[1] In the baptismal certificate the name is entered as "Eme" (=
Edme-Aime).
DORIS, in ancient geography, a small district in central Greece, forming
a wedge between Mts. Oeta and Parnassus, and containing the head-waters
of the Cephissus, which passes at the gorge of Dadion into the
neighbouring land of Phocis. This little valley, which nowhere exceeds 4
m. in breadth and could barely give sustenance to four small townships,
owed its importance partly to its command over the strategic road from
Heracleia to Amphissa, which pierced the Parnassus range near Cytinium,
but chiefly to its prestige as the alleged mother-country of the Dorian
conquerors of Peloponnesus (see DORIANS). Its history is mainly made up
of petty wars with the neighbouring Oetaeans and Phocians. The latter
pressed them hard in 457, when the Spartans, admitting their claim to be
the Dorian metropolis, sent an army to their aid, and again during the
second Sacred War (356-346). Except for a casual mention of its cantonal
league in 196, Doris passed early out of history; the inhabitants may
have been exterminated during the conflicts between Aetolia and
Macedonia.
See Strabo, pp. 417, 427; Herodotus i. 56, viii. 31; Thucydides i.
107, iii. 92; Diodorus xii. 29, 33; W. M. Leake, _Travels in Northern
Greece_, chap. xi. (London, 1835). (M. O. B. C.)
DORISLAUS, ISAAC (1595-1649), Anglo-Dutch lawyer and diplomatist, was
born in 1595 at Alkmaar, Holland, the son of a minister of the Dutch
reformed church. He was educated at Leiden, removed to England about
1627, and was appointed to a lectureship in history at Cambridge, where
his attempt to justify the Dutch revolt against Spain led to his early
resignation. In 1629 he was admitted a commoner of the College of
Advocates. In 1632 he made his peace at court, and on two occasions
acted as judge advocate, in the bishops' war of 1640 and in 1642 in the
army commanded by Essex. In 1648 he became one of the judges of the
admiralty court, and was sent on a diplomatic errand to the states
general of Holland. He assisted in preparing the charge of high treason
against Charles I., and, while negotiating an alliance between the
Commonwealth and the Dutch Republic, was murdered at the Hague by
royalist refugees on the 10th of May 1649. His remains were buried in
Westminster Abbey, and moved in 1661 to St Margaret's churchyard.
DORKING, a market town in the Reigate parliamentary division of Surrey,
England, 26 m. S.S.W. of London, on the London, Brighton & South Coast
and the South-Eastern & Chatham railways. Pop. of urban district (1901)
7670. It is pleasantly situated on the river Mole, in a sheltered vale
near the base of Box Hill. It is the centre of an extensive residential
district. The parish church of St Martin's is a handsome edifice rebuilt
in 1873. Lime of exceptionally good quality is burnt to a large extent
in the neighbourhood, and forms an important article of trade; it is
derived from the Lower Chalk formation. Dorking has long been famous for
a finely flavoured breed of fowl distinguished by its having five toes.
Several fine mansions are in the vicinity of the town, notably that of
Deepdene, containing part of a gallery of sculpture collected here by
Thomas Hope, the author of _Anastasius_. A Roman road, which crossed
from the Sussex coast to the Thames, passed near the present churchyard
of St Martin.
DORLEANS, LOUIS (1542-1629), French poet and political pamphleteer, was
born in 1542, in Paris. He studied under Jean Daurat, and after taking
his degree in law began to practise at the bar with but slight success.
He wrote indifferent verses, but was a redoubtable pamphleteer. After
the League had arrested the royalist members of parliament, he was
appointed (1589) advocate-general. His _"Avertissement des catholiques
anglais aux Francais catholiques du danger ou ils sont de perdre la
religion et d'experimenter, comme en Angleterre, la cruaute des
ministres s'ils recoivent a la couronne un roi qui soit heretique"_ went
through several editions, and was translated into English. One of his
pamphlets, _Le Banquet ou apres-dinee du comte d'Arete_, in which he
accused Henry of insincerity in his return to the Roman Catholic faith,
was so scurrilous as to be disapproved of by many members of the League.
When Henry at length entered Paris, Dorleans was among the number of the
proscribed. He took refuge in Antwerp, where he remained for nine years.
At the expiration of that period he received a pardon, and returned to
Paris, but was soon imprisoned for sedition. The king, however, released
him after three months in the Conciergerie, and by this means attached
him permanently to his cause. His last years were passed in obscurity,
and he died in 1629.
DORMER (from Lat. _dormire_, to sleep), in architecture, a window rising
out of the roof and lighting the room in it: sometimes, however, pierced
in a small gable built flush with the wall below, or corbelled out, as
frequently in Scotland. In Germany, where the roofs are very lofty,
there are three or four rows of dormers, one above the other, but it
does not follow that the space in the roof is necessarily subdivided by
floors. In some of the French chateaux the dormers (Fr. _lucarne_) are
highly elaborated, and in some cases, as in Chambord, they form the
principal architectural features. In these cases they are either placed
flush with the wall or recede behind a parapet and gutter only, so as to
rest on the solid wall, as they are built in stone. In Germany they
assume larger proportions and constitute small gables with two or three
storeys of windows. The term "dormer" arose from the windows being those
of sleeping-rooms. In the phrase "dormer beam" or "dormant beam,"
meaning a tie-beam, we have the same sense as in the modern "sleeper."
