Considerations of prudence never entered into the heart of this unhappy young roan, who ran from one excess to another, till an indulgent parent was reduced by his means to very great embarrassments.  Young Boyse was of all men the farthest removed from a gentleman; he had no graces of person, and fewer still of conversation.  To this cause it was perhaps owing, that his wife, naturally of a very volatile sprightly temper, either grew tired of him, or became enamour’d of variety.  It was however abundantly certain, that she pursued intrigues with other men; and what is still more surprising, not without the knowledge of her husband, who had either too abject a spirit to resent it; or was bribed by some lucrative advantage, to which, he had a mind mean enough to stoop.  Though 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.  He hoped that time and experience would recover his son from his courses of extravagance; and as he was of an unsuspecting temper, he had not the least jealousy of the real conduct of his daughter-in-law, who grew every day in his favour, and continued to blind him, by the seeming decency of her behaviour, and a performance of those acts of piety, he naturally expected from her.  But the old gentleman was deceived in his hopes, for time made no alteration in his son.  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 expence.

We have no farther account of Mr. Boyse, till we find him soon after his father’s death at Edinburgh; but from what motives he went there we cannot now discover.  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 is 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 Eglington, a lady of distinguished excellencies, and so much celebrated for her beauty, that it would be difficult for the best panegyrist to be too lavish in her praise.  This amiable lady was patroness of all men of wit, and very much distinguished Mr. Boyse, while he resided in that country.  She was not however exempt from the lot of humanity, and her conspicuous accomplishments were yet chequered with failings:  The chief of which was too high a consciousness of her own charms, which inspired a vanity that sometimes betrayed her into errors.

The following short anecdote was frequently related by Mr. Boyse.  The countess one day came into the bed chamber of her youngest daughter, then about 13 years old, while she was dressing at her toilet.  The countess observing the assiduity with which the young lady wanted to set off her person to the best advantage, asked her, what she would give to be ‘as handsome as her mamma?’ To which Miss replied; ’As much as your ladyship would give to be as young as me.’  This smart repartee which was at once pungent and witty, very sensibly affected the countess; who for the future was less lavish in praise of her own charms.—­