and Newton and Boyle together. The merits of Boyle are | indeed singular, and almost unprecedented; his discoveries are in several cases of the highest utility: but we do not think the inference that they were the result of a reasoning power, or a distinctive sagacity, of the highest kind, would be correct. Coming after Bacon, feeling all the beauty of his methods, disgusted with the spirit of system, and strong beyond his contemporaries in common sense, the same view of life which made him indifferent to the political and religious disputes of his time, and content himself with the knowledge and practice of the things which they all agreed in, also regulated his views of philosophy; so that he tossed Laud and Paracelsus on one side, Prynne and Descartes on the other, and began to investigate for himself, on the simple principle of examining closely and strictly relating what he saw. In this respect his writings remind us strongly of those of Roger Bacon: they are full of sensible views and experiments of his own, and of absurdities derived from the relation of others. He leans too much, for one of our day, to the attempt to discover the fundamental relations which touch close upon the primary qualities of matter, instead of endeavouring to connect and classify what he had actually observed. And what we maintain is, that his discoveries do not show him to have that talent for suggestion and power of perceiving points of comparison, which is the distinguishing attribute of the greatest discoverers. To take an instance: in his experiments showing how to make flame stable and ponderable,' he finds that various substances gain weight by being heated. He states it then as proved that either flame, or the analogous effluxions of the fire, will be, what chemists would call, corporified with metals or minerals exposed naked to its action.' But it never suggests itself to him, that the additional substance added to the metal or mineral may be air, or a part of air. When a character has been overrated in any respect, the discovery of it is usually attended by what the present age calls a reaction: the pendulum of opinion swings to the side opposite to that on which it has been unduly brought out of its position of equilibrium. For instance, in a very instructive discourse prefixed to the Supp. Encyc. Britann., Mr. Brande speaks thus: Boyle has left voluminous proofs of his attachment to scientific pursuits, but his experiments are too miscellaneous and desultory to have afforded either brilliant or useful results; his reasoning is seldom satisfactory; and a broad vein of prolixity traverses his philosophical works. He was too fond of mechanical philosophy to shine in chemistry, and gave too much time and attention to theological and metaphysical controversy to attain any excellence in either of the former studies. He who would do justice to Boyle's scientific character must found it rather upon the indirect benefits which he conferred, than upon any immediate aid which he lent to science. He exhibited a variety of experiments in public, which kindled the zeal of others more capable than himself. He was always open to conviction, and courted opposition and controversy upon the principle that truth is often elicited by the conflict of opinions. From none of this do we dissent except as to degree. To say that Boyle did not attain any excellence in chemistry, or furnish any immediate aid to science, is surely too much. Perhaps it will be a fair method to take a foreign history of physics (where national partiality is out of the question) and try the following point:-What are those discoveries of the Briton of the seventeenth century which would be thought worthy of record by a Frenchman of the nineteenth? In the Hist. Phil. du Progrès de la Physique, Paris, 1810, by M. Libes, we find a chapter devoted to the Progrès de la Physique entre les mains de Boyle, and we are told that the air-pump in his hands became a new machine—that such means in the hands of a man of genius multiply science, and that it is impossible to follow Boyle through his labours without being astonished at the immensity of his resources for tearing out the secrets of nature. The discovery of the propagation of sound by the air (the more creditable to Boyle that Otto von Guericke had been led astray as to the cause), of the absorbing power of the atmosphere, of the elastic force and combustive power of steam, the approximation to the weight of the air, the discovery of the reciprocal attraction of the electrified and non-electrified body, are mentioned as additions to the science. Between the character implied in the two preceding quotations, we have no doubt the true one is to be found. But there is a peculiar advantage consequent upon such a labourer as Boyle in the infancy of such a science as chemistry. Here are no observed facts of such common occurrence, and the phenomena of which are so distinctly understood, that any theory receives something like assent or dissent as soon as it is proposed. The science of mechanics must have originally stood to chemistry much in the same relation as the objects of botany to those of mineralogy: the first presenting themselves, the second to be sought for. The mine was to be found as well as worked; and every one who sunk a shaft diminished the labour of his successors by showing at least one place where it was not. In obligation chemistry is to limit its acknowledgments to this point of view it is impossible to say to what degree of Boyle. Searching every inlet which phenomena presented, trying the whole material world in detail, and with a disposition to prize an error prevented, as much as a truth discovered, it cannot be told how many were led to that which does exist, by the previous warning of Boyle as to that which does not. Perhaps had his genius been of a higher