Des Maizeaux (Pierre), miscellaneous writer, b. Auvergne, 1673. He studied at Berne and Geneva, and became known to Bayle who introduced him to Lord Shaftesbury, with whom he came to London, 1699. He edited the works of Bayle, Saint Evremond and Toland, whose lives he wrote, as well as those of Hales and Chillingworth. Anthony Collins was his friend, and at his death left him his manuscripts. These he transferred to Collins's widow and they were burnt. He repented and returned the money, 6 Jan. 1730, as the wages of iniquity. He became Secretary of the Royal Society of London, where he died, 11 July, 1745. Desmoulins (Lucié Simplice Camille Benôit), French revolutionary writer, b. Guise, 2 March, 1760. He was a fellow-student of Robespierre at Paris, and became an advocate and an enthusiastic reformer. In July '89 he incited the people to the siege of the Bastille, and thus began the Revolution. On 29 Dec. 1790 he married Lucile Laridon-Duplessis. He edited Le Vieux Cordelier and the Révolutions de France et de Brabant, in which he stated that Mohammedanism was as credible as Christianity. He was a Deist, preferring Paganism to Christianity. Both creeds were more or less unreasonable; but, folly for folly, he said, I prefer Hercules slaying the Erymanthean boar to Jesus of Nazareth drowning two thousand pigs. He was executed with Danton, 5 April 1794. His amiable wife, Lucile, who was an Atheist (b. 1770), in a few days shared his fate (April 13). Carlyle calls Desmoulins a man of genius, "a fellow of infinite shrewdness, wit--nay, humor." Des Periers (Jean Bonaventure), French poet and sceptic, b. Arnay le Duc, about 1510. He was brought up in a convent, only to detest the vices of the monks. In 1535 he lived in Lyons and assisted Dolet. He probably knew Rabelais, whom he mentions as "Francoys Insigne." Attached to the court of Marguerite of Valois, he defended Clement Marot when persecuted for making a French version of the Psalms. He wrote the Cymbalum Mundi, a satire upon religion, published under the name of Thomas de Clenier à Pierre Tryocan, i.e., Thomas Incrédule à Pierre Croyant, 1537. It was suppressed and the printer, Jehan Morin, imprisoned. Des Periers fled and died (probably by suicide, to escape persecution) 1544. An English version of Cymbalum Mundi was published in 1712. P. G. Brunet, the bibliographer, conjectures that Des Periers was the author of the famous Atheistic treatise, The Three Impostors. Destriveaux (Pierre Joseph), Belgian lawyer and politician, b. Liége, 13 March, 1780. Author of several works on public right. Died Schaerbeck (Brussels), 3 Feb. 1853.