Hugo (Victor Marie), French poet and novelist, b. Besançon, 26 Feb. 1802. Was first noted for his Odes, published in '21. His dramas "Hernani," '30, and "Marion Delorme," '31, were highly successful. He was admitted into the French Academy in '41, and made a peer in '45. He gave his cordial adhesion to the Republic of '48, and was elected to the Assembly by the voters of Paris. He attacked Louis Napoleon, and after the coup d'état was proscribed. He first went to Brussels, where he published Napoleon the Little, a biting satire. He afterwards settled at Guernsey, where he remained until the fall of the Empire, producing The Legend of the Ages, '59, Les Miserables, '62, Toilers of the Sea, '69, and other works. After his return to Paris he produced a new series of the Legend of the Ages, The Pope, Religions and Religion, Torquemada, and other poems. He died 22 May, 1885, and it being decided he should have a national funeral, the Pantheon was secularised for that purpose, the cross being removed. Since his death a poem entitled The End of Satan has been published. Hugues (Clovis), French Socialist, poet, and deputy, b. Menerbes, 3 Nov. 1850. In youth he desired to become a priest, but under the influence of Hugo left the black business. In '71 he became head of the Communist movement at Marseilles. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. In '81 he was elected deputy, and sits on the extreme left. Humboldt (Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von), illustrious German naturalist and traveller, b. Berlin, 14 Sept. 1769. He studied under Heyne and Blumenbach, travelled in Holland, France and England with George Forster, the naturalist, and became director-general of mines. In 1799 he set out to explore South America and Mexico, and in 1804 returned with a rich collection of animals, plants and minerals. Humboldt became a resident of Paris, where he enjoyed the friendship of Lalande, Delambre, Arago, and all the living distinguished French scientists. After numerous important contributions to scientific knowledge, at the age of seventy-four he composed his celebrated Cosmos, the first volume of which appeared in '45 and the fourth in '58. To Varnhagen von Ense he wrote in 1841: "Bruno Bauer has found me pre-adamatically converted. Many years ago I wrote, 'Toutes les réligions positives offrent trois parties distinctes; un traité de moeurs partout le même et très pur, un rève géologique, et un mythe ou petit roman historique; le dernier élément obtient le plus d'importance.'" Later on he says that Strauss disposes of "the Christian myths." Humboldt was an unwearied student of science, paying no attention to religion, and opposed his brother in regard to his essay On the Province of the Historian, because he considered it to acknowledge the belief in the divine government of the world, which seemed to him as complete a delusion as the hypothesis of a principle of life. He died in Berlin, 6 May, 1859, in his ninetieth year.