order he would have made fewer experiments and better deductions; but as it was, he was admirably fitted for the task he undertook, and no one can say that his works, the eldest progeny of the Novum Organum,' were any thing but a credit to the source from whence they sprung, or that their author is unworthy to occupy a high place in our Pantheon, though not precisely on the grounds taken in many biographies or popular treatises. much the same as those which appertain to him as a philosoThe characteristics of Boyle as a theological writer are pher. He does not enter at all into disputed articles of faith, and preserves a quiet and argumentative tone throughout. In his discourse against customary swearing, written when he was very young, he shows a little of the vein which distinguishes his letters: but the very great prolixity which he falls into renders him almost unreadable. 6 He was, as he informs us in his youth, a writer of verses, and one fancy-piece in prose, the Martyrdom of Theodora,' has been preserved, wherein his hero and heroine make set speeches to each other, of a kind somewhat like those in Cicero de Oratore, with a little dash of Amadis de Gaule, until the executioner relieves the reader. His Occasional Reflections have fallen under the lash of the two greatest satirists in our language, Swift and Butler, in the Pious Meditation upon a Broomstick' of the former, and an 'Occasional Reflection on Dr. Charlton's feeling a dog's pulse at Gresham College,' published with the posthumous writings of the latter. The treatises on Seraphic Love, Considerations on the Style of the Scriptures,' and on the great Veneration that Man's Intellect owes to God, have a place in the Index librorum prohibitorum of the Roman Church. (Kippis, Biog. Brit.) The Boylean Lectures were instituted by him in his last will, and endowed with the proceeds of certain property, as a salary for a divine or preaching minister, on condition of preaching eight sermons in the year for proving the Christian religion against notorious infidels, viz. atheists, theists, pagans, Jews, and Mahometans, not descending lower to any controversies that are among Christians themselves. The minister is also required to promote the propagation of Christianity, and answer the scruples of all who apply to him. The stipend was made perpetual by Archbishop Tennison. Dr. Bentley was appointed the first Boyle lecturer. We shall not give a detailed list of all the titles of Boyle's works, which would occupy much room to little purpose, as a complete set of the original editions is very rarely met with, and the two collected editions have their own indexes. During his lifetime, in 1677, a very imperfect and incorrect edition was published at Geneva. The first complete edition was published in 1744 by Dr. Birch, as already noticed. It is in five volumes folio, and contains the life which has furnished all succeeding writers with authorities, besides a very copious index. The collection of letters in the fifth volume is highly interesting. The second complete edition was published in 1772. But previously to either of these, in 1780, Dr. Shaw, the editor of Bacon, deserved well of the scientific world by publishing an edition of Boyle in three volumes quarto, abridged, methodized, and disposed under general heads.' The second edition was published in 1738. As far as may be, the various and scattered experiments are brought together, and a good index added, but we cannot find any references to the originals. There is a list of Boyle's works in Hutton's mathematical dictionary, and another in Moreri. There is a copious life, taken mostly from Dr. Birch, in the Biog. Brit, and the same with some additions in Dr. Kippis's unfinished reprint. It will be useful to remember as to contemporary chromology, that Boyle was born in the year in which Bacon died, and Newton in that in which Galileo died; Boyle being fifteen years older than Newton. in his 'Epistolary Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 1-22., upbraids Boyle with ungratefully requiting his services in planning, writing half, and correcting the whole of the Examination. See also Warburton's 'Letters, 8vo., p. 11, for a confirmation of the fact that all the wit and erudition displayed under the name of Charles Boyle, was the produce of his fellow collegians. After this, it is somewhat amusing to BOYLE, CHARLES, second son of Roger, the second find Dr. Kippis, in his Biog. Brit., asserting that Mr. earl of Orrery in Ireland, was born at Chelsea, August, 1676. Boyle wrote extremely well in defence of his performance;' He was entered, in his fifteenth year, at Christ Church, and the polite Dr. Felton observing that if we own Dr. Oxford, as a nobleman. The directors of his studies were Bentley is the better critic, we must acknowledge that his Dr. Atterbury, afterwards Bishop of Rochester, and Dr. antagonist is much the genteelest writer.' The truth is, Friend, the eminent physician, or, as others say, his brother, the united efforts of the Oxford scholars resulted in total the master of Westminster school. The elevated rank and failure. In many parts of the Examination,' says Bishop accomplishments of their pupil appear to have given the Monk, the critics seem to have parted too soon with their ghest satisfaction to the master of the college, Dr. Aldrich, grammars and lexicons.' It occasioned, however, at the for, in the dedication to him of his Manual of Logic,' since time a very great excitement in the two rival Universities; adopted as the Oxford University text-book, he declares for though it left unimpaired the main arguments of the him to be magnum ædis nostræ ornamentum. It is requi- Dissertation,' yet, abounding in ready wit and satirical site here to say a word or two in explanation of the circum- vivacity, it procured for the young nobleman of