unwearied diligence and extraordinary quickness, of which the great number of his paintings, drawings, and engravings, dispersed throughout almost every part of Europe, are a proof. This close application, however, at the latter part of his life rendered him sickly and totally unfit for exercising his art, so that he died completely exhausted, on the 24th of April, 1774, in the sixty-second year of his age. Though Dietrich formed his style entirely in Germany, on account of his excellent genius he may be classed among the greatest German masters, but he was deficient in correctness of design. For that reason he was sent to Italy, and with a view of more improvement he went first to Venice and then to Rome, but his letters from that country to Van Heinecken, chamberlain to the elector of Saxony, were filled merely with complaints against the Italians, and the climate of the country, which he found unfavourable to his health, and with intreaties for leave to return, which was granted to him in 1744. His aversion to the Italians extended even to their school. Dietrich exercised four kinds of painting with great success. First, landscape painting was undoubtedly that branch of the art in which he excelled. His landscapes display fertility of invention, a great deal of judgment and taste, happiness of choice, and variety in the arrangement. His lights are well managed, and his trees exhibit a freedom and beauty approaching near to nature. These advantages, which are happily united in the most of his works of this kind, make him the first landscape painter of his time. In this branch of painting he formed himself chiefly after Ever dingen, Berghem, Claude Lorraine, and Poelemburg; but in this, as in other departments, he painted in the style of almost all the great masters, and, in general, without being guilty of their faults. Second, his scripture pieces, both paintings and engravings, are chiefly in the style of Rembrandt; his old figures, in particular, have a likeness to those of that celebrated painter. In young figures, and especially females, his drawing is juster and nobler; his touches softer, and his flesh tints more agreeable. He, however, painted pieces of this kind with no little success in styles quite opposite. Third, his pieces, representing boors, display a great deal of nature and expression. Fourth, in his conversation pieces he has formed himself chiefly after Watteau; but it is to be regretted, that, in conformity to the ridiculous fashion of the age, he was obliged to cover his excellent figures with drapery, diametrically opposite to the rules of

VOL. III.

His

good taste. The beautiful landscapes in which he places them give them a great superiority to those of Watteau. There are some heads by him, mostly in Rembrandt's style, which are painted with great truth and expression. In all his paintings the colouring is excellent. His colours are not only exceedingly lively, without glare; but they are also very durable. He had the art of giving to all his pieces a spirit and effect which are peculiarly his own. chiaro-scuro, and the blending of his colours, are worthy of admiration, and though his lights often appear strong and bright, they are introduced with judgment and art, as time renders every thing darker. His composition is warm, but not outré; his finishing delicate, but not laboured; and his pencil bold, without degenerating into harshness. His invention is a strong proof of the richness and liveliness of his fancy. In copying, he possesed a readiness almost incredible: he copied paintings, the styles of which were entirely different, with equal felicity: to-day a Raphael, and next day a Correggio; at one time a Mieris, and at another an Ostade. His drawings were purchased by the elector of Saxony, and are now in the cabinet of engravings at Dresden. A great many of them, however, are dispersed throughout private collections; but his sketches, drawings, and engravings, were never anywhere in greater request, or sold higher, than at Paris. Dietrich engraved a great many plates, which he began to collect after his return from Italy, and on which at first he had set no value. Their rarity is owing chiefly to the earliest ones being sold by his mother at the fairs, and to their being dispersed partly at Leipsic, and partly at Brunswick. Dietrich was likewise accustomed, when he had taken off a few impressions from a plate, to scrape out the engraving, and to engrave on it some other subject. His engravings, after the year 1739, are not so scarce; some of these he engraved and printed a second time. After his death his widow published all his engravings, under the inspection of M. Zing, in a complete collec tion of eighty-four pieces, each copy of which was sold at Dresden at six ducats. The collec tion published in his life-time is not so complete. Dietrich, according to the opinion of Hagedorn, and other connoisseurs, was an original genius. Hirsching's Manual of eminent Persons who died in the Eighteenth Century.-J.

