Durans (enduring, or lasting) formed the name which no reader of _Don
Quixote_ can forget as that of the enduring hero, lying on his back on
the marble tomb, in the cave of Montesinos, who uttered that admirable
sentiment, “Patience, cousin, and shuffle the cards!”
The name of Durandus prevailed in other countries; and Durand, to our
surprise, figures constantly in Domesday Book, probably having belonged
to French immigrants. A Durand and Marta, who jointly owned a house at
Winchester in the reign of Stephen, were almost certainly Provençal,
since St. Martha was hardly known except in the scene of her exploit
with the dragon. Durand Grimbald is a specimen of a French Christian and
English surname then prevailing. Durandus is the Latinized surname of
the great French lawyer of the middle ages; and Durandus again is
familiar to the lover of mediæval symbolism; but none of these can
approach in honour the great Florentine Durante Alighieri, whose glory,
_lasting_ like that of Homer and Shakespeare, has made his contracted
appellation of Dante stand alone and singly.
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Footnote 77:
Butler; Hanmer, _Ireland_; Chalmer, _Caledonia_; Montalembert;
_Ossianic Society_; Pott; Michaelis.