Oxford a stances which gave rise to the famous controversy ostensibly temporary triumph. Bentley put forth, in 1699, his * Dissustained by the Hon. Charles Boyle against the great Aris- sertation' enlarged and separately printed: it effected the tarchus of Cambridge, Dr. Bentley, but which in reality was most complete demolition of the Oxford wits, who threatened an affair with which Boyle himself had almost nothing to but never attempted an answer. For many interesting pardo. In addition to the particulars in the article on Bentley, ticulars of this memorable controversy, see Dr. Monk's Life p. 250, concerning the origin of this fierce contention of wit of Bentley,' 4to., p. 45-107; D'Israeli's Quarrels of and learning, it may be observed that Dr. Aldrich, in order Authors; Rymer's Essay on Curious and Critical Learnto promote the reputation of his college, encouraged the ing. Boyle, in 1700, was elected a member of parliament students in the practice of editing, every year, some antient for Huntington; and, in consequence of a quarrel with his classic author; and as Sir Wm. Temple, in his Essay on opponent, Mr. Wortley, he fought a duel with him in a Antient and Modern Learning,' had just then asserted gravel-pit near Grosvenor Gate in Hyde Park, an affair (Works, vol. i. p. 166) that The oldest books we have are which, from his extreme loss of blood, was nearly fatal to still in their kind the best: the two most antient in prose are him. In 1703 he succeeded to the title of earl of Orrery. Esop's Fables' and The Epistles of Phalaris: the latter He entered the service of Queen Anne, received the comexhibit every excellence of a statesman, soldier, wit and mand of a regiment, and was made a Knight's Companion scholar; I think they have a greater force of wit and genius of the order of the Thistle. In 1709, as major-general, he than any others I have ever seen either antient or modern- fought at the famous battle of the Wood, under the Duke these two Greek relics of antiquity, which Temple imagined of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, at Malplaquet, near to be of the age of Cyrus and Pythagoras, were chosen as Mons, in Belgium On his return to England he was sworn subjects for the stripling Christ Church editors. Æsop was a member of the privy council, and sent, at the time of the published by Alsop, and Phalaris by Boyle, who was then at treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, as envoy extraordinary to the the age of 19. The title of his edition is Phalaridis Agri- states of Brabant and Flanders. For his services on this gentinorum Tyranni Epistolæ ex MS. recensuit, versione, occasion he was raised to the English peerage with the title of annotationibus et vita insuper authoris donavit Car. Boyle; Lord Boyle, Baron of Marston, in Somerset. On the accesex Æde Christi, Oxon., 1695. In the preface it is stated sion of George I. he was made a Lord of the Bedchamber, that the text was collated only partially with the MS. in the and became a confidential favourite at court. In September, King's Library, because the librarian (Bentley) had the sin- 1722, he was abruptly committed to the Tower on a charge gular kindness to refuse the use of it for the requisite time; of high treason, as an accomplice in the sedition called the words are pro singulari sua humanitate negavit.' This Layer's Plot. After six months' imprisonment he was petulant passage is said to have been occasioned by Bentley's bailed by Dr. Mead and others, and was ultimately acquitremarking, at the time of lending the MS., that it was a ted. He amused himself in the latter part of his life with spurious work, the subsequent forgery of a sophist, and not philosophical subjects; and patronized George Graham, an worthy of a new edition. In the Dissertation on the Epistles ingenious watchmaker, who constructed the mechanical of Phalaris, which Bentley annexed to the 2nd edition of Dr. instrument representing the planetary revolutions, and in Wotton's Reflections, in 1697, their spurious character, as gratitude to his benefactor, gave it the name of an Orrery. well as that of the present sopian Fables, is clearly exhi-The whole merit of inventing it belongs, says Dr. Johnbited; the King's MS. is declared to have been 'lent in son, to Rowley, a mathematician of Litchfield. (Index, violation of rules, and not reclaimed for six days, though for vol. ii. Suppl. Swift's Works.) In the 2nd vol. of the works collating it four hours would suffice. To show all the silli- of Roger earl of Orrery, are several literary compositions ness and impertinence of these epistles,' says Bentley, 'would of Charles Boyle; among other trifles, a comedy called As be endless; they are a fardle of common-place without life you find it. He published also a volume of Occasional or spirit: the dead and empty cogitations of a dreaming Poems and Songs, on which Sir Richard Blackmore has pedant with his elbow on his desk. That Boyle, in his the following distich .