DANDIN, GEORGE, one of Molière's comedies, illustrative of the folly
a man commits when he marries a woman of higher rank than his own, George
being his impersonation of a husband who has patiently to endure all the
extravagant whims and fancies of his dame of a wife.
DANDIN, PERRIN, a simple citizen in the "Pantagruel" of Rabelais,
who seats himself judge-wise on the first stump that offers, and passes
offhand a sentence in any matter of litigation; a character who figures
similarly in a comedy of Racine's, and in a fable of La Fontaine's.
DAN`DOLO, a Venetian family that furnished four Doges to the
Republic, ENRICO being the most illustrious; chosen Doge in his
eighty-fourth year, assisted the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade with
ships; joined them, when blind and aged 90, in laying siege to
Constantinople; led the attack by sea, and was the first to leap ashore;
was offered the imperial crown, but declined it; died instead "despot" of
Roumania in 1205, at 97.
DANEGELT, originally a tax imposed on land to buy off the Danes from
the shores of England, and subsequently for other objects, such as the
defence of the coast; abolished by Henry II., though re-imposed
subsequently under other names.
DANELAGH, a district in the E. of England, N. of the Thames;
dominated at one time more or less by the Danes; of vague extent.
DANGEAU, MARQUIS, author of "Memoirs" affecting the court of Louis
XIV. and its manners (1638-1720).
D'ANGOULÊME, DUCHESSE, daughter of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette;
was released from restraint after the execution of her parents in
exchange for prisoners in the Royalist's hands; fled to Vienna, where she
was driven forth; married her cousin, to whom she was early betrothed;
could find no place of safe refuge but in England; returned to France on
Napoleon's exile to Elba, and headed a body of troops against him on his
return; after Waterloo, returned to France and stayed till July 1830, and
lived to see Louis Philippe, in 1848, driven from the throne; Napoleon
called her "the only man of her family"; left "Memoirs" (1778-1851).
DANGS, THE, a forest district in the N. of the Presidency of Bombay,
occupied by fifteen wild tribes, each under a chief.
DANIEL, a Hebrew of fine physique and rare endowment, who was, while
but a youth, carried captive to Babylon, and trained for office in the
court of the king; was found, after three years' discipline, to excel "in
wisdom and understanding" all the magicians and enchanters of the realm,
of which he gave such proof that he rose step by step to the highest
official positions, first in the Babylonian and then in the Persian
empire. He was a Hebrew prophet of a new type, for whereas the old
prophet had, for the most part, more regard to the immediate present and
its outlooks, his eye reached forth into the future and foresaw in
vision, as his book has foretold in symbol, the fulfilment of the hope
for which the fathers of his race had lived and died.
DANIEL, SAMUEL, English poet, born near Taunton; wrote dramas and
sonnets; his principal production a "History of the Civil Wars" of York
and Lancaster, a poem in seven books; is called the "Well-Englished
Daniel," and is much admired for his style; in prose he wrote a "History
of England," and a "Defence of Rhyme," which Swinburne pronounces to be
"one of the most perfect examples of sound sense, of pure style, and of
just judgment in the literature of criticism"; he is associated with
Warner and Drayton as having given birth to "a poetry which has devoted
itself to extol the glory of England" (1562-1619).
DANIELL, JOHN FREDERICK, a distinguished chemist, born in London;
professor of Chemistry in King's College, London; wrote "Meteorological
Essays," and "Introduction to Chemical Philosophy"; invented a hygrometer
and an electric battery (1790-1845).
DANIELL, WILLIAM, an eminent draughtsman; spent his early life in
India; author of "Oriental Scenery," in six folio vols. (1769-1837).
DANITES, or Destroying Angels, a band of Mormons organised to
prevent the entrance into Mormon territory of other than Mormon
immigrants, but whose leader, for a massacre they perpetrated, was in
1827 convicted and shot.
DANNECKER, JOHANN HEINRICH VON, a distinguished German sculptor,
born near Stuttgart, and educated by the Duke of Würtemberg, who had
become his patron; became professor of Sculpture in the Academy at
Stuttgart; his earlier subjects were from the Greek mythology, and his
later Christian, the principal of the latter being a colossal "Christ,"
which he took eight years to complete; he executed besides busts of
contemporaries, which are wonderful in expression, such as those of
Schiller, Lavater, and Glück; "Ariadne on the Panther" is regarded as his
masterpiece (1758-1841).
DANTE ALIGHIERI, the great poet of Italy, "the voice of ten silent
centuries," born in Florence; was of noble birth; showed early a great
passion for learning; learned all that the schools and universities of
the time could teach him "better than most"; fought as a soldier; did
service as a citizen; at thirty-five filled the office of chief
magistrate of Florence; had, while but a boy of ten, "met a certain
Beatrice Portinari, a beautiful girl of his own age and rank, and had
grown up in partial sight of her, in some distant intercourse with her,"
who became to him the ideal of all that was pure and noble and good;
"made a great figure in his poem and a great figure in his life"; she
died in 1290; he married another, "not happily, far from happily; in some
civic Guelf-Ghibelline strife he was expelled the city, and his property
confiscated; tried hard to recover it, even 'with arms in his hand,' but
could not, and was doomed, 'whenever caught, to be burned alive'; invited
to confess his guilt and return, he sternly answered: 'If I cannot return
without calling myself guilty, I will never return.'" From this moment he
was without home in this world; and "the great soul of Dante, homeless on
earth, made its home more and more in that awful other world ... over
which, this time-world, with its Florences and banishments, flutters as
an unreal shadow." Dante's heart, long filled with this, brooding over it
in speechless thought and awe, bursts forth at length into "mystic
unfathomable song," and this, his "DIVINE COMEDY" (q. v.), the
most remarkable of all modern Books, is the result. He died after
finishing it, not yet very old, at the age of 56. He lies buried in his
death-city Ravenna, "shutout from my native shores." The Florentines
begged back his body in a century after; the Ravenna people would not
give it (1265-1321). See CARLYLE'S "HEROES AND HERO-WORSHIP," and
Dean Plumptre's "LIFE OF DANTE."
DANTON, GEORGES JACQUES, "The Titan of the Forlorn Hope" of the
French Revolution, born at Arcis-sur-Aube, "of good farmer people ... a
huge, brawny, black-browed man, with a waste energy as of a Hercules"; an
advocate by profession, "esurient, but with nothing to do; found Paris
and his country in revolt, rose to the front of the strife; resolved to
do or die"; the cause threatened, he threw himself again and again into
the breach defiant, his motto "to dare, and to dare, and again to dare,"
so as to put and keep the enemy in fear; "Let my name be blighted," he
said, "what am I? The cause alone is great, and will live and not
perish"; but the "SEA-GREEN" (q. v.) viewed him with jealousy,
held him suspect, had him arrested, brought before the Revolutionary
Tribunal, the severity of whose proceedings under him he had condemned,
and sentenced to the guillotine; a reflection of his in prison has been
recorded: "Oh, it were better to be a poor fisherman than to meddle with
governing of men." "No weakness, Danton," he said to himself on the
scaffold, as his heart began to sink within him as he thought of his
wife. His last words were to Samson the headsman: "Thou wilt show my head
to the people, it is worth showing"; words worthy of the brother of
Mirabeau, who died saying, "I wish I could leave my head behind me,
France needs it just now"; a man fiery-real, as has been said, genuine to
the core, with many sins, yet lacking that greatest of sins, cant. "He
was," says Mr. Belloc, "the most French, the most national, the nearest
to the mother of all the Revolutionary group. He summed up France ...
when we study him, we see France" (1759-1794). See CARLYLE'S "FRENCH
REVOLUTION."
DANTZIG (116), the capital of W. Prussia, once a Hanse town, on the
Vistula, 4 m. from the mouth; one of the great ports and trading centres
of Germany and in the N. of Europe; it is traversed by canals, and many
of the houses are built on piles of wood; exports grain brought down the
river on timber rafts from the great grain country in the S.; it is one
of the chief stations of the German navy.
DANUBE, THE, the great south-eastward-flowing river of Europe, 1750
m. in length, rises in the Black Forest, and is divided into Upper,
Middle, and Lower; the Upper extends as far as Pressburg, begins to be
navigable to Ulm, flows NE. as far as Ratisbon, and then bends SE. past
Vienna; the Middle extends from Pressburg to the Iron Gate, enclosing
between its gorges a series of rapids, below Orsova; and the Lower
extends from the Iron Gate to the Black Sea. It receives numerous
tributary rivers, 60 of them navigable, in its course; forms with them
the great water highway of the SE. of Europe, and is of avail for traffic
to all the races and nations whose territories it traverses; the
navigation of the river is free indeed to all nations.
DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES, Moldavia and Wallachia.
DANVILLE, the name of several towns in the United States.
D'ANVILLE, geographer to the king of France; left numerous valuable
maps and geographical works (1697-1782).
DAPHNE (lit. a laurel), a nymph chased by Apollo, transformed into
a laurel as he attempts to seize her; henceforth sacred to the god.
DAPHNIS, a Sicilian shepherd, the mythical inventor of pastoral
poetry.
