Writers 18th century
Abraham a Sancta Clara, real name Johann Ulrich Megerle, was an Augustinian monk and satirist, court preacher in Vienna.
Possessing an inimitable style of preaching that included folksy humor and harsh acrimony, Abraham was very popular with his contemporaries. He fearlessly scourged human vices, using both high pathos and puns, while conveying religious and moral messages. Some 600 of his recorded sermons on various subjects have survived.
John Quincy Adams was an American politician and statesman, the sixth President of the United States (March 4, 1825 - March 4, 1829).
John Quincy Adams was the son of John Adams, the second President of the United States, and, of course, public service was his destiny. As a child, in 1778 he traveled to France with his father, who was then U.S. Commissioner to France. At the age of 14, Adams became personal secretary to Francis Dana, the U.S. Minister to Russia, serving as his father's secretary as well during the negotiation of the Treaty of Paris (1783). In 1787, the twenty-year-old Adams graduated from Harvard University and, after studying law, began practicing in Boston.
In addition to numerous diplomatic appointments, Quincy Adams served as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1803 to 1808. President James Madison appointed Adams U.S. minister to Russia in 1809, and Adams served until 1814. And under President James Monroe, he served as Secretary of State from 1817 to 1825 and is considered one of the best Secretaries of State in U.S. history.
John Quincy Adams won the 1824 presidential election in a four-way race against Henry Clay, William Crawford, and Andrew Jackson. As president, Adams supported a program to modernize the U.S. economy. But his popularity declined because of his approach to Native Americans, whom he supported against the demands of settlers from the west.
After losing the 1828 presidential election to Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served as a representative from Massachusetts for the next 17 years. In the House of Representatives, Adams became one of the most vocal opponents of slavery. He consistently defended abolitionist views and policies, denouncing slavery as an immoral institution and attacking the interests of Southern slaveholders. During the U.S.-Mexican War of 1848, Adams was a leading opponent of the annexation of Texas, farsightedly predicting that it would lead to civil war.
After suffering two strokes, Adams died on February 23, 1848, at the age of 80. Had fate not predestined him to pursue politics, John Quincy Adams would have become a famous poet. He spent his life composing poems in various genres. After his death, many of his poems were collected and published in Poems on Religion and Society (1848).
Eleazar Albin was a British naturalist and author of illustrated books on birds and insects.
Albin wrote and illustrated a number of books, including A Natural History of English Insects (1720), A Natural History of Birds (1731-38), and A Natural History of Spiders and Other Curious Insects (1736). His work was based on careful observation and artistic talent. Eleazar Albin has been called one of the "great illustrators of entomological books of the 18th century".
Some of the illustrations in these books are by Albin's daughter Elisabeth. Eleazar Albin himself proudly wrote of his drawings that they were all painted from life, with all the accuracy of a sketch, unlike the sketches of other scientists, who did them either from memory or from stories.
Richard Alsop was an 18th-century American writer and poet.
Alsop was one of the founders of the later famous literary group, the Hartford Witters. He wrote poetry in the journals The Political Greenhouse and The Echo, the latter soon becoming primarily concerned with satirical parodies of public speeches and articles of a political nature.
Alsop also published various translations from French and Italian.
Joel Barlow was an American statesman, diplomat, French politician and poet.
A graduate of Yale University, he briefly served as a chaplain in the Revolutionary Army. In 1784, Barlow founded the American Mercury, a weekly newspaper in Hartford, Connecticut, and was admitted to the bar in 1786. Along with John Trumbull and Timothy Dwight, he was a member of the Hartford Witters, a group of young writers.
Joel Barlow's fame was brought to him by his poetic work The Vision of Columbus (1787). It is a dialog between Christopher Columbus and an angel and covers the entire history of America to the end of the American Revolution. The poem was signed by many leading figures of the time, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and was popular on both sides of the Atlantic. The author later reworked the poem into a more cynical epic called Columbiad.
In 1788, Barlow traveled to France as an agent for the Scioto Land Company and persuaded a group of Frenchmen to emigrate to America, who eventually founded the town of Gallipolis, Ohio. In Paris he became a liberal in religion and an advanced republican in politics; he took part in the French Revolution and was granted French citizenship.
In the literary field, Barlow is also known for his work The Hasty Pudding (1796). It is a humorous poem inspired by a longing for New England and cornmeal, containing vivid descriptions of rural scenes.
In 1795-97. Barlow was sent to Algeria on a diplomatic mission and returned to the United States in 1805. In 1811 he was appointed U.S. plenipotentiary to France. Barlow participated in Napoleon's retreat from Russia and died in Poland.
Pierre-François Hugues d'Hancarville, better known as Baron d'Hancarville, was an art historian, writer, and adventurer who lived most of his life in Italy.
To advance from the merchant class to high society, he studied mathematics, physics, history, literature, ancient languages, and English, Italian, and German. Traveling in Europe, he presented himself as an aristocrat under various names. Under the name Baron d'Hancarville, he was known as a connoisseur and art dealer, which is apparently why he was approached by Sir William Hamilton (1731-1803), who was ambassador to the British embassy in Naples and had amassed a large collection of ancient vases. Before selling this collection to the British Museum in 1772, Hamilton asked d'Hancarville for help in creating a complete catalog of it in descriptions and illustrations. The baron also wrote a detailed essay.
This catalog, entitled The Complete Collection of Antiquities from the Cabinet of Sir William Hamilton, is itself a neoclassical masterpiece in French and English. Antique vases have never before been depicted with such precision and aestheticism.
Joseph Bartlett was an American lawyer, politician, and poet.
Bartlett graduated from Harvard and began his law practice in Woburn. In 1782, he was elected a member of the Harvard chapter of the PBK. In 1803 he moved to Saco, Maine, where he was elected state senator the following year.
Joseph Bartlett was a man of eccentricity, with a very peculiar taste. His charisma and sharp wit ensured the success of his lectures. Bartlett is the author of the satirical poem Physiognomy, a Poem (1799).
Jacques Basnage de Beauval was a French theologian and historian, diplomat and writer.
His father was a prominent lawyer and his grandfather and great-grandfather were pastors, Jacques studied theology and languages at the Academy of Saumur, then at Geneva and Sedan. In 1676, Jacques Basnage was appointed pastor at Rouen during the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, was forced to flee France for Holland, where he worked as a theologian, polemicist, historian, and diplomat in the service of the Grand Pensioner Hensius.
