A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers.

Abælardus (Petrus), b. 1079. A teacher of philosophy at Paris, renowned for being loved by the celebrated Eloise. He was accused of teaching erroneous opinions, chiefly about the Creation and the Trinity, and was condemned by a council at Soissons in 1121 and by that of Sens 1140, at the instigation of St. Bernard. He was hunted about, but spent his last days as a monk at Cluni. He died 21 April, 1142. “Abelard,” observes Hallam, “was almost the first who awakened mankind, in the age of darkness, to a sympathy with intellectual excellence.”

Abano (Petrus de). See Petrus, de Abano.

Abauzit (Firmin), a French writer, descended from an Arabian family which settled in the South of France early in the ninth century, b. Uzes, 11 Nov. 1679. He travelled in Holland and became acquainted with Bayle, attained a reputation for philosophy, and was consulted by Voltaire and Rousseau. Among his works are, Reflections on the Gospels, and an essay on the Apocalypse, in which he questions the authority of that work. Died at Geneva 20 March, 1767. His Miscellanies were translated in English by E. Harwood, 1774.

Abbot (Francis Ellingwood). American Freethinker, b. Boston, 6 Nov. 1836. He graduated at Harvard University 1859, began life as a Unitarian minister, but becoming too broad for that Church, resigned in 1869. He started the Index, a journal of free religious inquiry and anti-supernaturalism, at Toledo, but since 1874 at Boston. This he edited 1870–80. In 1872 appeared his Impeachment of Christianity. In addition to his work on the Index, Mr. Abbot has lectured a great deal, and has contributed to the North American Review and other periodicals. He was the first president of the American National Liberal League. Mr. Abbot is an evolutionist and Theist, and defends his views in Scientific Theism, 1886.

Ablaing van Giessenburg (R.C.) See Giessenburg.

Abu Bakr Ibn Al-Tufail (Abu J’afar) Al Isbili. Spanish Arabian philosopher, b. at Guadys, wrote a philosophical romance of pantheistic tendency Hai Ibn Yakdan, translated into Latin by Pocock, Oxford 1671, and into English by S. Ockley, 1711, under the title of The Improvement of Human Reason. Died at Morocco 1185.

Abu-Fazil (Abu al Fadhl ibn Mubarak, called Al Hindi), vizier to the great Emperor Akbar from 1572. Although by birth a Muhammadan, his investigations into the religions of India made him see equal worth in all, and, like his master, Akbar, he was tolerant of all sects. His chief work is the Ayin Akbary, a statistical account of the Indian Empire. It was translated by F. Gladwin, 1777. He was assassinated 1604.

Abul-Abbas-Abdallah III. (Al Mamoun), the seventh Abbasside, caliph, son of Haroun al Rashid, was b. at Bagdad 16 Sept. 786. He was a patron of science and literature, collected Greek and Hebrew manuscripts, and invited the scholars of all nations to his capital. He wrote several treatises and poems. Died in war near Tarsus, 9 Aug. 833.

Abul-Ola (Ahmad ibn Abd Allah ibn Sulaiman), celebrated Arabian poet, b. at Maari, in Syria, Dec., 973. His free opinions gave much scandal to devout Moslems. He was blind through small-pox from the age of four years, but his poems exhibit much knowledge. He called himself “the doubly imprisoned captive,” in allusion to his seclusion and loss of sight. He took no pains to conceal that he believed in no revealed religion. Died May, 1057, and ordered the following verse to be written on his tomb:—“I owe this to the fault of my father: none owe the like to mine.”

Abu Tahir (al Karmatti), the chief of a freethinking sect at Bahrein, on the Persian Gulf, who with a comparatively small number of followers captured Mecca (930), and took away the black stone. He suddenly attacked, defeated, and took prisoner Abissaj whom, at the head of thirty thousand men, the caliph had sent against him. Died in 943.

Achillini (Alessandro), Italian physician and philosopher b. Bologna 29 Oct. 1463. He expounded the doctrines of Averroes, and wrote largely upon anatomy. Died 2 Aug. 1512. His collected works were published at Venice, 1545.

Ackermann (Louise-Victorine, née Choquet), French poetess, b. Paris 30 Nov. 1813. She travelled to Germany and there married (1853) a young theologian, Paul Ackerman, who in preparing for the ministry lost his Christian faith, and who, after becoming teacher to Prince Frederick William (afterwards Frederick III.), died at the age of thirty-four (1846). Both were friends of Proudhon. Madame Ackermann’s poems (Paris 1863–74 and 85) exhibit her as a philosophic pessimist and Atheist. “God is dethroned,” says M. Caro of her poems (Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 May, 1874). She professes hatred of Christianity and its interested professors. She has also published Thoughts of a Solitary. Sainte Beuve calls her “the learned solitary of Nice.”

Acollas (Pierre Antoine René Paul Emile), French jurisconsult and political writer, b. La Châtre 25 June, 1826, studied law at Paris. For participating in the Geneva congress of the International Society in 1867 he was condemned to one year’s imprisonment. In 1871 he was appointed head of the law faculty by the Commune. He has published several manuals popularising the legal rights of the people, and has written on Marriage its Past, Present, and Future, 1880. Mrs. Besant has translated his monograph on The Idea of God in the Revolution, published in the Droits de l’Homme.

Acontius (Jacobus—Italian, Giacomo Aconzio). Born at Trent early in sixteenth century. After receiving ordination in the Church of Rome he relinquished that faith and fled to Switzerland in 1557. He subsequently came to England and served Queen Elizabeth as a military engineer. To her he dedicated his Strategems of Satan, published at Basle 1565. This was one of the earliest latitudinarian works, and was placed upon the Index. It was also bitterly assailed by Protestant divines, both in England and on the Continent. An English translation appeared in 1648. Some proceedings were taken against Acontius before Bishop Grindall, of the result of which no account is given. Some passages of Milton’s Areopagitica may be traced to Acontius, who, Cheynell informs us, lived till 1623. Stephen’s Dictionary of National Biography says he is believed to have died shortly after 1566.

Acosta (Uriel). Born at Oporto 1597, the son of a Christianised Jew; he was brought up as a Christian, but on reaching maturity, rejected that faith. He went to Holland, where he published a work equally criticising Moses and Jesus. For this he was excommunicated by the Synagogue, fined and put in prison by the Amsterdam authorities, and his work suppressed. After suffering many indignities from both Jews and Christians, he committed suicide 1647.

Adams (George), of Bristol, sentenced in 1842 to one month’s imprisonment for selling the Oracle of Reason.

Adams (Robert C.), Canadian Freethought writer and lecturer. Author of Travels in Faith from Tradition to Reason (New York, 1884), also Evolution, a Summary of Evidence.

Adler (Felix) Ph. D. American Freethinker, the son of a Jewish rabbi, was b. in Alzey, Germany, 13 Aug. 1851. He graduated at Columbia College, 1870, was professor of Hebrew and Oriental literature at Cornell University from ’74 to May ’76, when he established in New York the Society of Ethical Culture, to which he discourses on Sundays. In 1877 he published a volume entitled Creed and Deed, in which he rejects supernatural religion. Dr. Adler has also contributed many papers to the Radical literature of America.

Ænesidemus. A Cretan sceptical philosopher of the first century. He adopted the principle of Heraclitus, that all things were in course of change, and argued against our knowledge of ultimate causes.

Airy (Sir George Biddell). English Astronomer Royal, b. Alnwick 27 July, 1801. Educated at Cambridge, where he became senior wrangler 1823. During a long life Professor Airy did much to advance astronomical science. His Notes on the Earlier Hebrew Scriptures 1876, proves him to have been a thorough-going Freethinker.

Aitkenhead (Thomas), an Edinburgh student aged eighteen, who was indicted for blasphemy, by order of the Privy Council, for having called the Old Testament “Ezra’s Fables,” and having maintained that God and nature were the same. He was found guilty 24 Dec. 1696, and hanged for blasphemy, 8 Jan. 1697.

Aitzema (Lieuwe van), a nobleman of Friesland, b. at Dorckum 19 Nov. 1600, author of a suppressed History of the Netherlands, between 1621–68. Is classed by Reimmann as an Atheist. Died at the Hague 23 Feb. 1669.

Akbar (Jalal-ed-din Muhammad), the greatest of the emperors of Hindostan, b. 15 Oct. 1542, was famous for his wide administration and improvement of the empire. Akbar showed toleration alike to Christians, Muhammadans, and to all forms of the Hindu faith. He had the Christian gospels and several Brahmanical treatises translated into Persian. The result of his many conferences on religion between learned men of all sects, are collected in the Dabistan. Akbar was brought up as a Muhammadan, but became a Theist, acknowledging one God, but rejecting all other dogmas. Died Sept. 1605.

Alberger (John). American author of Monks, Popes, and their Political Intrigues (Baltimore, 1871) and Antiquity of Christianity (New York, 1874).

Albini (Giuseppe). Italian physiologist, b. Milan. In 1845 he studied medicine in Paris. He has written on embryology and many other physiological subjects.

Alchindus. Yakub ibn Is’hak ibn Subbah (Abú Yúsuf) called Al Kindi, Arab physician and philosopher, the great grandson of one of the companions of Muhammad, the prophet, flourished from 814 to about 840. He was a rationalist in religion, and for his scientific studies he was set down as a magician.

Alciati (Giovanni Paolo). A Milanese of noble family. At first a Romanist, he resigned that faith for Calvinism, but gradually advanced to Anti-trinitarianism, which he defends in two letters to Gregorio Pauli, dated Austerlitz 1564 and 1565. Beza says that Alciati deserted the Christian faith and became a Muhammadan, but Bayle takes pains to disprove this. Died at Dantzic about 1570.

Aleardi (Gaetano). Italian poet, known as Aleardo Aleardi, b. Verona, 4 Nov. 1812. He was engaged in a life-long struggle against the Austrian dominion, and his patriotic poems were much admired. In 1859 he was elected deputy to Parliament for Brescia. Died Verona, 16 July, 1878.

Alembert (Jean le Rond d’), mathematician and philosopher, b. at Paris 16 Nov. 1717. He was an illegitimate son of Canon Destouches and Mme. Tencin, and received his Christian name from a church near which he was exposed as a foundling. He afterwards resided for forty years with his nurse, nor would he leave her for the most tempting offers. In 1741, he was admitted a member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1749, he obtained the prize medal from the Academy of Berlin, for a discourse on the theory of winds. In 1749, he solved the problem of the procession of the equinoxes and explained the mutation of the earth’s axis. He next engaged with Diderot, with whose opinions he was in complete accord, in compiling the famous Encyclopédie, for which he wrote the preliminary discourse. In addition to this great work he published many historical, philosophical and scientific essays, and largely corresponded with Voltaire. His work on the Destruction of the Jesuits is a caustic and far-reaching production. In a letter to Frederick the Great, he says: “As for the existence of a supreme intelligence, I think that those who deny it advance more than they can prove, and scepticism is the only reasonable course.” He goes on to say, however, that experience invincibly proves the materiality of the “soul.” Died 29 Oct. 1783. In 1799 two volumes of his posthumous essays were printed in Paris. His works prove d’Alembert to have been of broad spirit and of most extensive knowledge.