DAPSANG, the highest of the Karakorum Mountains.
D'ARBLAY, MADAME, a distinguished novelist, daughter of Dr. Burney,
the historian of music; authoress of "Evelina" and "Cecilia," the first
novels of the time, which brought her into connection with all her
literary contemporaries, Johnson in chief; left "Diary and Letters"
(1752-1840).
DARBOY, GEORGES, archbishop of Paris: was a defender of the Gallican
liberties of the Church; had been assiduous in offices of benevolence
during the siege of Paris; was arrested as a hostage by the Communists,
and shot (1813-1871).
DARBY AND JOAN, a married couple celebrated for their mutual
attachment.
DARBYITES, the PLYMOUTH BRETHREN (q. v.), from the name of
one of their founders, a man of scholarly ability and culture, and the
chief expounder of their views (1800-1852).
DARDANELLES, a strait extending between the Archipelago and the Sea
of Marmora, anciently called the Hellespont, 40 m. long, from 1 to 4
broad; commanded by Turkey, both sides of the strait being strongly
fortified.
DARDANUS, a son of Zeus and Electra, mythical ancestor of the
Trojans; originally a king in Greece.
DARFUR (500), a district in the Egyptian Soudan, in which vegetation
is for the most part dormant all the year round, except from June to
September, when it is rank and rich; was snatched from Egypt by the
Mahdi, but is now restored.
D'ARGENS, MARQUIS, born at Aix; disinherited owing to his
misconduct; turned author, and became a protégé of Frederick the Great,
but lost caste with him too, and was deprived of his all once more
(1704-1771).
D'ARGENSON, COMTE, an eminent French statesman, head of the police
in Paris; introduced _lettres de cachet_, and was a patron of the French
philosophes; had the "Encyclopédie" dedicated to him; fell out of favour
at Court, and had to leave Paris, but returned to die there (1696-1764).
DARIC, a gold coin current in ancient Persia, stamped with an archer
kneeling, and weighing little over a sovereign.
DARIEN, GULF OF, an inlet of the Caribbean Sea, NW. of S. America.
For isthmus of, see PANAMA.
DARIEN SCHEME, a project to plant a colony on the Atlantic side of
the Isthmus, which was so far carried out that some 1200 left Scotland in
1698 to establish it, but which ended in disaster, and created among the
Scotch, who were the chief sufferers, an animus against the English, whom
they blamed for the disaster, an animus which did not for long die out.
DARIUS I., eldest son of Hystaspes, king of the Persians; subdued
subject places that had revolted, reorganised the empire, carried his
conquests as far as India, subdued Thrace and Macedonia, declared war
against the Athenians; in 492 B.C. sent an expedition against Greece,
which was wrecked in a storm off Athos; sent a second, which succeeded in
crossing over, but was defeated in a famous battle at Marathon, 490 B.C.
DARIUS II., called OCHUS or NOTHUS, king of the Persians;
subject to his eunuchs and his wife Parysatis; his reign was a succession
of insurrections; he supported the Spartans against the Athenians, to the
ascendency of the former in the Peloponnesus; _d_. 405 B.C.
DARIUS III., surnamed CODOMANNUS, king of the Persians, a
handsome man and a virtuous; could not cope with Alexander of Macedon,
but was defeated by him in successive engagements at Granicus, Issus, and
Arbela; was assassinated on his flight by BESSUS (q. v.), one of
his satraps, in 330 B.C.; with him the Persian empire came to an end.
DARJEELING (14), a sanitary station and health resort in the Lower
Himalayas, and the administrative head-quarters of the district, 7167 ft.
above the level of the sea; it has greatly increased of late years.
DARLEY, GEORGE, poet and critic, born in Dublin; author of "Sylvia"
and "Nepenthe"; wrote some good songs, among them "I've been Roaming,"
once very popular; much belauded by Coleridge; contributed to the
_Athenæum_ (1795-1846).
DARLING, a tributary of the Murray River, in Australia, now
stagnant, now flooded.
DARLING, GRACE, a young maiden, daughter of the lighthouse keeper of
one of the Farne Islands, who with her father, amid great peril, saved
the lives of nine people from the wreck of the _Forfarshire_, on Sept. 7,
1838; died of consumption (1815-1842).
DARLINGTON (38), a town in S. of Durham, on the Tees, with large
iron and other works; a considerable number of the inhabitants belong to
the Society of Friends.
DARMESTETER, JAMES, Orientalist, born in Lorraine, of Jewish
descent; a distinguished Zend scholar and authority in Zend literature;
in the interpretation of the Zend and other ancient literatures was of
the modern critical school (1849-1894).
DARMSTADT (55), the capital of the grand-duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt,
on the Darm, an affluent of the Rhine, 15 m. S. of Frankfort; is divided
into an old and a new town; manufactures tobacco, paper, carpets,
chemicals, &c.
DARNLEY, HENRY STUART, LORD, eldest son of the Earl of Lennox and
grand-nephew of Henry VIII.; husband of Queen Mary; was murdered on Feb.
5, 1567, in Kirk-o'-Field, which stood on the site of the present
University of Edinburgh.
DARTMOOR, moor in Devonshire, a tableland of an average height of
1200 ft. above the sea-level, and of upwards of 120,000 acres in extent,
incapable of cultivation, but affording pasturage for sheep, of which it
breeds a small hardy race; it has rich veins of minerals; abounds in
British remains, and contains a large convict prison.
DARU, COMTE, a French administrator and littérateur, born at
Montpellier; translated Horace when in prison during the Reign of Terror;
served as administrator under Napoleon; on the return of the Bourbons
devoted himself to letters, and wrote the "History of the Republic of
Venice" (1767-1829).
DARWIN, CHARLES ROBERT, great English naturalist and biologist, born
at Shrewsbury, grandson of Erasmus Darwin on his father's side, and of
Josiah Wedgwood on his mother's; studied at Edinburgh and Cambridge; in
1831 accompanied as naturalist without salary the _Beagle_ in her voyage
of exploration in the Southern Seas, on the condition that he should have
the entire disposal of his collections, all of which he got, and which he
ultimately distributed among various public institutions; he was absent
from England for five years, and on his return published in 1836 his
"Naturalist's Voyage Round the World," in 1839-43 accounts of the fruits
of his researches and observations in the departments of geology and
natural history during that voyage, in 1842 his treatise on the
"Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs," and in 1859 his work on the
"Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection," a work which has
proved epoch-making and gone far to revolutionise thought in the
scientific study of, especially, animated nature, and is being applied to
higher spheres of being; this work was followed by others more or less
confirmatory, finishing off with "The Descent of Man" in 1871, in which
he traces the human race to an extinct quadrumanous animal related to
that which produced the orang-outang, the chimpanzee, and the gorilla. He
may be said to have taken evolution out of the region of pure
imagination, and by giving it a basis of fact, to have set it up as a
reasonable working hypothesis. Prof. A. R. Wallace claims for Darwin
"that he is the Newton of natural history, and has ... by his discovery
of the law of natural selection and his demonstration of the great
principles of the preservation of useful variations in the struggle for
life, not only thrown a flood of light on the process of development of
the whole organic world, but also established a firm foundation for the
future study of nature." He was buried in Westminster Abbey (1809-1882).
DARWIN, ERASMUS, physician and natural philosopher, born in
Nottinghamshire; studied at Cambridge and Edinburgh; practised medicine
in Lichfield, and finally settled in Derby; occupied his mind with the
study of fanciful analogies in the different spheres of nature, and
committed his views, often not without genuine poetic sentiment and
melody of expression, to verse, while in the views themselves there have
been recognised occasional glimpses of true insight, and at times a
foreshadow of the doctrine developed on strict scientific lines by his
illustrious grandson. His chief poetic works were the "Botanic Garden"
and the "Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic Life," deemed, in the
philosophy of them, not unworthy of criticism by such sane thinkers as
Paley and Dugald Stewart (1731-1802).
DARWINIAN THEORY, the theory established by Darwin that the several
species of plants and animals now in existence were not created in their
present form, but have been evolved by natural law of descent, with
modifications of structure, from cruder forms. See DARWIN, C. R.
DASENT, SIR GEORGE WEBBE, Icelandic scholar, born at St. Vincent,
West Indies; studied at Oxford; from 1845 to 1870 was assistant-editor of
the _Times_; has translated "The Prose, or Younger, Edda" and Norse tales
and sagas; written also novels, and contributed to reviews and magazines;
_b_. 1817.
DASH, COUNTESS, the _nom de plume_ of the Viscountess de Saint-Mars,
a French novelist, born at Poitiers; in straits for a living, took
desperately to writing; treated of aristocratic life and its hollow
artificialities and immoralities (1804-1872).
DASHKOFF, a Russian princess of note; played a part in the
conspiracy which ended in the elevation of Catharine II. to the throne;
was a woman of culture; founded the Russian Academy; projected and
assisted in the compilation of a Russian dictionary; died at Moscow
(1744-1810).