DORMITORY (Lat. _dormitorium_, a sleeping place), the name given in
monasteries to the monks' sleeping apartment. Sometimes it formed one
long room, but was more generally subdivided into as many cells or
partitions as there were monks. It was generally placed on the first
floor with a direct entrance into the church. The dormitories were
sometimes of great length; the longest known, in the monastery of S.
Michele in Bosco near Bologna (now suppressed), is said to have been
over 400 ft. In some of the larger mansions of the Elizabethan period
the space in the roof constitutes a long gallery, which in those days
was occasionally utilized as a dormitory. The name "dormitory" is also
applied to the large bedrooms with a number of beds, in schools and
similar modern institutes.
DORMOUSE (a word usually taken to be connected with Lat. _dormire_, to
sleep, with "mouse" added, cf. Germ. _Schlafratte_; it is not a
corruption of Fr. _dormeuse_; Skeat suggests a connexion with Icel.
_dar_, benumbed, cf. Eng. "doze"), the name of a small British rodent
mammal having the general appearance of a squirrel. This rodent,
_Muscardinus avellanarius_, is the sole representative of its genus, but
belongs to a family--the _Gliridae_, or _Myoxidae_--containing a small
number of Old World species. All the dormice are small rodents (although
many of them are double the size of the British species), of arboreal
habits, and for the most part of squirrel-like appearance; some of their
most distinctive features being internal. In the more typical members of
the group, forming the subfamily _Glirinae_, there are four pairs of
cheek-teeth, which are rooted and have transverse enamel-folds. As the
characters of the genera are given in the article RODENTIA it will
suffice to state that the typical genus _Glis_ is represented by the
large European edible dormouse, _G. vulgaris_ (or _G. glis_), a grey
species with black markings known in Germany as _Siebenschlafer_; the
genus ranges from continental Europe to Japan. The common dormouse
_Muscardinus avellanarius_, ranging from England to Russia and Asia, is
of the size of a mouse and mainly chestnut-coloured. The third genus is
represented by the continental _lerot_, or garden-dormouse, _Eliomys
guercinus_, which is a large parti-coloured species, with several local
forms--either species or races. Lastly, _Graphiurus_, of which the
species are also large, is solely African. In their arboreal life, and
the habit of sitting up on their hind-legs with their food grasped in
the fore-paws, dormice are like squirrels, from which they differ in
being completely nocturnal. They live either among bushes or in trees,
and make a neat nest for the reception of their young, which are born
blind. The species inhabiting cold climates construct a winter nest in
which they hibernate, waking up at times to feed on an accumulated store
of nuts and other food. Before retiring they become very fat, and at
such times the edible dormouse is a favourite article of diet on the
Continent. At the beginning of the cold season the common dormouse
retires to its nest, and curling itself up in a ball, becomes dormant. A
warmer day than usual restores it to temporary activity, and then it
supplies itself with food from its autumn hoard, again becoming torpid
till roused by the advent of spring. The young are generally four in
number, and are produced twice a year. They are born blind, but in a
marvellously short period are able to cater for themselves; and their
hibernation begins later in the season than with the adults. The fur of
the dormouse is tawny above and paler beneath, with a white patch on the
throat. A second subfamily is represented by the Indian _Platacanthomys_
and the Chinese _Typhlomys_, in which there are only three pairs of
cheek-teeth; thus connecting the more typical members of the family with
the _Muridae_. (R. L.*)
DORNBIRN, a township in the Austrian province of the Vorarlberg, on the
right bank of the Dornbirner Ach, at the point where it flows out of the
hilly region of the Bregenzerwald into the broad valley of the Rhine, on
its way to the Lake of Constance. It is by rail 7-1/2 m. S. of Bregenz,
and 15 m. N. of Feldkirch. It is the most populous town in the
Vorarlberg, its population in 1900 being 13,052. The name Dornbirn is a
collective appellation for four villages--Dornbirn, Hatlerdorf, Oberdorf
and Haselstauden--which straggle over a distance of about 3 m. It is the
chief industrial centre in the Vorarlberg, the regulated Dornbirner Ach
furnishing motive power for several factories for cotton spinning and
weaving, worked muslin, dyeing, iron-founding and so on.
(W. A. B. C.)
DORNBURG, a town of Germany, in the grand-duchy of Saxe-Weimar,
romantically situated on a hill 400 ft. above the Saale, on the railway
Grossheringen-Jena and 7 m. N.E. of the latter. Pop. 700. Dornburg is an
ancient town, but is chiefly famous for its three grand-ducal castles.
Of these, the Altes Schloss is built on the site of an imperial
stronghold (Kaiserpfalz), once a bulwark against the Slavs, often a
residence of the emperors Otto II. and Otto III., and where the emperor
Henry II. held a diet in 1005; the Neues Schloss in Italian style of
architecture, built 1728-1748, with pretty gardens. Here Goethe was
often a guest, "healing the blows of fate and the wounds of the heart in
Dornburg." The third and southernmost of the three is the so-called
Stohmannsches Rittergut, purchased in 1824 and fitted as a modern
palace.
