but not great; he never labours after exquisite beauties, and he seldom falls into gross faults. His versification is smooth, but rarely vigorous, and his rhymes are remarkably exact. He improved taste, if he did not enlarge knowledge, and may be numbered among the benefactors to English literature." Nor ought it to be forgot, that he was the first critic who had the taste and spirit publicly to praise the "Paradise Lost ;" with a noble encomium on which, and a rational recommendation of blank verse, he concludes his "Essay on Translated Verse," though this passage was not in the first edition. '

1

DILWORTH (THOMAS), a diligent schoolmaster, was many years settled in Wapping, and is known by an useful "Spelling Book," where, in imitation of his predecessors, he has favoured the public with a print of himself. He wrote besides, "The young Book-keeper's Assistant," 8vo. 2. "The Schoolmaster's Assistant," 12mo; and 3. "Miscellaneous Arithmetic," 12mo, all of them many times printed. He died Jan. 17, 1780. To this brief notice, from the last edition of this Dictionary, perhaps of little importance, we may add, that there was, about fifty or sixty years ago, a W. H. Dilworth, M. A. the author of many abridged Lives and Histories, price one shilling each," adorned with cuts," such as "The Life of Alexander Pope, esq. with the Secret History of Himself and the Noble Lords his patrons ;" "The Life of Dean Swift, with a thousand agreeable incidents," &c. &c. He appears to have been the legitimate successor of Robert Burton, and probably, like him, may one day be elevated from the hawker's stall to the collector's library.

DIMSDALE (THOMAS, Baron), a celebrated inoculator for the small pox, was the son of John Dimsdale of Theydon Gernon, near Epping in Essex, a surgeon and apothecary, by Susan, daughter of Thomas Bowyer of Alburyhall, in the parish of Albury, near Hertford. He was born in 1712, and received his first medical knowledge from his father, and at St. Thomas's hospital. He commenced practice at Hertford about 1734, where he married the only daughter of Nathaniel Brassey, esq. of Roxford, an eminent banker in London. This lady died in 1744, leaving no children; and to relieve his mind under this loss,

1 Biog. Brit.-Life by Johnson.-Nichols's Poems, vol. VI. 2 Last edition of this Dictionary, &c.

Mr. Dimsdale joined the medical staff of the duke of Cumberland's army, then on its way to suppress the rebellion in Scotland. In this situation he remained until the surrender of Carlisle to the king's forces, when he received the duke's thanks, and returned to Hertford. In 1746 he married Anne Iles, a relation of his first wife, and by her fortune, and that which he acquired by the death of the widow of sir John Dimsdale of Hertford, he was enabled to retire from practice; but his family becoming numerous, he resumed it, and took the degree of M. D. in 1761.

Having fully satisfied himself about the new method of treating persons under inoculation for the small-pox, he published his treatise on the subject in 1766, which was soon circulated over the continent, and translated into all languages. His particular opinion may be learned from the conclusion, in which he says that, "although the whole process may have some share in the success, it consists chiefly in the method of inoculating with recent fluid matter, and the management of the patients at the time of eruption." This proof of his professional knowledge occasioned his being invited to inoculate the empress Catherine of Russia, and her son, in 1768, of which he gives a very particular and interesting account in his "Tracts on Inoculation," printed in 1781. Never, perhaps, did the empress display her courage and good sense to more advantage than in submitting to an operation, of which she could have no experience in her own country, and where at that time it was the subject of uncommon dread and alarm. Nor was her liberal conduct towards Dr. Dimsdale less praiseworthy. He was immediately appointed actual counsellor of state and physician to her imperial majesty, with an annuity of 500l. the rank of a baron of the Russian empire, to descend to his eldest son, and a black wing of the Russian eagle in a gold shield in the middle of his arms, with the customary helmet, adorned with the baron's coronet, over the shield. He also received at the same time, the sum of 10,000l., and 2000l. for travelling charges, and miniature pictures of the empress and her son, &c. The baron now inoculated great numbers of people at Petersburgh and Moscow; but resisted the empress's invitation to reside as her physician in Russia. He and his son, Dr. Nath. Dimsdale, were afterwards admitted to a private audience of Frederick III. king of Prussia, at Sans Souci, and thence returned to England, and for some time

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the baron resumed practice at Hertford. In 1776, he published "Thoughts on general and partial Inoculation," 8vo; and two years after, "Observations on the Introduction to the plan of the Dispensary for general Inoculation," 8vo. This involved him in a controversy with Dr. Lettsom, in which he opposed the above plan for inoculating the poor at their own houses; and opened an inoculation-house, under his own direction, for persons of all ranks in the neighbourhood of Hertford, which was resorted to with success. His controversy with Dr. Lettsom was carried on in the following pamphlets: "Dr. Lettsom's letter on General Inoculation;" "Remarks on Ditto," 8vo; "Review of Dr. Lettsom's observations on the Baron's Remarks ;" "Letter to Dr. Lettsom on his Remarks, &c." "Answer to Baron Dimsdale's Review," and "Considerations on the plan, &c." In 1781 he printed the "Tracts on Inoculation," already mentioned, which were liberally distributed, but not sold.

