BON 



he was ordered by tKe privy council to preach at St. Paul's 

 crofs on ctrtaia articles, counefted with the principles of 

 the rcfornnation, and given to him in writing. But he per- 

 formed this fervice in a manner fo unfatistaftory, that, upon 

 the complaints of Hooper and Latimer, commiflioners were 

 appointed to proceed fummarily againll him ; the refult of 

 which was, that h^ was committed to prifon, and deprived 

 of his bifliopric. Thefe proceedings, allowed even by his 

 enemies to be arbitrary and fevere, roufed his refentment ; 

 nor was he long obliged to wait for an opportunity of ample 

 retaliation. Lfpon the accefTion of Mary to the throne, he 

 vas redored to his billiopric, by a commiiliun dated Auguft 

 J 553 ; and in the convocation of the following year, lit was 

 appointed preiident in the room of Cranmer, who was com- 

 mittcd to ihe tjwer. In this year he vifited his diocefe, 

 and indnllrioufly rooted up all thefeeds of the reformation. In 

 the four fiicceeding years he was an active and favage per- 

 fecutor ; and he is faid to liave committed to the flames 

 200 peifons, who avov.-ed their tirm adherence to the pro- 

 teftant religion, and who refufcd to embrace the grofs errors 

 of popery, bclidcs iniprifoning and torturing many more. 

 Bonner's dilpolilion was in the liighcll: degree cruel and 

 ferocious ; and religious bigotry, grafted on a temper natu- 

 rally favage, rendered hmi a lit inllrumeiit to be employed by 

 the artful Gardiner in the condemnation and execution of 

 heretics. But though his nature did not leem to recoil at 

 this favage employment, he dreaded tlie increafed odium 

 that atterided it, and refufed any longer to be the execu- 

 tioner of the law:. However, in 1556, he concurred in the 

 degradation of Cranmer, and enjoyed the malignant pleafure 

 of triumphing over him with his ufual infolence. In the 

 following year his name was inferted in a kind of inquifitorial 

 commiflion for fearchiug after, and pimithing all heretics, as 

 all perfons who were of the protellant rrhgion were then 

 denominated. Upon the accefiion of Elizabeth, he had the 

 effrontery to accompany the other bifliops in their progrefs 

 for meeting her at Hlghgate ; but flie looked upon him 

 with feelings of jufl indignation and horror, as a man pol- 

 luted with blood. He reuuiined fur fame months un- 

 molefted ; but in May 1559, he was fummoned before the 

 privy council ; and refuiing to take the oaths of allegiance 

 and fupremacy that were tendered to him, he was deprived 

 of his bifhopric, and committed to prifon. In this flate of 

 confinement he remained for fome years, bearing his reverfe 

 of condition with a degree of cheerfulnefs which might have 

 become a better man, and occalionally warding oft, by keen 

 and humorous repartees, the popular infults that were offered 

 him. He died in prifon, September 5, Ij6y ; and was 

 buried at midnight in St. George's church-yard. South wark, 

 left any indignities fliould be offered to his remains by the 

 incenfed populace. Bonner was fingularly favage in his 

 natural temper, bluftcring and prophane in his converfation 

 and manners, furious and violent in his conduft, grofs and 

 corpulent in his perlon, and in every refpedl fitted for the 

 part he ac^ed, as an unrelenting and brutal perfecutor. He 

 was generally regarded as dellitute of any fixed principles ; 

 and he has been charged even with Atheifm. As a canonill 

 and politician he was allowed to excel ; but his knowledge 

 of divinity was very imperfeft, and he had no reputation for 

 T-arniig. However, fcveral pieces, theological, controver- 

 fial, and palloral, were publifhcd under his name. By his 

 jnterell with queen Mary, he obtanied feveral advantnges for 

 the fee of London, which his fucceffors have enjoyed. Biog. 

 Brit. 



BONNET, Charles, an eminent natural philofopher, 

 was born at Geneva in 1720, and educated under a domeftic 

 tutor, whom his father provided for him, as affording fupe- 



VOL. IV. 