— editorial office, received the aid of his tutor, Dr. Friend, is acknowledged by himself; indeed to those who can justly appreciate the labour of revising the text of an antient Greek author, the great improbability needs not be suggested, that a young fashionable nobleman in his teens should, unassisted, accomplish a task so dull and difficult. Of the real circumstances of the case Bentley appears to have been aware when, in his Dissertation,' he shrewdly designates Boyle as the young gentleman of great hopes whose name is set to the edition, and asserts that the editor no more than Phalaris wrote what is ascribed to him. This declaration of Bentley's critical judgment elicited the witty and malignant attack upon him, entitled An Examination of the Dissertation, &c., by the Honourable Charles Boyle, 1698, a work which, in reality, was the joint production of the leading men of Christ Church, instigated by Dr. Aldrich, while Boyle himself was absent from the country. This is the meaning of Swift in his 'Battle of the Books, when he represents Boyle as being clad in a suit of armour given him by all the gods: that is, Dr. Friend, Dr. King, Dr. Smallridge, Dr. Atterbury, &c. A letter of the last, 'After his foolish rhymes, both friends and foes Conclude they know who did not write his prose.' He died at the age of 56, on the 28th of August, 1731. BOYLE, JOHN, only son of Charles, fourth earl of Orrery, was born Feb, 2, 1706. On the death of his father in 1731 he took his seat in the House of Lords, and was a constant opposer of the administration of Sir Robert Walpole. He resided in Ireland a good deal, and formed an acquaintance with Swift; and in 1752 published Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Swift. In 1739 he published in two volumes 8vo. an edition of the dramatic works of his great grandfather; in 1741 he wrote Imitations of two of the Odes of Horace; in 1742 he edited his great grandfather's State Papers, which were published in one vol. folio. In 1752 he published in two vols. 4to. Pliny's Letters, with Observations on each, and an Essay on the Life of Pliny. In 1759 appeared his Life of Robert Cary, earl of Monmouth. He wrote several essays for The World, The Connoisseur, and the Gentleman's Magazine. He was fond of retirement, and much attached to literary pursuits. The earl of Orrery died at his seat at Marston, Somersetshire, Nov. 16th, 1762, in his 56th year. In 1774 appeared a volume entitled Letters from Italy. which he had written while residing in that country in 1754-5. BOYLSTON, ZABDIEL, an American physician, was born in the state of Massachusetts, in 1684. He was the first to introduce inoculation into New England, where the practice became general before it was common in Great Britain. In 1721 the small-pox broke out at Boston in an alarming manner, when Dr. Cotton Mather pointed out to the profession an account of inoculation as practised in the east, which was contained in a volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society. Notwithstanding the ridicule with which his medical brethren treated this mode of counteracting a virulent disease, Boylston had the courage to inoculate his own son. In the years 1721 and 1722, the practice of inoculation spread, and, with one or two excep tions, it was attended with the most successful results. But such were the obstinate prejudices of the profession and the public generally, that clamours were raised against Boylston, and his life was in danger in consequence of the excited state of popular feeling; even the select men of Boston passed a by-law prohibitory of inoculation. It was alleged that the practice increased the probabilities of contagion, and also that the disease being a judgment from Heaven on men's sins, it was impious to adopt such means to avert its wrath. Boylston outlived these prejudices, and acquired a considerable fortune by the successful practice of his profession. During a visit which he paid to England, he met with great attention, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He corresponded with this body on his return to America, and some of his papers are printed in the Society's 'Transactions. He was the author of two works relating to the small-pox (one a pamphlet published at Boston), both of which are in the library of the British Museum. The other work was printed in London, during the visit which he paid to this country. BOYNE, a river of Ireland; rises near Carberry, in the barony of Carberry and co. of Kildare, whence, flowing W. not far from Edenderry in the King's County, it receives the waters of that portion of the bog of Allen lying immediately N. of the line of the Grand Canal; then, turning to the N. E., which direction it keeps throughout the remainder of its course, it receives the Yellow and Milltown rivers out of the bogs extending from Croghan hill to Tyrrell's Pass in the co. of Westmeath. Soon after this it enters the co. of Meath at Clonard, crosses the Royal Canal, and receives the Deel, a large stream flowing parallel to the Yellow River from Mullingar in Westmeath. The Boyne having now left the marshy skirts of the bog of Allen flows through the rich plains of Meath, receiving the waters of many small rivers, till, passing Trim, where its banks are crowned with the lofty ruins of numerous abbeys and castles, it sweeps past the base of Tara hill in a more northerly direction to Navan, where it meets the Blackwater, deseending by a S.E. course from the lake of Virginia on the confines of Cavan. The united rivers now become navigable at a distance of 25 English m. direct from the sea, and resuming a more E. course by Slane and Oldbridge proceed along the S. part of the co. of Louth to Drogheda, and thence to the Irish channel, which the Boyne enters after a winding course of about 48 Irish m. or 60 English from its source. The navigation of the Boyne from Drogheda to Navan was effected by a company in 1770. An extension of the line to Trim and Athboy was projected, but never carried into execution. The whole navigation of nearly 20 m. from Drogheda to Navan was for many years in the hands of the company (The Boyne Navigation Company); but the title of the company to levy tolls being disputed, it was decided that the lower 123 m. from the Carrickdexter Lock to Drogheda was legally vested in the Irish Board of Works, which accordingly took possession in August, 1834. The Boyne divides the co. of Meath diagonally into two nearly equal parts. Its whole course through this co. affords rich landscape scenery, the descent of the river being in general gradual, and the sloping banks abounding in historical interest. The river has been called the Boyne of Science from the