proficiency in the arts; and that distinguished master of the English school then predicted the future fame of the young artist. Devis was but twenty years of age when the East India Company appointed him their draughtsman in a voyage of discovery. The intention of this expedition was checked by the wreck of the vessel in which he sailed on the Pellew Islands; but the crew was saved, and Devis, after enduring great hardship, reached Canton, and from thence proceeded to Bengal, where he was warmly patronized by Sir William Jones and other distinguished personages. In 1795 he returned to England, and pursued his profession with diligence and success till his death, which occurred in London, 11th February, 1822. His principal works are, Lord Cornwallis receiving the two Sons of Tippoo Saib as hostages; King John signing Magna Charta; and the Battle of Trafalgar. Previous to painting this last picture, Devis went to meet the Victory, when he made a drawing of the cock-pit of that vessel, and took portraits of the officers and attendants present at the death of Nelson.

DEVONSHIRE, (Georgina, duchess of,) a lady not more distinguished by her elevated rank, than by her personal and mental endowments, was born in 1757. She was the eldest daughter of John, earl Spencer, and was married in 1774, to William Cavendish, duke of Devon shire; when she became the centre of a brilliant circle in the world of fashion, where her wit, taste, and accomplishments, rendered her society powerfully attractive. She wrote several pieces of poetry, the most successful of which was her Passage of Mount St. Gothard. A French translation of it was published, along with the original, by Delille, in 1802, 8vo, with a poetical dedication to the authoress. She died in 1806.

DEVONSHIRE, (Elizabeth Hervey, duchess of,) daughter of the earl of Bristol, born in 1759, and distinguished for her personal charms, her taste, and her talents. In early life she married Mr. Foster, with whom she travelled on the continent, and, while at Lausanne, made the acquaintance of the historian Gibbon. In 1806, after the death of her first hus band, she married the duke of Devonshire, who died in 1814. She soon after repaired to Rome, where she caused to be printed an edition of the poem of the Passage of St. Gothard by Georgina, the former duchess of Devonshire. (See the preceding article.) She also published

a magnificent edition of the fifth satire of Horace, Lib. I., embellished with engravings by the brothers Ripenhausen, of Prussia, and accompanied with an Italian version by Molajoni. This was followed, at the suggestion of cardinal Consalvi, by a more correct edition, printed by Madame Bodoni, with engravings by Caracciolo. She also caused to be printed an edition of the Æneid of Virgil, with engravings by Marchetti, from designs by Lawrence. The whole was conducted under the direction of Akerblad. She had also contemplated an edition of the works of Caro, and was about to engage in an edition of Dante, when she was cut off by fever, at Rome, on the 30th of March, 1824. She was the intimate friend of Madame de Staël, and of other literary females of the day, and after her death a medal was struck in her memory.

DEWAILLY, (Charles,) an eminent French architect, born at Paris, in 1729. He studied under Lejay, and in 1752 he obtained the chief architectural prize, and the privilege of studying at Rome for three years, at the public expense. Dewailly was employed in most of the modern buildings of taste and magnificence in his own country, and many of his designs are engraved in the Encyclopédie, and in Laborde's Description of France. He was a member of the Institute, and of the Academy of Painting, as well as that of Architecture. He died in 1799, having been spared the affliction of beholding one of his most exquisite pieces of workmanship, the magnificent hall of the Odeon, destroyed by fire; an event which occurred but a short time after his death.

D'EWES, (Sir Symonds,) an English historian and antiquarian, born in 1602, at Coxdon, in Dorsetshire. In 1618 he entered at St. John's college, Cambridge, and two years after began his collection of materials for a History of England. His learning and his labours recommended him to the notice of the most distinguished characters of the times, of Cotton, Spelman, Selden, and others. His great work was finished when he attained his thirtieth year, but he did not publish it, and it appeared afterwards under the title of Journals of all the Parliaments during the Reign of Elizabeth, &c. revised by Paul Bowes, 1682, fol. He served the office of sheriff for Suffolk, and was knighted, and in 1641 was made a baronet; but notwithstanding these marks of royal favour, he

