Chapter 3

Bell(William S.), b. inAlleghenycity, 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 YorkTruthseeker, 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 theTruthseeker, 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, entitledAn 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 notaccededto. Upon his release his admirers sent him for a voyage round the world. He wroteA Truthseeker’s Voyage Round the World,Letters from Albany Penitentiary,Answers toChristian Questions and Arguments, two large volumes onThe Gods, another on theWorld’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’sChristianity 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 asAn Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion, by Philip Beauchamp, 1822. Among his numerous other works we can only mentionDeontology, 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 ofHeaven and Its Wonders, Leipsic, 1881, andMythology of the Ancient Hebrews, 1882.Berger(Moriz), author of a work onMaterialism in Conflict with Spiritualism and Idealism, Trieste, 1883.Bergerac de(Savinien Cyrano). SeeCyrano.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 andpseudonyms. He published theArt of Thinking, Leipsic, 1802, conducted theAsiatic Magazine, 1806, and wrote under the name ofFrey theTrue 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 goodHistory of Greek Literature, 1872.Berigardus(Claudius), orBeauregard(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. HisCirculus 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 entitledDubitationes 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 entitledBiographia 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 ofRomeo and Juliet(1839), and was made chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Among his works is one on theInfancy of Christ. In hisMemoirshe 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, wroteLa 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). SeeHolbach.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 asle 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 theSong of Songs, published under the pseudonym of A. Rebenstein (1834). He devoted himself to natural science and published works onThe Rotation of Planets, Humboldt and the Spirit of the Time, etc. His essay onThe Origin of the Legends of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacobwas 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. HisFirst Year of ScientificInstructionis 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 attackedThe 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, theDictionary 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-Velay25 Oct. 1810. Became M.D. 1840, wrote onThe Original Diversity of Human Races(1847), and a materialistic work onManifestation of Life and Intelligence through Organisation, 1848. Has also written onDescartes as a Physiologist, 1869.Berwick(George J.) M.D., appointed surgeon to the East India Company in 1828, retired in ’52. Author ofAwas-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 onThe 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 theweek 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’sCreed of Christendomand Arnold’sLiterature and Dogmaincreased her scepticism. She became acquainted with the Rev. C. Voysey and Thomas Scott, for whom she wrote anEssay 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 inMy Path to Atheism(’77). Joined the National Secular Society, and in ’74 wrote in theNational Reformerover 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 theNational Reformer. Some lectures on the French Revolution were republished in book form. In April, ’77, she was arrested with Mr. Bradlaugh for publishing theFruits 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 inTheological Essays and Debates. She wrote the second part of theFreethinkers’ Text Bookdealing with Christian evidence; has written on theSins of the Church, 1886, and theEvolution of Society. She has translated Jules Soury’sReligion of Israel, andJesus of the Gospels; Dr. L. Büchner on theInfluence of HeredityandMind in Animals, and from the fifteenth edition ofForce and Matter. From ’83 to ’88 she editedOur 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 nephewof 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.), afterwardsGuggenberger; English poetess and authoress ofKey Notes, 1879;Poems, Lyrics and Sonnets, ’82; wrote “Modern Atheism and Mr. Mallock” in theNineteenth Century(Oct. and Dec. ’79), and on “The Moral Demerits of Orthodoxy” inProgress, 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’Amouris 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 asBianchi-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. HisLife 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 inIl Republicano, at Lugano, he was proscribed, and had to seek refuge at Zurich, 1839. He went thence to Milan and there wrote aHistory of the Hebrews, a monograph onPope Joan, and an account of the Revolution. His principal works are theHistory of the Popesuntil the great schism of the West (Turin, 1850–64) and aCriticism of the Gospels, 1853, which has gone through several editions. Died 16 May, 1862.BiandrataorBlandrata(Giorgio), Italian anti-trinitarian reformer, b. Saluzzo about 1515. Graduated in arts andmedicine 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 thePhysiology of Life and Deathwas translated into English. He died a martyr to his zeal for science, 22 July, 1802.BiddleorBidle(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.) seeGrile(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 wroteElements 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 250B.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 thevotive 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 ofAn 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 theReal and Ideal. In the stormy time of ’42 Mr. Birch did much to support the prosecuted publications. He brought out theLibrary of Reasonand supportedThe ReasonerandInvestigatorwith 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 toNotes and Queriesand 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 writtenCreed of a Modern Agnostic, 1883; andAgnostic 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’sHistory of the Christian Religion, under the title ofWhence 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 theNorth American Reviewupon the “Christian Religion,” with a long preface, in which he attacks the State Church and Monarchy. The translation was entitledThink for Yourself. The first edition rapidly sold out and asecond 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, whoseSubjection of Womenhe 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 inLe 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 wroteKritik 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 ofClaude Lake. She has since translated Straus’sOld Faith and the New, and written the volumes on George Eliot and Madame Roland in theEminent Womenseries.