his vicious inclinations, and liia 

 fober reafon. It was, as it is faid, from the experience of 

 this mental ftruggle, that he wrote his poem, entitled, 

 " The recantation." He ditti in indigence and obreiiiity 

 in London, in the month of May 174s), and was buried at 

 the cxpence of the parifli. Few in'.lances occur, in wliicli 

 di(iiiigui(hed talents have been more lamentably perverted, 

 than in the cafe of Mr. Boyfe. Bifides his genius for po- 

 etry, lie polTcfred a talle for painting, nnific, and heraldry : 

 and if his powers had been diligently cultivated and exer- 

 cifed, he might have acquired a higher degree of excellence 

 than he ever attained ; and he would certainly have efcaped 

 the ignominy and wretcliednefs, which were the confe- 

 quences of his niifcondudl. His poetical cffufions, if they 

 were collefled from the periodical works in which they 

 were infcrted, would make feveral volumes. Two volumes 

 were publifhed in London during his life. The moft cele- 

 brated of his poetical produftlons was his religious poem, 

 entitled "Deity," and publiflicd about the year 1741. 

 This poem received the public commendation of two very 

 different writers, viz. Hervey, in his " Meditations," and 

 Fielding in his " Tom Jones ;" and it was fo popular, as to 

 have palTed through three editions in 1752. Of this piece, 

 Mr. Boyfe faid, that Mr. Pope, upon being a(ked if he 

 was the author of it, difclaimed the work, but at the fame 

 time acknowledged, that there were many lines in it, of 

 which he fliould not be afliamed. The bell of Mr. Boyfe's 

 produflions are admitted inio Dr. Anderfon's colleftiou of 

 the poets of Great Britain, printed at Edinburgh. In 

 Ogle's Canterbury tales of Chaucer modernized, feveral ap- 

 pear undrr Mr. Boyle's name, and are executed with fpi- 

 rit. His ode entitled " Albion's triumph," was written on 

 occafion of the battle of Dettingen in 1743, and publifli- 

 ed without his name. Cibber's lives of the poets, vol. v. 

 Biog. Brit. 



BOYSERSTEIG, in Geography, a calcareous mountain 

 of Germany, near Stutgard, the capital of the duchy of 

 Wurtemberg. 



BOYUANA, in Zoology, the name of an American kind 

 of ferpent, of a long and flender form, the colour entirely 

 black. It is related of the boyuana, that it has exactly the 

 fmcU of a fox, but fo ftroug, that no one can endure to be 

 near it. The particular fpecics, or even genus is uncertain. 

 Several of the ferpent race have an offenlive fceut ; that of 

 fome of the boa tribe is known to be intolerable, when they 

 have fcizcd upon their prey, and begin to anoint it with 

 their lahva, preparatory to fwallowinsj it. 



BOZE, Claude Gros de, in Biography, an eminent 

 antiquary, was born at Lyons, in 1680, and after firft apply- 

 ing himfelf to juiifprudence, devoted his whole attention to 

 antiquities and lutdals. In this ftudy he was encouraged 

 by tlie chancellor Pontchartrain, Bignon, Vaillant, and 

 Hardouin, who became attached to him on account of 

 both his amiable charader and cxtenfive erudition. In 



J 705. 