DORNER, ISAAC AUGUST (1809-1884), German Lutheran divine, was born at
Neuhausen-ob-Eck in Wurttemberg on the 20th of June 1809. His father was
pastor at Neuhausen. He was educated at Maulbronn and the university of
Tubingen. After acting for two years as assistant to his father in his
native place he travelled in England and Holland to complete his studies
and acquaint himself with different types of Protestantism. He returned
to Tubingen in 1834, and in 1837 was made professor extraordinarius of
theology. As a student at the university, one of his teachers had been
Christian Friedrich Schmid (1794-1852), author of a well-known book,
_Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testamentes_, and one of the most
vigorous opponents of F. C. Baur. At Schmid's suggestion, and with his
encouragement, Dorner set to work upon a history of the development of
the doctrine of the person of Christ, _Entwicklungsgeschichte der Lehre
von der Person Christi_. He published the first part of it in 1835, the
year in which Strauss, his colleague, gave to the public his _Life of
Jesus_; completed it in 1839, and afterwards considerably enlarged it
for a second edition (1845-1856). It was an indirect reply to Strauss,
which showed "profound learning, objectivity of judgment, and fine
appreciation of the moving ideas of history" (Otto Pfleiderer). The
author at once took high rank as a theologian and historian, and in 1839
was invited to Kiel as professor ordinarius. It was here that he
produced, amongst other works, _Das Princip unserer Kirche nach dem
innern Verhaltniss seiner zwei Seiten betrachtet_ (1841). In 1843 he
removed as professor of theology to Konigsberg. Thence he was called to
Bonn in 1847, and to Gottingen in 1853. Finally in 1862 he settled in
the same capacity at Berlin, where he was a member of the supreme
consistorial council. A few years later (1867) he published his valuable
_Geschichte der protestantischen Theologie_ (Eng. trans., _History of
Protestant Theology_, 2 vols.; 1871), in which he "developed and
elaborated," as Pfleiderer says, "his own convictions by his diligent
and loving study of the history of the Church's thought and belief." The
theological positions to which he ultimately attained are best seen in
his _Christliche Glaubenslehre_, published shortly before his death
(1879-1881). It is "a work extremely rich in thought and matter. It
takes the reader through a mass of historical material by the
examination and discussion of ancient and modern teachers, and so leads
up to the author's own view, which is mostly one intermediate between
the opposite extremes, and appears as a more or less successful
synthesis of antagonistic theses" (Pfleiderer). The companion work,
_System der christlichen Sittenlehre_, was published by his son August
Dorner in 1886. He also contributed articles to Herzog-Hauck's
_Realencyklopadie_, and was the founder and for many years one of the
editors of the _Jahrbucher fur deutsche Theologie_. He died at Wiesbaden
on the 8th of July 1884. One of the most noteworthy of the "mediating"
theologians, he has been ranked with Friedrich Schleiermacher, J. A. W.
Neander, Karl Nitzsch, Julius Muller and Richard Rothe.
His son, AUGUST (b. 1846), after studying at Berlin and acting as
_Repetent_ at Gottingen (1870-1873), became professor of theology and
co-director of the theological seminary at Wittenberg. Amongst his works
is _Augustinus, sein theologisches System und seine religionsphilosoph.
Anschauung_ (1873), and he is the author of the article on Isaac Dorner
in the _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_.
See Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_; _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_
(1904); Otto Pfleiderer, _The Development of Theology in Germany since
Kant_ (1890); F. Lichtenberger, _History of German Theology in the
Nineteenth Century_ (1889); Carl Schwarz, _Zur Geschichte der neuesten
Theologie_ (1869). (M. A. C.)
DORNOCH, a royal and police burgh and county town of Sutherlandshire,
Scotland. Pop. (1901) 624. It lies on the north shore of Dornoch Firth,
an arm of the North Sea, 7-3/4 m. S.S.E. of Mound station on the Highland
railway by light railway. Its dry and bracing climate and fine golf
course have brought it into great repute as a health and holiday resort.
Before the Reformation it was the see of the bishopric of Caithness and
Sutherland. The cathedral, built by Bishop Gilbert de Moravia (Moray)
(d. 1245), the last Scot enrolled in the Calendar of Scottish saints,
was damaged by fire in 1570, during the raid of the Master of Caithness
and Mackay of Strathnaver, and afterwards neglected till 1837, when it
was restored by the 2nd duke of Sutherland, and has since been used as
the parish church. Noticeable for its high roof, low tower and dwarf
spire, the church consists of an aisleless nave, chancel (adorned with
Chantrey's statue of the 1st duke) and transepts. It is the
burying-place of the Sutherland family and contains the remains of
sixteen earls. Of the ancient castle, which was also the bishop's
palace, only the west tower exists, the rest of the structure having
been destroyed in the outrage of 1570. The county buildings adjoin it.
Dornoch became a royal burgh in 1628, and, as one of the Wick burghs,
returns a member to parliament. It was the scene of the last execution
for witchcraft in Scotland (1722). At Embo, 2 m. N.N.E., a sculptured
stone commemorates the battle with the Danes in the 13th century, in
which Richard de Moravia was killed. He was buried in the cathedral,
where his effigy was found in the chancel. Skibo castle, about 4 m. W.
of Dornoch, once a residence of the bishops of Caithness, was acquired
in 1898 by Andrew Carnegie.
DOROHOI, or DOROGOI, the capital of the department of Dorohoi, Rumania;
on the right bank of the river Jijia, which broadens into a lake on the
north. Pop. (1900) 12,701, more than half being Jews. The Russian
frontier is about 30 m. E., the Austrian 20 m. W.; and there is railway
communication with Botoshani and Jassy. Dorohoi is a market for the
timber and farm produce of the north Moldavian highlands; merchants from
the neighbouring states flock to its great fair, held on the 12th of
June. There is a church built by Stephen the Great (1458-1504).
