[1] In _Constantinidi_ v. _Constantinidi and Lance_ (1903), in which
both parties were guilty of misconduct, it was held by Sir Francis
Jeune (Lord St Helier) that where a wife has by her misconduct broken
up the home (the husband's misconduct not having conduced to the
wife's adultery) the court would exercise its discretion in favour of
the husband petitioner, and, further, the wife being a rich woman, it
was justifiable to give her husband a portion of her income, in order
to preserve to him the position he would have occupied as her
husband, the broad principle being that a guilty respondent should
not be allowed to profit by divorce. But further litigation
concerning this case occurred as to the variation of the marriage
settlements in favour of the husband, and the decision of the court
of appeal in July 1905 considerably modified the decision of Sir
Francis Jeune.--Ed. _E. B._
[2] It is to be noted that by a decision of the court of appeal in
_Harriman_ v. _Harriman_ in 1909, where a wife has been deserted by
her husband and has obtained a separation order within two years from
the time when the desertion commenced, she loses her right to plead
desertion under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, and is therefore not
entitled to a divorce after two years' desertion, upon proof of
adultery. See also _Dodd_ v. _Dodd_, 1906, 22 T. L. R. 484.
[3] In 1909 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the law
of divorce, with special reference to the position of the poorer
classes.
[4] It is interesting to observe how, according to the latest
decisions of the House of Lords, cruelty, according to English law,
includes some but not others of the forms of injury for which, under
the term of _injures graves_, the French law affords a remedy. It may
well be doubted whether the view taken by the minority of the peers
in _Russell_ v. _Russell_, which would have included in the
definition of cruelty all, or nearly all, of that which the French
law deems either _sevices_ or _injures graves_, would not have better
satisfied both the principles of English jurisprudence and the
feelings of modern life.
DIWANIEH, a small town in Turkish Asia, about 40 m. below Hillah, on
both banks of the Euphrates (31 deg. 58' 47" N., 44 deg. 58' 18" E.),
which is here spanned by a floating bridge. Formerly a military post for
the control of the Affech territory, and a telegraph station, it was in
1893 made the capital of the sanjak, instead of Hillah, on account of
its more strategical position. This transfer of the seat of government
represented a step in the development of Turkish control over the
central regions of Irak.
DIX, DOROTHEA LYNDE (1802-1887), American philanthropist, was born at
Hampden, Maine, on the 4th of April 1802. Her parents were poor and
shiftless, and at an early age she was taken into the home in Boston of
her grandmother, Dorothea Lynde, wife of Dr Elijah Dix. Here she was
reared in a distinctly Puritanical atmosphere. About 1821 she opened a
school in Boston, which was patronized by the well-to-do families; and
soon afterwards she also began teaching poor and neglected children at
home. But her health broke down, and from 1824 to 1830 she was chiefly
occupied with the writing of books of devotion and stories for children.
Her _Conversations on Common Things_ (1824) had reached its sixtieth
edition by 1869. In 1831 she established in Boston a model school for
girls, and conducted this successfully until 1836, when her health
again failed. In 1841 she became interested in the condition of gaols
and almshouses, and spent two years in visiting every such institution
in Massachusetts, investigating especially the treatment of the pauper
insane. Her memorial to the state legislature dealing with the abuses
she discovered resulted in more adequate provision being made for the
care and treatment of the insane, and she then extended her work into
many other states. By 1847 she had travelled from Nova Scotia to the
Gulf of Mexico, and had visited 18 state penitentiaries, 300 county
gaols and houses of correction, and over 500 almshouses. Her labours
resulted in the establishment of insane asylums in twenty states and in
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and in the founding of many additional
gaols and almshouses conducted on a reformed plan. In 1853 she secured
more adequate equipment for the life-saving service on Sable Island,
then rightly called "the graveyard of ships." In 1854 she secured the
passage by Congress of a bill granting to the states 12,250,000 acres of
public lands, to be utilized for the benefit of the insane, deaf, dumb
and blind; but the measure was vetoed by President Pierce. After this
disappointment she went to England for rest, but at once became
interested in the condition of the insane in Scotland, and her report to
the home secretary opened the way for sweeping reforms. She extended her
work into the Channel Islands, and then to France, Italy, Austria,
Greece, Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and a
part of Germany. Her influence over Arinori Mori, the Japanese _charge
d'affaires_ at Washington, led eventually to the establishment of two
asylums for the insane in Japan. At the outbreak of the Civil War she
offered her services to the Federal government and was appointed
superintendent of women nurses. In this capacity she served throughout
the war, without a day's furlough; and her labours on behalf of
defectives were continued after the war. After a lingering illness of
six years she died at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 17th of July 1887.
See Francis Tiffany, _Life of Dorothea Lynde Dix_ (Boston, 1892).
DIX, JOHN ADAMS (1798-1879), American soldier and political leader, was
born at Boscawen, New Hampshire, on the 24th of July 1798. He studied at
Phillips Exeter Academy in 1810-1811 and at the College of Montreal in
1811-1812, and as a boy took part in the War of 1812, becoming a second
lieutenant in March 1814. In July 1828, having attained the rank of
captain, he resigned from the army, and for two years practised law at
Cooperstown, New York. In 1830-1833 he was adjutant-general of New York.
He soon became prominent as one of the leaders of the Democratic party
in the state, and for many years was a member of the so-called "Albany
Regency," a group of Democrats who between about 1820 and 1850 exercised
a virtual control over their party in New York, dictating nominations
and appointments and distributing patronage. From 1833 to 1839 he was
secretary of state and superintendent of schools in New York, and in
this capacity made valuable reports concerning the public schools of the
state, and a report (1836) which led to the publication of the _Natural
History of the State of New York_ (1842-1866). In 1842 he was a member
of the New York assembly. In 1841-1843 he was editor of _The Northern
Light_, a literary and scientific journal published in Albany. From 1845
to 1849 he was a United States senator from New York; and as chairman of
the committee on commerce was author of the warehouse bill passed by
Congress in 1846 to relieve merchants from immediate payment of duties
on imported goods. In 1848 he was nominated for governor of New York by
the Free Soil party, but was defeated by Hamilton Fish. His acceptance
of the nomination, however, earned him the enmity of the southern
Democrats, who prevented his appointment by Pierce as secretary of state
and as minister to France in 1853. In this year Dix was for a few weeks
assistant U.S. treasurer in New York city. In May 1860 he became
postmaster of New York city, and from January until March 1861 he was
secretary of the treasury of the United States, in which capacity he
issued (January 29, 1861) to a revenue officer at New Orleans a famous
order containing the words, "if any one attempts to haul down the
American flag, shoot him on the spot." He rendered important services
in hurrying forward troops in 1861, was appointed major-general of
volunteers in June 1861, and during the Civil War commanded successively
the department of Maryland (July 1861-May 1862), Fortress Monroe (May
1862-July 1863), and the department of the East (July 1863-July 1865).
He was minister to France from 1866 to 1869, and in 1872 was elected by
the Republicans governor of New York, but was defeated two years later.
He had great energy and administrative ability, was for a time president
of the Chicago & Rock Island and of the Mississippi & Missouri railways,
first president of the Union Pacific in 1863-1868, and for a short time
in 1872 president of the Erie. He died in New York city on the 21st of
April 1879. Among his publications are _A Winter in Madeira and a Summer
in Spain and Florence_ (1850), and _Speeches and Occasional Addresses_
(1864). He wrote excellent English versions of the _Dies irae_ and the
_Stabat mater_.
