Part 157 (1/2)

DECA'TUR, STEPHEN, an American naval commodore; distinguished for his feats of valour displayed in the war with Tripoli and with England (1779-1820).

DECCAN, a triangular plateau of from 2000 to 3000 ft. of elevation in the Indian peninsula, extending S. of the Vindhya Mountains; is densely peopled, and contains some of the richest soil in the globe.

DECEMBER, the twelfth month of the year, so called, i. e. tenth, by the Romans, as their year began with March.

DEC'EMVIRS, the patricians of Rome, with Consular powers, appointed in 450 B.C. to prepare a code of laws for the Republic, which, after being agreed upon, were committed first to ten, then to twelve tables, and set up in the Forum that all might read and know the law they lived under.

DECIUS, Roman emperor from 249 to 251; was a cruel persecutor of the Christians; perished in a mora.s.s fighting with the Goths, who were a constant thorn in his side all through his reign.

DECIUS MUS, the name of three Romans, father, son, and grandson, who on separate critical emergencies (340, 295, 279 B.C.) devoted themselves in sacrifice to the infernal G.o.ds in order to secure victory to the Roman arms; the name is mostly employed ironically.

DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, the immortal work of Gibbon, of which the first volume was published in 1776.

DECRETALS, THE, a collection of laws added to the canon law of the Church of Rome, being judicial replies of the Popes to cases submitted to them from time to time for adjudication.

DEE, JOHN, an alchemist, born in London; a man of curious learning; earned the reputation of being a sorcerer; was imprisoned at one time, and mobbed at another, under this imputation; died in poverty; left 79 works, the majority of which were never printed, though still extant in MS. in the British Museum and other places of safe-keeping (1527-1608).

DEFAUCONPRET, French litterateur; translator of the novels of Sir Walter Scott and Fenimore Cooper (1767-1843).

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, a t.i.tle conferred by Pope Leo X. in 1521 upon Henry VIII. for his defence of the Catholic faith in a treatise against Luther, and retained ever since by the sovereigns of England, though revoked by Pope Paul III. in 1535 in consequence of Henry's apostasy.

DEFFAND, MARIE, MARQUISE DU, a woman of society, famed for her wit and gallantry; corresponded with the eminent philosophes of the time, in particular Voltaire, as well as with Horace Walpole; her letters are specially brilliant, and display great shrewdness; she is characterised by Prof. Saintsbury as ”the typical French lady of the eighteenth century”; she became blind in 1753, but retained her relish for society, though at length she entered a monastery, where she died (1697-1780).

DEFOE, DANIEL, author of ”Robinson Crusoe,” born in London; bred for the Dissenting ministry; turned to business, but took chiefly to politics; was a zealous supporter of William III.; his ironical treatise, ”The Shortest Way with Dissenters” (1703), which, treated seriously, was burned by order of the House of Commons, led to his imprisonment and exposed him for three days to the pillory, amidst the cheers, however, not the jeers, of the mob; in prison wrote a ”Hymn to the Pillory,” and started his _Review_; on his release he was employed on political missions, and wrote a ”History of the Union,” which he contributed to promote. The closing years of his life were occupied mainly with literary work, and it was then, in 1719, he produced his world-famous ”Robinson Crusoe”; has been described as ”master of the art of forging a story and imposing it on the world for truth.” ”His circ.u.mstantial invention,” as Stopford Brooke remarks, ”combined with a style which exactly fits it by its simplicity, is the root of the charm of his great story” (1661-1731).

DEGE'RANDO, BARON, a French philanthropist and philosopher, born at Lyons, of Italian descent; wrote ”History of Philosophy,” long in repute as the best French work on the subject (1772-1842).

DEIANEIRA, the wife of Hercules, whose death she had been the unwitting cause of by giving him the poisoned robe which NESSUS (q. v.) had sent her as potent to preserve her husband's love; on hearing the fatal result she killed herself in remorse and despair.

DEIPHOBUS, a son of Priam and Hecuba, second in bravery to Hector; married Helen after the death of Paris, and was betrayed by her to the Greeks.

DEIR-AL-KAMAR, a town in Syria, once the capital of the Druses, on a terrace in the heart of the Lebanon Mountains.

DEISM, belief on purely rational grounds in the existence of G.o.d, and distinguished from theism as denying His providence.