DATES OF EPOCH-MAKING EVENTS, the Ascendency in Athens of Pericles
(445 B.C.); the Fall of the Persian Empire (330 B.C.); the Death of
Alexander the Great (323 B.C.); the Reduction of Greece to a Roman
province, and the Ruin of Carthage (146 B.C.); the Battle of Actium (31
B.C.); Birth of Christ, 14th year of Augustus; Commencement of the
Middle Ages (395); Ruin of the Roman Empire by the Barbarians (476);
Clovis, ruler of Gaul (509); the Flight of Mahomet (622); Charlemagne,
Emperor of the West (800); Treaty of Verdun (843); the Crusades
(1096-1291); Employment of Cannon at Crécy (1346); Invention of Printing
(1436); Taking of Constantinople by Mahomet II. (1453); Discovery of
America by Columbus (1492); Copernican System published (1500); Accession
of Leo X. as Pope (1513); the Reformation of Luther (1517); Publication
of Bacon's "Novum Organon" (1620); Publication of Descartes's "Discourse
on Method" (1637); the Peace of Westphalia (1648); Reign of Louis XIV. at
its Height, and Peace of Nimeguen (1678); Publication of Newton's Theory
of Gravitation (1682); Watt's Invention of the Steam-Engine (1769);
Independence of the United States (1776); _Coup d'état_ of 10th Brumaire
(1799); Waterloo, and Congress of Vienna (1815); Introduction of
Railroads into England (1830); First Attempt at Electric Telegraphy in
France (1837); Africa traversed by Livingstone (1852-1854); Publication
of Darwin's "Origin of Species" (1859); Opening of the Suez Canal (1869);
Proclamation of the German Empire (1871); Congress of Berlin (1878).
DAUBENTON, LOUIS JEAN MARIE, a French naturalist, born at Montbard;
associated with Buffon in the preparation of the first 15 vols. of his
"Histoire Naturelle," and helped him materially by the accuracy of his
knowledge, as well as his literary qualifications; contributed largely to
the "Encyclopédie," and was 50 years curator of the Cabinet of Natural
History at Paris (1716-1799).
DAUBENY, CHARLES, English chemist and botanist, author of "A
Description of Active and Extinct Volcanoes," an "Introduction to the
Atomic Theory," and other works, all like the latter more or less related
to chemistry (1795-1867).
D'AUBIGNÉ, MERLE, a popular Church historian, born near Geneva;
studied under Neander at Berlin; became pastor at Hamburg, court-preacher
at Brussels, and professor of Church History at Geneva; his reputation
rests chiefly on his "History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth
Century" (1794-1872).
D'AUBIGNÉ, THEODORE AGRIPPA, a historian, bred to the military
profession; held appointments under Henry IV., on whose assassination he
returned to Geneva, where he wrote his "Histoire Universelle," which had
the honour to be burned by the common hangman in Paris; was a satirical
writer; grandfather to Mme. de Maintenon (1550-1630).
DAUBIGNY, CHARLES FRANÇOIS, a French landscape painter and skilful
etcher, born in Paris, attained distinction as an artist late in life
(1817-1878).
D'AUBUSSON, PIERRE, grand-master of the order of St. John of
Jerusalem, of French origin; served under the Emperor Sigismund against
the Turks; went to Rhodes; became a knight of St. John, and was chosen
grand-master; defended Rhodes against 100,000 Turks, and thus stayed the
career of Mahomet II., who, after establishing himself in Constantinople,
was threatening to overrun Europe (1423-1503).
DAUDET, ALPHONSE, a noted French novelist of great versatility, born
at Nîmes, of poor parents; early selected literature as his career in
life; wrote poems and plays, and contributed to the _Figaro_ and other
journals; worked up into his novels characters and situations that had
come under his own observation, often in too satirical a vein to become
universally popular; has been likened to Dickens in his choice of
subjects and style of treatment; died suddenly (1840-1897).
D'AULNOY, THE COUNTESS, authoress of charmingly-written "Contes des
Fées" (Fairy Tales), and on which her reputation rests (1650-1705).
DAUMIER, HENRI, a French caricaturist of great fertility and
playfulness of genius, born at Marseilles; became blind in his old age
(1808-1879).
DAUN, KARL, German theologian, born at Cassel, professor at
Heidelberg, sought to ground theology on a philosophic basis, and found
what he sought in the philosophy of Hegel (1765-1836).
DAUN, LEOPOLD, GRAF VON, an able Austrian general, born at Vienna;
distinguished himself by his prudence and valour in the Seven Years' War,
gained a victory over Frederick the Great at Kolin in 1757, and another
at Hochkirch in 1758; could prevail little or not at all against
Frederick afterwards as soon as Frederick saw through his tactics, which
he was not long in doing (1705-1766).
DAUPHIN, a name originally given to the _Seigneurs_ of the province
of Dauphiné, in allusion to the dolphin which several members of the
family wore as a badge, but in 1349 given to the heir-presumptive to the
crown of France, when Humbert II., dauphin of Vienne, ceded Dauphiné to
Philippe of Valois, on condition that the eldest son of the king of
France should assume the title, a title which was abolished after the
Revolution of 1830. The word signifies dolphin in French.
DAUPHINÉ, a SW. province of France, of which the capital was
Grenoble; annexed to the French crown under Philippe II. in 1349.
DAURAT, JEAN, French scholar, a member of the Pléiade (q. v.), and
who figures as one of the leading spirits in the fraternity (1507-1588).
DAVENANT, SIR WILLIAM, an English playwright, born at Oxford, who
succeeded Ben Jonson as poet-laureate, and was for a time manager of
Drury Lane; was knighted by Charles I. for his zeal in the Royalist
cause; his theatrical enterprise had small success during the
Commonwealth, but interest in it revived with the Restoration, at which
time "the drama broke loose from the prison of Puritanism to indulge in a
shameless license" (1606-1668).
DAVID, FÉLICIEN, a French composer, born at Vaucluse; author, among
other compositions, of the "Desert," a production which achieved an
instant and complete triumph; was in his youth an ardent disciple of St.
Simon (1810-1876).
DAVID, GERHARD, a Flemish painter; painted religious subjects,
several from the life of Christ (1450-1525).
DAVID, KING OF ISRAEL, 11th century B.C., born in Bethlehem; tended
the flocks of his father; slew Goliath with a stone and a sling; was
anointed by Samuel, succeeded Saul as king; conquered the Philistines;
set up his throne in Jerusalem, and reigned thirty-three years; suffered
much from his sons, and was succeeded by Solomon; the book of Psalms was
till recently accepted as wholly his by the Church, but that hypothesis
no longer stands the test of criticism.
DAVID, LOUIS, a French historical painter, born in Paris; studied in
Rome and settled in Paris; was carried away with the Revolution; joined
the Jacobin Club, swore eternal friendship with Robespierre; designed "a
statue of Nature with two _mammelles_ spouting out water" for the deputes
to drink to, and another of the sovereign people, "high as Salisbury
steeple"; was sentenced to the guillotine, but escaped out of regard for
his merit as an artist; appointed first painter by Napoleon, but on the
Restoration was banished and went to Brussels, where he died; among his
paintings are "The Oath of the Horatii," "The Rape of the Sabines," "The
Death of Socrates," and "The Coronation of Napoleon" (1748-1825).
DAVID D'ANGERS, a French sculptor, born at Angers; came to Paris and
became a pupil of the preceding, afterwards proceeded to Rome and
associated with Canova; executed in Paris a statue of the Great Condé,
and thereafter the pediment of the Pantheon, his greatest work, as well
as numerous medallions of great men; on a visit to Weimar he modelled a
bust of Goethe (1788-1856).
DAVID I., king of Scotland, youngest son of Malcolm Canmore and
Queen Margaret; was brought up at the English court; was prince of
Cumbria under the reign of his brother Alexander, on whose decease he
succeeded to the throne in 1124; on making a raid in England to avenge an
insult offered to his son Henry, was defeated at Northallerton in the
Battle of the Standard; addressed himself after this to the unification
of the country and civilisation of his subjects; founded and endowed
bishoprics and abbeys at the expense of the crown, on account of which he
was called St. David, and characterised by James VI., a successor of his,
as a "sair saunt to the croon"; the death of his son Henry was a great
grief to him, and shortened his days (1084-1153).
DAVID II., king of Scotland, son of King Robert the Bruce, born at
Dunfermline; succeeded his father when a boy of four; spent from 1334 to
1341 in France; was taken prisoner by the English at the battle of
Neville's Cross, and was afterwards, till his death, dependent on England
(1326-1371).
DAVID, ST., or DEWI, the patron saint of Wales, lived about the
5th century; archbishop of Caerleon; transferred his see to St. David's;
founded churches, opposed Pelagianism, and influenced many by the odour
of his good name.
DAVIDS, RHYS, professor of Pâli and Buddhist literature, born in
Colchester; author of "Buddhism: a Sketch of the Life and Teachings of
Gautama, the Buddha," and of other works in that department of
literature; _b_. 1843.
DAVIDSON, ANDREW BRUCE, Hebrew scholar and professor, born in
Aberdeenshire; a most faithful, clear, and effective interpreter of the
spirit of Hebrew literature, and influential for good as few men of the
time have been in matters of biblical criticism; _b_. 1831.