Alfieri (Vittorio), Count. Famous Italian poet and dramatist, b. Asti, Piedmont, 17 Jan. 1749, of a noble family. His tragedies are justly celebrated, and in his Essay on Tyranny he shows himself as favorable to religious as to political liberty. Written in his youth, this work was revised at a more advanced age, the author remarking that if he had no longer the courage, or rather the fire, necessary to compose it, he nevertheless retained intelligence, independence and judgment enough to approve it, and to let it stand as the last of his literary productions. His attack is chiefly directed against Catholicism, but he does not spare Christianity. “Born among a people,” he says, “slavish, ignorant, and already entirely subjugated by priests, the Christian religion knows only how to enjoin the blindest obedience, and is unacquainted even with the name of liberty.” Alfieri’s tragedy of Saul has been prohibited on the English stage. Died Florence, 8 Oct. 1803.

Alfonso X., surnamed the Wise, King of Castillo and of Leon; b. in 1223, crowned 1252. A patron of science and lover of astronomy. He compiled a complete digest of Roman, feudal and canon law, and had drawn up the astronomical tables called Alfonsine Tables. By his liberality and example he gave a great impulse to Spanish literature. For his intercourse with Jews and Arabians, his independence towards the Pope and his free disposal of the clerical revenues, he has been stigmatised as an Atheist. To him is attributed the well-known remark that had he been present at the creation of the world he would have proposed some improvements. Father Lenfant adds the pious lie that “The king had scarcely pronounced this blasphemy when a thunderbolt fell and reduced his wife and two children to ashes.” Alfonso X. died 4 April, 1284.

Algarotti (Francesco), Count. Italian writer and art critic, b. at Venice, 11 Dec. 1712. A visit to England led him to write Newtonianism for the Ladies. He afterwards visited Berlin and became the friend both of Voltaire and of Frederick the Great, who appointed him his Chamberlain. Died with philosophical composure at Pisa, 3 May, 1764.

Alger (William Rounseville), b. at Freetown, Massachusetts, 30 Dec. 1822, educated at Harvard, became a Unitarian preacher of the advanced type. His Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life, with a complete bibliography of the subject by Ezra Abbot, is a standard work, written from the Universalist point of view.

Allen (Charles Grant Blairfindie), naturalist and author, b. in Kingston, Canada, 24 Feb. 1848. He studied at Merton College, Oxford, and graduated with honors 1871. In 1873 appointed Professor of Logic in Queen’s College, Spanish town, Jamaica; from 1874 to ’77 he was its principal. Since then he has resided in England, and become known by his popular expositions of Darwinism. His published works include Physiological Æsthetics (1877), The Evolutionist at Large (1881), Nature Studies (1883), Charles Darwin (1885), and several novels. Grant Allen has also edited the miscellaneous works of Buckle, and has written on Force and Energy (1888).

Allen (Ethan) Col., American soldier, b. at Litchfield, Connecticut, 10 Jan. 1737. One of the most active of the revolutionary heroes, he raised a company of volunteers known as the “Green Mountain Boys,” and took by surprise the British fortress of Ticonderoga, capturing 100 guns, 10 May, 1775. He was declared an outlaw and £100 offered for his arrest by Gov. Tryon of New York. Afterwards he was taken prisoner and sent to England. At first treated with cruelty, he was eventually exchanged for another officer, 6 May, 1778. He was a member of the state legislature, and succeeded in obtaining the recognition of Vermont as an independent state. He published in 1784 Reason the only Oracle of Man, the first publication in the United States openly directed against the Christian religion. It has been frequently reprinted and is still popular in America. Died Burlington, Vermont, 13 Feb. 1789. A statue is erected to him at Montpelier, Vermont.

Allsop (Thomas). “The favorite disciple of Coleridge,” b. 10 April, 1794, near Wirksworth, Derbyshire, he lived till 1880. A friend of Robert Owen and the Chartists. He was implicated in the attempt of Orsini against Napoleon III. In his Letters, Conversations and Recollections of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, he has imported many of his Freethought views.

Alm (Richard von der). See Ghillany (F. W.)

Alpharabius (Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Tarkhan) (Abu Nasr), called Al Farabi, Turkish philosopher, termed by Ibn Khallikan the greatest philosopher the Moslems ever had, travelled to Bagdad, mastered the works of Aristotle, and became master of Avicenna. Al Farabi is said to have taught the eternity of the world and to have denied the permanent individuality of the soul. His principal work is a sort of encyclopædia. Rénan says he expressly rejected all supernatural revelation. Died at Damascus Dec. 950, aged upwards of eighty.

Amaury or Amalric de Chartres, a heretic of the thirteenth century, was a native of Bene, near Chartres, and lived at Paris, where he gave lessons in logic. In a work bearing the title of Physion, condemned by a bull of Pope Innocent III. (1204), he is said to have taught a kind of Pantheism, and that the reign of the Father and Son must give place to that of the Holy Spirit. Ten of his disciples were burnt at Paris 20 Dec. 1210, and the bones of Amaury were exhumed and placed in the flames.

Amberley (John Russell) Viscount, eldest son of Earl Russell, b. 1843. Educated at Harrow, Edinburgh and Trinity College, Cambridge, where ill-health prevented him reading for honors. He entered Parliament in 1866 as Radical member for Nottingham. Lord Amberley contributed thoughtful articles to the North British, the Fortnightly and Theological Reviews, and will be remembered by his bold Analysis of Religious Belief (1876), in which he examines, compares and criticises the various faiths of the world. Lord Amberley left his son to be brought up by Mr. Spalding, a self-taught man of great ability and force of character; but the will was set aside, on appeal to the Court of Chancery, in consideration of Mr. Spalding’s heretical views. Died 8 Jan. 1876.

Amman (Hans Jacob), German surgeon and traveller, b. Lake Zurich 1586. In 1612 he went to Constantinople, Palestine and Egypt, and afterwards published a curious book called Voyage in the Promised Land. Died at Zurich, 1658.

Ammianus (Marcellinus). Roman soldier-historian of the fourth century, b. at Antioch. He wrote the Roman history from the reign of Nerva to the death of Valens in thirty-one books, of which the first thirteen are lost. His history is esteemed impartial and trustworthy. He served under Julian, and compares the rancor of the Christians of the period to that of wild beasts. Gibbon calls him “an accurate and faithful guide.” Died about 395 A.D.

Ammonius, surnamed Saccas or the Porter, from his having been obliged in the early part of his life to adopt that calling, was born of Christian parents in Alexandria during the second century. He, however, turned Pagan and opened a school of philosophy. Among his pupils were Origen, Longinus and Plotinus. He undoubtedly originated the Neo-Platonic movement, which formed the most serious opposition to Christianity in its early career. Ammonius died A.D. 243, aged over eighty years.

Anaxagoras, a Greek philosopher of the Ionic school, b. about 499 B.C., lived at Athens and enjoyed the friendship of Pericles. In 450 B.C. he was accused of Atheism for maintaining the eternity of matter and was banished to Lampsacus, where he died in 428 B.C. It is related that, being asked how he desired to be honored after death, he replied, “Only let the day of my death be observed as a holiday by the boys in the schools.” He taught that generation and destruction are only the union and separation of elements which can neither be created nor annihilated.

Andre-Nuytz (Louis), author of Positivism for All, an elementary exposition of Positive philosophy, to which Littré wrote a preface, 1868.

Andrews (Stephen Pearl). American Sociologist, b. Templeton, Mass., 22 March, 1812. He was an ardent Abolitionist, an eloquent speaker, and the inventor of a universal language called Alwato. His principle work is entitled The Basic Outline of Universology (N. Y., 1872). He also wrote The Church and Religion of the Future (1886). He was a prominent member and vice-president of the Liberal Club of New York, a contributor to the London Times, the New York Truthseeker, and many other journals. Died at New York, 21 May, 1886.

Andrieux (Louis). French deputy, b. Trévoux 20 July, 1840. Was called to the bar at Lyons, where he became famous for his political pleading. He took part in the Freethought Congress at Naples in 1869, and in June of the following year he was imprisoned for three months for his attack on the Empire. On the establishment of the Republic he was nominated procureur at Lyons. He was on the municipal council of that city, which he has also represented in the Chamber of Deputies. In 1879 he became Prefect of Police at Paris, but retired in 1881 and was elected deputy by his constituents at Lyons. He has written Souvenirs of a Prefect of Police (1885).

Angelucci (Teodoro). Italian poet and philosopher, b. near Tolentino 1549. He advocated Aristotle against F. Patrizi, and was banished from Rome. One of the first emancipators of modern thought in Italy, he also made an excellent translation of the Æneid of Virgil. Died Montagnana, 1600.

Angiulli (Andrea). Italian Positivist, b. Castellana 12 Feb. 1837, author of a work on philosophy and Positive research, Naples 1868. He became professor of Anthropology at Naples in 1876, and edits a philosophical review published in that city since 1881.

Annet (Peter). One of the most forcible writers among the English Deists, b. at Liverpool in 1693. He was at one time a schoolmaster and invented a system of shorthand. Priestley learnt it at school and corresponded with Annet. In 1739 he published a pamphlet on Freethinking the Great Duty of Religion, by P. A., minister of religion. This was followed by the Conception of Jesus as the Foundation of the Christian Religion, in which he boldly attacks the doctrine of the Incarnation as “a legend of the Romanists,” and The Resurrection of Jesus Considered (1744) in answer to Bishop Sherlock’s Trial of the Witnesses. This controversy was continued in The Resurrection Reconsidered and The Resurrection Defenders Stript of all Defence. In An Examination of the History and Character of St. Paul he attacks the sincerity of the apostle to the Gentiles and even questions the authenticity of his epistles. In Supernaturals Examined (1747) he argues that all miracles are incredible. In 1761 he issued nine numbers of the Free Inquirer, in which he attacked the authenticity and credibility of the Pentateuch. For this he was brought before the King’s Bench and sentenced to suffer one month’s imprisonment in Newgate, to stand twice in the pillory, once at Charing Cross and once at the Exchange, with a label “For Blasphemy,” then to have a year’s hard labor in Bridewell and to find sureties for good behavior during the rest of his life. It is related that a woman seeing Annet in the pillory said, “Gracious! pilloried for blasphemy. Why, don’t we blaspheme every day!” After his release Annet set up a school at Lambeth. Being asked his views on a future life he replied by this apologue: “One of my friends in Italy, seeing the sign of an inn, asked if that was the Angel.” “No,” was the reply, “do you not see it is the sign of a dragon.” “Ah,” said my friend, “as I have never seen either angel or dragon, how can I tell whether it is one or the other?” Died 18 Jan. 1769. The History of the Man after God’s Own Heart (1761) ascribed to Annet, was more probably written by Archibald Campbell. The View of the Life of King David (1765) by W. Skilton, Horologist, is also falsely attributed to Annet.

Anthero de Quental, Portuguese writer, b. San Miguel 1843. Educated for the law at the University of Coimbra, he has published both poetry and prose, showing him to be a student of Hartmann, Proudhon and Rénan, and one of the most advanced minds in Portugal.