His son, MORGAN DIX (1827-1908), graduated at Columbia in 1848 and at
the General Theological Seminary in 1852, and was ordained deacon (1852)
and priest (1853) in the Protestant Episcopalian church. In 1855-1859 he
was assistant minister, and in 1859-1862 assistant rector, of Trinity
Church, New York city, of which he was rector from 1862 until his death.
He published sermons and lectures; _A History of the Parish of Trinity
Church, New York City_ (4 vols., 1898-1905); and a biography of his
father. _Memoirs of John Adams Dix_ (2 vols., New York, 1883).
DIXON, GEORGE (1755?-1800), English navigator. He served under Captain
Cook in his third expedition, during which he had an opportunity of
learning the commercial capabilities of the north-west coast of North
America. After his return from Cook's expedition he became a captain in
the royal navy. In the autumn of 1785 he sailed in the "Queen
Charlotte," in the service of the King George's Sound Company of London,
to explore the shores of the present British Columbia, with the special
object of developing the fur trade. His chief discoveries were those of
Queen Charlotte's Islands and Sound (the latter only partial), Port
Mulgrave, Norfolk Bay, and Dixon's Entrance and Archipelago. After
visiting China, where he disposed of his cargo, he returned to England
(1788), and published (1799) _A Voyage round the World, but more
particularly to the North-West Coast of America_, the bulk of which
consists of descriptive letters by William Beresford, his supercargo.
His own contribution to the work included valuable charts and
appendices. He is usually, though not with absolute certainty,
identified with the George Dixon who was author of _The Navigator's
Assistant_ (1791) and teacher of navigation at Gosport.
DIXON, HENRY HALL (1822-1870), English sporting writer over the _nom de
plume_ "The Druid," was born at Warwick Bridge, Cumberland, on the 16th
of May 1822, and was educated at Rugby and at Trinity College,
Cambridge, where he graduated in 1846. He took up the profession of the
law, but, though called to the bar in 1853, soon returned to sporting
journalism, in which he had already made a name for himself, and began
to write regularly for the _Sporting Magazine_, in the pages of which
appeared three of his novels, _Post and Paddock_ (1856), _Silk and
Scarlet_ (1859), and _Scott and Sebright_ (1862). He also published a
legal compendium entitled _The Law of the Farm_ (1858), which ran
through several editions. His other more important works were _Field and
Fern_ (1865), giving an account of the herds and flocks of Scotland, and
_Saddle and Sirloin_ (1870), treating in the same manner those of
England. He died at Kensington on the 16th of March 1870.
See Hon. Francis Lawley, _Life and Times of "The Druid"_ (London,
1895).
DIXON, RICHARD WATSON (1833-1900), English poet and divine, son of Dr
James Dixon, a Wesleyan minister, was born on the 5th of May 1833. He
was educated at King Edward's school, Birmingham, and on proceeding to
Pembroke College, Oxford, became one of the famous "Birmingham group"
there who shared with William Morris and Burne-Jones in the
Pre-Raphaelite movement. He took only a second class in moderations in
1854, and a third in _Literae Humaniores_ in 1856; but in 1858 he won
the Arnold prize for an historical essay, and in 1863 the English Sacred
Poem prize. He was ordained in 1858, was second master of Carlisle high
school, 1863-1868, and successively vicar of Hayton, Cumberland, and
Warkworth, Northumberland. He became minor canon and honorary librarian
of Carlisle in 1868, and honorary canon in 1874, he was proctor in
convocation (1890-1894), and received the honorary degree of D.D. from
Oxford in 1899. He died at Warkworth on the 23rd of January 1900. Canon
Dixon's first two volumes of verse, _Christ's Company_ and _Historical
Odes_, were published in 1861 and 1863 respectively; but it was not
until 1883 that he attracted conspicuous notice with _Mano_, an
historical poem in _terza rima_, which was enthusiastically praised by
Mr Swinburne. This success he followed up by three privately printed
volumes. _Odes and Eclogues_ (1884), _Lyrical Poems_ (1886), and _The
Story of Eudocia_ (1888). Dixon's poems were during the last fifteen
years of his life recognized as scholarly and refined exercises, touched
with both dignity and a certain severe beauty, but he never attained any
general popularity as a poet, the appeal of his poetry being directly to
the scholar. A great student of history, his studies in that direction
colour much of his poetry. The romantic atmosphere is remarkably
preserved in _Mano_, a successful metrical exercise in the difficult
_terza rima_. His typical poems have charm and melody, without
introducing any new note or variety of rhythm. He is contemplative,
sober and finished in literary workmanship, a typical example of the
Oxford school. Pleasant as his poetry is, however, he will probably be
longest remembered by the work to which he gave the best years of his
life, his _History of the Church of England from the Abolition of the
Roman Jurisdiction_ (1878-1902). At the time of his death he had
completed six volumes, two of which were published posthumously. This
fine work, covering the period from 1529 to 1570, is built upon
elaborate research, and presents a trustworthy and unprejudiced survey
of its subject.
Dixon's _Selected Poems_ were published in 1909 with a memoir of the
author by Robert Bridges.
DIXON, WILLIAM HEPWORTH (1821-1879), English author and traveller, was
born at Great Ancoats, Manchester, on the 30th of June 1821, a member of
an old Lancashire family. Beginning life as a clerk at Manchester, he
decided, in 1846, to take up literature as a career. After gaining some
journalistic experience at Cheltenham he settled in London, on the
recommendation of Douglas Jerrold, and contributed to the _Athenaeum_
and _Daily News_. His series of papers--"The Literature of the Lower
Orders"--in the last-named journal, and a further series, "London
Prisons," were widely noticed. In 1849 appeared his _John Howard and the
Prison World of Europe_, which proved a great popular success. These
were followed by a _Life of William Penn_ (1851), in which he replied to
Macaulay's attack on Penn; _Life of Blake_ (1852); and _Personal History
of Lord Bacon_ (1861), supplemented by _The Story of Lord Bacon's Life_
(1862). From 1853 to 1869 he was editor of the _Athenaeum_. In 1863 he
visited the East, and on his return helped to found the Palestine
Exploration Fund, and published (1865) _The Holy Land_. In 1866 he
travelled through the United States, publishing, in 1867, _New America_,
and, the following year, _Spiritual Wives_, two supplementary volumes.
In the autumn of 1867 he journeyed through the Baltic Provinces,
publishing an account of his trip in _Free Russia_ (1870). In 1871 he
was in Switzerland, and in 1872 in Spain, where he wrote the greater
part of his _History of Two Queens_. In 1874 he revisited the United
States, giving the impressions of his tour in _The White Conquest_
(1875). His other works, besides some fiction, were _British Cyprus_
(1879) and _Royal Windsor_. He died on the 26th of December 1879. His
daughter, Ella N. Hepworth Dixon, became known as a journalist and
novelist.
DIXON, a city and the county seat of Lee county, Illinois, U.S.A., on
the Rock river, in the N.W. part of the state. Pop. (1890) 5161; (1900)
7917 (879 foreign-born); (1910) 7216. It is served by the Chicago &
North-Western and the Illinois Central railways, and is connected with
Sterling by an electric line; freight is shipped over the Hennepin
Canal. The city has two parks of 159 and 6 acres respectively, and
there is a Chautauqua Park, where an annual Chautauqua Assembly is held.
