BOYLE 165 on those whose talents and exertions have rendered them conspicuous, that, had it not been for this well-timed arrangement, Mr. Boyle would have had but few oppor- tunities of continuing his studies, owing to the multitude of those who resorted to so celebrated a philosopher. foce His reputation, however, as we have already seen, was not confined to the country in which he resided. It had spread itself over the whole of Europe: and no foreigner who arrived in England with the slightest taste for literary or philosophical enjoyment, now left it without having visited hin. He received them with an openness and hospitality which were peculiar to him; and when some of his friends seemed to blame him for suffering himself to be so frequently interrupted by the visits of strangers, and condescending to answer all their questions, he replied, " that what he did was but gratitude, since he could not forget with what humanity he himself had been received by learned strangers in foreign parts, and how much he should have been grieved, had they refused to gratify his curiosity." His laboratory was also constantly open to the curious, whom he permitted to see most of bis processes It is true he made some discoveries in the course of his experiments, which he looked upon himself obliged to conceal for the good of mankind. Of this nature were ธeveral sorts of poisons, and a certain liquor with which he assures us he could discharge all the writing of any deed upon paper or parchment, and leave nothing but the par- ties' names who signed it; and that the place from whence the first writing had been discharged would bear ink again as well as ever. It is not, however, merely as a chemist that we are to regard Mr. Boyle. Chemistry in him was merely one vehicle in which his vast beneficence of spirit exerted itself to relieve the wants and alleviate the miseries of his fellow mortals. Actively engaged in endeavouring to extend the knowledge of the religion he professed, he