Anthony (Susan Brownell). American reformer, b. of a Quaker family at South Adams, Massachusetts, 15 Feb. 1820. She became a teacher, a temperance reformer, an opponent of slavery, and an ardent advocate of women’s rights. Of the last movement she became secretary. In conjunction with Mrs. E. C. Stanton and Parker Pillsbury she conducted The Revolutionist founded in New York in 1868, and with Mrs. Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage she has edited the History of Woman’s Suffrage, 1881. Miss Anthony is a declared Agnostic.

Antoine (Nicolas). Martyr. Denied the Messiahship and divinity of Jesus, and was strangled and burnt at Geneva, 20 April, 1632.

Antonelle (Pierre Antoine) Marquis d’, French political economist, b. Arles 1747. He embraced the revolution with ardor, and his article in the Journal des Hommes Libres occasioned his arrest with Babœuf. He was, however, acquitted. Died at Arles, 26 Nov. 1817.

Antoninus (Marcus Aurelius). See Aurelius.

Apelt (Ernst Friedrich), German philosopher, b. Reichenau 3 March, 1812. He criticised the philosophy of religion from the standpoint of reason, and wrote many works on metaphysics. Died near Gorlitz, 27 Oct. 1859.

Aquila, a Jew of Pontus, who became a proselyte to Christianity, but afterwards left that religion. He published a Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures to show that the prophecies did not apply to Jesus (A.D. 128). The work is lost. He has been identified by E. Deutsch with the author of the Targum of Onkelos.

Arago (Dominique François Jean), French academician, politician, physicist and astronomer, b. Estagel, 26 Feb. 1786. He was elected to the French Academy of Sciences at the age of twenty-three. He made several optical and electro-magnetic discoveries, and advocated the undulatory theory of light. He was an ardent Republican and Freethinker, and took part in the provisional Government of 1848. He opposed the election of Louis Napoleon, and refused to take the oath of allegiance after the coup d’état of December, 1851. Died 2 Oct. 1853. Humboldt calls him a “zealous defender of the interests of Reason.”

Ardigo (Roberto), Italian philosopher, b. at Casteldidone (Cremona) 28 Jan. 1828, was intended for the Church, but took to philosophy. In 1869 he published a discourse on Peitro Pomponazzi, followed next year by Psychology as a Positive Science. Signor Ardigo has also written on the formation of the solar system and on the historical formation of the ideas of God and the soul. An edition of his philosophical works was commenced at Mantua in 1882. Ardigo is one of the leaders of the Italian Positivists. His Positivist Morals appeared in Padua 1885.

Argens (Jean Baptiste de Boyer) Marquis d’, French writer, b. at Aix, in Provence, 24 June 1704. He adopted a military life and served with distinction. On the accession of Frederick the Great he invited d’Argens to his court at Berlin, and made him one of his chamberlains. Here he resided twenty-five years and then returned to Aix, where he resided till his death 11 June, 1771. His works were published in 1768 in twenty-four volumes. Among them are Lettres Juives, Lettres Chinoises and Lettres Cabalistiques, which were joined to La Philosophie du bon sens. He also translated Julian’s discourse against Christianity and Ocellus Lucanus on the Eternity of the World. Argens took Bayle as his model, but he was inferior to that philosopher.

Argental (Charles Augustin de Ferriol) Count d’, French diplomat, b. Paris 20 Dec. 1700, was a nephew of Mme. de Tencin, the mother of D’Alembert. He is known for his long and enthusiastic friendship for Voltaire. He was said to be the author of Mémoires du Comte de Comminge and Anecdotes de la cour d’Edouard. Died 5 Jan. 1788.

Aristophanes, great Athenian comic poet, contemporary with Socrates, Plato, and Euripides, b. about 444 B.C. Little is known of his life. He wrote fifty-four plays, of which only eleven remain, and was crowned in a public assembly for his attacks on the oligarchs. With the utmost boldness he satirised not only the the political and social evils of the age, but also the philosophers, the gods, and the theology of the period. Plato is said to have died with Aristophanes’ works under his pillow. Died about 380 B.C.

Aristotle, the most illustrious of ancient philosophers, was born at Stagyra, in Thrace, 384 B.C. He was employed by Philip of Macedon to instruct his son Alexander. His inculcation of ethics as apart from all theology, justifies his place in this list. After the death of Alexander, he was accused of impiety and withdrew to Chalcis, where he died B.C. 322. Grote says: “In the published writings of Aristotle the accusers found various heretical doctrines suitable for sustaining their indictment; as, for example, the declaration that prayer and sacrifices to the gods were of no avail.” His influence was predominant upon philosophy for nearly two thousand years. Dante speaks of him as “the master of those that know.”

Arnold of Brescia, a pupil of Abelard. He preached against the papal authority and the temporal power, and the vices of the clergy. He was condemned for heresy by a Lateran Council in 1139, and retired from Italy. He afterwards returned to Rome and renewed his exertions against sacerdotal oppression, and was eventually seized and burnt at Rome in 1155. Baronius calls him “the patriarch of political heretics.”

Arnold (Matthew), LL.D. poet and critic, son of Dr. Arnold of Rugby, b. at Laleham 24 Dec. 1822. Educated at Winchester, Rugby, and Oxford, where he won the Newdigate prize. In 1848 he published the Strayed Reveller, and other Poems, signed A. In 1851 he married and became an inspector of schools. In 1853 appeared Empedocles on Etna, a poem in which, under the guise of ancient teaching he gives much secular philosophy. In 1857 he was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford. In 1871 he published an essay entitled St. Paul and Protestantism; in 1873 Literature and Dogma, which, from its rejection of supernaturalism, occasioned much stir and was followed by God and the Bible. In 1877 Mr. Arnold published Last Essays on Church and State. Mr. Arnold has a lucid style and is abreast of the thought of his age, but he curiously unites rejection of supernaturalism, including a personal God, with a fond regard for the Church of England. He may be said in his own words to wander “between two worlds, one dead, the other powerless to be born.” Died 15 April, 1888.

Arnould (Arthur), French writer, b. Dieuze 7 April, 1833. As journalist he wrote on l’Opinion Nationale, the Rappel, Reforme and other papers. In 1864 he published a work on Beranger, and in ’69 a History of the Inquisition. In Jan. 1870 he founded La Marseillaise with H. Rochefort, and afterwards the Journal du Peuple with Jules Valles. He was elected to the National Assembly and was member of the Commune, of which he has written a history in three volumes. He has also written many novels and dramas.

Arnould (Victor), Belgian Freethinker, b. Maestricht, 7 Nov. 1838, advocate at the Court of Appeal, Brussels. Author of a History of the Church 1874, and a little work on the Philosophy of Liberalism 1877.

Arouet (François Marie). See Voltaire.

Arpe (Peter Friedrich). Philosopher, b. Kiel, Holstein, 10 May, 1682. Wrote an apology for Vanini dated Cosmopolis (i.e., Rotterdam, 1712). A reply to La Monnoye’s treatise on the book De Tribus Impostoribus is attributed to him. Died, Hamburg, 4 Nov. 1740.

Arthur (John) is inserted in Maréchal’s Dictionnaire des Athées as a mechanic from near Birmingham, who took a prize at Paris and republished the Invocation to Nature in the last pages of the System of Nature. Julian Hibbert inserted his name in his Chronological Tables of Anti-Superstitionists, with the date of death 1792.

Asseline (Louis). French writer, b. at Versailles in 1829, became an advocate in 1851. In 1866 he established La Libre Pensée, a weekly journal of scientific materialism, and when that was suppressed La Pensée Nouvelle. He was one of the founders of the Encyclopédie Générale. He wrote Diderot and the Nineteenth Century, and contributed to many journals. After the revolution of 4 Sept. 1870 he was elected mayor of the fourteenth arrondissement of Paris, and was afterwards one of the Municipal Council of that city. Died 6 April, 1878.

Assezat (Jules). French writer, b. at Paris 21 Jan. 1832 was a son of a compositor on the Journal des Debats, on which Jules obtained a position and worked his way to the editorial chair. He was secretary of the Paris Society of Anthropology, contributed to La Pensée Nouvelle, edited the Man Machine of Lamettrie, and edited the complete works of Diderot in twenty volumes. Died 24 June, 1876.

Assollant (Jean, Baptiste Alfred). French novelist, b. 20 March, 1827. Larousse says he has all the scepticism of Voltaire.

Ast (Georg Anton Friedrich). German Platonist, b. Gotha 29 Dec. 1778. Was professor of classical literature at Landshut and Munich. Wrote Elements of Philosophy, 1809, etc. Died Munich 31 Dec. 1841.

Atkinson (Henry George). Philosophic writer, b. in 1818. Was educated at the Charterhouse, gave attention to mesmerism, and wrote in the Zoist. In 1851 he issued Letters on the Laws of Man’s Nature and Development, in conjunction with Harriet Martineau, to whom he served as philosophic guide. This work occasioned a considerable outcry. Mr. Atkinson was a frequent contributor to the National Reformer and other Secular journals. He died 28 Dec. 1884, at Boulogne, where he had resided since 1870.

Aubert de Verse (Noel). A French advocate of the seventeenth century, who wrote a history of the Papacy (1685) and was accused of blasphemy.

Audebert (Louise). French authoress of the Romance of a Freethinker and of an able Reply of a Mother to the Bishop of Orleans, 1868.

Audifferent (Georges). Positivist and executor to Auguste Comte, was born at Saint Pierre (Martinque) in 1823, settled at Marseilles, and is the author of several medical and scientific works.

Aurelius (Marcus Antoninus). Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher, b. at Rome 26 April, 121. Was carefully educated, and lived a laborious, abstemious life. On the death of his uncle Antoninus Pius, 161, the Senate obliged him to take the government, but he associated with himself L. Verus. On the death of Verus in 169 Antoninus possessed sole authority, which he exercised with wise discretion and great glory. Much of his time was employed in defending the northern frontiers of the empire against Teutonic barbarians. He had no high opinion of Christians, speaking of their obstinacy, and it is pretended many were put to death in the reign of one of the best emperors that ever ruled. If so we may be assured it was for their crimes. Ecclesiastical historians have invented another pious miracle in a victory gained through the prayers of the Christians. Antoninus held that duty was indispensable even were there no gods. His Meditations, written in the midst of a most active life, breathe a lofty morality, and are a standing refutation of the view that pure ethics depend upon Christian belief. Died 17 March, 180.

Austin (Charles), lawyer and disciple of Bentham, b. Suffolk 1799. At Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1824 and M.A. in 1827, he won, much to the amazement of his friends, who knew his heterodox opinions, the Hulsean prize for an essay on Christian evidences. For this he was sorry afterwards, and told Lord Stanley of Alderley “I could have written a much better essay on the other side.” He afterwards wrote on the other side in the Westminster Review. Successful as a lawyer, he retired in ill-health. J. S. Mill writes highly of his influence. The Hon. L. A. Tollemache gives a full account of his heretical opinions. He says “He inclined to Darwinism, because as he said, it is so antecedently probable; but, long before this theory broke the back of final causes, he himself had given them up.” Died 21 Dec. 1874.

Austin (John), jurist, brother of above, was born 3 March, 1790. A friend of James Mill, Grote and Bentham, whose opinions he shared, he is chiefly known by his profound works on jurisprudence. Died 17 Dec. 1859.