Dixon is the seat of the Northern Illinois normal school (incorporated
in 1884), and of the Rock River military academy. The river furnishes
water power for the street railways, electric lighting and a number of
manufacturing establishments. Among the manufactures are condensed milk,
boxes, wire screens and wire cloth, lawn mowers, gas engines, cement,
agricultural implements, shoes and wagons. The place was laid out in
1835 by John Dixon (1784-1876), the first white settler of Lee county. A
bronze tablet in the Howells Building, at the intersection of First and
Peoria Streets, marks the site of his cabin, and in the city cemetery a
granite shaft has been erected to his memory. Dixon was chartered as a
city in 1859.
DIZFUL, or DIZ-PUL ("fort-bridge"), a town of Persia, in the province of
Arabistan, 36 m. N.W. of Shushter, in 32 deg. 25' N., 48 deg. 28' E.
Pop. about 25,000. It has post and telegraph offices. It is situated on
the left bank of the Dizful river, a tributary of the Karun, crossed by
a fine bridge of twenty-two arches, 430 yds. in length, constructed on
ancient foundations. Dizful is the chief place of a small district of
the same name and the residence of the governor of Arabistan during the
winter months. The district has twelve villages and a population of
about 35,000 (5000 Arabs of the Ali i Keth[=i]r tribe), and pays a
yearly tribute of about L6000. The city was formerly known as Andamish,
and in its vicinity are many remains of ancient canals and buildings
which afford conclusive proof of former importance. 16 m. S.W. are the
ruins of Susa, and east of them and half-way between Dizful and Shushter
stood the old city of Junday Shapur.
DJAKOVO (sometimes written _Djakovar_, Hungarian _Diakovar_), a city of
Croatia-Slavonia, Hungary; in the county of Virovitica, 100 m. E. by S.
of Agram. Pop. (1900) 6824. Djakovo is a Roman Catholic episcopal see,
whose occupant bears the title "Bishop of Bosnia, Slavonia and Sirmium."
During the life of Bishop Strossmayer (1815-1905) it was one of the
chief centres of religious and political activity among the Croats. The
cathedral, a vast basilica built of brick and white stone, with a
central dome and two lofty spires above the north entrance, was founded
in 1866 and consecrated in 1882. Its style is Romanesque, chosen by
Strossmayer as symbolical of the position of his country midway between
east and west. The interior is magnificently decorated with mosaics,
mural paintings and statuary, chiefly the work of local artists. Other
noteworthy buildings are the nunnery, ecclesiastical seminary and
episcopal palace. Djakovo has a thriving trade in agricultural produce.
Many Roman remains have been discovered in the neighbourhood, but the
earliest mention of the city is in 1244, when Bela IV. of Hungary
confirmed the title-deeds of its owners, the bishops of Bosnia.
For a full description of the cathedral, in Serbo-Croatian and French,
see the finely illustrated folio _Stolna Crkva u Djakovu_, published
by the South Slavonic Academy (Agram, 1900).
DLUGOSZ, JAN [JOHANNES LONGINUS] (1415-1480), Polish statesman and
historian, was the son of Jan Dlugosz, burgrave of Bozeznica. Born in
1415, he graduated at the university of Cracow and in 1431 entered the
service of Bishop Zbygniew Olesnicki (1389-1455), the statesman and
diplomatist. He speedily won the favour of his master, who induced him
to take orders and made him his secretary. His preferment was rapid. In
1436 we find him one of the canons of Cracow and the administrator of
Olesnicki's vast estates. In 1440, on returning from Hungary, whither
his master had escorted King Wladislaus II., Dlugosz saved the life of
Olesnicki from robbers. The prelate now employed Dlugosz on the most
delicate and important political missions. Dlugosz brought Olesnicki the
red hat from Rome in 1449, and shortly afterwards was despatched to
Hungary to mediate between Hunyadi and the Bohemian condottiere Giszkra,
a difficult mission which he most successfully accomplished. Both these
embassies were undertaken contrary to the wishes of King Casimir IV.,
who was altogether opposed to Olesnicki's ecclesiastical policy. But
though he thus sacrificed his own prospects to the cardinal's good
pleasure, Dlugosz was far too sagacious to approve of the provocative
attitude of Olesnicki, and frequently and fearlessly remonstrated with
him on his conduct. In his account, however, of the quarrel between
Casimir and Olesnicki concerning the question of priority between the
cardinal and the primate of Poland he warmly embraced the cause of the
former, and even pronounced Casimir worthy of dethronement. Such
outbursts against Casimir IV. are not infrequent in Dlugosz's _Historia
Polonica_, and his strong personal bias must certainly be taken into
consideration in any critical estimate of that famous work. Yet as a
high-minded patriot Dlugosz had no sympathy whatever with Olesnicki's
opposition to Casimir's Prussian policy, and steadily supported the king
during the whole course of the war with the Teutonic knights. When
Olesnicki died in 1455 he left Dlugosz his principal executor. The
office of administering the cardinal's estate was a very ungrateful one,
for the family resented the liberal benefactions of their kinsman to the
Church and the university, and accused Dlugosz of exercising undue
influence, from which charge he triumphantly vindicated himself. It was
in the year of his patron's death that he began to write his _Historia
Polonica_. This great book, the first and still one of the best
historical works on Poland in the modern sense of the word, was only
undertaken after mature consideration and an exhaustive study of all the
original sources then available, some of which are now lost. The
principal archives of Poland and Hungary were ransacked for the purpose,
and in his account of his own times Dlugosz's intimate acquaintance with
the leading scholars and statesmen of his day stood him in good stead.
The style is modelled on that of Livy, of whom Dlugosz was a warm
admirer. As a proof of the thoroughness and conscientiousness of Dlugosz
it may be mentioned that he learned the Cyrillic alphabet and took up
the study of Ruthenian, "in order that this our history may be as plain
and perfect as possible." The first of the numerous imprints of the
_Historia Polonica_ appeared in 1614, the first complete edition in
1711.
Dlugosz's literary labours did not interfere with his political
activity. In 1467 the generous and discerning Casimir IV. entrusted
Dlugosz with the education of his sons, the eldest of whom, Wladislaus,
at the urgent request of the king, he accompanied to Prague when in 1471
the young prince was elected king of Bohemia. Dlugosz refused the
archbishopric of Prague because of his strong dislike of the land of the
Hussites; but seven years later he accepted the archbishopric of
Lemberg. His last years were devoted to his history, which he completed
in 1479. He died on the 19th of May 1480, at Piatek.
See Aleksander Semkowicz, _Critical Considerations of the Polish Works
of Dlugosz_ (Pol.; Cracow, 1874); Michael Bobrzynski and Stanislaw
Smolka, _Life of Dlugosz and his Position in Literature_ (Pol.;
Cracow, 1893). (R. N. B.)
DMITRIEV, IVAN IVANOVICH (1760-1837), Russian statesman and poet, was
born at his father's estate in the government of Simbirsk. In
consequence of the revolt of Pugachev the family had to flee to St
Petersburg, and there Ivan was entered at the school of the Semenov
Guards, and afterwards obtained a post in the military service. On the
accession of Paul to the imperial throne he quitted the army with the
title of colonel; and his appointment as procurator for the senate was
soon after renounced for the position of privy councillor. During the
four years from 1810 to 1814 he served as minister of justice under the
emperor Alexander; but at the close of this period he retired into
private life, and though he lived more than twenty years, he never again
took office, but occupied himself with his literary labours and the
collection of books and works of art. In the matter of language he sided
with Karamsin, and did good service by his own pen against the Old
Slavonic party. His poems include songs, odes, satires, tales, epistles,
&c., as well as the fables--partly original and partly translated from
Fontaine, Florian and Arnault--on which his fame chiefly rests. Several
of his lyrics have become thoroughly popular from the readiness with
which they can be sung; and a short dramatico-epic poem on Yermak, the
Cossack conqueror of Siberia, is well known.
