BOYSE, SAMUEL, a man not more distinguished by his poetical genius, than by his vices and misfor tunes, was born in Dublin in the year 1708. His fa ther, Joseph Boyse, was a dissenting clergyman in that city, revered for ins piety and learning, and be loved by all who knew him for the native simplicity and dignity of his manner, and his genuine benevolence of heart. After receiving the first rudiments of his education at a private school in Dublin, young Boyse was sent, at the age of eighteen, to the university of Glasgow, probably with a view of studying for the clerical profession. He had scarcely been a year in Glasgow, however, when his studies were interrupt ed, and his views in life entirely changed, by an un fortunate attachment which he formed for the daugh ter of a tradesman in that city, whom he married be fore he had attained his twentieth year. This con nection, instead of reclaiming him to habits of virtue, seems only to have opened new temptations to his natural dissipation and extravagance. He became involved in pecuniary difficulties, which obliged him to quit the university abruptly, and to return to Dublin along with his wife, and a sister whom she carried along with her. His follies had produced no change in the affections of the good old man, who, with an indulgence more amiable than prudent, not on ly relieved him from his present necessities, but conti nued to support him and his family, without appearing to have urged him to one exertion to procure an in dependent livelihood. The son was as mean as the father was indulgent. His time, instead of being employed in the pursuit of any u,eful profession, was lost in the most frivolous trifling ; and his thought less extravagance at length reduced his father to such indigence, that, during his last illness, lie was sup ported entirely by presents from his congregation ; and, after his death, was buried at their expense. Deprived by his father's death of his usual support, he repaired to Edinburgh, where his poetical genius soon procured him some respectable patrons. His first puolication was a volume of Poems on several ocraNi9n..;, which gained him considerable reputation, and recommended him to the favour of the Countess of Eglinton, a lady of extensive accomplishments,and the avowed patroness of men of genius. Upon the death of the Viscountess Stormont, who was likewise a lady of taste in the sciences, and a lover of poetry, he wrote an elegy, which he entitled The Tears of the Muses. this mark of respect to his deceas ed lady Lord Stormont was so highly pleased, that he directed his agent in Edinburgh to give the au thor a very handsome present. Through the friend ship of this nobleman, and the Countess of Eglinton, he was introduced to the Duchess of Gordon, a lady whose acquirements and love of literature led her to cultivate a correspondence with the most eminent poets then living. The prospects of Boysc now began to brighten ; his reputation as a poet was establish ed ; and the warm interest which his illustrious pa trons took in his welfare might have raised him to high respectability, had not their kind intentions been frustrated by his own indolence and infatuation. The Duchess of Gordon procured the promise of a situation for him, which would have placed him beyond the reach of indigence, and gave him a letter, which he was next day to deliver to one of the commissioners of customs at Edinburgh. Unfortunately, however, he happened to be then at some distance from town ; and the day on which he was to have delivewd her Grace's recommendatory letter happening td be rainy, Boyse declined exposing himself to the wea ther, and never waited on the commissioner till the place was given away. The indigence and distress, which were the necessary consequence of such im prudence, compelled him to leave Edinburgh, and having communicated to his noble patrons his de sign of going to London, he received recommenda tory letters from the Duchess of Gordon to Pope, and to Lord Chancellor King ; and from Lord Stor mont to his brother the Solicitor General, afterwards the Earl of Mansfield, and to other persons of rank and distinction. Pope happened to be from home when Boyse called upon him to deliver her Grace's letter, and the visit was never repeated. Though he himself declared that he waited upon the Lord Chan cellor, by whom he was well received, and with whom he occasionally dined, the truth of this assertion was doubted by those who knew him best ; for he was so overawed by the glare of rank, that he could scarcely lift his eye in the company of the great, or take any part in their conversation. It is certain that his in discretion prevented him front enjoying the benefit of his recommendations ; and his miseries soon became so great, as scarcely to be paralleled in the records of literary history. Even those miseries could rouse him to no other exertion than the writing of mendi cant letters. Respect to the memory of his father induced some of the dissenting clergymen to relieve him with occasional benefactions. Yet never, per haps, was there a more unworthy object of charity ; for his indolence and indiscretion were even exceeded by his low selfishness and gross sensuality. With the money which he sometimes extorted by a supplicato ry letter, he would go into a tavern, order an elegant entertainment, chink of the most costly wines, and thus squander all the money which he had received, without a single companion to participate the luxury, and while his wife and child were starving at home. It cannot be wondered that his friends, wearied out by his perpetual applications, at length withheld contribu tions, which they found to be so ill bestowed. His