number of monastic institutions on or not far from its banks, among which may be enumerated Clonard, Trim, Bective, Donaghmore, Slane, Mellifont, Monasterboyce, and the various religious foundations of Drogheda. The Boyne however derives its chief interest from the important battle fought upon its banks on the 1st July, 1690, between the English army under William III. and the Irish under James II. The Boyne between Slane and Drogheda, a distance of 6 m., is fordable at three points; one below the bridge of Slane, another at Rosnaree, about a mile farther down, and a third opposite the little village of Oldbridge and hill of Donore, 2 m. to the W, of Drogheda. Round the W. base of the hill of Donore the Boyne takes a sweep and forms two small islands in front of Oldbridge: the banks here rise gradually towards the hill and church of Donore on the S. side, and along the beautiful ravine, still called King William's Glen, towards the ruined abbey of Mellifont upon the N. King William having marched from Carrickfergus, where he had landed on the 14th of June, mustered his force of English, French, Dutch, and Danes at Dundalk on the 27th, and finding that the Irish had retired beyond the Boyne, moved forward on the 29th, and encamped his army, 36,000 strong, upon the N. side of the river between Mellifont and Drogheda. William had with him the Duke Schomberg and his son Count Schomberg, Generals Ginkel, Douglas, and Kirk, and other distinguished persons. James, accompanied by the dukes of Berwick and Tyrconnell, the Generals Hamilton, Sarsefield, and Dorington, and the Count Lauzun, was encamped along the opposite bank with 27.000 Irish and French prepared to dispute the passage of the fords at Oldbridge, while Lord Iveagh, occupying Drogheda on his behalf, held the main road to Dublin on his right. On the evening of the 30th, while William was yet undetermined what course to pursue, he rode down with his staff within range of the Irish lines, and some field-pieces being brought to bear upon his party, he was in imminent danger of being killed by a round shot which tore away part of his coat and lacerated his shoulder. On this the English artillery was brought up and a brisk cannonade was commenced across the river, but no farther step was taken by either army until the next day. On the morning of the 1st, it having been determined to force the passage of the river, General Douglas and Count Schomberg were dispatched with a body of 10,000 horse and foot to cross the fords below Slane. On the other side, a body of 5000 French foot, supported by Sir Neal O'Neill's dragoons, moved from the left of the Irish army to oppose them. The passage of the river was soon effected; Sir Neale O'Neill fell at the head of his regiment on the first charge, and after a sharp dispute upon the bank, General Douglas made good his posi tion against the French infantry. The success of this movement, so far, being announced to William, he gave the word to his centre, composed of the Dutch guards, the Enniskillen infantry, and two regiments of French Hugonots, supported by Hanmer's and Count Nassau's dragoons, to cross the river opposite Oldbridge, where the Irish centre lay partly under cover of ditches and breast works, and partly concealed by intervening heights. The Dutch entered the river first, above the little islands; the French and Enniskilleners crossed by the upper island of the two, and the Danish cavalry between them. The Dutch, although warmly received, succeeded in dislodging their opponents; but the French were broken by a charge of horse led by Colonel Parker, and M. Callemot their commander was slain; one squadron also of the Danish horse was driven back across the river by Hamilton's dragoons, and Count Nassau's cavalry with difficulty withstood several trying attacks of the duke of Berwick's guards. While the conflict was here at the hottest, William, at the head of the cavalry of his left wing, crossed the river a little below, and came to the support of his centre. Just about the same time Duke Schomberg, who commanded the reserve, crossing opposite Oldbridge to the assistance of the broken Hugonots, was killed, and Mr. Walker, celebrated for his heroic defence of Londonderry, fell shortly after. The Enniskillen regiments, which had fallen back, it is said, through mistake, now rallied, and animated by the presence of William, charged the Irish very bravely, who, being beaten out of the town of Oldbridge by the Dutch, began to fall back on Donore hill, where James is asserted to have stood during the engagement an idle spectator of their struggles in his cause below. Here however the Irish rallied, and repulsed a charge made by General Ginkel; but in returning it at the head of his regiment General Hamilton was taken prisoner, and his men were driven back with considerable loss. At the same time General Douglas, higher up the river, had pushed the French foot from their position, and was pursuing them towards Duleek, a town upon the road to Dublin about 4 m. in the rear. Hither the whole Irish army shortly after began to direct their retreat, which was covered by the duke of Berwick, while Sarsefield conducted James from the field under the protection of his own regiment of cavalry. The English, concentrating their forces on the rear of the enemy, pursued them to the river near Duleek, where the duke of Berwick, after crossing the stream in considerable confusion, rallied once more upon the opposite bank, and favoured by the approach of night, put a stop to the pursuit. The loss on both sides was comparatively trifling. The Irish camp, baggage, and artillery fell into the victor's hands, and Drogheda surrendered next day. James fled straight to Dublin, and thence through the counties of Wicklow and Wexford, posted to Waterford, where shipping had been prepared to carry him to