Boys, or Bois (John), one of the translators of the Bible in the reign of James I. was son of William Bois, rector of West Stowe, near St Edmundsbury, Suffolk, and born at Nettlestead in Suffolk on the 3d of January 1560. He was taught the first rudiments of learning by his father; and his capacity was such, that at the age of five years he read the Bible in Hebrew. He went afterwards to Hadley school; and at 14 was admitted of St John's college, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself by his skill in Greek. Happening to have the small-pox when he was elected fellow, he, to preserve his seniority, caused himself to be carried in blankets to be admitted. He applied himself for some time to the study of medicine; but, fancying himself affected with every disease he read of, he quitted that science. He was ten years chief Greek lecturer in his college, and read every day. He voluntarily read a Greek lecture for some years at four in the morning, in his own chamber, which was frequented by many of the fellows. On the death of his father, he succeeded him in the rectory of West Stowe. At the age of 36, he married the daughter of Mr Holt, rector of Boxworth in Cambridgeshire, whom he succeeded in that living, October 13, 1596. On quitting the university, the college gave him L.100. His young wife, who was bequeathed to him with the living, which was an advowson, proving a bad economit, and he himself being wholly addicted to his studies, he soon became so much involved in debt, that he was obliged to sell his choice collection of books, consisting of almost every Greek author then extant. When a new translation of the Bible was by King James I. directed to be made, Mr Bois was elected one of the Cambridge translators. He performed not only his own, but also the part assigned to another, with great reputation; though with no profit, for he had no allowance but his commons. He was also one of the six who met at Stationers Hall to revise the whole; which task they went through in nine months, having each from the company of stationers, during that time, 30 s. a-week. He afterwards assisted Sir Henry Savile in publishing the works of St Chrysostom. In 1615, Dr Lancelot Andrews, bishop of Ely, bestowed on him, unasked, a prebend in his church. He died on the 14th of January 1643, in the 84th year of his age. He left a great many manuscripts behind him, particularly a Commentary on almost all the books of the New Testament.—When he was a young student at Cambridge, he received from the learned Dr Whitaker three rules for avoiding those distempers which usually attend a sedentary life, to which he adhered with equal constancy and success. The first was, To study always standing; the second, Never to study in a window; and the third, Never to go to bed with his feet cold.

Boyse (Joseph), a late eminent dissenting minister in Dublin, much respected not only for learning and abilities, but his extensive humanity and undiminished piety. During his ministerial charge at Dublin, he published many sermons which compose several folio volumes, a few poems, and other tracts; but what chiefly distinguished him as a writer, was the controversy he carried on with Dr King, archbishop of Dublin, and author of the Origin of Evil, concerning the office of a scriptural bishop. This controverted point was managed on both sides with great force of argument and calmness. calmness of temper. The bishop asserted, that the episcopal right of jurisdiction had its foundation in the New Testament: Mr Boyse, consistent with his principles, denied that any ecclesiastical superiority appeared there, with the greatest candour and good manners. He was father to

Boyse (Samuel), the poet, a man remarkable for the fineness of his genius, the loveliness of his manners, and the wretchedness of his life. He was born in 1708, and received the rudiments of his education in a private school in Dublin. When he was but 18 years old, his father, who probably intended him for the ministry, sent him to the university of Glasgow, that he might finish his education there. He had not been a year at the university, when he fell in love with the daughter of a tradesman in that city, and was imprudent enough to interrupt his education by marrying her before he had entered into his 20th year. The natural extravagance of his temper soon exposed him to want; and as he had now the additional charge of a wife, his reduced circumstances obliged him to quit the university, and go over with his wife (who also carried a sister with her) to Dublin, where they relied on the old gentleman for support. Young Boyse was of all men the furthest removed from a gentleman; he had no graces of person, and fewer still of conversation. Never were three people of more libertine characters than young Boyse, his wife, and sister-in-law; yet the two ladies wore such a mask of decency before the old gentleman, that his fondness was never abated. The estate his father possessed in Yorkshire was sold to discharge his debts; and when the old man lay in his last sickness, he was entirely supported by presents from his congregation, and buried at their expense. We have no further account of Mr Boyse, till we find him soon after his father's death at Edinburgh. At this place his poetical genius raised him many friends, and some patrons of very great eminence. He published a volume of poems in 1731, to which are subjoined The Tablature of Cebes, and A Letter upon Liberty, inserted in the Dublin journal 1726; and by these he obtained a very great reputation. They are addressed to the countess of Eglinton. This amiable lady was the patroness of all men of wit, and greatly distinguished Mr Boyse while he resided in that country. Upon the death of the viscountess Stormont, Mr Boyse wrote an elegy, which was very much applauded by her ladyship's relations. This elegy he entitled The Tears of the Muses, as the deceased lady was a woman of the most refined taste in the sciences, and a great admirer of poetry. The lord Stormont was so much pleased with this mark of esteem paid to the memory of his lady, that he ordered a very handsome present to be given to Mr Boyse by his attorney at Edinburgh. The notice which lady Eglinton and the lord Stormont took of our poet, recommended him likewise to the patronage of the duchess of Gordon; who was so solicitous to raise him above necessity, that she employed her interest in procuring the promise of a place for him. She gave him a letter, which he was next day to deliver to one of the commissioners of the customs at Edinburgh. It happened that he was then some miles distant from the city; and the morning on which he was to have rode to town with her grace's letter of recommendation proved to be rainy. This slender circumstance was enough to discourage Boyse, who never looked beyond the present moment: he declined going to town on account of the rainy weather; and while he let slip the opportunity, the place was bestowed upon another, which the commissioner declared he kept for some time vacant in expectation of seeing a person recommended by the duchess of Gordon. Boyse at last having defeated all the kind intentions of his patrons towards him, fell into contempt and poverty, which obliged him to quit Edinburgh. He communicated his design of going to London to the duchess of Gordon; who, having till a very high opinion of his poetical abilities, gave him a letter of recommendation to Mr Pope, and obtained another for him to Sir Peter King the lord chancellor of England. Lord Stormont recommended him to the solicitor-general his brother, and many other persons of the first fashion. Upon receiving these letters, he, with great caution, quitted Edinburgh, regretted by none but his creditors. Upon his arrival in London, he went to Twickenham, in order to deliver the duchess of Gordon's letter to Mr Pope; but that gentleman not being at home, Mr Boyse never gave himself the trouble to repeat his visit. He wrote poems; but those, though excellent in their kind, were lost to the world, by being introduced with no advantage. He had so strong a propensity to groveling, that his acquaintance were generally of such a cast as could be of no service to him; and those in higher life he addressed by letters, not having sufficient confidence or politeness to converse familiarly with them. Thus unfit to support himself in the world, he was exposed to variety of distresses, from which he could invent no means of extricating himself but by writing mendicant letters. It will appear amazing, that this man, of so abject a spirit, was voluptuous and luxurious: he had no taste for anything elegant, and yet was to the last degree expensive. Can it be believed, that often when he had received but a guinea in consequence of a supplicating letter, he would go into a tavern, order a supper to be prepared, drink of the richest wines, and spend all the money that had just been given him in charity, without having any one to participate the regale with him, and while his wife and child were starving at home?