Avempace, i.e., Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Bajjat (Abu Bekr), called Ibn al-Saigh (the son of the goldsmith), Arabian philosopher and poet, b. at Saragossa, practised medicine at Seville 1118, which he quitted about 1120, and became vizier at the court of Fez, where he died about 1138. An admirer of Aristotle, he was one of the teachers of Averroes. Al-Fath Ibn Khâkân represents him as an infidel and Atheist, and says: “Faith disappeared from his heart and left not a trace behind; his tongue forgot the Merciful, neither did [the holy] name cross his lips.” He is said to have suffered imprisonment for his heterodoxy.

Avenel (Georges), French writer, b. at Chaumont 31 Dec. 1828. One of the promoters of the Encyclopédie Générale. His vindication of Cloots (1865) is a solid work of erudition. He became editor of la République Française and edited the edition of Voltaire published by Le Siècle (1867–70). Died at Bougival, near Paris, 1 July, 1876, and was, by his express wish, buried without religious ceremony.

Averroes (Muhammad Ibn-Ahmad Ibn Rushd), Abu al Walid, Arabian philosopher, b. at Cordova in 1126, and died at Morocco 10 Dec. 1198. He translated and commented upon the works of Aristotle, and resolutely placed the claims of science above those of theology. He was prosecuted for his heretical opinions by the Muhammadan doctors, was spat upon by all who entered the mosque at the hour of prayer, and afterwards banished. His philosophical opinions, which incline towards materialism and pantheism, had the honor of being condemned by the University of Paris in 1240. They were opposed by St. Thomas Aquinas, and when profoundly influencing Europe at the Renaissance through the Paduan school were again condemned by Pope Leo X. in 1513.

Avicenna (Husain Ibn Abdallah, called Ibn Sina), Arabian physician and philosopher, b. Aug. 980 in the district of Bokhara. From his early youth he was a wonderful student, and at his death 15 June, 1037, he left behind him above a hundred treatises. He was the sovereign authority in medical science until the days of Harvey. His philosophy was pantheistic in tone, with an attempt at compromise with theology.

Aymon (Jean), French writer, b. Dauphiné 1661. Brought up in the Church, he abjured Catholicism at Geneva, and married at the Hague. He published Metamorphoses of the Romish Religion, and is said to have put forward a version of the Esprit de Spinoza under the famous title Treatise of Three Impostors. Died about 1734.

Bagehot (Walter), economist and journalist, b. of Unitarian parents, Langport, Somersetshire, 3 Feb. 1826; he died at the same place 24 March, 1877. He was educated at London University, of which he became a fellow. For the last seventeen years of his life he edited the Economist newspaper. His best-known works are The English Constitution, Lombard Street and Literary Studies. In Physics and Politics (1872), a series of essays on the Evolution of Society, he applies Darwinism to politics. Bagehot was a bold, clear, and very original thinker, who rejected historic Christianity.

Baggesen (Jens Immanuel), Danish poet, b. Kösor, Zealand. 15 Feb. 1764. In 1789 he visited Germany, France, and Switzerland; at Berne he married the grand-daughter of Haller. He wrote popular poems both in Danish and German, among others Adam and Eve, a humorous mock epic (1826). He was an admirer of Voltaire. Died Hamburg, 3 Oct. 1826.

Bahnsen (Julius Friedrich August), pessimist, b. Tondern, Schleswig-Holstein, 30 Mar. 1830. Studied philosophy at Keil, 1847. He fought against the Danes in ’49, and afterwards studied at Tübingen. Bahnsen is an independent follower of Schopenhauer and Hartmann, joining monism to the idealism of Hegel. He has written several works, among which we mention The Philosophy of History, Berlin, 1872, and The Contradiction between the Knowledge and the Nature of the World (2 vols), Berlin 1880–82.

Bahrdt (Karl Friedrich), German deist, b. in Saxony, 25 Aug. 1741. Educated for the Church, in 1766 he was made professor of biblical philology. He was condemned for heresy, and wandered from place to place. He published a kind of expurgated Bible, called New Revelations of God: A System of Moral Religion for Doubters and Thinkers, Berlin, 1787, and a Catechism of Natural Religion, Halle, 1790. Died near Halle, 23 April, 1792.

Bailey (James Napier), Socialist, edited the Model Republic, 1843, the Torch, and the Monthly Messenger. He published Gehenna: its Monarch and Inhabitants; Sophistry Unmasked, and several other tracts in the “Social Reformer’s Cabinet Library,” and some interesting Essays on Miscellaneous Subjects, at Leeds, 1842.

Bailey (Samuel), philosophical writer, of Sheffield, b. in 1791. His essay on the Formation and Publication of Opinions appeared in 1821. He vigorously contends that man is not responsible for his opinions because they are independent of his will, and that opinions should not be the subject of punishment. Another anonymous Freethought work was Letters from an Egyptian Kaffir on a Visit to England in Search of Religion. This was at first issued privately 1839, but afterwards printed as a Reasoner tract. He also wrote The Pursuit of Truth, 1829, and a Theory of Reasoning, 1851. He was acquainted with both James and John Stuart Mill, and shared in most of the views of the philosophical Radicals of the period. Died 18 Jan. 1870, leaving £90,000 to his native town.

Bailey (William S.), editor of the Liberal, published in Nashville, Tennessee, was an Atheist up till the day of death, March, 1886. In a slave-holding State, he was the earnest advocate of abolition.

Baillie (George), of Garnet Hill, Glasgow. Had been a sheriff in one of the Scotch counties. He was a liberal subscriber to the Glasgow Eclectic Institute. In 1854 he offered a prize for the best essay on Christianity and Infidelity, which was gained by Miss Sara Hennell. In 1857 another prize was restricted to the question whether Jesus prophesied the coming of the end of the world in the life-time of his followers. It was gained by Mr. E. P. Meredith, and is incorporated in his Prophet of Nazareth. In 1863 Mr. Baillie divested himself of his fortune (£18,000) which was to be applied to the erection and endowment of an institution to aid the culture of the operative classes by means of free libraries and unsectarian schools, retaining only the interest for himself as curator. He only survived a few years.

Baillière (Gustave-Germer), French scientific publisher, b. at Paris 26 Dec. 1837. Studied medicine, but devoted himself to bringing out scientific publications such as the Library of Contemporary Philosophy, and the International Scientific Series. He was elected 29 Nov. 1874 as Republican and anti-clerical member of the Municipal Council of Paris.

Bain (Alexander) LL.D. Scotch philosopher, b. at Aberdeen in 1818. He began life as a weaver but studied at Marischal College 1836–40, and graduated M.A. in 1840. He then began to contribute to the Westminster Review, and became acquainted with John Stuart Mill, whose Logic he discussed in manuscript. In 1855 he published The Senses and The Intellect, and in 1859 The Emotions and the Will, constituting together a systematic exposition of the human mind. From 1860 to 1880 he occupied the Chair of Logic in the University of Aberdeen, his accession being most obnoxious to the orthodox, and provoking disorder among the students. In 1869 he received the degree of LL.D. In addition to numerous educational works Dr. Bain published a Compendium of Mental and Moral Science (1868), Mind and Body (1875), and Education as a Science (1879), for the International Scientific Series. In 1882 he published James Mill, a Biography, and John Stuart Mill: a Criticism, with Personal Recollections. In 1881 he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen, and this honor was renewed in 1884, in which year he published Practical Essays.

Bainham (James), martyr. He married the widow of Simon Fish, author of the Supplycacion of Beggars, an attack upon the clergy of the period. In 1531 he was accused of heresy, having among other things denied transubstantiation, the confessional, and “the power of the keys.” It was asserted that he had said that he would as lief pray to his wife as to “our lady,” and that Christ was but a man. This he denied, but admitted holding the salvation of unbelievers. He was burnt 30 April, 1532.

Baissac (Jules), French littérateur, b. Vans, 1827, author of several studies in philology and mythology. In 1878 he published Les Origines de la Religion in three volumes, which have the honor of being put upon the Roman Index. This was followed by l’Age de Dieu, a study of cosmical periods and the feast of Easter. In 1882 he began to publish Histoire de la Diablerie Chrétienne, the first part of which is devoted to the person and “personnel” of the devil.

Bakunin (Mikhail Aleksandrovich), Russian Nihilist, b. Torshok (Tver) 1814, of an ancient aristocratic family. He was educated at St. Petersburg, and entered as an ensign in the artillery. Here he became embued with revolutionary ideas. He went to Berlin in 1841, studied the Hegelian philosophy, and published some philosophical writings under the name of Jules Elisard. In ’43 he visited Paris and became a disciple of Proudhon. In ’48 he was expelled from France at the demand of Russia, whose government set the price of 10,000 silver roubles on his head, went to Dresden and became a member of the insurrectionary government. He was arrested and condemned to death, May ’50, but his sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life. He escaped into Austria, was again captured and sentenced to death, but was handed over to Russia and deported to Siberia. After several years’ penal servitude he escaped, travelled over a thousand miles under extreme hardship, reached the sea and sailed to Japan. Thence he sailed to California, thence to New York and London, where with Herzen he published the Kolokol. He took part in the establishment of the International Society, but being at issue with Karl Marx abandoned that body in 1873. He died at Berne 1 July 1876, leaving behind a work on God and the State, both being vigorously attacked. Laveleye writes of him as “the apostle of universal destruction.”

Ball (William Platt), b. at Birmingham 28 Nov. 1844. Educated at Birkbeck School, London. Became schoolmaster but retired rather than teach religious doctrines. Matriculated at London University 1866. Taught pyrotechny in the Sultan’s service 1870–71. Received the order of the Medjidieh after narrow escape from death by the bursting of a mortar. Upon his return published Poems from Turkey (1872). Mr. Ball has contributed to the National Reformer since 1878 and since 1884 has been on the staff of the Freethinker. He has published pamphlets on Religion in Schools, the Ten Commandments and Mrs Besant’s Socialism, and has compiled with Mr. Foote the Bible Handbook. Mr. Ball is a close thinker and a firm supporter of Evolutional Malthusianism, which he has ably defended in the pages of Progress. He has of late been engaged upon the question: Are the Effects of Use and Disuse Inherited?

Ballance (John), New Zealand statesman, b. Glenary, Antrim, Ireland, March 1839. Going out to New Zealand he became a journalist and started the Wanganui Herald. He entered Parliament in 1875 and became Colonial Treasurer in ’78. With Sir Robert Stout he has been a great support to the Freethought cause in New Zealand.

Baltzer (Wilhelm Eduard). German rationalist, b. 24 Oct. 1814, at Hohenleine in Saxony. He was educated as a Protestant minister, but resigned and founded at Nordhausen in 1847 a free community. He took part in the Parliament of Frankfort in ’48; has translated the life of Apollonius of Tyana, and is the author of a history of religion and numerous other works. Died 24 June, 1887.

Bancel (François Désiré). French politician, b. Le Mastre, 2 Feb. 1822. Became an advocate. In 1849, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly. After the coup d’état he retired to Brussels, where he became Professor at the University. In 1869 he was elected deputy at Paris in opposition to M. Ollivier. He translated the work on Rationalism by Ausonio Franchi, and wrote on Mysteries, 1871, besides many political works. Died 23 June, 1871.

