A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers. (continued 2)

Bovio (Giovanni), Professor of Political Economy in the University of Naples and deputy to the Italian parliament; is an ardent Freethinker. Both in his writings and in parliament Prof. Bovio opposes the power of the Vatican and the reconciliation between Church and State. He has constantly advocated liberty of conscience and has promoted the institution of a Dante chair in the University of Rome. He has written a work on The History of Law, a copy of which he presented to the International Congress of Freethinkers, 1887.

Bowring (Sir John, K.B., LL D.), politician, linguist and writer, b. Exeter, 17 Oct., 1792. In early life a pupil of Dr. Lant Carpenter and later a disciple of Jeremy Bentham, whose principles he maintained in the Westminster Review, of which he was editor, 1825. Arrested in France in 1822, after a fortnight’s imprisonment he was released without trial. He published Bentham’s Deontology (1834), and nine years after edited a complete collection of the works of Bentham. Returned to Parliament in ’35, and afterwards was employed in important government missions. In ’55 he visited Siam, and two years later published an account of The Kingdom and People of Siam. He translated Goethe, Schiller, Heine, and the poems of many countries; was an active member of the British Association and of the Social Science Association, and did much to promote rational views on the Sunday question. Died 23 Nov. 1872.

Boyle (Humphrey), one of the men who left Leeds for the purpose of serving in R. Carlile’s shop when the right of free publication was attacked in 1821. Boyle gave no name, and was indicted and tried as “a man with name unknown” for publishing a blasphemous and seditious libel. In his defence he ably asserted his right to hold and publish his opinions. He read portions of the Bible in court to prove he was justified in calling it obscene. Upon being sentenced, 27 May, 1822, to eighteen months’ imprisonment and to find sureties for five years, he remarked “I have a mind, my lord, that can bear such a sentence with fortitude.”

Bradlaugh (Charles). Born East London, 26 Sept. 1833. Educated in Bethnal Green and Hackney. He was turned from his Sunday-school teachership and from his first situation through the influence of the Rev. J. G. Packer, and found refuge with the widow of R. Carlile. In Dec. 1850 he entered the Dragoon Guards and proceeded to Dublin. Here he met James Thomson, the poet, and contracted a friendship which lasted for many years. He got his discharge, and in ’53 returned to London and became a solicitor’s clerk. He began to write and lecture under the nom de guerre of “Iconoclast,” edited the Investigator, ’59; and had numerous debates with ministers and others. In 1860 he began editing the National Reformer, which in ’68–9 he successfully defended against a prosecution of the Attorney General, who wished securities against blasphemy. In ’68 he began his efforts to enter Parliament, and in 1880 was returned for Northampton. After a long struggle with the House, which would not admit the Atheist, he at length took his seat in 1885. He was four times re-elected, and the litigation into which he was plunged will become as historic as that of John Wilkes. Prosecuted in ’76 for publishing The Fruits of Philosophy, he succeeded in quashing the indictment. Mr. Bradlaugh has had numerous debates, several of which are published. He has also written many pamphlets, of which we mention New Lives of Abraham, David, and other saints, Who was Jesus Christ? What did Jesus Teach? Has Man a Soul, Is there a God? etc. His Plea for Atheism reached its 20th thousand in 1880. Mr. Bradlaugh has also published When were our Gospels Written?, 1867; Heresy, its Utility and Morality, 1870; The Inspiration of the Bible, 1873; The Freethinker’s Text Book, part i., dealing with natural religion, 1876; The Laws Relating to Blasphemy and Heresy, 1878; Supernatural and Rational Morality, 1886. In 1857 Mr. Bradlaugh commenced a commentary on the Bible, entitled The Bible, What is it? In 1865 this appeared in enlarged form, dealing only with the Pentateuch. In 1882 he published Genesis, Its Authorship and Authenticity. In Parliament Mr. Bradlaugh has become a conspicuous figure, and has introduced many important measures. In 1888 he succeeded in passing an Oaths Bill, making affirmations permissible instead of oaths. His elder daughter, Alice, b. 30 April, 1856, has written on Mind Considered as a Bodily Function, 1884. Died 2 Dec. 1888. His second daughter, Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner, b. 31 March, 1858, has written “Princess Vera” and other stories, “Chemistry of Home,” etc.

Brækstad (Hans Lien), b. Throndhjem, Norway, 7 Sept. 1845. Has made English translations from Björnson, Asbjörnsen, Andersen, etc., and has contributed to Harper’s Magazine and other periodical literature.

Brandes (Georg Morris Cohen), Danish writer, by birth a Jew, b. Copenhagen, 4 Feb. 1842. In 1869 he translated J. S. Mills’ Subjection of Women, and in the following year took a doctor’s degree for a philosophical treatise. His chief work is entitled the Main Current of Literature in the Nineteenth Century. His brother, Dr. Edvard Brandes, was elected to the Danish Parliament in 1881, despite his declaration that he did not believe either in the God of the Christians or of the Jews.

Bray (Charles), philosophic writer, b. Coventry, 31 Jan. 1811. He was brought up as an Evangelical, but found his way to Freethought. Early in life he took an active part in promoting unsectarian education. His first work (1835) was on The Education of the Body. This was followed by The Education of the Feelings, of which there were several editions. In 1836 he married Miss Hennell, sister of C. C. Hennell, and took the System of Nature and Volney’s Ruins of Empires “to enliven the honeymoon.” Among his friends was Mary Ann Evans (“George Eliot”), who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Bray to Italy. His works on The Philosophy of Necessity (1841) and Cerebral Psychology (1875) give the key to all his thought. He wrote a number of Thomas Scott’s series of tracts: Illusion and Delusion, The Reign of Law in Mind as in Matter, Toleration with remarks on Professor Tyndall’s “Address,” and a little book, Christianity in the Light of our Present Knowledge and Moral Sense (1876). He also wrote A Manual of Anthropology and similar works. In a postscript to his last volume, Phases of Opinion and Experience During a Long Life, dated 18 Sept. 1884, he stated that he has no hope or expectation or belief even in the possibility of continued individuality after death, and that as his opinions have done to live by “they will do to die by.” He died 5 Oct. 1884.

Bresson (Léopold), French Positivist, b. Lamarche, 1817. Educated at the Polytechnic School, which he left in 1840 and served on public works. For seventeen years was director of an Austrian Railway Company. Wrote Idées Modernes, 1880.

Bridges (John Henry), M.D. English Positivist, b. 1833, graduated B.A. at Oxford 1855, and B.M. 1859; has written on Religion and Progress, contributed to the Fortnightly Review, and translated Comte’s General View of Positivism (1865) and System of Positive Polity (1873).

Bril (Jakob), Dutch mystical Pantheist, b. Leyden, 21 Jan. 1639. Died 1700. His works were published at Amsterdam, 1705.

Brissot (Jean Pierre) de Warville, active French revolutionist, b. Chartres, 14 Jan. 1754. He was bred to the law, but took to literature. He wrote for the Courier de l’Europe, a revolutionary paper suppressed for its boldness, published a treatise on Truth, and edited a Philosophical Law Library, 1782–85. He wrote against the legal authority of Rome, and is credited with Philosophical Letters upon St. Paul and the Christian Religion, Neufchatel, 1783. In 1784 he was imprisoned in the Bastille for his writings. To avoid a second imprisonment he went to England and America, returning to France at the outbreak of the Revolution. He wrote many political works, became member of the Legislative Assembly, formed the Girondist party, protested against the execution of Louis XVI., and upon the triumph of the Mountain was executed with twenty-one of his colleagues, 31 Oct., 1793. Brissot was a voluminous writer, honest, unselfish, and an earnest lover of freedom in every form.

Bristol (Augusta), née Cooper, American educator, b. Croydon, New Haven, 17 April, 1835. In 1850 became teacher and gained repute by her Poems. In Sept. 1880, she represented American Freethinkers at the International Conference at Brussels. She has written on Science and its Relations to Human Character and other works.

Broca (Pierre Paul), French anthropologist, b. 28 June, 1824. A hard-working scientist, he paid special attention to craniology. In 1875 he founded the School of Anthropology and had among his pupils Gratiolet, Topinard, Hovelacque and Dr. Carter Blake, who translated his treatise on Hybridity. He established The Review of Anthropology, published numerous scientific works and was made a member of the Legion of Honor. In philosophy he inclined to Positivism. Died Paris, 9 July, 1880.

Brooksbank (William), b. Nottingham 6 Dec. 1801. In 1824 he wrote in Carlile’s Lion, and has since contributed to the Reasoner, the Pathfinder, and the National Reformer. He was an intimate friend of James Watson. He wrote A Sketch of the Religions of the Earth, Revelation Tested by Astronomy, Geography, Geology, etc., 1856, and some other pamphlets. Mr. Brooksbank is still living in honored age at Nottingham.

Brothier (Léon), author of a Popular History of Philosophy, 1861, and other works in the Bibliothèque Utile. He contributed to the Rationalist of Geneva.

Broussais (François Joseph Victor), French physician and philosopher, b. Saint Malo, 17 Dec. 1772. Educated at Dinan, in 1792 he served as volunteer in the army of the Republic. He studied medicine at St. Malo and Brest, and became a naval surgeon. A disciple of Bichat, he did much to reform medical science by his Examination of Received Medical Doctrines and to find a basis for mental and moral science in physiology by his many scientific works. Despite his bold opinions, he was made Commander of the Legion of Honor. He died poor at St. Malo 17 Nov. 1838, leaving behind a profession of faith, in which he declares his disbelief in a creator and his being “without hope or fear of another life.”

Brown (George William), Dr., of Rockford, Illinois, b. in Essex Co., N.Y., Oct. 1820, of Baptist parents. At 17 years of age he was expelled the church for repudiating the dogma of an endless hell. Dr. Brown edited the Herald of Freedom, Kansas. In 1856 his office was destroyed by a pro-slavery mob, his type thrown into the river, and himself and others arrested but was released without trial. Dr. Brown has contributed largely to the Ironclad Age and other American Freethought papers, and is bringing out a work on the Origin of Christianity.

Brown (Titus L.), Dr., b. 16 Oct. 1823, at Hillside (N.Y.). Studied at the Medical College of New York and graduated at the Homœopathic College, Philadelphia. He settled at Binghamton where he had a large practice. He contributed to the Boston Investigator and in 1877 was elected President of the Freethinkers Association. Died 17 Aug. 1887.

Browne (Sir Thomas), physician and writer, b. London, 19 Oct. 1605. He studied medicine and travelled on the Continent, taking his doctor’s degree at Leyden (1633). He finally settled at Norwich, where he had a good practice. His treatise Religio Medici, famous for its fine style and curious mixture of faith and scepticism, was surreptitiously published in 1642. It ran through several editions and was placed on the Roman Index. His Pseudodoxia Epidemica; Enquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors, appeared in 1646. While disputing many popular superstitions he showed he partook of others. This curious work was followed by Hydriotaphia, or Urn-Burial, in which he treats of cremation among the ancients. To this was added The Garden of Cyrus. He died 19 Oct. 1682.

