BOYLE. 
rn the fields, Weftminftcr, on the 7th of January follow¬ 
ing ; and his funeral fermon was preached by Dr. Burnet, 
bifhop of Salitbury, which contained a very interefting de¬ 
tail of the laudable manner in which Mr. Boyle had ipent 
his life i his lincere and unaffected piety, and fervent zeal 
for the Chriftian religion. He mentions, as a proof of this, 
his noble foundation for leClures in defence of the gofpel 
againft infidels of all forts ; and the great number of books 
he caufed to be diftributed in foreign countries, for the ef- 
tablilhment of Chriftianity. Befides the imprellions of the 
New Teftament in the Arabic and in the Malayan tongue, 
already mentioned, he was refolved to have carried on 
impredion of the New Teftament in the Turkifh language ; 
had not the fociety thought it became them tube the do¬ 
ers of it, and fuff'ered him only to give a large (hare towards 
it. He was at 700I. charge in the edition of the Irifh Bi¬ 
ble, which he ordered to be diftributed in Ireland : and he 
contributed liberally, both to the impredion of the Welch 
Bible, and of the Irifh Bible for Scotland. He gave 300I. 
to advance the defign of propagating the Chriftian religion 
in America, tool, for the fame objeCt in the Eafr Indies, 
and 600I. to poor clergymen and their widows, in Ireland. 
In other refpeCls, his charities were fo bountiful and exten- 
five, that they amounted to upwards of 1000I. per annum. 
To this eulogium of Dr. Burnet, we will only add that 
of the celebrated phylician, philofopher, and chemift, Dr. 
Boerhaave ; who, after having declared lord Bacon to be 
the father of experimental philofophy, afferts, that “ Mr. 
Boyle, the ornament of his age and country, fucceeded to 
the genius and enquiries of the great chancellor Verulam. 
Which, fays he, of all Mr. Boyle’s writings /hall I re¬ 
commend ? All of them. To him we owe the fecrets of 
fire, air, water, animals, vegetables, foftils: fo that from 
his works may be deduced the whole fyftem of natural 
knowledge.” In his perfon, Mr. Boyle was tall, but {len¬ 
der j and his countenance pale and emaciated. His con¬ 
futation was fo tender and delicate, that be had divers forts 
©1 cloaks to put on when lie went abroad, according to the 
temperature of the air; and in this he governed himfelf 
by Ins thermometer. He efcaped indeed the fmall-pox du¬ 
ring his life ; but for almoft forty years he laboured under 
fuch a feeblenefs of body, and fuch lownefs of fpirits, that 
it was aftonifhing how he could read, meditate, make ex¬ 
periments, and write, as he did. He had likewife a weak- 
nefs in his eyes, an aptitude to take cold on the flighted 
©ccalion, and frequent attacks of the gravel and {tone ; 
which was the ground of all the caution and apprehenlion 
with which he was obferved to live : but, as to life it- 
felf, he had that juft indifference for it, which became a 
philofopher and a Chriftian. However, his fight began 
to grow dim, not above four hours before he died ; and, 
when deatli came upon him, it was with fo little pain, 
that the flame feemed to go out merely for want of oil to 
maintain it. The reader may wonder that Mr. Boyle was 
never made a peer; elpecially when it is remembered, that 
his four elder brothers were all peers. A peerage was of¬ 
fered him, and as often refufed by him. He was always 
a.favourite at court: and Charles II. James II. and king 
William, were fo highly pleafed his converfation, that 
they often ufed to difcourfe with him in the moft familiar 
manner. Not that Mr. Boyle was at any time a courtier ; 
he fpoke freely of the government, even in times which 
he difliked, and upon occafions when he was obliged to 
condemn it; but then he always did it, as he did every 
thing of .that nature, with an exact nefs of refpeCt. 
Mr. Boyle was never married : but Mr. Evelyn was af- 
fured, that he courted the beautiful and ingenious daugh¬ 
ter of Cary, earl of Monmouth ; and that to this paflion 
Was owing his Difcourfe on Seraphic Love, In the memo¬ 
randum of Mr. Boyle’s life, fet down by bifhop Burnet, 
it is remarked that he abftdined from marriage, at firft out 
of policy, afterwards more philofophically ; and we find, 
by a letter of Dr. John Wallis to him, dated at Oxford, 
July 17th, 1669, that he had an overture made him with 
fefpedl to the lady Mary Haftings, filler to the carl of IIun- 
335 
tingdon. But it does not appear from any of his papers, 
that he had ever entertained the lead thoughts of that kind. 
