b. Darmstadt, 29 March, 1824. Studied medicine in Geissen, Strassburg
and Vienna. In '55 he startled the world with his bold work on
Force and Matter, which has gone through numerous editions and been
translated into nearly all the European languages. This work lost
him the place of professor which he held at Tübingen, and he has
since practised in his native town. Büchner has developed his ideas
in many other works such as Nature and Spirit (1857), Physiological
Sketches, '61; Nature and Science, '62; Conferences on Darwinism,
'69; Man in the Past, Present and Future, '69; Materialism its History
and Influence on Society, '73; The Idea of God, '74; Mind in Animals,
'80; and Light and Life, '82. He also contributes to the Freidenker,
the Dageraad, and other journals.
Buffon (Georges Louis Leclerc), Count de, French naturalist,
b. Montford, Burgundy, 7 Sept. 1707. An incessant worker. His Natural
History in 36 volumes bears witness to the fertility of his mind
and his capacity for making science attractive. Buffon lived much in
seclusion, and attached himself to no sect or religion. Some of his
sentences were attacked by the Sorbonne. Hérault de Sêchelles says
that Buffon said: "I have named the Creator, but it is only necessary
to take out the word and substitute the power of nature." Died at
Paris 16 April, 1788.
Buitendijk or Buytendyck (Gosuinus van), Dutch Spinozist, who wrote an
Apology at the beginning of the eighteenth century and was banished
1716.
Bufalini (Maurizio), Italian doctor, b. Cesena 2 June, 1787. In 1813 he
published an essay on the Doctrine of Life in opposition to vitalism,
and henceforward his life was a conflict with the upholders of that
doctrine. He was accused of materialism, but became a professor at
Florence and a member of the Italian Senate in 1860. Died at Florence
31 March, 1875.
Burdach (Karl Friedrich), German physiologist, b. Leipsic 12 June,
1776. He occupied a chair at the University of Breslau. His works on
physiology and anthropology did much to popularise those sciences,
and the former is placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum for its
materialistic tendency. He died at Konigsberg, 16 July, 1847.
Burdon (William), M.A., writer, b. Newcastle, 11 Sept. 1764. Graduated
at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1788. He was intended for a clergyman,
but want of faith made him decline that profession. His principal work
is entitled Materials for Thinking. Colton largely availed himself of
this work in his Lacon. It went through five editions in his lifetime,
and portions were reprinted in the Library of Reason. He also addressed
Three Letters to the Bishop of Llandaff, wrote a Life and Character of
Bonaparte, translated an account of the Revolution in Spain, edited the
Memoirs of Count Boruwlaski, and wrote some objections to the annual
subscription to the Sons of the Clergy. Died in London, 30 May, 1818.
Burigny (Jean Levesque de), French writer, b. Rheims, 1692. He became
a member of the French Academy, wrote a treatise on the Authority
of the Pope, a History of Pagan Philosophy and other works, and
is credited with the Critical Examination of the Apologists of the
Christian Religion, published under the name of Freret by Naigeon,
1766. Levesque de Burigny wrote a letter in answer to Bergier's
Proofs of Christianity, which is published in Naigeon's Recueil
Philosophique. Died at Paris, 8 Oct. 1785.
Burmeister (Hermann), German naturalist, b. Stralsund, 15 Jan. 1807. In
1827 he became a doctor at Halle. In '48 he was elected to the National
Assembly. In 1850 he went to Brazil. His principal work is The History
of Creation, 1843.
Burmeister or Baurmeister (Johann Peter Theodor) a German Rationalist
and colleague of Ronge. Born at Flensburg, 1805. He resided in
Hamburg, and wrote in the middle of the present century under the
name of J. P. Lyser.
Burnet (Thomas), b. about 1635 at Croft, Yorkshire. Through the
interest of a pupil, the Duke of Ormonde, he obtained the mastership
of the Charterhouse, 1685. In 1681 the first part of his Telluris
Theoria Sacra, or Sacred Theory of the Earth, appeared in Latin, and
was translated and modified in 1684. In 1692 Burnet published, both
in English and in Latin, his Archæologiæ Philosophicæ, or the Ancient
Doctrine of the Origin of Things. He professes in this to reconcile
his theory with Genesis, which receives a figurative interpretation;
and a ludicrous dialogue between Eve and the serpent gave great
offence. In a popular ballad Burnet is represented as saying--
That all the books of Moses
Were nothing but supposes.
He had to resign a position at court. In later life he wrote De Fide
et Officiis Christianorum (on Christian Faith and Duties), in which
he regards historical religions as based on the religion of nature,
and rejects original sin and the "magical" theory of sacraments;
and De Statu Mortuorum et Resurgentium, on the State of the Dead and
Resurrected, in which he opposed the doctrine of eternal punishment
and shadowed forth a scheme of Deism. These books he kept to himself
to avoid a prosecution for heresy, but had a few copies printed for
private friends. He died in the Charterhouse 27 Sept. 1715. A tract
entitled Hell Torments not Eternal was published in 1739.
Burnett (James), Lord Monboddo, a learned Scotch writer and judge,
was b. Monboddo, Oct. 1714. He adopted the law as his profession,
became a celebrated advocate, and was made a judge in 1767. His
work on the Origin and Progress of Language (published anonymously
1773-92), excited much derision by his studying man as one of the
animals and collecting facts about savage tribes to throw light on
civilisation. He first maintained that the orang-outang was allied
to the human species. He also wrote on Ancient Metaphysics. He was
a keen debater and discussed with Hume, Adam Smith, Robertson, and
Lord Kames. Died in Edinburgh, 26 May, 1799.
Burnouf (Emile Louis), French writer, b. Valonges, 25 Aug. 1821. He
became professor of ancient literature to the faculty of Nancy. Author
of many works, including a translation of selections from the Novum
Organum of Bacon, the Bhagvat-Gita, an Introduction to the Vedas,
a history of Greek Literature, Studies in Japanese, and articles
in the Revue des deux Mondes. His heresy is pronounced in his work
on the Science of Religions, 1878, in his Contemporary Catholicism,
and Life and Thought, 1886.
Burnouf (Eugène), French Orientalist, cousin of the preceding;
b. Paris, 12 Aug. 1801. He opened up to the Western world the Pali
language, and with it the treasures of Buddhism, whose essentially
Atheistic character he maintained. To him also we are largely indebted
for a knowledge of Zend and of the Avesta of the Zoroastrians. He
translated numerous Oriental works and wrote a valuable Introduction
to the History of Indian Buddhism. Died at Paris, 28 May, 1852.
Burns (Robert), Scotland's greatest poet, b. near Ayr, 25
Jan. 1759. His father was a small farmer, of enlightened views. The
life and works of Burns are known throughout the world. His
Freethought is evident from such productions as the "Holy Fair,"
"The Kirk's Alarm," and "Holy Willie's Prayer," and many passages in
private letters to his most familiar male friends. Died at Dumfries,
21 July, 1796.
Burr (William Henry), American author, b. 1819, Gloversville, N.Y.,
graduated at Union College, Schenectady, became a shorthand reporter
to the Senate. In 1869 he retired and devoted himself to literary
research. He is the anonymous author of Revelations of Antichrist, a
learned book which exposes the obscurity of the origin of Christianity,
and seeks to show that the historical Jesus lived almost a century
before the Christian era. He has also written several pamphlets:
Thomas Paine was Junius, 1880: Self Contradictions of the Bible;
Is the Bible a Lying Humbug? A Roman Catholic Canard, etc. He has
also frequently contributed to the Boston Investigator, the New York
Truthseeker, and the Ironclad Age of Indianapolis.
Burton (Sir Richard Francis), traveller, linguist, and author,
b. Barham House, Herts, 19 March, 1821. Intended for the Church,
he matriculated at Oxford, but in 1842 entered the East India
Company's service, served on the staff of Sir C. Napier, and soon
acquired reputation as an intrepid explorer. In '51 he returned to
England and started for Mecca and Medina, visiting those shrines
unsuspected, as a Moslem pilgrim. He was chief of the staff of the
Osmanli cavalry in the Crimean war, and has made many remarkable and
dangerous expeditions in unknown lands; he discovered and opened
the lake regions in Central Africa and explored the highlands of
Brazil. He has been consul at Fernando Po, Santos, Damascus, and
since 1872 at Trieste, and speaks over thirty languages. His latest
work is a new translation of The Thousand Nights and a Night in 10
vols. Being threatened with a prosecution, he intended justifying
"literal naturalism" from the Bible. Burton's knowledge of Arabic is
so perfect that when he used to read the tales to Arabs, they would
roll on the ground in fits of laughter.
Butler (Samuel), poet, b. in Strensham, Worcestershire, Feb. 1612. In
early life he came under the influence of Selden. He studied painting,
and is said to have painted a head of Cromwell from life. He became
clerk to Sir Samuel Luke, one of Cromwell's Generals, whom he has
satirised as Hudibras. This celebrated burlesque poem appeared in 1663
and became famous, but, although the king and court were charmed with
its wit, the author was allowed to remain in poverty and obscurity
till he died at Covent Garden, London, 25 Sept. 1680. Butler expressed
the opinion that
"Religion is the interest of churches
That sell in other worlds in this to purchase."
Buttmann (Philipp Karl), German philologist, b. Frankfort, 5
Dec. 1764. Became librarian of the Royal Library at Berlin. He edited
many of the Greek Classics, wrote on the Myth of the Deluge, 1819,
and a learned work on Mythology, 1828. Died Berlin, 21 June, 1829.
Buzot (François Léonard Nicolas), French Girondin, distinguished as
an ardent Republican and a friend and lover of Madame Roland. Born
at Evreux, 1 March, 1760; he died from starvation when hiding after
the suppression of his party June, 1793.
Byelinsky (Vissarion G.) See Belinsky.
Byron (George Gordon Noel) Lord, b. London, 22 Jan. 1788. He succeeded
his grand-uncle William in 1798; was sent to Harrow and Cambridge. In
1807 he published his Hours of Idleness, and awoke one morning to find
himself famous. His power was, however, first shown in his English
Bards and Scotch Reviewers, in which he satirised his critics, 1809. He
then travelled on the Continent, the result of which was seen in his
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and other works. He married 2 Jan. 1815,
but a separation took place in the following year. Lord Byron then
resided in Italy, where he made the acquaintance of Shelley. In 1823
he devoted his name and fortune to the cause of the Greek revolution,
but was seized with fever and died at Missolonghi, 19 April, 1824. His
drama of Cain: a Mystery, 1822, is his most serious utterance,
and it shows a profound contempt for religious dogma. This feeling
is also exhibited in his magnificent burlesque poem, The Vision
of Judgment, which places him at the head of English satirists. In
his letters to the Rev. Francis Hodgson, 1811, he distinctly says:
"I do not believe in any revealed religion.... I will have nothing
to do with your immortality; we are miserable enough in this life,
without the absurdity of speculating upon another.... The basis of
your religion is injustice; the Son of God, the pure, the immaculate,
the innocent, is sacrificed for the guilty," etc.
Cabanis (Pierre Jean George), called by Lange "the father of the
materialistic physiology," b. Conac, 5 June, 1757. Became pupil
of Condillac and friend of Mirabeau, whom he attended in his last
illness, of which he published an account 1791. He was also intimate
with Turgot, Condorcet, Holbach, Diderot, and other distinguished
Freethinkers, and was elected member of the Institute and of the
Council of Five Hundred in the Revolution. His works are mostly
medical, the chief being Des Rapports du Physique et du Morale de
l'Homme, in which he contends that thoughts are a secretion of the
brain. Died Rueil, near Paris, 5 May, 1808.