DOROTHEUS, a professor of jurisprudence in the law school of Berytus in
Syria, and one of the three commissioners appointed by the emperor
Justinian to draw up a book of Institutes, after the model of the
_Institutes_ of Gaius, which should serve as an introduction to the
_Digest_ already completed. His colleagues were Tribonian and
Theophilus; and their work was accomplished in 533. Dorotheus was
subsequently the author of a commentary on the _Digest_, which is called
the _Index_, and was published by him in 542. Fragments of this
commentary, which was in the Greek language, have been preserved in the
_Scholia_ appended to the body of law compiled by order of the emperor
Basilius the Macedonian and his son Leo the Wise, in the 9th century,
known as the _Basilico_, from which it seems probable that the
commentary of Dorotheus contained the substance of a course of lectures
on the _Digest_ delivered by him in the law school of Berytus, although
it is not cast in a form so precisely didactic as the _Index_ of
Theophilus.
D'ORSAY, ALFRED GUILLAUME GABRIEL, COUNT (1801-1852), the famous dandy
and wit, was born in Paris on the 4th of September 1801, and was the son
of General D'Orsay, from whom he inherited an exceptionally handsome
person. Through his mother he was grandson by a morganatic marriage of
the king of Wurttemberg. In his youth he entered the French army, and
served as a _garde du corps_ of Louis XVIII. In 1822, while stationed at
Valence on the Rhone, he formed an acquaintance with the earl and
countess of Blessington (q.v.) which quickly ripened into intimacy, and
at the invitation of the earl he accompanied the party on their tour
through Italy. In the spring of 1823 he met Lord Byron at Genoa, and the
published correspondence of the poet at this period contains numerous
references to the count's gifts and accomplishments, and to his peculiar
relationship to the Blessington family. A diary which D'Orsay had kept
during a visit to London in 1821-1822 was submitted to Byron's
inspection, and was much praised by him for the knowledge of men and
manners and the keen faculty of observation it displayed. On the 1st of
December 1827 Count D'Orsay married Lady Harriet Gardiner, a girl of
fifteen, the daughter of Lord Blessington by his previous wife. The
union, if it rendered his connection with the Blessington family less
ostensibly equivocal than before, was in other respects an unhappy one,
and a separation took place almost immediately. After the death of Lord
Blessington, which occurred in 1829, the widowed countess returned to
England, accompanied by Count D'Orsay, and her home, first at Seamore
Place, then at Gore House, soon became a resort of the fashionable
literary and artistic society of London, which found an equal attraction
in host and in hostess. The count's charming manner, brilliant wit, and
artistic faculty were accompanied by benevolent moral qualities, which
endeared him to all his associates. His skill as a painter and sculptor
was shown in numerous portraits and statuettes representing his friends,
which were marked by great vigour and truthfulness, if wanting in the
finish that can only be reached by persistent discipline. Count D'Orsay
had been from his youth a zealous Bonapartist, and one of the most
frequent guests at Gore House was Prince Louis Napoleon. In 1849 he went
bankrupt, and the establishment at Gore House being broken up, he went
to Paris with Lady Blessington, who died a few weeks after their
arrival. He endeavoured to provide for himself by painting portraits.
He was deep in the counsels of the prince president, but the relation
between them was less cordial after the _coup d'etat_, of which the
count had by anticipation expressed his strong disapproval. His
appointment to the post of director of fine arts was announced only a
few days before his death, which occurred on the 4th of August 1852.
Much information as to the life and character of Count D'Orsay is to
be found in Richard Madden's _Literary Life and Correspondence of the
Countess of Blessington_ (1855).
DORSET, EARLS, MARQUESSES AND DUKES OF, English titles one or more of
which have been borne by the families of Beaufort, Grey and Sackville.
About 1070 Osmund, or Osmer, an alleged son of Henry, count of Seez, by
a sister of William the Conqueror, is said to have been created earl of
Dorset, but the authority is a very late one and Osmund describes
himself simply as bishop (of Salisbury). William de Mohun of Dunster, a
partisan of the empress Matilda, appears as earl of Dorset or Somerset,
these two shires being in early times united under a single sheriff. In
1397 John Beaufort, earl of Somerset (d. 1410), the eldest son of John
of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, and Catherine Swinford, was created
marquess of Dorset; two years later, however, he was reduced to his
former rank of earl of Somerset. In 1411 his brother Thomas, afterwards
duke of Exeter, was created earl of Dorset, and in 1441 his youngest son
Edmund obtained the same dignity. Two years later Edmund was created
marquess of Dorset and still later duke of Somerset. Edmund's son Henry,
duke of Somerset and marquess of Dorset, was attainted during the Wars
of the Roses, and was beheaded after the battle of Hexham in May 1464,
when the titles became extinct. In 1475 Thomas Grey, 8th Lord Ferrers of
Groby (1451-1501), a son of Sir John Grey (d. 1461) and a stepson of
King Edward IV., having resigned the earldom of Huntingdon, which he had
received in 1471, was created marquess of Dorset (see below). He was
succeeded in this title by his son Thomas (1477-1530), and then by his
grandson Henry (c. 1510-1554), who was created duke of Suffolk in 1551.
When in February 1554 Suffolk was beheaded for sharing in the rising of
Sir Thomas Wyat, the marquessate of Dorset again became extinct; but in
1604 Thomas Sackville (see the account of the family under SACKVILLE,
1ST BARON) was created earl of Dorset (see below), and his descendant
the 7th earl was created duke in 1720. In 1843 the titles became
extinct.
