Boyle and Secrecy 1

Our image of Boyle has changed markedly in recent years. This is especially true in relation to alchemy, since, thanks particularly to the work of Lawrence M. Principe, we are aware that Boyle was more fully involved in alchemical pursuits than previous historians had either realised or been happy to accept. ² We also now have a better understanding of Boyle’s complex personality, in which anxious soul-searching co-existed with acute concern about the esteem in which he was held by others and about his relations with the wider world. ³ But, though Boyle was to some extent a victim of traits of the latter kind, he was also a manipulator who could use these and other facets of his personality and status to his advantage, which further complicates matters. The result is that, in the twenty-first century, Boyle has become a more mixed-up and perhaps therefore more interesting figure than the rather lifeless lay saint depicted in the traditional historiography.