Cæsalpinus (Andreas), Italian philosopher of the Renaissance,
b. Arezzo, Tuscany, 1519. He became Professor of Botany at Pisa, and
Linnæus admits his obligations to his work, De Plantis, 1583. He also
wrote works on metals and medicine, and showed acquaintance with the
circulation of the blood. In a work entitled Demonum Investigatio,
he contends that "possession" by devils is amenable to medical
treatment. His Quæstionum Peripateticarum, in five books, Geneva,
1568, was condemned as teaching a Pantheistic doctrine similar to
that of Spinoza. Bishop Parker denounced him. Died 23 Feb. 1603.
Cæsar (Caius Julius), the "foremost man of all this world," equally
renowned as soldier, statesman, orator, and writer, b. 12 July,
100 B.C., of noble family. His life, the particulars of which are
well known, was an extraordinary display of versatility, energy,
courage, and magnanimity. He justified the well-known line of Pope,
"Cæsar the world's great master and his own." His military talents
elevated him to the post of dictator, but this served to raise against
him a band of aristocratic conspirators, by whom he was assassinated,
15 March, 44 B.C. His Commentaries are a model of insight and clear
expression. Sallust relates that he questioned the existence of
a future state in the presence of the Roman senate. Froude says:
"His own writings contain nothing to indicate that he himself had any
religious belief at all. He saw no evidence that the gods practically
interfered in human affairs.... He held to the facts of this life and
to his own convictions; and as he found no reason for supposing that
there was a life beyond the grave he did not pretend to expect it."
Cahuac (John), bookseller, revised an edition of Palmer's Principles
of Nature, 1819. For this he was prosecuted at the instance of the
"Vice Society," but the matter was compromised. He was also prosecuted
for selling the Republican, 1820.
Calderino (Domizio), a learned writer of the Renaissance, b. in 1445,
in the territory of Verona, and lived at Rome, where he was professor
of literature, in 1477. He edited and commented upon many of the
Latin poets. Bayle says he was without religion. Died in 1478.
Calenzio (Eliseo), an Italian writer, b. in the kingdom of Naples about
1440. He was preceptor to Prince Frederic, the son of Ferdinand, the
King of Naples. He died in 1503, leaving behind a number of satires,
fables and epigrams, some of which are directed against the Church.
Call (Wathen Mark Wilks), English author, b. 7 June, 1817. Educated at
Cambridge, entered the ministry in 1843, but resigned his curacy about
1856 on account of his change of opinions, which he recounts in his
preface to Reverberations, 1876. Mr. Call is of the Positivist school,
and has contributed largely to the Fortnightly and Westminster Reviews.
Callet (Pierre Auguste), French politician, b. St. Etienne, 27
Oct. 1812; became editor of the Gazette of France till 1840. In 1848
he was nominated Republican representative. At the coup d'état of 2
Dec. 1851, he took refuge in Belgium. He returned to France, but was
imprisoned for writing against the Empire. In 1871, Callet was again
elected representative for the department of the Loire. His chief
Freethought work is L'Enfer, an attack upon the Christian doctrine
of hell, 1861.
Camisani (Gregorio), Italian writer, b. at Venice, 1810. A Professor
of Languages in Milan. He has translated the Upas of Captain R. H. Dyas
and other works.
Campanella (Tommaso), Italian philosopher, b. Stilo, Calabria,
5 Sept. 1568. He entered the Dominican order, but was too much
attracted by the works of Telesio to please his superiors. In 1590
his Philosophia Sensibus Demonstratio was printed at Naples. Being
prosecuted, he fled to Rome, and thence to Florence, Venice,
and Padua. At Bologna some of his MS. fell into the hands of the
Inquisition, and he was arrested. He ably defended himself and was
acquitted. Returning to Calabria in 1599, he was arrested on charges
of heresy and conspiracy against the Spanish Government of Naples,
and having appealed to Rome, was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment
in the prison of the Holy Office. He was put to the torture seven
times, his torments on one occasion extending over forty hours, but
he refused to confess. He was dragged from one prison to another for
twenty-seven years, during which he wrote some sonnets, a history of
the Spanish monarchy, and several philosophical works. On 15 May,
1626, he was released by the intervention of Pope Urban VIII. He
was obliged to fly from Rome to France, where he met Gassendi. He
also visited Descartes in Holland. Julian Hibbert remarked that
his Atheismus Triumphatus--Atheism Subdued, 1631, would be better
entitled Atheismus Triumphans--Atheism Triumphant--as the author puts
his strongest arguments on the heterodox side. In his City of the Sun,
Campanella follows Plato and More in depicting an ideal republic and a
time when a new era of earthly felicity should begin. Hallam says "The
strength of Campanella's genius lay in his imagination." His "Sonnets"
have been translated by J. A. Symonds. Died Paris, 21 May, 1639.
Campbell (Alexander), Socialist of Glasgow, b. about the beginning
of the century. He early became a Socialist, and was manager at
the experiment at Orbiston under Abram Combe, of whom he wrote
a memoir. Upon the death of Combe, 1827, he became a Socialist
missionary in England. He took an active part in the co-operative
movement, and in the agitation for an unstamped press, for which he
was tried and imprisoned at Edinburgh, 1833-4. About 1849 he returned
to Glasgow and wrote on the Sentinel. In 1867 he was presented with
a testimonial and purse of 90 sovereigns by admirers of his exertions
in the cause of progress. Died about 1873.
Campion (William), a shoemaker, who became one of R. Carlile's
shopmen; tried 8 June, 1824, for selling Paine's Age of Reason. After
a spirited defence he was found guilty and sentenced to three years'
imprisonment. In prison he edited, in conjunction with J. Clarke,
E. Hassell, and T. R. Perry, the Newgate Monthly Magazine, to which
he contributed some thoughtful papers, from Sept. 1824, to Aug. 1826,
when he was removed to the Compter.
Canestrini (Giovanni), Italian naturalist, b. Rerò, 1835. He studied
at Vienna, and in '60 was nominated Professor of Natural History at
Geneva. Signor Canestrini contributed to the Annuario Filosofico del
Libero Pensiero, and is known for his popularisation of the works
of Darwin, which he has translated into Italian. He has written
upon the Origin of Man, which has gone through two editions, Milan,
'66-'70, and on the Theory of Evolution, Turin, '77. He was appointed
Professor of Zoology, Anatomy and Comparative Physiology at Padua,
where he has published a Memoir of Charles Darwin, '82.
Cardano (Girolamo), better known as Jerome Cardan, Italian
mathematician, and physician, b. Pavia, 24 Sept. 1501. He studied
medicine, but was excluded from the Milan College of Physicians on
account of illegitimate birth. He and his young wife were at one time
compelled to take refuge in the workhouse. It is not strange that his
first work was an exposure of the fallacies of the faculty. A fortunate
cure brought him into notice and he journeyed to Scotland as the
medical adviser of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, 1551. In 1563 he was
arrested at Bologna for heresy, but was released, although deprived of
his professorship. He died at Rome, 20 Sept. 1576, having, it is said,
starved himself to verify his own prediction of his death. Despite
some superstition, Cardano did much to forward science, especially
by his work on Algebra, and in his works De Subtilitate Rerum and De
Varietate Rerum, amid much that is fanciful, perceived the universality
of natural law and the progressive evolution of life. Scaliger accused
him of Atheism. Pünjer says "Cardanus deserves to be named along with
Telesius as one of the principal founders of Natural Philosophy."
Carducci (Giosuè), Italian poet and Professor of Italian Literature at
the University of Bologna, b. Pietrasantra, in the province of Lucca,
27 July, 1836. As early as '49 he cried, Abasso tutti i re! viva la
republica--Down with all kings! Long live the republic! Sprung into
fame by his Hymn to Satan, '69, by which he intended the spirit of
resistance. He has written many poems and satires in which he exhibits
himself an ardent Freethinker and Republican. At the end of '57 he
wrote his famous verse "Il secoletto vil che cristianeggia"--"This
vile christianising century." In '60 he became professor of Greek
in Bologna University, being suspended for a short while in '67 for
an address to Mazzini. In '76 he was elected as republican deputy to
the Italian Parliament for Lugo di Romagna.
Carlile (Eliza Sharples), second wife of Richard Carlile, came from
Lancashire during the imprisonment of Carlile and Taylor, 1831,
delivered discourses at the Rotunda, and started a journal, the Isis,
which lasted from 11 Feb. to 15 Dec. 1832. The Isis was dedicated
to the young women of England "until superstition is extinct,"
and contained Frances Wright's discourses, in addition to those
by Mrs. Carlile, who survived till '61. Mr. Bradlaugh lodged with
Mrs. Carlile at the Warner Place Institute, in 1849. She had three
children, Hypatia, Theophila and Julian, of whom the second is
still living.
Carlile (Jane), first wife of R. Carlile, who carried on his business
during his imprisonment, was proceeded against, and sentenced to two
years' imprisonment, 1821. She had three children, Richard, Alfred,
and Thomas Paine Carlile, the last of whom edited the Regenerator,
a Chartist paper published at Manchester, 1839.
Carlile (Richard), foremost among the brave upholders of an English
free press, b. Ashburton, Devon, 8 Dec. 1790. He was apprenticed to a
tin-plate worker, and followed that business till he was twenty-six,
when, having read the works of Paine, he began selling works like
Wooler's Black Dwarf, which Government endeavored to suppress. Sherwin
offered him the dangerous post of publisher of the Republican, which
he accepted. He then published Southey's Wat Tyler, reprinted the
political works of Paine and the parodies for which Hone was tried, but
which cost Carlile eighteen weeks' imprisonment. In 1818 he published
Paine's Theological Works. The prosecution instituted induced him to
go on printing similar works, such as Palmer's Principles of Nature,
Watson Refuted, Jehovah Unveiled, etc. By Oct. 1819, he had six
indictments to answer, on two of which he was tried from 12 to 16
October. He read the whole of the Age of Reason in his defence, in
order to have it in the report of the trial. He was found guilty and
sentenced (16 Nov.) to fifteen hundred pounds fine and three years'
imprisonment in Dorchester Gaol. During his imprisonment his business
was kept on by a succession of shopmen. Refusing to find securities
not to publish, he was kept in prison till 18 Nov. 1835, when he
was liberated unconditionally. During his imprisonment he edited
the Republican, which extended to fourteen volumes. He also edited
the Deist, the Moralist, the Lion (four volumes), the Prompter (for
No. 3 of which he again suffered thirty-two months' imprisonment),
and the Gauntlet. Amongst his writings are An Address to Men of
Science, The Gospel according to R. Carlile, What is God? Every
Woman's Book, etc. He published Doubts of Infidels, Janus on Sion,
Sepher Toldoth Jeshu, D'Holbach's Good Sense, Volney's Ruins, and
many other Freethought works. He died 10 Feb. 1843, bequeathing his
body to Dr. Lawrence for scientific purposes.
Carlyle (Thomas), one of the most gifted and original writers of the
century, b. 4 Dec. 1795, at Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, where his
father, a man of intellect and piety, held a small farm. Showing early
ability he was intended for the Kirk, and educated at the University
of Edinburgh. He, however, became a tutor, and occupied his leisure
in translating from the German. He married Jane Welsh 17 Oct. 1826,
and wrote in the London Magazine and Edinburgh Review many masterly
critical articles, notably on Voltaire, Diderot, Burns, and German
literature. In 1833-4 his Sartor Resartus appeared in Fraser's
Magazine. In '34 he removed to London and began writing the French
Revolution, the MS. of the first vol. of which he confided to Mill,
with whom it was accidentally burnt. He re-wrote the work without
complaint, and it was published in '37. He then delivered a course
of lectures on "German Literature" and on "Heroes, Hero-Worship, and
the Heroic in History," in which he treats Mahomet as the prophet
"we are freest to speak of." His Past and Present was published in
'43. In '45 appeared Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches. In
'50 he published Latter-Day Pamphlets, which contains his most
distinctive political and social doctrines, and in the following year
his Life of John Sterling, in which his heresy clearly appears. His
largest work is his History of the Life and Times of Frederick the
Great, in 10 vols. He was elected rector of Edinburgh University in
'65. Died 5 Feb. 1881. Mr. Froude, in his Biography of Carlyle, says,
"We have seen him confessing to Irving that he did not believe as his
friend did in the Christian religion." ... "the special miraculous
occurrences of sacred history were not credible to him."