His writings occupy three volumes in the first five editions; in the
6th (St Petersburg, 1823) there are only two. His memoirs, to which he
devoted the last years of his life, were published at Moscow in 1866.
DNIEPER, one of the most important rivers of Europe (the _Borysthenes_
of the Greeks, _Danapris_ of the Romans, _Uzi_ or _Uzu_ of the Turks,
Eksi of the Tatars, _Elice_ of Visconti's map (1381), _Lerene_ of
Contarini (1437), _Luosen_ of Baptista of Genoa (1514), and _Lussem_ in
the same century). It belongs entirely to Russia, and rises in the
government of Smolensk, in a swampy district (alt. 930 ft.) at the foot
of the Valdai Hills, not far from the sources of the Volga and the
Dvina, in 55 deg. 52' N. and 33 deg. 41' E. Its length is about 1410 m.
and it drains an area of 202,140 sq. m. In the first part of its course,
which may be said to end at Dorogobuzh, it flows through an undulating
country of Carboniferous formation; in the second it passes west to
Orsha, south through the fertile plain of Chernigov and Kiev, and then
south-east across the rocky steppe of the Ukraine to Ekaterinoslav.
About 45 m. S. of this town it has to force its way across the same
granitic offshoot of the Carpathian mountains which interrupts the
course of the Dniester and the Bug, and for a distance of about 25 m.
rapid succeeds rapid. The fall of the river in that distance is 155 ft.
The Dnieper, having got clear of the rocks, continues south-west through
the grassy plains of Kherson and Taurida, and enters the Black Sea, or
rather a _liman_ or bay of the Black Sea, by a considerable estuary in
46 deg. 30' N. and 32 deg. 20' E. On this ramifying _liman_, into which
the Bug also pours its waters, stand Nikolaiev and the fortified town of
Ochakov. Navigation extends as far up as Dorogobuzh, where the depth is
about 12 ft., and rafts are floated down from the higher reaches. The
banks are generally high, more particularly the left bank. About the
town of Smolensk the breadth is 455 ft., at the confluence of the Pripet
1400, and in some parts of the Ekaterinoslav district more than 1-1/4 m.
In the course above the rapids the channel varies very greatly in nature
and depth, and it is not infrequently interrupted by shallows. The
rapids, or _porogs_, form a serious obstacle to navigation; it is only
for a few weeks when the river is in flood that they are passable, and
even then the venture is not without risk and can only be undertaken
with the assistance of special pilots. It is from these falls that the
Cossacks of the Ukraine came to be known as Zaporogian Cossacks. As
early as 1732 an attempt was made to improve the channel. A canal, which
ultimately proved too small for use, was constructed at Nenasitets in
1780 at private expense; blastings were carried out in 1798 and 1799 at
various parts; in 1805 a canal was formed at Kaindatski, and the channel
straightened at Sursk; by 1807 a new canal was completed at Nenasitets;
in 1833 a passage was cleared through the Staro-kaindatski porog; and in
the period 1843 to 1853 numerous ameliorations were effected. The result
has been not only to diminish greatly the dangers of the natural
channel, but also to furnish a series of artificial canals by which
vessels can make their way when the river is low. Of the tributaries of
the Dnieper the following are navigable,--the Berezina and the Pripet
from the right, and the Sozh and the Desna from the left. By means of
the Dnieper-Bug (King's) canal, and the Berezina and Oginski canals,
this river has a sort of water connexion with the Baltic Sea. In the
estuary the fisheries give employment to large numbers of people. At
Kiev the river is free from ice on an average of 234 days in the year,
at Ekaterinoslav 270 and at Kherson 277. (P. A. K.; J. T. BE.)
DNIESTER (_Tyras_ and _Danaster_ or _Danastris_ of classical authors,
_Nistrul_ of the Rumanians, and _Turla_ of the Turks), a river of
south-eastern Europe belonging to the basin of the Black Sea. It rises
on the northern slope of the Carpathian mountains in Austrian Galicia,
and belongs for the first 350 m. of its course to Austrian, for the
remaining 515 m. to Russian, territory. It drains an area of 29,670 sq.
m., of which 16,500 sq. m. belong to Russia. It is excessively
meandering, and the current in most parts even during low water is
decidedly rapid as compared with Russian rivers generally, the mean rate
being calculated at 1-7/11 m. per hour. The average width of the channel
is from 500 to 750 ft., but in some places it attains as much as 1400
ft.; the depth is various and changeable. The principal interruption in
the navigable portion of the river, besides a sprinkling of rocks in the
bed and the somewhat extensive shallows, is occasioned by a granitic
spur from the Carpathians, which gives rise to the Yampol Rapids. For
ordinary river craft the passage of these rapids is rendered possible,
but not free from danger, by a natural channel on the left side, and by
a larger and deeper artificial channel on the right; for steamboats they
form an insuperable barrier. The river falls into the sea by several
arms, passing through a shallow _liman_ or lagoon, a few miles S.W. of
Odessa. There are two periodical floods,--the earlier and larger caused
by the breaking up of the ice, and occurring in the latter part of
February or in March; and the later due to the melting of the snows in
the Carpathians, and taking place about June. The spring flood raises
the level of the water 20 ft., and towards the mouth of the river
submerges the gardens and vineyards of the adjacent country. In some
years the general state of the water is so low that navigation is
possible only for three or four weeks, while in other years it is so
high that navigation continues without interruption; but in recent years
considerable improvements have been effected at government expense. In
consequence the traffic has increased, the Dniester tapping regions of
great productiveness, especially in cereals and timber, namely, Galicia,
Podolia and Bessarabia. Steamboat traffic was introduced in the lower
reaches in 1840. The fisheries of the lower course and of the estuary
are of considerable importance; and these, together with those of the
lakes which are formed by the inundations, furnish a valuable addition
to the diet of the people in the shape of carp, pike, tench, salmon,
sturgeon and eels. Its tributaries are numerous, but not of individual
importance, except perhaps the Sereth in Galicia.
(P. A. K.; J. T. BE.)
DOAB, DUAB or DOOAB, a name, like the Greek Mesopotamia, applied in
India, according to its derivation (_do_, two, and _ab_, river), to the
stretch of country lying between any two rivers, as the Bari Doab
between the Sutlej and the Ravi, the Rechna Doab between the Ravi and
the Chenab, the Jech Doab between the Chenab and Jhelum, and the Sind
Sagar Doab between the Jhelum and the Indus, but frequently employed,
without any distinctive adjunct, as the proper name for the region
between the Ganges and its great tributary the Jumna. In like manner the
designation of Doab canal is given to the artificial channel which
breaks off from the Jumna near Fyzabad, and flows almost parallel with
the river till it reunites with it at Delhi.
DOANE, GEORGE WASHINGTON (1799-1859), American churchman, Protestant
Episcopal bishop of New Jersey, was born in Trenton, New Jersey, on the
27th of May 1799. He graduated at Union College, Schenectady, New York,
in 1818, studied theology and, in 1821, was ordained deacon and in 1823
priest by Bishop Hobart, whom he assisted in Trinity church, New York.