France. His army, freed from his irresolute councils, retired upon Athlone, and thenceforth fought with vigour and determination. An obelisk of grand proportions was erected in commemoration of the battle of the Boyne in 1736. It immediately faces the ford at Oldbridge, marking the spot where William received his wound on the evening before the engagement. It is 150 ft. in height, by 20 at the base. Oldbridge, although only a ford in 1690, had been the site of a bridge at a very early date, for its name, which indicates as much, is found in the patent rolls so far back as the reign of Richard II. The Boyne is also rendered famous in more antient history by the invasion of Turgesius the Dane, who sailed up it with a fleet of Norsemen to the plunder of Meath A.D. 838. It is a deep and wide river at Drogheda, navigable for vessels of 250 tons, and would be capable of receiving vessels of much greater burthen were the bar which now obstructs its entrance partially removed. The total descent of the river is 336 ft. (Stat. Surv. of Meath; Reports on Irish Bogs; Storey's Impartial Narrative; Taaffe's History of Ireland; Post Chaise Companion.) BOYSE, SAMUEL, a writer of considerable poetical talent, but remarkable chiefly for the singular contrast of his elevated imagination and rectitude of moral sentiment, as displayed in his writings, and his dissolute propensities. He was the son of Joseph Boyse, an eminent dissenting minister, and was born in Dublin, in 1708. Being destined for the pulpit, he was sent by his father to the University of Glasgow, where, after spending a few months in idleness, he married while yet in his teens; and, with his wife and her sister, who in dissipation and indolence were similar to himself, he returned to Dublin, and occasioned by his dissolute conduct the ruin and death of his father, who, as a pauper, was buried at the expense of his congregation. He then went to Edinburgh, and published in 1731 a volume of poems, with a flattering dedication to the Countess of Eglinton, who, with Lord Stormont, (on the death of whose lady, Boyse had published a laudatory elegy, patronised him, and kindly recommended him to Lord Mansfield and the duchess of Gordon. by whom, and also by Lords Stair and Tweedale, he was furnished with introductory letters to the Lord Chancellor, Sir Peter King, Pope, and other important personages in England, whither he removed, to escape from the importunity of his creditors in Scotland. But his indolence and aversion to refined society defeated the friendly intentions of his patrons: so that, resorting to a squalid garret in London, he relied upon the sale of his verses and the charitable donations of literary individuals, whose compassion he excited by the most servile and pathetic protestations of his miserable condition. In 1740 he published his principal work, a poem entitled 'Deity. It is favourably noticed by Fielding (see a periodical called 'The Champion, Feb. 12, 1740; and Tom Jones, b. vii. c. I.) and by Hervey (Medit. vol. ii. p. 239, ed. 1767). It has been reprinted in several collections of the minor poets, (in one by William Giles, 1776,) and by some has been thought to be sublime and beautiful. It is one of the numerous attempts at poetical sublimity in which the most ridiculous faults are tolerated solely on account of the subject. The following lines from the poet's invocation of his muse are a fair specimen of this poem, which abounds more in notes of admiration than intelligible and consecutive ideas :— Thou present wert when forth the Almighty rode, To the atheist the author exclaims Go! all the sightless realms of space survey!' The devotional reflections, though incoherent, and made often apparently to furnish a rhyme, display an occasional energy of poetical conception which even Pope declared he would not disown. But we can feel only disgust at the pious pretensions of a man who, often with a guinea obtained by employing his wife to write mendicant letters, could gratify his sensuality at a tavern while she and her child were suffering with cold and hunger; and who, in order to indulge in his habits of intoxication, even sanctioned, it is said, and received the wages of, her prostitution. Boyse was a very copious contributor of verses to the 'Gentleman's Magazine.' For these compositions he was paid per 100 lines: they have the signatures Y and Alcæus; and, if collected, would form about six 8vo volumes. Among his separate publications are Albion's Triumph,' a poem on the battle of Det tingen; 'An historical Review of the Transactions in Europe during 1739-45; Chaucer's Tales in modern English,' &c. He was not deficient in ability as a classical scholar, and a translator of German, Dutch, and French; but his inveterate habit of drinking hot beer in the lowest pothouses at length stupified his mind, and reduced him to the necessity of pledging even his clothes. In this predicament he sometimes, for several weeks, sat up in bed composing odes and elegies for the Gentleman's Magazine. All the mourning he could afford on the death of his wife was a pennyworth of black ribbon, which he tied round the neck of his little dog. His wretchedness, like that of Savage, was commiserated by Dr. Johnson, who instituted for him, among his friends, a subscription of sixpences. His benefactors, wearied out with his applications, at length abandoned him, and, in May, 1749, he died in his garret in Shoe-lane, with his pen in his hand, as he sat in his blanket, translating the treatise of Fenelon on the existence of God. He left a second wife m extreme poverty, and was buried at the expense of the parish. (See an elaborate Biography in Cibber's Lives of the Poets.) BOʻZZARIS, MARCOS, a native of Souli in the mountains of Epirus, born about the end of the 18th century, was yet a boy at the time of the war of extermination