Carneades, sceptical philosopher, b. Cyrene about B.C. 213. He went
early to Athens, and attended the lectures of the Stoics, learning
logic from Diogenes. In the year 155, he was chosen with other
deputies to go to Rome to deprecate a fine which had been placed on
the Athenians. During his stay at Rome he attracted great attention
by his philosophical orations. Carneades attacked the very idea of
a God at once infinite and an individual. He denied providence and
design. Many of his arguments are preserved in Cicero's Academics
and De Natura Deorum. Carneades left no written works; his views
seem to have been systematised by his follower Clitomachus. He died
B.C. 129. Carneades is described as a man of unwearied industry. His
ethics were of elevated character.
Carneri (Bartholomäus von), German writer, b. Trieste, 3
Nov. 1821. Educated at Vienna. In 1870 he sat in the Austrian
Parliament with the Liberals. Author of an able work on Morality and
Darwinism, Vienna, 1871. Has also written Der Mensch als Selbstweck,
"Humanity as its own proper object," 1877; Grundlegung der Ethik,
Foundation of Morals, 1881; and Ethical Essays on Evolution and
Happiness, Stuttgart, 1886.
Carra (Jean Louis), French man of letters and Republican, b. 1743 at
Pont de Veyle. He travelled in Germany, Italy, Turkey, Russia, and
Moldavia, where he became secretary to the hospodar. On returning to
France he became employed in the King's library and wrote a History
of Moldavia and an Essay on Aerial Navigation. He warmly espoused
the revolution and was one of the most ardent orators of the Jacobin
club. In the National Assembly he voted for the death of Louis XVI.,
but was executed with the Girondins, 31 Oct. 1793. His Freethought
sentiments are evident from his System of Reason, 1773; his Spirit
of Morality and Philosophy, 1777; New Principles of Physic, 1782-3,
and other works.
Carrel (Jean Baptiste Nicolas Armand), called by Saint Beuve "the
Junius of the French press," b. Rouen, 8 May, 1800. He became a
soldier, but, being a Republican, fought on behalf of the Spanish
revolution. Being taken prisoner, he was condemned to death, but
escaped through some informality. He became secretary to Thierry,
edited the works of P. L. Courier, and established the Nation in
conjunction with Thiers and Mignet. J. S. Mill writes of him in terms
of high praise. The leading journalist of his time, his slashing
articles led to several duels, and in an encounter with Emile de
Girardin (22 July, 1836) he was fatally wounded. On his death-bed,
says M. Littré, he said "Point de prêtres, point d'église"--no
priests nor church. Died 24 July, 1836. He wrote a History of the
Counter-Revolution in England, with an eye to events in his own
country.
Carus (Julius Viktor), German zoologist, b. Leipsic, 25 Aug. 1825. Has
been keeper of anatomical museum at Oxford, and has translated Darwin's
works and the philosophy of G. H. Lewes.
Carus (Karl Gustav), German physiologist and Pantheist, b. Leipsic,
3 Jan. 1789. He taught comparative anatomy at the university of that
town, and published a standard introduction to that subject. He also
wrote Psyche, a history of the development of the human soul, 1846,
and Nature and Idea, 1861. Died at Dresden, 28 July, 1869.
Castelar y Ripoll (Emilio), Spanish statesman, b. Cadiz,
8 Sept. 1832. He began as a journalist, and became known by his
novel Ernesto, 1855. As professor of history and philosophy, he
delivered lectures on "Civilisation during the first three centuries of
Christendom." La Formula del Progresso contains a sketch of democratic
principles. On the outbreak of the revolution of '68 he advocated
a Federal Republic in a magnificent oration. The Crown was however
offered to Amadeus of Savoy. "Glass, with care," was Castelar's verdict
on the new dynasty, and in Feb. '73 Castelar drew up a Republican
Constitution; and for a year was Dictator of Spain. Upon his retirement
to France he wrote a sketchy History of the Republican Movement in
Europe. In '76 he returned to Spain and took part in the Cortes,
where he has continued to advocate Republican views. His Old Rome and
New Italy, and Life of Lord Byron have been translated into English.
Castelli (David), Italian writer, b. Livorno, 30 Dec. 1836. Since
1873 he has held the chair of Hebrew in the Institute of Superior
Studies at Florence. He has translated the book of Ecclesiastes with
notes, and written rationalistic works on Talmudic Legends, 1869;
The Messiah According to the Hebrews, '74; the Bible Prophets, '82;
and The History of the Israelites, 1887.
Castilhon (Jean Louis), French man of letters, b. at Toulouse in
1720. He wrote in numerous publications, and edited the Journal of
Jurisprudence. His history of dogmas and philosophical opinions had
some celebrity, and he shows himself a Freethinker in his Essay
on Ancient and Modern Errors and Superstitions, Amsterdam, 1765;
his Philosophical Almanack, 1767; and his History of Philosophical
Opinions, 1769. Died 1793.
Cattell (Christopher Charles), writer in English Secular journals,
author of Search for the First Man; Against Christianity; The Religion
of this Life, etc.
Caumont (Georges), French writer of genius, b. about 1845. Suffering
from consumption, he wrote Judgment of a Dying Man upon Life,
and humorous and familiar Conversations of a Sick Person with the
Divinity. Died at Madeira, 1875.
Cavalcante (Guido), noble Italian poet and philosopher, b. Florence,
1230. A friend of Dante, and a leader of the Ghibbelin party. He
married a daughter of Farinata delgi Uberti. Bayle says, "it is said
his speculation has as their aim to prove there is no God. Dante places
his father in the hell of Epicureans, who denied the immortality of
the soul." Guido died in 1300. An edition of his poems was published
in 1813.
Cavallotti (Felice Carlo Emanuel), Italian poet and journalist,
b. Milan, 6 Nov. 1842, celebrated for his patriotic poems; is a
pronounced Atheist. He was elected member of the Italian parliament
in 1873.
Cayla (Jean Mamert), French man of letters and politician b. Vigan
(Lot) 1812. Became in '37 editor of the Emancipator of Toulouse,
a city of which he wrote the history. At Paris he wrote to the
Siècle, the République Française and other journals, and published
European Celebrities and numerous anti-clerical brochures, such as
The Clerical Conspiracy, '61; The Devil, his Grandeur and Decay,
'64; Hell Demolished, '65; Suppression of Religious Orders, '70;
and The History of the Mass,'74. He died 2 May, 1877.
Cazelles (Emile), French translator of Bentham's Influence of Natural
Religion, Paris, 1875. Has also translated Mill's Subjection of Women
and his Autobiography and Essays on Religion.
Cecco d'Ascoli, i.e., Stabili (Francesco degli), Italian poet,
b. Ascoli, 1257. He taught astrology and philosophy at Bologna. In
1324 he was arrested by the Inquisition for having spoken against the
faith, and was condemned to fine and penitence. He was again accused
at Florence, and was publicly burnt as an heretic 16 Sept. 1327. His
best known work is entitled Acerba, a sort of encyclopædia in rhyme.
Cellarius (Martin), Anabaptist, who deserves mention as the first
avowed Protestant Anti-trinitarian. He studied Oriental languages
with Reuchlin and Melancthon, but having discussed with Anabaptists
acknowledged himself converted, 1522, and afterwards gave up the deity
of Christ. He was imprisoned, and on his release went to Switzerland,
where he died 11 Oct. 1564.
Celsus, a Pagan philosopher, who lived in the second century. He was
a friend of Lucian, who dedicated to him his treatise on the False
Prophet. He wrote an attack on Christianity, called The True Word. The
work was destroyed by the early Christians. The passages given by
his opponent, Origen, suffice to show that he was a man of high
attainments, well acquainted with the religion he attacked, and that
his power of logic and irony was most damaging to the Christian faith.
Cerutti (Giuseppe Antonio Gioachino), poet, converted Jesuit,
b. Turin, 13 June, 1738. He became a Jesuit, and wrote a defence of
the Society. He afterwards became a friend of Mirabeau, adopted the
principles of 1789, wrote in defence of the Revolution, and wrote
and published a Philosophical Breviary, or history of Judaism,
Christianity, and Deism, which he attributed to Frederick of
Prussia. His opinions may also be gathered from his poem, Les Jardins
de Betz, 1792. Died Paris, 3 Feb. 1792.
Chaho (J. Augustin), Basque man of letters, b. Tardets,
Basses-Pyrénées, 10 Oct. 1811. His principal works are a Philosophy of
Comparative Religion, and a Basque dictionary. At Bayonne he edited
the Ariel. In 1852 this was suppressed and he was exiled. Died 23
Oct. 1858.
Chaloner (Thomas), M.P., Regicide, b. Steeple Claydon, Bucks,
1595. Educated at Oxford, he became member for Richmond (Yorks),
1645. Was a witness against Archbishop Laud, and one of King Charles's
Judges. In 1651 he was made Councillor of State. Wood says he "was as
far from being a Puritan as the east is from the west," and that he
"was of the natural religion." He wrote a pretended True and Exact
Relation of the Finding of Moses His Tomb, 1657, being a satire
directed against the Presbyterians. Upon the Restoration he fled to
the Low Countries, and died at Middelburg, Zeeland, in 1661.
Chambers (Ephraim), originator of the Cyclopædia of Arts and Sciences,
b. Kendal about 1680. The first edition of his work appeared in 1728,
and procured him admission to the Royal Society. A French translation
gave rise to Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopédie. Chambers also
edited the Literary Magazine, 1836, etc. His infidel opinions were
well known, and the Cyclopædia was placed upon the Index, but he was
buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. Died 15 May, 1740.
Chamfort (Sébastien Roch Nicolas), French man of letters, b. in
Auvergne, near Clermont, 1741. He knew no parent but his mother,
a peasant girl, to supply whose wants he often denied himself
necessaries. At Paris he gained a prize from the Academy for his
eulogy on Molière. About 1776 he published a Dramatic Dictionary
and wrote several plays. In 1781 he obtained a seat in the Academy,
being patronised by Mme. Helvetius. He became a friend of Mirabeau,
who called him une tête électrique. In 1790 he commenced a work called
Pictures of the Revolution. In the following year he became secretary
of the Jacobin Club and National Librarian. Arrested by Robespierre,
he desperately, but vainly, endeavored to commit suicide. He died 13
April, 1794, leaving behind numerous works and a collection of Maxims,
Thoughts, Characters, and Anecdotes, which show profound genius and
knowledge of human nature.
Chapman (John), M.R.C.S., b. 1839. Has written largely in the
Westminster Review, of which he is proprietor.
Chappellsmith (Margaret), née Reynolds, b. Aldgate, 22 Feb. 1806. Early
in life she read the writings of Cobbett. In '36 she began writing
political articles in the Dispatch, and afterwards became a Socialist
and Freethought lecturess. She married John Chappellsmith in '39,
and in '42 she began business as a bookseller. In '37 she expressed
a preference for the development theory before that of creation. In
'50 they emigrated to the United States, where Mrs. Chappellsmith
contributed many articles to the Boston Investigator.
Charles (Rudolf). See Giessenburg.
