into thefe words: "By God's death, these are but inventions. against this young man, and all his fufferings are for being able to do us fervice, and thefe complaints urged to foreftal him therein. But we find him to be a man fit to be employed by ourselves; and we will employ him in our fervice: and Wallop and his adherents fhall know that it fhall not be in the power of any of them to wrong him. Neither fhall Wallop be our treasurer any longer." She gave orders not only for Mr. Boyle's prefent enlargement, but alfo for paying all the charges and fees his confinement had brought upon him, and gave him her hand to kifs before the whole aflembly. A few days after, the queen conftituted him clerk of the council of Munfter, and recommended him to fir George Carew, afterwards earl of Totness, then lord prefident of Munster, who became his conftant friend; and very foon after he was made justice of the peace and of the quorum, throughout all the province. He attended in that capacity the lord prefident in all his employments, and was fent by his lordship to the queen, with the news of the victory gained in December 1601, near Kinfale, over the Irish and their fpanish auxiliaries, who were totally routed, 1200 being flain in the field, and 800 wounded. "I made," fays he, "a fpeedy expedition to the court, for I left my lord prefident at Shannon-castle, near Cork, on the Monday morning about two of the clock; and the next day, being Tuefday, I delivered my packet, and fupped with fir Robert Cecil, being then principal fecretary of ftate, at his houfe in the Strand; who, after fupper, held me in difcourfe till two of the clock in the morning; and by feven that morning called upon me to attend him to the court, where he prefented me to her majefty in her bedchamber." Upon his return to Ireland, he affifted at the fiege of Beerhaven-caftle, which was taken by ftorm, and the garrifon put to the fword. After the reduction of the western part of the province, the lord prefident fent Mr. Boyle again to England, to procure the queen's leave for his return; and having advised him to purchase fir Walter Raleigh's lands in Munfter, he gave him a letter to fir Robert Cecil fecretary of ftate, containing a very advantageous account of Mr. Boyle's abilities, and of the fervices he had done his country; in confideration of which, he defired the fecretary to introduce him to fir Walter, and recommend him as a proper purchaser for his lands in Ireland, if he was difpofed to part with them. He wrote at the fame time to fir Walter himfelf, advising him to fell Mr. Boyle all his lands in Ireland, then untenanted and of no value to him, having, to his lordship's knowledge, never yielded him any benefit, but, on the contrary, ftood him in 2001. yearly for the fupport of his titles, At a meeting between fir Robert Cecil, fir Walter Ra B 2 leigh, leigh, and Mr. Boyle, the purchafe was concluded by the mediation, of the former [E]. In 1602, Mr. Boyle, by advice of his friend fir George Carew, made his addrefles to Mrs. Catherine Fenton, daughter of fir George Fenton, whom he married on the 25th of July 1603, her father being at that time principal fecretary of ftate. "I never demanded," fays he, " any marriage portion with her, neither promife of any, it not being in my confiderations; yet her father, after my marriage, gave me one thousand pounds in gold with her. But that gift of his daughter to me, I must ever thankfully acknowledge as the crown of all my bleffings; for fhe was a moft religious, virtuous, loving, and obedient wife to me all the days of her life, and the mother of all my hopeful children." He received on his wedding day the honour of knighthood from his friend fir George Carew, now promoted to be lorddeputy of Ireland: March 12, 1606, he was fworn a privy counfellor to king James, for the province of Munfter: Feb. 15, 1612, he was fworn a privy counsellor of ftate of the kingdom of Ireland: Sept. 29, 1616, he was created lord Boyle, baron of Youghall: Oct. 16, 1620, viscount of Dungarvon, and earl of Cork. Lord Falkland, the lord-deputy, having reprefented his services in a juft light to king Charles 1. his majefty fent his excellency a letter, dated Nov. 30, 1627, directing him to confer the honours of baron and viscount upon the earl's fecond furviving fon Lewis, though he was then only eight years old. Oct. 26, 1629, on the departure of lord-deputy Falkland, the carl of Cork, in conjunction with lord Loftus, was appointed one of the lords juftices of Ireland, and held that office feveral years. Feb. 16th following, the earl loft his countefs. Nov. 9, 1631, he was constituted lord high treasurer of Ireland, and had intereft enough to get that high office made hereditary in his family. Neverthelefs he fuffered many mortifications during the administration of fir Thomas Wentworth, afterwards earl of Strafford, who, before he went to Ireland, had conceived a jealoufy