DIEU, LEWIS DE, a Dutch protestant divine at Leyden, eminent for his learning, and particularly his acquaintance with the oriental languages, was born at Flushing, in the year 3 C

1590. He prosecuted his studies under the instructions of his maternal uncle, Daniel Colonius, who was professor in the Walloon college at Leyden; and when he was of a proper age to engage in the work of the ministry, settled for two years as pastor to the French church at Flushing. According to some writers, he was also fixed for some time in the office of minister to the French church at Middleburgh. His pulpit services were so acceptable, that prince Maurice of Orange, who heard him preach when he was in Zealand, was desirous of giving him the appointment of court minister at the Hague. But that respectable situation he declined, partly from a modest diffidence in his own talents, which he conceived inadequate to sustain it with honour and proper dignity, and partly, because he thought that the restraints which the presence of a court must inspire, would prevent him from the conscientious discharge of his duty, and from censuring, with freedom and without ceremony, whatever he might judge to be a proper object of censure. In the year 1619 he was called to Leyden, to assist his uncle Colonius in the professorship of the Walloon college; which office he diligently discharged until his death, in the year 1642. During this period, he refused the employment which was offered him of divinity professor in the university of Utrecht, and was designed, if he had lived long enough, for the same post in that of Leyden. He published "A Commentary upon the four Evangelists," in 1631, after having carefully examined the versions by Tremellius, Munster, and Mercerus, the vulgar version, those of Erasmus and Theodore Beza, the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, and compared them with one another, and all of them with the Greek text. He also published "Notes upon the Acts of the Apostles," and upon the Apocalypse of St. John," which he printed in Hebrew and Syriac, with a Latin version. He also wrote "A Commentary upon the Epistle to the Romans;" "A Collection of Observations on the other Epistles of the Apostles ;" and "A Commentary upon the Old Testament;" which after his death were published at Amsterdam, together with the article last mentioned, in 1693, under the title of "Critica Sacra, in folio. Professor De Dieu published likewise," Historia Christi, persicè conscripta, a Patre Hieronymo Xavier, Latine reddita,' with learned notes, 1639, 4to.; and "The History of St. Peter," translated also from the Persian, with notes. He likewise wrote "Grammatica Linguarum orientalium," which appeared after his death, in 1683,

4to.; a treatise "De Avaritia ;" another entitled "Rhetorica sacra," and " Aphorismi Theologici," which were also posthumous, and edited under the care of M. Leydecker. Bayle. Moreri. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M.

DIGBY, sir KENELM, a person whom lord Clarendon happily characterises as "very eminent and notorious throughout the whole course of his life," was son of sir Everard Digby, who was executed for the share he had in the gunpowder-plot. Kenelm was born in 1603, and was only three years old when he lost his father. Care was taken to educate him in the protestant religion, and at a proper age he was entered at Gloucester-hall, Oxford, where, it is said, his studies were directed to the sublimer parts of philosophy. It appears certain, that he made himself remarkable at the university by great acuteness of parts and extent of acquisitions, so that he was compared to the famous Pico of Mirandula.. After a continuance at Oxford of less than three years, he made the tour of Europe, whence le returned in 1623. He was presented to the king, and received the honour of knighthood, probably on the recommendation of prince Charles and the duke of Buckingham, to whom he had paid court in Spain on their romantic journey thither. Sir Kenelm brought back with him the secret of the powder for the sympathetic cure of wounds, which for a time excited much notice at court. The only account we have of its actual trial is upon Mr. Howel, the letterwriter, which exhibits much charlatanery in the operator, and apparently an artful collusion in the patient. In the beginning of Charles the First's reign he rose into favour, and was created a gentleman of the bed-chamber, a commissioner of the navy, and a governor of the Trinity-house. On occasion of some disputes with the Algerines and the Venetians, he sailed to the Mediterranean in 1628, with a small squadron of ships fitted out at his own expence, but under the king's commission, and obtained some brilliant successes over both those powers. He returned with as high a reputation for valour and enterprise, as he before enjoyed for knowledge and abilities, and few private individuals of the time stood in a more conspicuous light. Besides possessing the advantages of ancient descent and a plentiful fortune, he was (says lord Clarendon) " a man of a very extraordinary person and presence, which drew the eyes of all men upon him, which were more fixed by a wonderful graceful behaviour, a flowing courtesy and civility, and such a volubility of language as surprised