Barbier (Edmond). French translator of the works of Darwin, Lubbock, and Tylor. Died 1883.

Barbier d’Aucour (Jean). French critic and academician, b. Langres, 1642. Most of his writings are directed against the Jesuits. Died Paris, 13 Sept. 1694.

Barlow (George). Poet, b. in London, 19 June, 1847. In his volumes, Under the Dawn and Poems, Real and Ideal, he gives utterance to many Freethought sentiments.

Barlow (Joel). American statesman, writer and poet, b. Reading, Connecticut, 24 March, 1754. Served as a volunteer in the revolutionary war, became a chaplain, but resigned that profession, taking to literature. In England, in 1791, he published Advice to the Privileged Orders. In France he translated Volney’s Ruins of Empires, and contributed to the political literature of the Revolution. Paine entrusted him with the MS. of the first part of the Age of Reason. His chief work is entitled the Columbiad, 1808. He was sent as minister to France, 1811, and being involved in the misfortunes following the retreat from Moscow, died near Cracow, Poland, 24 Dec. 1812.

Barni (Jules Romain). French philosophic writer, b. Lille, 1 June, 1818. He became secretary to Victor Cousin, and translated the works of Kant into French. He contributed to La Liberté de Penser (1847–51) and to l’Avenir (1855). During the Empire he lived in Switzerland and published Martyrs de la Libre Pensée (1862), La Morale dans la Démocratie (1864), and a work on the French Moralists of the Eighteenth Century (1873). He was elected to the National Assembly, 1872; and to the Chamber of Deputies, 1876. Died at Mers, 4 July, 1878. A statue is erected to him at Amiens.

Barnout (Hippolyte). French architect and writer, b. Paris 1816, published a Rational Calendar 1859 and 1860. In May 1870 he established a journal entitled L’Athée, the Atheist, which the clerical journals declared drew God’s vengeance upon France. He is also author of a work on aerial navigation.

Barot (François Odysse). French writer, b. at Mirabeau 1830. He has been a journalist on several Radical papers, was secretary to Gustave Flourens, and has written on the Birth of Jesus (1864) and Contemporary Literature in England (1874).

Barrett (Thomas Squire). Born 9 Sept. 1842, of Quaker parents, both grandfathers being ministers of that body; educated at Queenwood College, obtained diploma of Associate in Arts from Oxford with honors in Natural Science and Mathematics, contributed to the National Reformer between 1865 and 1870, published an acute examination of Gillespie’s argument, à priori, for the existence of God (1869), which in 1871 reached a second edition. He also wrote A New View of Causation (1871), and an Introduction to Logic and Metyphysics (1877). Mr. Barrett has been hon. sec. of the London Dialectical Society, and edited a short-lived publication, The Present Day, 1886.

Barrier (F. M.). French Fourierist, b. Saint Etienne 1815, became professor of medicine at Lyons, wrote A Sketch of the Analogy of Man and Humanity (Lyons 1846), and Principles of Sociology (Paris 1867), and an abridgment of this entitled Catechism of Liberal and Rational Socialism. Died Montfort-L’Amaury 1870.

Barrillot (François). French author, b. of poor parents at Lyons in 1818. An orphan at seven years of age, he learnt to read from shop signs, and became a printer and journalist. Many of his songs and satires acquired popularity. He has also wrote a letter to Pope Pius IX. on the Œcumenical Council (1871), signed Jean Populus, and a philosophical work entitled Love is God. Died at Paris, 11 Dec. 1874.

Barthez (Paul Joseph), French physician, b. Montpelier 11 Dec. 1734. A friend of D’Alembert, he became associate editor of the Journal des Savants and Encyclopédie Méthodique. He was made consulting physician to the king and a councillor of State. Shown by the Archbishop of Sens a number of works relating to the rites of his see he said, “These are the ceremonies of Sens, but can you show me the sense [Sens] of ceremonies.” His principal work is New Elements of the Science of Man. Died 15 Oct. 1806.

Basedow (Johann Bernhard), German Rationalist and educational reformer, b. at Hamburg 11 Sept. 1723. He studied theology at Leipsic, became professor at the Academy of Sora, in Denmark, 1753–1761, and at Altona, 1761–1768. While here he published Philalethea, the Grounds of Religion, and other heterodox works, which excited so much prejudice that he was in danger of being stoned. He devoted much attention to improving methods of teaching. Died at Magdeburg 25 July, 1790.

Baskerville (John), famous printer, b. Sion Hill, Wolverley, Worcestershire, 28 Jan. 1706. Lived at Birmingham. He was at first a stone-mason, then made money as an artistic japanner, and devoted it to perfecting the art of type-founding and printing. As a printer-publisher he produced at his own risk beautiful editions of Milton, Addison, Shaftesbury, Congreve, Virgil, Horace, Lucretius, Terence, etc. He was made printer to Cambridge University 1758. Wilkes once visited him and was “shocked at his infidelity” (!) He died 8 Jan. 1775, and was buried in a tomb in his own garden. He had designed a monumental urn with this inscription: “Stranger, beneath this cone in unconsecrated ground a friend to the liberties of mankind directed his body to be inurned. May the example contribute to emancipate thy mind from the idle fears of superstition and the wicked arts of priesthood.” His will expresses the utmost contempt for Christianity. His type was appropriately purchased to produce a complete edition of Voltaire.

Bassus (Aufidus). An Epicurean philosopher and friend of Seneca in the time of Nero. Seneca praises his patience and courage in the presence of death.

Bate (Frederick), Socialist, author of The Student 1842, a drama in which the author’s sceptical views are put forward. Mr. Bate was one of the founders of the social experiment at New Harmony, now Queenswood College, Hants, and engraved a view representing the Owenite scheme of community.

Baudelaire (Charles Pierre), French poet, b. Paris, 9 April 1821, the son of a distinguished friend of Cabanis and Condorcet. He first became famous by the publication of Fleurs du Mal, 1857, in which appeared Les Litanies de Satan. The work was prosecuted and suppressed. Baudelaire translated some of the writings of E. A. Poe, a poet whom he resembled much in life and character. The divine beauty of his face has been celebrated by the French poet, Théodore de Banville, and his genius in some magnificent stanzas by the English poet, Algernon Swinburne. Died Paris 31 Aug. 1867.

Baudon (P. L.), French author of a work on the Christian Superstition, published at Brussels in 1862 and dedicated to Bishop Dupanloup under the pseudonym of “Aristide.”

Bauer (Bruno), one of the boldest biblical critics of Germany, b. Eisenberg, 6 Sept. 1809. Educated at the University of Berlin, in 1834 he received a professorship of theology. He first attained celebrity by a review of the Life of Jesus by Strauss (1835). This was followed by his Journal of Speculative Theology and Critical Exposition of the Religion of the Old Testament. He then proceeded to a Review of the Gospel History, upon the publication of which (1840) he was deprived of his professorship at Bonn. To this followed Christianity Unveiled (1843), which was destroyed at Zurich before its publication. This work continued his opposition to religion, which was carried still further in ironical style in his Proclamation of the Day of Judgement concerning Hegel the Atheist. Bauer’s heresy deepened with age, and in his Review of the Gospels and History of their Origin (1850), to which Apostolical History is a supplement, he attacked the historical truth of the New Testament narratives. In his Review of the Epistles attributed to St. Paul (1852) he tries to show that the first four epistles, which had hardly ever before been questioned, were not written by Paul, but are the production of the second century. In his Christ and the Cæsars he shows the influence of Seneca and Greco-Roman thought upon early Christianity. He died near Berlin, 13 April, 1882.

Bauer (Edgar), b. Charlottenburg, 7 Oct. 1820, brother of the preceding, collaborated in some of his works. His brochure entitled Bruno Bauer and his Opponents (1842) was seized by the police. For his next publication, The Strife of Criticism with Church and State (1843), he was imprisoned for four years. He has also written on English freedom, Capital, etc.

Baume-Desdossat (Jacques François, de la), b. 1705, a Canon of Avignon who wrote La Christiade (1753), a satire on the gospels, in which Jesus is tempted by Mary Magdalene. It was suppressed by the French Parliament and the author fined. He died 30 April, 1756.

Baur (Ferdinand Christian von), distinguished theological critic, b. 21 June, 1792, near Stuttgart. His father was a clergyman. He was educated at Tübingen, where in 1826 he became professor of Church history. Baur is the author of numerous works on dogmatic and historic theology, in which he subverts all the fundamental positions of Christianity. He was an Hegelian Pantheist. Among his more important works are Christianity and the Church in the First Three Centuries and Paul: His Life and Works. These are translated into English. He acknowledges only four of the epistles of Paul and the Revelation as genuine products of the apostolic age, and shows how very far from simplicity were the times and doctrines of primitive Christianity. After a life of great literary activity he died at Tübingen, 2 Dec. 1860.

Bayle (Pierre), learned French writer, b. 18 Nov. 1647, at Carlat, France, where his father was a Protestant minister. He was converted to Romanism while studying at the Jesuit College, Toulouse, 1669. His Romanism only lasted seventeen months. He abjured, and fled to Switzerland, becoming a sceptic, as is evident from Thoughts on the Comet, in which he compares the supposed mischiefs of Atheism with those of fanaticism, and from many articles in his famous Dictionnaire Critique, a work still of value for its curious learning and shrewd observation. In his journal Nouvelles de la République des Lettres he advocates religious toleration on the ground of the difficulty of distinguishing truth from error. His criticism of Maimbourg’s History of Calvinism was ordered to be burnt by the hangman. Jurieu persecuted him, and he was ordered to be more careful in preparing the second edition of his dictionary. He died at Rotterdam, 28 Dec. 1706. Bayle has been called the father of free discussion in modern times.

Bayrhoffer (Karl Theodor), German philosopher, b. Marburg, 14 Oct., 1812, wrote The Idea and History of Philosophy (1838), took part in the revolution of ’48, emigrated to America, and wrote many polemical works. Died near Monroe, Wisconsin, 3 Feb. 1888.

Beauchamp (Philip). See Bentham and Grote.

Beausobre (Louis de), b. at Berlin, 22 Aug. 1730, was adopted by Frederick the Great out of esteem for his father, Isaac Beausobre, the author of the History of Manicheanism. He was educated first at Frankfort-on-Oder, then at Paris. He wrote on the scepticism of the wise (Pyrrhonisme du Sage, Berlin, 1754), a work condemned to be burnt by the Parliament of Paris. He also wrote anonymously The Dreams of Epicurus, and an essay on Happiness (Berlin, 1758), reprinted with the Social System of Holbach in 1795. Died at Berlin, 3 Dec. 1783.

Bebel (Ferdinand August). German Socialist, b. Cologne, 22 Feb. 1840. Brought up as a turner in Leipsic. Since ’63, he became distinguished as an exponent of social democracy, and was elected to the German Reichstag in ’71. In the following year he was condemned (6 March) to two years’ imprisonment for high treason. He was re-elected in ’74. His principal work is Woman in the Past, Present and Future which is translated by H. B. A. Walther, 1885. He has also written on the Mohammedan Culture Period (1884) and on Christianity and Socialism.

Beccaria (Bonesana Cesare), an Italian marquis and writer, b. at Milan, 15 March, 1738. A friend of Voltaire, who praised his treatise on Crimes and Punishments (1769), a work which did much to improve the criminal codes of Europe. Died Milan, 28 Nov. 1794.