waged by Ali Pacha of Jannina against the Souliotes. [ĀLI PACHA.] At the close of that war in 1803 Bozzaris and his father were among the remnant of the Souliote population who succeeded in reaching Parga, whence they went over to the Ionian islands, then under the protection of Russia. In 1820, when the war broke out between the sultan and Ali, about 800 Souliotes, who were still in the Ionian islands, offered their services to the Ottoman admiral against their old enemy, and were accordingly landed on the coast of Epirus. Soon after however, having reason to complain of the Turks, and at the same time receiving favourable proposals with a bribe of money from Ali, they went over to the pacha, by whom they were replaced in possession of their native mountains. This was a great stroke of Ali's policy, which enabled him to carry on the contest against the sultan for two years longer. The Souliotes now fought for him with their accustomed bravery under the command of Bozzaris, and their ranks were swelled by other Epirotes to about 3000 fighting men. With this force Bozzaris gained several advantages over the Turkish army, which was acting in Epirus against Ali. In the spring of 1821 the sultan sent Khourshid Pacha with a fresh army, who laid siege to Jannina. Bozzaris and his Souliotes annoyed the Turks by bold diversions in their rear, while the Greek revolution breaking out at the same time added to the difficulties of the sultan. On the taking of Jannina and the death of Ali in Feb. 1822, the Souliotes continued the war on their own account, and being attacked by Khourshid in their mountains, they defeated him with great loss in May and June of that year. Khourshid at last quitted Epirus, leaving Omer Vrioni in command there, while at the same time Prince Maurocordato landed at Mesolonghi with a body of regular troops in the Greek service, and being joined by Bozzaris advanced towards Arta. This movement led to the battle of Petta, July 16, 1922, which the Greeks and Philhellenes lost through the treachery of Gogos, an old Kleftis and captain of Armatoles. Bozzaris, after fighting bravely, was obliged to retire with Maurocordato to Mesolonghi. Soon after the Souliotes, who had remained in their mountains, signed a capitulation with the Turks, by which they gave up Souli and the fortress of Khiafa, and on receiving a sum of money, retired with their families to Cefalonia, in Sept. 1822. Bozzaris with a handful of Souliotes remained with Maurocordato, determined to defend Mesolonghi to the last. He kept the Turks at bay by various sorties, and also amused them by promises of surrender until a Hydriote flotilla coming to relieve the At the Congress of Vienna, the whole of the seventeen provs. of the United Netherlands, including both N. and S. Brabant, were erected into a kingdom under the present King of Holland; but at the revolution of 1830 S. Brabant joined the revolt of the provs. which had formerly constituted the Austrian Netherlands, and it has since formed part of the kingdom of Belgium. The two divisions of Brabant thus forming separate provs. and now belonging to different kingdoms, it becomes necessary to describe them under distinct heads. BRABANT, NORTH, a prov. of the kingdom of Holland, bounded on the N. by S. Holland and Guelderland, from both which it is divided by the Maas; on the E. by the Belgian prov. of Limburg, and the Rhenish provs. of Prussia: on the S. by the Belgian provs. of Limburg and Antwerp; and on the W. by the Dutch prov. of Zealand. North Brabant lies between 51° 12′, and 51° 50′ N. lat., and 4° 12′ and 6° 0′ E. long. place, the Turks raised the siege and retired into Epirus, | separate kingdom under Louis Bonaparte, who resigned March, 1823. The pacha of Scodra advanced next with a his crown in 1810, when the territory was re-annexed to numerous force of Albanians, determined upon taking France. Mesolonghi. Bozzaris feeling the importance of that town to the Greek cause, and knowing the weakness of the fortifications, which were unfit to resist a regular siege, determined to meet the enemy. He left Mesolonghi with a body of only 1200 men, 800 of whom were his own Souliotes, and having inspired them with his own self-devotedness, he arrived on the 20th of August, 1823, near Kerpenisi, where the van of the Albanians, consisting of about 4000 Mirdites under Jeladeen Bey, was encamped. Having held a council with his officers, it was determined to attack the enemy's camp the following night. The Souliotes marched silently to the attack and surprised the Albanians, of whom they made a great slaughter. Bozzaris while leading on his men received a shot in the loins, and soon after another in the face, when he fell and expired. The Souliotes then withdrew, carrying away Bozzaris' body, which was interred at Mesolonghi with every honour. The executive government of Greece being informed of the event issued a decree in which they styled Bozzaris the Leonidas of modern Greece. His brother, Constantine Bozzaris, succeeded him in the command of the Souliote battalion. The self-devoted-rising ground: it contains several marshes and extensive ness of Bozzaris was the means of protracting the defence heaths. It is politically divided into three deps. (arronds.), of Mesolonghi for two years more. The Ottomans being and nineteen districts (cantons). dispirited by the loss they had sustained, the pacha of Scodra after some fruitless demonstrations against the town withdrew into Albania, and no fresh attempt was made till 1825, when Mesolonghi was besieged and at last taken by the Egyptians under Ibrahim Pacha [MESOLONGHI]. What renders the battle of Kerpenisi more remarkable is, that the Mirdites, whom Bozzaris fought, were Christians like the Souliotes, though in the Ottoman service. They were said to have lost more than 800 of their men in the night of