, comte de St. Saire, where he was born October 21, 1658, of a noble
, comte de St. Saire,
where he was born October 21, 1658, of a noble and ancient family, was educated at Juilli, by the rithers of the
oratory, and gave proofs of genius and abilities from his
childhood. His chief study was history, which he afterwards cultivated assiduously. He died January 23, 1722,
at Paris, having been twice married, and left only daughters. He was author of a History of the Arabians, and
Mahomet, 12mo, “Memoires sur l'ancien Governement de
France; ou 14 lettres sur les anciens Parlemens de
France,
” 3 vols. 12mo; “Histoire de France jusqu'a
Charles VIII.
” 3 vols. 12mo; and “l'Etatde la Fiance,
”
6 vols. 12mo, in the Dutch edition, and eight in the edition of Trevoux, “Memoire presente a M. le due d‘Orleans, sur l’Administration des Finances,
” 2 vols. 12mo
“Histoire de la Pairie de France,
” 12mo “Dissertations
sur la Noblesse de France,
” 12mo. Ah his writings on
the French history have been collected in 3 vols. fol. They
Sire riot written (says M. de Montesquieu) with all the free-.
dom and simplicity of the ancient nobility, from which he
descended. M. Boulainvilliers left some other works in
ms. known to the learned, who have, with great reason,
been astonished to find, that he expresses in them his
doubts of the most incontestable dogmas of religion, while
he blindly gives credit to the reveries of juticial astrology
an inconsistency common to many other infjdels. Mosheim
informs us that Boulainvilliers was such an admirer of the
pernicious opinions of Spinosa, that he formed the design
of expounding and illustrating it, as is done wth respect to
the doctrines of the gospel in books of piety, accommodated to ordinary capacities. This design he attually executed, but in such a manner as to set the atheim and impiety of Spinosa in a clearer light than they hid ever appeared before. The work was published by lenglet du
Fresnoy, who, that it might be bought with avdity, and
read without suspicion, called it a Refutation of theErrors of
Spinosa, artfully adding some separate pieces, to which this
title may, in some measure, he thought applicabk. The
whole title runs, “Refutation des Erreurs de Beioit de
Spinosa, par M. de Fenelon, archeveque de Cambay, par
le Pere Lauri Benedictin, et par M. Le Comte de Bulainvilliers, avec la Vie de Spinosa, ecrite par Jean COerus,
minister de l‘Eglise Lutherienne de la Haye, augnsntée
de beaucoup de particularites tirees d’une vie manucrite
de ce philosophe, fait par un de ses amis,
” (Luczs, the atheistical physician), Brussels,