In 1717, on behalf of Holland, Basnage was sent to sign the treaty of the Triple Alliance (France, Holland, England). In the Annals of the United Provinces (1719-1726), compiled from the peace negotiations held at Münster, he displays breadth of vision, wisdom, and impartiality.
About 1719 Jacques Basnage was appointed historiographer of the Dutch states. He wrote several books on the Bible, the history of the Church, and the history of the Jewish people. Among the best known of these are his History of the Religion of the Protestant Denominations (1690), History of the Church of Jesus Christ to the Present Time (1699), written from Protestant positions, and History of the Jews (1706), as well as Jewish Antiquities, or Critical Notes on the Republic of the Jews (1713).
Jeremy Belknap is an American clergyman, historian, and author.
Belknap was educated at Harvard College and has devoted his life to the Congregationalist Church. In addition, he served for many years as secretary to the New Hampshire Ministerial Convention. He traveled throughout the state in his service and at the same time collected information on New Hampshire history. The result of these years of work was The History of New Hampshire, published in three volumes between 1784 and 1792. This work is the first modern history written by an American.
Belknap also wrote and published American Biographies in two volumes (1794 and 1798), which brought him to the attention of intellectuals across the country. He became a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Belknap was also a founding member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the first such society in America.
Charles Best or Carl Conrad Best was a German-born British army officer who served in the armies of the East India Company.
Best served for over seventeen years in the Hanoverian forces stationed in India and in the British colonial administration. In his notes, published in 1807, he describes parts of India, including a description of Madras. The work also covers the East Indies, the Cape of Good Hope, and St. Helena, and is illustrated with landscapes and inhabitants of these places. The author also writes about the Hindu and Muslim religions, cults and customs, temples and mosques.
Abijah Bigelow is an American legislator, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts, poet and publicist.
Bigelow attended Dartmouth College in Hanover and became a lawyer. Between 1810 and 1815, he represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he strongly opposed the War of 1812. He also served as a justice of the peace from 1809 until his death.
As an author and poet, Bigelow published his work in Worcester newspapers throughout his life. Six essays entitled "Political Reflections" were published in the Massachusetts Spy in 1812, and a series of articles on slavery, signed by him as "The Unprofessional," were printed in the Worcester Palladium in 1838. Bigelow was also a member of the American Antiquarian Society.
Ann Eliza Bleecker, née Schuyler, is an American poet and writer.
Ann from a young age surprised others with her poetic and literary talent. Married to lawyer John James Bleecker, she continued to write sentimental poems and so-called letters in which she enclosed her compositions. The family idyll was disrupted with the onset of the British offensive during the American Revolution. Ann and her husband had to flee, they experienced much grief and loss. All this greatly affected the character and creativity of Ann Bleecker.
In her most famous fiction narrative "The Story of Maria Kittle", which is addressed to her cousin, Ann describes the hardships of surviving captivity with the cruel Native Americans.
Ann Eliza Bleecker died at the age of 32, leaving behind manuscripts of poetry and prose that she never intended to publish. A few years later, her daughter, the poet Margaret Foger, published a significant portion of Bleeker's work, including twenty-three letters, thirty-six poems, and "The History of Maria Kittle," first in The New-York Magazine in 1790 and 1791, and then in a collection entitled "The Posthumous Works of Anne Eliza Bleecker" in 1793. "The History of Mary Kittle" was reprinted separately in 1797, a testament to the novel's popularity.
Jan Bleuland was a Dutch physician, medical scientist, educator and writer.
Bleuland was an intellectually advanced man, a sought-after physician, and a rich lover of the arts. Jan Bleuland taught anatomy, physiology and obstetrics for 31 years and was professor and rector of Utrecht University. His talents as a physician and medical researcher were recognized not only by his patients and the scientific community, but also by the highest authorities.
During his lifetime, Jan Bleuland amassed a large collection of medical specimens of the human body, which he used for research. Part of this significant collection is still on display in the original wooden Bleulandkabinet in the Utrecht University Museum. The Bleulandkabinet contains an extensive collection of skeletons, embryos in alcohol and wax preparations of body parts. His pioneering preparations were acquired by Utrecht University by royal decree of King Willem I in 1815 and are still used as teaching material.
Aimé Bonpland, born Aimé Jacques Alexandre Goujaud, was a French and Argentine natural scientist, traveler, physician, and botanist.
Bonpland became famous for his participation in an expedition to the Americas. Together with the explorer Alexander von Humboldt, he traveled through much of the American territory, from Cuman to the United States, passing through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, and Cuba, in addition to Venezuela. In all these places he did a great deal of botanical work, describing and collecting six thousand species of American plants, many of which were new. The scientist made them known in Europe after his return in 1804, publishing several scientific papers. Four years later, Bonpland was appointed botanist of the Empress's Garden.
After more years, he returned to Buenos Aires and continued numerous botanical, zoological, and medical studies in various regions of South America. Bonpland sent plants to the Museum of Natural History in Paris and maintained correspondence with its naturalists.
Giuseppe Bossi was an Italian painter of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is considered a representative of the neoclassical style of the New Lombard school. Bossi is also known as a writer, art theorist and collector of paintings of ancient masters.
Giuseppe Bossi was appointed assistant secretary of the Milan Academy of Arts at the age of 23, and soon became secretary of this prestigious organization. In this position he proposed a series of educational reforms. Bossi also found time to paint. His artistic legacy includes works of historical genre, single and group portraits of contemporaries, as well as a large number of drawings of all kinds.
Bossi devoted a lot of time and energy to the study of Leonardo da Vinci, and wrote a series of books detailing all periods in the life of his famous countryman. He created a masterful copy of Da Vinci's famous painting The Last Supper, which was in badly damaged condition.
James Boswell was a Scottish lawyer, biographer and writer.
On the advice of his father, the judge and Lord Alexander Boswell, James studied law at the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, but then led a high society life in London. After several years of traveling, he settled in Edinburgh, where he practiced law for 17 years from 1766.
James Boswell was best known as the author of An Account of Corsica (1768) and The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791). But in addition, from the early 1760s and almost to the end of his life, he kept detailed diary entries that were discovered in the 1920s and became one of the major literary discoveries of the 20th century. During his life, James Boswell met many of the great and powerful men, writers, philosophers, and scientists of his time, including Rousseau and Voltaire. His diaries record unique observations on the lives and personalities of the second half of the eighteenth century.
Joachim Bouvet was a French Jesuit monk and missionary who worked in China.