and delighted; and though in another man it might have appeared to have somewhat of affectation, it was marvellous graceful in him, and seemed natural to his size, and mould of his person, to the gravity of his motion, and the tune of his voice and delivery." To these qualities, the noble historian adds, "a great confidence and presentness of mind," than which none can more conduce to what is termed making a figure. Upon a visit to France, sir Kenelm, warmly assailed by ecclesiastics, and led into the maze of controversy, was reclaimed to the religion of his fathers, and in 1636 reconciled himself to the church of Rome. This change, considering his family predilections, and that turn of mind which ever inclined him to mysterious and subtle doctrines, was not at all extraordinary. It was, however, a subject of uneasiness to many of his friends in England, particularly to archbishop Laud, to whom he addressed an apology for the step he had taken, and who wrote him a candid and affectionate answer. He displayed the zeal of a convert by publicly defending the faith he had adopted in two works, viz." A Conference with a Lady about Choice of Religion;" and "Letters between Lord George Digby and Sir Kenelm Digby, Knt. concerning Religion." The latter work, indeed, exhibits both sides of the question; and is an instructive example of a controversy maintained between two friends with mutual respect and civility. On the commencement of the troubles with Scotland, the queen instigated sir Kenelm Digby and Mr. Walter Montague to write to the gentlemen of the catholic persuasion in England, in order to obtain from them a voluntary contribution in support of the expedition against the Scots. For their compliance, the House of Commons afterwards addressed the king for their removal from his presence; and upon the breaking-out of the civil war, sir Kenelm was by the parliament committed prisoner to Winchester-house. During his confinement he occupied himself with philosophical speculation. He wrote observations on the celebrated Religio Medici of sir Thomas Browne, addressed in form of a letter to the earl of Dorset, which do him honour, as well on account of the politeness of the language, as the acuteness with which he confutes some of the notions of that fanciful writer. He also indulged his taste for allegorical interpretation by an elaborate commentary on a stanza in the ninth canto of the second book of the Fairy Queen, in which Spenser has introduced some of the profoundest mysteries relative to numbers. He was at length liberat

ed, at the particular request of the queen-regent of France; and going abroad, was favourably received at the French court, and by the literati of that kingdom. It is supposed to have been about this time that he paid a visit to the philosopher Descartes in his retreat, who is said to have recognised him from his conversation. If it be true that Digby urged Descartes to quit his philosophical speculations for those practical studies which might conduce to the discovery of a method of prolonging human life, it would prove that he little comprehended the genius of that great man, and was himself the dupe of fallacious expectations. At Paris he printed in 1644 his own philosophical system, contained in two works or parts, entitled "A Treatise of the Nature of Bodies," and " A Treatise declaring the Operations and Nature of Man's Soul, out of which the Immortality of reasonable Souls is evinced." Besides these, he printed, in 1651, "Institutionum Peripateticarum Libri V. cum Appendice theologica de origine Mundi." These pieces are all written in the spirit of the corpuscularian philosophy, which they support with considerable learning and ingenuity, though the author cannot be esteemed a sound and solid reasoner. After the ruin of the royal cause, sir Kenelm came over to England in order to make a composition for his estate, but the parliament would not suffer him to stay long, and denounced the penalty of death upon him should he return again without permission. The cause of this rigour was probably the concern which his eldest son Kenelm had in the insurrection for the king under lord Holland in 1648, in which he lost his life. Sir Kenelm returning to France, was employed by the queen-dowager, and sent to Italy, several of the courts of which he visited, and was generally received as an extraordinary person. It was said of him, that had he dropped out of the clouds into any part of the world, he would have made himself respected; but the Jesuits, his enemies, while they acknowledged this, added, "that, however, he must not stay in the place above six weeks." When Cromwell had seized the reins of government, he returned to England, and continued in it the greater part of the year 1655. Besides the management of his private affairs, it appears certain that he was engaged in a design of conciliating the catholic party to the protector's administration, upon the condition of a free toleration of their religion, a measure to which Cromwell, who had adopted" the principles of general toleration, was not averse. Digby was severely censured by the