Bruno (Giordano), Freethought martyr, b. at Nola, near Naples, about 1548. He was christened Filippo which he changed to Filoteo, taking the name of Giordano when he entered the Dominican order. Religious doubts and bold strictures on the monks obliged him to quit Italy, probably in 1580. He went to Geneva but soon found it no safe abiding place, and quitted it for Paris, where he taught, but refused to attend mass. In 1583 he visited England, living with the French ambassador Castelnau. Having formed a friendship with Sir Philip Sidney, he dedicated to him his Spaccio della Bestia Triomfante, a satire on all mythologies. In 1585 he took part in a logical tournament, sustaining the Copernican theory against the doctors of Oxford. The following year he returned to Paris, where he again attacked the Aristotelians. He then travelled to various cities in Germany, everywhere preaching the broadest heresy. He published several Pantheistic, scientific and philosophical works. He was however induced to return to Italy, and arrested as an heresiarch and apostate at Venice, Sept. 1592. After being confined for seven years by the Inquisitors, he was tried, and burnt at Rome 17 Feb. 1600. At his last moments a crucifix was offered him, which he nobly rejected. Bruno was vastly before his age in his conception of the universe and his rejection of theological dogmas. A statue of this heroic apostle of liberty and light, executed by one of the first sculptors of Italy, is to be erected on the spot where he perished, the Municipal Council of Rome having granted the site in face of the bitterest opposition of the Catholic party. The list of subscribers to this memorial comprises the principal advanced thinkers in Europe and America.

Brzesky (Casimir Liszynsky Podsedek). See Liszinski.

Bucali or Busali (Leonardo), a Calabrian abbot of Spanish descent, who became a follower of Servetus in the sixteenth century, and had to seek among the Turks the safety denied him in Christendom. He died at Damascus.

Buchanan (George), Scotch historian and scholar, b. Killearn, Feb. 1506. Evincing an early love of study, he was sent to Paris at the age of fourteen. He returned to Scotland and became distinguished for his learning. James V. appointed him tutor to his natural son. He composed his Franciscanus et Fratres, a satire on the monks, which hastened the Scottish reformation. This exposed him to the vengeance of the clergy. Not content with calling him Atheist, Archbishop Beaton had him arrested and confined in St. Andrew’s Castle, from whence he escaped and fled to England. Here he found, as he said, Henry VIII. burning men of opposite opinions at the same stake for religion. He returned to Paris, but was again subjected to the persecution of Beaton, the Scottish Ambassador. On the death of a patron at Bordeaux, in 1548, he was seized by the Inquisition and immured for a year and a half in a monastery, where he translated the Psalms into Latin. He eventually returned to Scotland, where he espoused the party of Moray. After a most active life, he died 28 Sept. 1582, leaving a History of Scotland, besides numerous poems, satires, and political writings, the most important of which is a work of republican tendency, De Jure Regni, the Rights of Kings.

Buchanan (Robert), Socialist, b. Ayr, 1813. He was successively a schoolmaster, a Socialist missionary and a journalist. He settled in Manchester, where he published works on the Religion of The Past and Present, 1839; the Origin and Nature of Ghosts, 1840. An Exposure of Joseph Barker, and a Concise History of Modern Priestcraft also bear the latter date. At this time the Socialists were prosecuted for lecturing on Sunday, and Buchanan was fined for refusing to take the oath of supremacy, etc. After the decline of Owenism, he wrote for the Northern Star, and edited the Glasgow Sentinel. He died at the home of his son, the poet, at Bexhill, Sussex, 4 March, 1866.

Buchanan (Joseph Rhodes), American physician, b. Frankfort, Kentucky, 11 Dec. 1814. He graduated M.D. at Louisville University, 1842, and has been the teacher of physiology at several colleges. From 1849–56 he published Buchanan’s Journal of Man, and has written several works on Anthropology.

Buchner (Ludwig). See Buechner.

Buckle (Henry Thomas), philosophical historian, b. Lee, Kent, 24 Nov. 1821. In consequence of his delicate health he was educated at home. His mother was a strict Calvinist, his father a strong Tory, but a visit to the Continent made him a Freethinker and Radical. He ever afterwards held travelling to be the best education. It was his ambition to write a History of Civilisation in England, but so vast was his design that his three notable volumes with that title form only part of the introduction. The first appeared in 1858, and created a great sensation by its boldness. In the following year he championed the cause of Pooley, who was condemned for blasphemy, and dared the prosecution of infidels of standing. In 1861 he visited the East, in the hope of improving his health, but died at Damascus, 29 May, 1862. Much of the material collected for his History has been published in his Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works, edited by Helen Taylor, 1872. An abridged edition, edited by Grant Allen, appeared in 1886.

Buechner (Friedrich Karl Christian Ludwig), German materialist, b. Darmstadt, 29 March, 1824. Studied medicine in Geissen, Strassburg and Vienna. In ’55 he startled the world with his bold work on Force and Matter, which has gone through numerous editions and been translated into nearly all the European languages. This work lost him the place of professor which he held at Tübingen, and he has since practised in his native town. Büchner has developed his ideas in many other works such as Nature and Spirit (1857), Physiological Sketches, ’61; Nature and Science, ’62; Conferences on Darwinism, ’69; Man in the Past, Present and Future, ’69; Materialism its History and Influence on Society, ’73; The Idea of God, ’74; Mind in Animals, ’80; and Light and Life, ’82. He also contributes to the Freidenker, the Dageraad, and other journals.

Buffon (Georges Louis Leclerc), Count de, French naturalist, b. Montford, Burgundy, 7 Sept. 1707. An incessant worker. His Natural History in 36 volumes bears witness to the fertility of his mind and his capacity for making science attractive. Buffon lived much in seclusion, and attached himself to no sect or religion. Some of his sentences were attacked by the Sorbonne. Hérault de Sêchelles says that Buffon said: “I have named the Creator, but it is only necessary to take out the word and substitute the power of nature.” Died at Paris 16 April, 1788.

Buitendijk or Buytendyck (Gosuinus van), Dutch Spinozist, who wrote an Apology at the beginning of the eighteenth century and was banished 1716.

Bufalini (Maurizio), Italian doctor, b. Cesena 2 June, 1787. In 1813 he published an essay on the Doctrine of Life in opposition to vitalism, and henceforward his life was a conflict with the upholders of that doctrine. He was accused of materialism, but became a professor at Florence and a member of the Italian Senate in 1860. Died at Florence 31 March, 1875.

Burdach (Karl Friedrich), German physiologist, b. Leipsic 12 June, 1776. He occupied a chair at the University of Breslau. His works on physiology and anthropology did much to popularise those sciences, and the former is placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum for its materialistic tendency. He died at Konigsberg, 16 July, 1847.

Burdon (William), M.A., writer, b. Newcastle, 11 Sept. 1764. Graduated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1788. He was intended for a clergyman, but want of faith made him decline that profession. His principal work is entitled Materials for Thinking. Colton largely availed himself of this work in his Lacon. It went through five editions in his lifetime, and portions were reprinted in the Library of Reason. He also addressed Three Letters to the Bishop of Llandaff, wrote a Life and Character of Bonaparte, translated an account of the Revolution in Spain, edited the Memoirs of Count Boruwlaski, and wrote some objections to the annual subscription to the Sons of the Clergy. Died in London, 30 May, 1818.

Burigny (Jean Levesque de), French writer, b. Rheims, 1692. He became a member of the French Academy, wrote a treatise on the Authority of the Pope, a History of Pagan Philosophy and other works, and is credited with the Critical Examination of the Apologists of the Christian Religion, published under the name of Freret by Naigeon, 1766. Levesque de Burigny wrote a letter in answer to Bergier’s Proofs of Christianity, which is published in Naigeon’s Recueil Philosophique. Died at Paris, 8 Oct. 1785.

Burmeister (Hermann), German naturalist, b. Stralsund, 15 Jan. 1807. In 1827 he became a doctor at Halle. In ’48 he was elected to the National Assembly. In 1850 he went to Brazil. His principal work is The History of Creation, 1843.

Burmeister or Baurmeister (Johann Peter Theodor) a German Rationalist and colleague of Ronge. Born at Flensburg, 1805. He resided in Hamburg, and wrote in the middle of the present century under the name of J. P. Lyser.

Burnet (Thomas), b. about 1635 at Croft, Yorkshire. Through the interest of a pupil, the Duke of Ormonde, he obtained the mastership of the Charterhouse, 1685. In 1681 the first part of his Telluris Theoria Sacra, or Sacred Theory of the Earth, appeared in Latin, and was translated and modified in 1684. In 1692 Burnet published, both in English and in Latin, his Archæologiæ Philosophicæ, or the Ancient Doctrine of the Origin of Things. He professes in this to reconcile his theory with Genesis, which receives a figurative interpretation; and a ludicrous dialogue between Eve and the serpent gave great offence. In a popular ballad Burnet is represented as saying—

That all the books of Moses

Were nothing but supposes.

He had to resign a position at court. In later life he wrote De Fide et Officiis Christianorum (on Christian Faith and Duties), in which he regards historical religions as based on the religion of nature, and rejects original sin and the “magical” theory of sacraments; and De Statu Mortuorum et Resurgentium, on the State of the Dead and Resurrected, in which he opposed the doctrine of eternal punishment and shadowed forth a scheme of Deism. These books he kept to himself to avoid a prosecution for heresy, but had a few copies printed for private friends. He died in the Charterhouse 27 Sept. 1715. A tract entitled Hell Torments not Eternal was published in 1739.

Burnett (James), Lord Monboddo, a learned Scotch writer and judge, was b. Monboddo, Oct. 1714. He adopted the law as his profession, became a celebrated advocate, and was made a judge in 1767. His work on the Origin and Progress of Language (published anonymously 1773–92), excited much derision by his studying man as one of the animals and collecting facts about savage tribes to throw light on civilisation. He first maintained that the orang-outang was allied to the human species. He also wrote on Ancient Metaphysics. He was a keen debater and discussed with Hume, Adam Smith, Robertson, and Lord Kames. Died in Edinburgh, 26 May, 1799.

Burnouf (Emile Louis), French writer, b. Valonges, 25 Aug. 1821. He became professor of ancient literature to the faculty of Nancy. Author of many works, including a translation of selections from the Novum Organum of Bacon, the Bhagvat-Gita, an Introduction to the Vedas, a history of Greek Literature, Studies in Japanese, and articles in the Revue des deux Mondes. His heresy is pronounced in his work on the Science of Religions, 1878, in his Contemporary Catholicism, and Life and Thought, 1886.

Burnouf (Eugène), French Orientalist, cousin of the preceding; b. Paris, 12 Aug. 1801. He opened up to the Western world the Pali language, and with it the treasures of Buddhism, whose essentially Atheistic character he maintained. To him also we are largely indebted for a knowledge of Zend and of the Avesta of the Zoroastrians. He translated numerous Oriental works and wrote a valuable Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism. Died at Paris, 28 May, 1852.

Burns (Robert), Scotland’s greatest poet, b. near Ayr, 25 Jan. 1759. His father was a small farmer, of enlightened views. The life and works of Burns are known throughout the world. His Freethought is evident from such productions as the “Holy Fair,” “The Kirk’s Alarm,” and “Holy Willie’s Prayer,” and many passages in private letters to his most familiar male friends. Died at Dumfries, 21 July, 1796.

