Part 16

Hartogh Heys van Zouteveen (Dr. Herman), a learned Dutch writer, b. Delft 13 Feb. 1841. He studied law and natural philosophy at Leyden, and graduated doctor of law in '64 and doctor of natural philosophy in '66. In '66 he received a gold medal from the king of Holland for a treatise on the synthesis of organic bodies. Dr. Hartogh was some time professor of chemistry and natural history at the Hague, but lived at Delft, where he was made city councillor and in '69 and '70 travelled through Egypt and Nubia as correspondent of Het Vaderland and was the guest of the Khedive. He translated into Dutch Darwin's Descent of Man and Expressions of the Emotions, both with valuable annotations of his own. He has also translated and annotated some of the works of Ludwig Büchner and "Carus Sterne," from the German, and works from the French, besides writing several original essays on anthropology, natural history, geology, and allied sciences, contributing largely to the spread of Darwinian ideas in Holland. In '72 he visited the United States and the Pacific coast. Since '73 he has resided at Assen, of which he was named member of the city council, but could not take his seat because he refused the oath. He is a director of the Provincial Archæological Museum at Assen, and a member of the Dutch Literary Society the Royal Institution of Netherlands, India, and other scientific associations. For a long while he was a member of the Dutch Freethinkers' Society, De Dageraad, of which he became president. To the organ De Dageraad he contributed important works, such as Jewish Reports Concerning Jesus of Nazareth and the Origin of Religious Ideas, the last of which has been published separately.

Haslam (Charles Junius), b. Widdington, Northumberland, 24 April, 1811. He spent most of his life near Manchester, where he became a Socialist and published Letters to the Clergy of all Denominations, showing the errors, absurdities, and irrationalities of their doctrines, '38. This work went through several editions, and the publishers were prosecuted for blasphemy. He followed it by Letters to the Bishop of Exeter, containing materials for deciding the question whether or not the Bible is the word of God, '41, and a pamphlet Who are the Infidels? In '61 he removed to Benton, where he has since lived. In '85 he issued a pamphlet entitled The Suppression of War.

Hassell (Richard), one of Carlile's shopmen, sentenced to two years imprisonment in Newgate for selling Paine's Age of Reason, 28 May, 1824. He died in October 1826.

Hattem (Pontiaam van), Dutch writer, b. Bergen 1641. He was a follower of Spinoza, inclined to Pantheistic mysticism, and had several followers. Died 1706.

Haureau (Jean Barthelemy), French historian, b. Paris 1812. At the age of twenty he showed his sympathy with the Revolution by a work on The Mountain. In turn journalist and librarian he has produced many important works, of which we name his Manual of the Clergy, '44, which drew on him attacks from the clericals, and his erudite Critical Examination of the Scholastic Philosophy, '50.

Hauy (Valentine), French philanthropist, b. Saint-Just 13 Nov. 1745. He devoted much attention to enabling the blind to read and founded the institute for the young blind in 1784. He was one of the founders of Theophilantropy. In 1807 he went to Russia, where he stayed till 1817, devoting himself to the blind and to telegraphy. Died at Paris 18 March, 1822.

Havet (Ernest August Eugène), French scholar and critic, b. Paris, 11 April, 1813. In '40 he was appointed professor of Greek literature at the Normal School. In '55 he was made professor of Latin eloquence at the Collége de France. In '63 an article on Renan's Vie de Jesus in the Revue des Deux Mondes excited much attention, and was afterwards published separately. His work on Christianity and its Origins, 4 vols. 1872-84, is a masterpiece of rational criticism.

Hawkesworth (John), English essayist and novelist, b. in London about 1715. Became contributor to the Gentleman's Magazine and editor of the Adventurer. In '61 he edited Swift's works with a life of that author. He compiled an account of the voyages of Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Cook for government, for which he received £6,000; but the work was censured as incidentally attacking the doctrine of Providence. His novel Almoran and Hamet was very popular. Died at Bromley, Kent, 17 Nov. 1773.

Hawley (Henry), a Scotch major-general, who died in 1765, and by the terms of his will prohibited Christian burial.