and burnt some of the English shipping in the Medway. This was followed by the peace of Breda, July 1667. The encroaching ambition of Louis XIV., who aimed at taking possession of the Spanish Netherlands, now excited the alarm of De Witt, who hastened to form a triple alliance with England and Sweden, in order to guarantee the possessions of Spain. In his anxiety to hasten the ratification of this treaty, he neglected to observe certain diplomatic formalities, which was the occasion of violent obloquy against him. In 1667 he also established a perpetual edict, abolishing for ever the office of stadtholder in Holland; but in 1672, when the prince of Orange was nominated captain-general, the mob invited him to accept the office of stadtholder; and De Witt, no longer popular, resigned his office, after receiving the solemn thanks of the states for his services. All De Witt's calculations, both foreign and domestic, were now baffled by the intrigues with which Louis XIV. contrived in 1672 not only to detach Charles II. from the Dutch alliance, but to engage him in a counter alliance with himself against Holland. The French armies now suddenly invaded the United Provinces, Louis entered Utrecht, and his troops were within a few miles of Amsterdam. The consternation was universal, and all the odium was thrown by the friends of the Orange family on De Witt and his party. In this emergency the young prince of Orange was called to command the naval and military forces. But this did not pacify the populace, and so violent were the tumults, that De Witt's brother, Cornelius, was accused by Ticklaer, a barber, and though declared innocent, was sentenced to exile, and soon after the prison in which he was confined was attacked, and he, as well as his brother, who unfortunately was present, were inhumanly butchered. Their dead bodies were dragged to the gallows, and the pensionary's remains were hung one foot higher than those of Cornelius. Their remains thus insulted were cut into a thousand pieces, and it is even said, that some of the flesh was broiled and eaten by the savage murderers. Without pride and pomp, De Witt lived upon little more than 700l. a year, though at the head of a government; and with the most laudable integrity he refused a gift of 10,000l. with which the states wished to reward his noble services, observing that such liberality was a bad precedent in a government. His

work entitled The True Interest and Political Maxims of the Republic of Holland, translated into English by Campbell, is a noble monument of his abilities as a statesman, and it displays the true maxims by which a government may become popular at home and respectable abroad, whilst it maintains justice with liberty, and encourages trade without oppression or monopoly.

DEYNUM, (John Baptist,) a Flemish painter, born at Antwerp, in 1620. He excelled in miniature portraits and landscapes. His works are remarkable for elegance of composition and beauty of colouring. He died at Antwerp in 1669.

DEYSTER, (Louis,) a Flemish painter, born at Bruges, in 1656. He was a pupil of Maes, and afterwards studied at Rome and Venice. He died at Bruges in 1711, and his best works are in the churches of that city, which also contain some pictures by his daughter, ANNE DEYSTER, in which she has imitated his style with wonderful exactness. She died in 1746.

DEZALLIER D'ARGENVILLE, (Anthony Joseph,) a French naturalist and biographer, born in 1680, at Paris, where he was educated at the college du Plessis. He studied drawing and painting under Picart and De Piles, and architecture under Leblond, and improved his taste by visiting the galleries of Italy. He also became acquainted with men of science in various parts of Europe, and was elected in 1750 member of the Royal Society of London, and of the Academy of Sciences at Montpellier. He wrote1. La Théorie et la Pratique du Jardinage, 4to; and in 1757, Conchyliologie, ou Traité sur la Nature des Coquillages, 2 vols, 4to, reprinted 1757. 2. L'Orycthologie, ou Traité des Pierres, des Minéraux, des Métaux et autres Fossiles, 1755, 4to; Abregé de la Vie de quelques Peintres célèbres, 3 vols, 4to, and 4 vols, 8vo, a useful work, of great labour and taste. He practised engraving sometimes himself. He died at Paris in 1766; and his son continued the biography begun by the father by the addition of two volumes, containing the lives of architects and sculptors.

DIACONUS, (Paulus,) was born at Friuli, and after receiving his education at Pavia, entered the monastery of Monte Casino. His history of the Lombards, in six books, is reckoned accurate as far as it relates to his own nation. He died in 770.