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 publishedGreat is Diana of the Ephesians, or the Origin of Idolatry, and the two first books ofApollonius Tyanius, with notes, in which he attacks priestcraft and superstition. This work was condemned and suppressed. Blount also publishedThe Oracles of Reason, a number of Freethought Essays. By hisVindication of Learning and Liberty of the Press, and still more by his hoax on Bohun entitledWilliam 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.), wroteThe New Ecce Homo or the Self Redemption of Man, 1839. He is also credited with the authorship ofThe Existence of Christ Disprovedin 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. HisbookDe la Republiqueis highly praised by Hallam, and is said to have contained the germ of Montesquieu’s “Spirit of the Laws.” He wrote a work ondemonomania, in which he seems to have believed, but in hisColloquium Heptaplomeroncoloquies 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 hisGangrena, 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 thecoup d’étathe 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 theAutopsy of the Souland a work on the foundations of morality, which he traces to interest. He has also written a book entitledThe Mechanism of Thought, ’84.Boissonade(J. A.), author ofThe Bible Unveiled, Paris, 1871.Boito(Arrigo), Italian poet and musician, b. at Padua, whose opera “Mefistofele,” has created considerable sensation by its boldness.Bolingbroke(HenrySaint John) Lord, English statesman and philosopher, b. at Battersea, 1 Oct. 1672. His political lifewas a stormy one. He was the friend of Swift and of Pope, who in hisEssay on Manavowedly 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 includedEssays 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) seeFranchi(Ausonio).Boni(Filippo de), Italian man of letters, b. Feltre, 1820. Editor of a standardBiography of Artists, published at Venice, 1840. He also wrote on the Roman Church and Italy and onReason and Dogma, Siena, ’66, and contributed to Stefanoni’sLibero Pensiero. De Boni was elected deputy to the Italian Parliament. He has written on “Italian Unbelief in the Middle Ages” in theAnnuario 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 theeighteenthcentury, and on 1 Jan. 1714, was banished.Bonnot de Condillac(Etienne) seeCondillac.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 areResearches on the Nature and Laws of the Imagination, 1807; andStudies on Man, 1821. Died Geneva, 3 Feb. 1832.Borde(Frédéric), editor ofLa 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 entitledMonchalogia, or the natural history of monks.Bosc(Louis Augustin Guillaume), French naturalist, b. Paris, 29 Jan. 1759; was tutor and friend to Madame Roland whoseMemoirshe published. He wrote many works on natural history. Died 10 July, 1828.Boucher(E. Martin), French writer, b. Beaulieu, 1809; contributed to theRationalistof Geneva, where he died 1882. Author of a work on Revelation and Rationalism, entitledSearch 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 tola 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, editedLa Libre Penséeand wrote a satire on the Jesuits entitledCalottes et Soutanes, 1870. Sent to New Caledonia for his participation in the Commune, he has since his return published a volume of political verses entitledAprès 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 ofDoubts upon Religion, Londres, 1767. ALife of Muhammad, the first European work doing justice to Islam, and aHistory of the Arabsalso proceeded from his pen, and he is one of those to whom is attributed the treatise with the title of theThree 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 areAntiquity UnveiledandResearches 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 theEncyclopédie.Bourdet(Dr.) Eugene, French Positivist, b. Paris, 1818. Author of several works on medicine and Positivist philosophy and education.Boureau-Deslands(A. F.) SeeDeslandes.Bourget(Paul), French littérateur, b. at Amiens in 1852. Has made himself famous by his novels, essays oncontemporarypsychology, 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.Bovio(Giovanni), Professor of Political Economy in the University of Naples and deputy to the Italian parliament; is an ardent Freethinker. Both in his writings and in parliament Prof. Bovio opposes the power of the Vatican and the reconciliation between Church and State. He has constantly advocated liberty of conscience and has promoted the institution of a Dante chair in the University of Rome. He has written a work onThe History of Law, a copy of which he presented to the International Congress of Freethinkers, 1887.Bowring(Sir John, K.B., LL D.), politician, linguist and writer, b. Exeter, 17 Oct., 1792. In early life a pupil of Dr. Lant Carpenter and later a disciple of Jeremy Bentham, whose principles he maintained in theWestminster Review, of which he was editor, 1825. Arrested in France in 1822, after a fortnight’s imprisonment he was released without trial. He published Bentham’sDeontology(1834), and nine years after edited a complete collection of the works of Bentham. Returned to Parliament in ’35, and afterwards was employed in important government missions. In ’55 he visited Siam, and two years later published an account ofThe Kingdom and People of Siam. He translated Goethe, Schiller, Heine, and the poems of many countries; was an active member of the British Association and of the Social Science Association, and did much to promote rational views on the Sunday question. Died 23 Nov. 1872.Boyle(Humphrey), one of the men who left Leeds for the purpose of serving in R. Carlile’s shop when the right of free publication was attacked in 1821. Boyle gave no name, and was indicted and tried as “a man with name unknown” for publishing a blasphemous and seditious libel. In his defence he ably asserted his right to hold and publish his opinions. He read portions of the Bible in court to prove he was justified in calling it obscene. Upon being sentenced, 27 May, 1822, to eighteen months’ imprisonment and to find sureties for five years, he remarked “I have a mind, my lord, that can bear such a sentence with fortitude.”Bradlaugh(Charles). Born East London, 26 Sept. 1833. Educated in Bethnal Green and Hackney. He was turned from his Sunday-school teachership and from his first situationthrough the influence of the Rev. J. G. Packer, and found refuge with the widow of R. Carlile. In Dec. 1850 he entered the Dragoon Guards and proceeded to Dublin. Here he met James Thomson, the poet, and contracted a friendship which lasted for many years. He got his discharge, and in ’53 returned to London and became a solicitor’s clerk. He began to write and lecture under thenom de guerreof “Iconoclast,” edited theInvestigator, ’59; and had numerous debates with ministers and others. In 1860 he began editing theNational Reformer, which in ’68–9 he successfully defended against a prosecution of the Attorney General, who wished securities against blasphemy. In ’68 he began his efforts to enter Parliament, and in 1880 was returned for Northampton. After a long struggle with the House, which would not admit the Atheist, he at length took his seat in 1885. He was four times re-elected, and the litigation into which he was plunged will become as historic as that of John Wilkes. Prosecuted in ’76 for publishingThe Fruits of Philosophy, he succeeded in quashing the indictment. Mr. Bradlaugh has had numerous debates, several of which are published. He has also written many pamphlets, of which we mentionNew Lives of Abraham, David, and other saints,Who was Jesus Christ?What did Jesus Teach?Has Man a Soul, Is there a God?etc. HisPlea for Atheismreached its 20th thousand in 1880. Mr. Bradlaugh has also publishedWhen were our Gospels Written?, 1867;Heresy, its Utility and Morality, 1870;The Inspiration of the Bible, 1873;The Freethinker’s Text Book, part i., dealing with natural religion, 1876;The Laws Relating to Blasphemy and Heresy, 1878;Supernatural and Rational Morality, 1886. In 1857 Mr. Bradlaugh commenced a commentary on the Bible, entitledThe Bible, What is it?In 1865 this appeared in enlarged form, dealing only with the Pentateuch. In 1882 he publishedGenesis, Its Authorship and Authenticity. In Parliament Mr. Bradlaugh has become a conspicuous figure, and has introduced many important measures. In 1888 he succeeded in passing an Oaths Bill, making affirmations permissible instead of oaths. His elder daughter, Alice, b. 30 April, 1856, has written onMind Considered as a Bodily Function, 1884. Died 2 Dec. 1888. His second daughter, Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner, b. 31 March, 1858, has written “Princess Vera” and other stories, “Chemistry of Home,” etc.Brækstad(Hans Lien), b. Throndhjem, Norway, 7 Sept. 1845. Has made English translations from Björnson, Asbjörnsen, Andersen, etc., and has contributed toHarper’s Magazineand other periodical literature.Brandes(Georg Morris Cohen), Danish writer, by birth a Jew, b. Copenhagen, 4 Feb. 1842. In 1869 he translated J. S. Mills’Subjection of Women, and in the following year took a doctor’s degree for a philosophical treatise. His chief work is entitled theMain Current of Literature in the Nineteenth Century. His brother, Dr. Edvard Brandes, was elected to the Danish Parliament in 1881, despite his declaration