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. Holbach (Paul Heinrich Dietrich von) Baron, b. Heidelsheim Jan. 1723. Brought up at Paris where he spent most of his life. Rich and generous he was the patron of the Encyclopædists. Buffon, Diderot, d'Alembert, Helvetius, Rousseau, Grimm, Raynal, Marmontel, Condillac, and other authors often met at his table. Hume, Garrick, Franklin, and Priestley were also among his visitors. He translated from the German several works on chemistry and mineralogy, and from the English, Mark Akenside's Pleasures of the Imagination. He contributed many articles to the Encyclopédie. In 1765 he visited England, and from this time was untiring in his issue of Freethought works, usually put out under pseudonyms. Thus he wrote and had published at Amsterdam Christianity Unveiled, attributed to Boulanger. The Spirit of the Clergy, translated, from the English of Trenchard and Gordon, was partly rewritten by d'Holbach, 1767. His Sacred Contagion or Natural History of Superstition, was also wrongly attributed to Trenchard and Gordon. This work was condemned to be burnt by a decree of the French parliament, 8 Aug. 1770. D'Holbach also wrote and published The History of David, 1768, The Critical History of Jesus Christ, Letters to Eugenia, attributed to Freret, Portable Theology, attributed to Bernier, an Essay on Prejudices, attributed to M. Du M [arsais], Religious Cruelty, Hell Destroyed, and other works, said to be from the English. He also translated the Philosophical Letters of Toland, and Collins's Discourses on Prophecy, and attributed to the latter a work with the title The Spirit of Judaism. These works were mostly conveyed to the printer, M. Rey, at Amsterdam, by Naigeon, and the secret of their authorship was carefully preserved. Hence d'Holbach escaped persecution. In 1770 he published his principal work The System of Nature, or The Laws of the Physical and Moral World. This text-book of atheistic philosophy, in which d'Holbach was assisted by Diderot, professed to be the posthumous work of Mirabaud. It made a great sensation.