Part 164 (1/2)

DIKe (i. e. Justice), a Greek G.o.ddess, the daughter of Zeus and Themis; the guardian of justice and judgment, the foe of deceit and violence, and the accuser before Zeus of the unjust judge.

DIKTYS, the fisherman of Seriphus; saved Perseus and his mother from the perils of the deep.

DILETTANTE SOCIETY, THE, a society of n.o.blemen and gentlemen founded in England in 1734, and which contributed to correct and purify the public taste of the country; their labours were devoted chiefly to the study of the relics of ancient Greek art, and resulted in the production of works in ill.u.s.tration.

DILETTANTISM, an idle, often affected, almost always barren admiration and study of the fine arts, ”in earnest about nothing.”

DILKE, CHARLES WENTWORTH, English critic and journalist; served for 20 years in the Navy Pay-Office; contributed to the _Westminister_ and other reviews; was proprietor and editor of the _Athenaeum_; started the _Daily News_; left literary Papers, edited by his grandson (1789-1864).

DILKE, SIR CHARLES WENTWORTH, English publicist and politician, grandson of the preceding, born at Chelsea; called to the bar; travelled in America and the English colonies, and wrote a record of his travels in his ”Greater Britain”; entered Parliament as an extreme Liberal; held office under Mr. Gladstone; from exposures in a divorce case had to retire from public life, but returned after a time; _b_. 1843.

DILLMANN, a great German Orientalist, born at Illingen, a village of Wurtemberg; studied under Ewald at Tubingen; became professor at Kiel, at Giessen, and finally at Berlin; as professor of Old Testament exegesis made a special study of the Ethiopic languages, and is the great authority in their regard; wrote a grammar and a lexicon of these, as well as works on theology; _b_. 1823.

DILLON, a general in the service of France, born in Dublin; was butchered by his troops near Lille (1745-1792).

DILLON, JOHN, an Irish patriot, born in New York; entered Parliament in 1880 as a Parnellite; was once suspended, and four times imprisoned, for his over-zeal; sat at first for Tipperary, and since for East Mayo; in 1891 threw in his lot with the M'Carthyites; _b_. 1851.

DIMANCHE, M. (Mr. Sunday), a character in Moliere's ”Don Juan,” the type of an honest merchant, whom, on presenting his bill, his creditor appeases by his politeness.

DIME, a U.S. silver coin, worth the tenth part of a dollar, or about fivepence.

DINAN (10), an old town in the dep. of Cotes du Nord, France, 14 m.

S. of St. Malo; most picturesquely situated on the top of a steep hill, amid romantic scenery, of great archaeological interest; the birthplace of Duclos.

DINANT, an old town on the Meuse, 14 m. S. of Namur, Belgium; noted for its gingerbread, and formerly for its copper wares, called Dinanderie.

DINAPUR (44), a town and military station on the right bank of the Ganges, 12 m. NW. of Patna.

DINARCHUS, an orator of the Phocion party in Athens, born at Corinth.

DINARIC ALPS, a range of the Eastern Alps in Austria, runs SE. and parallel with the Adriatic, connecting the Julian Alps with the Balkans.

DINDORF, WILHELM, a German philologist, born at Leipzig; devoted his life to the study of the ancient Greek cla.s.sics, particularly the dramatists, and edited the chief of them, as well as the ”Iliad” and ”Odyssey” of Homer, with notes; was joint-editor with his brothers Ludwig and Hase of the ”Thesaurus Graecae Linguae” of Stepha.n.u.s (1802-1883).

DINGELSTEDT, a German poet, novelist, and essayist, born near Marburg; was the Duke of Wurtemberg's librarian at Stuttgart, and theatre superintendent at Munich, Weimar, and Vienna successively; his poems show delicacy of sentiment and graphic power (1814-1881).