The Grey line.
THOMAS GREY, 1ST MARQUESS OF DORSET (1451-1501), was the elder son of
Sir John Grey, 7th Lord Ferrers of Groby (1432-1461), by his wife
Elizabeth Woodville, afterwards queen of Edward IV. He fought for Edward
at Tewkesbury, and became Lord Harington and Bonville by right of his
wife Cecilia, daughter of William Bonville, 6th Lord Harington (d.
1460); in 1475 he was created marquess of Dorset, and he was also a
knight of the Garter and a privy councillor. After the death of Edward
IV. Dorset and his brother Richard Grey were among the supporters of
their half-brother, the young king Edward V.; thus they incurred the
enmity of Richard duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III., and
Richard Grey having been arrested, was beheaded at Pontefract in June
1483, while his elder brother, the marquess, saved his life by flight.
Dorset was one of the leaders of the duke of Buckingham's insurrection,
and when this failed he joined Henry earl of Richmond in Brittany, but
he was left behind in Paris when the future king crossed over to England
in 1485. After Henry's victory at Bosworth the marquess returned to
England and his attainder was reversed, but he was suspected and
imprisoned when Lambert Simnel revolted; he had, however, been released
and pardoned, had marched into France and had helped to quell the
Cornish rising, when he died on the 20th of September 1501.
Dorset's sixth son, Lord Leonard Grey (c. 1490-1541), went to Ireland as
marshal of the English army in 1535, being created an Irish peer as
Viscount Grane in the same year, but he never assumed this title. In
1536 Grey was appointed lord deputy of Ireland in succession to Sir
William Skeffington; he was active in marching against the rebels and he
presided over the important parliament of 1536, but he was soon at
variance with the powerful family of the Butlers and with some of the
privy councillors.
He did not relax his energy in seeking to restore order, but he was
accused, probably with truth, of favouring the family of the Geraldines,
to whom he was related, and the quarrel with the Butlers became fiercer
than ever. Returning to England in 1540 he was thrown into prison and
was condemned to death for treason. He was beheaded on the 28th of July
1541 (see R. Bagwell, _Ireland under the Tudors_, vol. i., 1885).
THOMAS GREY, 2ND MARQUESS OF DORSET (1477-1530), the eldest son of the
1st marquess, fled to Brittany with his father in 1484; after receiving
several marks of the royal favour and succeeding to the title, he was
imprisoned by Henry VII., and remained in prison until 1509. He was on
very good terms with Henry VIII., who in 1512 appointed him to command
the English army which was to invade France in conjunction with the
Spanish forces under Ferdinand of Aragon. In spite of the failure which
attended this enterprise, Dorset again served in France in the following
year, and in 1516 he was made lieutenant of the order of the Garter.
Later he was at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and he was warden of the
eastern and middle marches towards Scotland in 1523 and the following
years. He received many other positions of trust and profit from the
king, and he helped to bring about the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, under
whom he had probably been educated. He was famous for his skill in the
tournament. He died on the 10th of October 1530.
His eldest son Henry Grey, 3rd marquess of Dorset, was in 1551 created
duke of Suffolk (q.v.). A younger son, Lord Thomas Grey, was beheaded in
April 1554 for sharing in the rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyat; another son,
Lord John Grey, was also sentenced to death for his share in this
rising, but his life was spared owing to the efforts of his wife Mary,
daughter of Sir Anthony Browne. Under Elizabeth, Lord John, a strong
Protestant, was restored to the royal favour, and he died on the 19th of
November 1569. In 1603 his son Henry (d. 1614) was created Baron Grey of
Groby, and in 1628 his great-grandson Henry was made earl of Stamford.
The Sackville line.
THOMAS SACKVILLE, 1ST EARL OF DORSET (c. 1530-1608), English statesman
and poet, son of Sir Richard Sackville and his wife Winifrede, daughter
of Sir John Bruges or Bridges, lord mayor of London, was born at
Buckhurst, in the parish of Withyham, Sussex. In his fifteenth or
sixteenth year he is said to have been entered at Hart Hall, Oxford; but
it was at Cambridge that he completed his studies and took the degree of
M.A. He joined the Inner Temple, and was called to the bar. He married
at the age of eighteen Cicely, daughter of Sir John Baker of
Sissinghurst, Kent; in 1558 he entered parliament as member for
Westmorland, in 1559 he sat for East Grinstead, Sussex, and in 1563 for
Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. A visit to the continent in 1565 was
