Lindkvist (Alfred), Swedish writer, b. Gefle, 21 Oct. 1860, of pious parents. At the University of Upsala he studied European literature, and became acquainted with the works of Mill, Darwin, and Spencer. He has published two volumes of poems, Snow Drops and April Days, and lost a stipend at the University by translating from the Danish a rationalistic life of Jesus entitled The Reformer from Galilee. Mr. Lindkvist has visited Paris, and collaborated on a Stockholm daily paper. In ’88 he joined his friend Lennstrand in propagating Freethought, and in Nov. received a month’s imprisonment for having translated one of J. Symes’s anti-Christian pamphlets. He now edits Fritankaren in conjunction with Mr. Lennstrand.
Lindner (Ernst Otto Timotheus), German physician, b. Breslau, 28 Nov. 1820. A friend of Schopenhauer, whose philosophy he maintained in several works on music. He edited the Vossische Zeitung from ’63. Died at Berlin, 7 Aug. 1867.
Liniere (François Payot de), French satiric poet, b. Paris, 1628; known as the Atheist of Senlis. Boileau says the only act of piety he ever did was drinking holy water because his mistress dipped her finger in it. Wrote many songs and smart epigrams, and is said to have undertaken a criticism of the New Testament. Died at Paris in 1704.
Linton (Eliza, née Lynn) novelist and journalist, daughter of vicar of Crosthwaite, Cumberland, b. Keswick, 1822. Has contributed largely to the leading Radical journals, and has written numerous works of fiction, of which we must mention Under which Lord? and The Rebel of the Family. In ’72 she published The True History of Joshua Davidson, Christian and Communist, and in ’85 the Autobiography of Christopher Kirkland. She has also written on the woman question, and contributed largely to periodical literature.
Linton (William James), poet, engraver, and author, b. at London, 1812. A Chartist in early life, he was intimately associated with the chief political refugees. He contributed to the democratic press, and also, we believe, to the Oracle of Reason. He wrote the Reasoner tract on “The Worth of Christianity.” He was one of the founders of the Leader, has edited the Truthseeker, the National and the English Republic, and has published Famine a Masque, a Life of Paine, and a memoir of James Watson and some volumes of poems. In ’67 he went to America, but has recently returned.
Liscow (Christian Ludwig), one of the greatest German satirists, b. Wittenberg, 29 April, 1701. He studied law in Jena, and became acquainted with Hagedorn in Hamburg. In 1745 he was Councillor of War at Dresden. This post he abandoned, occupying himself with literature until his death, 30 Oct. 1760. Liscow’s principal satires are The Uselessness of Good Works for our Salvation and The Excellence and Utility of Bad Writers. He has been called the German Swift, and his works show him to have been an outspoken Freethinker.
Lisle (Lionel), author of The Two Tests: the Supernatural Claims of Christianity Tried by Two of its own Rules (London, 1877).
Liszinski (Casimir), Polish martyr of noble birth. Denounced as an Atheist in 1688 by the Bishop of Wilna and Posnovia, he was decapitated and burnt at Grodno 30 March, 1689. His ashes were placed in a cannon and scattered abroad. Among the statements in Liszinski’s papers was that man was the creator of God, whom he had formed out of nothing.
Littre (Maximilian Paul Emile), French philologist and philosopher, b. Paris, 1 Feb. 1801. He studied medicine, literature and most of the sciences. An advanced Republican, he was one of the editors of the National. His edition of the works of Hippocrates (1839–61) proved the thoroughness of his learning. He embraced the doctrines of Comte, and in ’45 published a lucid analysis of the Positive Philosophy. He translated the Life of Jesus, by Strauss, and wrote the Literary History of France. His Dictionary of the French Language, in which he applied the historical method to philology, is one of the most colossal works ever performed by one man. He wrote on Comte and Positive Philosophy, Comte and Mill, etc., but refused to follow Comte in his later vagaries. From ’67 till his death he conducted La Philosophie Positive. Littré also wrote Science from the Standpoint of Philosophy, ’73; Literature and History, ’75; Fragments of Positive Philosophy and Contemporary Sociology, ’76. He was proposed for the Academy in ’63, but was bitterly opposed by Bishop Dupanloup, and was elected in ’71. In the same year he was elected to the National Assembly, and in ’75 was chosen senator. Under the Empire he twice refused the Legion of Honor. After a long life of incessant labor, he died at Paris, 2 June 1881.
Lloyd (John William), American poet and writer, b. of Welsh-English stock at Westfield, New Jersey, 4 June, 1857. Is mostly self-educated. After serving apprenticeship as a carpenter, became assistant to Dr. Trall. Brought up as an orthodox Christian he became an Agnostic and Anarchist, and has written much in Liberty and Lucifer.