Joachim Bouvet was one of six Jesuit mathematicians chosen by Louis XIV to travel to China as his envoys and work as missionaries and scholars. In 1687 in Beijing, Bouvet began this work, especially in mathematics and astronomy, and in 1697 the Chinese emperor Kangxi (1654-1722) sent him as ambassador to the French king. Kangxi expressed his wish that Bouvet should bring more missionary scientists with him. Thus, in addition to his scholarly work, Bouvet was also an accomplished diplomat and served as a liaison between the Chinese Emperor Kangxi and King Louis XIV of France.
Bouvet brought to France a manuscript describing Kangxi's life with an eye for diplomatic subtleties, as well as a collection of drawings depicting graceful Chinese figures in traditional and ceremonial dress. The first French edition of The Historical Portrait of the Emperor of China was published in Paris in 1697, and was subsequently translated and published in other languages. And Bouvet returned to China in 1699 with ten new missionaries and a collection of King Louis XIV's engravings for Emperor Kangxi. He remained in China for the rest of his life.
Hugh Henry Brackenridge was an American writer and poet, jurist and Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice.
Hugh Henry graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), learned Latin and Greek, and became a teacher. He later served in George Washington's army and published two verse dramas on revolutionary themes. He worked with the poet Philip Morin Freneau (1752-1832) on satirical and political publications.
Hugh Henry Breckenridge founded the Pittsburgh Academy, now the University of Pittsburgh, and the Pittsburgh Gazette, which is still published today.
Breckenridge is also known as the author of the first novel about frontier life in the United States after the Revolutionary War, Modern Chivalry. Considered one of the earliest American novels, this book was published in installments beginning in 1792 over a period of 23 years. In the latest edition, Captain John Farrago, along with his own Sancho Panza, Teague, leaves his farm in western Pennsylvania and sets out to find adventure in the big world.
Edward Wedlake Brayley was a British writer, historian, archaeologist and topographer.
Notable among Brayley's works are A Topographical History of Surrey, Lambeth Palace, Topographical Sketches of Brighthelmston, and Londiniana. Braley often collaborated with the topographer and antiquarian John Britton in the creation of his books. The text in his books was illustrated with woodcuts and engraved steel plates.
Britton and Brayley's long-standing collaboration also resulted in the popular series "Beauties of England and Wales," published from 1801 to 1818. Several volumes were planned, dealing with the history and topography of England and Wales, illustrated with views of picturesque scenes and important places. The series eventually expanded to twenty-five large volumes, published over a period of nearly twenty years.
Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Breton de la Martinière was a French stenographer, journalist, translator and writer.
Breton was a founding member of a group of stenographers of the Legislative Assembly and stenographed debates from 1792. He became parliamentary reporter in 1815 and remained so until his death. He was also one of the founders of Le stenographer of the Chambers and the Gazette des tribunals. A polyglot and knowing almost all the languages of Europe, Breton often acted as an interpreter in the courts.
Breton de la Martinière published books on China, as well as on Egypt and Syria, where he used materials by the scholar Jean-Joseph Marcel, who accompanied Napoleon to Egypt in 1798. The text contains much information on the customs, religion, and antiquities of Egypt, as well as a fascinating description of the recent French occupation.
Mathurin Jacques Brisson was a French zoologist, ornithologist, naturalist and physicist, a member of the Academy of Sciences.
He is known for his published works in natural history: Le Règne animal ("The Kingdom of Animals", 1756) and Ornithologie ("Ornithology", 1760), in which he described 1,500 species of birds grouped into 115 genera, twenty-six orders, and two classes. Brisson was one of the first to come close to the concept of "type" in zoology, although he does not use the term, but his classification was used for about 100 years. He translated a number of important books on zoology for his time into French.
Brisson's works in physics are related to the measurement of specific gravity of various bodies, the study of gases and refraction of light, mirrors, magnetism, atmospheric electricity, and barometers.
Giovanni Battista Brocchi was an Italian mineralogist, geologist and paleontologist.
Brocchi studied law at the University of Padua, but was seriously interested in natural sciences and mineralogy. In 1802, Brocchi became a teacher of natural history at the Brescia Gymnasium. Appointment in 1808 as inspector of mines in Milan gave him the opportunity to travel extensively in Italy, making extensive notes and collecting numerous samples. The fruits of these labors appeared in various publications, notably his "Treatise mineralogical and chemical on the iron mines of the department of Mella" (1808). He then obtained a position as inspector of mining in the newly created kingdom of Italy.
In 1811 Brocchi wrote a valuable essay entitled "Mineralogical Memoirs on the Fassa Valley in the Tyrol." He made his first extensive exploration of central Italy in 1811-1812, witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius, and was able to compare the condition of its crater before and after the eruption. But his most important work is Fossils of the Sub-Apennines with geological observations on the Apennines and adjacent soil (1814), which contains precise details of the structure of the Apennine ridge and an account of the fossilization of Italian Tertiary strata in comparison with existing species. Brocchi also wrote several significant works on biology.
In the fall of 1822 he sailed from Trieste to Egypt, whence he made excursions up the Nile and into Syria and Palestine. In 1826 he contracted the bubonic plague, of which he died. His last journals and collections are preserved at the Museo Civico in Bassano. In all, Brocchi published five voluminous books and about seventy articles in various journals.
Charles Brockden Brown was an American writer, historian, and editor.
Brown took up literary endeavors early in life. In 1798, his first mystical and psychological novel, Wieland, was published. Brown also wrote the novels Ormond (1799), Edgar Huntley (1799), and Arthur Merwin (1799-1800).
Brown's works interweave fiction, history, fantasy, psychology, and liberal politics. Brown is considered the father of the American novel. His American-style Gothic novels pioneered and paved the way for two of the greatest early American writers, Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Charles Brown also wrote a great deal of journalism on political, educational, and historical topics.
William Hill Brown was an 18th-century American novelist writer.
Brown apparently believed that one of the main purposes of literature was to instill some moral values. It is on this conviction that his novel The Power of Sympathy, or The Triumph of Truth-Based Nature (1789), which is considered the first American novel, is built. It caused a great scandal, however, because it is based on a real-life gruesome story of kidnapping, accidental incest, and suicide.
This novel is a prime example of the American approach to the European genre of the epistolary novel, but with lush descriptions of landscapes and a frank discussion of American slavery. This book can also be considered one of the first explicitly American works of literary criticism, containing lengthy reflections on the nature and purpose of literature and its role in moral formation, especially for women. The popularity of this work initiated the creation of many sentimental novels in the United States.