interrupted by an imprisonment at Rome, caused by a rash declaration of
Protestant opinions. The news of his father's death on the 21st of April
1566 recalled him to England. On his return he was knighted in the
queen's presence, receiving at the same time the title of baron of
Buckhurst. With his mother he lived at the queen's palace of Sheen,
where he entertained in 1568 Odet de Coligni, cardinal de Chatillon. In
1571 he was sent to France to congratulate Charles IX. on his marriage
with Elizabeth of Austria, and he took part in the negotiations for the
projected marriage of Elizabeth with the duke of Anjou. He became a
member of the privy council, and acted as a commissioner at the state
trials. In 1572 he was one of the peers who tried Thomas Howard, duke of
Norfolk, and in 1586 he was selected to convey the sentence of death to
Mary, queen of Scots, a task he is said to have performed with great
consideration. He was sent in 1587 as ambassador to the Hague "to
expostulate in favour of peace with a people who knew that their
existence depended on war, to reconcile those to delay who felt that
delay was death, and to heal animosities between men who were enemies
from their cradles to their graves."[1] This task was further
complicated by the parsimony and prevarication of Elizabeth. Buckhurst
carried out under protest the foolish and often contradictory orders he
received. His plain speaking on the subject of Leicester's action in the
Netherlands displeased the queen still more. She accused him on his
return of having followed his instructions too slavishly, and ordered
him to keep to his own house for nine months. His disgrace was short,
for in 1588 he was presented with the order of the Garter, and was sent
again to the Netherlands in 1589 and 1598. He was elected chancellor of
the university of Oxford in 1591, and in 1599 he succeeded Lord Burghley
as lord high treasurer of England. In 1601 as high steward he pronounced
sentence on Essex, who had been his rival for the chancellorship and his
opponent in politics. James I. confirmed him in the office of lord
treasurer, the duties of which he performed with the greatest
impartiality. He was created earl of Dorset in 1604, and died suddenly
on the 19th of April 1608, as he was sitting at the council table at
Whitehall. His eldest son, Robert, the 2nd earl (1561-1609), was a
member of parliament and a man of great learning. Two other sons were
William (c. 1568-1591), a soldier who was killed in the service of Henry
IV. of France, and Thomas (1571-1646), also a soldier.
It is not by his political career, distinguished as it was, that
Sackville is remembered, but by his share in early life in two works,
each of which was, in its way, a new departure in English literature. In
_A Myrroure for Magistrates_, printed by Thomas Marshe in 1559, he has
sometimes been erroneously credited with the inception of the general
plan as well as with the most valuable contributions. But there had been
an earlier edition, for the editor, William Baldwin, states in his
preface that the work was begun and partly printed "four years agone."
He also says that the printer (John Wayland) had designed the work as a
continuation of Lydgate's _Fall of Princes_ derived from the narrative
of Bochas. Fragments of this early edition are extant, the title page
being sometimes found bound up with Lydgate's book. It runs _A Memoriall
of such princes, as since the tyme of Richard the seconde, have been
unfortunate in the realme of England_, while the 1559 edition has the
running title _A briefe memorial of unfortunate Englysh princes_. The
disconnected poems by various authors were given a certain continuity by
the simple device of allowing the ghost of each unfortunate hero "to
bewail unto me [Baldwin] his grievous chances, heavy destinies and
woefull misfortunes." After a delay caused by an examination by Stephen
Gardiner, bishop of Worcester, the book appeared. It contained nineteen
tragic legends by six poets, William Baldwin, George Ferrers, "Master"
Cavyll, Thomas Chaloner, Thomas Phaer and John Skelton. In 1563 appeared
a second edition with eight additional poems by William Baldwin, John
Dolman, Sackville, Francis Segar, Thomas Churchyard and Cavyll.
Sackville contributed the _Complaint_ of Henry Stafford, duke of
Buckingham, to which he prefixed an _Induction_. This was evidently
designed as an introduction to a version of the whole work, and, being
arbitrarily transposed (1610) to the beginning by a later editor,
Richard Niccols, led to the attribution of the general design to
Sackville, an error which was repeated by Thomas Warton. The originators
were certainly Baldwin and his "printer." In 1574 Thomas Marshe printed
a series of new tragedies by John Higgins as the _Firste parte of the
Mirour for Magistrates.... From the coming of Brute to the Incarnation._
The seventh edition (1578) contained for the first time the two
tragedies of Eleanor Cobham and Humphrey duke of Gloucester. In 1587,
when the original editor was dead, the two quite separate publications
of Baldwin and Higgins were combined. The primary object of this
earliest of English miscellanies was didactic. It was to be a kind of
textbook of British history, illustrating the evils of ambition. The
writers pretended to historical accuracy, but with the notable
exceptions of Churchyard and Sackville they paid little attention to
form. The book did much to promote interest in English history, and Mr
W. J. Courthope has pointed out that the subjects of Marlowe's _Edward
II._, of Shakespeare's _Henry VI._, _Richard II._ and _Richard III._ are
already dealt with in the _Myrroure_.
Sackville's _Induction_ opens with a description of the oncoming of
winter. The poet meets with Sorrow, who offers to lead him to the
infernal regions that he may see the sad estate of those ruined by their
ambition, and thus learn the transient character of earthly joy. At the
approaches of Hell he sees a group of terrible abstractions, Remorse of
Conscience, Dread, Misery, Revenge, Care, &c., each vividly described.
The last of these was War, on whose shield he saw depicted the great
battles of antiquity. Finally, penetrating to the realm of Pluto
himself, he is surrounded by the shades, of whom the duke of Buckingham
is the first to advance, thus introducing the _Complaint_. To this
induction the epithet "Dantesque" has been frequently applied, but in
truth Sackville's models were Gavin Douglas and Virgil. The dignity and
artistic quality of the narrative of the fall of Buckingham are in
strong contrast to the crude attempts of Ferrers and Baldwin, and make
the work one of the most important between the _Canterbury Tales_ and
the _Faerie Queene_.
Sackville has also the credit of being part author with Thomas Norton of
the first legitimate tragedy in the English language. This was
_Gorboduc_ or _Ferrex and Porrex_, performed as part of the Christmas
festivities (1560-1561) by the society of the Inner Temple, and
afterwards on the 18th of January 1561 before Elizabeth at Whitehall.