Burr (William Henry), American author, b. 1819, Gloversville, N.Y., graduated at Union College, Schenectady, became a shorthand reporter to the Senate. In 1869 he retired and devoted himself to literary research. He is the anonymous author of Revelations of Antichrist, a learned book which exposes the obscurity of the origin of Christianity, and seeks to show that the historical Jesus lived almost a century before the Christian era. He has also written several pamphlets: Thomas Paine was Junius, 1880: Self Contradictions of the Bible; Is the Bible a Lying Humbug? A Roman Catholic Canard, etc. He has also frequently contributed to the Boston Investigator, the New York Truthseeker, and the Ironclad Age of Indianapolis.

Burton (Sir Richard Francis), traveller, linguist, and author, b. Barham House, Herts, 19 March, 1821. Intended for the Church, he matriculated at Oxford, but in 1842 entered the East India Company’s service, served on the staff of Sir C. Napier, and soon acquired reputation as an intrepid explorer. In ’51 he returned to England and started for Mecca and Medina, visiting those shrines unsuspected, as a Moslem pilgrim. He was chief of the staff of the Osmanli cavalry in the Crimean war, and has made many remarkable and dangerous expeditions in unknown lands; he discovered and opened the lake regions in Central Africa and explored the highlands of Brazil. He has been consul at Fernando Po, Santos, Damascus, and since 1872 at Trieste, and speaks over thirty languages. His latest work is a new translation of The Thousand Nights and a Night in 10 vols. Being threatened with a prosecution, he intended justifying “literal naturalism” from the Bible. Burton’s knowledge of Arabic is so perfect that when he used to read the tales to Arabs, they would roll on the ground in fits of laughter.

Butler (Samuel), poet, b. in Strensham, Worcestershire, Feb. 1612. In early life he came under the influence of Selden. He studied painting, and is said to have painted a head of Cromwell from life. He became clerk to Sir Samuel Luke, one of Cromwell’s Generals, whom he has satirised as Hudibras. This celebrated burlesque poem appeared in 1663 and became famous, but, although the king and court were charmed with its wit, the author was allowed to remain in poverty and obscurity till he died at Covent Garden, London, 25 Sept. 1680. Butler expressed the opinion that

“Religion is the interest of churches

That sell in other worlds in this to purchase.”

Buttmann (Philipp Karl), German philologist, b. Frankfort, 5 Dec. 1764. Became librarian of the Royal Library at Berlin. He edited many of the Greek Classics, wrote on the Myth of the Deluge, 1819, and a learned work on Mythology, 1828. Died Berlin, 21 June, 1829.

Buzot (François Léonard Nicolas), French Girondin, distinguished as an ardent Republican and a friend and lover of Madame Roland. Born at Evreux, 1 March, 1760; he died from starvation when hiding after the suppression of his party June, 1793.

Byelinsky (Vissarion G.) See Belinsky.

Byron (George Gordon Noel) Lord, b. London, 22 Jan. 1788. He succeeded his grand-uncle William in 1798; was sent to Harrow and Cambridge. In 1807 he published his Hours of Idleness, and awoke one morning to find himself famous. His power was, however, first shown in his English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, in which he satirised his critics, 1809. He then travelled on the Continent, the result of which was seen in his Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and other works. He married 2 Jan. 1815, but a separation took place in the following year. Lord Byron then resided in Italy, where he made the acquaintance of Shelley. In 1823 he devoted his name and fortune to the cause of the Greek revolution, but was seized with fever and died at Missolonghi, 19 April, 1824. His drama of Cain: a Mystery, 1822, is his most serious utterance, and it shows a profound contempt for religious dogma. This feeling is also exhibited in his magnificent burlesque poem, The Vision of Judgment, which places him at the head of English satirists. In his letters to the Rev. Francis Hodgson, 1811, he distinctly says: “I do not believe in any revealed religion.... I will have nothing to do with your immortality; we are miserable enough in this life, without the absurdity of speculating upon another.... The basis of your religion is injustice; the Son of God, the pure, the immaculate, the innocent, is sacrificed for the guilty,” etc.

Cabanis (Pierre Jean George), called by Lange “the father of the materialistic physiology,” b. Conac, 5 June, 1757. Became pupil of Condillac and friend of Mirabeau, whom he attended in his last illness, of which he published an account 1791. He was also intimate with Turgot, Condorcet, Holbach, Diderot, and other distinguished Freethinkers, and was elected member of the Institute and of the Council of Five Hundred in the Revolution. His works are mostly medical, the chief being Des Rapports du Physique et du Morale de l’Homme, in which he contends that thoughts are a secretion of the brain. Died Rueil, near Paris, 5 May, 1808.

Cæsalpinus (Andreas), Italian philosopher of the Renaissance, b. Arezzo, Tuscany, 1519. He became Professor of Botany at Pisa, and Linnæus admits his obligations to his work, De Plantis, 1583. He also wrote works on metals and medicine, and showed acquaintance with the circulation of the blood. In a work entitled Demonum Investigatio, he contends that “possession” by devils is amenable to medical treatment. His Quæstionum Peripateticarum, in five books, Geneva, 1568, was condemned as teaching a Pantheistic doctrine similar to that of Spinoza. Bishop Parker denounced him. Died 23 Feb. 1603.

Cæsar (Caius Julius), the “foremost man of all this world,” equally renowned as soldier, statesman, orator, and writer, b. 12 July, 100 B.C., of noble family. His life, the particulars of which are well known, was an extraordinary display of versatility, energy, courage, and magnanimity. He justified the well-known line of Pope, “Cæsar the world’s great master and his own.” His military talents elevated him to the post of dictator, but this served to raise against him a band of aristocratic conspirators, by whom he was assassinated, 15 March, 44 B.C. His Commentaries are a model of insight and clear expression. Sallust relates that he questioned the existence of a future state in the presence of the Roman senate. Froude says: “His own writings contain nothing to indicate that he himself had any religious belief at all. He saw no evidence that the gods practically interfered in human affairs.... He held to the facts of this life and to his own convictions; and as he found no reason for supposing that there was a life beyond the grave he did not pretend to expect it.”

Cahuac (John), bookseller, revised an edition of Palmer’s Principles of Nature, 1819. For this he was prosecuted at the instance of the “Vice Society,” but the matter was compromised. He was also prosecuted for selling the Republican, 1820.

Calderino (Domizio), a learned writer of the Renaissance, b. in 1445, in the territory of Verona, and lived at Rome, where he was professor of literature, in 1477. He edited and commented upon many of the Latin poets. Bayle says he was without religion. Died in 1478.

Calenzio (Eliseo), an Italian writer, b. in the kingdom of Naples about 1440. He was preceptor to Prince Frederic, the son of Ferdinand, the King of Naples. He died in 1503, leaving behind a number of satires, fables and epigrams, some of which are directed against the Church.

Call (Wathen Mark Wilks), English author, b. 7 June, 1817. Educated at Cambridge, entered the ministry in 1843, but resigned his curacy about 1856 on account of his change of opinions, which he recounts in his preface to Reverberations, 1876. Mr. Call is of the Positivist school, and has contributed largely to the Fortnightly and Westminster Reviews.

Callet (Pierre Auguste), French politician, b. St. Etienne, 27 Oct. 1812; became editor of the Gazette of France till 1840. In 1848 he was nominated Republican representative. At the coup d’état of 2 Dec. 1851, he took refuge in Belgium. He returned to France, but was imprisoned for writing against the Empire. In 1871, Callet was again elected representative for the department of the Loire. His chief Freethought work is L’Enfer, an attack upon the Christian doctrine of hell, 1861.

Camisani (Gregorio), Italian writer, b. at Venice, 1810. A Professor of Languages in Milan. He has translated the Upas of Captain R. H. Dyas and other works.

Campanella (Tommaso), Italian philosopher, b. Stilo, Calabria, 5 Sept. 1568. He entered the Dominican order, but was too much attracted by the works of Telesio to please his superiors. In 1590 his Philosophia Sensibus Demonstratio was printed at Naples. Being prosecuted, he fled to Rome, and thence to Florence, Venice, and Padua. At Bologna some of his MS. fell into the hands of the Inquisition, and he was arrested. He ably defended himself and was acquitted. Returning to Calabria in 1599, he was arrested on charges of heresy and conspiracy against the Spanish Government of Naples, and having appealed to Rome, was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in the prison of the Holy Office. He was put to the torture seven times, his torments on one occasion extending over forty hours, but he refused to confess. He was dragged from one prison to another for twenty-seven years, during which he wrote some sonnets, a history of the Spanish monarchy, and several philosophical works. On 15 May, 1626, he was released by the intervention of Pope Urban VIII. He was obliged to fly from Rome to France, where he met Gassendi. He also visited Descartes in Holland. Julian Hibbert remarked that his Atheismus Triumphatus—Atheism Subdued, 1631, would be better entitled Atheismus Triumphans—Atheism Triumphant—as the author puts his strongest arguments on the heterodox side. In his City of the Sun, Campanella follows Plato and More in depicting an ideal republic and a time when a new era of earthly felicity should begin. Hallam says “The strength of Campanella’s genius lay in his imagination.” His “Sonnets” have been translated by J. A. Symonds. Died Paris, 21 May, 1639.

Campbell (Alexander), Socialist of Glasgow, b. about the beginning of the century. He early became a Socialist, and was manager at the experiment at Orbiston under Abram Combe, of whom he wrote a memoir. Upon the death of Combe, 1827, he became a Socialist missionary in England. He took an active part in the co-operative movement, and in the agitation for an unstamped press, for which he was tried and imprisoned at Edinburgh, 1833–4. About 1849 he returned to Glasgow and wrote on the Sentinel. In 1867 he was presented with a testimonial and purse of 90 sovereigns by admirers of his exertions in the cause of progress. Died about 1873.

Campion (William), a shoemaker, who became one of R. Carlile’s shopmen; tried 8 June, 1824, for selling Paine’s Age of Reason. After a spirited defence he was found guilty and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. In prison he edited, in conjunction with J. Clarke, E. Hassell, and T. R. Perry, the Newgate Monthly Magazine, to which he contributed some thoughtful papers, from Sept. 1824, to Aug. 1826, when he was removed to the Compter.

Canestrini (Giovanni), Italian naturalist, b. Rerò, 1835. He studied at Vienna, and in ’60 was nominated Professor of Natural History at Geneva. Signor Canestrini contributed to the Annuario Filosofico del Libero Pensiero, and is known for his popularisation of the works of Darwin, which he has translated into Italian. He has written upon the Origin of Man, which has gone through two editions, Milan, ’66–’70, and on the Theory of Evolution, Turin, ’77. He was appointed Professor of Zoology, Anatomy and Comparative Physiology at Padua, where he has published a Memoir of Charles Darwin, ’82.

Cardano (Girolamo), better known as Jerome Cardan, Italian mathematician, and physician, b. Pavia, 24 Sept. 1501. He studied medicine, but was excluded from the Milan College of Physicians on account of illegitimate birth. He and his young wife were at one time compelled to take refuge in the workhouse. It is not strange that his first work was an exposure of the fallacies of the faculty. A fortunate cure brought him into notice and he journeyed to Scotland as the medical adviser of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, 1551. In 1563 he was arrested at Bologna for heresy, but was released, although deprived of his professorship. He died at Rome, 20 Sept. 1576, having, it is said, starved himself to verify his own prediction of his death. Despite some superstition, Cardano did much to forward science, especially by his work on Algebra, and in his works De Subtilitate Rerum and De Varietate Rerum, amid much that is fanciful, perceived the universality of natural law and the progressive evolution of life. Scaliger accused him of Atheism. Pünjer says “Cardanus deserves to be named along with Telesius as one of the principal founders of Natural Philosophy.”