DIAGORAS, a philosopher of Melos, who flourished about 400 B.C., and was

accused before the Athenians for his public profession of Atheism.

DIAZ, (Bartholomew,) a celebrated navigator, a native of Portugal. He discovered, in 1486, the southern cape of Africa, which he called the Cape of Tempests, an ominous title, as he perished there in the year 1500. The name was then changed by the king of Portugal to its present appellation, the Cape of Good Hope.

DIAZ, (John,) a native of Spain, who, in the course of his studies at Paris, on reading the works of Luther, embraced the Protestant faith. On completing his education he visited Calvin at Geneva, and then went to Strasburg and Neuberg. To the latter place he was followed by his brother, Alphonsus, a violent Catholic, who finding his endeavours to bring him back to his original faith of no avail, cruelly resolved to have him assassinated, which was carried into effect in the most brutal manner. This occurred in 1546, and the fratricide shortly afterwards perished by his own hand.

DIBDIŃ, (Charles,) a celebrated writer of naval songs, was born at Southampton in 1745. He was educated at Winchester, his parents intending him for the Church, but his early love of music led him to devote the greater part of his time to that science, and relinquishing all thoughts of the clerical profession, he turned his attention to the stage. In 1762 he appeared at the Richmond Theatre, and subsequently in the metropolis; but failing as an actor, he commenced writing dramatic pieces, and produced some musical compositions, in both of which he succeeded. He next brought forward a novel kind of entertainment, in which he was sole performer of his own songs and music. Dibdin was granted a pension of 2001. a-year, which he only enjoyed for a short time, as it was withdrawn on a change of ministry. The pension was given on account of the favourable influence his naval songs had over British seamen, and which have rendered his name so well known. They amount to about 1400. Dibdin was likewise the author of thirty dramatic pieces, and produced a History of the Stage, and an account of his own life. He died in 1814.

DICETO, (Ralph de,) dean of St. Paul's, London, in 1210, was author of an epitome of the History of England previous to the Conquest, and of a work called Imagines Historiarum, containing lives of some of the kings of Britain.

DICK, (Sir Alexander,) son of Sir

William Cunningham, of Copington, was born in Scotland in 1703. After studying medicine at Edinburgh he placed himself under the instruction of Boerhaave, at Leyden, and subsequently visited the several countries of Europe. On the death of his brother he assumed the name of his maternal grandfather, and in 1756 was elected president of the College of Physicians at Edinburgh. In 1774 the London Society awarded him their gold medal for his successful culture of the rhubarb in England. He died in 1785.

DICKINSON, (Edmund,) an eminent English physician, born at Appleton, in Berkshire, in 1624. He was educated at Eton and Oxford; and in 1655 he published a learned work called, Delphi Phoenicizantes, in which he proved that the Greeks borrowed the history of the Delphic oracles from the Scriptures. In 1684, Charles II. appointed him royal physician, in which office he was retained by the succeeding monarch. He was the author of Physica vetus et vera, and several other works. He death took place in 1707.

DICKONS, (Mrs.) a celebrated singer. Her maiden name was Poole; and she evinced such an extraordinary taste for music in her childhood, that at the age of six years she was able to perform the overtures and fugues of Handel on the piano-forte with taste and precision. She was placed under the tuition of Rauzzini, and in 1793 appeared for the first time at Covent-garden Theatre. In 1816 she was engaged as prima donna at madam Catalani's theatre at Paris; and afterwards visited Italy, where she was received with the greatest enthusiasm. On her return to England she again appeared at Covent-garden with increased success, but ill health compelled her to retire from public life in 1818. She died in 1833.

DICKSON, (James,) a native of Scotland, who though originally but a working gardener, became one of the founders of the Linnæan, and subsequently vicepresident of the Horticultural Society. He died in 1822, and was the author of Fasciculi quator Plantarum Cryptogamicarum Britanniæ, published in 1785, 4to; and a Botanical Catalogue, which appeared in 1797, 8vo.

