A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations. J. M. Wheeler

(Thomas), b. about 1635 at Croft, Yorkshire. Through the interest of a pupil, the Duke of Ormonde, he obtained the mastership of the Charterhouse, 1685. In 1681 the first part of his Telluris Theoria Sacra, or Sacred Theory of the Earth, appeared in Latin, and was translated and modified in 1684. In 1692 Burnet published, both in English and in Latin, his Archæologiæ Philosophicæ, or the Ancient Doctrine of the Origin of Things. He professes in this to reconcile his theory with Genesis, which receives a figurative interpretation; and a ludicrous dialogue between Eve and the serpent gave great offence. In a popular ballad Burnet is represented as saying—