Blount, Charles

Blount, Charles a noted English Deist, born in Upper Holloway in 1654. In 1679 he published his Anima mundi, containing a historical account of the opinions of the ancients concerning the condition of the soul after death. This pamphlet created a violent stir, and was condemned by Compton, bishop of London. In 1680 he published his most celebrated work, viz., the first two books of Philostratus, containing the life of Apollonius of Tyana, with philological notes. This work, said to have been taken from the papers of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, was suppressed as soon as it appeared, but it was translated into French and published in that country. In 1683 his Religio Laici appeared anonymously. Blount was a vulgar man, of limited learning, and a great plagiarist. He shot himself in 1693, in despair at the refusal of his first wife's sister to marry him. His Miscellaneous Works, with a biography, appeared in 1695 (Lond. 12mo).-- Macaulay, Hist. Eng. 4:281; Mosheim, Ch. Hist. 3:267; Leland, Deistical Writers, ch. iv; Landon, ii, 295.