Charma (Antoine), French philosopher, b. 15 Jan. 1801. In '30 he was
nominated to the Chair of Philosophy at Caen. He was denounced for
his impiety by the Count de Montalembert in the Chamber of peers,
and an endeavor was made to unseat him. He wrote many philosophical
works, and an account of Didron's Histoire de Dieu. Died 5 Aug. 1869.
Charron (Pierre), French priest and sceptic, b. Paris, 1513. He was
an intimate friend of Montaigne. His principal work is a Treatise on
Wisdom, 1601, which was censured as irreligious by the Jesuits. Franck
says "the scepticism of Charron inclines visibly to 'sensualisme'
and even to materialism." Died Paris, 16 Nov. 1603.
Chasseboeuf de Volney (Constantin François). See Volney.
Chastelet du or Chatelet Lomont (Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de
Breteuil), Marquise, French savante, b. Paris, 17 Dec 1706. She was
learned in mathematics and other sciences, and in Latin, English
and Italian. In 1740 she published a work on physical philosophy
entitled Institutions de Physique. She afterwards made a good French
translation of Newton's Principia. She lived some years with Voltaire
at Cirey between 1735 and 1747, and addressed to him Doubts on Revealed
Religions, published in 1792. She also wrote a Treatise on Happiness,
which was praised by Condorcet.
Chastellux (François Jean de), Marquis. A soldier, traveller and
writer, b. Paris 1734. Wrote On Public Happiness (2 vols., Amst. 1776),
a work Voltaire esteemed highly. He contributed to the Encyclopédie;
one article on "Happiness," being suppressed by the censor because
it did not mention God. Died Paris, 28 Oct. 1788.
Chatterton (Thomas), the marvellous boy poet, b. Bristol, 20 Nov,
1752. His poems, which he pretended were written by one Thomas Rowley
in the fourteenth century and discovered by him in an old chest in
Redcliffe Church, attracted much attention. In 1769 he visited London
in hopes of rising by his talents, but after a bitter experience of
writing for the magazines, destroyed himself in a fit of despair 25
Aug. 1770. Several of his poems betray deistic opinions.
Chaucer (Geoffrey), the morning star of English poetry and first
English Humanist, b. London about 1340. In 1357 he was attached to
the household of Lionel, third son of Edward III. He accompanied the
expedition to France 1359-60, was captured by the French, and ransomed
by the king. He was patronised by John of Gaunt, and some foreign
missions were entrusted to him, one of them being to Italy, where he
met Petrarch. All his writings show the influence of the Renaissance,
and in his Canterbury Pilgrims he boldly attacks the vices of the
ecclesiastics. Died 25 Oct. 1400, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Chaumette (Pierre Gaspard), afterwards Anaxagoras, French
revolutionary, b. Nevers, 24 May, 1763. The son of a shoemaker, he was
in turn cabin boy, steersman, and attorney's clerk. In early youth he
received lessons in botany from Rousseau. He embraced the revolution
with ardor, was the first to assume the tri-color cockade, became
popular orator at the club of the Cordeliers, and was associated with
Proudhomme in the journal Les Revolutions de Paris. Nominated member
of the Commune 10 Aug. 1792, he took the name of Anaxagoras to show
his little regard for his baptismal saints. He was elected Procureur
Syndic, in which capacity he displayed great activity. He abolished
the rod in schools, suppressed lotteries, instituted workshops for
fallen women, established the first lying-in-hospital, had books
sent to the hospitals, separated the insane from the sick, founded
the Conservatory of Music, opened the public libraries every day
(under the ancien régime they were only open two hours per week),
replaced books of superstition by works of morality and reason, put
a graduated tax on the rich to provide for the burial of the poor,
and was the principal mover in the feasts of Reason and closing of
the churches. He was accused by Robespierre of conspiring with Cloots
"to efface all idea of the Deity," and was guillotined 13 April, 1794.
Chaussard (Pierre Jean Baptiste), French man of letters, b. Paris,
8 Oct. 1766. At the Revolution he took the name of Publicola, and
published patriotic odes, Esprit de Mirabeau, and other works. He was
preacher to the Theophilanthropists, and became professor of belles
lettres at Orleans. Died 9 Jan. 1823.
Chemin-Dupontes (Jean Baptiste), b. 1761. One of the founders of
French Theophilanthropy; published many writings, the best known of
which is entitled What is Theophilanthropy?
Chenier (Marie André de), French poet, b. Constantinople, 29
Oct. 1762. His mother, a Greek, inspired him with a love for ancient
Greek literature. Sent to college at Paris, he soon manifested his
genius by writing eclogues and elegies of antique simplicity and
sensibility. In 1787 he came to England as Secretary of Legation. He
took part in the legal defence of Louis XVI., eulogised Charlotte
Corday, and gave further offence by some letters in the Journal de
Paris. He was committed to prison, and here met his ideal in the
Comtesse de Coigny. Confined in the same prison, to her he addressed
the touching verses, The Young Captive (La jeune Captive). He was
executed 25 July, 1794, leaving behind, among other poems, an imitation
of Lucretius, entitled Hermes, which warrants the affirmation of de
Chênedolle, that "André Chénier était athée avec délices."
Chenier (Marie Joseph de), French poet and miscellaneous writer,
brother of the preceding, b. Constantinople, 28 Aug. 1764. He served
two years in the army, and then applied himself to literature. His
first successful drama, "Charles IX.," was produced in 1789, and was
followed by others. He wrote many patriotic songs, and was made member
of the Convention. He was a Voltairean, and in his Nouveaux Saints
(1801) satirised those who returned to the old faith. He wrote many
poems and an account of French literature. Died Paris, 10 Jan. 1811.
Chernuishevsky or Tchernycheiosky (Nikolai Gerasimovich),
Russian Nihilist, b. Saratof, 1829. Educated at the University of
St. Petersburg, translated Mill's Political Economy, and wrote on
Superstition and the Principles of Logic, '59. His bold romance,
What is to be Done? was published '63. In the following year he was
sentenced to the Siberian mines, where, after heartrending cruelties,
he has become insane.
Chesneau Du Marsais (César). See Dumarsais.
Chevalier (Joseph Philippe), French chemist, b. Saint Pol, 21 March,
1806, is the author of an able book on "The Soul from the standpoint
of Reason and Science," Paris, '61. He died at Amiens in 1865.
Chies y Gomez (Ramon), Spanish Freethinker, b. Medina de Pomar,
Burgos, 13 Oct. 1845. His father, a distinguished Republican,
educated him without religion. In '65 Chies went to Madrid, and
followed a course of law and philosophy at the University, and soon
after wrote for a Madrid paper La Discusion. He took an active part
in the Revolution of '65, and at the proclamation of the Republic,
'73, became civil governor of Valencia. In '81 he founded a newspaper
El Voto Nacional, and since '83 has edited Las Dominicales del Libre
Pensamiento, which he also founded. Ramon Chies is one of the foremost
Freethought champions in Spain and lectures as well as writes.
Child (Lydia Maria) née Francis, American authoress, b. Medford, Mass.,
11 Feb. 1802. She early commenced writing, publishing Hobomok, a Tale
of Early Times, in '21. From '25 she kept a private school in Watertown
until '28, when she married David Lee Child, a Boston lawyer. She, with
him, edited the Anti-Slavery Standard, '41, etc., and by her numerous
writings did much to form the opinion which ultimately prevailed. She
was, however, long subjected to public odium, her heterodoxy being well
known. Her principal work is The Progress of Religious Ideas, 3 vols.;
'55. Died Wayland, Mass., 20 Oct. 1880. She was highly eulogised by
Wendell Phillips.
Chilton (William), of Bristol, was born in 1815. In early life he was
a bricklayer, but in '41 he was concerned with Charles Southwell in
starting the Oracle of Reason, which he set up in type, and of which
he became one of the editors. He contributed some thoughtful articles
on the Theory of Development to the Library of Reason, and wrote in
the Movement and the Reasoner. Died at Bristol, 28 May, 1855.
Chubb (Thomas), English Deist, b. East Harnham, near Salisbury, 29
Sept. 1679, was one of the first to show Rationalism among the common
people. Beginning by contending for the Supremacy of the Father, he
gradually relinquished supernatural religion, and considered that Jesus
Christ was of the religion of Thomas Chubb. Died 8 Feb. 1747, leaving
behind two vols. which he calls A Farewell to his Readers, from which
it appears that he rejected both revelation and special providence.
Church (Henry Tyrell), lecturer and writer, edited Tallis's
Shakespeare, wrote Woman and her Failings, 1858, and contributed to
the Investigator when edited by Mr. Bradlaugh. Died 19 July, 1859.
Clapiers (Luc de). See Vauvenargues.
Claretie (Jules Armand Arsène), French writer, b. Limoges, 3
Dec. 1840. A prolific writer, of whose works we only cite Free Speech,
'68; his biographies of contemporary celebrities; and his work Camille
Desmoulins, '75.
Clarke (John), brought up in the Methodist connection, changed his
opinion by studying the Bible, and became one of Carlile's shopmen. He
was tried 10 June, 1824, for selling a blasphemous libel in number 17,
vol. ix., of The Republican, and after a spirited defence, in which
he read many of the worst passages in the Bible, was sentenced to
three years' imprisonment, and to find securities for good behavior
during life. He wrote while in prison, A Critical Review of the Life,
Character, and Miracles of Jesus, a work showing with some bitterness
much bold criticism and Biblical knowledge. It first appeared in the
Newgate Magazine and was afterwards published in book form, 1825 and
'39.
Clarke (Marcus), Australian writer, b. Kensington, 1847. Went to
Victoria, '63; joined the staff of Melbourne Argus. In '76 was made
assistant librarian of the Public Library. He has compiled a history of
Australia, and written The Peripatetic Philosopher (a series of clever
sketches), His Natural Life (a powerful novel), and some poems. An able
Freethought paper, "Civilisation without Delusion," in the Victoria
Review, Nov. '79, was replied to by Bishop Moorhouse. The reply, with
Clarke's answer, which was suppressed, was published in '80. Died 1884.
Claude-Constant, author of a Freethinkers' Catechism published at
Paris in 1875.
Clavel (Adolphe), French Positivist and physician, b. Grenoble,
1815. He has written on the Principles of 1789, on those of the
nineteenth century, on Positive Morality, and some educational works.
Clavel (F. T. B.), French author of a Picturesque History of
Freemasonry, and also a Picturesque History of Religions, 1844,
in which Christianity takes a subordinate place.
Clayton (Robert), successively Bishop of Killala, Cork, and Clogher,
b. Dublin, 1695. By his benevolence attracted the friendship of
Samuel Clarke, and adopted Arianism, which he maintained in several
publications. In 1756 he proposed, in the Irish House of Lords, the
omission of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds from the Liturgy, and
stated that he then felt more relieved in his mind than for twenty
years before. A legal prosecution was instituted, but he died, it
is said, from nervous agitation (26 Feb. 1758) before the matter
was decided.
Cleave (John), bookseller, and one of the pioneers of a cheap
political press. Started the London Satirist, and Cleave's Penny
Gazette of Variety, Oct. 14, 1837, to Jan. 20, '44. He published
many Chartist and Socialistic works, and an abridgment of Howitt's
History of Priestcraft. In May, '40, he was sentenced to four months'
imprisonment for selling Haslam's Letters to the Clergy.
Clemenceau (Georges Benjamin Eugene), French politician,
b. Moulleron-en-Pareds, 28 Sept. 1841. Educated at Nantes and Paris,
he took his doctor's degree in '65. His activity as Republican
ensured him a taste of gaol. He visited the United States and acted
as correspondent on the Temps. He returned at the time of the war
and was elected deputy to the Assembly. In Jan. 1880 he founded La
Justice, having as collaborateurs M. C. Pelletan, Prof. Acollas and
Dr. C. Letourneau. As one of the chiefs of the Radical party he was
largely instrumental in getting M. Carnot elected President.