During his short life, Brown also wrote the romantic novel Harriot, or Domestic Reconciliation (1789), the play West Point Preserved (1797), a tragedy about the death of a Revolutionary spy, a series of verse fables, the West Indies-style comedy Penelope, and a second short novel about incest and seduction, Ira and Isabella.
Edward Browne was a British physician, president of the College of Physicians, traveler, historian and writer.
Edward was the eldest son of the famous British scientist Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), received a Bachelor of Medicine degree from Cambridge later and a Doctor of Medicine degree from Oxford, and became a member of the Royal Society. In addition to medicine, his subjects of study included botany, literature, and theology. He lived in London and traveled throughout Europe visiting museums, churches, and libraries (Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Germany). In 1673 he published an account of his travels in Eastern Europe, notable for its scrupulous accuracy.
Edward Browne also published two other works: a historical treatise and biographies of Themistocles and Sertorius. He was physician to King Charles II of England and left many manuscript notes on medicine. The chronicle of his journey through Thessaly is a unique and valuable source of information about the region in the second half of the 17th century. He was admitted to the College of Physicians in 1675 and served as its president from 1704 to 1708.
Patrick Browne was an Irish physician and historian, traveler, naturalist and botanist.
Patrick Browne studied medicine in Paris, graduated from the University of Reims, continued his studies in Leiden, and then worked as a doctor at St. Thomas' Hospital in London. Subsequently, he lived for many years in the Caribbean, in Antigua, Santa Cruz, Montserrat and Jamaica, where he practiced medicine. He devoted all his spare time to the study of the natural history of the island. In 1771, Brown returned to Mayo County.
In 1756, Brown published A Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, his most significant work in terms of Carl Linnaeus's botanical nomenclature, which included new names for 104 genera.
Robert Burns (Gaelic: Raibeart Burns or Rabbie Burns) was a Scottish poet, folklorist, and bard.
The hard farm life of his father significantly influenced Robert's outlook. Education of the novice poet received a sketchy, reread all English writers, knew Latin and French. In time, he became an opponent of the social order of his time and a satirist of all forms of religious and political thought that lead to inhumanity.
Burns' first book, entitled Poems, mostly in the Scottish dialect, was published in 1786. It was well received by the public, and the elated author traveled to Edinburgh, where he met James Johnson, a keen collector of Scottish songs. Together they produced a book, The Scottish Musical Museum. This and a similar book, George Thomson's Selected Collection of Original Scottish Songs for Voice (1793-1818), contain the bulk of Burns' songs.
Robert Burns was torn between his farming background and the much higher status of many of the intellectuals with whom he socialized and corresponded closely. Although he obtained a position in the excise office, this did little to satisfy the ambitions of the somewhat naive poet.
Having gained a reputation as a writer of poems and songs in Scottish and English, Burns went on to collect and adapt Scottish folk songs and created one of his major works, Tam of Shanter (1791), a narrative poem based on a folk legend. Even today Burns is honored as Scotland's national poet and is considered a pioneer of the Romantic movement in England.
Stephen Burroughs was an American adventurer and con man, impostor and counterfeiter who became a writer and preacher.
Stephen Burroughs as a child moved to Hanover, New Hampshire, and as a child earned and proudly carried the reputation of an incorrigible bully, everywhere and always looking for trouble. During the Revolutionary War at the age of 14, he ran away several times, then in the Continental Army, then left it. In the eyes of society Burroughs was a scoundrel: a fugitive, a deserter, pretended to be a ship's doctor, a pastor, escaped from several prisons, including the island fortress and even by burning the prison. The fame of his exploits often ran ahead of himself.
Stephen later moved to Canada and led a group of counterfeiters, and a few years later suddenly decided to reform himself and became a youth pastor.
By the age of 33, Burroughs had accomplished so many daring "feats" and adventures that he decided to write a story about himself in his own words. His full of adventures book "Memoirs of the Notorious Stephen Burroughs" was published in 1798 and then reprinted under different names many dozens of times. And Burroughs himself died in 1840 in Canada as a free and wealthy man.
Marin Carburi of Ceffalonie was a Greek military engineer from Kefalonia.
Carburi studied mathematics at the University of Bologna, but later had to flee and became an officer in Catherine the Great's Russian army. He became famous for being able to transport the infamous Grom Stone from the Gulf of Finland to St. Petersburg to serve as a pedestal for the equestrian statue of Peter the Great.
The history of this engineering feat is quite remarkable. The French architect Falcone, who was commissioned to create a monument to Peter the Great, decided that traditional pedestals for equestrian statues were too banal for this project, and decided that only a massive rock would do. After a long search for a suitable rock, a peasant informed the commission created for this purpose that he had found a huge rock measuring forty by twenty-seven by twenty-one feet in a swamp near the Gulf of Finland. After the majority of engineers recognized its movement impossible, Catherine II commissioned Carburi to do it, with which he brilliantly coped. In fact, the military engineer became the inventor of ball bearings, creating a giant sled based on them. He wrote a detailed treatise about it, published in Paris in 1777.
Back home in Kefalonia, Carburi took up farming, but in 1782 he was murdered by his workers.
Étienne Chauvin was a French Protestant theologian and philosopher.
Chauvin's philosophy and worldview were entirely Cartesian. After his expulsion from Nîmes, Étienne Chauvin withdrew to Rotterdam, where he preached for several years in the Walloon Church. He was succeeded as professor of Baille at Rotterdam. In 1695 the Elector of Brandenburg appointed him pastor and professor of philosophy, and afterward inspector of the French college at Berlin.
Etienne Chauvin's major work is Lexicon Rationale, sive Thesaurus Philosophicus (1692). He also wrote Theses on the Knowledge of God (1662) and published the New Journal of Scholars (1694-1698).
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, full name Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos, was a French politician, inventor, military leader, and writer.
De Laclos initially pursued a military career, but soon abandoned it, deciding that he would achieve greater fame by becoming a writer. He wrote poetry, erotic stories. His first novel "Dangerous Liaisons" (Les Liaisons dangereuses, 1782) immediately made a great impression and caused a mixed reaction in society. This is one of the masterpieces of novelistic literature of the XVIII century, which describes the love affairs of the aristocracy. On its motives, a large number of commentaries were later written, plays were staged and movies were filmed.
Later, Pierre Choderlot de Laclos worked for some time as secretary to the Duke of D'Orleans, writing several treatises on military and political topics. And in 1792 he again joined the army, where under Napoleon he rose to the rank of general, participated in the Rhine and Italian campaigns.