royalists on this occasion, and it cannot be denied that he preferred the interests of his sect to that of any particular party in the state. How far such a plan of policy is justifiable in a persecuted community, we shall leave the reader to determine. Digby seems to have been much favoured and trusted by Cromwell; and from a letter of his extant to secretary Thurloe, it appears that he was not sparing in humble protestations of attachment. He resided in the south of France in 1656 and 1657, frequenting the society of the learned and ingenious, before whom he was fond of making displays of his philosophy. "A Discourse on the Cure of Wounds by Sympathy," which he pronounced in a solemn assembly at Montpellier, was published in French, and afterwards translated into English by Richard White. It contains the relation concerning Mr. Howel, already mentioned, which is its only fact; the rest consisting of a train of most subtle and fanciful reasonings, derived from the doctrines of effluvia, and the mutual attraction of similar particles, and almost too visionary to deserve the name of ingenious. He was in Germany during the two next years, where he is said to have passed under the title of earl or count Digby. In 1660 he returned to Paris, from which place Oldenburgh, afterwards secretary to the Royal Society, writes some circumstances concerning him to the hon. Robert Boyle, which may enable us to estimate that kind of pursuit of experimental knowledge for which sir Kenelm has been applauded. We met lately," says he, " at the house of a chemist, where the question was agitated about the dissolvent of gold, Whether the universal spirit of the world, in its undetermined nature, or, as it is specified and contracted to a mineral, be the menstruum of that noble metal ? The discussion hereof being rather made by authority than reason, gave small satisfaction to the auditors, whereof the learned knight himself being the chief, did moderate the action, but not determine the question, interlacing the discourses of others with several considerable relations, whereof two did ravish the hearers to admiration. The one was of a king's house in England, which having stood covered with lead for five or six ages, and being sold after that? was found to contain three fourths of silver in the lead thereof. The other was of a fixed salt, drawn out of a certain potters' earth here in France, at a place called Arcueil, which salt being for some time exposed to the sun beams, became salt-petre, then vitriol, then lead, tin, copper, silver, and, at the end of

fourteen months, gold; which he assured to have experienced himself, and another able natu ralist besides him." Oldenburgh adds, "I must confess I would rather see this than believe it ;" and it certainly requires all the candour of Dr. Campbell, in the Biog. Britan. to acquit Digby in this instance either of gross credulity, or of imposture, or of both. To finish the account of his philosophical exertions. He pronounced in Gresham college an oration, afterwards published under the title of "A Discourse concerning the Vegetation of Plants," 1661, in which he attributes the in crease of a plant from its seed to fermentation, and derives the cause of fecundity from the nitre which he supposes to exist in dew.

After the Restoration he returned to England, and met with that polite reception at court which was granted to many others, who, like. him, had rendered their loyalty questionable by compliances with the usurper's government. He was not, however, brought forward into public life, but spent the remainder of his days in a learned retreat, frequenting the meetings of the newly-created Royal Society, of which he was a member, and receiving the visits of men of science at his own house in CoventGarden. He suffered much from the stone, of the consequences of which he died in 1665, at the age of sixty-two. Sir Kenelm married Venetia Anastasia, daughter of sir Edward. Stanley of Shropshire, whom lord Clarendoncalls "a lady of an extraordinary beauty, and of as extraordinary a fame." In order to preserve her charms, her husband is said to have tried many whimsical experiments, among which was that of dieting her upon capons fed with the flesh of vipers; and to have invented a number of cosmetics for her use. She died at an early age. Several busts, pictures, and miniatures of her are extant. One only son survived sir Kenelm, in whom the males of that: branch of the Digby family ceased. Biog. Britan. Pennant's Journey from Chester to Lond.-A.

DIGGES, LEONARD, an English arithmetician of. considerable repute in the sixteenth century, was a descendant of an ancient and respectable family, and born at Digges's Court, in the parish of Berham, in Kent; but in what year is uncertain. We meet with few particulars respecting his life, excepting that he was educated for some time in University college, Oxford, where he laid a good foundation of learning; of which he so availed himself, in his subsequent studies, that he became an excellent mathematician, a skilful architect, and a most expert