ecclesiastics, so that one is well informed in regard to the
scandal that his books caused at the time. Out of these materials
and other scattered documents and notices it is possible to
reconstruct--though somewhat defectively--the figure of a man who
played an important role in his own day; but whose name has long
since lost its significance--even in the ears of scholars. It is
at the suggestion of Professor James Harvey Robinson that this
reconstruction has been made. If it shall prove of any interest
or value he must be credited with the initiation of the idea as
well as constant aid in its realization. For rendering possible
the necessary investigations, recognition is due to the administration
and officers of the Bibliotheque Nationale, the British Museum, the
Library of Congress, the Libraries of Columbia and Harvard
Universities, Union and Andover Theological Seminaries, and the
Public Libraries of Boston and New York.


M. P. C.

NEW YORK CITY,
July, 1914.





CHAPTER I. HOLBACH, THE MAN.


Paul Heinrich Dietrich, or as he is better known, Paul-Henri Thiry,