BOYLE, Charles, Earl of Orrery in Ireland, and Baron of Maston in the county of Somerset, was the second son of Roger second Earl of Orrery, and was born in August 1679. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and soon distinguished himself by his learning and abilities. Like the first Earl of Orrery, he was an author, a soldier, and a statesman. He translated the life of Lysander from the Greek of Plutarch; and he published a new edition of the epistles of Phalaris, which engaged him in a literary dispute, in which he defended the genuineness of those epistles against Dr Bentley. He was three times member for the town of Huntingdon; but his elder brother, Lionel Earl of Orrery, dying without issue on the 23d of August 1703, he succeeded to that title; and, entering into the queen's service, obtained a regiment, upon which he behaved with so great bravery, that, in 1709, he was raised to the rank of major-general, and sworn one of her majesty's privy-council. At the battle of the Wood he gave the strongest proofs of intrepid courage, remaining at the head of his regiment in the hottest part of the action till the victory was decided. His lordship had the honour of being appointed the queen's envoy to the states of Brabant and Flanders; and having honourably discharged this trust, he was raised to the dignity of British peer, by the title of Lord Boyle, Baron of Maston, in Somersetshire. He received several additional honours in the reign of King George I.; but having had the misfortune to fall under the suspicion of the government, he was committed to the Tower, and remained there some time in confinement. He was at length admitted to bail, however; and nothing being found that could be regarded
as sufficient ground for prosecution, he was discharged. His lordship died, after a slight indisposition, on the 21st of August 1731. To his tutor Mr Atterbury he probably owed in good part the relish he possessed for the writings of the ancients. He made these his constant study, and seems to have entertained a very unreasonable degree of contempt for the greater part of our modern wits and authors. His lordship had also a turn for medicine, which led him not only to buy and read whatever was published on that subject, but also to employ his friends to send him accounts of herbs and drugs from foreign countries.