Jean, a French engraver, born at Amiens in 1607. If not the inventor, he had at least the merit of improving the art of stippling. His works are after Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Mignard, &c. Sometimes the naked parts of his figures are not correctly drawn nor in good taste. His best prints, however, are deservedly held in considerable esteem.

Nicolas-Antoine, a man whose name and writings have been much cited by the literary infidels of France, was the son of a tradesman at Paris, where he was born in 1722. He studied in the college of Beauvais, but his progress while there was unusually slow. Having, however, a talent for mathematics, he soon acquired so much knowledge of that science, that he was appointed to accompany the Baron de Thiers to the army in the capacity of engineer. He thus became concerned in various works which brought under his observation a number of geological facts which, he thought, evinced the great antiquity of the earth, and a long series of revolutions which it must have undergone. Proceeding to speculate upon the moral influence of these disastrous phenomena, he found it necessary to apply to the study of ancient literature, and he acquired some knowledge of Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldaic, and Arabic; but his studies were interrupted by his death at the early age of thirty-seven. He was the author of L'Antiquité De- voilée par ses Usages, a posthumous work, published by the Baron d'Holbach in 1760, and which excited considerable attention about the end of that century. This work, though not devoid of eloquence, and displaying a powerful imagination, exhibits at the same time deficiencies of judgment and critical acuteness. He furnished to the Encyclopédie the articles Déluge, Corée, Guerres, Langue Hébraïque, and Économie Politique. His collected works were published at Paris in 1792, 8 vols. 8vo, and at Amsterdam in 1794, 6 vols. 8vo. He is said to have possessed a mild and engaging disposition; but it is difficult to reconcile this statement with the dark and impetuous spirit which animated him as a writer. Latterly he was connected with a class of men, illustrious indeed in point of talent, but who were the professed enemies of religion, and were heated with the delusive idea of effecting its destruction. Boullanger contributed his share to this unworthy enterprise, by arguments which he drew from his studies, and the hypotheses he had conceived. It ought to be observed, however, that several of the irreligious writings which have been ascribed to him are spurious.