William Combe was a British writer and poet.
Combe authored a variety of prose and satirical verse, but is best known for the popular Dr. Syntax series of books published between 1812 and 1821, for which he wrote the text and artist Thomas Rowlandson did the drawings. The first book in the series, The Journey of Dr. Syntax: In Search of the Picturesque (1812), was published by the publisher Rudolf Ackerman, and he oversaw further collaboration between Combe and Rowlandson. William Combe's poems about Dr. Syntax with Rowlandson's illustrations were immensely popular in their day.
Caspar Commelin was a Dutch botanist and mycologist.
Caspar Commelin was trained as a medical doctor, practiced botanical science and worked on books that were left unfinished due to the death of his uncle, botanist Jan Commelin. Caspar was mainly interested in exotic plants.
François Couperin was a French composer, organist and harpsichordist.
François Couperin is a member of a large dynasty of French musicians. At the age of 18, François succeeded his father, Charles Couperin (1638-1679), as organist at the Church of Saint-Gervais in Paris, and in 1693 he became one of the four organists of the Chapel Royal. He soon became a harpsichord teacher for the royal children, and in 1717 was appointed court harpsichordist.
François Couperin is known primarily for his harpsichord music; between 1713 and 1730 he published four books of more than 250 pieces for harpsichord. Some of them are characterized by complex accompaniment and dialogues between violin and bass, while others are light, graceful and expressive. Couperin's harpsichord pieces, even during the author's lifetime, gained great fame not only in France but also abroad. Couperin also wrote chamber music, including trio sonatas (for harpsichord and two violins) and "Royal Concertos", which he composed for Sunday evening royal entertainment. He also composed motets and other church music. Couperin's last and most significant liturgical work, Leçons de ténèbres (c. 1715), has no parallel in either French or Italian music of the period. Johann Sebastian Bach knew and appreciated this work by Couperin.
Couperin authored The Art of Touching the Clavier (1716), in which he explained in detail the technique of playing the harpsichord. And in his publications of the early 1720s, he suggested a wide variety of ways of combining French and Italian styles.
Charles-Antoine Coypel was a multifaceted French Rococo artist, known for his contributions as a painter, designer, playwright, and art critic. Born into a family with a significant artistic legacy, Coypel rose to prominence in the French court, eventually serving as the court painter and the director of the Académie Royale. His work, which often blended dramatic narrative with intricate detail, played a pivotal role in the development of Rococo art in France, reflecting the opulent and expressive tendencies of the period.
Coypel's artistic output includes a range of subjects, from religious themes, as seen in his etching "The Virgin and Child," to theatrical history paintings that convey operatic passions and high drama. His ability to infuse his compositions with emotional depth and narrative complexity, alongside his mastery of the Rococo style's playful and ornamental characteristics, distinguishes his work within the era. Notably, Coypel was also involved in the design of tapestries for the Gobelins Manufactory, illustrating scenes from Miguel de Cervantes's "Don Quixote," which remained influential through the end of the 18th century.
His artworks, such as "The Virgin and Child," showcase not only his technical skill but also his sensitivity to composition and form, contributing to his reputation as one of the leading painters in the French court during the 18th century. Coypel's legacy is preserved in his paintings, etchings, and tapestry designs, which continue to be celebrated for their artistic and historical significance.
For collectors and experts in art and antiques, Charles-Antoine Coypel's work represents an essential connection to the Rococo period's rich cultural and aesthetic traditions. His contributions to French art history, particularly through his role at the Académie Royale and his influence on the development of Rococo style, make his work a valuable study for those interested in the dynamics of French art and culture during the 18th century.
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George Cumberland was an English art collector, writer and poet. He was a lifelong friend and supporter of William Blake, and like him was an experimental printmaker. He was also an amateur watercolourist, and one of the earliest members of the Bristol School of artists. He made use of his wide circle of connections to help its other members, in particular assisting and influencing Edward Bird and Francis Danby.
Charles d'Éon de Beaumont, known as Chevalier d'Éon and with many other names, was a French nobleman, diplomat, and secret agent who belonged to the Royal Secret diplomatic network. This amazing and versatile man was forced to live the second half of his life as a woman by virtue of his activities.
D'Eon participated in the Seven Years' War and spied for France while in Russia and England. In France and England he was known for his adventurous life and his many talents: he was an ambassador and secret agent in the service of Louis XV, a captain of dragoons during the Seven Years' War, a skilled swordsman, and a man of letters. After several missions to Russia, more often under the guise of a woman, he was sent to London in 1762 to assist the ambassador in the peace negotiations with England. For his contribution to the Treaty of Paris, signed the following year, he became a Knight of the Order of Saint Louis.
Needing money, and in order to receive a pension, he increasingly entered the role of a woman. In 1777 he received an order: "By order of the King: Charles-Geneviève-Louise-Auguste-Andrée-Timotheus d'Eon de Beaumont is ordered to remove the dragoon uniform she wears and to dress in accordance with her sex. Henceforth he always wore women's dress. Returning to London in 1785, d'Eon died there 25 years later. An autopsy conducted two days after his death found him to be male.
Johann Wilhelm Gerhard von Brahm, also known as John William Gerard de Brahm, was a German cartographer, military engineer, and surveyor who worked for Great Britain to develop the lands of the New World.
His father was court musician to the Elector of Trier and gave his son an excellent early education. After a successful career as a military engineer in the Bavarian army, de Brahm traveled to Georgia in 1751 at the head of a group of German emigrants. There he displayed his talents as a surveyor and engineer, worked as a cartographer, and was commissioned by South Carolina Governor James Glen to design and build a system of fortifications for Charleston.
In 1755 de Brahm was appointed inspector general of lands for South Carolina and soon for the entire New World. He settled in St. Augustine, where he spent the next six years researching and preparing maps. His major works, "Map of South Carolina" and "Map of South Carolina and Part of Georgia," provide detailed topography and even describe underwater features. And his "Report of a General Survey of the Southern District of North America" records every detail from tide times to tips on tilling the soil. De Brahm's book The Atlantic Pilot, an instruction manual for sailing in Florida, was published in London and included the first published map of the Gulf Stream.
Romeyn de Hooghe was a Dutch painter, sculptor, engraver and caricaturist of the late Baroque period, writer and philosopher.
Hooghe became famous for his political caricatures of King Louis XIV of France and propaganda pamphlets in support of William of Orange. He portrayed the war against the French monarch and his allies as a struggle between freedom and religious despotism.