The argument is as follows:
"Gorboduc, king of Brittaine, devided his Realme in his lyfe time to
his Sones, Ferrex and Porrex. The Sonnes fell to dyvision and
discention. The yonger kylled the elder. The Mother, that more dearely
loved thelder, fr revenge kylled the yonger. The people, moved with
the Crueltie of the facte, rose in Rebellion, and Slewe both father
and mother. The Nobilitie assembled, and most terribly destroyed the
Rebelles. And afterwards for want of Issue of the Prince, wherby the
Succession of the Crowne became uncertayne, they fell to Ciuill warre,
in whiche both they and many of their Issues were slayne, and the
Lande for a longe tyme almoste desolate, and myserablye wasted."
The argument shows plainly enough the didactic intention of the whole,
and points the moral of the evils of civil discord. The story is taken
from Book II. chap. xvi. of Geoffrey of Monmouth's history. It was first
printed (1565) in an unauthorized edition as _The Tragedie of Gorboduc_
"whereof three Actes were wrytten by Thomas Nortone, and the two laste
by Thomas Sackvyle." Norton's share has been generally minimized, and it
seems safe to assume that Sackville is responsible for the general
design. In 1570 appeared an authentic edition, _The Tragedie of Ferrex
and Porrex_, with a preface from the printer to the reader stating that
the authors were "very much displeased that she (the tragedy) so ran
abroad without leave." The tragedies of Seneca were now being
translated, and the play is conceived on Senecan lines. The plot was no
doubt chosen for its accumulated horrors from analogy with the tragic
subjects of Oedipus and Thyestes. None of the crimes occur on the stage,
but the action is described in lofty language by the characters. The
most famous and harrowing scene is that in which Marcello relates the
murder of Porrex by his mother (Act IV. sc. ii.). The paucity of action
is eked out by a dumb show to precede each act, and the place of the
Chorus is supplied by four "ancient and sage men of Britain." In the
variety of incident, however, the authors departed from the classical
model. The play is written in excellent blank verse, and is the first
example of the application of Surrey's innovation to drama. Jasper
Heywood in the poetical address prefixed to his translation of the
Thyestes alludes to "Sackvylde's Sonnets sweetly sauste," but only one
of these has survived. It is prefixed to Sir T. Hoby's translation of
Castiglione's _Courtier_. Sackville's poetical preoccupations are
sufficiently marked in the subject matter of these two works, which
remain the sole literary productions of an original mind.
The best edition of the _Mirror for Magistrates_ is that of Joseph
Haslewood (1815). _Gorboduc_ was edited for the Shakespeare Society by
W. D. Cooper in 1847; in 1883 by Miss L. Toulmin Smith for C.
Vollmoller's _Englische Sprach-und Litteraturdenkmale_ (Heilbronn,
1883). The _Works_ of Sackville were edited by C. Chapple (1820) and
by the Hon. and Rev. Reginald Sackville-West (1859). See also _A
Mirror for Magistrates_ (1898) by Mr W. F. Trench; an excellent
account in Mr W. J. Courthope's _History of English Poetry_, vol. i.
pp. 111 et seq.; and an important article by Dr J. W. Cunliffe in the
_Cambridge History of English Literature_, vol. iii.
EDWARD SACKVILLE, 4TH EARL OF DORSET (1591-1652), son of the 2nd earl,
succeeded his brother Richard, the 3rd earl (1590-1624), in March 1624.
He had attained much notoriety by killing Edward Bruce, 2nd Lord
Kinloss, in a duel, in August 1613, the place in the Netherlands where
this encounter took place being called Bruceland in quite recent times,
and in 1620 he was one of the leaders of the English contingent which
fought for James I.'s son-in-law, Frederick V., elector palatine of the
Rhine, at the battle of the White Hill, near Prague. In the House of
Commons, where he represented Sussex, Sackville was active in defending
Bacon and in advocating an aggressive policy with regard to the recovery
of the Rhenish Palatinate; twice he was ambassador to France, and he was
interested in Virginia and the Bermuda Islands. Under Charles I. he was
a privy councillor and lord chamberlain to Queen Henrietta Maria. He was
frequently employed by the government from the accession of Charles
until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he joined the king at York,
but he disliked the struggle and was constant in his efforts to secure
peace. At Oxford he was lord chamberlain to the king and lord president
of his council, but Charles did not altogether approve of his pacific
attitude, and is said on one occasion to have remarked to him "Your
voice is the voice of Jacob, but your hands are the hands of Esau." He
died on the 17th of July 1652. His wife Mary (d. 1645), daughter of Sir
George Curzon, was governess to the sons of Charles I., the future kings
Charles II. and James II. His character is thus summed up by S. R.
Gardiner: "Pre-eminent in beauty of person, and in the vigour of a
cultivated intellect, he wanted nothing to fit him for the highest
places in the commonwealth but that stern sense of duty without which no
man can be truly great."