Beesly (Edward Spencer), Positivist, b. Feckenham, Worcestershire, 1831. Educated at Wadham College, Oxford, where he took B.A. in 1854, and M.A. in ’57. Appointed Professor of History, University College, London, in 1860. He is one of the translators of Comte’s System of Positive Polity, and has published several pamphlets on political and social questions.

Beethoven (Ludwig van), one of the greatest of musical composers, b. Bonn 16 Dec. 1770. His genius early displayed itself, and at the age of five he was set to study the works of Handel and Bach. His many compositions are the glory of music. They include an opera “Fidelio,” two masses, oratorios, symphonies, concertos, overtures and sonatas, and are characterised by penetrating power, rich imagination, intense passion, and tenderness. When about the age of forty he became totally deaf, but continued to compose till his death at Vienna, 26 March, 1827. He regarded Goethe with much the same esteem as Wagner showed for Schopenhauer, but he disliked his courtliness. His Republican sentiments are well known, and Sir George Macfarren, in his life in the Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography, speaks of him as a “Freethinker,” and says the remarkable mass in C. “might scarcely have proceeded from an entirely orthodox thinker.” Sir George Grove, in his Dictionary of Music and Musicians, says: “Formal religion he apparently had none,” and “the Bible does not appear to have been one of his favorite books.” At the end of his arrangement of “Fidelio” Moscheles had written, “Fine. With God’s help.” To this Beethoven added, “O man, help thyself.”

Bekker (Balthasar), Dutch Rationalist, b. Metslawier (Friesland) 20 March, 1634. He studied at Gronigen, became a doctor of divinity, and lived at Francker, but was accused of Socinianism, and had to fly to Amsterdam, where he raised another storm by his World Bewitched (1691), a work in which witchcraft and the power of demons are denied. His book, which contains much curious information, raised a host of adversaries, and he was deposed from his place in the Church. It appeared in English in 1695. Died, Amsterdam, 11 June, 1698. Bekker was remarkably ugly, and he is said to have “looked like the devil, though he did not believe in him.”

Belinsky (Vissarion Grigorevich), Russian critic, b. Pensa 1811, educated at Pensa and Moscow, adopted the Pantheistic philosophy of Hegel and Schelling. Died St. Petersburg, 28 May, 1848. His works were issued in 12 volumes, 1857–61.

Bell (Thomas Evans), Major in Madras Army, which he entered in 1842. He was employed in the suppression of Thugee. He wrote the Task of To-Day, 1852, and assisted the Reasoner, both with pen and purse, writing over the signature “Undecimus.” He contemplated selling his commission to devote himself to Freethought propaganda, but by the advice of his friends was deterred. He returned to India at the Mutiny. In January, 1861, he became Deputy-Commissioner of Police at Madras. He retired in July, 1865, and has written many works on Indian affairs. Died 12 Sept. 1887.

Bell (William S.), b. in Allegheny city, Pennsylvania, 10 Feb. 1832. Brought up as a Methodist minister, was denounced for mixing politics with religion, and for his anti-slavery views. In 1873 he preached in the Universalist Church of New Bedford, but in Dec. ’74, renounced Christianity and has since been a Freethought lecturer. He has published a little book on the French Revolution, and some pamphlets.

Bender (Wilhelm), German Rationalist, professor of theology at Bonn, b. 15 Jan. 1845, who created a sensation at the Luther centenary, 1883, by declaring that the work of the Reformation was incompleted and must be carried on by the Rationalists.

Bennett (De Robigne Mortimer), founder and editor of the New York Truthseeker, b. of poor parents, Springfield (N.Y.), 23 Dec. 1818. At the age of fifteen he joined the Shaker Society in New Lebanon. Here he stayed thirteen years and then married. Having lost faith in the Shaker creed, he went to Louisville, Kentucky, where he started a drug store. The perusal of Paine, Volney, and similar works made him a Freethinker. In 1873, his letters to a local journal in answer to some ministers having been refused, he resolved to start a paper of his own. The result was the Truthseeker, which in January, 1876 became a weekly, and has since become one of the principal Freethought organs in America. In 1879 he was sentenced to thirteen months’ imprisonment for sending through the post a pamphlet by Ezra H. Heywood on the marriage question. A tract, entitled An Open Letter to Jesus Christ, was read in court to bias the jury. A petition bearing 200,000 names was presented to President Hayes asking his release, but was not acceded to. Upon his release his admirers sent him for a voyage round the world. He wrote A Truthseeker’s Voyage Round the World, Letters from Albany Penitentiary, Answers to Christian Questions and Arguments, two large volumes on The Gods, another on the World’s Sages, Infidels and Thinkers, and published his discussions with Humphrey, Mair, and Teed, and numerous tracts. He died 6 Dec. 1882.

Bentham (Jeremy), writer on ethics, jurisprudence, and political economy, b. 15 Feb. 1748. A grand uncle named Woodward was the publisher of Tindal’s Christianity as Old as the Creation. Was educated at Westminster and Oxford, where he graduated M.A. 1767. Bentham is justly regarded as the father of the school of philosophical Radicalism. In philosophy he is the great teacher of Utilitarianism; as a jurist he did much to disclose the defects of and improve our system of law. Macaulay says he “found jurisprudence a gibberish and left it a science.” His most pronounced Freethought work was that written in conjunction with Grote, published as An Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion, by Philip Beauchamp, 1822. Among his numerous other works we can only mention Deontology, or the Science of Mortality, an exposition of utilitarianism; Church of Englandism and its Catechism Examined; Not Paul, but Jesus, published under the pseudonym of Gamaliel Smith. Died 6 June, 1832, leaving his body for the purposes of science.

Béranger (Jean Pierre de), celebrated French lyrical poet, b. Paris, 19 Aug. 1780. His satire on the Bourbons twice ensured for him imprisonment. He was elected to the Constituant Assembly 1848. Béranger has been compared not inaptly to Burns. All his songs breathe the spirit of liberty, and several have been characterised as impious. He died 16 July, 1857.

Bergel (Joseph), Jewish Rationalist, author of Heaven and Its Wonders, Leipsic, 1881, and Mythology of the Ancient Hebrews, 1882.

Berger (Moriz), author of a work on Materialism in Conflict with Spiritualism and Idealism, Trieste, 1883.

Bergerac de (Savinien Cyrano). See Cyrano.

Bergk (Johann Adam), German philosopher, b. Hainechen, Zeitz, 27 June, 1769; became a private teacher at Leipsic and wrote many works, both under his own name and pseudonyms. He published the Art of Thinking, Leipsic, 1802, conducted the Asiatic Magazine, 1806, and wrote under the name of Frey the True Religion, “recommended to rationalists and destined for the Radical cure of supernaturalists, mystics, etc.” Died Leipsic, 27 Oct. 1834.

Bergk (Theodor), German humanist, son of the above, b. Leipsic, 22 May, 1812, author of a good History of Greek Literature, 1872.

Berigardus (Claudius), or Beauregard (Claude Guillermet), French physician and philosopher, b. at Moulins about 1591. He became a professor at Pisa from 1628 till 1640, and then went to Padua. His Circulus Pisanus, published in 1643, was considered an Atheistic work. In the form of a dialogue he exhibits the various hypotheses of the formation of the world. The work was forbidden and is very rare. His book entitled Dubitationes in Dialogum Galilæi, also brought on him a charge of scepticism. Died in 1664.

Berkenhout (Dr. John), physician and miscellaneous writer, b. 1731, the son of a Dutch merchant who settled at Leeds. In early life he had been a captain both in the Prussian and English service, and in 1765 took his M.D. degree at Leyden. He published many books on medical science, a synopsis of the natural history of Great Britain and Ireland, and several humorous pieces, anonymously. His principal work is entitled Biographia Literaria, a biographical history of English literature, 1777. Throughout the work he loses no opportunity of displaying his hostility to the theologians, and is loud in his praises of Voltaire. Died 3 April, 1791.

Berlioz (Louis Hector). The most original of French musical composers, b. Isère, 11 Dec. 1803. He obtained fame by his dramatic symphony of Romeo and Juliet (1839), and was made chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Among his works is one on the Infancy of Christ. In his Memoirs he relates how he scandalised Mendelssohn “by laughing at the Bible.” Died Paris, 9 March, 1869.

Bernard (Claude), French physiologist, b. Saint Julien 12 July, 1813. Went to Paris 1832, studied medicine, became member of the Institute and professor at the Museum of Natural History, wrote La Science Experimentale, and other works on physiology. Died 10 Feb. 1878, and was buried at the expense of the Republic. Paul Bert calls him the introducer of determinism in the domain of physiology.

Bernier (Abbé). See Holbach.

Bernier (François), French physician and traveller, b. Angers about 1625. He was a pupil of Gassendi, whose works he abridged, and he defended Descartes against the theologians. He is known as le joli philsophe. In 1654 he went to Syria and Egypt, and from thence to India, where he became physician to Aurungzebe. On his return he published an account of his travels and of the Empire of the Great Mogul, and died at Paris 22 Sept. 1688.

Bernstein (Aaron), a rationalist, b. of Jewish parents Dantzic 1812. His first work was a translation of the Song of Songs, published under the pseudonym of A. Rebenstein (1834). He devoted himself to natural science and published works on The Rotation of Planets, Humboldt and the Spirit of the Time, etc. His essay on The Origin of the Legends of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was translated by a German lady and published by Thomas Scott of Ramsgate (1872). Died Berlin, 12 Feb. 1884.

Berquin (Louis de), French martyr, b. in Artois, 1489. Erasmus, his friend, says his great crime was openly professing hatred of the monks. In 1523 his works were ordered to be burnt, and he was commanded to abjure his heresies. Sentence of perpetual banishment was pronounced on him on April 16, 1529. He immediately appealed to the Parliament. His appeal was heard and rejected on the morning of the 17th. The Parliament reformed the judgment and condemned him to be burnt alive, and the sentence was carried out on the same afternoon at the Place de la Grève. He died with great constancy and resolution.

Bert (Paul), French scientist and statesman, b. at Auxerre, 17 Oct. 1833. In Paris he studied both law and medicine, and after being Professor in the Faculty of Science at Bordeaux, he in 1869 obtained the chair of physiology in the Faculty of Science at Paris, and distinguished himself by his scientific experiments. In ’70 he offered his services to the Government of National Defence, and in ’72 was elected to the National Assembly, where he signalised himself by his Radical opinions. Gambetta recognised his worth and made him Minister of Public Instruction, in which capacity he organised French education on a Secular basis. His First Year of Scientific Instruction is almost universally used in the French primary schools. It has been translated into English by Josephine Clayton (Madame Paul Bert). His strong anti-clerical views induced much opposition. He published several scientific and educational works and attacked The Morality of the Jesuits, ’80. In ’86 he was appointed French Resident Minister at Tonquin, where he died 11 Nov. ’86. His body was brought over to France and given a State funeral, a pension being also accorded to his widow.

Bertani (Agostino), Italian patriot, b. 19 Oct. 1812, became a physician at Genoa, took part with Garibaldi and Mazzini, organising the ambulance services. A declared Freethinker, he was elected deputy to the Italian Parliament. Died Rome 30 April, ’86.