There is a letter of Ins, written when he was young, to 
the lady Barrymore his niece, who had informed him of a 
report that he was actually married, which feems to fliew 
his fixed difinclination to fuch an union. The letter is writ¬ 
ten with great politenefs, and in the true fpirit of gallantry ; 
and is a clear proof, that, though Mr. Boyle did not choofe 
to marry, yet it was no mifanthropic cynical humour which 
reftrained him from it. It is impoffible to entertain the 
reader better, than by prefenting him with that part of it 
which concerns the point in queflion. “ I;t is high time for 
me to halien the payment of the thanks I one your lady- 
(hip for the joy you are pleafed to wifh me, and of which 
that wifh pofiibly gives me more than the occafion of it 
would. You have certainly reafon, madam, to fufpend 
your belief of a marriage, celebrated by no pried but fame, 
and made unknown to the fuppofed bridegroom. I may pof- 
fibly ere long give you a fit of the fpleen upon this theme ; 
but at prefent it were incongruous to blend fuch pure rail¬ 
lery, as I ever prate of matrimony and amours with, among 
things I am fo ferious in as thofe this f’cribble prefents 
you. I fhall therefore only tell you, that the little gen¬ 
tleman and I are dill at the old defiance. You have car¬ 
ried away too many of the perfections of your fex, to 
leave enough in this country for the reducing fo fttibborn a 
heart as mine ; whofe conqueft were a talk of fo much diffi¬ 
culty, and is fo little worth it, that the latter property is al¬ 
ways likely to deter any that has beauty and merit enough 
to overcome the former. But, though this untamed heart 
be thus infenfible to the thing itfelf called love, it is yet 
very acceflible to things very near of kin to that paflion ; 
and efteem, friendfhip, refpeCI, and even admiration, are 
things that their proper objects fail not proportionably to 
exaCt of me, and confequently are qualities, which, in 
their higheft degrees, are really and conftantly paid my 
lady Barrymore by her moft obliged humble fervant and- 
affedionate uncle, Robert Boyle.” 
We fhall conclude this account of Mr. Boyle with the 
mention of his pofthumous works, which are as follow 
1. The General Hiftory of the Air deftgned and begun. 
2. General Heads for the Natural Hiftory of a Country, 
great or fmall; for the Ufe of Travellers and Navigators. 
3. A Paper of the Honourable Robert Boyle’s, depoiited 
with the Secretaries of the Royal Society, OCtober 14th, 
1680, and opened fince his death; being an Account of 
his making the Phofphorus, September 30th, 1680. -4. 
An Account of a Way of examining Waters, as tofrefhnef's 
or faltnefs. 5. A free Difcourfe againft cuftomaly Swear¬ 
ing, and a diffuafive from Curfing, 1695, 8vo. 6 . Medi¬ 
cinal Experiments, ora Collection of choice Remedies, 
Ample, and eafily prepared, ufeful in families, and fit for 
the fervice of the country people, 1698, 1 21110. Beautiful 
editions of all his woiks have been printed at London, in 
five volumes folio, and fix volumes quarto, Dr. Shaw alfo 
publiftied, in three volumes quarto, the fame works abridg¬ 
ed, methodized, and difpofed under the general heads of 
Phvfics, Statics, Pneumatics, Natural Hiftory, Chymifti v, 
and Medicine. 
BOYLE (Charles), earl of Orrery, fecdnd fonof Roger 
fecond earl of Orrery, by lady Mary Sackv.ille daughter to 
Richard earl of Dorfet and Middlefex, was born in Au- 
guft 1676 ; and at fifteen entered a nobleman of Chrift- 
church in Oxford, under the care of Dr. Francis Atter* 
bury, afterwards bifhop of Rochefter, and Dr. Friend. 
Having quilted the univerfity, he was, in 1700, elected 
member for the town of Huntingdon. A petition being 
prefented to the houfe of commons, complaining of the 
illegality of his election, he fpoke in fupport of it with 
great warmth ; and this probably gave rife to his duel with. 
Mr. Wortley, the other candidate, in which, though Mr. 
Boyle had the advantage, the wounds he received were 
dangerous, and confined him for many months. On the 
death of his elder brother, he became earl of Orrery : foon 
after lie had a regiment given him, and was elected a knight 