that he did not believe either in the God of the Christians or of the Jews.Bray(Charles), philosophic writer, b. Coventry, 31 Jan. 1811. He was brought up as an Evangelical, but found his way to Freethought. Early in life he took an active part in promoting unsectarian education. His first work (1835) was onThe Education of the Body. This was followed byThe Education of the Feelings, of which there were several editions. In 1836 he married Miss Hennell, sister of C. C. Hennell, and took theSystem of Natureand Volney’sRuins of Empires“to enliven the honeymoon.” Among his friends was Mary Ann Evans (“George Eliot”), who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Bray to Italy. His works onThe Philosophy of Necessity(1841) andCerebral Psychology(1875) give the key to all his thought. He wrote a number of Thomas Scott’s series of tracts:Illusion and Delusion,The Reign of Law in Mind as in Matter,Tolerationwith remarks on Professor Tyndall’s “Address,” and a little book,Christianity in the Light of our Present Knowledge and Moral Sense(1876). He also wroteA Manual of Anthropologyand similar works. In a postscript to his last volume,Phases of Opinion and Experience During a Long Life, dated 18 Sept. 1884, he stated that he has no hope or expectation or belief even in the possibility of continued individuality after death, and that as his opinions have done to live by “they will do to die by.” He died 5 Oct. 1884.Bresson(Léopold), French Positivist, b. Lamarche, 1817. Educated at the Polytechnic School, which he left in 1840 and served on public works. For seventeen years was director of an Austrian Railway Company. WroteIdées Modernes, 1880.Bridges(John Henry), M.D. English Positivist, b. 1833, graduated B.A. at Oxford 1855, and B.M. 1859; has written onReligion and Progress, contributed to theFortnightly Review, and translated Comte’sGeneral View of Positivism(1865) andSystem of Positive Polity(1873).Bril(Jakob), Dutch mystical Pantheist, b. Leyden, 21 Jan. 1639.Died1700. His works were published at Amsterdam,1705.Brissot(Jean Pierre)de Warville, active French revolutionist, b. Chartres, 14 Jan. 1754. He was bred to the law, but took to literature. He wrote for theCourier de l’Europe, a revolutionary paper suppressed for its boldness, published a treatise on Truth, and edited a Philosophical Law Library, 1782–85. He wrote against the legal authority of Rome, and is credited withPhilosophical Letters upon St. Paul and the Christian Religion, Neufchatel, 1783. In 1784 he was imprisoned in the Bastille for his writings. To avoid a second imprisonment he went to England and America, returning to France at the outbreak of the Revolution. He wrote many political works, became member of the Legislative Assembly, formed the Girondist party, protested against the execution of Louis XVI., and upon the triumph of the Mountain was executed with twenty-one of his colleagues, 31 Oct., 1793. Brissot was a voluminous writer, honest, unselfish, and an earnest lover of freedom in every form.Bristol(Augusta), néeCooper, American educator, b. Croydon, New Haven, 17 April, 1835. In 1850 became teacher and gained repute by herPoems. In Sept. 1880, she represented American Freethinkers at the International Conference at Brussels. She has written onScience and its Relations to Human Characterand other works.Broca(Pierre Paul), French anthropologist, b. 28 June, 1824. A hard-working scientist, he paid special attention to craniology. In 1875 he founded the School of Anthropology and had among his pupils Gratiolet, Topinard, Hovelacque and Dr. Carter Blake, who translated his treatise onHybridity. He establishedThe Review of Anthropology, published numerous scientific works and was made a member of the Legion ofHonor. In philosophy he inclined to Positivism. Died Paris, 9 July, 1880.Brooksbank(William), b. Nottingham 6 Dec. 1801. In 1824 he wrote in Carlile’sLion, and has since contributed to theReasoner, thePathfinder, and theNational Reformer. He was an intimate friend of James Watson. He wroteA Sketch of the Religions of the Earth,Revelation Tested by Astronomy, Geography, Geology, etc., 1856, and some other pamphlets. Mr. Brooksbank is still living in honored age at Nottingham.Brothier(Léon), author of aPopular History of Philosophy, 1861, and other works in theBibliothèque Utile. He contributed to theRationalistof Geneva.Broussais(François Joseph Victor), French physician and philosopher, b. Saint Malo, 17 Dec. 1772. Educated at Dinan, in 1792 he served as volunteer in the army of the Republic. He studied medicine at St. Malo and Brest, and became a naval surgeon. A disciple of Bichat, he did much to reform medical science by hisExamination of Received Medical Doctrinesand to find a basis for mental and moral science in physiology by his many scientific works. Despite his bold opinions, he was made Commander of the Legion of Honor. He died poor at St. Malo 17 Nov. 1838, leaving behind a profession of faith, in which he declares his disbelief in a creator and his being “without hope or fear of another life.”Brown(George William), Dr., of Rockford, Illinois, b. in Essex Co., N.Y., Oct. 1820, of Baptist parents. At 17 years of age he was expelled the church for repudiating the dogma of an endless hell. Dr. Brown edited theHerald of Freedom, Kansas. In 1856 his office was destroyed by a pro-slavery mob, his type thrown into the river, and himself and others arrested but was released without trial. Dr. Brown has contributed largely to theIronclad Ageand other American Freethought papers, and is bringing out a work on the Origin of Christianity.Brown(Titus L.), Dr., b. 16 Oct. 1823, at Hillside (N.Y.). Studied at the Medical College of New York and graduated at the Homœopathic College, Philadelphia. He settled at Binghamton where he had a large practice. He contributed to theBoston Investigatorand in 1877 was elected President of the Freethinkers Association. Died 17 Aug. 1887.Browne(Sir Thomas), physician and writer, b. London, 19 Oct. 1605. He studied medicine and travelled on the Continent, taking his doctor’s degree at Leyden (1633). He finally settled at Norwich, where he had a good practice. His treatiseReligio Medici, famous for its fine style and curious mixture of faith and scepticism, was surreptitiously published in 1642. It ran through several editions and was placed on the RomanIndex. HisPseudodoxia Epidemica; Enquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors, appeared in 1646. While disputing many popular superstitions he showed he partook of others. This curious work was followed byHydriotaphia, or Urn-Burial, in which he treats of cremation among the ancients. To this was addedThe Garden of Cyrus. He died 19 Oct. 1682.Bruno(Giordano), Freethought martyr, b. at Nola, near Naples, about 1548. He was christened Filippo which he changed to Filoteo, taking the name of Giordano when he entered the Dominican order. Religious doubts and bold strictures on the monks obliged him to quit Italy, probably in 1580. He went to Geneva but soon found it no safe abiding place, and quitted it for Paris, where he taught, but refused to attend mass. In 1583 he visited England, living with the French ambassador Castelnau. Having formed a friendship with Sir Philip Sidney, he dedicated to him hisSpaccio della Bestia Triomfante, a satire on all mythologies. In 1585 he took part in a logical tournament, sustaining the Copernican theory against the doctors of Oxford. The following year he returned to Paris, where he again attacked the Aristotelians. He then travelled to various cities in Germany, everywhere preaching the broadest heresy. He published several Pantheistic, scientific and philosophical works. He was however induced to return to Italy, and arrested as an heresiarch and apostate at Venice, Sept. 1592. After being confined for seven years by the Inquisitors, he was tried, and burnt at Rome 17 Feb. 1600. At his last moments a crucifix was offered him, which he nobly rejected. Bruno was vastly before his age in his conception of the universe and his rejection of theological dogmas. A statue of this heroic apostle of liberty and light, executed by one of the first sculptors of Italy, is to be erected on the spot wherehe perished, the