DAVIDSON, JOHN, poet and journalist, born at Barrhead, Renfrewshire;
has written novels and plays as well as poems; _b_. 1859.
DAVIDSON, SAMUEL, biblical scholar and exegete, born near Ballymena;
wrote Introductions to the Old and the New Testaments; was pioneer in the
higher criticism (1807-1898).
DAVIES, BEN, a popular tenor vocalist, born near Swansea in 1858.
DAVIES, SIR JOHN, poet and statesman, born in Wiltshire; wrote two
philosophic poems, "The Orchestra," a poem in which the world is
exhibited as a dance, and "Nosce Teipsum" (Know Thyself), a poem on human
learning and the immortality of the soul; became a favourite with James
I., and was sent Attorney-General to Ireland (1569-1626).
DAVILA, a celebrated historian, born near Padua, brought up in
France; served in the French army under Henry IV.; did military and other
service in Venice; was assassinated; his great work "The History of the
Civil War in France" (1576-1631).
DAVIS, JEFFERSON, President of the Confederate States, born in
Kentucky; entered the army; fought against the Indians; turned
cotton-planter; entered Congress as a Democrat; distinguished himself in
the Mexican war; defended slave-holding and the interests of
slave-holding States; was chosen President of the Confederate States;
headed the conflict with the North; fled on defeat, which he was the last
to admit; was arrested and imprisoned; released after two years; retired
into private life, and wrote a "History of the Rise and Fall of the
Confederate Government" (1808-1889).
DAVIS, JOHN, an English navigator, born near Dartmouth; took early
to the sea; conducted (1585-1587) three expeditions to the Arctic Seas in
quest of a NW. passage to India and China, as far N. as 73°; discovered
the strait which bears his name; sailed as pilot in two South Sea
expeditions, and was killed by Japanese pirates near Malacca; wrote the
"Seaman's Secret" (1550-1605).
DAVIS, THOMAS, an Irish patriot, born at Mallow; educated at Trinity
College, Dublin, and called to the Irish bar; took to journalism in the
interest of Irish nationality; founded the _Nation_ newspaper, and by his
contributions to it did much to wake up the intelligence of the country
to national interests; died young; was the author of "Songs of Ireland"
and "Essays on Irish Songs" (1814-1845).
DAVIS STRAIT, strait connecting Baffin's Bay with the Atlantic,
discovered by JOHN DAVIS (q. v.).
DAVITT, MICHAEL, a noted Irish patriot, born in co. Mayo, son of a
peasant, who, being evicted, settled in Lancashire; joined the Fenian
movement, and was sentenced to 15 years' penal servitude; released on
ticket-of-leave after seven years; founded the Land League; was for over
a year imprisoned again for breaking his ticket-of-leave; published in
1885 "Leaves from a Prison Diary"; entered Parliament in 1895 for co.
Mayo; _b_. 1846.
DAVOS-PLATZ, a village 5105 ft. above the sea-level, in a valley of
the East Grisons; a place frequented in winter by invalids suffering from
chest disease, the dry air and sunshine that prevail being favourable for
patients of that class.
DAVOUT, Duke of Auerstädt, Prince of Eckmühl, marshal of France,
born at Annoux, in Burgundy; was fellow-student with Napoleon at the
military school in Brienne; entered the army in 1788, served in the
Revolutionary wars under Dumouriez and Desaix, and became general; served
under Bonaparte in Egypt; distinguished himself at Austerlitz, Auerstädt,
Eckmühl, and Wagram; was made governor of Hamburg; accompanied Napoleon
to Moscow; returned to Hamburg, and defended it during a siege; was made
Minister of War in 1815, and assisted Napoleon in his preparations for
the final struggle at Waterloo; commanded the remains of the French army
which capitulated under the walls of Paris; adhered to the Bourbon
dynasty on its return, and was made a peer; was famous before all the
generals of Napoleon for his rigour in discipline (1770-1823).
DAVY, SIR HUMPHRY, a great English chemist, born at Penzance;
conceived early in life a passion for the science in which he made so
many discoveries; made experiments on gases and the respiration of them,
particularly nitrous oxide and carbonic acid; discovered the function of
plants in decomposing the latter in the atmosphere, and the metallic
bases of alkalies and earths; proved chlorine to be a simple substance
and its affinity with iodine, which he discovered; invented the
safety-lamp, his best-known achievement; he held appointments and
lectured in connection with all these discoveries and their applications,
and received knighthood and numerous other honours for his services; died
at Geneva (1778-1829).
DAVY JONES'S LOCKER, the sailors' familiar name for the sea as a
place of safe-keeping, though why called of Davy Jones is uncertain.
DAVY-LAMP, a lamp encased in gauze wire which, while it admits
oxygen to feed the flame, prevents communication between the flame and
any combustible or explosive gas outside.
DAWKINS, WILLIAM BOYD, geologist and palæontologist, born in
Montgomeryshire; has written "Cave Hunting," "Early Man in Britain," &c.;
_b_. 1838.
DAWSON, GEORGE, a popular lecturer, born in London; educated in
Aberdeen and Glasgow; bred for the ministry by the Baptist body, and
pastor of a Baptist church in Birmingham, but resigned the post for
ministry in a freer atmosphere; took to lecturing on a purely secular
platform, and was for thirty years the most popular lecturer of the day;
no course of lectures in any institute was deemed complete if his name
was not in the programme; did much to popularise the views of Carlyle and
Emerson (1821-1876).
DAWSON, SIR JOHN WILLIAM, geologist and naturalist, born in Pictou,
Nova Scotia; studied in Edinburgh; distinguished himself as a
palæontologist; published in 1872, "Story of the Earth and Man"; in 1877,
"Origin of the World"; and recently, "Geology and History"; called in
question the Darwinian theory as to the origin of species; _b_. 1820.
DAY, JOHN, an English dramatist, contemporary of Ben Jonson; author
of the "Parliament of Bees," a comedy in which all the characters are
bees.
DAY, THOMAS, an eccentric philanthropist, born in London; author of
"Sandford and Merton"; he was a disciple of Rousseau; had many a
ludicrous adventure in quest of a model wife, and happily fell in with
one to his mind at last; was a slave-abolitionist and a parliamentary
reformer (1748-1789).
DAYAKS. See DYAKS.
DAYTON (85), a prosperous town in Ohio, U.S.; a great railway
centre, with a court-house of marble, after the Parthenon in Athens.
D'AZARA, a Spanish naturalist, born in Aragon; spent 20 years in
South America; wrote a "Natural History of the Quadrupeds in Paraguay"
(1781-1811).
DEAD SEA, called also the Salt Sea and 'the Asphalt Lake, a sea in
Palestine, formed by the waters of the Jordan, 46 m. long, 10 m. broad,
and in some parts 1300 ft. deep, while its surface is 1312 ft. below the
level of the Mediterranean, just as much as Jerusalem is above it; has no
outlet; its waters, owing to the great heat, evaporate rapidly, and are
intensely salt; it is enclosed E. and W. by steep mountains, which often
rise to a height of 6000 ft.
DEÁK, FRANCIS, an eminent Hungarian statesman, born at Kehida, of an
ancient noble Magyar family; his aim for Hungary was the same as that of
CAVOUR (q. v.) for Italy, the establishment of constitutional
government, and he succeeded; standing all along as he did from Hungarian
republicanism on the one hand, and Austrian tyranny on the other, he
urged on the Emperor of Austria the demand of the Diet, of which he had
become leader, at first without effect, but after the humiliation of
Austria in 1866, all that he asked for was conceded, and the Austrian
Emperor received the Hungarian crown (1803-1876).
DEAL (9), a town, one of the old Cinque ports, oil the E. of Kent,
opposite the Goodwin Sands, 89 m. from London, with a fine sea-beach;
much resorted to for sea-bathing quarters.
DEAN, FOREST OF, a forest of 22,000 acres in the W. of
Gloucestershire, between the Severn and the Wye; the property of the
Crown for the most part; the inhabitants are chiefly miners, who at one
time enjoyed special privileges.
DEAN OF GUILD, a burgh magistrate in Scotland who has the care of
buildings, originally the head of the Guild brethren of the town.
DEAN OF ST. PATRICK'S, Jonathan Swift, who held that post from 1713
till his death.
DEANS, DAVIE, EFFIE, AND JEANIE, characters in the "Heart of
Midlothian."
DÉBATS, JOURNAL DES, a daily paper, established in 1789; it defends
at present the Conservative Republican policy, and publishes often
remarkable literary articles.
DEBENTURE, a deed acknowledging a debt on a specified security.
DEBO`RAH, a Hebrew prophetess; reckoned one of the judges of Israel
by her enthusiasm to free her people from the yoke of the Canaanites;
celebrated for her song of exultation over their defeat, instinct at once
with pious devotion and with revengeful feeling; Coleridge calls her
"this Hebrew Boadicea."
DEBRECZEN (56), a Hungarian town, 130 m. E. of Buda-Pesth; is the
head-quarters of Protestantism in the country, and has an amply equipped
and a largely attended Protestant College; is a seat of manufactures and
a large trade.
