old, he was much
afflicted with an ague, which considerably depressed his spirits; and, to
divert his attention, he was persuaded to read Amadis de Gaul, and other
romantic books. But this kind of reading, he says in his memoirs, produced
such restlessness in him, that he was obliged to apply himself to
mathematical studies, in order to fix and settle the volatility of his
fancy. He died in the sixty-fifth year of his age.

He was a man of great learning, and his stock of knowledge was immense.
The celebrated Dr. Boerhaave has passed the following eulogium upon
him:--"Boyle was the ornament of his age and country. Which of his writings
shall I commend? All of them. To him we owe the secrets of fire, air,
water, animals, vegetables, fossils; so that from his works may be deduced
the whole system of natural knowledge."

He was treated with particular kindness and respect by Charles II., as
well as by the two great ministers Southampton and Clarendon. By the
latter he was solicited to enter into orders; for his distinguished
learning and unblemished reputation induced Lord Clarendon to think that
so very respectable a personage would do great honor to the clergy. Boyle
considered the proposal with due attention. He reflected that, in his
present situation of life, whatever he wrote with respect to religion,
would have greater weight, as coming from a layman; for he well knew that
the irreligious fortified themselves against all that the clergy could
offer, by supposing and saying that it was their trade, and that they were
paid for it. He considered, likewise, that, in point of fortune and
character, he needed no accessions; and, indeed, his desire for these was
always very limited. But Bishop Burnet, to whom Boyle had communicated
memorandums concerning his life, tells us that what had the greatest
weight in determining his judgment, was, "the not feeling within himself
any motion or tendency of mind which he could safely esteem a call from
the Holy Spirit, and so not venturing to take holy orders, lest he should
be found to have lied unto it."

Bishop Burnet, who was Boyle's particular friend, and who, during an
acquaintance of twenty-nine years, had spent many happy hours in
conversation with him, gives a full account of his genuine piety and
virtue, and of his zeal for the Christian religion. "This zeal," he says,
"was unmixed with narrow notions, or a bigoted heat in favor of a
particular sect; it was that spirit w