Baron Dimsdale afterwards opened a banking-house in Cornhill, in partnership with his sons, and the Barnards, which still flourishes under the firm of Barnard, Dimsdale, and Dimsdale. In 1779 he lost his second wife, by whom he had seven children, and afterwards married Elizabeth, daughter of William Dimsdale of Bishops-Stortford, who survived him. In 1780 he was elected representative for the borough of Hertford, and declined all practice, except for the relief of the poor. He went, however, once more to Russia, in 1781, where he inoculated the present emperor and his brother Constantine; and as he passed through Brussels, the late emperor of Germany, Joseph, received him with great condescension. In 1790 he resigned his seat in parliament, and passed some winters at Bath; but at length fixed altogether at Hertford, where he died Dec. 30, 1800. His remains were interred in the Quakers' burying-ground at Bishops-Stortford. His family were originally quakers.

1

DINANTO (DAVID DE), an heretic of the thirteenth century, was a disciple of Amauri or Almaric, who imbibed many errors from the study of Aristotle, and fell under the ecclesiastical censure of the second council of. Paris. (See AMAURI). The writings both of Amauri and Dinanto were condemned to be burned, which sentence 1 Gent. Mag. vol. LXXI. 88, 209, 660.

was followed by a general prohibition of the use of the physical and metaphysical writings of Aristotle in the schools, by the synod of Paris, and afterwards, under pope Innocent III. by the council of the Lateran. Dinanto expressed the fundamental principle of his master in the following proposition, "God is the primary matter and substance of all things." He composed a work entitled "Quaternarii," with several other productions, which were chiefly designed to affect and gain the multitude, in which he partly succeeded until he was obliged to save himself by flight.1

DINARCHUS, an orator of Greece, the son of Sostratus, and a disciple of Theophrastus, was a native of Attica, or of Corinth, and earned a great deal of money by composing harangues, at a time when the city of Athens was without orators. Being accused of receiving bribes from the enemies of the republic, he took to flight, and did not return till fifteen years afterwards, about the year 340 before Christ. Of 64 harangues which, according to Plutarch, he composed, and which Photius says he read, only three have come down to us, in the collection of Stephens, 1575, folio, or in that of Venice, 1513, 3 vols. folio. His oration against Demosthenes is the most remarkable of these, and abounds in personal invective of the grossest kind. Dionysius of Halicarnassus used to call him Demosthenes the savage, meaning probably that he had some of his eloquence deformed by his own malice and temper.'

DINGLEY (ROBERT), second son of sir John Dingley, knt. by a sister of Dr. Henry Hammond, was born in Surrey in 1619, and educated at Magdalen college, Oxford; where he was a strict observer of all church ceremonies. He afterwards became a zealous puritan, and was remarkably active in ejecting such as were, by that party, styled ignorant and scandalous ministers and school-masters. He was rector of Brighton, in the Isle of Wight, when his kinsman colonel Hammond was governor there. The Oxford antiquary has given us a catalogue of his works, the most extraordinary of which is: "The Deputation of Angels, or the Angel Guardian; 1. proved by the divine light of nature, &c. 2. from many rubs and mistakes, &c. 3. applied and improved for our information, &c. chiefly Brucker.-Fabric. Bibl. Lat. Med. Moreri. Saxii Onomast.

1 Mosheim. Moreri.

3.

grounded on Acts xii. 15." London, 1654, 8vo. He died in 1659, and was buried in the chancel of Brighton church. DINO. See DINUS.

7

DINOCRATES, a celebrated ancient architect of Macedonia, of whom several extraordinary things are related, lived in the 112th olympiad, or 332 B. C.Vitruvius tells us, that, when Alexander the Great had conquered all his enemies, Dinocrates, full of great conceptions, and relying upon them, went from Macedonia to the army, with a view of acquiring his notice and favour. He carried letters recommendatory to the nobles about him, who received him very graciously, and promised to introduce him to the king; but suspecting, from some delays, that they were not serious, he resolved at length to introduce himself; and for this purpose conceived the following project. He anointed his body all over with oil, and crowned his temples with poplar; then he flung a lion's skin over his left shoulder, and put a club into his right hand. Thus accoutred, he appeared in the court, where the king was administering justice. The eyes of the people being naturally turned upon so striking a spectacle, for, in addition to his singular garb, he was tall, well proportioned, and very handsome; the king asked him, who he was? "I am," says he, "Dinocrates the Macedonian architect, and bring to your majesty thoughts and designs that are worthy of your greatness: for I have laid out the mount Athos into the form of a man, in whose left hand I have designed the walls of a great city, and all the rivers of the mount to flow into his right, and from thence into the sea." Alexander seemed amused with this vast project, but very wisely declined putting it in execution. He kept the architect, however, and took him into Egypt, where he employed him in marking out and building the city of Alexandria. Another memorable instance of Dinocrates's. architectonic skill is his restoring and building, in a more august and magnificent manner than before, the celebrated temple of Diana at Ephesus, after Herostratus, for the sake of immortalizing his name, had destroyed it by fire. A third instance, more extraordinary and wonderful than either of the former, is related by Pliny in his Natural History; who tells us, that he had formed a scheme, by building the dome of the temple of Arsinoe at Alexandria

1 Ath. Ox. vol. II.