Clemetshaw (C.), French writer, using the name Cilwa. B. 14 Sept. 1864
of English parents; has contributed to many journals, was delegate to
the International Congress, London, of '87, and is editor of Le Danton.
Clemens (Samuel Langhorne), American humorist, better known as
"Mark Twain," b. Florida, Missouri, 30 Nov. 1835. In '55 he served
as Mississippi pilot, and takes his pen name from the phrase used
in sounding. In Innocents Abroad, or the New Pilgrim's Progress,
'69, by which he made his name, there is much jesting with "sacred"
subjects. Mr. Clemens is an Agnostic.
Clifford (Martin), English Rationalist. Was Master of the Charterhouse,
1671, and published anonymously a treatise of Human Reason, London,
'74, which was reprinted in the following year with the author's
name. A short while after its publication Laney, Bishop of Ely, was
dining in Charterhouse and remarked, not knowing the author, "'twas no
matter if all the copies were burnt and the author with them, because
it made every man's private fancy judge of religion." Clifford died 10
Dec. 1677. In the Nouvelle Biographie Générale Clifford is amusingly
described as an "English theologian of the order des Chartreux," who,
it is added, was "prior of his order."
Clifford (William Kingdon), mathematician, philosopher, and moralist,
of rare originality and boldness, b. Exeter 4 May, 1845. At the age
of fifteen he was sent to King's College, London, where he showed an
early genius for mathematics, publishing the Analogues of Pascal's
Theorem at the age of eighteen. Entered Trinity College, Cambridge,
in '63. In '67 he was second wrangler. Elected fellow of his college,
he remained at Cambridge till 1870, when he accompanied the eclipse
expedition to the Mediterranean. The next year he was appointed
Professor of mathematics at London University, a post he held till
his death. He was chosen F.R.S. '74. Married Miss Lucy Lane in April,
'75. In the following year symptoms of consumption appeared, and he
visited Algeria and Spain. He resumed work, but in '79 took a voyage to
Madeira, where he died 3 March. Not long before his death appeared the
first volume of his great mathematical work, Elements of Dynamic. Since
his death have been published The Common Sense of the Exact Sciences,
and Lectures and Essays, in two volumes, edited by Leslie Stephen and
Mr. F. Pollock. These volumes include his most striking Freethought
lectures and contributions to the Fortnightly and other reviews. He
intended to form them into a volume on The Creed of Science. Clifford
was an outspoken Atheist, and he wrote of Christianity as a religion
which wrecked one civilisation and very nearly wrecked another.
Cloots or Clootz (Johann Baptist, afterwards Anacharsis) Baron du Val
de Grâce, Prussian enthusiast, b. near Cleves, 24 June, 1755, was a
nephew of Cornelius de Pauw. In 1780 he published the The Certainty
of the Proofs of Mohammedanism, under the pseudonym of Ali-gier-ber,
an anagram of Bergier, whose Certainty of the Proofs of Christianity
he parodies. He travelled widely, but became a resident of Paris
and a warm partisan of the Revolution, to which he devoted his large
fortune. He wrote a reply to Burke, and continually wrote and spoke
in favor of a Universal Republic. On 19 June, 1790, he, at the head
of men of all countries, asked a place at the feast of Federation,
and henceforward was styled "orator of the human race." He was, with
Paine, Priestley, Washington and Klopstock, made a French citizen,
and in 1792 was elected to the Convention by two departments. He
debaptised himself, taking the name Anacharsis, was a prime mover
in the Anti-Catholic party, and induced Bishop Gobel to resign. He
declared there was no other God but Nature. Incurring the enmity of
Robespierre, he and Paine were arrested as foreigners. After two
and a half months' imprisonment at St. Lazare, he was brought to
the scaffold with the Hébertistes, 24 March, 1794. He died calmly,
uttering materialist sentiments to the last.
Clough (Arthur Hugh), poet, b. Liverpool, 1 Jan. 1819. He was
educated at Rugby, under Dr. Arnold, and at Oxford, where he showed
himself of the Broad School. Leslie Stephen says, "He never became
bitter against the Church of his childhood, but he came to regard its
dogmas as imperfect and untenable." In '48 he visited Paris, and the
same year produced his Bothie of Toper-na-Fuosich: a Long-Vacation
Pastoral. Between '49 and '52 he was professor of English literature
in London University. In '52 he visited the United States, where
he gained the friendship of Emerson and Longfellow, and revised
the Dryden translation of Plutarch's Lives. Died at Florence, 13
Nov. 1861. His Remains are published in two volumes, and include
an essay on Religious Tradition and some notable poems. He is the
Thyrsis of Matthew Arnold's exquisite Monody.
Cnuzius (Matthias). See Knutzen.
Coke (Henry), author of Creeds of the Day, or collated opinions of
reputable thinkers, in 2 vols, London, 1883.
Cole (Peter), a tanner of Ipswich, was burnt for blasphemy in the
castle ditch, Norwich, 1587. A Dr. Beamond preached to him before the
mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen, "but he would not recant." See Hamont.
Colenso (John William), b. 24 Jan. 1814. Was educated at St. John's,
Cambridge, and became a master at Harrow. After acquiring fame by his
valuable Treatise on Algebra, '49, he became first Bishop of Natal,
'54. Besides other works, he published The Pentateuch and Book of
Joshua Critically Examined, 1862-79, which made a great stir, and
was condemned by both Houses of Convocation and its author declared
deposed. The Privy Council, March '65, declared this deposition
"null and void in law." Colenso pleaded the cause of the natives at
the time of the Zulu War. He died 20 June, 1883.
Colins (Jean Guillaume César Alexandre Hippolyte) Baron de,
Belgian Socialist and founder of "Collectivism," b. Brussels, 24
Dec. 1783. Author of nineteen volumes on Social Science. He denied
alike Monotheism and Pantheism, but taught the natural immortality of
the soul. Died at Paris, 12 Nov. 1859. A number of disciples propagate
his opinions in the Philosophie de l'Avenir.
Collins (Anthony), English Deist, b. Heston, Middlesex, 21 June,
1676. He studied at Cambridge and afterwards at the Temple, and
became Justice of the Peace and Treasurer of the County of Essex. He
was an intimate friend of Locke, who highly esteemed him and made
him his executor. He wrote an Essay on Reason, 1707; Priestcraft
in Perfection, 1710; a Vindication of the Divine Attributes, and a
Discourse on Freethinking, 1713. This last occasioned a great outcry,
as it argued that all belief must be based on free inquiry, and
that the use of reason would involve the abandonment of supernatural
revelation. In 1719 he published An Inquiry Concerning Human Liberty,
a brief, pithy defence of necessitarianism, and in 1729 A Discourse
on Liberty and Necessity. In 1724 appeared his Discourse on the
Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, and this was followed
by The Scheme of Literal Prophecy Considered, 1726. He was a skilful
disputant, and wrote with great ability. He is also credited with A
Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony in Writing. Died at London,
13 Dec. 1729. Collins, says Mr. Leslie Stephen, "appears to have been
an amiable and upright man, and to have made all readers welcome to
the use of a free library." Professor Fraser calls him "a remarkable
man," praises his "love of truth and moral courage," and allows that in
answering Dr. Samuel Clarke on the question of liberty and necessity
he "states the arguments against human freedom with a logical force
unsurpassed by any necessitarian." A similar testimony to Collins as
a thinker and dialectician is borne by Professor Huxley.
Colman (Lucy N.), American reformer, b. 26 July, 1817, has spent
most of her life advocating the abolition of slavery, women's rights,
and Freethought. She has lectured widely, written Reminisences in the
Life of a Reformer of Fifty Years, and contributed to the Truthseeker
and Boston Investigator.
Colotes, of Lampsacus, a hearer and disciple of Epicurus, with whom he
was a favorite. He wrote a work in favor of his master's teachings. He
held it was unworthy of a philosopher to use fables.
Combe (Abram), one of a noted Scotch family of seventeen, b. Edinburgh,
15 Jan. 1785. He traded as a tanner, but, becoming acquainted with
Robert Owen, founded a community at Orbiston upon the principle of
Owen's New Lanark, devoting nearly the whole of his large fortune
to the scheme. But his health gave way and he died 11 Aug. 1827. He
wrote Metaphysical Sketches of the Old and New Systems and other
works advocating Owenism.
Combe (Andrew), physician, brother of the above, b. Edinburgh,
27 Oct. 1797; studied there and in Paris; aided his brother George
in founding the Phrenological Society; wrote popular works on the
Principles of Physiology and the Management of Infancy. Died near
Edinburgh, 9 Aug. 1847.
Combe (George), phrenologist and educationalist, b. Edinburgh,
21 Oct. 1788. He was educated for the law. Became acquainted with
Spurzheim, and published Essays on Phrenology, 1819, and founded the
Phrenological Journal. In '28 he published the Constitution of Man,
which excited great controversy especially for removing the chimeras of
special providence and efficacy of prayer. In '33 he married a daughter
of Mrs. Siddons. He visited the United States and lectured on Moral
Philosophy and Secular Education. His last work was The Relations
between Science and Religion, '57, in which he continued to uphold
Secular Theism. He also published many lectures and essays. Among his
friends were Miss Evans (George Eliot), who spent a fortnight with him
in '52. He did more than any man of his time, save Robert Owen, for the
cause of Secular education. Died at Moor Park, Surrey, 14 Aug. 1858.
Combes (Paul), French writer, b. Paris, 13 June, 1856. Has written
on Darwinism, '83, and other works popularising science.
Commazzi (Gian-Battista), Count author of Politica e religione trovate
insieme nella persona di Giesù Cristo, Nicopoli [Vienna] 4 vols.,
1706-7, in which he makes Jesus to be a political impostor. It was
rigorously confiscated at Rome and Vienna.
Comparetti (Domenico), Italian philologist, b. Rome in 1835. Signor
Comparetti is Professor at the Institute of Superior Studies, Rome,
and has written many works on the classic writers, in which he evinces
his Pagan partialities.
Comte (Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier), French philosopher,
mathematician and reformer, b. at Montpelier, 12 Jan. 1798. Educated at
Paris in the Polytechnic School, where he distinguished himself by his
mathematical talent. In 1817 he made the acquaintance of St. Simon,
agreeing with him as to the necessity of a Social renovation based
upon a mental revolution. On the death of St. Simon ('25) Comte
devoted himself to the elaboration of an original system of scientific
thought, which, in the opinion of some able judges, entitles him to
be called the Bacon of the nineteenth century. Mill speaks of him as
the superior of Descartes and Leibniz. In '25 he married, but the
union proved unhappy. In the following year he lectured, but broke
down under an attack of brain fever, which occasioned his detention
in an asylum. He speedily recovered, and in '28 resumed his lectures,
which were attended by men like Humboldt, Ducrotay, Broussais, Carnot,
etc. In '30 he put forward the first volumes of his Course of Positive
Philosophy, which in '42 was completed by the publication of the sixth
volume. A condensed English version of this work was made by Harriet
Martineau, '53. In '45 Comte formed a passionate Platonic attachement
to Mme. Clotilde de Vaux, who died in the following year, having
profoundely influenced Comte's life. In consequence of his opinions,
he lost his professorship, and was supported by his disciples--Mill,
Molesworth and Grote, in England, assisting. Among other works, Comte
published A General View of Positivism, '48, translated by Dr. Bridges,
'65; A System of Positive Polity, '51, translated by Drs. Bridges,
Beesley, F. Harrison, etc., '75-79; and A Positive Catechism, '54,
translated by Dr. Congreve, '58. He also wrote on Positive Logic,
which he intended to follow with Positive Morality and Positive
Industrialism. Comte was a profound and suggestive thinker. He
resolutely sets aside all theology and metaphysics, coordinates
the sciences and substitutes the service of man for the worship of
God. Mr. J. Cotter Morison says "He belonged to that small class
of rare minds, whose errors are often more valuable and stimulating
than other men's truths." He died of cancer in the stomach at Paris,
5 Sept. 1857.
Condillac (Etienne Bonnot de), French philosopher, b. Grenoble,
about 1715. His life was very retired, but his works show much
acuteness. They are in 23 vols., the principal being A Treatise on the
Sensations, 1764; A Treatise on Animals, and An Essay on the Origin
of Human Knowledge. In the first-named he shows that all mental life
is gradually built up out of simple sensations. Died 3 Aug. 1780.