Municipal Council of Rome having granted the site in face of the bitterest opposition of the Catholic party. The list of subscribers to this memorial comprises the principal advanced thinkers in Europe and America.Brzesky(Casimir Liszynsky Podsedek). SeeLiszinski.BucaliorBusali(Leonardo), a Calabrian abbot of Spanish descent, who became a follower of Servetus in the sixteenth century, and had to seek among the Turks the safety denied him in Christendom. He died at Damascus.Buchanan(George), Scotch historian and scholar, b. Killearn, Feb. 1506. Evincing an early love of study, he was sent to Paris at the age of fourteen. He returned to Scotland and became distinguished for his learning. James V. appointed him tutor to his natural son. He composed hisFranciscanus et Fratres, a satire on the monks, which hastened the Scottish reformation. This exposed him to the vengeance of the clergy. Not content with calling him Atheist, Archbishop Beaton had him arrested and confined in St. Andrew’s Castle, from whence he escaped and fled to England. Here he found, as he said, Henry VIII. burning men of opposite opinions at the same stake for religion. He returned to Paris, but was again subjected to the persecution of Beaton, the Scottish Ambassador. On the death of a patron at Bordeaux, in 1548, he was seized by the Inquisition and immured for a year and a half in a monastery, where he translated the Psalms into Latin. He eventually returned to Scotland, where he espoused the party of Moray. After a most active life, he died 28 Sept. 1582, leaving a History of Scotland, besides numerous poems, satires, and political writings, the most important of which is a work of republican tendency,De Jure Regni, theRights of Kings.Buchanan(Robert), Socialist, b. Ayr, 1813. He was successively a schoolmaster, a Socialist missionary and a journalist. He settled in Manchester, where he published works on theReligion of The Past and Present, 1839; theOrigin and Nature of Ghosts, 1840. An Exposure of Joseph Barker, and aConcise History of Modern Priestcraftalso bear the latter date. At this time the Socialists were prosecuted for lecturing on Sunday, and Buchanan was fined for refusing to take the oath of supremacy, etc. After the decline of Owenism, he wrote for theNorthern Star, and edited the GlasgowSentinel. He died at the home of his son, the poet, at Bexhill, Sussex, 4 March, 1866.Buchanan(Joseph Rhodes), American physician, b. Frankfort, Kentucky, 11 Dec. 1814. He graduated M.D. at Louisville University, 1842, and has been the teacher of physiology at several colleges. From 1849–56 he publishedBuchanan’s Journal of Man, and has written several works on Anthropology.Buchner(Ludwig). SeeBuechner.Buckle(Henry Thomas), philosophical historian, b. Lee, Kent, 24 Nov. 1821. In consequence of his delicate health he was educated at home. His mother was a strict Calvinist, his father a strong Tory, but a visit to the Continent made him a Freethinker and Radical. He ever afterwards held travelling to be the best education. It was his ambition to write aHistory of Civilisation in England, but so vast was his design that his three notable volumes with that title form only part of the introduction. The first appeared in 1858, and created a great sensation by its boldness. In the following year he championed the cause of Pooley, who was condemned for blasphemy, and dared the prosecution of infidels of standing. In 1861 he visited the East, in the hope of improving his health, but died at Damascus, 29 May, 1862. Much of the material collected for his History has been published in hisMiscellaneous and Posthumous Works, edited by Helen Taylor, 1872. An abridged edition, edited by Grant Allen, appeared in 1886.Buechner(Friedrich Karl Christian Ludwig), German materialist, b. Darmstadt, 29 March, 1824. Studied medicine in Geissen, Strassburg and Vienna. In ’55 he startled the world with his bold work onForce and Matter, which has gone through numerous editions and been translated into nearly all the European languages. This work lost him the place of professor which he held at Tübingen, and he has since practised in his native town. Büchner has developed his ideas in many other works such asNature and Spirit(1857),Physiological Sketches, ’61;Nature and Science, ’62;Conferences on Darwinism, ’69;Man in the Past, Present and Future, ’69;Materialism its History and Influence on Society, ’73;The Idea of God, ’74;Mind in Animals, ’80; andLight and Life, ’82. He also contributes to theFreidenker, theDageraad, and other journals.Buffon(Georges LouisLeclerc),Count de, French naturalist, b. Montford, Burgundy, 7 Sept. 1707. An incessant worker. HisNatural Historyin 36 volumes bears witness to the fertility of his mind and his capacity for making science attractive. Buffon lived much in seclusion, and attached himself to no sect or religion. Some of his sentences were attacked by the Sorbonne. Hérault de Sêchelles says that Buffon said: “I have named the Creator, but it is only necessary to take out the word and substitute the power of nature.” Died at Paris 16 April, 1788.BuitendijkorBuytendyck(Gosuinus van), Dutch Spinozist, who wrote an Apology at the beginning of the eighteenth century and was banished 1716.Bufalini(Maurizio), Italian doctor, b. Cesena 2 June, 1787. In 1813 hepublishedan essay on theDoctrine of Lifein opposition to vitalism, and henceforward his life was a conflict with the upholders of that doctrine. He was accused of materialism, but became a professor at Florence and a member of the Italian Senate in 1860. Died at Florence 31 March, 1875.Burdach(Karl Friedrich), German physiologist, b. Leipsic 12 June, 1776. He occupied a chair at the University of Breslau. His works on physiology and anthropology did much to popularise those sciences, and the former is placed on theIndex Librorum Prohibitorumfor its materialistic tendency. He died at Konigsberg, 16 July, 1847.Burdon(William), M.A., writer, b. Newcastle, 11 Sept. 1764. Graduated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1788. He was intended for a clergyman, but want of faith made him decline that profession. His principal work is entitledMaterials for Thinking. Colton largely availed himself of this work in hisLacon. It went through five editions in his lifetime, and portions were reprinted in theLibrary of Reason. He also addressedThree Letters to the Bishop of Llandaff, wrote aLife and Character of Bonaparte, translated an account of the Revolution in Spain, edited the Memoirs of Count Boruwlaski, and wrote some objections to the annual subscription to the Sons of the Clergy. Died in London, 30 May, 1818.Burigny(JeanLevesque de), French writer, b. Rheims, 1692. He became a member of the French Academy, wrote atreatise on the Authority of the Pope, a History of Pagan Philosophy and other works, and is credited with theCritical Examination of the Apologists of the Christian Religion, published under the name of Freret by Naigeon, 1766. Levesque de Burigny wrote a letter in answer to Bergier’sProofs of Christianity, which is published in Naigeon’sRecueil Philosophique. Died at Paris, 8 Oct. 1785.Burmeister(Hermann), German naturalist, b. Stralsund, 15 Jan. 1807. In 1827 he became a doctor at Halle. In ’48 he was elected to the National Assembly. In 1850 he went to Brazil. His principal work isThe History of Creation, 1843.BurmeisterorBaurmeister(Johann Peter Theodor) a German Rationalist and colleague of Ronge. Born at Flensburg, 1805. He resided in Hamburg, and wrote in the middle of the present century under the name of J. P. Lyser.Burnet(Thomas), b. about 1635 at Croft, Yorkshire. Through the interest of a pupil, the Duke of Ormonde, he obtained the mastership of the Charterhouse, 1685. In 1681 the first part of hisTelluris Theoria Sacra, or Sacred Theory of the Earth, appeared in Latin, and was translated and modified in 1684. In 1692 Burnet published, both in English and in Latin, hisArchæologiæ Philosophicæ, or the Ancient Doctrine of the Origin of Things. He professes in this to reconcile his theory with Genesis, which receives a figurative interpretation; and a ludicrous dialogue between Eve and the serpent gave great offence. In a popular ballad Burnet is represented as saying—