Carducci (Giosuè), Italian poet and Professor of Italian Literature at the University of Bologna, b. Pietrasantra, in the province of Lucca, 27 July, 1836. As early as ’49 he cried, Abasso tutti i re! viva la republica—Down with all kings! Long live the republic! Sprung into fame by his Hymn to Satan, ’69, by which he intended the spirit of resistance. He has written many poems and satires in which he exhibits himself an ardent Freethinker and Republican. At the end of ’57 he wrote his famous verse “Il secoletto vil che cristianeggia”—“This vile christianising century.” In ’60 he became professor of Greek in Bologna University, being suspended for a short while in ’67 for an address to Mazzini. In ’76 he was elected as republican deputy to the Italian Parliament for Lugo di Romagna.

Carlile (Eliza Sharples), second wife of Richard Carlile, came from Lancashire during the imprisonment of Carlile and Taylor, 1831, delivered discourses at the Rotunda, and started a journal, the Isis, which lasted from 11 Feb. to 15 Dec. 1832. The Isis was dedicated to the young women of England “until superstition is extinct,” and contained Frances Wright’s discourses, in addition to those by Mrs. Carlile, who survived till ’61. Mr. Bradlaugh lodged with Mrs. Carlile at the Warner Place Institute, in 1849. She had three children, Hypatia, Theophila and Julian, of whom the second is still living.

Carlile (Jane), first wife of R. Carlile, who carried on his business during his imprisonment, was proceeded against, and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, 1821. She had three children, Richard, Alfred, and Thomas Paine Carlile, the last of whom edited the Regenerator, a Chartist paper published at Manchester, 1839.

Carlile (Richard), foremost among the brave upholders of an English free press, b. Ashburton, Devon, 8 Dec. 1790. He was apprenticed to a tin-plate worker, and followed that business till he was twenty-six, when, having read the works of Paine, he began selling works like Wooler’s Black Dwarf, which Government endeavored to suppress. Sherwin offered him the dangerous post of publisher of the Republican, which he accepted. He then published Southey’s Wat Tyler, reprinted the political works of Paine and the parodies for which Hone was tried, but which cost Carlile eighteen weeks’ imprisonment. In 1818 he published Paine’s Theological Works. The prosecution instituted induced him to go on printing similar works, such as Palmer’s Principles of Nature, Watson Refuted, Jehovah Unveiled, etc. By Oct. 1819, he had six indictments to answer, on two of which he was tried from 12 to 16 October. He read the whole of the Age of Reason in his defence, in order to have it in the report of the trial. He was found guilty and sentenced (16 Nov.) to fifteen hundred pounds fine and three years’ imprisonment in Dorchester Gaol. During his imprisonment his business was kept on by a succession of shopmen. Refusing to find securities not to publish, he was kept in prison till 18 Nov. 1835, when he was liberated unconditionally. During his imprisonment he edited the Republican, which extended to fourteen volumes. He also edited the Deist, the Moralist, the Lion (four volumes), the Prompter (for No. 3 of which he again suffered thirty-two months’ imprisonment), and the Gauntlet. Amongst his writings are An Address to Men of Science, The Gospel according to R. Carlile, What is God? Every Woman’s Book, etc. He published Doubts of Infidels, Janus on Sion, Sepher Toldoth Jeshu, D’Holbach’s Good Sense, Volney’s Ruins, and many other Freethought works. He died 10 Feb. 1843, bequeathing his body to Dr. Lawrence for scientific purposes.

Carlyle (Thomas), one of the most gifted and original writers of the century, b. 4 Dec. 1795, at Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, where his father, a man of intellect and piety, held a small farm. Showing early ability he was intended for the Kirk, and educated at the University of Edinburgh. He, however, became a tutor, and occupied his leisure in translating from the German. He married Jane Welsh 17 Oct. 1826, and wrote in the London Magazine and Edinburgh Review many masterly critical articles, notably on Voltaire, Diderot, Burns, and German literature. In 1833–4 his Sartor Resartus appeared in Fraser’s Magazine. In ’34 he removed to London and began writing the French Revolution, the MS. of the first vol. of which he confided to Mill, with whom it was accidentally burnt. He re-wrote the work without complaint, and it was published in ’37. He then delivered a course of lectures on “German Literature” and on “Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History,” in which he treats Mahomet as the prophet “we are freest to speak of.” His Past and Present was published in ’43. In ’45 appeared Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches. In ’50 he published Latter-Day Pamphlets, which contains his most distinctive political and social doctrines, and in the following year his Life of John Sterling, in which his heresy clearly appears. His largest work is his History of the Life and Times of Frederick the Great, in 10 vols. He was elected rector of Edinburgh University in ’65. Died 5 Feb. 1881. Mr. Froude, in his Biography of Carlyle, says, “We have seen him confessing to Irving that he did not believe as his friend did in the Christian religion.” ... “the special miraculous occurrences of sacred history were not credible to him.”

Carneades, sceptical philosopher, b. Cyrene about B.C. 213. He went early to Athens, and attended the lectures of the Stoics, learning logic from Diogenes. In the year 155, he was chosen with other deputies to go to Rome to deprecate a fine which had been placed on the Athenians. During his stay at Rome he attracted great attention by his philosophical orations. Carneades attacked the very idea of a God at once infinite and an individual. He denied providence and design. Many of his arguments are preserved in Cicero’s Academics and De Natura Deorum. Carneades left no written works; his views seem to have been systematised by his follower Clitomachus. He died B.C. 129. Carneades is described as a man of unwearied industry. His ethics were of elevated character.

Carneri (Bartholomäus von), German writer, b. Trieste, 3 Nov. 1821. Educated at Vienna. In 1870 he sat in the Austrian Parliament with the Liberals. Author of an able work on Morality and Darwinism, Vienna, 1871. Has also written Der Mensch als Selbstweck, “Humanity as its own proper object,” 1877; Grundlegung der Ethik, Foundation of Morals, 1881; and Ethical Essays on Evolution and Happiness, Stuttgart, 1886.

Carra (Jean Louis), French man of letters and Republican, b. 1743 at Pont de Veyle. He travelled in Germany, Italy, Turkey, Russia, and Moldavia, where he became secretary to the hospodar. On returning to France he became employed in the King’s library and wrote a History of Moldavia and an Essay on Aerial Navigation. He warmly espoused the revolution and was one of the most ardent orators of the Jacobin club. In the National Assembly he voted for the death of Louis XVI., but was executed with the Girondins, 31 Oct. 1793. His Freethought sentiments are evident from his System of Reason, 1773; his Spirit of Morality and Philosophy, 1777; New Principles of Physic, 1782–3, and other works.

Carrel (Jean Baptiste Nicolas Armand), called by Saint Beuve “the Junius of the French press,” b. Rouen, 8 May, 1800. He became a soldier, but, being a Republican, fought on behalf of the Spanish revolution. Being taken prisoner, he was condemned to death, but escaped through some informality. He became secretary to Thierry, edited the works of P. L. Courier, and established the Nation in conjunction with Thiers and Mignet. J. S. Mill writes of him in terms of high praise. The leading journalist of his time, his slashing articles led to several duels, and in an encounter with Emile de Girardin (22 July, 1836) he was fatally wounded. On his death-bed, says M. Littré, he said “Point de prêtres, point d’église”—no priests nor church. Died 24 July, 1836. He wrote a History of the Counter-Revolution in England, with an eye to events in his own country.

Carus (Julius Viktor), German zoologist, b. Leipsic, 25 Aug. 1825. Has been keeper of anatomical museum at Oxford, and has translated Darwin’s works and the philosophy of G. H. Lewes.

Carus (Karl Gustav), German physiologist and Pantheist, b. Leipsic, 3 Jan. 1789. He taught comparative anatomy at the university of that town, and published a standard introduction to that subject. He also wrote Psyche, a history of the development of the human soul, 1846, and Nature and Idea, 1861. Died at Dresden, 28 July, 1869.

Castelar y Ripoll (Emilio), Spanish statesman, b. Cadiz, 8 Sept. 1832. He began as a journalist, and became known by his novel Ernesto, 1855. As professor of history and philosophy, he delivered lectures on “Civilisation during the first three centuries of Christendom.” La Formula del Progresso contains a sketch of democratic principles. On the outbreak of the revolution of ’68 he advocated a Federal Republic in a magnificent oration. The Crown was however offered to Amadeus of Savoy. “Glass, with care,” was Castelar’s verdict on the new dynasty, and in Feb. ’73 Castelar drew up a Republican Constitution; and for a year was Dictator of Spain. Upon his retirement to France he wrote a sketchy History of the Republican Movement in Europe. In ’76 he returned to Spain and took part in the Cortes, where he has continued to advocate Republican views. His Old Rome and New Italy, and Life of Lord Byron have been translated into English.

Castelli (David), Italian writer, b. Livorno, 30 Dec. 1836. Since 1873 he has held the chair of Hebrew in the Institute of Superior Studies at Florence. He has translated the book of Ecclesiastes with notes, and written rationalistic works on Talmudic Legends, 1869; The Messiah According to the Hebrews, ’74; the Bible Prophets, ’82; and The History of the Israelites, 1887.

Castilhon (Jean Louis), French man of letters, b. at Toulouse in 1720. He wrote in numerous publications, and edited the Journal of Jurisprudence. His history of dogmas and philosophical opinions had some celebrity, and he shows himself a Freethinker in his Essay on Ancient and Modern Errors and Superstitions, Amsterdam, 1765; his Philosophical Almanack, 1767; and his History of Philosophical Opinions, 1769. Died 1793.

Cattell (Christopher Charles), writer in English Secular journals, author of Search for the First Man; Against Christianity; The Religion of this Life, etc.

Caumont (Georges), French writer of genius, b. about 1845. Suffering from consumption, he wrote Judgment of a Dying Man upon Life, and humorous and familiar Conversations of a Sick Person with the Divinity. Died at Madeira, 1875.

Cavalcante (Guido), noble Italian poet and philosopher, b. Florence, 1230. A friend of Dante, and a leader of the Ghibbelin party. He married a daughter of Farinata delgi Uberti. Bayle says, “it is said his speculation has as their aim to prove there is no God. Dante places his father in the hell of Epicureans, who denied the immortality of the soul.” Guido died in 1300. An edition of his poems was published in 1813.

Cavallotti (Felice Carlo Emanuel), Italian poet and journalist, b. Milan, 6 Nov. 1842, celebrated for his patriotic poems; is a pronounced Atheist. He was elected member of the Italian parliament in 1873.

Cayla (Jean Mamert), French man of letters and politician b. Vigan (Lot) 1812. Became in ’37 editor of the Emancipator of Toulouse, a city of which he wrote the history. At Paris he wrote to the Siècle, the République Française and other journals, and published European Celebrities and numerous anti-clerical brochures, such as The Clerical Conspiracy, ’61; The Devil, his Grandeur and Decay, ’64; Hell Demolished, ’65; Suppression of Religious Orders, ’70; and The History of the Mass,’74. He died 2 May, 1877.