With George Upfold (1796-1872), bishop of Indiana from 1849 to 1872,
Doane founded St Luke's in New York City. In 1824-1828 he was professor
of belles-lettres in Washington (now Trinity) College, Hartford,
Connecticut, and at this time he was one of the editors of the
_Episcopal Watchman_. He was assistant in 1828-1830 and rector in
1830-1832 of Christ church, Boston, and was bishop of New Jersey from
October 1832 to his death at Burlington, New Jersey, on the 27th of
April 1859. The diocese of New Jersey was an unpromising field, but he
took up his work there with characteristic vigour, especially in the
foundation of St Mary's Hall (1837, for girls) and Burlington College
(1846) as demonstrations of his theory of education under church
control. His business management of these schools got him heavily into
debt, and in the autumn of 1852 a charge of lax administration came
before a court of bishops, who dismissed it. The schools showed him an
able and wise disciplinarian, and his patriotic orations and sermons
prove him a speaker of great power. He belonged to the High Church party
and was a brilliant controversialist. He published _Songs by the Way_
(1824), a volume of poems; and his hymns beginning "Softly now the light
of day" and "Thou art the Way" are well known.
See _Life and Writings of George Washington Doane_ (4 vols., New York,
1860-1861), edited by his son, William Croswell Doane (b. 1832), first
bishop of Albany.
DOBBS FERRY, a village of Westchester county, New York, on the E. bank
of the Hudson river 2 m. N. of Yonkers. Pop. (1890) 2083; (1900) 2888;
(1910 U. S. census) 3455. Dobbs Ferry is served by the Hudson River
division of the New York Central railway. There are many fine country
places, two private schools--the Mackenzie school for boys and the
Misses Masters' school for girls--and the children's village (with about
thirty cottages) of the New York juvenile asylum. The name of the
village was derived from a Swede, Jeremiah Dobbs, whose family probably
moved hither from Delaware, and who at the beginning of the last quarter
of the 18th century had a skiff ferry, which was kept up by his family
for a century afterwards. Because Dobbs Ferry had been a part of
Philipse Manor all lands in it were declared forfeit at the time of the
War of American Independence (see YONKERS), and new titles were derived
from the commissioners of forfeitures. The position of the village
opposite the northernmost end of the Palisades gave it importance during
the war. The region was repeatedly raided by camp followers of each
army; earthworks and a fort, commanding the Hudson ferry and the ferry
to Paramus, New Jersey, were built; the British army made Dobbs Ferry a
rendezvous, after the battle of White Plains, in November 1776, and the
continental division under General Benjamin Lincoln was here at the end
of January 1777. The American army under Washington encamped near Dobbs
Ferry on the 4th of July 1781, and started thence for Yorktown in the
following month. In the Van Brugh Livingston house on the 6th of May
1783, Washington and Governor George Clinton met General Sir Guy
Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester, to negotiate for the evacuation by
the British troops of the posts they still held in the United States. In
1873 the village was incorporated as Greenburgh, from the township of
the same name which in 1788 had been set apart from the manor of
Phillipsburgh; but the name Dobbs Ferry was soon resumed.
DOBELL, SYDNEY THOMPSON (1824-1874), English poet and critic, was born
on the 5th of April 1824 at Cranbrook, Kent. His father was a wine
merchant, his mother a daughter of Samuel Thompson (1766-1837), a London
political reformer. The family moved to Cheltenham when Dobell was
twelve years old. He was educated privately, and never attended either
school or university. He refers to this in some lines on Cheltenham
College in imitation of Chaucer, written in his eighteenth year. After a
five years' engagement he married, in 1844, Emily Fordham, a lady of
good family. An acquaintance with Mr (subsequently Sir James) Stansfeld
and with the Birmingham preacher-politician, George Dawson (1821-1876),
which afterwards led to the foundation of the Society of the Friends of
Italy, fed the young enthusiast's ardour for the liberalism of the day.
Meanwhile, Dobell wrote a number of minor poems, instinct with a
passionate desire for political reform. _The Roman_ appeared in 1850,
under the _nom de plume_ of "Sydney Yendys." Next year he travelled
through Switzerland with his wife; and after his return he formed
friendships with Robert Browning, Philip Bailey, George MacDonald,
Emanuel Deutsch, Lord Houghton, Ruskin, Holman Hunt, Mazzini, Tennyson
and Carlyle. His second long poem, _Balder_, appeared in 1854. The three
following years were spent in Scotland. Perhaps his closest friend at
this time was Alexander Smith, in company with whom he published, in
1855, a number of sonnets on the Crimean War, which were followed by a
volume on _England in Time of War_. Although by no means a rich man he
was always ready to help needy men of letters, and it was through his
exertions that David Gray's poems were published. In 1869 a horse, which
he was riding, fell and rolled over with him. His health, which had for
several years necessitated his wintering abroad, was seriously affected
by this accident, and he was from this time more or less of an invalid,
until his death on the 22nd of August 1874.
As a poet Dobell belongs to the "spasmodic school," as it was named by
Professor Aytoun, who parodied its style in _Firmilian_. The epithet,
however, was first applied by Carlyle to Byron. The school includes
George Gilfillan, Philip James Bailey, John Stanyan Bigg (1826-1865),
Dobell, Alexander Smith, and, according to some critics, Gerald Massey.
It was characterized by an under-current of discontent with the mystery
of existence, by vain effort, unrewarded struggle, sceptical unrest, and
an uneasy straining after the unattainable. It thus faithfully
reflected a certain phase of 19th century thought. The productions of
the school are marked by an excess of metaphor and a general
extravagance of language. On the other hand, they exhibit freshness and
originality often lacking in more conventional writings. Dobell's poem,
_The Roman_, dedicated to the interests of political liberty in Italy,
is marked by pathos, energy and passionate love of freedom, but it is
overlaid with monologue, which is carried to a dreary excess in
_Balder_, relieved though the latter is by fine descriptive passages,
and by some touching songs. Dobell's suggestive, but too ornate prose
writings were collected and edited with an introductory note by
Professor J. Nichol (_Thoughts on Art, Philosophy and Religion_) in
1876. In his religious views Dobell was a Christian of the Broad Church
type; and socially he was one of the most amiable and true-hearted of
men. His early interest in the cause of oppressed nationalities, shown
in his friendship with Kossuth, Emanuel Deutsch and others, never
lessened, although his views of home politics underwent some change from
the radical opinions of his youth. In Gloucestershire Dobell was well
known as an advocate of social reform, and he was a pioneer in the
application of the co-operative system to private enterprise.
The standard edition of his poems (1875) by Professor Nichol includes
a memoir.
DOBELN, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Saxony, on the (Freiberg)
Mulde, two arms of which embrace the town as an island, 35 m. S.E. from
Leipzig by rail, and at the junction of lines to Dresden, Chemnitz,
Riesa and Oschatz. Pop. (1905) including the garrison, 18,907. It has
two Evangelical churches, of which the Nikolai-kirche, dating in its
present form from 1485, is a handsome edifice; a medieval town hall, a
former Benedictine nunnery and a monument to Luther. There are an
agricultural and a commercial school. The industries include
wool-spinning, iron-founding, carriage, agricultural implement, and
metal-printing and stamping works.