Berti (Antonio), Italian physician, b. Venice 20 June, 1816. Author of many scientific works, member of the Venice Municipal Council and of the Italian Senate. Died Venice 24 March, 1879.

Bertillon (Louis Adolphe), French Anthropologist and physician, b. Paris 1 April, 1821. His principal work is a statistical study of the French population, Paris ’74. He edits in conjunction with A. Hovelacque and others, the Dictionary of the Anthropological Sciences (’83 etc.) His sons, Jacques (b. ’51) and Alphonse (b. ’53), prosecute similar studies.

Bertrand de Saint-Germain (Guillaume Scipion), French physician, b. Puy-en-Velay 25 Oct. 1810. Became M.D. 1840, wrote on The Original Diversity of Human Races (1847), and a materialistic work on Manifestation of Life and Intelligence through Organisation, 1848. Has also written on Descartes as a Physiologist, 1869.

Berwick (George J.) M.D., appointed surgeon to the East India Company in 1828, retired in ’52. Author of Awas-i-hind, or a Voice from the Ganges; being a solution of the true source of Christianity. By an Indian Officer; London, 1861. Also of a work on The Forces of the Universe, ’70. Died about 1872.

Besant (Annie) née Wood. B. London, 1 Oct. 1847. Educated in Evangelicalism by Miss Marryat, sister of novelist, but turned to the High Church by reading Pusey and others. In “Holy Week” of 1866 she resolved to write the story of the week from the gospel. Their contradictions startled her but she regarded her doubts as sin. In Dec. ’67 she married the Rev. F. Besant, and read and wrote extensively. The torment a child underwent in whooping-cough caused doubts as to the goodness of God. A study of Greg’s Creed of Christendom and Arnold’s Literature and Dogma increased her scepticism. She became acquainted with the Rev. C. Voysey and Thomas Scott, for whom she wrote an Essay on the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth, “by the wife of a beneficed clergyman.” This led to her husband insisting on her taking communion or leaving. She chose the latter course, taking by agreement her daughter with her. Thrown on her own resources, she wrote further tracts for Mr. Scott, reprinted in My Path to Atheism (’77). Joined the National Secular Society, and in ’74 wrote in the National Reformer over the signature of “Ajax.” Next year she took to the platform and being naturally eloquent soon won her way to the front rank as a Freethought lecturess, and became joint editor of the National Reformer. Some lectures on the French Revolution were republished in book form. In April, ’77, she was arrested with Mr. Bradlaugh for publishing the Fruits of Philosophy. After a brilliant defence, the jury exonerated the defendants from any corrupt motives, and although they were sentenced the indictment was quashed in Feb. ’78, and the case was not renewed. In May, ’78, a petition in Chancery was presented to deprive Mrs. Besant of her child on the ground of her Atheistic and Malthusian views. Sir G. Jessell granted the petition. In ’80 Mrs. Besant matriculated at the London University and took 1st B.Sc. with honors in ’82. She has debated much and issued many pamphlets to be found in Theological Essays and Debates. She wrote the second part of the Freethinkers’ Text Book dealing with Christian evidence; has written on the Sins of the Church, 1886, and the Evolution of Society. She has translated Jules Soury’s Religion of Israel, and Jesus of the Gospels; Dr. L. Büchner on the Influence of Heredity and Mind in Animals, and from the fifteenth edition of Force and Matter. From ’83 to ’88 she edited Our Corner, and since ’85 has given much time to Socialist propaganda, and has written many Socialist pamphlets. In Dec. ’88, Mrs. Besant was elected a member of the London School Board.

Beverland (Hadrianus), Dutch classical scholar and nephew of Isaac Vossius, b. Middleburg 1654. He took the degree of doctor of law and became an advocate, but devoted himself to literature. He was at the university of Oxford in 1672. His treatise on Original Sin, Peccatum Originale (Eleutheropoli, 1678), in which he contends that the sin of Adam and Eve was sexual inclination, caused a great outcry. It was burnt, Beverland was imprisoned and his name struck from the rolls of Leyden University. He wrote some other curious works and died about 1712.

Bevington (Louisa S.), afterwards Guggenberger; English poetess and authoress of Key Notes, 1879; Poems, Lyrics and Sonnets, ’82; wrote “Modern Atheism and Mr. Mallock” in the Nineteenth Century (Oct. and Dec. ’79), and on “The Moral Demerits of Orthodoxy” in Progress, Sept. ’84.

Beyle (Marie Henri), French man of letters, famous under the name of de Stendhal, b. Grenoble, 23 Jan. 1783. Painter, soldier, merchant and consul, he travelled largely, a wandering life being congenial to his broad and sceptical spirit. His book, De l’Amour is his most notable work. He was an original and gifted critic and romancer. Balzac esteemed him highly. He died at Paris, 23 March, 1842. Prosper Merimée has published his correspondence. One of his sayings was “Ce qui excuse Dieu, c’est qu’il n’existe pas”—God’s excuse is that he does not exist.

Bianchi (Angelo), known as Bianchi-Giovini (Aurelio) Italian man of letters, b. of poor parents at Como, 25 Nov. 1799. He conducted several papers in various parts of Piedmont and Switzerland. His Life of Father Paoli Sarpi, 1836, was put on the Index, and thenceforward he was in constant strife with the Roman Church. For his attacks on the clergy in Il Republicano, at Lugano, he was proscribed, and had to seek refuge at Zurich, 1839. He went thence to Milan and there wrote a History of the Hebrews, a monograph on Pope Joan, and an account of the Revolution. His principal works are the History of the Popes until the great schism of the West (Turin, 1850–64) and a Criticism of the Gospels, 1853, which has gone through several editions. Died 16 May, 1862.

Biandrata or Blandrata (Giorgio), Italian anti-trinitarian reformer, b. Saluzzo about 1515. Graduated in arts and medicine at Montpellier, 1533. He was thrown into the prison of the Inquisition at Pavia, but contrived to escape to Geneva, where he become obnoxious to Calvin. He left Geneva in 1558 and went to Poland where he became a leader of the Socinian party. He was assassinated 1591.

Bichat (Marie François Xavier), a famous French anatomist and physiologist, b. Thoirette (Jura), 11 Nov. 1771. His work on the Physiology of Life and Death was translated into English. He died a martyr to his zeal for science, 22 July, 1802.

Biddle or Bidle (John), called the father of English Unitarianism, b. Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, 14 Jan. 1615. He took his M.A. degree at Oxford, 1641, and became master of the Gloucester Grammar School, but lost the situation for denying the Trinity. He was also imprisoned there for some time, and afterwards cited at Westminster. He appealed to the public in defence, and his pamphlet was ordered to be burnt by the hangman, 6 Sept. 1647. He was detained in prison till 1652, after which he published several pamphlets, and was again imprisoned in 1654. In Oct. 1655, Cromwell banished him to the Scilly Isles, making him an allowance. He returned to London 1658, but after the publication of the Acts of Uniformity was again seized, and died in prison 22 Sept. 1662.

Bierce (M. H.) see Grile (Dod).

Billaud-Varenne (Jean Nicolas), French conventionalist b. La Rochelle, 23 April, 1756. About 1785 became advocate to Parliament; denounced the government and clergy 1789. Proposed abolition of the monarchy 1 July, 1791, and wrote Elements of Republicanism, 1793. Withdrew from Robespierre after the feast of the Supreme Being, saying “Thou beginnest to sicken me with thy Supreme Being.” Was exiled 1 April, 1795, and died at St. Domingo, 3 June, 1819.

Bion, of Borysthenes, near the mouth of the Dneiper. A Scythian philosopher who flourished about 250 B.C. He was sold as a slave to a rhetorician, who afterwards gave him freedom and made him his heir. Upon this he went to Athens and applied himself to the study of philosophy. He had several teachers, but attached himself to Theodorus the Atheist. He was famous for his knowledge of music, poetry, and philosophy. Some shrewd sayings of his are preserved, as that “only the votive tablets of the preserved are seen in the temples, not those of the drowned” and “it is useless to tear our hair when in grief since sorrow is not cured by baldness.”

Birch (William John), English Freethinker, b. London 4 Jan. 1811. Educated at Baliol College, Oxford, graduated M.A. at New Inn Hall. Author of An Inquiry into the Philosophy and Religion of Shakespeare, 1848; An Inquiry into the Philosophy and Religion of the Bible, 1856; this work was translated into Dutch by “Rudolf Charles;” Paul an Idea, not a Fact; and the Real and Ideal. In the stormy time of ’42 Mr. Birch did much to support the prosecuted publications. He brought out the Library of Reason and supported The Reasoner and Investigator with both pen and purse. Mr. Birch has resided much in Italy and proved himself a friend to Italian unity and Freedom. He is a member of the Italian Asiatic Society. Mr. Birch has been a contributor to Notes and Queries and other journals, and has devoted much attention to the early days of Christianity, having many manuscripts upon the subject.

Bithell (Richard), Agnostic, b. Lewes, Sussex, 22 March 1821, of pious parents. Became teacher of mathematics and chemistry. Is Ph.D. of Gottingen and B.Sc. of London University. In ’65 he entered the service of the Rothschilds. Has written Creed of a Modern Agnostic, 1883; and Agnostic Problems, 1887.

Björnson (Björnstjerne), Norwegian writer, b. Quickne 8 Dec. 1832. His father was a Lutheran clergyman. Has done much to create a national literature for Norway. For his freethinking opinions he was obliged to leave his country and reside in Paris. Many of his tales have been translated into English. In 1882 Björnson published at Christiania, with a short introduction, a resumé of C. B. Waite’s History of the Christian Religion, under the title of Whence come the Miracles of the New Testament? This was the first attack upon dogmatic Christianity published in Norway, and created much discussion. The following year he published a translation of Colonel Ingersoll’s article in the North American Review upon the “Christian Religion,” with a long preface, in which he attacks the State Church and Monarchy. The translation was entitled Think for Yourself. The first edition rapidly sold out and a second one appeared. He has since, both in speech and writing, repeatedly avowed his Freethought, and has had several controversies with the clergy.

Blagosvyetlov (Grigorevich E.), Russian author, b. in the Caucasus, 1826. Has written on Shelley, Buckle, and Mill, whose Subjection of Women he translated into Russian. He edited a magazine Djelo (Cause). Died about 1885.

Blanqui (Louis Auguste), French politician, b. near Nice, 7 Feb. 1805, a younger brother of Jerome Adolphe Blanqui, the economist. Becoming a Communist, his life was spent in conspiracy and imprisonment under successive governments. In ’39 he was condemned to death, but his sentence commuted to imprisonment for life, and was subject to brutal treatment till the revolution of ’48 set him at liberty. He was soon again imprisoned. In ’65 he wrote some remarkable articles on Monotheism in Le Candide. After the revolution of 4 Sept. ’70, Blanqui demanded the suppression of worship. He was again imprisoned, but was liberated and elected member of the Commune, and arrested by Thiers. In his last imprisonment he wrote a curious book, Eternity and the Stars, in which he argues from the eternity and infinity of matter. Died Paris, 31 Dec. 1880. Blanqui took as his motto “Ni Dieu ni maître”—Neither God nor master.