Cazelles (Emile), French translator of Bentham’s Influence of Natural Religion, Paris, 1875. Has also translated Mill’s Subjection of Women and his Autobiography and Essays on Religion.

Cecco d’Ascoli, i.e., Stabili (Francesco degli), Italian poet, b. Ascoli, 1257. He taught astrology and philosophy at Bologna. In 1324 he was arrested by the Inquisition for having spoken against the faith, and was condemned to fine and penitence. He was again accused at Florence, and was publicly burnt as an heretic 16 Sept. 1327. His best known work is entitled Acerba, a sort of encyclopædia in rhyme.

Cellarius (Martin), Anabaptist, who deserves mention as the first avowed Protestant Anti-trinitarian. He studied Oriental languages with Reuchlin and Melancthon, but having discussed with Anabaptists acknowledged himself converted, 1522, and afterwards gave up the deity of Christ. He was imprisoned, and on his release went to Switzerland, where he died 11 Oct. 1564.

Celsus, a Pagan philosopher, who lived in the second century. He was a friend of Lucian, who dedicated to him his treatise on the False Prophet. He wrote an attack on Christianity, called The True Word. The work was destroyed by the early Christians. The passages given by his opponent, Origen, suffice to show that he was a man of high attainments, well acquainted with the religion he attacked, and that his power of logic and irony was most damaging to the Christian faith.

Cerutti (Giuseppe Antonio Gioachino), poet, converted Jesuit, b. Turin, 13 June, 1738. He became a Jesuit, and wrote a defence of the Society. He afterwards became a friend of Mirabeau, adopted the principles of 1789, wrote in defence of the Revolution, and wrote and published a Philosophical Breviary, or history of Judaism, Christianity, and Deism, which he attributed to Frederick of Prussia. His opinions may also be gathered from his poem, Les Jardins de Betz, 1792. Died Paris, 3 Feb. 1792.

Chaho (J. Augustin), Basque man of letters, b. Tardets, Basses-Pyrénées, 10 Oct. 1811. His principal works are a Philosophy of Comparative Religion, and a Basque dictionary. At Bayonne he edited the Ariel. In 1852 this was suppressed and he was exiled. Died 23 Oct. 1858.

Chaloner (Thomas), M.P., Regicide, b. Steeple Claydon, Bucks, 1595. Educated at Oxford, he became member for Richmond (Yorks), 1645. Was a witness against Archbishop Laud, and one of King Charles’s Judges. In 1651 he was made Councillor of State. Wood says he “was as far from being a Puritan as the east is from the west,” and that he “was of the natural religion.” He wrote a pretended True and Exact Relation of the Finding of Moses His Tomb, 1657, being a satire directed against the Presbyterians. Upon the Restoration he fled to the Low Countries, and died at Middelburg, Zeeland, in 1661.

Chambers (Ephraim), originator of the Cyclopædia of Arts and Sciences, b. Kendal about 1680. The first edition of his work appeared in 1728, and procured him admission to the Royal Society. A French translation gave rise to Diderot and D’Alembert’s Encyclopédie. Chambers also edited the Literary Magazine, 1836, etc. His infidel opinions were well known, and the Cyclopædia was placed upon the Index, but he was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. Died 15 May, 1740.

Chamfort (Sébastien Roch Nicolas), French man of letters, b. in Auvergne, near Clermont, 1741. He knew no parent but his mother, a peasant girl, to supply whose wants he often denied himself necessaries. At Paris he gained a prize from the Academy for his eulogy on Molière. About 1776 he published a Dramatic Dictionary and wrote several plays. In 1781 he obtained a seat in the Academy, being patronised by Mme. Helvetius. He became a friend of Mirabeau, who called him une tête électrique. In 1790 he commenced a work called Pictures of the Revolution. In the following year he became secretary of the Jacobin Club and National Librarian. Arrested by Robespierre, he desperately, but vainly, endeavored to commit suicide. He died 13 April, 1794, leaving behind numerous works and a collection of Maxims, Thoughts, Characters, and Anecdotes, which show profound genius and knowledge of human nature.

Chapman (John), M.R.C.S., b. 1839. Has written largely in the Westminster Review, of which he is proprietor.

Chappellsmith (Margaret), née Reynolds, b. Aldgate, 22 Feb. 1806. Early in life she read the writings of Cobbett. In ’36 she began writing political articles in the Dispatch, and afterwards became a Socialist and Freethought lecturess. She married John Chappellsmith in ’39, and in ’42 she began business as a bookseller. In ’37 she expressed a preference for the development theory before that of creation. In ’50 they emigrated to the United States, where Mrs. Chappellsmith contributed many articles to the Boston Investigator.

Charles (Rudolf). See Giessenburg.

Charma (Antoine), French philosopher, b. 15 Jan. 1801. In ’30 he was nominated to the Chair of Philosophy at Caen. He was denounced for his impiety by the Count de Montalembert in the Chamber of peers, and an endeavor was made to unseat him. He wrote many philosophical works, and an account of Didron’s Histoire de Dieu. Died 5 Aug. 1869.

Charron (Pierre), French priest and sceptic, b. Paris, 1513. He was an intimate friend of Montaigne. His principal work is a Treatise on Wisdom, 1601, which was censured as irreligious by the Jesuits. Franck says “the scepticism of Charron inclines visibly to ‘sensualisme’ and even to materialism.” Died Paris, 16 Nov. 1603.

Chassebœuf de Volney (Constantin François). See Volney.

Chastelet du or Chatelet Lomont (Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil), Marquise, French savante, b. Paris, 17 Dec 1706. She was learned in mathematics and other sciences, and in Latin, English and Italian. In 1740 she published a work on physical philosophy entitled Institutions de Physique. She afterwards made a good French translation of Newton’s Principia. She lived some years with Voltaire at Cirey between 1735 and 1747, and addressed to him Doubts on Revealed Religions, published in 1792. She also wrote a Treatise on Happiness, which was praised by Condorcet.

Chastellux (François Jean de), Marquis. A soldier, traveller and writer, b. Paris 1734. Wrote On Public Happiness (2 vols., Amst. 1776), a work Voltaire esteemed highly. He contributed to the Encyclopédie; one article on “Happiness,” being suppressed by the censor because it did not mention God. Died Paris, 28 Oct. 1788.

Chatterton (Thomas), the marvellous boy poet, b. Bristol, 20 Nov, 1752. His poems, which he pretended were written by one Thomas Rowley in the fourteenth century and discovered by him in an old chest in Redcliffe Church, attracted much attention. In 1769 he visited London in hopes of rising by his talents, but after a bitter experience of writing for the magazines, destroyed himself in a fit of despair 25 Aug. 1770. Several of his poems betray deistic opinions.

Chaucer (Geoffrey), the morning star of English poetry and first English Humanist, b. London about 1340. In 1357 he was attached to the household of Lionel, third son of Edward III. He accompanied the expedition to France 1359–60, was captured by the French, and ransomed by the king. He was patronised by John of Gaunt, and some foreign missions were entrusted to him, one of them being to Italy, where he met Petrarch. All his writings show the influence of the Renaissance, and in his Canterbury Pilgrims he boldly attacks the vices of the ecclesiastics. Died 25 Oct. 1400, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Chaumette (Pierre Gaspard), afterwards Anaxagoras, French revolutionary, b. Nevers, 24 May, 1763. The son of a shoemaker, he was in turn cabin boy, steersman, and attorney’s clerk. In early youth he received lessons in botany from Rousseau. He embraced the revolution with ardor, was the first to assume the tri-color cockade, became popular orator at the club of the Cordeliers, and was associated with Proudhomme in the journal Les Revolutions de Paris. Nominated member of the Commune 10 Aug. 1792, he took the name of Anaxagoras to show his little regard for his baptismal saints. He was elected Procureur Syndic, in which capacity he displayed great activity. He abolished the rod in schools, suppressed lotteries, instituted workshops for fallen women, established the first lying-in-hospital, had books sent to the hospitals, separated the insane from the sick, founded the Conservatory of Music, opened the public libraries every day (under the ancien régime they were only open two hours per week), replaced books of superstition by works of morality and reason, put a graduated tax on the rich to provide for the burial of the poor, and was the principal mover in the feasts of Reason and closing of the churches. He was accused by Robespierre of conspiring with Cloots “to efface all idea of the Deity,” and was guillotined 13 April, 1794.

Chaussard (Pierre Jean Baptiste), French man of letters, b. Paris, 8 Oct. 1766. At the Revolution he took the name of Publicola, and published patriotic odes, Esprit de Mirabeau, and other works. He was preacher to the Theophilanthropists, and became professor of belles lettres at Orleans. Died 9 Jan. 1823.

Chemin-Dupontes (Jean Baptiste), b. 1761. One of the founders of French Theophilanthropy; published many writings, the best known of which is entitled What is Theophilanthropy?

Chenier (Marie André de), French poet, b. Constantinople, 29 Oct. 1762. His mother, a Greek, inspired him with a love for ancient Greek literature. Sent to college at Paris, he soon manifested his genius by writing eclogues and elegies of antique simplicity and sensibility. In 1787 he came to England as Secretary of Legation. He took part in the legal defence of Louis XVI., eulogised Charlotte Corday, and gave further offence by some letters in the Journal de Paris. He was committed to prison, and here met his ideal in the Comtesse de Coigny. Confined in the same prison, to her he addressed the touching verses, The Young Captive (La jeune Captive). He was executed 25 July, 1794, leaving behind, among other poems, an imitation of Lucretius, entitled Hermes, which warrants the affirmation of de Chênedolle, that “André Chénier était athée avec délices.”

Chenier (Marie Joseph de), French poet and miscellaneous writer, brother of the preceding, b. Constantinople, 28 Aug. 1764. He served two years in the army, and then applied himself to literature. His first successful drama, “Charles IX.,” was produced in 1789, and was followed by others. He wrote many patriotic songs, and was made member of the Convention. He was a Voltairean, and in his Nouveaux Saints (1801) satirised those who returned to the old faith. He wrote many poems and an account of French literature. Died Paris, 10 Jan. 1811.

Chernuishevsky or Tchernycheiosky (Nikolai Gerasimovich), Russian Nihilist, b. Saratof, 1829. Educated at the University of St. Petersburg, translated Mill’s Political Economy, and wrote on Superstition and the Principles of Logic, ’59. His bold romance, What is to be Done? was published ’63. In the following year he was sentenced to the Siberian mines, where, after heartrending cruelties, he has become insane.

Chesneau Du Marsais (César). See Dumarsais.

Chevalier (Joseph Philippe), French chemist, b. Saint Pol, 21 March, 1806, is the author of an able book on “The Soul from the standpoint of Reason and Science,” Paris, ’61. He died at Amiens in 1865.

Chies y Gomez (Ramon), Spanish Freethinker, b. Medina de Pomar, Burgos, 13 Oct. 1845. His father, a distinguished Republican, educated him without religion. In ’65 Chies went to Madrid, and followed a course of law and philosophy at the University, and soon after wrote for a Madrid paper La Discusion. He took an active part in the Revolution of ’65, and at the proclamation of the Republic, ’73, became civil governor of Valencia. In ’81 he founded a newspaper El Voto Nacional, and since ’83 has edited Las Dominicales del Libre Pensamiento, which he also founded. Ramon Chies is one of the foremost Freethought champions in Spain and lectures as well as writes.