Hebert (Jacques René), French revolutionist, b. Alençon 15 Nov. 1757, published the notorious Père Duchêsne, and with Chaumette instituted the Feasts of Reason. He was denounced by Saint Just, and guillotined 2 March 1794. His widow, who had been a nun, was executed a few days later.

Hegel (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich), German metaphysician b. Stuttgart, 27 Aug. 1770. He studied theology at Tübingen, but, becoming acquainted with Schelling, devoted his attention to philosophy. His Encyclopædia of the Philosophical Sciences made a deep impression in Germany, and two schools sprang up, one claiming it as a philosophical statement of Christianity, the other as Pantheism hostile to revelation. Hegel said students of philosophy must begin with Spinozism. He is said to have remarked that of all his many disciples only one understood him, and he understood him falsely. He was professor at Jena, Heidelberg, and Berlin, in which last city he died 14 Nov. 1831, and was buried beside Fichte.

Heine (Heinrich), German poet and littérateur, b. of Jewish parents at Dusseldorf, 31 Dec. 1797. He studied law at Bonn, Berlin, and Göttingen; became acquainted with the philosophy of Spinoza and Hegel; graduated LL.D., and in June 1825 renounced Judaism and was baptised. The change was only formal. He satirised all forms of religious faith. His fine Pictures of Travel was received with favor and translated by himself into French. His other principal works are the Book of Songs, History of Recent Literature in Germany, The Romantic School, The Women of Shakespeare, Atta Troll and other poems. In 1835 he married a French lady, having settled in Paris, where "the Voltaire of Germany" became more French than German. About 1848 he became paralysed and lost his eyesight, but he still employed himself in literary composition with the aid of an amanuensis. After an illness of eight years, mostly passed in extreme suffering on his "mattress grave," he died 17 Feb. 1856. Heine was the greatest and most influential German writer since Goethe. He called himself a Soldier of Freedom, and his far-flashing sword played havoc with the forces of reaction.

Heinzen (Karl Peter) German-American poet, orator and politician, b. near Dusseldorf, 22 Feb. 1809. He studied medicine at Bonn, and travelled to Batavia, an account of which he published (Cologne 1842). A staunch democrat, in 1845 he published at Darmstadt a work on the Prussian Bureaucracy, for which he was prosecuted and had to seek shelter in Switzerland. At Zurich he edited the German Tribune and the Democrat. At the beginning of '48 he visited New York but returned to participate in the attempted German Revolution. Again "the regicide" had to fly and in August '50 returned to New York. He wrote on many papers and established the Pioneer (now Freidenker), first in Louisville, then in Cincinnati, then in New York, and from '59 in Boston. He wrote many works, including Letters on Atheism, which appeared in The Reasoner 1856, Poems, German Revolution, The Heroes of German Communism, The Rights of Women, Mankind the Criminal, Six Letters to a Pious Man (Boston 1869), Lessons of a Century, and What is Humanity? (1877.) Died Boston 12 Nov. 1880.

Hellwald (Friedrich von), German geographer, b. Padua 29 March 1842, and in addition to many works on various countries has written an able Culture History, 1875.

Helmholtz (Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von) German scientist, b. Potsdam 31 Aug. 1821. Distinguished for his discoveries in acoustics, optics and electricity, he is of the foremost rank among natural philosophers in Europe. Among his works we mention The Conservation of Force (1847), and Popular Scientific Lectures (1865-76.) Professor Helmholtz rejects the design hypothesis.

Helvetius (Claude Adrien) French philosopher, b. Paris 18 Jan. 1715. Descended from a line of celebrated physicians, he had a large fortune which he dispensed in works of benevolence. Attracted by reading Locke he resigned a lucrative situation as farmer-general to devote himself to philosophy. In August 1758 he published a work On the Mind (De L'Esprit) which was condemned by Pope Clement XIII, 31 Jan. 1759, and burnt by the order of Parliament 6 Feb. 1759 for the hardihood of his materialistic opinions. Mme. Du Deffand said "he told everybody's secret." It was republished at Amsterdam and London. He also wrote a poem On Happiness and a work on Man his Faculties and Education. He visited England and Prussia and became an honored guest of Frederick the Great. Died 26 Dec. 1771. His wife, née Anne Catherine De Lingville, b. 1719, after his death retired to Auteuil, where her house was the rendezvous of Condillac, Turgot, d'Holbach, Morellet, Cabanis, Destutt de Tracy, etc. This re-union of Freethinkers was known as the Société d'Auteuil. Madame Helvetius died 12 August 1800.

