London:

Printed and published by G. W. Foote, at 28Stonecutter Street, E.C. [iii]

Preface.

John Stuart Mill in his “Autobiography”declares with truth that “the world would be astonished if itknew how great a proportion of its brightest ornaments, of those mostdistinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and virtue arecomplete sceptics in religion.” Many of these, as Mill pointsout, refrain from various motives from speaking out. The work I haveundertaken will, I trust, do something to show how many of theworld’s worthiest men and women have been Freethinkers.

My Dictionary does not pretend to be a complete list of those whohave rendered services to Freethought. To form such a compilation wouldrather be the task of an international society than of an individual.Moreover details concerning many worthy workers are now inaccessible.Freethought boasts its noble army of martyrs of whom the world was notworthy, and who paid the penalty of their freedom in prison or at thestake. Some of the names of these are only known by the vituperation oftheir adversaries. I have done my best to preserve some trustworthyrecord of as many as possible.

The only complete work with a similar design of which I have anyknowledge, is the Dictionnaire des Athées ancienset modernes, by Sylvain Maréchal with its supplements byJerome de Lalande the Astronomer, An. VIII. (1800)–1805. Thatwork, which is now extremely [iv]rare, gave scarcely anybiographical details, and unfortunately followed previous orthodoxatheographers, such as Buddeus, Reimmann, Hardouin, Garasse, Mersenne,in classing as Atheists those to whom the title was inapplicable. Ihave taken no names from these sources without examining theevidence.

A work was issued by Richard Carlile in 1826, entitled ADictionary of Modern Anti-Superstionists; or, “an account,arranged alphabetically, of those who, whether called Atheists,Sceptics, Latitudinarians, Religious Reformers, or etc., have duringthe last ten centuries contributed towards the diminution ofsuperstition. Compiled by a searcher after Truth.” The compiler,as I have reason to know, was Julian Hibbert, who brought to his taskadequate scholarship and leisure. It was, however, conceived on tooextensive a scale, and in 128 pages, all that was issued, it onlyreached to the name of Annet. Julian Hibbert also compiledchronological tables of English Freethinkers, which were published inthe Reasoner for 1855.

Of the Anti-Trinitarian Biography of the Rev. Robert Wallace,or of the previous compilations of Saudius and Bock, I have made butlittle use. To include the names of all who reject some of theChristian dogmas was quite beside my purpose, though I have includedthose of early Unitarians and Universalists who, I conceive, exhibitedthe true spirit of free inquiry in the face of persecution. To theFreydenker Lexikon of J. A. Trinius (1759) myobligations are slight, but should be acknowledged. To Bayle’sDictionary, Hoefer’s Nouvelle Biographie Generale,Meyer’s Konversatio