BON 



rior advantages to thofe which he enjoyed in any of the public 

 fchools. At the early age of 16, he' difcovered that pecu- 

 liar inclination of his mind, which led him to thofe ftudies 

 that laid the foundation of his future fame and excellence. 

 From the perufal of the Speftacle de la Nature, he was in- 

 duced to direft his particular attention to the ftrutlure and 

 manners of the ant-lion, and added many curious obferva- 

 tions relating to it, to the hAs that had been previouflv 

 coUefted by MefT. Poupart and Reaumur ; and he was fur- 

 ther led by the Memoirs on Infedls, publillied by the latter, 

 to repeat many of his experiments, and to difcover new 

 fads, v/hich indicated in a youth of 18 a degree of faga- 

 city and refearch that furprifcd and gratified this eminent 

 naturalift, by whom he was encouraged to proceed. The 

 intereiling obfcrvations which he made on different fpccies 

 of caterpiiiars, and other infects, in the years i 7,58 and i 739, 

 were communicated by him to Reaumur. Plis father had 

 deflined iiini to the profeffion of the law ; but the ff udy 

 of natural hilhiry was his chofen and favourite employm.ent. 

 Having, in 1740, decided a quellion that h.id been left un- 

 fcttled by Reaumur, refpetfting the multiplication of tree- 

 hce, or aphides, without actual conjunction, h? communi- 

 cated a paper on this fubjedt to the Academy of Sciences 

 at Paris, and in ciTnfequcixe of it, had the honour of be- 

 coming a cortefpondcnt of thiit ilhillrious body. His eve- 

 light was irreparably injured by the minutenc'fs of his re- 

 fcarchcs on the generation of thefe animals. In 1-4T, he 

 found that many fpecies of worms pofTcfs, in a degree, the 

 rcprodudive power of the polype: and in 1742, he dif- 

 covered that tlie refpiration of caterpillars and butter- 

 flies, \yas effedlcd by means of their pore-; called " Stigmata." 

 The tccnia, or tape-worm, was alfo a fuhjtd of his fuccefs- 

 ful inveftigation. In 174,,;, he was advanced to the rank of 

 dodor of laws, and on this occaiion he tfitally abandoned 

 the profefTion of the law. A paper on iufedf s, which was 

 this ycarcommiinicarcd to the Royal Society of London, ob- 

 tained for him the honour of being elected a member. His ob- 

 fcrvations on aphides and worins.under the title of " Infeclo- 

 logy," were publiflied in i 744 ; and this work was intro- 

 duced with a preface, in which he gave a brief f]«tch of his 

 ideas concerning the developemcnt of germs, and the fcale 

 of organized beings. This work was very favovn-ablv received 

 by the public ; but fiich had been the nature of his re- 

 fearches and the afTiduity of his application, that his eves 

 and his health failed him ; and he was reduced to the dif- 

 trefTuig neceffity of laying adde his microfcope, and of 

 defifling from rending and writing. This felf-dtnial, pecu- 

 liarly alfiidive to his ardent mind, he bore, however, w^ith phi- 

 lofophical refignatioii ; and by a total intenniffion of his 

 fludies he had tfie fatisfaction of regainir.g a confiderable 

 degree of healtli and cafe, though he was never able to em- 

 ploy his eyes as he had been accuftom.ed to do. In 1 ':46, 

 he commenced a courfe of experiments on the vegetation of 

 plants in mofs and other fingular fubftanccs ; and in the 

 foUov.'ing year he examined with minute attention the leaves 

 of plants, with a view of afcertaiiiing the appropriate ailion 

 of tiieir ujipcr and under furfices. He 'alio employed 

 coloured injeftions for the pnrpofe of deterniijiing whether 

 the fap alcendb by the bark or wood ; and he made various 

 obfervations on vegetable nionfters, and other circumflances 

 of vegetation, which were communicated to the public in 

 one of the moll curious and original of his work.'?, entitled, 

 " Inquiries into the ufe of the leaves of plants," (irft pub- 

 lifhcd at Leyden, in 1754, 4to. ; to which fupplcments 

 have been added as late as the year 1779. 



Bonnet, probably conllrained to remit his attention to ex- 

 periments by the circumllances already mentioned, direfted 

 5 E hi» 