Child (Lydia Maria) née Francis, American authoress, b. Medford, Mass., 11 Feb. 1802. She early commenced writing, publishing Hobomok, a Tale of Early Times, in ’21. From ’25 she kept a private school in Watertown until ’28, when she married David Lee Child, a Boston lawyer. She, with him, edited the Anti-Slavery Standard, ’41, etc., and by her numerous writings did much to form the opinion which ultimately prevailed. She was, however, long subjected to public odium, her heterodoxy being well known. Her principal work is The Progress of Religious Ideas, 3 vols.; ’55. Died Wayland, Mass., 20 Oct. 1880. She was highly eulogised by Wendell Phillips.

Chilton (William), of Bristol, was born in 1815. In early life he was a bricklayer, but in ’41 he was concerned with Charles Southwell in starting the Oracle of Reason, which he set up in type, and of which he became one of the editors. He contributed some thoughtful articles on the Theory of Development to the Library of Reason, and wrote in the Movement and the Reasoner. Died at Bristol, 28 May, 1855.

Chubb (Thomas), English Deist, b. East Harnham, near Salisbury, 29 Sept. 1679, was one of the first to show Rationalism among the common people. Beginning by contending for the Supremacy of the Father, he gradually relinquished supernatural religion, and considered that Jesus Christ was of the religion of Thomas Chubb. Died 8 Feb. 1747, leaving behind two vols. which he calls A Farewell to his Readers, from which it appears that he rejected both revelation and special providence.

Church (Henry Tyrell), lecturer and writer, edited Tallis’s Shakespeare, wrote Woman and her Failings, 1858, and contributed to the Investigator when edited by Mr. Bradlaugh. Died 19 July, 1859.

Clapiers (Luc de). See Vauvenargues.

Claretie (Jules Armand Arsène), French writer, b. Limoges, 3 Dec. 1840. A prolific writer, of whose works we only cite Free Speech, ’68; his biographies of contemporary celebrities; and his work Camille Desmoulins, ’75.

Clarke (John), brought up in the Methodist connection, changed his opinion by studying the Bible, and became one of Carlile’s shopmen. He was tried 10 June, 1824, for selling a blasphemous libel in number 17, vol. ix., of The Republican, and after a spirited defence, in which he read many of the worst passages in the Bible, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, and to find securities for good behavior during life. He wrote while in prison, A Critical Review of the Life, Character, and Miracles of Jesus, a work showing with some bitterness much bold criticism and Biblical knowledge. It first appeared in the Newgate Magazine and was afterwards published in book form, 1825 and ’39.

Clarke (Marcus), Australian writer, b. Kensington, 1847. Went to Victoria, ’63; joined the staff of Melbourne Argus. In ’76 was made assistant librarian of the Public Library. He has compiled a history of Australia, and written The Peripatetic Philosopher (a series of clever sketches), His Natural Life (a powerful novel), and some poems. An able Freethought paper, “Civilisation without Delusion,” in the Victoria Review, Nov. ’79, was replied to by Bishop Moorhouse. The reply, with Clarke’s answer, which was suppressed, was published in ’80. Died 1884.

Claude-Constant, author of a Freethinkers’ Catechism published at Paris in 1875.

Clavel (Adolphe), French Positivist and physician, b. Grenoble, 1815. He has written on the Principles of 1789, on those of the nineteenth century, on Positive Morality, and some educational works.

Clavel (F. T. B.), French author of a Picturesque History of Freemasonry, and also a Picturesque History of Religions, 1844, in which Christianity takes a subordinate place.

Clayton (Robert), successively Bishop of Killala, Cork, and Clogher, b. Dublin, 1695. By his benevolence attracted the friendship of Samuel Clarke, and adopted Arianism, which he maintained in several publications. In 1756 he proposed, in the Irish House of Lords, the omission of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds from the Liturgy, and stated that he then felt more relieved in his mind than for twenty years before. A legal prosecution was instituted, but he died, it is said, from nervous agitation (26 Feb. 1758) before the matter was decided.

Cleave (John), bookseller, and one of the pioneers of a cheap political press. Started the London Satirist, and Cleave’s Penny Gazette of Variety, Oct. 14, 1837, to Jan. 20, ’44. He published many Chartist and Socialistic works, and an abridgment of Howitt’s History of Priestcraft. In May, ’40, he was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment for selling Haslam’s Letters to the Clergy.

Clemenceau (Georges Benjamin Eugene), French politician, b. Moulleron-en-Pareds, 28 Sept. 1841. Educated at Nantes and Paris, he took his doctor’s degree in ’65. His activity as Republican ensured him a taste of gaol. He visited the United States and acted as correspondent on the Temps. He returned at the time of the war and was elected deputy to the Assembly. In Jan. 1880 he founded La Justice, having as collaborateurs M. C. Pelletan, Prof. Acollas and Dr. C. Letourneau. As one of the chiefs of the Radical party he was largely instrumental in getting M. Carnot elected President.

Clemetshaw (C.), French writer, using the name Cilwa. B. 14 Sept. 1864 of English parents; has contributed to many journals, was delegate to the International Congress, London, of ’87, and is editor of Le Danton.

Clemens (Samuel Langhorne), American humorist, better known as “Mark Twain,” b. Florida, Missouri, 30 Nov. 1835. In ’55 he served as Mississippi pilot, and takes his pen name from the phrase used in sounding. In Innocents Abroad, or the New Pilgrim’s Progress, ’69, by which he made his name, there is much jesting with “sacred” subjects. Mr. Clemens is an Agnostic.

Clifford (Martin), English Rationalist. Was Master of the Charterhouse, 1671, and published anonymously a treatise of Human Reason, London, ’74, which was reprinted in the following year with the author’s name. A short while after its publication Laney, Bishop of Ely, was dining in Charterhouse and remarked, not knowing the author, “’twas no matter if all the copies were burnt and the author with them, because it made every man’s private fancy judge of religion.” Clifford died 10 Dec. 1677. In the Nouvelle Biographie Générale Clifford is amusingly described as an “English theologian of the order des Chartreux,” who, it is added, was “prior of his order.”

Clifford (William Kingdon), mathematician, philosopher, and moralist, of rare originality and boldness, b. Exeter 4 May, 1845. At the age of fifteen he was sent to King’s College, London, where he showed an early genius for mathematics, publishing the Analogues of Pascal’s Theorem at the age of eighteen. Entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in ’63. In ’67 he was second wrangler. Elected fellow of his college, he remained at Cambridge till 1870, when he accompanied the eclipse expedition to the Mediterranean. The next year he was appointed Professor of mathematics at London University, a post he held till his death. He was chosen F.R.S. ’74. Married Miss Lucy Lane in April, ’75. In the following year symptoms of consumption appeared, and he visited Algeria and Spain. He resumed work, but in ’79 took a voyage to Madeira, where he died 3 March. Not long before his death appeared the first volume of his great mathematical work, Elements of Dynamic. Since his death have been published The Common Sense of the Exact Sciences, and Lectures and Essays, in two volumes, edited by Leslie Stephen and Mr. F. Pollock. These volumes include his most striking Freethought lectures and contributions to the Fortnightly and other reviews. He intended to form them into a volume on The Creed of Science. Clifford was an outspoken Atheist, and he wrote of Christianity as a religion which wrecked one civilisation and very nearly wrecked another.

Cloots or Clootz (Johann Baptist, afterwards Anacharsis) Baron du Val de Grâce, Prussian enthusiast, b. near Cleves, 24 June, 1755, was a nephew of Cornelius de Pauw. In 1780 he published the The Certainty of the Proofs of Mohammedanism, under the pseudonym of Ali-gier-ber, an anagram of Bergier, whose Certainty of the Proofs of Christianity he parodies. He travelled widely, but became a resident of Paris and a warm partisan of the Revolution, to which he devoted his large fortune. He wrote a reply to Burke, and continually wrote and spoke in favor of a Universal Republic. On 19 June, 1790, he, at the head of men of all countries, asked a place at the feast of Federation, and henceforward was styled “orator of the human race.” He was, with Paine, Priestley, Washington and Klopstock, made a French citizen, and in 1792 was elected to the Convention by two departments. He debaptised himself, taking the name Anacharsis, was a prime mover in the Anti-Catholic party, and induced Bishop Gobel to resign. He declared there was no other God but Nature. Incurring the enmity of Robespierre, he and Paine were arrested as foreigners. After two and a half months’ imprisonment at St. Lazare, he was brought to the scaffold with the Hébertistes, 24 March, 1794. He died calmly, uttering materialist sentiments to the last.

Clough (Arthur Hugh), poet, b. Liverpool, 1 Jan. 1819. He was educated at Rugby, under Dr. Arnold, and at Oxford, where he showed himself of the Broad School. Leslie Stephen says, “He never became bitter against the Church of his childhood, but he came to regard its dogmas as imperfect and untenable.” In ’48 he visited Paris, and the same year produced his Bothie of Toper-na-Fuosich: a Long-Vacation Pastoral. Between ’49 and ’52 he was professor of English literature in London University. In ’52 he visited the United States, where he gained the friendship of Emerson and Longfellow, and revised the Dryden translation of Plutarch’s Lives. Died at Florence, 13 Nov. 1861. His Remains are published in two volumes, and include an essay on Religious Tradition and some notable poems. He is the Thyrsis of Matthew Arnold’s exquisite Monody.

Cnuzius (Matthias). See Knutzen.

Coke (Henry), author of Creeds of the Day, or collated opinions of reputable thinkers, in 2 vols, London, 1883.

Cole (Peter), a tanner of Ipswich, was burnt for blasphemy in the castle ditch, Norwich, 1587. A Dr. Beamond preached to him before the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen, “but he would not recant.” See Hamont.

Colenso (John William), b. 24 Jan. 1814. Was educated at St. John’s, Cambridge, and became a master at Harrow. After acquiring fame by his valuable Treatise on Algebra, ’49, he became first Bishop of Natal, ’54. Besides other works, he published The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua Critically Examined, 1862–79, which made a great stir, and was condemned by both Houses of Convocation and its author declared deposed. The Privy Council, March ’65, declared this deposition “null and void in law.” Colenso pleaded the cause of the natives at the time of the Zulu War. He died 20 June, 1883.

Colins (Jean Guillaume César Alexandre Hippolyte) Baron de, Belgian Socialist and founder of “Collectivism,” b. Brussels, 24 Dec. 1783. Author of nineteen volumes on Social Science. He denied alike Monotheism and Pantheism, but taught the natural immortality of the soul. Died at Paris, 12 Nov. 1859. A number of disciples propagate his opinions in the Philosophie de l’Avenir.