Henault, or Hesnault (Jean), French Epicurean poet of the 17th century, son of a Paris baker, was a pupil of Gassendi, and went to Holland to see Spinoza. Bayle says he professed Atheism, and had composed three different systems of the mortality of the soul. His most famous sonnet is on The Abortion. Died Paris, 1682.

Henin de Cuvillers (Etienne Felix), Baron, French general and writer, b. Balloy, 27 April, 1755. He served as diplomatist in England, Venice, and Constantinople. Employed in the army of Italy, he was wounded at Arcola, 26 Sept. '96. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1811. He wrote much, particularly on magnetism. In the 8th vol. of his Archives du Magnétisme Animal, he suggests that the miracles of Jesus were not supernatural, but wrought by means of magnetism learnt in Egypt. In other writings, especially in reflections on the crimes committed in the name of religion, '22, he shows himself the enemy of fanaticism and intolerance. Died 2 August, 1841.

Hennell (Charles Christian), English Freethinker, b. 9 March, 1809, author of an able Inquiry concerning the Origin of Christianity, first published in '38, a work which powerfully influenced "George Eliot," and a translation of which was introduced to German readers by Dr. D. F. Strauss. It was Hennell who induced "George Eliot" to translate Strauss's Life of Jesus. He also wrote on Christian Theism. Hennell lived most of his time in Coventry. He was married at London in '39, and died 2 Sept. 1850.

Herault de Sechelles (Marie Jean), French revolutionist, b. of noble family, Paris, 1760. Brought up as a friend of Buffon and Mirabeau, he gained distinction as a lawyer and orator before the Revolution. Elected to the Legislative Assembly in '91, he was made President of the Convention, 2 Nov. 92. He edited the document known as the Constitution of 1793, and was president and chief speaker at the national festival, 10 Aug. '93. He drew on himself the enmity of Robespierre, and was executed with Danton and Camille Desmoulins, 5 April, 1794.

Herbart (Johann Friedrich), b. Oldenburg 4 May 1776. In 1805 he was made professor of philosophy at Göttingen, and in 1808 became Kant's successor at Königsberg and opposed his philosophy. Though religiously disposed, his philosophy has no room for the notion of a God. He was recalled to Göttingen, where he died 14 Aug. 1841.

Herbert (Edward), Lord of Cherbury, in Shropshire, b. Montgomery Castle, 1581. Educated at Oxford, after which he went on his travels. On his return he was made one of the king's counsellors, and soon after sent as ambassador to France to intercede for the Protestants. He served in the Netherlands, and distinguished himself by romantic bravery. In 1625 he was made a peer of Ireland, and in '31 an English peer. During the civil wars he espoused the side of Parliament. His principal work is entitled De Veritate, the object of which was to assert the sufficiency of natural religion apart from revelation. He also wrote Lay Religion, his own Memoirs, a History of Henry VIII., etc. Died 20 Aug. 1648.

Hertell (Thomas), judge of the Marine Court of New York, and for some years Member of the Legislature of his State. He wrote two or three small works criticising Christian Theology, and exerted his influence in favour of State secularization.

Hertzen or Gertsen (Aleksandr Ivanovich), Russian patriot, chief of the revolutionary party, b. Moscow, 25 March, 1812. He studied at Moscow University, where he obtained a high degree. In '34 he was arrested for Saint Simonian opinions and soon afterwards banished to Viatka, whence he was permitted to return in '37. He was expelled from Russia in '42, visited Italy, joined the "Reds" at Paris in '48, took refuge at Geneva, and soon after came to England. In '57 he set up in London a Russian printing press for the publication of works prohibited in Russia, and his publications passed into that country in large numbers. Among his writings are Dilettantism in Science, '42; Letters on the Study of Nature, '45-46; Who's to Blame? '57; Memoirs of the Empress Catherine, and My Exile, '55. In '57 Herzen started the magazine the Kolokol or Bell. Died at Paris, 21 Jan. 1870. His son, Alessandro Herzen, b. Wladimar, 1839, followed his father's fortunes, learnt most of the European languages and settled at Florence, where he did much to popularise physiological science. He has translated Maudsley's Physiology of Mind, and published a physiological analysis of human free will.

