Charles Blount 1654-1693
Charles BLOUNT 1654-1693
Biographical Note
Son of Sir Henry Blount (1602-1682) and brother of Sir Thomas Pope Blount, 1st baronet (1649-1697), was home-educated and from the early 1670s was settled at a family estate at Blount's Hall, Staffordshire. Well connected in literary circles in London (his first publication was a defence of John Dryden), he established a reputation as an anti-establishment freethinker. His Anima mundi (1678) questions the immortality of the soul, and was publicly burnt in London; in 1679 his Just vindication of learning argued for the freedom of the press, and for not renewing the licensing act. He continued to publish tracts through the 1680s, questioning religion, miracles, and received wisdom. His death followed an attempted suicide, prompted by his frustrated wish to marry his deceased wife's sister.
Books
Sources
- Dick, O. L. (ed), Aubrey's brief lives, 1949, 25-7.
- Pfanner, Dario. "Blount, Charles (1654–1693), freethinker and author." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.