Romeyn de Hooghe was a superb engraver and created over 3,500 engravings during his lifetime. His most important work is Hieroglyphica of Merkbeelden der oude volkeren (Hieroglyphics or Symbols of the Ancient Peoples), where he appeared not only as a consummate master of engraving, but also as a historian, talented writer and philosopher. This book has long been regarded in Europe as one of the most authoritative sources on classical mythology. It contains 64 engravings illustrating all stages of the narrative of myths, ancient cults and beliefs, and the interpretation of scripture, a guide to medieval Europe.
Romeyn de Hooghe also illustrated books and painted large panels. During his lifetime he was widely recognized as a painter and sculptor not only in his own country but also in other European countries.
François Robichon de la Guérinière was the French founder of classical dressage and a teacher.
La Guérinière was a pupil of Antoine de Vandale. In 1715, he received the title of royal knight and opened a riding school in Paris. At his school, de la Guérinière taught not only riding, but also "the complete science of the horse." De la Guérinière wrote two books, L'École de Cavalerie (1731) and Eléments de Cavalerie (1740), which are still considered the "Equestrian Bible," in which he devotes many pages to the care of the horse. Illustrations include plans and diagrams, anatomical and medical images, portraits of the author's most distinguished pupils, and a skeleton of a horse.
La Guérinière had a major influence on horse training tactics, riding and dressage practice. He is considered the founder of modern riding, his style is a clear reflection of the clarity, elegance and rigor of his teachings. In 1730, de la Guérinière was appointed director of the Tuileries Academy and held this position for the rest of his life.
François Joseph de Pons, full name François Raymond Joseph de Pons, was a French traveler, writer, and diplomat.
De Pons, during his stay in Venezuela in the early 19th century, served as a political and diplomatic correspondent in Caracas, gathering information for the French government. This prompted him to write a book entitled: "A voyage through the eastern part of Terre Ferme, North America, made in 1801, 1802, 1803 and 1804; containing a description of the general chapter of Caracas and the provinces of Venezuela, Maracaibo, Varinas, Española Guiana, Cumana and Margarita Island", which also included a geographical map and plans of the capital Caracas and the main ports.
Contemporaries praised the work as "an important account of Venezuela, containing a description of the country and people, as well as a description of the growth and production of cacao, indigo, sugar, cotton, coffee, and tobacco." The first edition was published in Paris in 1806. This work was so popular and significant that in the same year it was translated by the writer Washington Irving and published in New York and London.
Joseph Dennie was an American writer, journalist, and major literary figure of the early 19th century.
Dennie graduated from Harvard College, became a lawyer, but became active in writing. In 1801, he founded a periodical called The Port Folio, which became the most prominent literary weekly of its time in America. It was also the first important political and literary journal in the United States.
As founder of the Tuesday Club, Dennie was the center of Philadelphia's aristocratic literary circle in the early 19th century and for a time was the leading literary critic in the country. He ridiculed the simplistic and crude nature of Native Americans and opposed democratic innovations. He also encouraged talented young writers.
Denis Dodart was a French botanist, naturalist and physician.
Dodart studied at the University of Paris, received a doctorate in medicine and was already in his youth known for his erudition, eloquence and open-mindedness. In 1673 he was elected to the French Academy of Sciences.
He is known for his early studies of plant respiration and growth. Dodart collaborated with the French engraver Nicolas Robert to illustrate his botanical works.
Edward Donovan was a British-Irish amateur zoologist, illustrator and writer.
He was an avid collector and founded the Natural History Museum and Institute in London, which housed his extensive collection of natural history objects. Donovan was the author of a large number of works on natural history, and wrote several volumes on British birds, fish, and insects, botanical surveys, and on the entomology of China and India. All of these publications were supplied with good quality and detailed illustrations.
Francis Douce was a British antiquarian and curator of the British Museum, historian and writer.
Francis Douce studied law, but he loved books much more. He became a prominent member of the Society of Antiquaries and served as Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum from 1799 to 1811, but was forced to resign because of a quarrel with one of the trustees.
Francis Douce was an avid book collector and bibliophile. After leaving his post at the museum, he concentrated on adding to his collection of antiquarian books and manuscripts. And he also wrote scholarly works, most notably Illustrations of Shakespeare and Ancient Manners (1807) and A Dissertation on the Various Variants of the Dance of Death (1833). When Douce died in 1834, he left his extensive and valuable book collection of over 19,000 printed works to the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
Dru Drury was a British entomologist and collector.
Dru Drury was an avid collector and his entomological collection totals 11,000 specimens. Drury corresponded extensively with entomologists from all over the world, from India to Jamaica to America, and bought any insects for 60 cents from officers of merchant ships arriving from afar. He even supplied travelers with a pamphlet of collecting instructions. It was through this work that Drury amassed most of his collection. From 1770 to 1787 he published three volumes on entomology, Illustrations of Natural History, with over 240 drawings of exotic insects.
Drury was president of the Society of Entomologists of London from 1780 to 1782, and a member of the Linnaean Society.
William Dunlap was an American playwright, theater director, artist, and historian.
William Dunlap was a pioneer of the young country's theater. He directed two of New York City's earliest and most famous theaters, the John Street Theater and the Theater in the Park. During his lifetime he directed over sixty plays, most of which were adaptations or translations of French and German works. But among them were some original ones based on American themes with American characters.
In 1832 Dunlap published A History of the American Theater in two volumes. In 1825, Dunlap co-founded the National Academy of Design and taught at its school. Even today, Dunlap is best known for his encyclopedic three-volume History of the Origin and Progress of the Art of Design in the United States. The book was published in 1834 and is now an invaluable source of information about artists, collecting, and artistic endeavors in the country of that historical period.
Timothy Dwight IV was an American clergyman, teacher, author, and satirical poet.
Dwight was the eldest son of farmer and merchant Timothy Dwight III. He graduated from Yale University, was a schoolmaster, a Massachusetts state legislator, and a chaplain in the Continental Army. In 1783 he opened a successful school in Greenfield Hill, Connecticut, where he became pastor of the Congregational Church.
In Connecticut, Dwight began writing poetry, such as Greenfield Hill (1794), and epics, including The Conquest of Canaan (1785), an allegory of the conquest of Connecticut from the British. His works are characterized by moralizing and moralizing. Dwight was also the author of political satire, as well as a verse satire on Voltaire, "The Triumph of Infidelity." He and his brother Theodore were members of a group of writers known as the Hartford Witters, centered around Yale University.
