Peter Annet
Peter Annet (1693 – 18 January 1769) was an English deist and early freethinker.
Early life and work
Annet is said to have been born in
A work attributed to him, called A History of the Man after God's own Heart (1761), intended to show that King George II was insulted by a current comparison with King David. The book is said to have inspired Voltaire's Saul. It is also attributed to one John Noorthouck (Noorthook).[1]
In 1763, he was condemned for blasphemous
Pillory and death
At age 68, Annet was sentenced to the pillory and a year's hard labour. He died on 18 January 1769.[2]
Position
When the Christian
Annet stands between the earlier philosophic deists and the later propagandists of Thomas Paine's school, and seems to have been the first freethought lecturer (J. M. Robertson); his essays, A Collection of the Tracts of a certain Free Enquirer, are forcible but lack refinement. He invented a system of shorthand (2nd ed., with a copy of verses by Joseph Priestley).[1][2]
Notes
- ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911.
- ^ a b Stephen 1885.
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Annet, Peter". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 73.
- Stephen, Leslie (1885). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 02. pp. 9–10.
External links
- Works by Peter Annet at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Peter Annet at Internet Archive
- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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