Blasche (Bernhard Heinrich), German Pantheist, b. Jena 9 April, 1776. His father was a professor of theology and philosophy. He wrote Kritik des Modernen Geisterglaubens (Criticism of Modern Ghost Belief), Philosophische Unsterblichkeitslehre (Teaching of Philosophical Immortality), and other works. Died near Gotha 26 Nov. 1832.

Blignieres (Célestin de), French Positivist, of the Polytechnic school. Has written a popular exposition of Positive philosophy and religion, Paris 1857; The Positive Doctrine, 1867; Studies of Positive Morality, 1868; and other works.

Blind (Karl), German Republican, b. Mannheim, 4 Sept. 1826. Studied at Heidelberg and Bonn. In 1848 he became a revolutionary leader among the students and populace, was wounded at Frankfort, and proscribed. In Sept. ’48 he led the second republican revolution in the Black Forest. He was made prisoner and sentenced to eight year’s imprisonment. In the spring of ’49 he was liberated by the people breaking open his prison. Being sent on a mission to Louis Napoleon, then president of the French Republic at Paris, he was arrested and banished from France. He went to Brussels, but since ’52 has lived in in England, where he has written largely on politics, history, and mythology. His daughter Mathilde, b. at Mannheim, opened her literary career by publishing a volume of poems in 1867 under the name of Claude Lake. She has since translated Straus’s Old Faith and the New, and written the volumes on George Eliot and Madame Roland in the Eminent Women series.

Blount (Charles), English Deist of noble family, b. at Holloway 27 April, 1654. His father, Sir Henry Blount, probably shared in his opinions, and helped him in his anti-religious work, Anima Mundi, 1678. This work Bishop Compton desired to see suppressed. In 1680 he published Great is Diana of the Ephesians, or the Origin of Idolatry, and the two first books of Apollonius Tyanius, with notes, in which he attacks priestcraft and superstition. This work was condemned and suppressed. Blount also published The Oracles of Reason, a number of Freethought Essays. By his Vindication of Learning and Liberty of the Press, and still more by his hoax on Bohun entitled William and Mary Conquerors, he was largely instrumental in doing away with the censorship of the press. He shot himself, it is said, because he could not marry his deceased wife’s sister (August, 1693). His miscellaneous works were printed in one volume, 1695.

Blumenfeld (J. C.), wrote The New Ecce Homo or the Self Redemption of Man, 1839. He is also credited with the authorship of The Existence of Christ Disproved in a series of Letters by “A German Jew,” London, 1841.

Boerne (Ludwig), German man of letters and politician, b. Frankfort 22 May, 1786. In 1818 he gave up the Jewish religion, in which he had been bred, nominally for Protestantism, but really he had, like his friend Heine, become a Freethinker. He wrote many works in favor of political liberty and translated Lammenais’ Paroles d’un Croyant. Died 12 Feb. 1837.

Bodin (Jean), French political writer, b. Angers 1530. He studied at Toulouse and is said to have been a monk but turned to the law, and became secretary to the Duc d’Alençon. His book De la Republique is highly praised by Hallam, and is said to have contained the germ of Montesquieu’s “Spirit of the Laws.” He wrote a work on demonomania, in which he seems to have believed, but in his Colloquium Heptaplomeron coloquies of seven persons: a Catholic, a Lutheran, a Calvinist, a Pagan, a Muhammadan, a Jew, and a Deist, which he left in manuscript, he put some severe attacks on Christianity. Died of the plague at Laon in 1596.

Boggis (John) is mentioned by Edwards in his Gangrena, 1645, as an Atheist and disbeliever in the Bible.

Boichot (Jean Baptiste), b. Villier sur Suize 20 Aug. 1820, entered the army. In ’49 he was chosen representative of the people. After the coup d’état he came to England, returned to France in ’54, was arrested and imprisoned at Belle Isle. Since then he has lived at Brussels, where he has written several works and is one of the council of International Freethinkers.

Boindin (Nicolas) French litterateur, wit, playwright and academician, b. Paris 29 May, 1676. He publicly professed Atheism, and resorted with other Freethinkers to the famous café Procope. There, in order to speak freely, they called the soul Margot, religion Javotte, liberty Jeanneton, and God M. de l’Etre. One day a spy asked Boindin, “Who is this M. de l’Etre with whom you seem so displeased?” “Monsieur,” replied Boindin, “he is a police spy.” Died 30 Nov. 1751. His corpse was refused “Christian burial.”

Boissiere (Jean Baptiste Prudence), French writer, b. Valognes Dec. 1806, was for a time teacher in England. He compiled an analogical dictionary of the French language. Under the name of Sièrebois he has published the Autopsy of the Soul and a work on the foundations of morality, which he traces to interest. He has also written a book entitled The Mechanism of Thought, ’84.

Boissonade (J. A.), author of The Bible Unveiled, Paris, 1871.

Boito (Arrigo), Italian poet and musician, b. at Padua, whose opera “Mefistofele,” has created considerable sensation by its boldness.

Bolingbroke (Henry Saint John) Lord, English statesman and philosopher, b. at Battersea, 1 Oct. 1672. His political life was a stormy one. He was the friend of Swift and of Pope, who in his Essay on Man avowedly puts forward the views of Saint John. He died at Battersea 12 Dec. 1751, leaving by will his MSS. to David Mallet, who in 1754 published his works, which included Essays Written to A. Pope, Esq., on Religion and Philosophy, in which he attacks Christianity with both wit and eloquence. Bolingbroke was a Deist, believing in God but scornfully rejecting revelation. He much influenced Voltaire, who regarded him with esteem.

Bonavino (Francesco Cristoforo) see Franchi (Ausonio).

Boni (Filippo de), Italian man of letters, b. Feltre, 1820. Editor of a standard Biography of Artists, published at Venice, 1840. He also wrote on the Roman Church and Italy and on Reason and Dogma, Siena, ’66, and contributed to Stefanoni’s Libero Pensiero. De Boni was elected deputy to the Italian Parliament. He has written on “Italian Unbelief in the Middle Ages” in the Annuario Filosofico del Libero Pensiero, ’68.

Boniface VIII., Pope (Benedetto Gaetano), elected head of Christendom, 24 Dec. 1294. During his quarrel with Philip the Fair of France charges were sworn on oath against Pope Boniface that he neither believed in the Trinity nor in the life to come, that he said the Virgin Mary “was no more a virgin than my mother”; that he did not observe the fasts of the Church, and that he spoke of the cardinals, monks, and friars as hypocrites. It was in evidence that the Pope had said “God may do the worst with me that he pleases in the future life; I believe as every educated man does, the vulgar believe otherwise. We have to speak as they do, but we must believe and think with the few.” Died 11 Oct. 1303.

Bonnycastle (John), mathematician, b. Whitchurch, Bucks, about 1750. He wrote several works on elementary mathematics and became Professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, where he died 15 May, 1821. He was a friend of Fuseli, and private information assures me he was a Freethinker.

Booms (Marinus Adriaansz), Dutch Spinozist, a shoemaker by trade, who wrote early in the eighteenth century, and on 1 Jan. 1714, was banished.

Bonnot de Condillac (Etienne) see Condillac.

Bonstetten (Karl Victor von), Swiss Deist, b. Berne, 3 Sept 1745. Acquainted with Voltaire and Rousseau he went to Leyden and England to finish his education. Among his works are Researches on the Nature and Laws of the Imagination, 1807; and Studies on Man, 1821. Died Geneva, 3 Feb. 1832.

Borde (Frédéric), editor of La Philosophie de l’Avenir, Paris, 1875, etc. Born La Rochelle 1841. Has written on Liberty of Instruction, etc.

Born (Ignaz von) baron, b. Carlsruhe, 26 Dec. 1742. Bred by the Jesuits, he became an ardent scientist and a favorite of the Empress Marie Theresa, under whose patronage he published works on Mineralogy. He was active as a Freemason, and Illuminati, and published with the name Joannes Physiophilus a stinging illustrated satire entitled Monchalogia, or the natural history of monks.

Bosc (Louis Augustin Guillaume), French naturalist, b. Paris, 29 Jan. 1759; was tutor and friend to Madame Roland whose Memoirs he published. He wrote many works on natural history. Died 10 July, 1828.

Boucher (E. Martin), French writer, b. Beaulieu, 1809; contributed to the Rationalist of Geneva, where he died 1882. Author of a work on Revelation and Rationalism, entitled Search for the Truth, Avignon, 1884.

Bougainville (Louis Antoine de) Count, the first French voyager who made the tour around the world; b. Paris, 11 Nov. 1729. Died 31 Aug. 1811. He wrote an interesting account of his travels.

Bouillier (Francisque), French philosopher, b. Lyons 12 July 1813, has written several works on psychology, and contributed to la Liberté de Penser. His principal work is a History of the Cartesian Philosophy. He is a member of the Institute and writes in the leading reviews.

Bouis (Casimir), French journalist, b. Toulon 1848, edited La Libre Pensée and wrote a satire on the Jesuits entitled Calottes et Soutanes, 1870. Sent to New Caledonia for his participation in the Commune, he has since his return published a volume of political verses entitled Après le Naufrage, After the Shipwreck, 1880.

Boulainvilliers (Henri de), Comte de St. Saire, French historian and philosopher, b. 11 Oct. 1658. His principal historical work is an account of the ancient French Parliaments. He also wrote a defence of Spinozism under pretence of a refutation of Spinoza, an analysis of Spinoza’s Tractus Theologico-Politicus, printed at the end of Doubts upon Religion, Londres, 1767. A Life of Muhammad, the first European work doing justice to Islam, and a History of the Arabs also proceeded from his pen, and he is one of those to whom is attributed the treatise with the title of the Three Impostors, 1755. Died 23 Jan. 1722.

Boulanger (Nicolas-Antoine), French Deist, b. 11 Nov. 1722. Died 16 Sept. 1759. He was for some time in the army as engineer, and afterwards became surveyor of public works. After his death his works were published by D’Holbach who rewrote them. His principal works are Antiquity Unveiled and Researches on the Origin of Oriental Despotism. Christianity Unveiled, attributed to him and said by Voltaire to have been by Damilavile, was probably written by D’Holbach, perhaps with some assistance from Naigeon. It was burnt by order of the French Parliament 18 Aug. 1770. A Critical Examination of the Life and Works of St. Paul, attributed to Boulanger, was really made up by d’Holbach from the work of Annet. Boulanger wrote dissertations on Elisha, Enoch and St. Peter, and some articles for the Encyclopédie.

Bourdet (Dr.) Eugene, French Positivist, b. Paris, 1818. Author of several works on medicine and Positivist philosophy and education.

Boureau-Deslands (A. F.) See Deslandes.

Bourget (Paul), French littérateur, b. at Amiens in 1852. Has made himself famous by his novels, essays on contemporary psychology, studies of M. Rénan, etc. He belongs to the Naturalist School, but his methods are less crude than those of some of his colleagues. His insight is most subtle, and his style is exquisite.

Boutteville (Marc Lucien), French writer, professor at the Lycée Bonaparte; has made translations from Lessing and published an able work on the Morality of the Church and Natural Morality, 1866, for which the clergy turned him out of a professorship he held at Sainte-Barbe.