From 1795 to 1817. Dwight served as president of Yale University and was extremely influential in modernizing the curriculum. He was an active and eloquent professor of theology; his sermons were published in Theology; Explanation and Defense, 5 volumes (1818-19).
Dwight was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an early member of the American Antiquarian Society.
Franz Ertinger (German: Franz Ertinger) was a French painter born in Germany but working in France and Flanders, a member of the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp.
Ertinger is a versatile artist who has applied his talents in various fields of art. He is known as a painter, illustrator and printer of books, draughtsman, designer and writer, and worked as a royal engraver in Paris.
Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson or Betsy Graeme was an American colonial writer and poet.
Elizabeth Graeme was born and raised in a wealthy and influential Philadelphia family. In 1764-65, she traveled to London, where she met several leading literary and scientific figures. She soon established something of a literary salon at her native Graeme Park Manor.
Elizabeth Fergusson left few literary works other than a translation of The Adventures of Telemac from the French and a long poem on female suffering, The Abandoned Wife. She is remembered more for her letters and actions during the American War of Independence (1775-83), in which her family suffered considerably. Her husband Henry H. Fergusson was arrested and outlawed, and Graeme Park was confiscated at the end of the war.
Henry Fielding was an 18th-century British judge, writer and playwright, and the founder of the English realist novel.
Fielding attended Eton College, where he studied classical writers, and wrote his first play in 1728. In all, he wrote about 25 rather witty and topical plays for the theater. But this activity led to the fact that in 1737, the Act of Theater Censorship was passed, and satire on political topics became virtually forbidden. To find a source of income, Fielding went to study law at Middle Temple and became a lawyer.
In 1741, Fielding wrote his first parody of Samuel Richardson's Pamela: or Rewarded Virtue, he called it "An Apologia of the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews." Others followed, and in essence Fielding started a new genre in fiction. And in 1742, he wrote the novel "Joseph Andrews."
In the late 1740s, Fielding was appointed Justice of the Peace of Westminster and then Justice of the Peace of Middlesex. But he did not abandon his creativity and in 1749 he wrote the famous comic "The Story of Tom Jones, the Foundling," a work that is considered one of the greatest early English-language novels. The novel was so warmly received by its first readers that four editions totaling 10,000 copies were published in less than a year.
Hannah Webster Foster, born Hannah Webster, was an American writer.
Hannah received a good academic education for women and began writing political articles for Boston newspapers in the 1770s. In 1797, a sentimental novel she wrote, The Coquette, or the Story of Eliza Wharton, was published anonymously. The novel was based on a true story involving seduction, elopement, and a tragic death, and was a great success. The book was reprinted dozens of times, but it wasn't until the 1866 edition, many years after Foster's death, that the author's real name was placed on the title page for the first time.
Hannah Foster's second book, The Boarding School, or Lessons of a Female Educator to her Female Educators (1798), was devoted to the subject of education.
Joseph Fourier, full name Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier, was a French mathematician and physicist and historical Egyptologist.
Fourier famously accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte on his Egyptian expedition in 1798 as a scientific advisor and was appointed secretary of the Institute of Egypt. During the occupation of Egypt, Fourier worked in the French administration, supervised archaeological excavations, and worked to shape the educational system.
But the main thing in Fourier's life was science. Back in France, he studied the mathematical theory of heat conduction, established the partial differential equation governing heat diffusion, and solved it using an infinite series of trigonometric functions. Fourier showed that heat diffusion obeyed simple observable physical constants that could be expressed mathematically. His work The Analytic Theory of Heat (1822) had a great influence on the development of physics and pure mathematics.
Joseph Fourier was a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences, the French Academy, a foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Royal Society of London.
Philip Morin Freneau was an American publicist, editor, and known as the "poet of the American Revolution".
After graduating from Princeton University, Freneau taught school and studied to become a minister. With the outbreak of the American Revolution, he began writing scathing satire on the British and the Tories. During a two-year voyage to the Caribbean islands, he created the poems "The Beauties of Santa Cruz" and "The House of Night," and in 1778 he became involved in the war. After his release from British captivity, Freneau wrote a book in verse, "The British Prison Ship" (1781).
After serving as a sea captain for several years, Freneau took up journalism. In his National Gazette newspaper in Philadelphia, he sharply criticized George Washington.
Freneau's poetry, which accompanied him throughout his life, covers a variety of subjects, including political situations, American Indians, nature, the sea, and naval battles. His political poems are often satirical, but his nature poems are very lyrical.
Johann Gottfried Gruber was a German critic and literary historian.
A graduate of the University of Leipzig, Gruber was later appointed professor at the University of Wittenberg, and in 1815 he became professor of philosophy at Halle. Gruber is the author of numerous historical and philosophical works.
José Delgado Guerra was a legendary Spanish matador.
José Delgado Guerra, known as Pepe Hill, was one of the most prominent bullfighters in Spain, immortalized by Francesco Goya in a series of bullfighting scenes published as La Tauromaquia (1801). Guerra introduced new and improved rules for bullfighting. In 1796 he published his Treatise on Bullfighting, essential to understanding the evolution of the fiesta from that time to the present day.
A second edition was published posthumously, after May 11, 1801. Delgado Guerra was killed in the ring by a bull. This edition has been greatly expanded and 30 illustrations have been added by the artist Ascenio Julia (c. 1760-1832), a pupil of Francesco Goya. These illustrations provide factual information on the various roles and equipment needed for the revived "national fiesta."
Alexander Hamilton was an American politician and statesman, the founder of the American financial system.
A native of Great Britain, Hamilton arrived in continental America in late 1772 and enrolled at King's College in New York. He became captain of an artillery company in 1776 and fought in the battles of Kips Bay, White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton during the American War of Independence. For four years he served on George Washington's staff as adjutant with the rank of lieutenant colonel. And in 1782, Hamilton was chosen by New York as a delegate to the Confederate Congress.
Alexander Hamilton was also one of New York's delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. He was a passionate advocate of the Constitution and, along with future President James Madison and John Jay, contributed to the famous book The Federalist (1788), writing most of the essays for it. After George Washington was elected the nation's first president in 1789, he appointed Hamilton Secretary of the Treasury. As the first Secretary of the Treasury (1789-1795), Hamilton developed plans to finance the national debt, secure federal credit, encourage the expansion of manufacturing, and organize a federal bank. In 1801, Hamilton founded the New York Evening Post newspaper.
