Bray

(Charles), philosophic writer, b. Coventry, 31 Jan. 1811. He was brought up as an Evangelical, but found his way to Free thought. Early in life he took an active part in promoting unsectarian education. His first work (1835) was on The Education of the Body . This was followed by The Education of the Feelings , of which there were several editions. In 1836 he married Mi Hennell, sister of C. C. Hennell, and took the System of Nature and Volney’s Ruins of Empires “to enliven the honeymoon.” Among his friends was Mary Ann Evans (“George Eliot”), who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Bray to Italy. His works on The Philosophy of Nece ity (1841) and Cerebral Psychology (1875) give the key to all his thought. He wrote a number of Thomas Scott’s series of tracts: Illusion and Delusion , The Reign of Law in Mind as in Matter , Toleration with remarks on Profe or Tyndall’s “Addre ,” and a little book, Christianity in the Light of our Present Knowledge and Moral Sense (1876). He also wrote A Manual of Anthropology and similar works. In a postscript to his last volume, Phases of Opinion and Experience During a Long Life , dated 18 Sept. 1884, he stated that he has no hope or expectation or belief even in the po ibility of continued individuality after death, and that as his opinions have done to live by “they will do to die by.” He died 5 Oct. 1884.