DOBERAN, or DOBBERAN, a town of Germany, in the grand-duchy of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, about 2 m. from the shores of the Baltic and 7 W.
of Rostock by rail. Pop. 5000. Besides the ruins of a Cistercian abbey
founded by Pribislaus, prince of Mecklenburg, in 1173, and secularized
in 1552, it possesses an Evangelical Gothic church of the 14th century,
one of the finest in north Germany, a grand-ducal palace, a theatre, an
exchange and a concert hall. Owing to its delightful situation amid
beech forests and to its chalybeate waters, Doberan has become a
favourite summer resort. Numerous villa residences have been erected and
promenades and groves laid out. In 1793 Duke Frederick Francis caused
the first seaside watering-place in Germany to be established on the
neighbouring coast, 4 m. distant, at the spot where the Heiligen-Damm, a
great bank of rocks about 1000 ft. broad and 15 ft. high, stretches out
into the sea and forms an excellent bathing ground. Though no longer so
popular as in the early part of the 19th century, it is still
frequented, and is connected with Doberan by a tramway.
DOBEREINER, JOHANN WOLFGANG (1780-1849), German chemist, was born near
Hof in Bavaria on the 15th of December 1780. After studying pharmacy at
Munchberg, he started a chemical manufactory in 1803, and in 1810 was
appointed professor of chemistry, pharmacy and technology at Jena, where
he died on the 24th of March 1849. The Royal Society's _Catalogue_
enumerates 171 papers by him on various chemical topics, but his name is
best known for his experiments on platinum in a minute state of division
and on the oxidation products of alcohol. In 1822 he showed that when a
mass of platinum black, supplied with alcohol by a wick is enclosed in a
jar to which the air has limited access, acetic acid and water are
produced; this experiment formed the basis of the Schutzenbach Quick
Vinegar Process. A year later he noticed that spongy platinum in
presence of oxygen can bring about the ignition of hydrogen, and
utilized this fact to construct his "hydrogen lamp," the prototype of
numerous devices for the self-ignition of coal-gas burners. He studied
the formation of aldehyde from alcohol by various methods, also
obtaining its crystalline compound with ammonia, and he was the
discoverer of furfurol. An early observation of the diffusion of gases
was recorded by him in 1823 when he noticed the escape of hydrogen from
a cracked jar, attributing it to the capillary action of fissures. His
works included treatises on pneumatic chemistry (1821-1825) and the
chemistry of fermentation (1822).
A correspondence which he carried on with Goethe and Charles August,
grand-duke of Saxe-Weimar, was collected and published at Weimar by
Schade in 1856.
DOBREE, PETER PAUL (1782-1825), English classical scholar and critic,
was born in Guernsey. He was educated at Reading school under Richard
Valpy and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was elected fellow. He
was appointed regius professor of Greek in 1823, and died in Cambridge
on the 24th of September 1825. He was an intimate friend of Porson, whom
he took as his model in textual criticism, although he showed less
caution in conjectural emendation. After Porson's death (1808) Dobree
was commissioned with Monk and Blomfield to edit his literary remains,
which had been bequeathed to Trinity College. Illness and a subsequent
journey to Spain delayed the work until 1820, when Dobree brought out
the _Plutus_ of Aristophanes (with his own and Porson's notes) and all
Porson's _Aristophanica_. Two years later he published the _Lexicon_ of
Photius from Porson's transcript of the Gale MS. in Trinity College
library, to which he appended a _Lexicon rhetoricum_ from the margin of
a Cambridge MS. of Harpocration. James Scholefield, his successor in the
Greek professorship, brought out selections from his notes
(_Adversaria_, 1831-1833) on Greek and Latin authors (especially the
orators), and a reprint of the _Lexicon rhetoricum_, together with notes
on inscriptions (1834-1835). The latest edition of the _Adversaria_ is
by William Wagner (in Bohn's _Collegiate Series_, 1883).
An appreciative estimate of Dobree as a scholar will be found in J.
Bake's _Scholica hypomnemata_, ii. (1839) and in the _Philological
Museum_, i. (1832) by J. C. Hare.
DOBRENTEI, GABOR [GABRIEL] (1786-1851), Hungarian philologist and
antiquary, was born at Nagyszollos in 1786. He completed his studies at
the universities of Wittenberg and Leipzig, and was afterwards engaged
as a tutor in Transylvania. At this period he originated and edited the
_Erdelyi Muzeum_, which, notwithstanding its important influence on the
development of the Magyar language and literature, soon failed for want
of support. In 1820 Dobrentei settled at Pest, and there he spent the
rest of his life. He held various official posts, but continued
zealously to pursue the studies for which he had early shown a strong
preference. His great work is the _Ancient Monuments of the Magyar
Language_ (_Regi Magyar Nyelvemlekek_), the editing of which was
entrusted to him by the Hungarian Academy. The first volume was
published in 1838 and the fifth was in course of preparation at the time
of his death. Dobrentei was one of the twenty-two scholars appointed in
1825 to plan and organize, under the presidency of Count Teleki, the
Hungarian Academy. In addition to his great work he wrote many valuable
papers on historical and philological subjects, and many biographical
notices of eminent Hungarians. These appeared in the Hungarian
translation of Brockhaus's _Conversations-Lexikon_. He translated into
Hungarian _Macbeth_ and other plays of Shakespeare, Sterne's letters
from Yorick to Eliza (1828), several of Schiller's tragedies, and
Moliere's _Avare_, and wrote several original poems. Dobrentei does not
appear to have taken any part in the revolutionary movement of 1848. He
died at his country house, near Pest, on the 28th of March 1851.
DOBRITCH, or HAJIOLUPAZARJIK, the principal town in the Bulgarian
Dobrudja. Pop. (1901) 13,436. The town is noted for its _panair_ or
great fair, chiefly for horses and cattle, held annually in the summer,
which formerly attracted a large concourse from all parts of eastern
Europe, but has declined in importance.
DOBRIZHOFFER, MARTIN (1717-1791), Austrian Roman Catholic missionary,
was born at Gratz, in Styria. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1736,
and in 1749 proceeded to Paraguay, where for eighteen years he worked
devotedly first among the Guaranis, and then among the Abipones.
Returning to Europe on the expulsion of the Jesuits from South America,
he settled at Vienna, obtained the friendship of Maria Theresa, survived
the extinction of his order, composed the history of his mission, and
died on the 17th of July 1791. The lively if rather garrulous book on
which his title to remembrance rests, appeared at Vienna in 1784, in the
author's own Latin, and in a German translation by Professor Krail of
the university of Pest. Of its contents some idea may be obtained from
its extended title:--_Historia de Abiponibus, Equestri Bellicosaque
Paraguariae Natione, locupletata Copiosis Barbararum Gentium, Urbium,
Fluminum, Ferarum, Amphibiorum, Insectorum, Serpentium praecipuorum,
Piscium, Avium, Arborum, Plantarum aliarumque ejusdem Provinciae
Proprietatum Observationibus_. In 1822 there appeared in London an
anonymous translation sometimes ascribed to Southey, but really the work
of Sara Coleridge, who had undertaken the task to defray the college
expenses of one of her brothers. A delicate compliment was paid to the
translator by Southey in the third canto of his _Tale of Paraguay_, the
story of which was derived from the pages of Dobrizhoffer's narrative:--
"And if he could in Merlin's glass have seen
By whom his tomes to speak our tongue were taught,
The old man would have felt as pleased, I ween,
As when he won the ear of that great Empress Queen."