Collins (Anthony), English Deist, b. Heston, Middlesex, 21 June, 1676. He studied at Cambridge and afterwards at the Temple, and became Justice of the Peace and Treasurer of the County of Essex. He was an intimate friend of Locke, who highly esteemed him and made him his executor. He wrote an Essay on Reason, 1707; Priestcraft in Perfection, 1710; a Vindication of the Divine Attributes, and a Discourse on Freethinking, 1713. This last occasioned a great outcry, as it argued that all belief must be based on free inquiry, and that the use of reason would involve the abandonment of supernatural revelation. In 1719 he published An Inquiry Concerning Human Liberty, a brief, pithy defence of necessitarianism, and in 1729 A Discourse on Liberty and Necessity. In 1724 appeared his Discourse on the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, and this was followed by The Scheme of Literal Prophecy Considered, 1726. He was a skilful disputant, and wrote with great ability. He is also credited with A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony in Writing. Died at London, 13 Dec. 1729. Collins, says Mr. Leslie Stephen, “appears to have been an amiable and upright man, and to have made all readers welcome to the use of a free library.” Professor Fraser calls him “a remarkable man,” praises his “love of truth and moral courage,” and allows that in answering Dr. Samuel Clarke on the question of liberty and necessity he “states the arguments against human freedom with a logical force unsurpassed by any necessitarian.” A similar testimony to Collins as a thinker and dialectician is borne by Professor Huxley.

Colman (Lucy N.), American reformer, b. 26 July, 1817, has spent most of her life advocating the abolition of slavery, women’s rights, and Freethought. She has lectured widely, written Reminisences in the Life of a Reformer of Fifty Years, and contributed to the Truthseeker and Boston Investigator.

Colotes, of Lampsacus, a hearer and disciple of Epicurus, with whom he was a favorite. He wrote a work in favor of his master’s teachings. He held it was unworthy of a philosopher to use fables.

Combe (Abram), one of a noted Scotch family of seventeen, b. Edinburgh, 15 Jan. 1785. He traded as a tanner, but, becoming acquainted with Robert Owen, founded a community at Orbiston upon the principle of Owen’s New Lanark, devoting nearly the whole of his large fortune to the scheme. But his health gave way and he died 11 Aug. 1827. He wrote Metaphysical Sketches of the Old and New Systems and other works advocating Owenism.

Combe (Andrew), physician, brother of the above, b. Edinburgh, 27 Oct. 1797; studied there and in Paris; aided his brother George in founding the Phrenological Society; wrote popular works on the Principles of Physiology and the Management of Infancy. Died near Edinburgh, 9 Aug. 1847.

Combe (George), phrenologist and educationalist, b. Edinburgh, 21 Oct. 1788. He was educated for the law. Became acquainted with Spurzheim, and published Essays on Phrenology, 1819, and founded the Phrenological Journal. In ’28 he published the Constitution of Man, which excited great controversy especially for removing the chimeras of special providence and efficacy of prayer. In ’33 he married a daughter of Mrs. Siddons. He visited the United States and lectured on Moral Philosophy and Secular Education. His last work was The Relations between Science and Religion, ’57, in which he continued to uphold Secular Theism. He also published many lectures and essays. Among his friends were Miss Evans (George Eliot), who spent a fortnight with him in ’52. He did more than any man of his time, save Robert Owen, for the cause of Secular education. Died at Moor Park, Surrey, 14 Aug. 1858.

Combes (Paul), French writer, b. Paris, 13 June, 1856. Has written on Darwinism, ’83, and other works popularising science.

Commazzi (Gian-Battista), Count author of Politica e religione trovate insieme nella persona di Giesù Cristo, Nicopoli [Vienna] 4 vols., 1706–7, in which he makes Jesus to be a political impostor. It was rigorously confiscated at Rome and Vienna.

Comparetti (Domenico), Italian philologist, b. Rome in 1835. Signor Comparetti is Professor at the Institute of Superior Studies, Rome, and has written many works on the classic writers, in which he evinces his Pagan partialities.

Comte (Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier), French philosopher, mathematician and reformer, b. at Montpelier, 12 Jan. 1798. Educated at Paris in the Polytechnic School, where he distinguished himself by his mathematical talent. In 1817 he made the acquaintance of St. Simon, agreeing with him as to the necessity of a Social renovation based upon a mental revolution. On the death of St. Simon (’25) Comte devoted himself to the elaboration of an original system of scientific thought, which, in the opinion of some able judges, entitles him to be called the Bacon of the nineteenth century. Mill speaks of him as the superior of Descartes and Leibniz. In ’25 he married, but the union proved unhappy. In the following year he lectured, but broke down under an attack of brain fever, which occasioned his detention in an asylum. He speedily recovered, and in ’28 resumed his lectures, which were attended by men like Humboldt, Ducrotay, Broussais, Carnot, etc. In ’30 he put forward the first volumes of his Course of Positive Philosophy, which in ’42 was completed by the publication of the sixth volume. A condensed English version of this work was made by Harriet Martineau, ’53. In ’45 Comte formed a passionate Platonic attachement to Mme. Clotilde de Vaux, who died in the following year, having profoundely influenced Comte’s life. In consequence of his opinions, he lost his professorship, and was supported by his disciples—Mill, Molesworth and Grote, in England, assisting. Among other works, Comte published A General View of Positivism, ’48, translated by Dr. Bridges, ’65; A System of Positive Polity, ’51, translated by Drs. Bridges, Beesley, F. Harrison, etc., ’75–79; and A Positive Catechism, ’54, translated by Dr. Congreve, ’58. He also wrote on Positive Logic, which he intended to follow with Positive Morality and Positive Industrialism. Comte was a profound and suggestive thinker. He resolutely sets aside all theology and metaphysics, coordinates the sciences and substitutes the service of man for the worship of God. Mr. J. Cotter Morison says “He belonged to that small class of rare minds, whose errors are often more valuable and stimulating than other men’s truths.” He died of cancer in the stomach at Paris, 5 Sept. 1857.

Condillac (Etienne Bonnot de), French philosopher, b. Grenoble, about 1715. His life was very retired, but his works show much acuteness. They are in 23 vols., the principal being A Treatise on the Sensations, 1764; A Treatise on Animals, and An Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge. In the first-named he shows that all mental life is gradually built up out of simple sensations. Died 3 Aug. 1780.

Condorcet (Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, Marquis de), French philosopher and politician, b. Ribemont, Picardy, 17 Sept. 1743. Dedicated to the Virgin by a pious mother, he was kept in girl’s clothes until the age of 11. Sent to a Jesuit’s school, he soon gave up religion. At sixteen he maintained a mathematical thesis in the presence of Alembert. In the next year he dedicated to Turgot a Profession of Faith. After some mathematical works, he was made member of the Academy, of which he was appointed perpetual secretary, 1773. In 1776 he published his atheistic Letters of a Theologian. He also wrote biographies of Turgot and Voltaire, and in favor of American independence and against negro slavery. In 1791 he represented Paris in the National Assembly, of which he became Secretary. It was on his motion that, in the following year, all orders of nobility were abolished. Voting against the death of the king and siding with the Gironde drew on him the vengeance of the extreme party. He took shelter with Madame Vernet, but fearing to bring into trouble her and his wife, at whose instigation he wrote his fine Sketch of the Progress of the Human Mind while in hiding, he left, but, being arrested, died of exhaustion or by poison self-administered, at Bourg la Reine, 27 March, 1794.

Condorcet (Sophie de Grouchy Caritat, Marquise de), wife of above, and sister of General Grouchy and of Mme. Cabanis, b. 1765. She married Condorcet 1786, and was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time. She shared her husband’s sentiments and opinions and, while he was proscribed, supported herself by portrait painting. She was arrested, and only came out of prison after the fall of Robespierre. She translated Adam Smith’s Theory of the Moral Sentiments, which she accompanied with eight letters on Sympathy, addressed to Cabanis. She died 8 Sept. 1822. Her only daughter married Gen. Arthur O’Connor.

Confucius (Kung Kew) or Kung-foo-tsze, the philosopher Kung, a Chinese sage, b. in the State of Loo, now part of Shantung, about B.C. 551. He was distinguished by filial piety and learning. In his nineteenth year he married, and three years after began as a teacher, rejecting none who came to him. He travelled through many states. When past middle age he was appointed chief minister of Loo, but finding the Duke desired the renown of his name without adopting his counsel, he retired, and devoted his old age to editing the sacred classics of China. He died about B.C. 478. His teaching, chiefly found in the Lun-Yu, or Confucian Analects, was of a practical moral character, and did not include any religious dogmas.

Congreve (Richard), English Positivist, born in 1819. Educated at Rugby under T. Arnold, and Oxford 1840, M.A. 1843; was fellow of Wadham College 1844–54. In ’55 he published his edition of Aristotle Politics. He became a follower of Comte and influenced many to embrace Positivism. Translated Comte’s Catechism of Positive Philosophy, 1858, and has written many brochures. Dr. Congreve is considered the head of the strict or English Comtists, and has long conducted a small “Church of Humanity.”

Connor (Bernard), a physician, b. Co. Kerry, of Catholic family, 1666. He travelled widely, and was made court physician to John Sobieski, King of Poland. He wrote a work entitled Evangelium Medici (1697), in which he attempts to account for the Christian miracles on natural principles. For this he was accused of Atheism. He died in London 27 Oct. 1698.

Constant de Rebecque (Henri Benjamin), Swiss writer, b. Lausanne, 25 Oct. 1767, and educated at Oxford, Erlangen and Edinburgh. In 1795 he entered Paris as a protégé of Mme. de Stael, and in 1799 became a member of the Tribunal. He opposed Buonaparte and wrote on Roman Polytheism and an important work on Religion Considered in its Source, its Forms and its Developments (6 vols.; 1824–32). Died 8 Dec. 1830. Constant professed Protestantism, but was at heart a sceptic, and has been called a second Voltaire. A son was executor to Auguste Comte.

Conta (Basil), Roumanian philosopher, b. Neamtza 27 Nov. 1845. Studied in Italy and Belgium, and became professor in the University of Jassy, Moldavia. In ’77 he published in Brussels, in French, a theory of fatalism, which created some stir by its boldness of thought.

Conway (Moncure Daniel), author, b. in Fredericksburg, Stafford co. Virginia, 17 March, 1832. He entered the Methodist ministry ’50, but changing his convictions through the influence of Emerson and Hicksite Quakers, entered the divinity school at Cambridge, where he graduated in ’54 and became pastor of a Unitarian church until dismissed for his anti-slavery discourses. In ’57 he preached in Cincinnati and there published The Natural History of the Devil, and other pamphlets. In ’63 Mr. Conway came to England and was minister of South Place from the close of ’63 until his return to the States in ’84. Mr. Conway is a frequent contributor to the press. He has also published The Earthward Pilgrimage, 1870, a theory reversing Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress; collected a Sacred Anthology from the various sacred books of the world 1873, which he used in his pulpit; has written on Human Sacrifices, 1876, and Idols and Ideals, 1877. His principal work is Demonology and Devil Lore, 1878, containing much information on mythology. He also issued his sermons under the title of Lessons for the Day, two vols., 1883, and has published a monograph on the Wandering Jew, a biography of Emerson, and is at present engaged on a life of Thomas Paine.