DECAMERON, a collection of a hundred tales, conceived of as
rehearsed in ten days at a country-house during the plague at Florence;
are of a licentious character, but exquisitely told; were written by
Boccaccio; published in 1352; the name comes from _deka_, ten, and
_hemera_, a day.
DECAMPS, ALEXANDRA GABRIEL, a distinguished French painter, born in
Paris; brought up as a boy among the peasants of Picardy; represented
nature as he in his own way saw it himself, and visited Switzerland and
the East, where he found materials for original and powerful pictures;
his pictures since his death have brought great prices (1803-1860).
DE CANDOLLE, AUGUSTIN PYRAME, an eminent botanist, born at Geneva,
of Huguenot descent; studied in Paris; attracted the attention of Cuvier
and Lamarck, whom he assisted in their researches; published his "Flore
Française," in six vols.; became professor at Montpellier, and then at
Geneva; is the historical successor of Jussieu; his great contribution to
botanical science is connected with the classification of plants
(1778-1841).
DECA`TUR, STEPHEN, an American naval commodore; distinguished for
his feats of valour displayed in the war with Tripoli and with England
(1779-1820).
DECCAN, a triangular plateau of from 2000 to 3000 ft. of elevation
in the Indian peninsula, extending S. of the Vindhya Mountains; is
densely peopled, and contains some of the richest soil in the globe.
DECEMBER, the twelfth month of the year, so called, i. e. tenth,
by the Romans, as their year began with March.
DEC`EMVIRS, the patricians of Rome, with Consular powers, appointed
in 450 B.C. to prepare a code of laws for the Republic, which, after
being agreed upon, were committed first to ten, then to twelve tables,
and set up in the Forum that all might read and know the law they lived
under.
DECIUS, Roman emperor from 249 to 251; was a cruel persecutor of the
Christians; perished in a morass fighting with the Goths, who were a
constant thorn in his side all through his reign.
DECIUS MUS, the name of three Romans, father, son, and grandson, who
on separate critical emergencies (340, 295, 279 B.C.) devoted themselves
in sacrifice to the infernal gods in order to secure victory to the Roman
arms; the name is mostly employed ironically.
DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, the immortal work of Gibbon,
of which the first volume was published in 1776.
DECRETALS, THE, a collection of laws added to the canon law of the
Church of Rome, being judicial replies of the Popes to cases submitted to
them from time to time for adjudication.
DEE, JOHN, an alchemist, born in London; a man of curious learning;
earned the reputation of being a sorcerer; was imprisoned at one time,
and mobbed at another, under this imputation; died in poverty; left 79
works, the majority of which were never printed, though still extant in
MS. in the British Museum and other places of safe-keeping (1527-1608).
DEFAUCONPRET, French littérateur; translator of the novels of Sir
Walter Scott and Fenimore Cooper (1767-1843).
DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, a title conferred by Pope Leo X. in 1521 upon
Henry VIII. for his defence of the Catholic faith in a treatise against
Luther, and retained ever since by the sovereigns of England, though
revoked by Pope Paul III. in 1535 in consequence of Henry's apostasy.
DEFFAND, MARIE, MARQUISE DU, a woman of society, famed for her wit
and gallantry; corresponded with the eminent philosophes of the time, in
particular Voltaire, as well as with Horace Walpole; her letters are
specially brilliant, and display great shrewdness; she is characterised
by Prof. Saintsbury as "the typical French lady of the eighteenth
century"; she became blind in 1753, but retained her relish for society,
though at length she entered a monastery, where she died (1697-1780).
DEFOE, DANIEL, author of "Robinson Crusoe," born in London; bred for
the Dissenting ministry; turned to business, but took chiefly to
politics; was a zealous supporter of William III.; his ironical treatise,
"The Shortest Way with Dissenters" (1703), which, treated seriously, was
burned by order of the House of Commons, led to his imprisonment and
exposed him for three days to the pillory, amidst the cheers, however,
not the jeers, of the mob; in prison wrote a "Hymn to the Pillory," and
started his _Review_; on his release he was employed on political
missions, and wrote a "History of the Union," which he contributed to
promote. The closing years of his life were occupied mainly with literary
work, and it was then, in 1719, he produced his world-famous "Robinson
Crusoe"; has been described as "master of the art of forging a story and
imposing it on the world for truth." "His circumstantial invention," as
Stopford Brooke remarks, "combined with a style which exactly fits it by
its simplicity, is the root of the charm of his great story" (1661-1731).
DEGE`RANDO, BARON, a French philanthropist and philosopher, born at
Lyons, of Italian descent; wrote "History of Philosophy," long in repute
as the best French work on the subject (1772-1842).
DEIANEIRA, the wife of Hercules, whose death she had been the
unwitting cause of by giving him the poisoned robe which NESSUS
(q. v.) had sent her as potent to preserve her husband's love; on
hearing the fatal result she killed herself in remorse and despair.
DEIPHOBUS, a son of Priam and Hecuba, second in bravery to Hector;
married Helen after the death of Paris, and was betrayed by her to the
Greeks.
DEIR-AL-KAMAR, a town in Syria, once the capital of the Druses, on a
terrace in the heart of the Lebanon Mountains.
DEISM, belief on purely rational grounds in the existence of God,
and distinguished from theism as denying His providence.
DEISTS, a set of free-thinkers of various shades, who in England, in
the 17th and 18th centuries, discarded revelation and the supernatural
generally, and sought to found religion on a purely rational basis.
DÉJAZET, VIRGINIE, a celebrated French actress, born in Paris; made
her _début_ at five years of age (1797-1875).
DEKKER, THOMAS, a dramatist, born in London; was contemporary of Ben
Jonson, between whom and him, though they formerly worked together, a
bitter animosity arose; wrote lyrics as well as dramas, which are light
comedies, and prose as well as poetry; the most famous among his prose
works, "The Gull's Hornbook," a pamphlet, in which he depicts the life of
a young gallant; his pamphlets are valuable (1570-1641).
DE LA BECHE, SIR HENRY THOMAS, geologist, born in London; wrote the
"Depth and Temperature of the Lake of Geneva," and published a "Manual of
Geology" and the "Geological Observer"; was appointed head of the
Geological Survey in England (1796-1855).
DELACROIX, EUGÈNE, a French painter, born at Charenton, dep. of
Seine; one of the greatest French painters of the 19th century; was the
head of the French Romantic school, a brilliant colourist and a daring
innovator; his very first success, "Dante crossing Acheron in Charon's
Boat," forms an epoch in the history of contemporary art; besides his
pictures, which were numerous, he executed decorations and produced
lithographic illustrations of "Hamlet," "Macbeth," and Goethe's "Faust"
(1799-1863).
DELAGOA BAY, an inlet in the SE. of Africa, E. of the Transvaal,
subject to Portugal; stretches from 25° 30' to 26° 20' S.; extends 52 m.
inland, where the Transvaal frontier begins, and between which and it a
railway of 52 m., constructed by an English company, extends.
DELAISTRE, a French statuary, born in Paris (1836-1891).
DELAMBRE, JEAN JOSEPH, an eminent French astronomer, born at Amiens,
a pupil of Lalande; measured with Méchain the arc of the meridian between
Dunkirk and Barcelona towards the establishment of the metric system;
produced numerous works of great value, among others "Theoretical and
Practical Astronomy" and the "History of Astronomy" (1749-1822).
DELANE, JOHN THADEUS, editor of the _Times_, born in London; studied
at Oxford; after some experience as a reporter was put on the staff of
the _Times_, and in 1841 became editor, a post he continued to hold for
36 years; was the inspiring and guiding spirit of the paper, but wrote
none of the articles (1817-1879).
DELAROCHE, PAUL, a French historical painter and one of the
greatest, born in Paris; was the head of the modern Eclectic school, so
called as holding a middle place between the Classical and Romantic
schools of art; among his early works were "St. Vincent de Paul preaching
before Louis XIII." and "Joan of Arc before Cardinal Beaufort"; the
subjects of his latest pictures are from history, English and French,
such as "The Princes in the Tower" and "Cromwell contemplating the corpse
of Charles I.," a great work; but the grandest monument of his art is the
group of paintings with which he adorned the wall of the semicircle of
the Palais des Beaux Arts in Paris, which he completed in 1841
(1797-1856).
DELAUNAY, LE VICOMTE, the _nom de plume_ of Mme. Delphine, under
which she published her "Parisian Letters."
DELAUNAY, LOUIS ARSÈNE, a great French actor, born in Paris; made
his _début_ in 1846, retired 1887.
DELAVIGNE, CASIMIR, a popular French lyric poet and dramatist, born
at Havre; his verse was conventional and without originality (1793-1843).
DELAWARE (168), one of the Atlantic and original States of the
American Union, as well as the smallest of them; the soil is rather poor,
but porcelain clay abounds.
DELCASSÉ, THÉOPHILE, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, born at
Pamiers; began life as a journalist; was elected to the Chamber in 1889;
became Colonial Minister; advocated colonial expansion; dealt skilfully
with the Fashoda affair as Foreign Minister; _b_. 1852.
DELECTABLE MOUNTAINS, mountains covered with sheep in the "Pilgrim's
Progress," from which the pilgrim obtains a view of the Celestial City.