wretchedness accordingly became so extreme, that he had no clothes in which he could appear abroad ; even the sheets on which lie lay were sent to the pawnbro ker ; and he was forced to confine himself to bed, with no other covering than a blanket. His mode of writing in this situation was singular enough : He sat up in bed wrapped in his blanket, through which he had cut a hole large enough to receive his arm, and pla cing the paper on his knee, scribbled, as well as he could, the verses he was obliged to make. He occa sionally supplied the want of a shirt, by tying white slips of paper round his neck and wrists ; and in this plight he appeared abroad, with the additional incon venience of panting breeches. In this state of mi sery he continued for several weeks, preserving him self from absolute starvation by writing verses for the magazines, or procuring occasional benefactions by abject petitions, and the vilest arts of deceit. On one occasion, Dr Johnson collected a sum of money to redeem his clothes from the pawnbroker, and in two clays after they were pawned again. He translated well from the French, an employment in which he would have been frequently engaged ; but by the time one sheet was finished, he generally pawned the original : if his employer redeemed it, another sheet would be completed, and the book again be pawned ; and this perpetually. After spend ing some years in this forlorn and contemptible state, he was invited to Reading, in 1745, by Mr David Ilervey, the late proprietor of the Gentleman's Maga zine, to compile vliz historical Review of the Transac tions of Europe, front the commencement of the war with Spain in 1739, to the insurrection in Scotland in 1745, with the proceedings in Parliament, and the most remarkable domestic occurrences during that pc nod. To which was added, 4n impartial History of the late Rebellion, interspersed with characters and Memoirs, and illitsValcd with Notes. For this work, which was by no means despicably executed, his ne cessity obliged him to accept the trifling compensa tion of half-a-guinea a week. About this time he lost his wife, who is described by Cibber as one of the most profligate and abandoned of women ; yet, in a letter to a friend, he affectionately laments her death. After his return from Reading, his behaviour became more decent than formerly, and hopes were enter tained of his reformation. The liberality of some of his friends had furnished him with a new suit of clothes, and he appeared to pay some regard to his character. He was employed in translating Fe nclon's Discourse on the existence of Deity, when he fell into a lingering illness, which terminated in his death. During this illness, lie had the satisfaction to observe his principal poem, entitled The Deity, recommended by Fielding and Hervey ; the latter of whom, touched by the story of his misfortunes, de posited two guineas with a friend, to be given to him as his necessities required. For this favour, he ex pressed his gratitude in a letter to Hervey, in which are strongly marked the humility and contrition of a chastised and penitent transgressor. His whole life, indeed, had been a kind of conflict between his de praved inclinations and those religious principles, which, in his early youth, had been impressed on his mind so deeply as never to be effaced. The remorse which he felt towards the close of life, from the re membrance of his former profligacy, is finely descri bed in h;s interesting poem, entitled The recantation. Perhaps the return of these better feelings may be ascribed, in a great measure, to a second matrimonial connection, which he formed, after returning from Reading, with a woman of low condition, but re spectable for her prudence and virtue. Under her care, his character and circumstances were just be ginning to improve, when he died, in the 5Ist year of his age, in such poverty as to be buried at the ex pence olthe parish. We have been led into this de tailed account of the life of Boyse, not so much from his claim to our estimation as a poet, as from the striking lesson which his history affords,—that no powers of genius will save the victim of indolence and imprudence from merited indigence and d sgrace. " The relation," to use the language of Dr. Johnson on a similar occasion, " will not be wholly without its use, it it remind those, who, in confidence of superior capacities or attainments, disregard the common maxims of life, that nothing can supply the want of prudence ; and that negligence and irregularity, long continued, will make knowledge useless, art ridicu lous, and genius contemptible." The poems which Boyse wrote for magazines and other periodical works are extremely numerous ; but, from the haste in which most of them were produ duced, are scarcely worth collecting. His principal poems are, "The Deity," "The Vision of Patience," "Ode to Mr. William Curving," " An imitation of Horace and Lydia," " An Epistle to Henry Brooke, Esq." " A Recantation," and " Albion's Tri umph." All of these, except Recantation, and Al bion's Triumph, are to be found in Dr. Anderson's Collection of the Poets of Great Britain. Nor were the genius or acquisition of Boyse confined to poetry alone. He had likewise a tas.e for painting, music, and heraldry, with the lat er of which he was well acquainted. Had the talents which he naturally possessed, instead of being shrouded in indolence, or prostituted to vices, been employed according to the dictates of reason and virtue, he might have risen to eminence and respectability, and have escaped the al most unparalleled miseries which marked every period of his literary career. (k)