The real name of Thémiseul de Saint-Hyacinthe, the French freethinker, was Hyacinthe Cordonnier. Born at Orléans, he was unjustly reported to be the son of Jacques Bénigne Bossuet. His ambitious mother induced him to change his name and to become a cavalry officer. Later he devoted himself to the study of ancient and modern languages in Holland, from which he had to flee because of a jealous husband and to which he later returned because he had seduced one of his pupils. He became an editor of the new Journal littéraire (1713) and wrote in favor of the moderns. In 1714 his anonymous Le chef-d'oeuvre d'un inconnu, a satire of pedantry, won him notoriety. He eloped to London in 1722 with the daughter of a nobleman. He stayed there for twelve years, became a member...