DELESCLUZE, a French Communist, born at Dreux; was imprisoned and
transported for his extreme opinions; started a journal, the _Rèveil_, in
1868, to advocate the doctrines of the International; was mainly
answerable for the atrocities of the Paris Commune; was killed in the
barricades (1809-1871).
DELFT (27), a Dutch town, S m. NW. of Rotterdam, once famous for its
pottery; is intersected by canals; has an important polytechnic school.
DELGADO, a cape of E. Africa, on the border between Zanzibar and
Mozambique.
DELHI (192), on the right bank of the Jumna, once the capital of the
Mogul empire and the centre of the Mohammedan power in India; it is a
great centre of trade, and is situated in the heart of India; it contains
the famous palace of Shah Jahan, and the Jama Masjid, which occupies the
heart of the city, and is the largest and finest mosque in India, which
owes its origin to Shah Jahan; it is walled, is 51 m. in circumference,
and divided into Hindu, Mohammedan, and European quarters; it was
captured by Lord Lake in 1803, and during the Mutiny by the Sepoys, but
after a siege of seven days retaken in 1857.
DELIGHT OF MANKIND, the Roman Emperor Trajan.
DELILAH, the Philistine woman who beguiled and betrayed Samson.
DELILLE, JACQUES, a French poet, born at Aigues Perse, in Auvergne;
translator of the "Georgics" of Virgil into verse, afterwards the "Æneid"
and "Paradise Lost," besides producing also certain didactic and
descriptive works; was a good versifier, but properly no poet, and much
overrated; died blind (1738-1813).
DELITZSCH, FRANZ, a learned biblical scholar and exegete, born at
Leipzig; his commentaries, which are numerous, were of a conservative
tendency; he wrote on Jewish antiquities, biblical psychology, and
Christian apologetics; was professor at Erlangen and Leipzig
successively, where his influence on the students was distinctly marked
(1813-1899).
DELIUS, NICOLAUS, a German philologist, born at Bremen;
distinguished especially as a student of Shakespeare and for his edition
of Shakespeare's works, which is of transcendent merit (1813-1888).
DELIA CRUSCANS, a set of English sentimental poetasters, the leaders
of them hailing from Florence, that appeared in England towards the close
of the 18th century, and that for a time imposed on many by their
extravagant panegyrics of one another, the founder of the set being one
Robert Merry, who signed himself _Della Crusca_; he first announced
himself by a sonnet to Love, in praise of which Anne Matilda wrote an
incomparable piece of nonsense; "this epidemic spread for a term from
fool to fool," but was soon exposed and laughed out of existence.
DELLYS (3), a seaport in Algeria, 49 m. E. of Algiers.
DELOLME, JOHN LOUIS, a writer on State polity, born at Geneva, bred
to the legal profession; spent some six years in England as a refugee;
wrote a book on the "Constitution of England," and in praise of it, which
was received for a time with high favour in the country, but is now no
longer regarded as an authority; wrote a "History of the Flagellants,"
and on "The Union of Scotland with England" (1740-1806).
DELORME, a French architect, born at Lyons; studied in Rome; was
patronised by Catherine de Medici; built the palace of the Tuileries, and
contributed to the art of building (1518-1577).
DELORME, MARION, a Frenchwoman celebrated for her wit and
fascination, born at Châlons-sur-Marne; came to Paris in the reign of
Louis XIII., where her drawing-room became the rendezvous of all the
celebrities of the time, many of whom were bewitched by her charms; she
gave harbour to the chiefs of the Fronde, and was about to be arrested
when she died; the story that her death was a feint, and that she had
subsequent adventures, is distrusted; she is the subject of a drama by
Victor Hugo (1612-1650).
DELOS, the smallest and central island of the Cyclades, the
birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, and where the former had a famous
oracle; it was, according to the Greek mythology, a floating island, and
was first fixed to the spot by Zeus to provide Leda with a place, denied
her elsewhere by Hera, in which to bring forth her twin offspring; it was
at one time a centre of Apollo worship, but is now uninhabited, and only
frequented at times by shepherds with their flocks.
DELPHI, a town of ancient Greece in Phocis, at the foot of
Parnassus, where Apollo had a temple, and whence he was wont to issue his
oracles by the mouth of his priestess the Pythia, who when receiving the
oracle used to sit on a tripod over an opening in the ground through
which an intoxicating vapour exhaled, deemed the breath of the god, and
that proved the vehicle of her inspiration; the Pythian games were
celebrated here.
DELPHIN CLASSICS, an edition of the Greek and Roman classics, edited
by Bossuet and Huet, assisted by thirty-nine scholars, for the use of the
dauphin of Louis XIV.; of little use now.
DELPHINE, a novel by Mme. de Staël; presumed to be an idealised
picture of herself.
DELTA, the signature of D. Macbeth Moir in _Blackwood's Magazine_.
DELUC, JEAN ANDRÉ, geologist, born in Geneva; lived in England; was
reader to Queen Charlotte, and author of several works (1727-1817).
DELUGE, name given to the tradition, common to several races, of a
flood of such universality as to sweep the land, if not the earth, of all
its inhabitants, except the pair by whom the land of the earth was
repeopled.
DEM`ADES, an Athenian orator, a bitter enemy of Demosthenes, in the
interest of Philip of Macedon; put to death for treason by Antipater, 318
B.C.; was a man of no principle, but a great orator.
DEMARA`TUS, king of Sparta from 510 to 491 B.C.; dispossessed of
his crown, fled to Persia and accompanied Xerxes into Greece.
DEMAVEND, MOUNT, an extinct volcano, the highest peak (18,600 ft.)
of the Elburz chain, in Persia.
DEMBEA, a lake, the largest in Abyssinia, being 60 m. long and 6000
ft. above the sea-level, from which the Blue Nile issues.
DEMBINSKI, HENRY, a Polish general, born near Cracow; served under
Napoleon against Russia, under Kossuth against Austria; fled to Turkey on
the resignation of Kossuth; died in Paris (1791-1864).
DEMERARA, a division of British Guiana; takes its name from the
river, which is 200 m. long, and falls into the Atlantic at Georgetown.
DEMETER (lit. Earth-mother), the great Greek goddess of the earth,
daughter of Kronos and Rhea and sister of Zeus, and ranks with him as one
of the twelve great gods of Olympus; is specially the goddess of
agriculture, and the giver of all the earth's fruits; the Latins call her
Ceres.
DEMETRIUS, the name of two kings of Macedonia who ruled over the
country, the first from 290 to 289 B.C., and the second from 240 to 229
B.C.
DEMETRIUS, or DIMITRI, the name of several sovereigns of
Russia, and of four adventurers called the four false Dimitri.
DEMETRIUS I., Soter (i. e. saviour), king of Syria from 162 to 150
B.C.; was grandson of Antiochus the Great. D. II., Nicator (i. e.
conqueror), king of Syria from 143 to 125 B.C. D. III., Eucæros
(i. e. the happy), king of Syria in 95, died in 84 B.C.
DEMETRIUS PHALEREUS, an eminent Athenian orator, statesman, and
historian, born at Phalerus, a seaport of Athens; was held in high honour
in Athens for a time as its political head, but fell into dishonour,
after which he lived retired and gave himself up to literary pursuits;
died from the bite of an asp; left a number of works (345-283 B.C.).
DEMIDOFF, a Russian family distinguished for their wealth, descended
from a serf of Peter the Great, and who amassed a large fortune by
manufacturing firearms for him, and were raised by him to the rank of
nobility; they were distinguished in the arts, in arms, and even
literature; ANATOL in particular, who travelled over the SE. of
Europe, and wrote an account of his travels, a work magnificently
illustrated.
DEMIGOD, a hero elevated in the imagination to the rank of a
divinity in consequence of the display of virtues and the achievement of
feats superior to those of ordinary men.
DEMI-MONDE, a class in Parisian society dressing in a fashionable
style, but of questionable morals.
DEMIURGUS, a name employed by Plato to denote the world-soul, the
medium by which the idea is made real, the spiritual made material, the
many made one, and it was adopted by the Gnostics to denote the
world-maker as a being derived from God, but estranged from God, being
environed in matter, which they regarded as evil, and so incapable as
such of redeeming the soul from matter, from evil, such as the God of the
Jews, and the Son of that God, conceived of as manifest in flesh.
DEMOCRACY has been defined to be government of the people by the
people and for the people, or as a State in which the government rests
directly with the majority of the citizens, but this under the protest of
some that it is not an end but a means "to the attainment of a truer and
truer aristocracy, or government again by the Best."
DEMOCRATS, a political party in the United States that contends for
the rights of the several States to self-government as against undue
centralisation.
DEMOCRITUS, a Greek philosopher, born in Abdera, Thrace, of wealthy
parents; spent his patrimony in travel, gathered knowledge from far and
near, and gave the fruits of it in a series of writings to his
contemporary compatriots, only fragments of which remain, though they
must have come down comparatively entire to Cicero's time, who compares
them for splendour and music of eloquence to Plato's; his philosophy was
called the _Atomic_, as he traced the universe to its ultimate roots in
combinations of atoms, in quality the same but in quantity different, and
referred all life and sensation to movements in them, while he regarded
quiescence as the _summum bonum_; he has been called the Laughing
Philosopher from, it is alleged, his habit of laughing at the follies of
mankind; _b_. 460 B.C.
