Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/225

Rh In 1835 he succeeded Deschamps as surgeon-in-chief to the Hopital de la Charite, and was chosen a member of the 1 loyal Academy of Sciences of the Institute of France. From the period of his wife s death, which he took much to heart, his health declined, and he died November 23, 1833, at the age of seventy-six.

1em  BOYER,, an eminent French physician, born at Marseilles in 1G93. He devoted a long life to the special investigation and treatment of contagious epidemics, with a courage and success which have rarely been sur passed. On the last appearance of the plague in western Europe in 1720, he was one of the physicians sent from Paris by the Government to succour the inhabitants of his native city, then visited by this great calamity. The fearless zeal and ability which he displayed on that occa sion procured him a pension and the title of physician in ordinary to the king. Much of his subsequent life was spent in similar expeditions, devoted to philanthropy, wherever pestilential epidemics prevailed ; and the value of the services of Boyer were fully acknowledged at Paris, Treves, Beauvais, Montague, Brest, and at several places in the Spanish peninsula. He died in 1768.

1em  BOYER,, a mulatto general, and for some time the President of Hayti, was born at Port-au-Prince in 177G. He joined the negroes in their war of inde pendence, but after the secession of Toussaint 1 Ouverture with his party, was compelled to retire to France. He was well received by Napoleon, and obtained a commission in Leclerc s expedition. After the death of Dessalines, the king of Hayti, Boyer joined Petion in proclaiming a republic and resisting Christophe, Dessalines s successor. He gallantly and successfully defended Port-au-Prince against the negro troops of Christophe, and on the death of Petion was named president of the Haytian republic. Two years later the death of Christophe removed his only rival, and he gained almost undisputed possession of the whole island. Absolute power, however, produced its usual effects ; Boyer became arbitrary, capricious, and cruel. In 1825 the French compelled the Haytian senate to acknowledge their supremacy, and to guarantee a pay ment of 150 millions of francs in return for certain liberties granted. The weight of this enormous debt excited the greatest discontent in Hayti. Boyer was able to carry on his government for some years longer, but in 1842 a violent insurrection overthrew his power, and compelled him to take refuge in Jamaica. He resided there till 1848, when he removed to Paris, where he died in 1850.  BOYLE,, earl of Orrery in Ireland, and baron of Marston, in the county of Somerset, the second son of Roger second earl of Orrery, was born at Chelsea in 1G7G. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and soon distin guished himself by his learning and abilities. Like the first earl of Orrery, he was an author, soldier, and states man. He translated Plutarch s life of Lysandcr, and published an edition of the epistles of Phalaris, which en gaged him in the famous controversy with Bentley. See and. He was three times member for the town of Huntingdon ; and on the death of his In-other, Lionel, earl of Orrery, in 1703, he succeeded to that title. He entered the army, and in ] 709 was raised to the rank of major-general, and sworn one of her Majesty s privy council. At the battle of the Wood he acted with distinguished bravery. He was appointed queen s envoy to the states of Brabant and Flanders ; and having dis charged this trust with ability, he was created an English peer, as Baron of Marston, in Somersetshire. He received several additional honours in the reign of George I. ; but having had the misfortune to fall under the suspicion of the Government he was committed to the Tower, where he remained six months, and was then admitted to bail. On a subsequent inquiry it was found impossible to criminate him, and he was discharged. He died, after a slight illness, on the 28th of August 1731. Among the works of Roger, earl of Orrery, will be found a comedy, entitled As you find it, written by Charles Boyle. The orrery, an astronomical instrument, invented, or at least constructed, by Graham, was named after the earl, who used to amuse his leisure hours with mechanical toys.  BOYLE,, earl of Cork and Orrery, a nobleman distinguished for his literary attainments, was the only son of the subject of last notice, and was born January 2, 1707. He was educated at Christ Church College, Oxford, and was led by indifferent health and many untoward accidents to cultivate in retirement his talents for literature and poetry. His works are neither numerous nor remark able. His translation of the Letters of Pliny tJie Younger, with various notes, for the use of his eldest son, was published in 1751, 2 vols. 4to. He also published a Life of Swift, in several letters addressed to his second son, and Memoirs of Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth, from a manuscript presented to him by a relation. He died November 16, 1762. His letters from Italy did not appear until 1 774, when they were edited, with his life prefixed, by the Rev. J. Duncombe.  BOYLE,, one of the greatest statesmen of the 17th century, generally styled the Great Earl of Cork, was the youngest son of R.oger Boyle, and was born at Canter bury, October 3, 15G6. He studied at Benet College, Cambridge, and afterwards became a student in the Middle Temple. Having lost his parents, and being unable to support himself in the prosecution of his studies, he became clerk to Sir Richard Manwood, chief baron of the exchequer ; but finding this employment little likely to improve his fortune, he went to Ireland. He was then about twenty-two years of age, graceful in person, and possessing many accomplishments, which enabled him to render himself useful to some of the principal persons employed in the Government. In 1595 he married one of the daughters and co-heiresses of William Apsley. This lady died four years afterwards, leaving him a landed estate of 500 a year. He purchased land extensively, and was looked upon with great jealousy by some of the neighbour ing proprietors, who did all they could to blacken his character.. But he was fortunate enough to find a patron in Queen Elizabeth, and his fortunes, which had been broken by the Munster rebellion, rapidly improved. In consequence of various services and the great ability he displayed, he gradually rose to the highest offices ; and in 1G16 he was created, by king James I., Lord Boyle, Baron of Youghall in the county of Cork. Four years later he was created Viscount Dungarvan and earl of Cork, and in 1631 he was appointed lord-treasurer of Ireland, an honour that was made hereditary in his family. He particularly distinguished himself by the noble stand he made when the great rebellion broke out in Ireland in the reign of Charlos I., acting with as much bravery and military skill as if he had been trained from his infancy to the profession of arms. Having turned the castle of Lismore, his principal seat, into a fortress, he immediately armed and disciplined his servants and Protestant tenants; and with their assistance, and a small army, raised and maintained at his own expense, which he put under the 