Condorcet (Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, Marquis de),
French philosopher and politician, b. Ribemont, Picardy, 17
Sept. 1743. Dedicated to the Virgin by a pious mother, he was kept
in girl's clothes until the age of 11. Sent to a Jesuit's school,
he soon gave up religion. At sixteen he maintained a mathematical
thesis in the presence of Alembert. In the next year he dedicated
to Turgot a Profession of Faith. After some mathematical works, he
was made member of the Academy, of which he was appointed perpetual
secretary, 1773. In 1776 he published his atheistic Letters of a
Theologian. He also wrote biographies of Turgot and Voltaire, and
in favor of American independence and against negro slavery. In
1791 he represented Paris in the National Assembly, of which he
became Secretary. It was on his motion that, in the following year,
all orders of nobility were abolished. Voting against the death of
the king and siding with the Gironde drew on him the vengeance of
the extreme party. He took shelter with Madame Vernet, but fearing to
bring into trouble her and his wife, at whose instigation he wrote his
fine Sketch of the Progress of the Human Mind while in hiding, he left,
but, being arrested, died of exhaustion or by poison self-administered,
at Bourg la Reine, 27 March, 1794.
Condorcet (Sophie de Grouchy Caritat, Marquise de), wife of above,
and sister of General Grouchy and of Mme. Cabanis, b. 1765. She
married Condorcet 1786, and was considered one of the most beautiful
women of her time. She shared her husband's sentiments and opinions
and, while he was proscribed, supported herself by portrait
painting. She was arrested, and only came out of prison after the
fall of Robespierre. She translated Adam Smith's Theory of the Moral
Sentiments, which she accompanied with eight letters on Sympathy,
addressed to Cabanis. She died 8 Sept. 1822. Her only daughter married
Gen. Arthur O'Connor.
Confucius (Kung Kew) or Kung-foo-tsze, the philosopher Kung, a
Chinese sage, b. in the State of Loo, now part of Shantung, about
B.C. 551. He was distinguished by filial piety and learning. In his
nineteenth year he married, and three years after began as a teacher,
rejecting none who came to him. He travelled through many states. When
past middle age he was appointed chief minister of Loo, but finding
the Duke desired the renown of his name without adopting his counsel,
he retired, and devoted his old age to editing the sacred classics
of China. He died about B.C. 478. His teaching, chiefly found in the
Lun-Yu, or Confucian Analects, was of a practical moral character,
and did not include any religious dogmas.
Congreve (Richard), English Positivist, born in 1819. Educated at
Rugby under T. Arnold, and Oxford 1840, M.A. 1843; was fellow of
Wadham College 1844-54. In '55 he published his edition of Aristotle
Politics. He became a follower of Comte and influenced many to embrace
Positivism. Translated Comte's Catechism of Positive Philosophy, 1858,
and has written many brochures. Dr. Congreve is considered the head
of the strict or English Comtists, and has long conducted a small
"Church of Humanity."
Connor (Bernard), a physician, b. Co. Kerry, of Catholic family,
1666. He travelled widely, and was made court physician to John
Sobieski, King of Poland. He wrote a work entitled Evangelium Medici
(1697), in which he attempts to account for the Christian miracles
on natural principles. For this he was accused of Atheism. He died
in London 27 Oct. 1698.
Constant de Rebecque (Henri Benjamin), Swiss writer, b. Lausanne,
25 Oct. 1767, and educated at Oxford, Erlangen and Edinburgh. In
1795 he entered Paris as a protégé of Mme. de Stael, and in 1799
became a member of the Tribunal. He opposed Buonaparte and wrote
on Roman Polytheism and an important work on Religion Considered in
its Source, its Forms and its Developments (6 vols.; 1824-32). Died
8 Dec. 1830. Constant professed Protestantism, but was at heart a
sceptic, and has been called a second Voltaire. A son was executor
to Auguste Comte.
Conta (Basil), Roumanian philosopher, b. Neamtza 27 Nov. 1845. Studied
in Italy and Belgium, and became professor in the University of Jassy,
Moldavia. In '77 he published in Brussels, in French, a theory of
fatalism, which created some stir by its boldness of thought.
Conway (Moncure Daniel), author, b. in Fredericksburg, Stafford
co. Virginia, 17 March, 1832. He entered the Methodist ministry '50,
but changing his convictions through the influence of Emerson and
Hicksite Quakers, entered the divinity school at Cambridge, where
he graduated in '54 and became pastor of a Unitarian church until
dismissed for his anti-slavery discourses. In '57 he preached in
Cincinnati and there published The Natural History of the Devil, and
other pamphlets. In '63 Mr. Conway came to England and was minister
of South Place from the close of '63 until his return to the States
in '84. Mr. Conway is a frequent contributor to the press. He has
also published The Earthward Pilgrimage, 1870, a theory reversing
Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress; collected a Sacred Anthology from the
various sacred books of the world 1873, which he used in his pulpit;
has written on Human Sacrifices, 1876, and Idols and Ideals, 1877. His
principal work is Demonology and Devil Lore, 1878, containing much
information on mythology. He also issued his sermons under the title of
Lessons for the Day, two vols., 1883, and has published a monograph on
the Wandering Jew, a biography of Emerson, and is at present engaged
on a life of Thomas Paine.
Cook (Kenningale Robert), LL.D., b. in Lancashire 26 Sept. 1845, son
of the vicar of Stallbridge. When a boy he used to puzzle his mother
by such questions as, "If God was omnipotent could he make what had
happened not have happened." He was intended for the Church, but
declined to subscribe the articles. Graduated at Dublin in '66, and
took LL.D. in '75. In '77 he became editor of the Dublin University
Magazine, in which appeared some studies of the lineage of Christian
doctrine and traditions afterwards published under the title of The
Fathers of Jesus. Dr. Cook wrote several volumes of choice poems. Died
July, 1886.
Cooper (Anthony Ashley), see Shaftesbury.
Cooper (Henry), barrister, b. Norwich about 1784. He was a schoolfellow
of Wm. Taylor of Norwich. He served as midshipman at the battle of the
Nile, but disliking the service became a barrister, and acquired some
fame by his spirited defence of Mary Ann Carlile, 21 July, 1821, for
which the report of the trial was dedicated to him by R. Carlile. He
was a friend of Lord Erskine, whose biography he commenced. Died 19
Sept. 1824.
Cooper (John Gilbert), poet, b. Thurgaton Priory, Notts, 1723. Educated
at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. An enthusiastic
disciple of Lord Shaftesbury. Under the name of "Philaretes" he
contributed to Dodsley's Museum. In 1749 he published a Life of
Socrates, for which he was coarsely attacked by Warburton. He wrote
some poems under the signature of Aristippus. Died Mayfair, London,
14 April, 1769.
Cooper (Peter), a benevolent manufacturer, b. N. York, 12 Feb. 1791. He
devoted over half a million dollars to the Cooper Institute, for
the secular instruction and elevation of the working classes. Died
4 April, 1883.
Cooper (Robert), Secularist writer and lecturer, b. 29 Dec. 1819,
at Barton-on-Irwell, near Manchester. He had the advantage of being
brought up in a Freethought family. At fourteen he became teacher
in the Co-operative Schools, Salford, lectured at fifteen, and
by seventeen became an acknowledged advocate of Owenism, holding a
public discussion with the Rev. J. Bromley. Some of his lectures were
published--one on Original Sin sold twelve thousand copies--when he was
scarcely eighteen. The Holy Scriptures Analysed (1832) was denounced
by the Bishop of Exeter in the House of Lords. Cooper was dismissed
from a situation he had held ten years, and in 1841 became a Socialist
missionary in the North of England and Scotland. At Edinburgh (1845)
he wrote Free Agency and Orthodoxy, and compiled the Infidel's Text
Book. About '50 he came to London, lecturing with success at John
Street Institution. In '54 he started the London Investigator, which
he edited for three years. In it appears his lectures on "Science
v. Theology," "Admissions of Distinguished Men," etc. Failing health
obliged him to retire leaving the Investigator to "Anthony Collins"
(W. H. Johnson), and afterwards to "Iconoclast" (C. Bradlaugh). At
his last lecture he fainted on the platform. In 1858 he remodelled
his Infidel Text-Book into a work on The Bible and Its Evidences. He
devoted himself to political reform until his death, 3 May, 1868.
Cooper (Thomas), M.D., LL.D., natural philosopher, politician,
jurist and author, b. London, 22 Oct. 1759. Educated at Oxford, he
afterwards studied law and medicine; was admitted to the bar and lived
at Manchester, where he wrote a number of tracts on "Materialism,"
"Whether Deity be a Free Agent," etc., 1789. Deputed with James
Watt, the inventor, by the Constitutional clubs to congratulate
the Democrats of France (April, 1792), he was attacked by Burke
and replied in a vigorous pamphlet. In '94 he published Information
Concerning America, and in the next year followed his friend Priestly
to Philadelphia, established himself as a lawyer and was made judge. He
also conducted the Emporium of Arts and Sciences in that city. He was
Professor of Medicine at Carlisle College, '12, and afterwards held
the chairs both of Chemistry and Political Economy in South Carolina
College, of which he became President, 1820-34. This position he was
forced to resign on account of his religious views. He translated
from Justinian and Broussais, and digested the Statutes of South
Carolina. In philosophy a Materialist, in religion a Freethinker,
in politics a Democrat, he urged his views in many pamphlets. One on
The Right of Free Discussion, and a little book on Geology and the
Pentateuch, in reply to Prof. Silliman, were republished in London
by James Watson. Died at Columbia, 11 May, 1840. [1]
[1] So varied was the activity of T. Cooper during his long life that
his works in the British Museum were catalogued as by six different
persons of the same name. I pointed this out, and the six single
gentlemen will be rolled into one.
Coornhert (Dirk Volkertszoon), Dutch humanist, poet and writer,
b. Amsterdam, 1522. He travelled in his youth through Spain
and Portugal. He set up as an engraver at Haarlem, and became
thereafter notary and secretary of the city of Haarlem. He had a
profound horror of intolerance, and defended liberty against Beza and
Calvin. The clergy vituperated him as a Judas and as instigated by
Satan, etc. Bayle, who writes of him as Theodore Koornhert, says he
communed neither with Protestants nor Catholics. The magistrates of
Delft drove him out of their city. He translated Cicero's De Officiis,
and other works. Died at Gouda, 20 Oct. 1590.
Cordonnier de Saint Hyacinthe. See Saint-Hyacinthe (Themiseuil de).
Corvin-Wiersbitski (Otto Julius Bernhard von), Prussian Pole of noble
family, who traced their descent from the Roman Corvinii, b. Gumbinnen,
12 Oct. 1812. He served in the Prussian army, where he met his friend
Friedrich von Sallet; retired into the Landwehr 1835, went to Leipsic
and entered upon a literary career, wrote the History of the Dutch
Revolution, 1841; the History of Christian Fanaticism, 1845, which
was suppressed in Austria. He took part with the democrats in '48;
was condemned to be shot 15 Sept. '49, but the sentence was commuted;
spent six years' solitary confinement in prison; came to London,
became correspondent to the Times; went through American Civil War,
and afterwards Franco-Prussian War, as a special correspondent. He
has written a History of the New Time, 1848-71. Died since 1886.
