Bodin (Jean), French political writer, b. Angers 1530. He studied at Toulouse and is said to have been a monk but turned to the law, and became secretary to the Duc d'Alençon. His book De la Republique is highly praised by Hallam, and is said to have contained the germ of Montesquieu's "Spirit of the Laws." He wrote a work on demonomania, in which he seems to have believed, but in his Colloquium Heptaplomeron coloquies of seven persons: a Catholic, a Lutheran, a Calvinist, a Pagan, a Muhammadan, a Jew, and a Deist, which he left in manuscript, he put some severe attacks on Christianity. Died of the plague at Laon in 1596. Boggis (John) is mentioned by Edwards in his Gangrena, 1645, as an Atheist and disbeliever in the Bible. Boichot (Jean Baptiste), b. Villier sur Suize 20 Aug. 1820, entered the army. In '49 he was chosen representative of the people. After the coup d'état he came to England, returned to France in '54, was arrested and imprisoned at Belle Isle. Since then he has lived at Brussels, where he has written several works and is one of the council of International Freethinkers. Boindin (Nicolas) French litterateur, wit, playwright and academician, b. Paris 29 May, 1676. He publicly professed Atheism, and resorted with other Freethinkers to the famous café Procope. There, in order to speak freely, they called the soul Margot, religion Javotte, liberty Jeanneton, and God M. de l'Etre. One day a spy asked Boindin, "Who is this M. de l'Etre with whom you seem so displeased?" "Monsieur," replied Boindin, "he is a police spy." Died 30 Nov. 1751. His corpse was refused "Christian burial." Boissiere (Jean Baptiste Prudence), French writer, b. Valognes Dec. 1806, was for a time teacher in England. He compiled an analogical dictionary of the French language. Under the name of Sièrebois he has published the Autopsy of the Soul and a work on the foundations of morality, which he traces to interest. He has also written a book entitled The Mechanism of Thought, '84. Boissonade (J. A.), author of The Bible Unveiled, Paris, 1871. Boito (Arrigo), Italian poet and musician, b. at Padua, whose opera "Mefistofele," has created considerable sensation by its boldness. Bolingbroke (Henry Saint John) Lord, English statesman and philosopher, b. at Battersea, 1 Oct. 1672. His political life was a stormy one. He was the friend of Swift and of Pope, who in his Essay on Man avowedly puts forward the views of Saint John. He died at Battersea 12 Dec. 1751, leaving by will his MSS. to David Mallet, who in 1754 published his works, which included Essays Written to A. Pope, Esq., on Religion and Philosophy, in which he attacks Christianity with both wit and eloquence. Bolingbroke was a Deist, believing in God but scornfully rejecting revelation. He much influenced Voltaire, who regarded him with esteem. Bonavino (Francesco Cristoforo) see Franchi (Ausonio).