On July 11, 1804, Hamilton was mortally wounded in a duel with his personal and political rival, Vice President Aaron Burr. Today, Alexander Hamilton is revered as one of the founding fathers of the United States, he is known for his role in creating America's financial system, and his portrait is on the ten dollar bill.
John Hawkesworth was a British writer, playwright and book editor.
In collaboration with Samuel Johnson, Hawkesworth founded the periodical The Adventurer. He wrote poems and articles for this publication and for the Gentleman's Magazine, and edited the works of Swift (1754-1755). Hawksworth adapted several literary works for the theater and also composed various original dramatic works himself.
John Hawksworth was commissioned by the British Admiralty to compile An Account of Voyages made in the Southern Hemisphere (1773), devoted mainly to the exploratory voyages of Captain James Cook.
George Heriot was a Scottish and Canadian civil servant, writer and artist.
As a young man, Heriot traveled to the West Indies, wrote and sketched extensively during his stay in the Caribbean, and, returning to London in 1781, published a "Descriptive Poem". He then studied art at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and taught painting.
In 1792 he was sent to Quebec as clerk in the artillery department. From 1800 to 1816. Heriot served as deputy postmaster general of British North America, and upon retirement returned to Britain. During his time in Canada, in addition to his main job, George Heriot traveled extensively, as well as painting and writing. He published two books based on his experiences in the country: A History of Canada since its First Discovery (1804) and A Journey through Canada (1807), with his own illustrations.
John Hill was a British botanist, pharmacologist and physician, geologist, writer and journalist.
Hill edited the monthly British Magazine for several years, and also wrote a daily society gossip column in The London Advertiser and Literary Gazette. His satirical, often on the edge of propriety articles were often the cause of scandals. Hill also wrote novels, plays, and scientific works on geology, medicine, philosophy, and botany.
In 1759, the first of the 26 volumes of his Plant System was published. This voluminous work contained descriptions of 26,000 different plants and 1,600 illustrations. For this long work, Hill received the Order of Vasa from the Swedish king and began calling himself Sir.
Enos Hitchcock was an American clergyman, author, educator, and education advocate.
He graduated from Harvard College and soon began preaching. When hostilities between the colonies and Great Britain broke out in 1775, Hitchcock joined the army, serving as a chaplain in the Continental Army from 1779-1780. After the war ended, Rev. Hitchcock preached in various localities until he settled in Providence, NC, in 1783 as pastor of the First Congregational Church, becoming an active member of its benevolent society.
In 1788 Hitchcock received his doctorate from Brown University and maintained close ties with it thereafter. With the president of that university, James Manning (1738-1791), and other prominent citizens of Providence, he was active in educational matters, and by the time of his death had succeeded in establishing a public school system in Providence. In addition to these activities, Rev. Hitchcock was a member of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.
Enos Hitchcock also wrote several epistolary works in which, among other things, he objected to the use of suicide as a plot point. His bullied rural heroes and heroines are ultimately rewarded for their virtue and courage.
Francis Hopkinson was an American politician, member of the Continental Congress, lawyer, writer and composer.
Hopkinson was educated at Philadelphia College and studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1774 Hopkinson was appointed a member of the governor's council, and in 1776 he represented New Jersey in the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. He was a judge of the Pennsylvania admiralty court from 1779 to 1789 and then served as U.S. District Judge for eastern Pennsylvania until his death.
Hopkinson is credited as one of the designers of the Flag of the United States as well as continental paper bills. As an artist, he designed the seal of the American Philosophical Society, the seal of the State of New Jersey, and the seals of various departments of the U.S. government.
In addition to politics, Hopkinson dabbled in the arts: he played the harpsichord and composed music, and wrote poetry and essays. During the Revolution, he mocked the British and their Loyalist supporters in witty political satires. After the Revolution, he maintained an active correspondence with Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.
Martinus Houttuyn (Dutch: Maarten Houttuyn) was a Dutch botanist, zoologist and physician.
In addition to his medical practice, Houttuyn practiced science and published many scientific works on natural history, including minerals, fossils, botany and zoology. He was also a keen student of ferns, mosses and seed plants.
David Hume, birth name David Home, was an 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, historian, economist, librarian, and essayist.
He is best known for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. Hume saw philosophy as an inductive, experimental science of human nature. Taking as his model the scientific method of the English physicist Isaac Newton and drawing on the epistemology of the English philosopher John Locke, Hume tried to describe how reason works in obtaining what is called knowledge. He concluded that no theory of reality is possible; there can be no knowledge of anything beyond experience. Despite the enduring influence of his theory of knowledge, Hume seems to have considered himself primarily a moralist.
Hume was one of the particularly significant figures of his century--as a writer, historian, economist, and philosopher he made great strides forward and his achievements are still highly valued in human culture today.
David Humphreys was an American soldier, statesman, diplomat, writer, poet, and biographer.
He received his bachelor's degree from Yale University, where he became a member of the Hartford Witters and taught, and went to serve in the Continental Army in the summer of 1776.
A close friend and aide to George Washington, Humphreys was an eyewitness and active participant in the early years of the United States. During his long career, Col. David Humphreys served as a soldier, secretary, diplomat, and was a writer, poet, orator, biographer, and industrialist. His speeches, poems, literary works, and correspondence with Washington and others of the founding generation serve as a valuable source for historians of the early republic in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Because of his intelligence and diligence, David Humphreys had a long record of service and held many public offices, among others serving as U.S. minister to Spain from 1797 to 1801. He was a member of the Royal Society of London and the American Antiquarian Society.
Washington Irving was an American Romantic writer, historian, and diplomat.
Irving has been called "the first American writer" to be recognized in Europe. In 1815, he traveled to England on family business. A huge success in England and the United States was The Sketch Book, published in several installments during 1819-1820, which contained two of the author's most famous works, Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and which made him a literary star in both England and the United States.
He continued his literary endeavors and worked at the U.S. Embassy of Great Britain. Returning to the United States in 1832, Irving visited some little-known territories near the western fringes of the country, and this journey inspired his works Journey on the Prairie (1835), Astoria (1836), and The Adventures of Captain Bonneville (1837). Late in life he published several historical and biographical works, including the five-volume Life of George Washington (1855-1859).
William Irving was the older brother of the famous writer Washington Irving and a U.S. Congressman.
William Irving was engaged in fur trading and other businesses, and wrote several essays and poems for the satirical magazine Salmagundi, which was published by Washington Irving as a periodical and later published as a book.
In 1813. William Irving was elected by Democratic-Republicans to represent New York's 2nd Congress in the U.S. House of Representatives.