DOBROWSKY, JOSEPH (1753-1829), Hungarian philologist, was born of
Bohemian parentage at Gjermet, near Raab, in Hungary. He received his
first education in the German school at Bischofteinitz, made his first
acquaintance with Bohemian at the Deutschbrod gymnasium, studied for
some time under the Jesuits at Klattau, and then proceeded to the
university of Prague. In 1772 he was admitted among the Jesuits at
Brunn; but on the dissolution of the order in 1773 he returned to Prague
to study theology. After holding for some time the office of tutor in
the family of Count Nostitz, he obtained an appointment first as
vice-rector, and then as rector, in the general seminary at Hradisch;
but in 1790 he lost his post through the abolition of the seminaries
throughout Austria, and returned as a guest to the house of the count.
In 1792 he was commissioned by the Bohemian Academy of Sciences to visit
Stockholm, Abo, Petersburg and Moscow in search of the manuscripts which
had been scattered by the Thirty Years' War; and on his return he
accompanied Count Nostitz to Switzerland and Italy. His reason began to
give way in 1795, and in 1801 he had to be confined in a lunatic asylum;
but by 1803 he had completely recovered. The rest of his life was mainly
spent either in Prague or at the country seats of his friends Counts
Nostitz and Czernin; but his death took place at Brunn, whither he had
gone in 1828 to make investigations in the library. While his fame rests
chiefly on his labours in Slavonic philology his botanical studies are
not without value in the history of the science.
The following is a list of his more important works, _Fragmentum
Pragense evangelii S. Marci, vulgo autographi_ (1778); a periodical
for Bohemian and Moravian Literature (1780-1787); _Scriptores rerum
Bohemicarum_ (2 vols., 1783); _Geschichte der bohm. Sprache und altern
Literatur_ (1792); _Die Bildsamkeit der slaw. Sprache_ (1799); a
_Deutsch-bohm. Worterbuch_ compiled in collaboration with
Leschka-Puchmayer and Hanka (1802-1821); _Entwurf eines
Pflanzensystems nach Zahlen und Verhaltnissen_ (1802); _Glagolitica_
(1807); _Lehrgebaude der bohm. Sprache_ (1809); _Institutiones linguae
slavicae dialecti veteris_ (1822); _Entwurf zu einem allgemeinen
Etymologikon der slaw. Sprachen_ (1813); _Slowanka zur Kenntniss der
slaw. Literatur_ (1814); and a critical edition of Jordanes, _De rebus
Geticis_, for Pertz's _Monumenta Germaniae historica_. See Palacky,
_J. Dobrowskys Leben und gelehrtes Wirken_ (1833).
DOBRUDJA (Bulgarian _Dobritch_, Rumanian _Dobrogea_), also written
DOBRUDSCHA, and DOBRUJA, a region of south-eastern Europe, bounded on
the north and west by the Danube, on the east by the Black Sea, and on
the south by Bulgaria. Pop. (1900) 267,808; area, 6000 sq. m. The
strategic importance of this territory was recognized by the Romans, who
defended it on the south by "Trajan's Wall," a double rampart, drawn
from Constantza, on the Black Sea, to the Danube. In later times it was
utilized by Russians and Turks, as in the wars of 1828, 1854 and 1878,
when it was finally wrested from Turkey. By the treaty of Berlin, in
1878, the Russians rewarded their Rumanian allies with this land of
mountains, fens and barren steppes, peopled by Turks, Bulgarians,
Tatars, Jews and other aliens; while, to add to the indignation of
Rumania, they annexed instead the fertile country of Bessarabia, largely
inhabited by Rumans. After 1880, however, the steady decrease of aliens,
and the development of the Black Sea ports, rendered the Dobrudja a
source of prosperity to Rumania.
DOBSINA (Ger. _Dobschau_), a town of Hungary, 165 m. N.E. of Budapest by
rail. Pop. (1900) 5109. It is situated in the county of Gomor, at the
foot of the Radzim (3200 ft. high) in the central Carpathians, and lies
to the south of the beautiful Straczena valley, watered by the river
Gollnitz, and enclosed on all sides by mountains. In the vicinity are
mines of iron, cobalt, copper and mercury, some of them being very
ancient. But the most remarkable feature is a large cavern some 3-3/4 m.
N.W., in which is an icefield nearly 2 acres in extent, containing
formations which are at once most curious and strikingly beautiful. This
cavern, which lies in the above-mentioned Straczena valley, was
discovered in 1870. The place was founded in the first half of the 14th
century by German miners.
DOBSON, HENRY AUSTIN (1840- ), English poet and man of letters, was
born at Plymouth on the 18th of January 1840, being the eldest son of
George Clarisse Dobson, a civil engineer, and on his grandmother's side
of French descent. When he was about eight years old the family moved to
Holyhead, and his first school was at Beaumaris, in the Isle of
Anglesea. He was afterwards educated at Coventry, and the Gymnase,
Strassburg, whence he returned at the age of sixteen with the intention
of becoming a civil engineer. He had a taste for art, and in his earlier
years at the office continued to study it at South Kensington, at his
leisure, but without definite ambition. In December 1856 he entered the
Board of Trade, gradually rising to a principalship in the harbour
department, from which he withdrew in the autumn of 1901. He married in
1868 Frances Mary, daughter of Nathaniel Beardmore of Broxbourne, Herts,
and settled at Ealing. His official career was industrious though
uneventful, but as poet and biographer he stands among the most
distinguished of his time. The student of Mr Austin Dobson's work will
be struck at once by the fact that it contains nothing immature: there
are no _juvenilia_ to criticize or excuse. It was about 1864 that Mr
Dobson first turned his attention to composition in prose and verse, and
some of his earliest known pieces remain among his best. It was not
until 1868 that the appearance of _St Paul's_, a magazine edited by
Anthony Trollope, afforded Mr Dobson an opportunity and an audience; and
during the next six years he contributed to its pages some of his
favourite poems, including "Tu Quoque," "A Gentleman of the Old School,"
"A Dialogue from Plato," and "Une Marquise." Many of his poems in their
original form were illustrated--some, indeed, actually written to
support illustrations. By the autumn of 1873 Mr Dobson had produced
sufficient verse for a volume, and put forth his _Vignettes in Rhyme_,
which quickly passed through three editions. During the period of their
appearance in the magazine the poems had received unusual attention,
George Eliot, among others, extending generous encouragement to the
anonymous author. The little book at once introduced him to a larger
public. The period was an interesting one for a first appearance, since
the air was full of metrical experiment. Swinburne's bold and
dithyrambic excursions into classical metre had given the clue for an
enlargement of the borders of English prosody; and, since it was
hopeless to follow him in his own line without necessary loss of vigour,
the poets of the day were looking about for fresh forms and variations.
It was early in 1876 that a small body of English poets lit upon the
French forms of Theodore de Banville, Marot and Villon, and determined
to introduce them into English verse. Mr Austin Dobson, who had already
made successful use of the triolet, was at the head of this movement,
and in May 1876 he published in _The Prodigals_ the first original
ballade written in English. This he followed by English versions of the
rondel, rondeau and villanelle. An article in the _Cornhill Magazine_ by
Mr Edmund Gosse, "A Plea for Certain Exotic Forms of Verse," appearing
in July 1877, simultaneously with Mr Dobson's second volume, _Proverbs
in Porcelain_, drew the general eye to the possibilities and
achievements of the movement. The experiment was extremely fortunate in
its introduction. Mr Dobson is above all things natural, spontaneous and
unaffected in poetic method; and in his hands a sheaf of metrical forms,
essentially artificial and laborious, was made to assume the colour and
bright profusion of a natural product. An air of pensive charm, of
delicate sensibility, pervades the whole of these fresh revivals; and it
is perhaps this personal touch of humanity which has given something
like stability to one side of a movement otherwise transitory in
influence. The fashion has faded, but the flowers of Mr Dobson's French
garden remain bright and scented.