CHARLES SACKVILLE, 6TH EARL OF DORSET (1638-1706), English poet and
courtier, son of Richard Sackville, 5th earl (1622-1677), was born on
the 24th of January 1638. His mother was Frances Cranfield, sister and
heiress of Lionel, 3rd earl of Middlesex, to whose estates and title he
succeeded in 1674, being created Baron Cranfield and 4th earl of
Middlesex in 1675. He succeeded to his father's estates and title in
August 1677. Buckhurst was educated privately, and spent some time
abroad with a private tutor, returning to England shortly before the
Restoration. In Charles II.'s first parliament he sat for East Grinstead
in Sussex. He had no taste for politics, however, but won a reputation
as courtier and wit at Whitehall. He bore his share in the excesses for
which Sir Charles Sedley and the earl of Rochester were notorious. In
1662 he and his brother Edward, with three other gentlemen, were
indicted for the robbery and murder of a tanner named Hoppy. The defence
was that they were in pursuit of thieves, and mistook Hoppy for a
highwayman. They appear to have been acquitted, for when in 1663 Sir
Charles Sedley was tried for a gross breach of public decency in Covent
Garden, Buckhurst, who had been one of the offenders, was asked by the
lord chief justice "whether he had so soon forgot his deliverance at
that time." Something in his character made his follies less obnoxious
to the citizens than those of the other rakes, for he was never
altogether unpopular, and Rochester is said to have told Charles II.
that he did not "know how it was, my Lord Dorset might do anything, yet
was never to blame." In 1665 he volunteered to serve under the duke of
York in the Dutch War. His famous song, "To all you ladies now at Land,"
was written, according to Prior, on the night before the victory gained
over "foggy Opdam" off Harwich (June 3, 1665). Dr Johnson, with the
remark that "seldom any splendid story is wholly true," says that the
earl of Orrery had told him it was only retouched on that occasion. In
1667 Pepys laments that Buckhurst had lured Nell Gwyn away from the
theatre, and that with Sedley the two kept "merry house" at Epsom. Next
year the king was paying court to Nell, and her "Charles the First," as
she called Buckhurst, was sent on a "sleeveless errand" into France to
be out of the way. His gaiety and wit secured the continued favour of
Charles II., but did not especially recommend him to James II., who
could not, moreover, forgive Dorset's lampoons on his mistress,
Catharine Sedley, countess of Dorchester. On James's accession,
therefore, he retired from court. He concurred in the invitation to
William of Orange, who made him privy councillor, lord chamberlain
(1689), and knight of the Garter (1692). During William's absences in
1695-1698 he was one of the lord justices of the realm.
He was a generous patron of men of letters. When Dryden was dismissed
from the laureateship, he made him an equivalent pension from his own
purse. Matthew Prior, in dedicating his _Poems on Several Occasions_
(1709) to Dorset's son, affirms that his opinion was consulted by Edmund
Waller; that the duke of Buckingham deferred the publication of his
_Rehearsal_ until he was assured that Dorset would not "rehearse upon
him again"; and that Samuel Butler and Wycherley both owed their first
recognition to him. Prior's praise of Dorset is no doubt extravagant,
but when his youthful follies were over he appears to have developed
sterling qualities, and although the poems he has left are very few,
none of them are devoid of merit. Dryden's "Essay on Satire" and the
dedication of the "Essay on Dramatic Poesy" are addressed to him.
Walpole (_Catalogue of Noble Authors_, iv.) says that he had as much wit
as his first master, or his contemporaries Buckingham and Rochester,
without the royal want of feeling, the duke's want of principles or the
earl's want of thought; and Congreve reported of him when he was dying
that he "slabbered" more wit than other people had in their best health.
He was three times married, his first wife being Mary, widow of Charles
Berkeley, earl of Falmouth. He died at Bath on the 29th of January 1706.
The fourth act of _Pompey the Great, a tragedy translated out of
French by certain persons of honour_, is by Dorset. The satires for
which Pope classed him with the masters in that kind seem to have been
short lampoons, with the exception of _A faithful catalogue of our
most eminent ninnies_ (reprinted in _Bibliotheca Curiosa_, ed.
Goldsmid, 1885). _The Works of the Earls of Rochester, Roscommon and
Dorset, the Dukes of Devonshire, Buckinghamshire, &c., with Memoirs of
their Lives_ (1731) is catalogued (No. 20841) by H. G. Bohn in 1841.
His _Poems_ are included in Anderson's and other collections of the
British poets.
LIONEL CRANFIELD SACKVILLE, 1ST DUKE OF DORSET (1688-1765), the only son
of the 6th earl, was born on the 18th of January 1688. He succeeded his
father as 7th earl of Dorset in January 1706, and was created duke of
Dorset in 1720. He was lord steward of the royal household from 1725 to
1730, and lord-lieutenant of Ireland from 1730 to 1737; he was again
lord steward from 1737 to 1745, and was lord president of the council
from 1745 to 1751. In 1750 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland
for the second time, and after a stormy viceroyalty he was dismissed
from office in 1755. The duke, who was several times one of the lords
justices of Great Britain and held many other positions of trust, died
on the 10th of October 1765. He left three sons: Charles, the 2nd duke;
John Philip (d. 1765); and George, who took the additional name of
Germain in 1770, and in 1782 was created Viscount Sackville (q.v.).
CHARLES SACKVILLE, 2ND DUKE OF DORSET (1711-1769), an associate of
Frederick, prince of Wales, was a member of parliament for many years
and a lord of the treasury under Henry Pelham; he died on the 5th of
January 1769, when his nephew, John Frederick (1745-1799), became the
3rd duke. This nobleman was ambassador in Paris from 1783 to 1789, and
lord steward of the household from 1789 to 1799; he died on the 19th of
July 1799, and was succeeded by his only son, George John Frederick
(1793-1815). When the 4th duke died unmarried in February 1815, the
titles passed to his kinsman, Charles Sackville Germain (1767-1843), son
and heir of the 1st Viscount Sackville, who thus became 5th duke of
Dorset. When he died on the 29th of July 1843 the titles became extinct.