BOYLE, Richard (EARL OF CORK), Eng lish statesman: b. Canterbury, 13 Oct. 1566; d. 15 Sept. 1643. In 15;c he went to Dublin with strong recommendations to persons in power, whose patronage he obtained. The state of Ireland at that time having rendered land very cheap, he took advantage of the circumstance to make some considerable purchases, among which was the estate of Sir Walter Raleigh, consisting of 12,000 acres in the counties of Cork and Waterford, which he obtained on easy terms. He was then appointed clerk of the council under Sir George Carew, the presi dent of Munster, whom he accompanied in vari ous expeditions against the Irish insurgents in opposition to the English government. On these and other occasions he distinguished him self by his talents and activity, and rapidly aug mented his political power and influence. King James I appointed him privy-councillor for Munster and afterward for the kingdom of Ireland; in 1616 he was made a peer of that realm by the title of Baron Boyle of Youghall, and in 1620 was created Viscount Dungarvan and Earl of Cork. He was now at the height of his prosperity, living in his castle of Lis more in a style of grandeur more resembling that of a sovereign prince than of a private individual. In 1629 he was made one of the lords justices of Ireland and, in 1631, lord treasurer of that kingdom. Like most of the
English rulers of the sister island, he seems to have employed his power rather for the subju gation than the advantage of the native Irish. He built and fortified towns and castles and introduced among the people arts and manu factures, but put in force the severe laws of Queen Elizabeth against the Roman Catholics and transported multitudes of the ancient in habitants from the fertile province pf Leinster to the bogs and deserts of Kerry, supplying their place with English colonists. In 1641 the Earl went to England as a witness against Lord Strafford, then under impeachment, hav ing quarreled with that nobleman during his vice-royalty. Soon after his return home the insurrection of the Irish broke out, on which event he displayed his accustomed activity, en listing his tenantry under the command of his sons and taking other measures for the defense of the country. Lord Cork is principally mem orable as the founder of a family, several in dividuals of which have highly distinguished themselves as cultivators of literature, science and the arts; yet it should not be forgotten that he attained a high degree of contemporary fame and was designated in the age in which he lived — °The great Earl of Cork.))