DEMOCRITUS JUNIOR, a pseudonym under which Burton published his
"Anatomy of Melancholy."
DEMOGEOT, French littérateur, born at Paris; wrote a history of
literature, chiefly French (1808-1894).
DEMOGORGON, a terrible deity, the tyrant of the elves and fairies,
who must all appear before him once every five years to give an account
of their doings.
DEMOIVRE, ABRAHAM, a mathematician, born in Champagne; lived most of
his life in England to escape, as a Protestant, from persecution in
France; became a friend of Newton, and a Fellow of the Royal Society, and
was of such eminence as a mathematician that he was asked to arbitrate
between the claims of Newton and Leibnitz to the invention of fluxions
(1667-1754).
DEMON, or DAIMON, a name which Socrates gave to an inner divine
instinct which corresponds to one's destiny, and guides him in the way he
should go to fulfil it, and is more or less potent in a man according to
his purity of soul.
DE MORGAN, AUGUSTUS, an eminent mathematician, born in Madura, S.
India; was professor of Mathematics in London University from 1828 till
his death, though he resigned the appointment for a time in consequence
of the rejection of a candidate, James Martineau, for the chair of logic,
on account of his religious opinions; wrote treatises on almost every
department of mathematics, on arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry,
differential and integral calculus, the last pronounced to be "the most
complete treatise on the subject ever produced in England"; wrote also
"Formal Logic" (1806-1871).
DEMOSTHENES, the great Athenian orator, born in Athens; had many
impediments to overcome to succeed in the profession, but by ingenious
methods and indomitable perseverance he subdued them all, and became the
first orator not of Greece only, but of all antiquity; a stammer in his
speech he overcame by practising with pebbles in his mouth, and a natural
diffidence by declaiming on the sea-beach amid the noise of the waves;
while he acquired a perfect mastery of the Greek language by binding
himself down to copy five times over in succession Thucydides' "History
of the Peloponnesian War"; he employed 15 years of his life in
denunciation of Philip of Macedon, who was bent on subjugating his
country; pronounced against him his immortal "Philippics" and
"Olynthiacs"; took part in the battle of Cheronea, and continued the
struggle even after Philip's death; on the death of Alexander he gave his
services as an orator to the confederated Greeks, and in the end made
away with himself by poison so as not to fall into the hands of Autipater
(385-322 B.C.). See CTESIPHON.
DEMPSTER, THOMAS, a learned Scotchman, born in Aberdeenshire; held
several professorships on the Continent; was the author of "Historia
Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum," a work of great learning, but of
questionable veracity; has been reprinted by the Bannatyne Club; his last
days were embittered by the infidelity of his wife (1579-1625).
DENARIUS, a silver coin among the Romans, first coined in 269 B.C.,
and worth 8½ d.
DENBIGH (6), the county town of Denbighshire, in the Vale of the
Clwyd, 30 m. W. of Chester; manufactures shoes and leather.
DENBIGHSHIRE (117), a county in North Wales, of rugged hills and
fertile vales, 40 m. long and 17 m. on an average broad, with a
coal-field in the NE., and with mines of iron, lead, and slate.
DENDERA, a village in Upper Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile, 28
m. N. of Thebes, on the site of ancient Tentyra, with the ruins of a
temple in almost perfect preservation; on the ceiling of a portico of
which there was found a zodiac, now in the museum of the Louvre in Paris,
and dates from the period of Cleopatra and the early Roman emperors, and
has sculptured portraits of that queen and her son Cæsarion.
DENGUE, a disease peculiar to the tropics, occurs in hot weather,
and attacks one suddenly with high fever and violent pains, and after a
relapse returns in a milder form and leaves the patient very weak.
DENHAM, DIXON, an English traveller, companion of Clapperton;
visited Bornu and Lake Tchad (1785-1828).
DENHAM, SIR JOHN, an English poet, born at Dublin, the son of an
Irish judge; took to gambling and squandered his patrimony; was unhappy
in his marriage, and his mind gave way; is best known as the author of
"Cooper's Hill," a descriptive poem, interspersed with reflections, and
written in smooth flowing verse (1615-1669).
DENINA, CARLO, an Italian historian, born in Piedmont; banished from
Italy for a cynical remark injurious to the monks; paid court to
Frederick the Great in Berlin, where he lived a good while, and became
eventually imperial librarian in Paris under Napoleon (1731-1813).
DENIS, a king of Portugal from 1279 to 1325; the founder of the
University of Coimbra and the Order of Christ.
DENIS, ST., the apostle of the Gauls, the first bishop of Paris, and
the patron saint of France; suffered martyrdom in 270.
DENIS, ST., a town 6 m. N. of Paris, within the line of the
fortifications, with an abbey which contains the remains of St. Denis,
and became the mausoleum of the kings of France.
DENISON, EDWARD, philanthropist; distinguished by his self-denying
benevolent labours in the East End of London (1840-1870).
DENISON, GEORGE ANTHONY, archdeacon of Taunton, born in Notts; was
charged with holding views on the eucharist inconsistent with the
teaching of the Church of England, first condemned and then acquitted on
appeal; a stanch High Churchman, and equally opposed to Broad Church and
Low; _b_. 1805.
DENISON, JOHN EVELYN, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1858 to
1872, brother of the above (1800-1873).
DENMAN, LORD, Lord Chief-Justice of England from 1832 to 1850, born
in London; was along with Brougham counsel for Queen Caroline
(1779-1854).
DENMARK (2,182), the smallest of the three Scandinavian kingdoms,
consisting of Jutland and an archipelago of islands in the Baltic Sea,
divided into 18 counties, and is less than half the size of Scotland; is
a low-lying country, no place in it more above the sea-level than 500
ft., and as a consequence has no river to speak of, only meres or lakes;
the land is laid out in cornfields and grazing pastures; there are as
good as no minerals, but abundance of clay for porcelain; while the
exports consist chiefly of horses, cattle, swine, hams, and butter; it
has 1407 m. of railway, and 8686 of telegraph wires; the government is
constitutional, and the established religion Lutheran.
DENNEWITZ, a village in Brandenburg, 40 m. SW. of Berlin, where
Marshal Ney with 70,000 was defeated by Marshal Bülow with 50,000.
DENNIS, JOHN, a would-be dramatist and critic, born in London, in
constant broils with the wits of his time; his productions were worth
little, and he is chiefly remembered for his attacks on Addison and Pope,
and for the ridicule these attacks brought down at their hands on his own
head, from Pope in "Narrative of the Frenzy of John Dennis," and
"damnation to everlasting fame" in "Dunciad"; he became blind, and was
sunk in poverty, when Pope wrote a prologue to a play produced for his
benefit (1657-1734).
DENS, PETER, a Catholic theologian, born at Boom near Antwerp;
author of a work entitled "Theologia Moralis et Dogmatica," a minute and
casuistic vindication in catechetical form of the tenets of the Catholic
Church, and in use as a text-book in Catholic colleges (1690-1775).
DENTATUS, M. CURIUS, a Roman of the old stamp; as consul gained two
victories over rival States and two triumphs in one year; drove Pyrrhus
out of Italy (275 B.C.), and brought to Rome immense booty, of which he
would take nothing to himself; in his retirement took to tilling a small
farm with his own hand.
DENVER (134), the capital of Colorado, U.S., on a plain 5196 ft.
above the sea-level; originally founded as a mining station in 1858, now
a large and flourishing and well-appointed town; is the centre of a great
trade, and a great mining district.
DEODAR (25), a small protected independent State in the NW. of
Gujarat, India.
DEODORAKI, a glacier in the Caucasus Mountains.
DEPARCIEUX, French mathematician, born at Cessoux, dep. of Gard;
known for the "Tables" which bear his name, containing a reckoning of the
chances of longevity for different ages (1703-1768).
DEPARTMENT, a territorial division in France instituted in 1790,
under which the old division into provinces was broken up; each
department, of which there are now 87, is broken up into arrondissements.
DEPPING, a learned French historian, born at Münster; wrote a
"History of Normandy," and on "Trade of Europe with the Levant"
(1784-1853).
DEPTFORD (101), a town on the S. bank of the Thames, partly in Kent
and partly in Surrey, now forming part of London; once with an extensive
Government dockyard and arsenal, the site of it purchased by the
Corporation of London as a market for foreign cattle; is now the central
station for the Electric Light Company.
DE QUINCEY, THOMAS, a great English prose writer, born in
Manchester; son of a merchant called Quincey; his father dying, he was
under a guardian, who put him to school, from which in the end he ran
away, wandered about in Wales for a time, and by-and-by found his way to
London; in 1803 was sent to Oxford, which in 1807 he left in disgust; it
was here as an anodyne he took to opium, and acquired that habit which
was the bane of his life; on leaving Oxford he went to Bath beside his
mother, where he formed a connection by which he was introduced to
Wordsworth and Southey, and led to settle to literary work at Grasmere,
in the Lake District; here he wrote for the reviews and magazines,
particularly _Blackwood's_, till in 1821 he went up to London and
published his "Confessions" under the _nom de plume_ of "The English
Opium-Eater"; leaving Grasmere in 1828 he settled in Edinburgh, and at
Polton, near Lasswade, where he died; is characterised by Stopford Brooke
as "owing to the overlapping and involved melody of his style one of our
best, as he is one of our most various miscellaneous writers"; he was a
writer of very miscellaneous ability and acquirement (1785-1859).