DICKSON, (David,) a Scotch divine, was born in 1591, and became an eloquent preacher, but was much censured for his violence against the episcopalians. He was successively commissioner to the general assembly at Glasgow and Westminster, and professor of divinity at

Edinburgh. He was the author of a commentary on St. Matthew, on the Epistle to the Hebrews, and on the Psalms. He died in 1664.

DIDEROT, (Denis,) a celebrated French writer, was born at Langres in 1713. He first appeared as an author in 1746, when he published his Pensées Philosophiques, and then became contributor to a medical dictionary. While engaged at this work he formed the plan of a Dictionnaire Encyclopédique; this laborious undertaking he completed with the assistance of D'Alembert and other learned associates, at the end of twenty years' unwearied application. He next produced Les Bijoux Indiscrets; Le Fils Naturel; and Letters to the Blind. The first is a reprehensibly licentious novel; and the last, for its freedom and scepticism, occasioned the imprisonment of the author for six months at Vincennes. He died in 1784. The varied acquirements and extensive knowledge of Diderot cannot be questioned, but it is to be lamented that his abilities were not always exerted in the support of morality and virtue.

DIDOT, (Francis Ambrose,) a cele brated French printer, born in 1730. His advancement of the typographic art has rendered his name famous; and his improvements in the construction of paper-mills, and his invention of stereotype printing, evince his ingenuity. As a proof of the zeal with which he devoted himself to everything connected with printing, he read over carefully no less than five times every sheet of the edition of Montaigne, undertaken by his sons, although he had then reached the advanced age of seventy-three. He died in 1804.-PIERRE FRANCIS DIDOT, his brother, as well as his sons and nephew, also contributed to improve type-founding and printing.

DIDOT, (Firmin,) second son of the preceding, was born in 1764, and became celebrated not only as a printer, but in the engraving of letters, an art which he brought to the greatest perfection. On succeeding to his father's establishment, the printing of several works was entrusted to him, which he produced in a style creditable to his taste.

He was

also distinguished for his careful attention to the minutest part of every pub lication that issued from his press. He was presented with the order of the Legion of Honour, and in 1829 was elected member of the Chamber of Deputies for the department of L'Eure.

After the revolution of 1830 he was re-elected, and frequently spoke in the Chamber on subjects connected with commerce, and particularly on those relating to the book-trade, or to the press. He died in 1836.

DIEBITSCH, (Count Sabalkausky,) a distinguished general in the Russian army. His father had served under Frederic the Great, but on the death of that monarch he obtained an important command in the service of Russia. He procured a commission in the imperial guards for his son, who rose rapidly in the army, and distinguished himself frequently in the campaigns of 1812, 1813, and 1814, by his skill and bravery. The emperor Alexander, in consideration of his services, raised him to the rank of quartermaster-general. In the battles of Austerlitz, Dresden, Eylau, and Friedland, he displayed great courage; and in 1829 he was appointed head of the staff, and the emperor Nicholas gave him the command of the Russian army in the expedition against the Turks. At the termination of the campaign he was rewarded for his brilliant success with the rank of fieldmarshal, and the title of count Sabalkausky. The Polish revolution called him again to the field as commander of the Russian forces. He conducted his troops with his wonted skill and courage; but the cholera suddenly appearing, made fearful ravages in his army, and he fell a victim to the dreadful malady, on the 10th of June, 1831.

DIECHE, (Anthony Claude,) one of the most active and atrocious agents in the French Revolution, born at Rhodez, in 1753.

He joined the party of the Jacobins, and became commandant of the citadel of Strasburg, where he was remarkable for the savage ferocity of his conduct. He was afterwards removed from his post, and lived the rest of his days in obscurity.

DIECMAN, (John,) a learned Lutheran divine, born in 1647, at Stade, in the duchy of Bremen, where his father was also a minister. He studied at Giessen, Jena, and Wurtemberg. In 1675 he was appointed rector of Stade; and in 1683 he was made superintendent of the duchies of Bremen and Ferden. In 1712, the war obliging him to leave Stade, he went to Bremen; but after three years he returned, and was reinstated in his office at Stade, where he died in 1720. He wrote-1. De naturalismo cum aliorum, tum maxime Joannis Bodini, ex Opere ejus manuscripto Anecdoto, de abditis