Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/129

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Boyle
117
Boyle

berland. The marriage was solemnised in the chapel of Skipton Castle, Craven, on 5 July 1635. This was the Countess of Burlington referred to by Pepys as 'a very fine speaking lady and a good woman' (Diary, 28 Sept., 1668). Through the marriage he acquired an influential position at court, which he greatly improved by his devotion to the interests of the king. When Charles in 1639 resolved on an expedition to Scotland, he raised a troop of horse, at the head of which he proposed to serve under the Earl of Cumberland. On the outbreak of the rebellion in Ireland in 1642, he went to his father's assistance at Munster, distinguishing himself at the battle of Liscarrol. He was member for Appleby in the Long parliament, but was disabled in 1643 (list in Carlyle's Cromwell). After the cessation of arms in September 1643 he joined the king at Oxford with his regiment. Some months previously he had succeeded his father as Earl of Cork, but the king as a special mark of favour raised him also to the dignity of Baron Clifford of Lanesborough, Yorkshire. Throughout the war he strenuously supported the cause of the king until that of the parliament was completely triumphant, after which he was forced to compound for his estate for 1,631l. (Lloyd, Memoirs, 678). During the protectorate he retired to his Irish estates, but in 1651 his affairs were in such a desperate condition that his countess was obliged to supplicate Cromwell for redress. Through the mediation of his brother Roger, lord Broghill [q. v.], he then obtained a certain amount of relief from his grievances. After this matters improved with him so considerably that at the Restoration he was able to assist Charles II with large sums of money, in consequence of which he was, in 1663, raised to the dignity of Earl Burlington or Bridlington in the county of York. Subsequently he was appointed lord-lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire and custos rotulorum. These offices he retained under James II, until he could no longer support him in his unconstitutional designs. Although he took an active part in promoting the cause of William and Mary, he accepted no office under the new regime. It was the Earl of Burlington who was the first occupant of Burlington House, Piccadilly. He died 15 Jan. 1697-8. His son Charles, lord Clifford, was father of Charles, third earl of Cork, and of Henry, lord Carleton [q. v.]

[Budgell's Memoirs of the Family of the Boyles, pp. 32-3; Lodge's Irish Peerage, ed. 1789, i. 169-174; Biog. Brit. (Kippis), ii. 471-4.]

T. F. H.

BOYLE, RICHARD, third Earl of Burlington and fourth Earl of Cork (1695–1753), celebrated for his architectural tastes and his friendship with artists and men of letters, was the only son of Charles, third earl of Cork, and Juliana, daughter and heir to Henry Noel, Luffenham, Rutlandshire. He was born 25, April 1695, and succeeded to the title and estates of his father in 1704. On 9 Oct. 1714 he was sworn a member of the privy council. In May 1715 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and in June following custos rotulorum of the North and West Ridings. In August of the same year he was made lord high treasurer of Ireland. In June 1730 he was installed one of the knights companions of the Garter, and in June of the following year constituted captain of the band of gentlemen pensioners. Having before he attained his majority spent several years in Italy, Lord Burlington became an enthusiastic admirer of the architectural genius of Palladio, and on his return to England not only continued his architectural studies, but spent large sums of money to gratify his tastes in this branch of art. His earliest project was about 1716, to alter and partly reconstruct Burlington House, Piccadilly, which had been built by his great grandfather, the first earl of Burlington. The professional artist engaged was Campbell, who in 'Vitruvius Britannicus,' published in 1725, during the earl's lifetime, takes credit for the whole design. Notwithstanding this, Walpole asserts that the famous colonnade within the court was the work of Burlington; and in any case it may be assumed that Campbell was in a great degree guided in his plans by his patron's suggestions. That Burlington was chiefly responsible for the character of the building is further supported by the fact that it formed a striking and solitary exception to the bastard and commonplace architecture of the period. It undoubtedly justified the eulogy of Gay:

Beauty within; without, proportion reigns.

(Trivia, book ii. line 494.)

But, as was the case in most of the designs of Burlington, the useful was sacrificed to the ornamental. The epigram regarding the building attributed to Lord Hervey—who, if he did make use of it, must have translated it from Martial, xii. 50—contained a spice of truth as well as malice. He says that it was

Possessed of one great hall of state,
Without a room to sleep or eat.

The building figures in a print of Hogarth's intended to satirise the earl and his friends, entitled 'Taste of the Town,' afterwards changed to 'Masquerades and Operas, Burlington Gate.' Hogarth also published another similar print entitled 'The Man of Taste,' in which Pope is represented as white-washing Burlington House and bespattering the Duke of Chandos, and Lord Burlington appears as a mason going up a ladder. Burlington House was taken down to make way for the new buildings devoted to science and art. In addition to his town house Burlington had a suburban residence at Chiswick. He pulled down old Chiswick House