Bell(William S.), b. inAlleghenycity, 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 YorkTruthseeker, 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 theTruthseeker, 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, entitledAn 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 notaccededto. Upon his release his admirers sent him for a voyage round the world. He wroteA Truthseeker’s Voyage Round the World,Letters from Albany Penitentiary,Answers toChristian Questions and Arguments, two large volumes onThe Gods, another on theWorld’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’sChristianity 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 asAn Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion, by Philip Beauchamp, 1822. Among his numerous other works we can only mentionDeontology, 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 ofHeaven and Its Wonders, Leipsic, 1881, andMythology of the Ancient Hebrews, 1882.Berger(Moriz), author of a work onMaterialism in Conflict with Spiritualism and Idealism, Trieste, 1883.Bergerac de(Savinien Cyrano). SeeCyrano.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 andpseudonyms. He published theArt of Thinking, Leipsic, 1802, conducted theAsiatic Magazine, 1806, and wrote under the name ofFrey theTrue 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 goodHistory of Greek Literature, 1872.Berigardus(Claudius), orBeauregard(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. HisCirculus 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 entitledDubitationes 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 entitledBiographia 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 ofRomeo and Juliet(1839), and was made chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Among his works is one on theInfancy of Christ. In hisMemoirshe 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, wroteLa 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). SeeHolbach.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 asle 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 theSong of Songs, published under the pseudonym of A. Rebenstein (1834). He devoted himself to natural science and published works onThe Rotation of Planets, Humboldt and the Spirit of the Time, etc. His essay onThe Origin of the Legends of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacobwas 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. HisFirst Year of ScientificInstructionis 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 attackedThe 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, theDictionary 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-Velay25 Oct. 1810. Became M.D. 1840, wrote onThe Original Diversity of Human Races(1847), and a materialistic work onManifestation of Life and Intelligence through Organisation, 1848. Has also written onDescartes as a Physiologist, 1869.Berwick(George J.) M.D., appointed surgeon to the East India Company in 1828, retired in ’52. Author ofAwas-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 onThe 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 theweek 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’sCreed of Christendomand Arnold’sLiterature and Dogmaincreased her scepticism. She became acquainted with the Rev. C. Voysey and Thomas Scott, for whom she wrote anEssay 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 inMy Path to Atheism(’77). Joined the National Secular Society, and in ’74 wrote in theNational Reformerover 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 theNational Reformer. Some lectures on the French Revolution were republished in book form. In April, ’77, she was arrested with Mr. Bradlaugh for publishing theFruits 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 inTheological Essays and Debates. She wrote the second part of theFreethinkers’ Text Bookdealing with Christian evidence; has written on theSins of the Church, 1886, and theEvolution of Society. She has translated Jules Soury’sReligion of Israel, andJesus of the Gospels; Dr. L. Büchner on theInfluence of HeredityandMind in Animals, and from the fifteenth edition ofForce and Matter. From ’83 to ’88 she editedOur 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 nephewof 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.), afterwardsGuggenberger; English poetess and authoress ofKey Notes, 1879;Poems, Lyrics and Sonnets, ’82; wrote “Modern Atheism and Mr. Mallock” in theNineteenth Century(Oct. and Dec. ’79), and on “The Moral Demerits of Orthodoxy” inProgress, 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’Amouris 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 asBianchi-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. HisLife 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 inIl Republicano, at Lugano, he was proscribed, and had to seek refuge at Zurich, 1839. He went thence to Milan and there wrote aHistory of the Hebrews, a monograph onPope Joan, and an account of the Revolution. His principal works are theHistory of the Popesuntil the great schism of the West (Turin, 1850–64) and aCriticism of the Gospels, 1853, which has gone through several editions. Died 16 May, 1862.BiandrataorBlandrata(Giorgio), Italian anti-trinitarian reformer, b. Saluzzo about 1515. Graduated in arts andmedicine 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 thePhysiology of Life and Deathwas translated into English. He died a martyr to his zeal for science, 22 July, 1802.BiddleorBidle(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.) seeGrile(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 wroteElements 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 250B.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 thevotive 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 ofAn 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 theReal and Ideal. In the stormy time of ’42 Mr. Birch did much to support the prosecuted publications. He brought out theLibrary of Reasonand supportedThe ReasonerandInvestigatorwith 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 toNotes and Queriesand 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 writtenCreed of a Modern Agnostic, 1883; andAgnostic 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’sHistory of the Christian Religion, under the title ofWhence 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 theNorth American Reviewupon the “Christian Religion,” with a long preface, in which he attacks the State Church and Monarchy. The translation was entitledThink for Yourself. The first edition rapidly sold out and asecond 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, whoseSubjection of Womenhe 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 inLe 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 wroteKritik 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 ofClaude Lake. She has since translated Straus’sOld Faith and the New, and written the volumes on George Eliot and Madame Roland in theEminent Womenseries.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 publishedGreat is Diana of the Ephesians, or the Origin of Idolatry, and the two first books ofApollonius Tyanius, with notes, in which he attacks priestcraft and superstition. This work was condemned and suppressed. Blount also publishedThe Oracles of Reason, a number of Freethought Essays. By hisVindication of Learning and Liberty of the Press, and still more by his hoax on Bohun entitledWilliam 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.), wroteThe New Ecce Homo or the Self Redemption of Man, 1839. He is also credited with the authorship ofThe Existence of Christ Disprovedin 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. HisbookDe la Republiqueis highly praised by Hallam, and is said to have contained the germ of Montesquieu’s “Spirit of the Laws.” He wrote a work ondemonomania, in which he seems to have believed, but in hisColloquium Heptaplomeroncoloquies 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 hisGangrena, 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 thecoup d’étathe 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 theAutopsy of the Souland a work on the foundations of morality, which he traces to interest. He has also written a book entitledThe Mechanism of Thought, ’84.Boissonade(J. A.), author ofThe Bible Unveiled, Paris, 1871.Boito(Arrigo), Italian poet and musician, b. at Padua, whose opera “Mefistofele,” has created considerable sensation by its boldness.Bolingbroke(HenrySaint John) Lord, English statesman and philosopher, b. at Battersea, 1 Oct. 1672. His political lifewas a stormy one. He was the friend of Swift and of Pope, who in hisEssay on Manavowedly 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 includedEssays 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) seeFranchi(Ausonio).Boni(Filippo de), Italian man of letters, b. Feltre, 1820. Editor of a standardBiography of Artists, published at Venice, 1840. He also wrote on the Roman Church and Italy and onReason and Dogma, Siena, ’66, and contributed to Stefanoni’sLibero Pensiero. De Boni was elected deputy to the Italian Parliament. He has written on “Italian Unbelief in the Middle Ages” in theAnnuario 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 theeighteenthcentury, and on 1 Jan. 1714, was banished.Bonnot de Condillac(Etienne) seeCondillac.