In 1883 Mr Dobson published _Old-World Idylls_, a volume which contains
some of his most characteristic work. By this time his taste was
gradually settling upon the period with which it has since become almost
exclusively associated; and the spirit of the 18th century is revived in
"The Ballad of Beau Brocade" and in "The Story of Rosina," as nowhere
else in modern English poetry. In "Beau Brocade," indeed, the pictorial
quality of his work, the dainty economy of eloquent touches, is at its
very best: every couplet has its picture, and every picture is true and
vivacious. The touch has often been likened to that of Randolph
Caldecott, with which it has much in common; but Mr Dobson's humour is
not so "rollicking," his portraiture not so broad, as that of the
illustrator of "John Gilpin." The appeal is rather to the intellect, and
the touches of subdued pathos in the "Gentleman" and "Gentlewoman of the
Old School" are addressed directly to the heart. We are in the 18th
century, but see it through the glasses of to-day; and the soft
intercepting sense of change which hangs like a haze between ourselves
and the subject is altogether due to the poet's sympathy and
sensibility. _At the Sign of the Lyre_ (1885) was the next of Mr
Dobson's separate volumes of verse, although he has added to the body of
his work in a volume of _Collected Poems_ (1897). _At the Sign of the
Lyre_ contains examples of all his various moods. The admirably fresh
and breezy "Ladies of St James's" has precisely the qualities we have
traced in his other 18th-century poems; there are ballades and rondeaus,
with all the earlier charm; and in "A Revolutionary Relic," as in "The
Child Musician" of the _Old-World Idylls_, the poet reaches a depth of
true pathos which he does not often attempt, but in which, when he seeks
it, he never fails. At the pole opposite to these are the light
occasional verses, not untouched by the influence of Praed, but also
quite individual, buoyant and happy. But the chief novelty in _At the
Sign of the Lyre_ was the series of "Fables of Literature and Art,"
founded in manner upon Gay, and exquisitely finished in scholarship,
taste and criticism. It is in these perhaps, more than in any other of
his poems, that we see how with much felicity Mr Dobson interpenetrates
the literature of fancy with the literature of judgment. After 1885 Mr
Dobson was engaged principally upon critical and biographical prose, by
which he has added very greatly to the general knowledge of his
favourite 18th century. His biographies of _Fielding_ (1883), _Bewick_
(1884), _Steele_ (1886), _Goldsmith_ (1888), _Walpole_ (1890) and
_Hogarth_ (1879-1898) are studies marked alike by assiduous research,
sympathetic presentation and sound criticism. It is particularly
noticeable that Mr Dobson in his prose has always added something, and
often a great deal, to our positive knowledge of the subject in
question, his work as a critic never being solely aesthetic. In _Four
Frenchwomen_ (1890), in the three series of _Eighteenth-Century
Vignettes_ (1892-1894-1896), and in _The Paladin of Philanthropy_
(1899), which contain unquestionably his most delicate prose work, the
accurate detail of each study is relieved by a charm of expression which
could only be attained by a poet. In 1901 he collected his hitherto
unpublished poems in a volume entitled _Carmina Votiva_. Possessing an
exquisite talent of defined range, Mr Austin Dobson may be said in his
own words to have "held his pen in trust for Art" with a service sincere
and distinguished.
DOBSON, WILLIAM (1610-1646), English portrait and historical painter,
was born in London. His father was master of the alienation office, but
by improvidence had fallen into reduced circumstances. The son was
accordingly bound an apprentice to a stationer and picture dealer in
Holborn Bridge; and while in his employment he began to copy the
pictures of Titian and Van Dyck. He also took portraits from life under
the advice and instruction of Francis Cleyn, a German artist of
considerable repute. Van Dyck, happening to pass a shop in Snow Hill
where one of Dobson's pictures was exposed, sought out the artist, and
presented him to Charles I., who took Dobson under his protection, and
not only sat to him several times for his own portrait, but caused the
prince of Wales, Prince Rupert and many others to do the same. The king
had a high opinion of his artistic ability, styled him the English
Tintoretto, and appointed him serjeant-painter on the death of Van Dyck.
After the fall of Charles, Dobson was reduced to great poverty, and fell
into dissolute habits. He died at the early age of thirty-six. Excellent
examples of Dobson's portraits are to be seen at Blenheim, Chatsworth
and several other country seats throughout England. The head in the
"Decollation of St John the Baptist" at Wilton is said to be a portrait
of Prince Rupert.
DOCETAE, a name applied to those thinkers in the early Christian Church
who held that Christ, during his life, had not a real or natural, but
only an apparent ([Greek: dokein], to appear) or phantom body. Other
explanations of the [Greek: dokesis] or appearance have, however, been
suggested, and, in the absence of any statement by those who first used
the word of the grounds on which they did so, it is impossible to
determine between them with certainty. The name Docetae is first used by
Theodoret (_Ep._ 82) as a general description, and by Clement of
Alexandria as the designation of a distinct sect,[1] of which he says
that Julius Cassianus was the founder. Docetism, however, undoubtedly
existed before the time of Cassianus. The origin of the heresy is to be
sought in the Greek, Alexandrine and Oriental philosophizing about the
imperfection or rather the essential impurity of matter. Traces of a
Jewish Docetism are to be found in Philo; and in the Christian form it
is generally supposed to be combated in the writings of John,[2] and
more formally in the epistles of Ignatius.[3] It differed much in its
complexion according to the points of view adopted by the different
authors. Among the Gnostics and Manichaeans it existed in its most
developed type, and in a milder form it is to be found even in the
writings of the orthodox teachers. The more thoroughgoing Docetae
assumed the position that Christ was born without any participation of
matter; and that all the acts and sufferings of his human life,
including the crucifixion, were only apparent. They denied accordingly,
the resurrection and the ascent into heaven. To this class belonged
Dositheus, Saturninus, Cerdo, Marcion and their followers, the Ophites,
Manichaeans and others. Marcion, for example, regarded the body of
Christ merely as an "umbra," a "phantasma." His denial (due to his
abhorrence of the world) that Jesus was born or subjected to human
development, is in striking contrast to the value which he sets on
Christ's death on the cross. The other, or milder school of Docetae,
attributed to Christ an ethereal and heavenly instead of a truly human
body. Amongst these were Valentinus, Bardesanes, Basilides, Tatian and
their followers. They varied considerably in their estimation of the
share which this body had in the real actions and sufferings of Christ.
Clement and Origen, at the head of the Alexandrian school, took a
somewhat subtle view of the Incarnation, and Docetism pervades their
controversies with the Monarchians. Hilary especially illustrates the
prevalence of naive Docetic views as regards the details of the
Incarnation. Docetic tendencies have also been developed in later
periods of ecclesiastical history, as for example by the Priscillianists
and the Bogomils, and also since the Reformation by Jacob Boehme, Menno
Simons and a small fraction of the Anabaptists. Docetism springs from
the same roots as Gnosticism, and the Gnostics generally held Docetic
views (see GNOSTICISM).