A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations Part 4

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

Blumenfeld (J. C.), wrote The New Ecce h.o.m.o or the Self Redemption of Man, 1839. He is also credited with the authors.h.i.+p of The Existence of Christ Disproved in a series of Letters by "A German Jew," London, 1841.

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

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

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

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

Boindin (Nicolas) French litterateur, wit, playwright and academician, b. Paris 29 May, 1676. He publicly professed Atheism, and resorted with other Freethinkers to the famous cafe Procope. There, in order to speak freely, they called the soul Margot, religion Javotte, liberty Jeanneton, and G.o.d 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 a.n.a.logical dictionary of the French language. Under the name of Sierebois he has published the Autopsy of the Soul and a work on the foundations of morality, which he traces to interest. He has also written a book ent.i.tled The Mechanism of Thought, '84.

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

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

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

Bonavino (Francesco Cristoforo) see Franchi (Ausonio).

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

Boniface VIII., Pope (Benedetto Gaetano), elected head of Christendom, 24 Dec. 1294. During his quarrel with Philip the Fair of France charges were sworn on oath against Pope Boniface that he neither believed in the Trinity nor in the life to come, that he said the Virgin Mary "was no more a virgin than my mother"; that he did not observe the fasts of the Church, and that he spoke of the cardinals, monks, and friars as hypocrites. It was in evidence that the Pope had said "G.o.d 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 a.s.sures me he was a Freethinker.

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

Bonnot de Condillac (Etienne) see Condillac.

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

Borde (Frederic), editor of La Philosophie de l'Avenir, Paris, 1875, etc. Born La Roch.e.l.le 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 ill.u.s.trated satire ent.i.tled Monchalogia, or the natural history of monks.

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

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

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

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

Bouis (Casimir), French journalist, b. Toulon 1848, edited La Libre Pensee and wrote a satire on the Jesuits ent.i.tled Calottes et Soutanes, 1870. Sent to New Caledonia for his partic.i.p.ation in the Commune, he has since his return published a volume of political verses ent.i.tled Apres le Naufrage, After the s.h.i.+pwreck, 1880.

Boulainvilliers (Henri de), Comte de St. Saire, French historian and philosopher, b. 11 Oct. 1658. His princ.i.p.al 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 a.n.a.lysis of Spinoza's Tractus Theologico-Politicus, printed at the end of Doubts upon Religion, Londres, 1767. A Life of Muhammad, the first European work doing justice to Islam, and a History of the Arabs also proceeded from his pen, and he is one of those to whom is attributed the treatise with the t.i.tle of the Three Impostors, 1755. Died 23 Jan. 1722.

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

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

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

Bourget (Paul), French litterateur, b. at Amiens in 1852. Has made himself famous by his novels, essays on contemporary psychology, studies of M. Renan, 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 Lycee 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 professors.h.i.+p 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 inst.i.tution of a Dante chair in the University of Rome. He has written a work on The History of Law, a copy of which he presented to the International Congress of Freethinkers, 1887.

Bowring (Sir John, K.B., LL D.), politician, linguist and writer, b. Exeter, 17 Oct., 1792. In early life a pupil of Dr. Lant Carpenter and later a disciple of Jeremy Bentham, whose principles he maintained in the Westminster Review, of which he was editor, 1825. Arrested in France in 1822, after a fortnight's imprisonment he was released without trial. He published Bentham's Deontology (1834), and nine years after edited a complete collection of the works of Bentham. Returned to Parliament in '35, and afterwards was employed in important government missions. In '55 he visited Siam, and two years later published an account of The Kingdom and People of Siam. He translated Goethe, Schiller, Heine, and the poems of many countries; was an active member of the British a.s.sociation and of the Social Science a.s.sociation, 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 publis.h.i.+ng a blasphemous and seditious libel. In his defence he ably a.s.serted 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 fort.i.tude."

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

Braekstad (Hans Lien), b. Throndhjem, Norway, 7 Sept. 1845. Has made English translations from Bjornson, Asbjornsen, Andersen, etc., and has contributed to Harper's Magazine and other periodical literature.

Brandes (Georg Morris Cohen), Danish writer, by birth a Jew, b. Copenhagen, 4 Feb. 1842. In 1869 he translated J. S. Mills'

Subjection of Women, and in the following year took a doctor's degree for a philosophical treatise. His chief work is ent.i.tled the Main Current of Literature in the Nineteenth Century. His brother, Dr. Edvard Brandes, was elected to the Danish Parliament in 1881, despite his declaration that he did not believe either in the G.o.d of the Christians or of the Jews.

Bray (Charles), philosophic writer, b. Coventry, 31 Jan. 1811. He was brought up as an Evangelical, but found his way to Freethought. Early in life he took an active part in promoting unsectarian education. His first work (1835) was on The Education of the Body. This was followed by The Education of the Feelings, of which there were several editions. In 1836 he married Miss Hennell, sister of C. C. Hennell, and took the System of Nature and Volney's Ruins of Empires "to enliven the honeymoon." Among his friends was Mary Ann Evans ("George Eliot"), who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Bray to Italy. His works on The Philosophy of Necessity (1841) and Cerebral Psychology (1875) give the key to all his thought. He wrote a number of Thomas Scott's series of tracts: Illusion and Delusion, The Reign of Law in Mind as in Matter, Toleration with remarks on Professor Tyndall's "Address,"

and a little book, Christianity in the Light of our Present Knowledge and Moral Sense (1876). He also wrote A Manual of Anthropology and similar works. In a postscript to his last volume, Phases of Opinion and Experience During a Long Life, dated 18 Sept. 1884, he stated that he has no hope or expectation or belief even in the possibility of continued individuality after death, and that as his opinions have done to live by "they will do to die by." He died 5 Oct. 1884.

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

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

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

Brissot (Jean Pierre) de Warville, active French revolutionist, b. Chartres, 14 Jan. 1754. He was bred to the law, but took to literature. He wrote for the Courier de l'Europe, a revolutionary paper suppressed for its boldness, published a treatise on Truth, and edited a Philosophical Law Library, 1782-85. He wrote against the legal authority of Rome, and is credited with Philosophical Letters upon St. Paul and the Christian Religion, Neufchatel, 1783. In 1784 he was imprisoned in the Bastille for his writings. To avoid a second imprisonment he went to England and America, returning to France at the outbreak of the Revolution. He wrote many political works, became member of the Legislative a.s.sembly, 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), nee Cooper, American educator, b. Croydon, New Haven, 17 April, 1835. In 1850 became teacher and gained repute by her Poems. In Sept. 1880, she represented American Freethinkers at the International Conference at Brussels. She has written on Science and its Relations to Human Character and other works.

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

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

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

Broussais (Francois 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 b.i.+.c.hat, he did much to reform medical science by his Examination of Received Medical Doctrines and to find a basis for mental and moral science in physiology by his many scientific works. Despite his bold opinions, he was made Commander of the Legion of Honor. He died poor at St. Malo 17 Nov. 1838, leaving behind a profession of faith, in which he declares his disbelief in a creator and his being "without hope or fear of another life."

Brown (George William), Dr., of Rockford, Illinois, b. in Ess.e.x 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 h.e.l.l. Dr. Brown edited the Herald of Freedom, Kansas. In 1856 his office was destroyed by a pro-slavery mob, his type thrown into the river, and himself and others arrested but was released without trial. Dr. Brown has contributed largely to the Ironclad Age and other American Freethought papers, and is bringing out a work on the Origin of Christianity.