of his authority and intereft in that kingdom, and determined to bring him down; imagining that, if he could humble the great earl of Cork, no body in that country could give him much trouble. On the breaking out of the rebellion in Ireland in 1641, the earl of Cork, as foon as he returned from England (where he was at the time of the earl of Strafford's trial, immediately raifed two troops of horfe, which he put under the command of his fous the lord vifcount Kinelmeaky and the lord Broghill, [E] Sir Walter Raleigh's eftate confifted of twelve thoufand acres in the counties of Cork and Waterford (Cox's Hift. of Ireland, vol. i. p. 352.) which was fo much improved in a few years by Mr. Boyle's diligence, that it was not only well tenanted, but in the most thriving condition of any eftate in Ireland. Cox's Hiltory of Ireland, vol. ii. Pref. maintaining them and 400 foot for fome months at his own charge. In the battle which the English gained at Lifcarrol, Sept. 3, 1642, four of his fons were engaged, and the eldest was flain in the field [F]. The earl himself died about a year after, on the 15th of September, in the 78th year of his age; having spent the laft, as he did the first year of his life, in the fupport of the crown of England against irish rebels, and in the fervice of his country. Though he was no peer of England, he was, on account of his eminent abilities and knowledge of the world, admitted to fit in the houfe of lords upon the woolpacks, ut confiliarius. When Cromwell faw the prodigious improvements he had made, which he little expected to find in Ireland, he declared, that if there had been an earl of Cork in every province, it would have been impoffible for the Irish to have raifed a rebellion [G]. He affected not places and titles of honour until he was well able to maintain them, for he was in the 37th year of his age when knighted, and in his 50th when made a baron. He made large purchases, but not till he was able to improve them; and he grew rich on eftates which had ruined their former poffeffors. He increased his wealth, not by hoarding, but by fpending; for he built and walled feveral towns at his own coft, but in places fo well fituated, they were foon filled with inhabitants, and quickly repaid the money he had laid out with intereft, which he as readily laid out again. Hence, in the space of forty years, he acquired to himfelf what in fome countries would have been efteemed a noble principality; and as they came to years of discretion, he bestowed eftates upon his fons [1], and married his daughters into the best families of that country. He outlived moft of those who had known the meannefs of his beginning; but he delighted to remember it himself, and even took pains to preferve the memory of it to pofterity in the motto which he always ufed, and which he caufed to be placed upon his tomb, viz. God's providence is my inheritance [1]." [F] Cox's Hift. of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 59. [G] Borlafe's Reduction of Ireland, P. 203. Introd. to the fecond vol. of the Hiftory of England. [H] He had no less than feven fons and eight daughters by his lady. At the time his laft child Margaret was born, he was in the 64th year. Of his fons, Richard the fecond fon fucceeded in the earidom of Cork; Lewis was created baron of Bandon and viscount Kinelmeaky; Roger was baron of Broghill and earl of Orre.y, and Francis was lord Shannon. Robert, his feventh and youngest, refused a peerage, but acquired a greater name than kings can give. The earl had the fatisfaction of feeing three of the five fons who furvived him, namely, Richard, Lewis and Roger, made peers before his death. Budgell. [1] In June 1632, he committed the most memorable circumftances of his life to writing, under the title of "True Remembrances," which are published in Dr. Birch's "Life of the hon. Mr. Robert Boyle:" in thefe he remarks, that though he raifed fuch a fortune as left him no room to envy any of his neighbours, yet he did it without care or burden to his confcience. BOYLE (ROGER) [K], earl of Orrery, fifth fon of Richard earl of Cork, was born in April 1621, and created baron Broghill in the kingdom of Ireland when but feven years old. He was educated at the college of Dublin, and about the year 1636, fent with his elder brother lord Kinelmeaky to make the tour of France and Italy. After his return he married lady Margaret Howard, fifter to the earl of Suffolk [1]. During the rebellion in Ireland, he commanded a troop of horse in the forces raised by his father, and on many occafions gave proofs of conduct and courage. After the cefiation of arms, which was concluded in 1643, he caine over to England, and fo reprefented to the king the irish papifts, that his majefty was convinced they never meant to keep the ceffation, and therefore fent a commiffion to lord Inchiquin, prefident of Munfter, to profecute the rebels. Lord Broghill employed