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 areResearches on the Nature and Laws of the Imagination, 1807; andStudies on Man, 1821. Died Geneva, 3 Feb. 1832.Borde(Frédéric), editor ofLa 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 entitledMonchalogia, or the natural history of monks.Bosc(Louis Augustin Guillaume), French naturalist, b. Paris, 29 Jan. 1759; was tutor and friend to Madame Roland whoseMemoirshe published. He wrote many works on natural history. Died 10 July, 1828.Boucher(E. Martin), French writer, b. Beaulieu, 1809; contributed to theRationalistof Geneva, where he died 1882. Author of a work on Revelation and Rationalism, entitledSearch 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 tola 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, editedLa Libre Penséeand wrote a satire on the Jesuits entitledCalottes et Soutanes, 1870. Sent to New Caledonia for his participation in the Commune, he has since his return published a volume of political verses entitledAprès 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 ofDoubts upon Religion, Londres, 1767. ALife of Muhammad, the first European work doing justice to Islam, and aHistory of the Arabsalso proceeded from his pen, and he is one of those to whom is attributed the treatise with the title of theThree 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 areAntiquity UnveiledandResearches 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 theEncyclopédie.Bourdet(Dr.) Eugene, French Positivist, b. Paris, 1818. Author of several works on medicine and Positivist philosophy and education.Boureau-Deslands(A. F.) SeeDeslandes.Bourget(Paul), French littérateur, b. at Amiens in 1852. Has made himself famous by his novels, essays oncontemporarypsychology, 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.Bovio(Giovanni), Professor of Political Economy in the University of Naples and deputy to the Italian parliament; is an ardent Freethinker. Both in his writings and in parliament Prof. Bovio opposes the power of the Vatican and the reconciliation between Church and State. He has constantly advocated liberty of conscience and has promoted the institution of a Dante chair in the University of Rome. He has written a work onThe History of Law, a copy of which he presented to the International Congress of Freethinkers, 1887.Bowring(Sir John, K.B., LL D.), politician, linguist and writer, b. Exeter, 17 Oct., 1792. In early life a pupil of Dr. Lant Carpenter and later a disciple of Jeremy Bentham, whose principles he maintained in theWestminster Review, of which he was editor, 1825. Arrested in France in 1822, after a fortnight’s imprisonment he was released without trial. He published Bentham’sDeontology(1834), and nine years after edited a complete collection of the works of Bentham. Returned to Parliament in ’35, and afterwards was employed in important government missions. In ’55 he visited Siam, and two years later published an account ofThe Kingdom and People of Siam. He translated Goethe, Schiller, Heine, and the poems of many countries; was an active member of the British Association and of the Social Science Association, and did much to promote rational views on the Sunday question. Died 23 Nov. 1872.Boyle(Humphrey), one of the men who left Leeds for the purpose of serving in R. Carlile’s shop when the right of free publication was attacked in 1821. Boyle gave no name, and was indicted and tried as “a man with name unknown” for publishing a blasphemous and seditious libel. In his defence he ably asserted his right to hold and publish his opinions. He read portions of the Bible in court to prove he was justified in calling it obscene. Upon being sentenced, 27 May, 1822, to eighteen months’ imprisonment and to find sureties for five years, he remarked “I have a mind, my lord, that can bear such a sentence with fortitude.”Bradlaugh(Charles). Born East London, 26 Sept. 1833. Educated in Bethnal Green and Hackney. He was turned from his Sunday-school teachership and from his first situationthrough the influence of the Rev. J. G. Packer, and found refuge with the widow of R. Carlile. In Dec. 1850 he entered the Dragoon Guards and proceeded to Dublin. Here he met James Thomson, the poet, and contracted a friendship which lasted for many years. He got his discharge, and in ’53 returned to London and became a solicitor’s clerk. He began to write and lecture under thenom de guerreof “Iconoclast,” edited theInvestigator, ’59; and had numerous debates with ministers and others. In 1860 he began editing theNational Reformer, which in ’68–9 he successfully defended against a prosecution of the Attorney General, who wished securities against blasphemy. In ’68 he began his efforts to enter Parliament, and in 1880 was returned for Northampton. After a long struggle with the House, which would not admit the Atheist, he at length took his seat in 1885. He was four times re-elected, and the litigation into which he was plunged will become as historic as that of John Wilkes. Prosecuted in ’76 for publishingThe Fruits of Philosophy, he succeeded in quashing the indictment. Mr. Bradlaugh has had numerous debates, several of which are published. He has also written many pamphlets, of which we mentionNew Lives of Abraham, David, and other saints,Who was Jesus Christ?What did Jesus Teach?Has Man a Soul, Is there a God?etc. HisPlea for Atheismreached its 20th thousand in 1880. Mr. Bradlaugh has also publishedWhen were our Gospels Written?, 1867;Heresy, its Utility and Morality, 1870;The Inspiration of the Bible, 1873;The Freethinker’s Text Book, part i., dealing with natural religion, 1876;The Laws Relating to Blasphemy and Heresy, 1878;Supernatural and Rational Morality, 1886. In 1857 Mr. Bradlaugh commenced a commentary on the Bible, entitledThe Bible, What is it?In 1865 this appeared in enlarged form, dealing only with the Pentateuch. In 1882 he publishedGenesis, Its Authorship and Authenticity. In Parliament Mr. Bradlaugh has become a conspicuous figure, and has introduced many important measures. In 1888 he succeeded in passing an Oaths Bill, making affirmations permissible instead of oaths. His elder daughter, Alice, b. 30 April, 1856, has written onMind Considered as a Bodily Function, 1884. Died 2 Dec. 1888. His second daughter, Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner, b. 31 March, 1858, has written “Princess Vera” and other stories, “Chemistry of Home,” etc.Brækstad(Hans Lien), b. Throndhjem, Norway, 7 Sept. 1845. Has made English translations from Björnson, Asbjörnsen, Andersen, etc., and has contributed toHarper’s Magazineand other periodical literature.Brandes(Georg Morris Cohen), Danish writer, by birth a Jew, b. Copenhagen, 4 Feb. 1842. In 1869 he translated J. S. Mills’Subjection of Women, and in the following year took a doctor’s degree for a philosophical treatise. His chief work is entitled theMain Current of Literature in the Nineteenth Century. His brother, Dr. Edvard Brandes, was elected to the Danish Parliament in 1881, despite his declaration that he did not believe either in the God of the Christians or of the Jews.Bray(Charles), philosophic writer, b. Coventry, 31 Jan. 1811. He was brought up as an Evangelical, but found his way to Freethought. Early in life he took an active part in promoting unsectarian education. His first work (1835) was onThe Education of the Body. This was followed byThe Education of the Feelings, of which there were several editions. In 1836 he married Miss Hennell, sister of C. C. Hennell, and took theSystem of Natureand Volney’sRuins of Empires“to enliven the honeymoon.” Among his friends was Mary Ann Evans (“George Eliot”), who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Bray to Italy. His works onThe Philosophy of Necessity(1841) andCerebral Psychology(1875) give the key to all his thought. He wrote a number of Thomas Scott’s series of tracts:Illusion and Delusion,The Reign of Law in Mind as in Matter,Tolerationwith remarks on Professor Tyndall’s “Address,” and a little book,Christianity in the Light of our Present Knowledge and Moral Sense(1876). He also wroteA Manual of Anthropologyand similar works. In a postscript to his last volume,Phases of Opinion and Experience During a Long Life, dated 18 Sept. 1884, he stated that he has no hope or expectation or belief even in the possibility of continued individuality after death, and that as his opinions have done to live by “they will do to die by.” He died 5 Oct. 1884.Bresson(Léopold), French Positivist, b. Lamarche, 1817. Educated at the Polytechnic School, which he left in 1840 and served on public works. For seventeen years was director of an Austrian Railway Company. WroteIdées Modernes, 1880.Bridges(John Henry), M.D. English Positivist, b. 1833, graduated B.A. at Oxford 1855, and B.M. 1859; has written onReligion and Progress, contributed to theFortnightly Review, and translated Comte’sGeneral View of Positivism(1865) andSystem of Positive Polity(1873).Bril(Jakob), Dutch mystical Pantheist, b. Leyden, 21 Jan. 1639.Died1700. His works were published at Amsterdam,1705.Brissot(Jean Pierre)de Warville, active French revolutionist, b. Chartres, 14 Jan. 1754. He was bred to the law, but took to literature. He wrote for theCourier de l’Europe, a revolutionary paper suppressed for its boldness, published a treatise on Truth, and edited a Philosophical Law Library, 1782–85. He wrote against the legal authority of Rome, and is credited withPhilosophical Letters upon St. Paul and the Christian Religion, Neufchatel, 1783. In 1784 he was imprisoned in the Bastille for his writings. To avoid a second imprisonment he went to England and America, returning to France at the outbreak of the Revolution. He wrote many political works, became member of the Legislative Assembly, formed the Girondist party, protested against the execution of Louis XVI., and upon the triumph of the Mountain was executed with twenty-one of his colleagues, 31 Oct., 1793. Brissot was a voluminous writer, honest, unselfish, and an earnest lover of freedom in every form.Bristol(Augusta), néeCooper, American educator, b. Croydon, New Haven, 17 April, 1835. In 1850 became teacher and gained repute by herPoems. In Sept. 1880, she represented American Freethinkers at the International Conference at Brussels. She has written onScience and its Relations to Human Characterand other works.Broca(Pierre Paul), French anthropologist, b. 28 June, 1824. A hard-working scientist, he paid special attention to craniology. In 1875 he founded the School of Anthropology and had among his pupils Gratiolet, Topinard, Hovelacque and Dr. Carter Blake, who translated his treatise onHybridity. He establishedThe Review of Anthropology, published numerous scientific works and was made a member of the Legion ofHonor. In philosophy he inclined to Positivism. Died Paris, 9 July, 1880.Brooksbank(William), b. Nottingham 6 Dec. 1801. In 1824 he wrote in Carlile’sLion, and has since contributed to theReasoner, thePathfinder, and theNational Reformer. He was an intimate friend of James Watson. He wroteA Sketch of the Religions of the Earth,Revelation Tested by Astronomy, Geography, Geology, etc., 1856, and some other pamphlets. Mr. Brooksbank is still living in honored age at Nottingham.Brothier(Léon), author of aPopular History of Philosophy, 1861, and other works in theBibliothèque Utile. He contributed to theRationalistof Geneva.Broussais(François Joseph Victor), French physician and philosopher, b. Saint Malo, 17 Dec. 1772. Educated at Dinan, in 1792 he served as volunteer in the army of the Republic. He studied medicine at St. Malo and Brest, and became a naval surgeon. A disciple of Bichat, he did much to reform medical science by hisExamination of Received Medical Doctrinesand to find a basis for mental and moral science in physiology by his many scientific works. Despite his bold opinions, he was made Commander of the Legion of Honor. He died poor at St. Malo 17 Nov. 1838, leaving behind a profession of faith, in which he declares his disbelief in a creator and his being “without hope or fear of another life.”Brown(George William), Dr., of Rockford, Illinois, b. in Essex Co., N.Y., Oct. 1820, of Baptist parents. At 17 years of age he was expelled the church for repudiating the dogma of an endless hell. Dr. Brown edited theHerald of Freedom, Kansas. In 1856 his office was destroyed by a pro-slavery mob, his type thrown into the river, and himself and others arrested but was released without trial. Dr. Brown has contributed largely to