BOULAINVILLIERS, Henri de, Lord of St Saire, an eminent French writer, descended from a very ancient and noble family, was born at St Saire in Normandy in 1658. He received his education at the college of Juilli, where he early discovered the uncommon abilities for which he was afterwards distinguished. His historical writings are numerous and important, but deformed by an extravagant admiration of the feudal system, which he regarded as the chef d’oeuvre of the human mind. He misses no opportunity of regretting those “good old times,” when the people were enslaved by a few petty tyrants alike ignorant and barbarous. His philosophical writings have now lost all their value. His pretended refutation of the system of Spinoza is a weak and imperfect exposition of that writer’s opinions. He died at Paris in 1722.

His principal works (all published after his death) are— Histoire de l’ancien gouvemment de la France, &c., La Haye, 1727, 3 tom. 8vo; Etat de la France, avec des mémoires sur l’ancien gouvemment, &c., Lond., 1727, 3 tom. fol.; Histoire de la Pairie de France, &c., Lond., 1753; La Vie de Mahomet (a “Fable of Mahomet,” as Mosheim calls it); Histoire des Arabes, Amst. (Paris), 1731, 2 vols. 12mo.