Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/458

 VIGNOLI

VINCENT

a number of works in Latin. His com plete works appeared in seven volumes in 1858-69. He was a sincere Theist (or Deist), but so merely nominal a Christian that his fellow-professors tried to save his remains from Catholic burial, and the Catholic Encyclopedia does not venture to claim him. D. Jan. 21, 1744.

YIGNOLI, Tito, Italian psychologist. B. Feb. 2, 1827. Ed. Pisa University. Vignoli was left an orphan at an early age, and he had a remarkable struggle for education. He became a clerk at the age of fourteen, and for years he had to sup port himself, help his family, and pay for his education. De Gubernatis adds that he also found time to conspire zealously against the Papacy. He graduated in law, but was for some years inspector of the municipal schools of Milan. Later he was Director of the Museum of Natural History and professor of anthropology and com parative psychology at Milan Academy. His Eationalist views are found in his Saggio di una dottrina razionale sul progreso (1863), Mito e Scienza (1879), and L era nuova del pensiero (1885).

YIGNY, Alfred de, French poet and dramatist. B. Mar. 27, 1797. Ed. Paris. He joined the army in his seventeenth year, and was twelve years in the service. In 1822 his Poemes attracted much atten tion ; and his literary reputation was raised still higher by a novel (Cinq Mars) and his Poemes antiqites et modernes (1826). Although he wrote further dramas and novels and literary works, his fame rests chiefly on his early poems. He was admitted to the Academy in 1845. In his earlier years he was a sentimental Christian of the Eomanticist School. He remained in it on the artistic side, but his Chris tianity gave place to a pessimistic philo sophy. His final attitude was that of Agnosticism, as he finely expresses in almost his last poem, Silence (1862) :

Muet, aveugle et sourd au cri des creatures, 843

Si le ciel nous laissa, comme un monde avorte, Le juste opposera le dedain a 1 absence.

D. Sep. 17, 1863.

YILLARI, Professor Pasquale, Italian historian and statesman. B. Oct. 3, 1827. Ed. Naples University. Villari took part in the anti-Papal rebellion of 1848, and he was compelled to fly to Florence at its failure. He supported himself by teaching, and gathered material for his famous life of \ e de suoi tempi, 2 vols., 1859-61). After j the liberation of Italy, Villari was appointed professor of history at Pisa University, and later at the Istituto di Studii Superior! at Florence. In 1862 he became a member of the Higher Council of Education. He was returned to the Camera in 1867, and two years later was chosen Under-Secretary of State for Education. In 1884 he was raised to the Senate, and in 1891-92 he was Minister of Education. His second most important work was Niccolo Macchia- velli e i suoi tempi (2 vols., 1877-82) ; but his works (many of which were translated into English by his wife) were very numerous and distinguished. His Ration alism is most plainly and emphatically expressed in his introduction to Senator Negri s Julian the Apostate. D. Dec. 5, 1917.
 * Savonarola (Storia di Girolamo Savonarola

YINCENT, Henry.reformer. B. May 10, 1813. Vincent was the son of a London goldsmith who fell upon evil days, and he had to begin to earn his living at the age of eleven. He was apprenticed to a printer. He was active in the early reform move ment, and, removing from Hull (where he was brought up) to London, he threw himself into the Chartist agitation. He was, says Sir W. Molesworth, &quot; the Demos thenes &quot; of the movement. In 1839 he was condemned, though plainly innocent, to a year in prison in connection with the Newport riots, and he was so vilely treated that Lord Brougham protested in the House. A body of 20,000 armed miners tried to release him. Vincent, who 844