DERBEND (14), capital of Russian Daghestan, on the W. of the Caspian
Sea, 140 m. NW. of Baku.
DERBY (94), county town of Derbyshire, on the Derwent, with
manufactures of silk, cotton hosiery, lace, porcelain, &c.; it is the
centre of a great railway system.
DERBY, CHARLOTTE COUNTESS OF, wife of the 7th Earl who was taken
prisoner at Worcester in 1651, and was beheaded at Bolton; famous for her
gallant defence of Lathom House against the Parliamentary forces, which
she was obliged to surrender; lived to see the Restoration; _d_. 1663.
DERBY, 14TH EARL OF, British statesman, born at Knowsley Hall,
Lancashire; entered Parliament in 1820 in the Whig interest, and was
hailed as an accession to their ranks by the Whigs; supported the cause
of reform; in 1830 became Chief Secretary for Ireland under Earl Grey's
administration; introduced a coercive measure against the Repeal
agitation of O'Connell; contributed to the passing of the Reform Bill in
1832; seceded from the Whigs in 1834, and became Colonial Secretary in
1845 under a Conservative administration, but when Sir Robert Peel
brought in a bill to repeal the Corn Laws, he retired from the Cabinet,
and in 1848 became the head of the Protectionist party as Earl of Derby,
to which title he succeeded in 1851; was after that Prime Minister three
times over, and it was with his sanction Disraeli carried his Reform Act
of 1867, though he spoke of it as "a leap in the dark"; he resigned his
Premiership in 1868, and the last speech he made was against the Irish
Disestablishment Bill; was distinguished for his scholarship as well as
his oratory, and gave proof of this by his scholarly translation of the
"Iliad" of Homer (1797-1869).
DERBY, 15TH EARL OF, eldest son of the preceding; entered Parliament
as Lord Stanley in 1848; was a member of the three Derby administrations,
in the first and third in connection with foreign affairs, and in the
second as Secretary for India, at the time when the government of India
passed from the Company to the Crown; became Earl in 1869; was Foreign
Secretary under Mr. Disraeli in 1874, but retired in 1878; in 1885 joined
the Liberal party, and held office under Mr. Gladstone, but declined to
follow him in the matter of Home Rule, and joined the Unionist ranks; was
a man of sound and cool judgment, and took a deep interest in economical
questions (1826-1893).
DERBY DAY, the last Wednesday in May, or, as may happen, the 1st of
June, being the second day of the Summer Meeting at Epsom, on which the
Derby Stakes for colts and fillies three years old are run for, so called
as having been started by the 12th Earl of Derby in 1780; the day is held
as a great London holiday, and the scene is one to which all London turns
out. The stakes run for are £6000, of which the winner gets £5000.
DERBYSHIRE (520), a northern midland county of England, hilly in the
N., undulating and pastoral in the S., and with coal-fields in the E.;
abounds in minerals, and is more a manufacturing and mining county than
an agricultural.
DERG, LOUGH, an expansion of the waters of the Shannon, Ireland, 24
m. long, from 2 to 6 broad; also a small lake in the S. of Donegal, with
small islands, one of which, Station Island, was, as the reputed entrance
to St. Patrick's Purgatory, a place of pilgrimage to thousands at one
time.
DERVISHES, a name given to members of certain mendicant orders
connected with the Mohammedan faith in the East. Of these there are
various classes, under different regulations, and wearing distinctive
costumes, with their special observances of devotion, and all presumed to
lead an austere life, some of whom live in monasteries, and others go
wandering about, some of them showing their religious fervour in excited
whirling dances, and others in howlings; all are religious fanatics in
their way, and held sacred by the Moslems.
DERWENTWATER, one of the most beautiful of the Cumberland lakes, in
the S. of the county; extends S. from Keswick; is over 3 m. long, and
over 1 m. broad; is dotted with wooded islands, and is overlooked by
Skiddaw; it abounds with perch.
DERWENTWATER, EARL OF, a Jacobite leader; was 3rd Earl and the last;
several warrants were issued for his apprehension in 1714; he joined the
Jacobite rising in 1715; was taken prisoner at Preston, and beheaded on
Tower Hill, London, next year, after trial in Westminster Hall,
confession of guilt, and pleadings on his behalf with the king.
DERZHAVEN, GABRIEL, a Russian lyric poet, born at Kasan; rose from
the ranks as a common soldier to the highest offices in the State under
the Empress Catharine II. and her successors; retired into private life,
and gave himself up to poetry; the ode by which he is best known is his
"Address to the Deity" (1743-1816).
DESAIX, LOUIS CHARLES ANTOINE, a distinguished French general, born
at the Château d'Ayat, Auvergne, of a noble family; entered the army at
15; commanded a division of the Army of the Rhine in 1796, and after the
retreat of Moreau defended Kehl against the Austrians for two months;
accompanied Bonaparte to the East, and in 1799 conquered Upper Egypt;
contributed effectively to the success at Marengo, and fell dead at the
moment of victory, shot by a musket-ball; he was an upright and a
chivalrous man, known in Egypt as "the just Sultan," and in Germany as
"the good general" (1768-1800).
DESAUGIERS, MARC, a celebrated French composer of songs and
vaudevilles; "stands second to Béranger as a light song-writer," and is
by some preferred to him (1772-1827).
DESAULT, a French surgeon, born in dep. of Haute-Saône; his works
contributed largely to the progress of surgery (1714-1795).
DESBARRES, JOSEPH FREDERICK, military engineer and hydrographer,
aide-de-camp of General Wolfe at Quebec; fortified Quebec; surveyed the
St. Lawrence; revised the maps of the American coast at the outbreak of
the American war; died at Halifax, Nova Scotia, aged 102 (1722-1824).
DESCAMPS, a French painter, born at Dunkirk; painted village scenes
(1714-1791).
DESCARTES, RENÉ, the father of modern philosophy, born at La Haye,
in Touraine; was educated at the Jesuit College of La Flèche, where he
made rapid progress in all that his masters could teach him, but soon
grew sceptical as to their methods of inquiry; "resolved, on the
completion of his studies, to bid adieu to all school and book learning,
and henceforth to gain knowledge only from himself, and from the great
book of the world, from nature and the observation of man"; in 1616 he
entered the army of the Prince of Orange, and after a service of five
years quitted it to visit various centres of interest on the Continent;
made a considerable stay in Paris; finally abandoned his native land in
1629, and betook himself to seclusion in Holland in order to live there,
unknown and undisturbed, wholly for philosophy and the prosecution of his
scientific projects; here, though not without vexatious opposition from
the theologians, he lived twenty years, till in 1649, at the invitation
of Christina of Sweden, he left for Stockholm, where, the severe climate
proving too much for him, he was carried off by pneumonia next year;
Descartes' philosophy starts with Doubt, and by one single step it
arrives at Certainty; "if I doubt, it is plain I exist," and from this
certainty, that is, the existence of the thinking subject, he deduces his
whole system; it all comes from the formula _Cogito, ergo sum_, "I think,
therefore I exist," that is, the thinking _ego_ exists; in which thinking
philosophy ere long sums the universe up, regarding it as a void, without
thought; Descartes' philosophy is all comprehended in two works, his
"Discourse on Method," and his "Meditations" (1596-1650).
DESCHAMPS, ÉMILE, a French poet, born at Bourges, one of the chiefs
of the Romantic school (1795-1871).
DESCHAMPS, EUSTACHE, a French poet, born at Vertus, in Champagne;
studied in Orleans University; travelled over Europe; had his estate
pillaged by the English, whom, in consequence, he is never weary of
abusing; his poems are numerous, and, except one, all short, consisting
of ballads, as many as 1175 of them, a form of composition which he is
said to have invented; he deals extensively in satire, and if he wields
the shafts of it against the plunderers of his country, he does no less
against the oppressors of the poor (1328-1415).
DESDEMONA, the wife of Othello the Moor, who, in Shakespeare's play
of that name, kills her on a groundless insinuation of infidelity, to his
bitter remorse.
DESÈZE, a French advocate, had the courage, along with advocate
Tronchet, to defend Louis XVI. when dragged to judgment by the
Convention, and who, honourably fulfilling his perilous office, pled for
the space of three hours, an honourable pleading "composed almost
overnight; courageous, yet discreet; not without ingenuity, and soft
pathetic eloquence"; he was imprisoned for a time, but escaped the
scaffold; on the return of the Bourbons he was made a peer (1750-1828).
DESMOND, EARLDOM OF, an Irish title long extinct by the death of the
last earl in 1583; he had rebelled against Elizabeth's government, been
proclaimed, and had taken refuge in a peasant's cabin, and been betrayed.