his intereft in that county to assist him in this service; and when the government of Ireland was committed to the parliament, he continued to obferve the fame conduct till the king was put to death. That event fhocked him fo much, that he immediately quitted the fervice of the parliament; and, looking upon Ireland and his eftate there as utterly loft, embarked for England, and returned to his feat at Marflon in Somersetshire, where he lived privately till 1649 [M]. In this retirement, reflecting on the diftrefs of his country, and the personal injury he fufered whilft his eftate was held by the irish rebels, he refolved, under pretence of going to the Spaw for his health, to crofs the feas, and apply to king Charles II. for a commission to raife forces in Ireland, in order to restore his majefty, and recover his own estate He defired the earl of Warwick, who had an intereft in the prevailing party, to procure a licence for him to go to the Spaw. He pretended to the earl, that his fole view was the recovery of his health; but, to fome of his friends of the royal party, in whom he thought he could confide, he difcovered his real defign; and having raised a confiderable fum of money, came to London to profecute his voyage. The committee of state, who fpared no money to get proper intelligence, being foon informed of his whole defign, determined to proceed against him with the utmost severity. Cromwell, at that time general of the parliament's forces, and a member of the committee, was no ftranger to lord Broghill's merit; and confidering that this young nobleman might be of great ufe to him in reducing Ireland, he earnestly entreated the committee, that he might have leave to talk with him, and endeavour to gain him before they proceeded to extremities. Having, with great difficulty, obtained this permiffion, he immediately dispatched a [K] Earl of Cork's True Remembrances [L] Morrice's Memoirs of the earl of Orrery. [M] Budgell's Memoirs of the Boyles, p. 41. gentle, gentleman to lord Broghill, to let him know that he intended to wait upon him. Broghill was surprised at this meffage, having never had the leaft acquaintance with Cromwell, and therefore defired the gentleman to let the general know that he would wait upon his excellency. But while he was expecting the return of the messenger, Cromwell entered the room; and, after mutual civilities, told him in few words, that the committee of ftate were apprifed of his defign of going over, and applying to Charles Stuart for a commiflion to raife forces in Ireland; and that they had determined to make an example of him, if he had not diverted them from that refolution. The lord Broghill interrupted him, and affured him that the intelligence which the committee had received was falfe; that he was neither in a capacity, nor had any inclination, to raise disturbances in Ireland; and concluded with entreating his excellency to have a kinder opinion of him. Cromwell, inftead of making any reply, drew fome papers out of his pocket, which were the copies of feveral letters fent by lord Broghill to thofe perfons in whom he most confided, and put them into his hands. Broghill, finding it was to no purpose to diffemble any longer, afked his excellency's pardon for what he had faid, returned him his humble thanks for his protection against the committee, and entreated his advice how he ought to behave in so delicate a conjuncture. Cromwell told him, that though till this time he had been a stranger to his perfon, he was not fo to his merit and character; that he had heard how gallantly his lordship had already behaved in the irish wars; and therefore, fince he was named lord lieutenant of Ireland, and the reducing that kingdom was now become his province, that he had obtained leave of the committee to offer his lordship the command of a general officer, if he would ferve in that war: that he fhould have no oaths or engagements impofed upon him, nor be obliged to draw his fword against any but the irish rebels. Lord Broghill was infinitely surprised at fo generous and unexpected an offer: he faw himself at liberty, by all the rules of honour, to ferve against the Irish, whose rebellion and barbarities were equally detefted by the royal party and the parliament: he defired, however, the general to give him fome time to confider of what he had propofed to him. Cromwell briskly told him, that he must come to fome refolution that very inftant; that he himself was returning to the committee, who were ftill fitting; and if his lordship rejected their offer, they had determined to fend him to the Tower. Broghill, finding that his life and liberty were in the utmost danger, and charmed with the franknefs and generofity of Cromwell's be haviour, gave him his word and honour, that he would faithfully ferve him against the irish rebels; upon which, Cromwell once more affured him, that the conditions which he had made with B 4 |