Cotta (Bernhard), German geologist, b. Little Zillbach, Thuringia,
24 Oct. 1808. He studied at the Academy of Mining, in Freiberg,
where he was appointed professor in '42. His first production, The
Dendroliths, '32, proved him a diligent investigator. It was followed
by many geological treatises. Cotta did much to support the nebular
hypothesis and the law of natural development without miraculous
agency. He also wrote on phrenology. Died at Freiburg, 13 Sept 1879.
Cotta (C. Aurelius), Roman philosopher, orator and statesman,
b. B.C. 124. In '75 he became Consul. On the expiration of his
office he obtained Gaul as a province. Cicero had a high opinion of
him and gives his sceptical arguments in the third book of his De
Natura Deorum.
Courier (Paul Louis), French writer, b. Paris, 4 Jan. 1772. He entered
the army and became an officer of artillery, serving with distinction
in the Army of the Republic. He wrote many pamphlets, directed against
the clerical restoration, which place him foremost among the literary
men of the generation. His writings are now classics, but they brought
him nothing but imprisonment, and he was apparently assassinated,
10 April, 1825. He had a presentiment that the bigots would kill him.
Coventry (Henry), a native of Cambridgeshire, b. about 1710, Fellow
of Magdalene College, author of Letters of Philemon to Hydaspus on
False Religion (1736). Died 29 Dec. 1752.
Coward (William), M.D., b. Winchester, 1656. Graduated at Wadham
College, Oxford, 1677. Settled first at Northampton, afterwards
at London. Published, besides some medical works, Second Thoughts
Concerning Human Soul, which excited much indignation by denying
natural immortality. The House of Commons (17 March, 1704) ordered
his work to be burnt. He died in 1725.
Cox (the Right Rev. Sir George William), b. 1827, was educated at
Rugby and Oxford, where he took B.C.L. in 1849. Entered the Church,
but has devoted himself to history and mythology. His most pretentious
work is Mythology of the Aryan Nations (1870). He has also written
an Introduction to Comparative Mythology and several historical
works. In 1886 he became Bishop of Bloemfontein. He is credited with
the authorship of the English Life of Jesus, published under the name
of Thomas Scott. At the Church Congress of 1888 he read an heretical
paper on Biblical Eschatology. His last production is a Life of Bishop
Colenso, 2 vols, 1888.
Coyteux (Fernand), French writer, b. Ruffec, 1800. Author of a
materialistic system of philosophy, Brussels, 1853 Studies on
physiology, Paris, 1875, etc.
Craig (Edward Thomas), social reformer, b. at Manchester 4
Aug. 1804. He was present at the Peterloo massacre '19; helped to form
the Salford Social Institute and became a pioneer of co-operation. In
'31 he became editor of the Lancashire Co-operator. In Nov. of the same
year he undertook the management of a co-operative farm at Rahaline,
co. Clare. Of this experiment he has written an history, '72. Mr. Craig
has edited several journals and contributed largely to Radical and
co-operative literature. He has published a memoir of Dr. Travis and
at the age of 84 he wrote on The Science of Prolonging Life.
Cramer (Johan Nicolai), Swedish writer, b. Wisby, Gottland, 18
Feb. 1812. He studied at Upsala and became Doctor of Philosophy
'36; ordained priest in '42; he resigned in '58. In religion he
denies revelation and insists on the separation of Church and
State. Among his works we mention Separation from the Church, a
Freethinker's annotations on the reading of the Bible, Stockholm,
1859. A Confession of Faith; Forward or Back? (1862). He has also
written on the Punishment of Death (1868), and other topics.
Cranbrook (Rev. James.) Born of strict Calvinistic parents about
1817. Mr. Cranbrook gradually emancipated himself from dogmas, became
a teacher, and for sixteen years was minister of an Independent Church
at Liscard, Cheshire. He also was professor at the Ladies' College,
Liverpool, some of his lectures there being published '57. In Jan. '65,
he went to Albany Church, Edinburgh, but his views being too broad
for that congregation, he left in Feb. '67 but continued to give
Sunday lectures until his death, 6 June, 1869. In '66 he published
Credibilia: an Inquiry into the grounds of Christian faith and two
years later The Founders of Christianity, discourses on the origin of
Christianity. Other lectures on Human Depravity, Positive Religion,
etc., were published by Thomas Scott.
Cranch (Christopher Pearse), American painter and poet, b. Alexandria,
Virginia, 8 March, 1813, graduated at divinity school, Cambridge,
Mass. '35, but left the ministry in '42. He shows his Freethought
sentiments in Satan, a Libretto, Boston, '74, and other works.
Craven (M. B.), American, author of a critical work on the Bible
entitled Triumph of Criticism, published at Philadelphia, 1869.
Cremonini (Cesare), Italian philosopher, b. Cento, Ferrara, 1550, was
professor of philosophy at Padua from 1591 to 1631, when he died. A
follower of Aristotle, he excited suspicion by his want of religion and
his teaching the mortality of the soul. He was frequently ordered by
the Jesuits and the Inquisition to refute the errors he gave currency
to, but he was protected by the Venetian State, and refused. Like most
of the philosophers of his time, he distinguished between religious
and philosophic truth. Bayle says. "Il a passé pour un esprit fort,
qui ne croyait point l'immortalité de l'âme." Larousse says, "On peut
dire qu'il n'était pas chrétien." Ladvocat says his works "contain
many things contrary to religion."
Cross (Mary Ann). See Eliot (George).
Crousse (Louis D.), French Pantheistic philosopher, author of
Principles, or First Philosophy, 1839, and Thoughts, 1845.
Curtis (S. E.), English Freethinker, author of Theology Displayed,
1842. He has been credited with The Protestant's Progress to
Infidelity. See Griffith (Rees). Died 1847.
Croly (David Goodman), American Positivist, b. New York, 3
Nov. 1829. He graduated at New York University in '54, and was
subsequently a reporter on the New York Herald. He became editor of
the New York World until '72. From '71 to '73 he edited The Modern
Thinker, an organ of the most advanced thought, and afterwards the
New York Graphic. Mr. Croly has written a Primer of Positivism, '76,
and has contributed many articles to periodicals. His wife, Jane
Cunningham, who calls herself "Jennie June," b. 1831, also wrote in
The Modern Thinker.
Cross (Mary Ann), see Eliot (George).
Crozier (John Beattie), English writer of Scottish border parentage,
b. Galt, Ontario, Canada, 23 April, 1849. In youth he won a scholarship
to the grammar school of the town, and thence won another scholarship
to the Toronto University, where he graduated '72, taking the
University and Starr medals. He then came to London determined to study
the great problems of religion and civilisation. He took his diploma
from the London College of Physicians in '73. In '77 he wrote his first
essay, "God or Force," which, being rejected by all the magazines, he
published as a pamphlet. Other essays on the Constitution of the World,
Carlyle, Emerson, and Spencer being also rejected, he published them in
a book entitled The Religion of the Future, '80, which fell flat. He
then started his work Civilisation and Progress, which appeared in
'85, and was also unsuccessful until republished with a few notices
in '87, when it received a chorus of applause, for its clear and
original thoughts. Mr. Crozier is now engaged on his Autobiography,
after which he proposes to deal with the Social question.
Cuffeler (Abraham Johann), a Dutch philosopher and doctor of law,
who was one of the first partizans of Spinoza. He lived at Utrecht
towards the end of the seventeenth century, and wrote a work on
logic in three parts entitled Specimen Artis Ratiocinandi, etc.,
published ostensibly at Hamburg, but really at Amsterdam or Utrecht,
1684. It was without name but with the author's portrait.
Cuper (Frans), Dutch writer, b. Rotterdam. Cuper is suspected to have
been one of those followers of Spinoza, who under pretence of refuting
him, set forth and sustained his arguments by feeble opposition. His
work entitled Arcana Atheismi Revelata, Rotterdam 1676, was denounced
as written in bad faith. Cuper maintained that the existence of God
could not be proved by the light of reason.
Cyrano de Bergerac (Savinien), French comic writer, b. Paris 6 March,
1619. After finishing his studies and serving in the army in his youth
he devoted himself to literature. His tragedy "Agrippine" is full of
what a bookseller called "belles impiétés," and La Monnoye relates that
at its performance the pit shouted "Oh, the wretch! The Atheist! How
he mocks at holy things!" Cyrano knew personally Campanella, Gassendi,
Lamothe Le Vayer, Linière, Rohault, etc. His other works consist of
a short fragment on Physic, a collection of Letters, and a Comic
History of the States and Empires of the Moon and the Sun. Cyrano
took the idea of this book from F. Godwin's Man in the Moon, 1583,
and it in turn gave rise to Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Voltaire's
Micromegas. Died Paris, 1655.
Czolbe (Heinrich), German Materialist, b. near Dantzic, 30 Dec. 1819,
studied medicine at Berlin, writing an inaugural dissertation on
the Principles of Physiology, '44. In '55 he published his New
Exposition of Sensationalism, in which everything is resolved into
matter and motion, and in '65 a work on The Limits and Origin of Human
Knowledge. He was an intimate friend of Ueberweg. Died at Königsberg,
19 Feb. 1873. Lange says "his life was marked by a deep and genuine
morality."
D'Ablaing. See Giessenburg.
Dale (Antonius van), Dutch writer, b. Haarlem, 8 Nov. 1638. His work
on oracles was erudite but lumbersome, and to it Fontenelle gave the
charm of style. It was translated into English by Mrs. Aphra Behn,
under the title of The History of Oracles and the Cheats of Pagan
Priests, 1699. Van Dale, in another work on The Origin and Progress
of Idolatry and Superstition, applied the historical method to his
subject, and showed that the belief in demons was as old and as
extensive as the human race. He died at Haarlem, 28 Nov. 1708.
Damilaville (Etienne Noël), French writer, b. at Bordeaux, 1721. At
first a soldier, then a clerk, he did some service for Voltaire, who
became his friend. He also made the friendship Diderot, d'Alembert,
Grimm, and d'Holbach. He contributed to the Encyclopédie, and in
1767 published an attack on the theologians, entitled Theological
Honesty. The book entitled Christianity Unveiled [see Boulanger and
Holbach] was attributed by Voltaire, who called it Impiety Unveiled,
and by La Harpe and Lalande to Damilaville. Voltaire called him
"one of our most learned writers." Larousse says "he was an ardent
enemy of Christianity." He has also been credited with a share in
the System of Nature. Died 15 Dec. 1768.
Dandolo (Vincenzo) Count, Italian chemist, b. Venice, 26 Oct. 1758,
wrote Principles of Physical Chemistry, a work in French on The New
Men, in which he shows his antagonism to religion, and many useful
works on vine, timber, and silk culture. Died Varessa, 13 Dec. 1819.
Danton (Georges Jacques), French revolutionist, b. Arcis sur Aube, 28
Oct. 1759. An uncle wished him to enter into orders, but he preferred
to study law. During the Revolution his eloquence made him conspicuous
at the Club of Cordeliers, and in Feb. 1791, he became one of the
administrators of Paris. One of the first to see that after the flight
of Louis XVI. he could no longer be king, he demanded his suspension,
and became one of the chief organisers of the Republic. In the alarm
caused by the invasion he urged a bold and resolute policy. He was a
member of the Convention and of the Committee of Public Safety. At the
crisis of the struggle with Robespierre, Danton declined to strike
the first blow and disdained to fly. Arrested March, 1794, he said
when interrogated by the judge, "My name is Danton, my dwelling will
soon be in annihilation; but my name will live in the Pantheon of
history." He maintained his lofty bearing on the scaffold, where he
perished 5 April, 1794. For his known scepticism Danton was called
fils de Diderot. Carlyle calls him "a very Man."
