Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Bent, James" to "Bibirine" by Various

1783. With his father, who was an _avocat_ in the parlement of Grenoble,

he was never on good terms, but his intractable disposition sufficiently explains his unhappy childhood and youth. Until he was twelve years old he was educated by a priest, who succeeded in inspiring him with a lasting hatred of clericalism. He was then sent to the newly established Ecole Centrale at Grenoble, and in 1799 to Paris with a letter of