It was about the year 1740, that Mr Boyse, reduced to the last extremity of human wretchedness, had not a shirt, a coat, or any kind of apparel, to put on; the sheets in which he lay were carried to the pawnbroker's, and he was obliged to be confined to his bed with no other covering than a blanket. He had little support but what he got by writing letters to his friends in the most abject style; but was perhaps ashamed to let this instance of his distress be known, which probably was the occasion of his remaining six weeks in that situation. During this time he had some employment in writing verses for the Magazines; and whoever had seen him in his study, must have thought the object singular enough: he sat up in bed with the blanket wrapped about him, through which he had cut a hole large enough to admit his arm, and, placing the paper upon his knee, scribbled in the best manner he could the verses he was obliged to make: whatever he got by those, or any other of his begging letters, was but just sufficient for the preservation of life. And perhaps he would have remained much longer in this distresful state, had not a compassionate gentleman, upon hearing this circumstance related, ordered his clothes. clothes to be taken out of pawn, and enabled him to appear again abroad.

About the year 1745, Mr Boyse's wife died. He was then at Reading, and pretended much concern when he heard of her death. His business at Reading was to compile a Review of the most material transactions at home and abroad during the last war; in which he has included a short account of the late rebellion. Upon his return from Reading, his behaviour was more decent than it had ever been before; and there were some hopes that a reformation, though late, would be wrought upon him. He was employed by a bookseller to translate Fenelon on the existence of God; during which time he married a second wife, a woman in low circumstances, but well enough adapted to his taste. He began now to live with more regard to his character, and supported a better appearance than usual; but while his circumstances were mending, and his irregular appetites losing ground, his health visibly declined. He had the satisfaction, while in this lingering illness, to observe a poem of his, intitled The Deity, recommended by two eminent writers, the ingenious Mr Fielding, and the reverend Mr James Hervey author of The Meditations.

Mr Boyse's mind was often religiously disposed; he frequently talked upon that subject, and probably suffered a great deal from the remorse of his conscience. The early impressions of his good education were never entirely obliterated; and his whole life was a continued struggle between his will and reason, as he was always violating his duty to the one, while he fell under the subjection of the other. It was in consequence of this war in his mind, that he wrote a beautiful poem called The Recantation. In May 1749, he died in obscure lodgings near Shoe-lane; but in sentiments, there is the greatest reason to believe, very different from those in which he had spent the greatest part of his life. An old acquaintance of his endeavoured to collect money to defray the expenses of his funeral, so that the scandal of being buried by the parish might be avoided; but in vain; the remains of this son of the muse were, with very little ceremony, hurried away by the parish officers.

Never was a life spent with less grace than that of Mr Boyse, and never were such distinguished abilities given to less purpose. His genius was not confined to poetry only; he had a taste for painting, music, and heraldry; with the latter of which he was very well acquainted. His poetical pieces, if collected, would make six moderate volumes. Many of them are scattered in The Gentleman's Magazine, marked with the letter Y, and Alceus. Two volumes were published in London. An ode of his in the manner of Spenser, intitled The Olive, was addressed to Sir Robert Walpole, which procured him a present of ten guineas. He translated a poem from the High Dutch of Van Haren, in praise of peace, upon the conclusion of that made at Aix-la-Chapelle; but the poem which procured him the greatest reputation was that upon the attributes of the Deity. He was employed by Mr Ogle to translate some of Chaucer's tales into modern English, which he performed with great spirit, and received at the rate of three pence a line for his trouble. Mr Ogle published a complete edition of that old poet's Canterbury Tales modernized; and Mr Boyse's name is put to such tales as were done by him. In 1743, Mr Boyse published, without his name, an ode on the battle of Dettingen, intitled Albion's Triumph.