Herwegh (Georg), German Radical and poet, b. Stuttgart, 31 May, 1817. Intended for the Church, he left that business for Literature. His Gedichte eines Lebendigen (Poems of a Living Man) aroused attention by their boldness. In '48 he raised a troop and invaded Baden, but failed, and took refuge in Switzerland and Paris. Died at Baden-Baden, 7 April, 1875.

Hetherington (Henry), English upholder of a free press, b. Soho, London, 1792. He became a printer, and was one of the most energetic of working men engaged in the foundation of mechanics' institutes. He also founded the Metropolitan Political Union in March, 1830, which was the germ both of trades' unionism and of the Chartist movement. He resisted the "taxes upon knowledge" by issuing unstamped The Poor Man's Guardian, a weekly newspaper for the people, established, contrary to "law," to try the power of "might" against "right," '31-35. For this he twice suffered sentences of six months' imprisonment. He afterwards published The Unstamped, and his persistency had much to do in removing the taxes. While in prison he wrote his Cheap Salvation in consequence of conversation with the chaplain of Clerkenwell Gaol. On Dec. 8, '40, he was tried for "blasphemous libel" for publishing Haslam's Letters to the Clergy, and received four month's imprisonment. Hetherington published A Few Hundred Bible Contradictions, and other Freethought works. Much of his life was devoted to the propaganda of Chartism. He died 24 Aug. 1849, leaving a will declaring himself an Atheist.

Hetzer (Ludwig), anti-Trinitarian martyr, b. Bischopzell, Switzerland; was an Anabaptist minister at Zurich. He openly denied the doctrine of the Trinity, and was condemned to death by the magistrates of Constance on a charge of blasphemy. The sentence was carried out 4 Feb. 1529.

Heusden (C. J. van), Dutch writer in De Dageraad. Has written several works, Thoughts on a Coming More Universal Doctrine, by a Believer, etc.

Hibbert (Julian), Freethought philanthropist, b. 1801. During the imprisonment of Richard Carlile he was active in sustaining his publications. Learning that a distinguished political prisoner had received a gift of £1,000, he remarked that a Freethinking prisoner should not want equal friends, and gave Carlile a cheque for the same amount. Julian Hibbert spent nearly £1,000 in fitting up Carlile's shop in Fleet Street. He contributed "Theological Dialogues" to the Republican, and also contributed to the Poor Man's Guardian. Hibbert set up a private press and printed in uncial Greek the Orphic Hymns, '27, and also Plutarch and Theophrastus on Superstition, to which he wrote a life of Plutarch and appended valuable essays "on the supposed necessity of deceiving the vulgar"; "various definitions of an important word" [God], and a catalogue of the principal modern works against Atheism. He also commenced a Dictionary of Anti-Superstitionists, and Chronological Tables of British Freethinkers. He wrote a short life of Holbach, published by James Watson, to whom, and to Henry Hetherington, he left £500 each. Died December 1834.

Hedin (Sven Adolph), Swedish member of the "Andra Kammaren" [House of Commons], b. 1834. Studied at Upsala and became philosophical candidate, '61. Edited the Aftonbladet, '74-76. Has written many radical works.

Higgins (Godfrey), English archæologist, b. Skellow Grange, near Doncaster, 1771. Educated at Cambridge and studied for the bar, but never practised. Being the only son he inherited his father's property, married, and acted as magistrate, in which capacity he reformed the treatment of lunatics in York Asylum. His first work was entitled Horæ Sabbaticæ, 1813, a manual on the Sunday Question. In '29 he published An Apology for the Life and Character of Mohammed and Celtic Druids, which occasioned some stir on account of the exposure of priestcraft. He died 9 Aug. 1833, leaving behind a work on the origin of religions, to the study of which he devoted ten hours daily for about twenty years. The work was published in two volumes in 1826, under the title of "Anacalypsis, an attempt to draw aside the veil of the Saitic Isis; or an Inquiry into the Origin of Languages, Nations, and Religions."