the attack. (Gordon's History of the Greek Revolution; Life of Ali Pacha, &c.) BRABANT, DUCHY OF, formerly one of the most important provs. of the Netherlands, was bounded on the N. by Holland and Guelderland, on the E. by Guelderland and Liège, on the S. by Hainault and Namur, and on the W. by Flanders and Zealand. Under the successors of Charlemagne, the dukes of Brabant were possessed of considerable power and influence over the rulers of the other Netherland provinces. Joan, eldest daughter of John III., the last duke of Brabant, bequeathed the duchy to Anthony, second son of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy; and by degrees, through intermarriages, inheritance and purchase, the various Netherland provs. which composed the Circle of Burgundy,' came under the dominion of the dukes of that name. At the death of Charles the Bold, the last of these dukes, whose daughter Mary was married to Maximilian, the son and successor of Frederick IV., Emperor of Germany, Brabant passed under the dominion of the house of Austria. In 1516 Charles V., Emperor of Germany, and grandson of Maximilian, became King of Spain, and his Netherlands dominions were united with the crown of Spain. The religious persecution instituted in the reign of Philip II. against all who would not profess the Roman Catholic religion, caused the inh. of the seven N. provs. to rise in defence of their liberties; and in 1581 these provs. were formed into an independent union, under the title of The United Provinces,' Prince William of Orange being declared Stadtholder. The seven provs. thus allied stood antiently in the following order as regarded their rank:Guelderland, Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Friesland, Overyssell, and Groningen. To these were afterwards added, by conquest and under treaties, Drenthe, and the Généralitélands, so called on account of their belonging to the States General of the United Provinces. In these Généralitélands was included the existing prov. of N. Brabant. The remaining Netherlands provs., including S. Brabant, continued united with the crown of Spain until 1705, when, after the battle of Ramilies, they acknowledged for their sovereign Charles VI., afterwards Emperor of Germany, and were thenceforward known as the Austrian Netherlands. This prov., which once formed part of the Généralitélands, is generally level, but on the N. and W. there is some The principal rivs. of North Brabant are the Maas, which forms its N. and N.E. boundary from 3 m. W. of Wanssum to its N. W. extremity; the Dommel, which has its source at Peer, in Limburg, enters North Brabant near the vil. of Valkenswaart, and flows N. past Eindhoven to Bois-le-Duc, after which, under the name of the Diezen, it joins the Maas at Crevecœur. At Bois-le-Duc the Dommel is joined by the Aa, which rises in the prov. of Antwerp, about 4 m. N N.E. from Turnhout, and enters North Brabant at the commune of Hoogmeide. The Mark or Merk has its source also near Turnhout, and running from S. to N. enters North Brabant near to Meerle it falls into Hollands-Diep opposite the isl. of Goeree, having passed through the town of Breda. This prov. is also washed on the W. by the channel which joins the E. and W. Scheldt, and which separates the isls. of Zealand from the continent; and on the N. by the arm of the sea called Hollands-Diep, and its continuation the Biesbosch. The principal towns are Bois-le-Duc, Breda, Bergen-opZoom, Oosterhout, and Tilburg; the other towns of the prov. are Geertruydenburg, Willemstad, Fleusden, Grave, Eindhoven, and Helmont. Geertruydenburg, a small fortified town, is situated on the Biesbosch. This town was given up by treachery to the duke of Parma in 1589, and was taken by Prince Maurice in 1593. It contained on the 1st of January, 1830, 758; males and 800 females, together 1558 inh., a great part of whom are engaged in the fisheries. It has a good harbour, and is 7 m. N.N.E. from Breda. Willemstad is situated on the Hollands-Diep, 12 m. S.W. from Dordrecht. Willemstad, which is fortified, was built in 1584, by William I., prince of Orange: it has a good harbour; and in 1830 contained 920 males and 947 females, together 1867 inh. It made a very gallant and successful defence in 1793, against the attack of the French under General Dumourier. Fleusden, a fortified town near the Maas, is 15 m. N.E. from Breda. A great part of this town was destroyed in 1680, through the setting on fire by lightning of the castle, which contained 70,000 pounds weight of gunpowder. Pop. in 1830, 824 males, 1010 females. Grave or Graf, situated on the left bank of the Maas, is 16 m. N.E. from Bois-le-Duc. It is a fortified town, and is considered as the key of Guelderland, on the borders of which it stands. It was taken by the duke of Parma in 1586, and submitted to Prince Maurice in 1602. It made a stout resistance to the French army in 1794, and did not capitulate until å great part of the town had been destroyed. Pop. in 1830, 1458 males, 1375 females. Eindhoven, situated on the riv. Dommel, was formerly the capital of the prov. It is now a place of considerable trade, and various manufactures are carried on; among them are cotton spinning, flax spinning and weaving, brewing and tanning. Its grain market is considerable. Pop. in 1830, 1490 males, and 1506 females. In the progress of these events the duchy of Brabant was not only divided in the manner described into separate provs., but it was also limited in extent by the erection of part of its territory into the prov. of Antwerp. In the course Helmont, on the Aa, is about 17 m. S.E. from Bois-leof the war which broke out in 1793, the whole were united to Duc. This little town, which has about 2500 inh., is famous France. In 1806 the United Provinces were erected into a for its manufacture of damask napkins; it contains other |