Dapper (Olfert), Dutch physician, who occupied himself with history and
geography, on which he produced important works. He had no religion
and was suspected of Atheism. He travelled through Syria, Babylonia,
etc., in 1650. He translated Herodotus (1664) and the orations of
the late Prof. Caspar v. Baerli (1663), and wrote a History of the
City of Amsterdam, 1663. Died at Amsterdam 1690.
Darget (Etienne), b. Paris, 1712; went to Berlin in 1744 and became
reader and private secretary to Frederick the Great (1745-52), who
corresponded with him afterwards. Died 1778.
Darwin (Charles Robert), English naturalist, b. Shrewsbury,
12 Feb. 1809. Educated at Shrewsbury, Edinburgh University, and
Cambridge. He early evinced a taste for collecting and observing
natural objects. He was intended for a clergyman, but, incited by
Humboldt's Personal Narrative, resolved to travel. He accompanied
Captain Fitzroy in the "Beagle" on a voyage of exploration, '31-36,
which he narrated in his Voyage of a Naturalist Round the World, which
obtained great popularity. In '39 he married, and in '42 left London
and settled at Down, Kent. His studies, combined with the reading of
Lamarck and Malthus, led to his great work on The Origin of Species
by means of Natural Selection, '59, which made a great outcry and
marked an epoch. Darwin took no part in the controversy raised by the
theologians, but followed his work with The Fertilisation of Orchids,
'62; Cross and Self Fertilisation of Plants, '67; Variations of
Plants and Animals under Domestication, '65; and in '71 The Descent
of Man and Selection in relation to Sex, which caused yet greater
consternation in orthodox circles. The following year he issued The
Expression of the Emotions of Men and Animals. He also published
works on the Movements of Plants, Insectivorous Plants, the Forms of
Flowers, and Earthworms. He died 19 April, 1882, and was buried in
Westminster Abbey, despite his expressed unbelief in revelation. To
a German student he wrote, in '79, "Science has nothing to do with
Christ, except in so far as the habit of scientific research makes
a man cautious in admitting evidence. For myself I do not believe
that there ever has been any revelation." In his Life and Letters
he relates that between 1836 and 1842 he had come to see "that the
Old Testament was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the
Hindoos." He rejected design and said "I for one must be content to
remain an Agnostic."
Darwin (Erasmus), Dr., poet, physiologist and philosopher, grandfather
of the above, was born at Elston, near Newark, 12 Dec. 1731. Educated
at Chesterfield and Cambridge he became a physician, first at Lichfield
and afterwards at Derby. He was acquainted with Rousseau, Watt and
Wedgwood. His principal poem, The Botanic Garden was published in 1791,
and The Temple of Nature in 1803. His principal work is Zoomania,
or the laws of organic life (1794), for which he was accused of
Atheism. He was actually a Deist. He also wrote on female education
and some papers in the Philosophical Transactions. Died at Derby,
18 April, 1802.
Daubermesnil (François Antoine), French conventionalist. Elected
deputy of Tarn in 1792. Afterwards became a member of the Council of
Five Hundred. He was one of the founders of Theophilanthropy. Died
at Perpignan 1802.
Daudet (Alphonse), French novelist, b. at Nîmes, 13 May 1840, author
of many popular romances, of which we mention L'Evangeliste, '82,
which has been translated into English under the title Port Salvation.
Daunou (Pierre Claude François), French politician and historian,
b. Boulogne, 18 Aug. 1761. His father entered him in the congregation
of the Fathers of the Oratory, which he left at the Revolution. The
department of Calais elected him with Carnot and Thomas Paine to
the Convention. After the Revolution he became librarian at the
Pantheon. He was a friend of Garat, Cabanis, Chenier, Destutt Tracy,
Ginguené and Benj. Constant. Wrote Historical Essay on the Temporal
Power of the Popes, 1810. Died at Paris, 20 June, 1840, noted for
his benevolence.
Davenport (Allen), social reformer, b. 1773. He contributed to
Carlile's Republican; wrote an account of the Life, Writings and
Principles of Thomas Spence, the reformer (1826); and published a
volume of verse, entitled The Muses' Wreath (1827). Died at Highbury,
London, 1846.
Davenport (John), Deist, b. London, 8 June, 1789, became a teacher. He
wrote An Apology for Mohammed and the Koran, 1869; Curiositates
Eroticoe Physiologæ, or Tabooed Subjects Freely Treated, and several
educational works. Died in poverty 11 May, 1877.
David of Dinant, in Belgium, Pantheistic philosopher of the twelfth
century. He is said to have visited the Papal Court of Innocent
III. He shared in the heresies of Amalric of Chârtres, and his work
Quaterini was condemned and burnt (1209). He only escaped the stake
by rapid flight. According to Albert the Great he was the author of
a philosophical work De Tomis, "Of Subdivisions," in which he taught
that all things were one. His system was similar to that of Spinoza.
David (Jacques Louis), French painter, born at Paris, 31 Aug. 1748,
was made painter to the king, but joined the Jacobin Club, became
a member of the Convention, voted for the king's death and for the
civic festivals, for which he made designs. On the restoration he
was banished. Died at Brussels, 29 Dec. 1825. David was an honest
enthusiast and a thorough Freethinker.
Davidis or David (Ferencz), a Transylvanian divine, b. about
1510. He was successively a Roman Catholic, a Lutheran and an
Antitrinitarian. He went further than F. Socinus and declared there
was "as much foundation for praying to the Virgin Mary and other
dead saints as to Jesus Christ." He was in consequence accused of
Judaising and thrown into prison at Deva, where he died 6 June, 1579.
Davies (John C.), of Stockport, an English Jacobin, who in 1797
published a list of contradictions of the Bible under the title of The
Scripturian's Creed, for which he was prosecuted and imprisoned. The
work was republished by Carlile, 1822, and also at Manchester, 1839.
Davidson (Thomas), bookseller and publisher, was prosecuted by the Vice
Society in Oct. 1820, for selling the Republican and a publication
of his own, called the Deist's Magazine. For observations made in
his defence he was summoned and fined £100, and he was sentenced to
two years' imprisonment in Oakham Gaol. He died 16 Dec. 1826.
Debierre (Charles), French writer, author of Man Before History, 1888.
De Dominicis. See Dominicis.
De Felice (Francesco), Italian writer, b. Catania, Sicily, 1821,
took part in the revolution of '43, and when Garibaldi landed in
Sicily was appointed president of the provisional council of war. Has
written on the reformation of elementary schools.
De Greef (Guillaume Joseph), advocate at Brussels Court of Appeal,
b. at Brussels, 9 Oct. 1842. Author of an important Introduction to
Sociology, 1886. Wrote in La Liberté, 1867-73, and now writes in La
Societé Nouvelle.
De Gubernatis (Angelo), Italian Orientalist and writer, b. Turin,
7 April, 1840; studied at Turin University and became doctor of
philosophy. He studied Sanskrit under Bopp and Weber at Berlin. Sig. de
Gubernatis has adorned Italian literature with many important
works, of which we mention his volumes on Zoological Mythology,
which has been translated into English, '72: and on the Mythology of
Plants. He has compiled and in large part written a Universal History
of Literature, 18 vols. '82-85; edited La Revista Europea and the
Revue Internationale, and contributed to many publications. He is a
brilliant writer and a versatile scholar.
De Harven (Emile Jean Alexandre), b. Antwerp, 23 Sept. 1837, the
anonymous author of a work on The Soul: its Origin and Destiny
(Antwerp, 1879).
Dekker (Eduard Douwes), the greatest Dutch writer and Freethinker of
this century, b. Amsterdam, 2 March, 1820. In '39 he accompanied his
father, a ship's captain, to the Malayan Archipelago. He became officer
under the Dutch government in Sumatra, Amboina, and Assistant-Resident
at Lebac, Java. He desired to free the Javanese from the oppression of
their princes, but the government would not help him and he resigned
and returned to Holland, '56. The next four years he spent, in poverty,
vainly seeking justice for the Javanese. In '60 he published under the
pen name of "Multatuli" Max Havelaar, a masterly indictment of the
Dutch rule in India, which has been translated into German, French
and English. Then follow his choice Minnebrieven (Love Letters),
'61; Vorstenschool (A School for Princes), and Millioenen Studiën
(Studies on Millions). His Ideën, 7 vols. '62-79, are full of the
boldest heresy. In most of his works religion is attacked, but in the
Ideas faith is criticised with much more pungency and satire. He wrote
"Faith is the voluntary prison-cell of reason." He was an honorary
member of the Freethought Society, De Dageraad, and contributed to its
organ. During the latter years of his life he lived at Wiesbaden, where
he died 19 Feb. 1887. His corpse was burned in the crematory at Gotha.
De Lalande (see Lalande).
Delambre (Jean Baptiste Joseph), French astronomer, b. Amiens,
19 Sept. 1749, studied under Lalande and became, like his master,
an Atheist. His Tables of the Orbit of Uranus were crowned by the
Academy, 1790. In 1807 he succeeded Lalande as Professor of Astronomy
at the Collége de France. He is the author of a History of Astronomy
in five volumes, and of a number of astronomical tables and other
scientific works He was appointed perpetual secretary of the Academy of
Sciences. Died 19 Aug. 1822, and was buried at Père la Chaise. Cuvier
pronouncing a discourse over his grave.
De la Ramee. See Ramée.
Delboeuf (Joseph Remi Léopold), Belgian writer, b. Liège, 30
Sept. 1831; is Professor at the University of Liège, and has
written Psychology as a Natural Science, its Present and its Future;
Application of the Experimental Method to the Phenomena of the Soul,
'73, and other works. In his Philosophical Prolegomena to Geometry
he suggests that even mathematical axioms may have an empirical origin.
Delbos (Léon), linguist, b. 20 Sept. 1849 of Spanish father and Scotch
mother. Educated in Paris, Lycée Charlemagne. Is an M.A. of Paris and
officier d'Académie. Speaks many languages, and is a good Arabic and
Sanskrit scholar. Has travelled widely and served in the Franco-German
War. Besides many educational works, M. Delbos has written L'Athée,
the Atheist, a Freethought romance '79, and in English The Faith in
Jesus not a New Faith, '85. He has contributed to the Agnostic Annual,
and is a decided Agnostic.
Delepierre (Joseph Octave), Belgian bibliophile, b. Bruges, 12 March,
1802. Was for thirty-five years secretary of Legation to England. His
daughter married N. Truebner, who published his work L'Enfer, 1876,
and many other bibliographical studies. Died London, 18 Aug. 1879.
Delescluze (Louis Charles), French journalist and revolutionary,
b. Dreux, 2 Oct. 1809, was arrested in '34 for sedition. Implicated in
a plot in '35, he took refuge in Belgium. In '48 he issued at Paris La
Revolution Démocratique et Sociale, but was soon again in prison. He
was banished, came to England with Ledru Rollin, but returning to
France in '53 was arrested. In '68 he published the Réveil, for
which he was again fined and sentenced to prison for ten years. In
'59 he was amnestied and imprisoned. He became head of the Commune
Committee of Public Safety, and died at the barricade, 25 May, 1871.
Deleyre (Alexandre), French writer, b. Porbats, near Bordeaux, 6
Jan. 1726. Early in life he entered the order of Jesuits, but changed
his faith and became the friend of Rousseau and Diderot. He contributed
to the Encyclopédie, notably the article "Fanatisme," and published
an analysis of Bacon and works on the genius of Montesquieu and Saint
Evremond, and a History of Voyages. He embraced the Revolution with
ardor, was made deputy to the Convention, and in 1795 was made member
of the Institute. Died at Paris, 27 March, 1797.