theIronclad Ageand other American Freethought papers, and is bringing out a work on the Origin of Christianity.Brown(Titus L.), Dr., b. 16 Oct. 1823, at Hillside (N.Y.). Studied at the Medical College of New York and graduated at the Homœopathic College, Philadelphia. He settled at Binghamton where he had a large practice. He contributed to theBoston Investigatorand in 1877 was elected President of the Freethinkers Association. Died 17 Aug. 1887.Browne(Sir Thomas), physician and writer, b. London, 19 Oct. 1605. He studied medicine and travelled on the Continent, taking his doctor’s degree at Leyden (1633). He finally settled at Norwich, where he had a good practice. His treatiseReligio Medici, famous for its fine style and curious mixture of faith and scepticism, was surreptitiously published in 1642. It ran through several editions and was placed on the RomanIndex. HisPseudodoxia Epidemica; Enquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors, appeared in 1646. While disputing many popular superstitions he showed he partook of others. This curious work was followed byHydriotaphia, or Urn-Burial, in which he treats of cremation among the ancients. To this was addedThe Garden of Cyrus. He died 19 Oct. 1682.Bruno(Giordano), Freethought martyr, b. at Nola, near Naples, about 1548. He was christened Filippo which he changed to Filoteo, taking the name of Giordano when he entered the Dominican order. Religious doubts and bold strictures on the monks obliged him to quit Italy, probably in 1580. He went to Geneva but soon found it no safe abiding place, and quitted it for Paris, where he taught, but refused to attend mass. In 1583 he visited England, living with the French ambassador Castelnau. Having formed a friendship with Sir Philip Sidney, he dedicated to him hisSpaccio della Bestia Triomfante, a satire on all mythologies. In 1585 he took part in a logical tournament, sustaining the Copernican theory against the doctors of Oxford. The following year he returned to Paris, where he again attacked the Aristotelians. He then travelled to various cities in Germany, everywhere preaching the broadest heresy. He published several Pantheistic, scientific and philosophical works. He was however induced to return to Italy, and arrested as an heresiarch and apostate at Venice, Sept. 1592. After being confined for seven years by the Inquisitors, he was tried, and burnt at Rome 17 Feb. 1600. At his last moments a crucifix was offered him, which he nobly rejected. Bruno was vastly before his age in his conception of the universe and his rejection of theological dogmas. A statue of this heroic apostle of liberty and light, executed by one of the first sculptors of Italy, is to be erected on the spot wherehe perished, the Municipal Council of Rome having granted the site in face of the bitterest opposition of the Catholic party. The list of subscribers to this memorial comprises the principal advanced thinkers in Europe and America.Brzesky(Casimir Liszynsky Podsedek). SeeLiszinski.BucaliorBusali(Leonardo), a Calabrian abbot of Spanish descent, who became a follower of Servetus in the sixteenth century, and had to seek among the Turks the safety denied him in Christendom. He died at Damascus.Buchanan(George), Scotch historian and scholar, b. Killearn, Feb. 1506. Evincing an early love of study, he was sent to Paris at the age of fourteen. He returned to Scotland and became distinguished for his learning. James V. appointed him tutor to his natural son. He composed hisFranciscanus et Fratres, a satire on the monks, which hastened the Scottish reformation. This exposed him to the vengeance of the clergy. Not content with calling him Atheist, Archbishop Beaton had him arrested and confined in St. Andrew’s Castle, from whence he escaped and fled to England. Here he found, as he said, Henry VIII. burning men of opposite opinions at the same stake for religion. He returned to Paris, but was again subjected to the persecution of Beaton, the Scottish Ambassador. On the death of a patron at Bordeaux, in 1548, he was seized by the Inquisition and immured for a year and a half in a monastery, where he translated the Psalms into Latin. He eventually returned to Scotland, where he espoused the party of Moray. After a most active life, he died 28 Sept. 1582, leaving a History of Scotland, besides numerous poems, satires, and political writings, the most important of which is a work of republican tendency,De Jure Regni, theRights of Kings.Buchanan(Robert), Socialist, b. Ayr, 1813. He was successively a schoolmaster, a Socialist missionary and a journalist. He settled in Manchester, where he published works on theReligion of The Past and Present, 1839; theOrigin and Nature of Ghosts, 1840. An Exposure of Joseph Barker, and aConcise History of Modern Priestcraftalso bear the latter date. At this time the Socialists were prosecuted for lecturing on Sunday, and Buchanan was fined for refusing to take the oath of supremacy, etc. After the decline of Owenism, he wrote for theNorthern Star, and edited the GlasgowSentinel. He died at the home of his son, the poet, at Bexhill, Sussex, 4 March, 1866.Buchanan(Joseph Rhodes), American physician, b. Frankfort, Kentucky, 11 Dec. 1814. He graduated M.D. at Louisville University, 1842, and has been the teacher of physiology at several colleges. From 1849–56 he publishedBuchanan’s Journal of Man, and has written several works on Anthropology.Buchner(Ludwig). SeeBuechner.Buckle(Henry Thomas), philosophical historian, b. Lee, Kent, 24 Nov. 1821. In consequence of his delicate health he was educated at home. His mother was a strict Calvinist, his father a strong Tory, but a visit to the Continent made him a Freethinker and Radical. He ever afterwards held travelling to be the best education. It was his ambition to write aHistory of Civilisation in England, but so vast was his design that his three notable volumes with that title form only part of the introduction. The first appeared in 1858, and created a great sensation by its boldness. In the following year he championed the cause of Pooley, who was condemned for blasphemy, and dared the prosecution of infidels of standing. In 1861 he visited the East, in the hope of improving his health, but died at Damascus, 29 May, 1862. Much of the material collected for his History has been published in hisMiscellaneous and Posthumous Works, edited by Helen Taylor, 1872. An abridged edition, edited by Grant Allen, appeared in 1886.Buechner(Friedrich Karl Christian Ludwig), German materialist, b. Darmstadt, 29 March, 1824. Studied medicine in Geissen, Strassburg and Vienna. In ’55 he startled the world with his bold work onForce and Matter, which has gone through numerous editions and been translated into nearly all the European languages. This work lost him the place of professor which he held at Tübingen, and he has since practised in his native town. Büchner has developed his ideas in many other works such asNature and Spirit(1857),Physiological Sketches, ’61;Nature and Science, ’62;Conferences on Darwinism, ’69;Man in the Past, Present and Future, ’69;Materialism its History and Influence on Society, ’73;The Idea of God, ’74;Mind in Animals, ’80; andLight and Life, ’82. He also contributes to theFreidenker, theDageraad, and other journals.Buffon(Georges LouisLeclerc),Count de, French naturalist, b. Montford, Burgundy, 7 Sept. 1707. An incessant worker. HisNatural Historyin 36 volumes bears witness to the fertility of his mind and his capacity for making science attractive. Buffon lived much in seclusion, and attached himself to no sect or religion. Some of his sentences were attacked by the Sorbonne. Hérault de Sêchelles says that Buffon said: “I have named the Creator, but it is only necessary to take out the word and substitute the power of nature.” Died at Paris 16 April, 1788.BuitendijkorBuytendyck(Gosuinus van), Dutch Spinozist, who wrote an Apology at the beginning of the eighteenth century and was banished 1716.Bufalini(Maurizio), Italian doctor, b. Cesena 2 June, 1787. In 1813 hepublishedan essay on theDoctrine of Lifein opposition to vitalism, and henceforward his life was a conflict with the upholders of that doctrine. He was accused of materialism, but became a professor at Florence and a member of the Italian Senate in 1860. Died at Florence 31 March, 1875.Burdach(Karl Friedrich), German physiologist, b. Leipsic 12 June, 1776. He occupied a chair at the University of Breslau. His works on physiology and anthropology did much to popularise those sciences, and the former is placed on theIndex Librorum Prohibitorumfor its materialistic tendency. He died at Konigsberg, 16 July, 1847.Burdon(William), M.A., writer, b. Newcastle, 11 Sept. 1764. Graduated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1788. He was intended for a clergyman, but want of faith made him decline that profession. His principal work is entitledMaterials for Thinking. Colton largely availed himself of this work in hisLacon. It went through five editions in his lifetime, and portions were reprinted in theLibrary of Reason. He also addressedThree Letters to the Bishop of Llandaff, wrote aLife and Character of Bonaparte, translated an account of the Revolution in Spain, edited the Memoirs of Count Boruwlaski, and wrote some objections to the annual subscription to the Sons of the Clergy. Died in London, 30 May, 1818.Burigny(JeanLevesque de), French writer, b. Rheims, 1692. He became a member of the French Academy, wrote atreatise on the Authority of the Pope, a History of Pagan Philosophy and other works, and is credited with theCritical Examination of the Apologists of the Christian Religion, published under the name of Freret by Naigeon, 1766. Levesque de Burigny wrote a letter in answer to Bergier’sProofs of Christianity, which is published in Naigeon’sRecueil Philosophique. Died at Paris, 8 Oct. 1785.Burmeister(Hermann), German naturalist, b. Stralsund, 15 Jan. 1807. In 1827 he became a doctor at Halle. In ’48 he was elected to the National Assembly. In 1850 he went to Brazil. His principal work isThe History of Creation, 1843.BurmeisterorBaurmeister(Johann Peter Theodor) a German Rationalist and colleague of Ronge. Born at Flensburg, 1805. He resided in Hamburg, and wrote in the middle of the present century under the name of J. P. Lyser.Burnet(Thomas), b. about 1635 at Croft, Yorkshire. Through the interest of a pupil, the Duke of Ormonde, he obtained the mastership of the Charterhouse, 1685. In 1681 the first part of hisTelluris Theoria Sacra, or Sacred Theory of the Earth, appeared in Latin, and was translated and modified in 1684. In 1692 Burnet published, both in English and in Latin, hisArchæologiæ Philosophicæ, or the Ancient Doctrine of the Origin of Things. He professes in this to reconcile his theory with Genesis, which receives a figurative interpretation; and a ludicrous dialogue between Eve and the serpent gave great offence. In a popular ballad Burnet is represented as saying—

