Antoinette, a noted Flemish fanatic, born at Lisle in 1616. Setting up as a reformer, she maintained that reason and common sense ought to give place to the illumination of divine faith. Of her pretended visions and revelations many absurdities have been published. Her manners and appearance were repulsive, her temper was morose and peevish, her cupidity excessive, and her character as a woman questionable. Dressed like a hermit, she travelled through France, Holland, England, and Scotland, and made some thousand converts, known by the name of Bourignonists. Her works were published in 1686 at Amsterdam, in 21 vols. 8vo. One of these, entitled The Light of the World, was published in English in 1696; and her tenets were for a while popular in Scotland. Their aim was to guide her followers to an imaginary perfection, and to make them renounce all forms in favour of an interior and mystic worship. Though she inherited a considerable fortune, she never gave anything to the poor, on the pretence that they might make a bad use of her liberality. Yet at her death, which took place at Franeker in 1680, she left all her property to a hospital.