Cook (Kenningale Robert), LL.D., b. in Lancashire 26 Sept. 1845, son of the vicar of Stallbridge. When a boy he used to puzzle his mother by such questions as, “If God was omnipotent could he make what had happened not have happened.” He was intended for the Church, but declined to subscribe the articles. Graduated at Dublin in ’66, and took LL.D. in ’75. In ’77 he became editor of the Dublin University Magazine, in which appeared some studies of the lineage of Christian doctrine and traditions afterwards published under the title of The Fathers of Jesus. Dr. Cook wrote several volumes of choice poems. Died July, 1886.

Cooper (Anthony Ashley), see Shaftesbury.

Cooper (Henry), barrister, b. Norwich about 1784. He was a schoolfellow of Wm. Taylor of Norwich. He served as midshipman at the battle of the Nile, but disliking the service became a barrister, and acquired some fame by his spirited defence of Mary Ann Carlile, 21 July, 1821, for which the report of the trial was dedicated to him by R. Carlile. He was a friend of Lord Erskine, whose biography he commenced. Died 19 Sept. 1824.

Cooper (John Gilbert), poet, b. Thurgaton Priory, Notts, 1723. Educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. An enthusiastic disciple of Lord Shaftesbury. Under the name of “Philaretes” he contributed to Dodsley’s Museum. In 1749 he published a Life of Socrates, for which he was coarsely attacked by Warburton. He wrote some poems under the signature of Aristippus. Died Mayfair, London, 14 April, 1769.

Cooper (Peter), a benevolent manufacturer, b. N. York, 12 Feb. 1791. He devoted over half a million dollars to the Cooper Institute, for the secular instruction and elevation of the working classes. Died 4 April, 1883.

Cooper (Robert), Secularist writer and lecturer, b. 29 Dec. 1819, at Barton-on-Irwell, near Manchester. He had the advantage of being brought up in a Freethought family. At fourteen he became teacher in the Co-operative Schools, Salford, lectured at fifteen, and by seventeen became an acknowledged advocate of Owenism, holding a public discussion with the Rev. J. Bromley. Some of his lectures were published—one on Original Sin sold twelve thousand copies—when he was scarcely eighteen. The Holy Scriptures Analysed (1832) was denounced by the Bishop of Exeter in the House of Lords. Cooper was dismissed from a situation he had held ten years, and in 1841 became a Socialist missionary in the North of England and Scotland. At Edinburgh (1845) he wrote Free Agency and Orthodoxy, and compiled the Infidel’s Text Book. About ’50 he came to London, lecturing with success at John Street Institution. In ’54 he started the London Investigator, which he edited for three years. In it appears his lectures on “Science v. Theology,” “Admissions of Distinguished Men,” etc. Failing health obliged him to retire leaving the Investigator to “Anthony Collins” (W. H. Johnson), and afterwards to “Iconoclast” (C. Bradlaugh). At his last lecture he fainted on the platform. In 1858 he remodelled his Infidel Text-Book into a work on The Bible and Its Evidences. He devoted himself to political reform until his death, 3 May, 1868.

Coornhert (Dirk Volkertszoon), Dutch humanist, poet and writer, b. Amsterdam, 1522. He travelled in his youth through Spain and Portugal. He set up as an engraver at Haarlem, and became thereafter notary and secretary of the city of Haarlem. He had a profound horror of intolerance, and defended liberty against Beza and Calvin. The clergy vituperated him as a Judas and as instigated by Satan, etc. Bayle, who writes of him as Theodore Koornhert, says he communed neither with Protestants nor Catholics. The magistrates of Delft drove him out of their city. He translated Cicero’s De Officiis, and other works. Died at Gouda, 20 Oct. 1590.

Cordonnier de Saint Hyacinthe. See Saint-Hyacinthe (Themiseuil de).

Corvin-Wiersbitski (Otto Julius Bernhard von), Prussian Pole of noble family, who traced their descent from the Roman Corvinii, b. Gumbinnen, 12 Oct. 1812. He served in the Prussian army, where he met his friend Friedrich von Sallet; retired into the Landwehr 1835, went to Leipsic and entered upon a literary career, wrote the History of the Dutch Revolution, 1841; the History of Christian Fanaticism, 1845, which was suppressed in Austria. He took part with the democrats in ’48; was condemned to be shot 15 Sept. ’49, but the sentence was commuted; spent six years’ solitary confinement in prison; came to London, became correspondent to the Times; went through American Civil War, and afterwards Franco-Prussian War, as a special correspondent. He has written a History of the New Time, 1848–71. Died since 1886.

Cotta (Bernhard), German geologist, b. Little Zillbach, Thuringia, 24 Oct. 1808. He studied at the Academy of Mining, in Freiberg, where he was appointed professor in ’42. His first production, The Dendroliths, ’32, proved him a diligent investigator. It was followed by many geological treatises. Cotta did much to support the nebular hypothesis and the law of natural development without miraculous agency. He also wrote on phrenology. Died at Freiburg, 13 Sept 1879.

Cotta (C. Aurelius), Roman philosopher, orator and statesman, b. B.C. 124. In ’75 he became Consul. On the expiration of his office he obtained Gaul as a province. Cicero had a high opinion of him and gives his sceptical arguments in the third book of his De Natura Deorum.

Courier (Paul Louis), French writer, b. Paris, 4 Jan. 1772. He entered the army and became an officer of artillery, serving with distinction in the Army of the Republic. He wrote many pamphlets, directed against the clerical restoration, which place him foremost among the literary men of the generation. His writings are now classics, but they brought him nothing but imprisonment, and he was apparently assassinated, 10 April, 1825. He had a presentiment that the bigots would kill him.

Coventry (Henry), a native of Cambridgeshire, b. about 1710, Fellow of Magdalene College, author of Letters of Philemon to Hydaspus on False Religion (1736). Died 29 Dec. 1752.

Coward (William), M.D., b. Winchester, 1656. Graduated at Wadham College, Oxford, 1677. Settled first at Northampton, afterwards at London. Published, besides some medical works, Second Thoughts Concerning Human Soul, which excited much indignation by denying natural immortality. The House of Commons (17 March, 1704) ordered his work to be burnt. He died in 1725.

Cox (the Right Rev. Sir George William), b. 1827, was educated at Rugby and Oxford, where he took B.C.L. in 1849. Entered the Church, but has devoted himself to history and mythology. His most pretentious work is Mythology of the Aryan Nations (1870). He has also written an Introduction to Comparative Mythology and several historical works. In 1886 he became Bishop of Bloemfontein. He is credited with the authorship of the English Life of Jesus, published under the name of Thomas Scott. At the Church Congress of 1888 he read an heretical paper on Biblical Eschatology. His last production is a Life of Bishop Colenso, 2 vols, 1888.

Coyteux (Fernand), French writer, b. Ruffec, 1800. Author of a materialistic system of philosophy, Brussels, 1853 Studies on physiology, Paris, 1875, etc.

Craig (Edward Thomas), social reformer, b. at Manchester 4 Aug. 1804. He was present at the Peterloo massacre ’19; helped to form the Salford Social Institute and became a pioneer of co-operation. In ’31 he became editor of the Lancashire Co-operator. In Nov. of the same year he undertook the management of a co-operative farm at Rahaline, co. Clare. Of this experiment he has written an history, ’72. Mr. Craig has edited several journals and contributed largely to Radical and co-operative literature. He has published a memoir of Dr. Travis and at the age of 84 he wrote on The Science of Prolonging Life.

Cramer (Johan Nicolai), Swedish writer, b. Wisby, Gottland, 18 Feb. 1812. He studied at Upsala and became Doctor of Philosophy ’36; ordained priest in ’42; he resigned in ’58. In religion he denies revelation and insists on the separation of Church and State. Among his works we mention Separation from the Church, a Freethinker’s annotations on the reading of the Bible, Stockholm, 1859. A Confession of Faith; Forward or Back? (1862). He has also written on the Punishment of Death (1868), and other topics.

Cranbrook (Rev. James.) Born of strict Calvinistic parents about 1817. Mr. Cranbrook gradually emancipated himself from dogmas, became a teacher, and for sixteen years was minister of an Independent Church at Liscard, Cheshire. He also was professor at the Ladies’ College, Liverpool, some of his lectures there being published ’57. In Jan. ’65, he went to Albany Church, Edinburgh, but his views being too broad for that congregation, he left in Feb. ’67 but continued to give Sunday lectures until his death, 6 June, 1869. In ’66 he published Credibilia: an Inquiry into the grounds of Christian faith and two years later The Founders of Christianity, discourses on the origin of Christianity. Other lectures on Human Depravity, Positive Religion, etc., were published by Thomas Scott.

Cranch (Christopher Pearse), American painter and poet, b. Alexandria, Virginia, 8 March, 1813, graduated at divinity school, Cambridge, Mass. ’35, but left the ministry in ’42. He shows his Freethought sentiments in Satan, a Libretto, Boston, ’74, and other works.

Craven (M. B.), American, author of a critical work on the Bible entitled Triumph of Criticism, published at Philadelphia, 1869.

Cremonini (Cesare), Italian philosopher, b. Cento, Ferrara, 1550, was professor of philosophy at Padua from 1591 to 1631, when he died. A follower of Aristotle, he excited suspicion by his want of religion and his teaching the mortality of the soul. He was frequently ordered by the Jesuits and the Inquisition to refute the errors he gave currency to, but he was protected by the Venetian State, and refused. Like most of the philosophers of his time, he distinguished between religious and philosophic truth. Bayle says. “Il a passé pour un esprit fort, qui ne croyait point l’immortalité de l’âme.” Larousse says, “On peut dire qu’il n’était pas chrétien.” Ladvocat says his works “contain many things contrary to religion.”

Cross (Mary Ann). See Eliot (George).

Crousse (Louis D.), French Pantheistic philosopher, author of Principles, or First Philosophy, 1839, and Thoughts, 1845.

Curtis (S. E.), English Freethinker, author of Theology Displayed, 1842. He has been credited with The Protestant’s Progress to Infidelity. See Griffith (Rees). Died 1847.

Croly (David Goodman), American Positivist, b. New York, 3 Nov. 1829. He graduated at New York University in ’54, and was subsequently a reporter on the New York Herald. He became editor of the New York World until ’72. From ’71 to ’73 he edited The Modern Thinker, an organ of the most advanced thought, and afterwards the New York Graphic. Mr. Croly has written a Primer of Positivism, ’76, and has contributed many articles to periodicals. His wife, Jane Cunningham, who calls herself “Jennie June,” b. 1831, also wrote in The Modern Thinker.

Cross (Mary Ann), see Eliot (George).

Crozier (John Beattie), English writer of Scottish border parentage, b. Galt, Ontario, Canada, 23 April, 1849. In youth he won a scholarship to the grammar school of the town, and thence won another scholarship to the Toronto University, where he graduated ’72, taking the University and Starr medals. He then came to London determined to study the great problems of religion and civilisation. He took his diploma from the London College of Physicians in ’73. In ’77 he wrote his first essay, “God or Force,” which, being rejected by all the magazines, he published as a pamphlet. Other essays on the Constitution of the World, Carlyle, Emerson, and Spencer being also rejected, he published them in a book entitled The Religion of the Future, ’80, which fell flat. He then started his work Civilisation and Progress, which appeared in ’85, and was also unsuccessful until republished with a few notices in ’87, when it received a chorus of applause, for its clear and original thoughts. Mr. Crozier is now engaged on his Autobiography, after which he proposes to deal with the Social question.