Bell(William S.), b. inAlleghenycity, 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 YorkTruthseeker, 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 theTruthseeker, 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, entitledAn 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 notaccededto. Upon his release his admirers sent him for a voyage round the world. He wroteA Truthseeker’s Voyage Round the World,Letters from Albany Penitentiary,Answers toChristian Questions and Arguments, two large volumes onThe Gods, another on theWorld’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’sChristianity 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 asAn Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion, by Philip Beauchamp, 1822. Among his numerous other works we can only mentionDeontology, 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 ofHeaven and Its Wonders, Leipsic, 1881, andMythology of the Ancient Hebrews, 1882.

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

Bergerac de(Savinien Cyrano). SeeCyrano.

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 andpseudonyms. He published theArt of Thinking, Leipsic, 1802, conducted theAsiatic Magazine, 1806, and wrote under the name ofFrey theTrue 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 goodHistory of Greek Literature, 1872.

Berigardus(Claudius), orBeauregard(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. HisCirculus 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 entitledDubitationes 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 entitledBiographia 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 ofRomeo and Juliet(1839), and was made chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Among his works is one on theInfancy of Christ. In hisMemoirshe 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, wroteLa 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). SeeHolbach.

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 asle 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 theSong of Songs, published under the pseudonym of A. Rebenstein (1834). He devoted himself to natural science and published works onThe Rotation of Planets, Humboldt and the Spirit of the Time, etc. His essay onThe Origin of the Legends of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacobwas 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. HisFirst Year of ScientificInstructionis 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 attackedThe 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, theDictionary 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-Velay25 Oct. 1810. Became M.D. 1840, wrote onThe Original Diversity of Human Races(1847), and a materialistic work onManifestation of Life and Intelligence through Organisation, 1848. Has also written onDescartes as a Physiologist, 1869.

Berwick(George J.) M.D., appointed surgeon to the East India Company in 1828, retired in ’52. Author ofAwas-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 onThe 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 theweek 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’sCreed of Christendomand Arnold’sLiterature and Dogmaincreased her scepticism. She became acquainted with the Rev. C. Voysey and Thomas Scott, for whom she wrote anEssay 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 inMy Path to Atheism(’77). Joined the National Secular Society, and in ’74 wrote in theNational Reformerover 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 theNational Reformer. Some lectures on the French Revolution were republished in book form. In April, ’77, she was arrested with Mr. Bradlaugh for publishing theFruits 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 inTheological Essays and Debates. She wrote the second part of theFreethinkers’ Text Bookdealing with Christian evidence; has written on theSins of the Church, 1886, and theEvolution of Society. She has translated Jules Soury’sReligion of Israel, andJesus of the Gospels; Dr. L. Büchner on theInfluence of HeredityandMind in Animals, and from the fifteenth edition ofForce and Matter. From ’83 to ’88 she editedOur 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 nephewof 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.), afterwardsGuggenberger; English poetess and authoress ofKey Notes, 1879;Poems, Lyrics and Sonnets, ’82; wrote “Modern Atheism and Mr. Mallock” in theNineteenth Century(Oct. and Dec. ’79), and on “The Moral Demerits of Orthodoxy” inProgress, 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’Amouris 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 asBianchi-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. HisLife 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 inIl Republicano, at Lugano, he was proscribed, and had to seek refuge at Zurich, 1839. He went thence to Milan and there wrote aHistory of the Hebrews, a monograph onPope Joan, and an account of the Revolution. His principal works are theHistory of the Popesuntil the great schism of the West (Turin, 1850–64) and aCriticism of the Gospels, 1853, which has gone through several editions. Died 16 May, 1862.

BiandrataorBlandrata(Giorgio), Italian anti-trinitarian reformer, b. Saluzzo about 1515. Graduated in arts andmedicine 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 thePhysiology of Life and Deathwas translated into English. He died a martyr to his zeal for science, 22 July, 1802.

BiddleorBidle(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.) seeGrile(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 wroteElements 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 250B.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 thevotive 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 ofAn 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 theReal and Ideal. In the stormy time of ’42 Mr. Birch did much to support the prosecuted publications. He brought out theLibrary of Reasonand supportedThe ReasonerandInvestigatorwith 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 toNotes and Queriesand 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 writtenCreed of a Modern Agnostic, 1883; andAgnostic 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’sHistory of the Christian Religion, under the title ofWhence 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 theNorth American Reviewupon the “Christian Religion,” with a long preface, in which he attacks the State Church and Monarchy. The translation was entitledThink for Yourself. The first edition rapidly sold out and asecond 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, whoseSubjection of Womenhe 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 inLe 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 wroteKritik 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 ofClaude Lake. She has since translated Straus’sOld Faith and the New, and written the volumes on George Eliot and Madame Roland in theEminent Womenseries.

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 publishedGreat is Diana of the Ephesians, or the Origin of Idolatry, and the two first books ofApollonius Tyanius, with notes, in which he attacks priestcraft and superstition. This work was condemned and suppressed. Blount also publishedThe Oracles of Reason, a number of Freethought Essays. By hisVindication of Learning and Liberty of the Press, and still more by his hoax on Bohun entitledWilliam 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.), wroteThe New Ecce Homo or the Self Redemption of Man, 1839. He is also credited with the authorship ofThe Existence of Christ Disprovedin 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. HisbookDe la Republiqueis highly praised by Hallam, and is said to have contained the germ of Montesquieu’s “Spirit of the Laws.” He wrote a work ondemonomania, in which he seems to have believed, but in hisColloquium Heptaplomeroncoloquies 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 hisGangrena, 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 thecoup d’étathe 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 theAutopsy of the Souland a work on the foundations of morality, which he traces to interest. He has also written a book entitledThe Mechanism of Thought, ’84.

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

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

Bolingbroke(HenrySaint John) Lord, English statesman and philosopher, b. at Battersea, 1 Oct. 1672. His political lifewas a stormy one. He was the friend of Swift and of Pope, who in hisEssay on Manavowedly 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 includedEssays 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) seeFranchi(Ausonio).

Boni(Filippo de), Italian man of letters, b. Feltre, 1820. Editor of a standardBiography of Artists, published at Venice, 1840. He also wrote on the Roman Church and Italy and onReason and Dogma, Siena, ’66, and contributed to Stefanoni’sLibero Pensiero. De Boni was elected deputy to the Italian Parliament. He has written on “Italian Unbelief in the Middle Ages” in theAnnuario 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 theeighteenthcentury, and on 1 Jan. 1714, was banished.

Bonnot de Condillac(Etienne) seeCondillac.

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 areResearches on the Nature and Laws of the Imagination, 1807; andStudies on Man, 1821. Died Geneva, 3 Feb. 1832.

Borde(Frédéric), editor ofLa 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 entitledMonchalogia, or the natural history of monks.

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

Boucher(E. Martin), French writer, b. Beaulieu, 1809; contributed to theRationalistof Geneva, where he died 1882. Author of a work on Revelation and Rationalism, entitledSearch 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 tola 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, editedLa Libre Penséeand wrote a satire on the Jesuits entitledCalottes et Soutanes, 1870. Sent to New Caledonia for his participation in the Commune, he has since his return published a volume of political verses entitledAprès 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 ofDoubts upon Religion, Londres, 1767. ALife of Muhammad, the first European work doing justice to Islam, and aHistory of the Arabsalso proceeded from his pen, and he is one of those to whom is attributed the treatise with the title of theThree 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 areAntiquity UnveiledandResearches 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 theEncyclopédie.

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

Boureau-Deslands(A. F.) SeeDeslandes.

Bourget(Paul), French littérateur, b. at Amiens in 1852. Has made himself famous by his novels, essays oncontemporarypsychology, 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bridges(John Henry), M.D. English Positivist, b. 1833, graduated B.A. at Oxford 1855, and B.M. 1859; has written onReligion and Progress, contributed to theFortnightly Review, and translated Comte’sGeneral View of Positivism(1865) andSystem of Positive Polity(1873).

Bril(Jakob), Dutch mystical Pantheist, b. Leyden, 21 Jan. 1639.Died1700. His works were published at Amsterdam,1705.

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

Bristol(Augusta), néeCooper, American educator, b. Croydon, New Haven, 17 April, 1835. In 1850 became teacher and gained repute by herPoems. In Sept. 1880, she represented American Freethinkers at the International Conference at Brussels. She has written onScience and its Relations to Human Characterand other works.

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

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

Brothier(Léon), author of aPopular History of Philosophy, 1861, and other works in theBibliothèque Utile. He contributed to theRationalistof Geneva.

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

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

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

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

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

Brzesky(Casimir Liszynsky Podsedek). SeeLiszinski.

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

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

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

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

Buchner(Ludwig). SeeBuechner.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back to IndexNext