Hillebrand (Karl), cosmopolitan writer, b. 17 Sept. 1829, at Giessen. His father, Joseph Hillebrand, succeeded Hegel as professor at Heidelberg. Involved in the revolutionary movement in Germany, Karl was imprisoned in the fortress of Rastadt, whence he escaped to France. He taught at Strasbourg and Paris, where he became secretary to Heine. On the poet's death he removed to Bordeaux, where he became a naturalised Frenchman. He became professor of letters at Douay. During the Franco-Prussian war he was correspondent to the Times, and was taken for a Prussian spy. In 1871 he settled at Florence, where he translated the poems of Carducci. Hillebrand was a contributor to the Fortnightly Review, Nineteenth Century, Revue des deux Mondes, North American Review, etc. His best known work is on France and the French in the second half of the nineteenth century. Died at Florence, 18 Oct. 1884.

Hins (Eugène), Belgian writer, Dr. of Philosophy, Professor at Royal Athenæum, Charleroi, b. St. Trond, 1842. As general secretary of the International, he edited L'Internationale, in which he laid stress on anti-religious teaching. He contributed to La Liberté, and was one of the prominent lecturers of the Societies Les Solidaires, and La Libre-pensée of Brussels. He has written La Russie dé voilée au moyen de sa littérature populaire, 1883, and other works.

Hippel (Theodor Gottlieb von), German humoristic poet, b. Gerdauen, Prussia, 31 Jan. 1741. He studied theology, but resigned it for law, and became in 1780 burgomaster of Königsberg. His writings, which were published anonymously, betray his advanced opinions. Died Bromberg, 23 April, 1796.

Hittell (John S.), American Freethinker, author of the Evidences against Christianity (New York, 1857): has also written A Plea for Pantheism, A New System of Phrenology, The Resources of California, a History of San Francisco, A Brief History of Culture (New York, 1875), and St. Peter's Catechism (Geneva, 1883).

Hoadley (George), American jurist, b. New Haven, Conn., 31 July, 1836. He studied at Harvard, and in '47 was admitted to the bar, and in '51 was elected judge of the superior court of Cincinnati. He afterwards resigned his place and established a law firm. He was one of the counsel that successfully opposed compulsory Bible reading in the public schools.

Hobbes (Thomas), English philosopher, b. Malmesbury, 5 April, 1588. In 1608 he became tutor to a son of the Earl of Devonshire, with whom he made the tour of Europe. At Pisa in 1628 he made the acquaintance of Galileo. In 1642 he printed his work De Cive. In 1650 appeared in English his work on Human Nature, and in the following year his famous Leviathan. At the Restoration he received a pension, but in 1666 Parliament, in a Bill against Atheism and profaneness, passed a censure on his writings, which much alarmed him. The latter years of his life were spent at the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth, where he died 4 Dec. 1679.

Hodgson (William, M.D.), English Jacobin, translator of d'Holbach's System of Nature (1795). In 1794 he was confined in Newgate for two years for drinking to the success of the French Republic. In prison he wrote The Commonwealth of Reason.

Hoelderlin (Johann Christian Friedrich), German pantheistic poet, b. Laufen, 20 March, 1770. Entered as a theological student at Tübingen, but never took to the business. He wrote Hyperion, a fine romance (1797-99), and Lyric Poems, admired for their depth of thought. Died Tübingen, 7 June, 1843.

Hoijer (Benjamin Carl Henrik), Swedish philosopher, b. Great Skedvi, Delecarlia, 1 June, 1767. Was student at Upsala University '83, and teacher of philosophy '98. His promotion was hindered by his liberal opinions. By his personal influence and published treatises he contributed much to Swedish emancipation. In 1808 he became Professor of Philosophy at Upsala. Died 8 June, 1812.