Part 172 (2/2)

DUBLIN (360), the capital of Ireland, at the mouth of the Liffey, which divides it in two, and is crossed by 12 bridges; the princ.i.p.al and finest street is Sackville Street, which is about 700 yards long and 40 wide; it has a famous university and two cathedrals, besides a castle, the residence of the Lord-Lieutenant; and a park, the Phoenix, one of the finest in Europe; manufactures porter, whisky, and poplin.

DUBOIS, GUILLAUME, cardinal and prime minister of France; notorious for his ambition and his debauchery; appointed tutor to the Duke of Orleans; encouraged him in vice, and secured his attachment and patronage in promotion, so that in the end he rose to the highest honours, and even influence, in both Church and state; notwithstanding his debauchery he was an able man and an able minister (1656-1723).

DUBOIS, REYMOND, a German physiologist, born in Berlin, of French descent; professor of Physiology at Berlin; distinguished for his researches in animal electricity; _b_. 1818.

DUBOIS DE CRANCe, a violent French revolutionary, born at Charleville; besieged and captured Lyons, giving no quarter; was Minister of War under the Directory; secured the adoption of the principle of conscription in recruiting the army (1747-1814).

DUBOURG, a French magistrate, member of the parlement of Paris; burnt as a heretic for recommending clemency in the treatment of the Huguenots (1521-1559).

DUBUFE, a distinguished French portrait-painter (1820-1883).

DUBUQUE (36), a town in Iowa, U.S., on the Mississippi, with lead-mines and a trade in grain, timber, &c.

DUCAMP, MAXIME, a French litterateur, born in Paris; has written ”Travels in the East”; is the author of ”Paris,” its civic life, as also an account of its ”Convulsions”; _b_. 1822.

DU CANGE, CHARLES, one of the most erudite of French scholars, born at Amiens, and educated among the Jesuits; wrote on language, law, archaeology, and history; devoted himself much to the study of the Middle Ages; contributed to the rediscovery of old French literature, and wrote a history of the Latin empire; his greatest works are his Glossaries of the Latin and Greek of the Middle Ages (1614-1688).

DUCAT, a coin, generally in gold, that circulated in Venice, and was current in Germany at one time, of varied value.

DU CHAILLU, PAUL BELLONI, an African traveller, born in Louisiana; his princ.i.p.al explorations confined to the equatorial region of West Africa, and the result an extension of our knowledge of its geography, ethnology, and zoology, and particularly of the character and habits of the ape tribes, and above all the gorilla; _b_. 1837.

DU CHaTELET, MARQUISE DE, a scientific lady and friend of Voltaire's, born in Paris; ”a too fascinating shrew,” as he at length found to his cost (1706-1749).

d.u.c.h.eSNE, ANDRe, French historian and geographer, born in Touraine; styled the ”Father of French History”; famous for his researches in it and in French antiquities, and for histories of England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively; his industry was unwearied; he left more than 100 folios in MS. (1584-1640).

DUCHOBORTZI, a religious community in Russia of Quaker principles, and of a creed that denied the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ; they became a cause of trouble to the empire by their fanaticism, and were removed to a high plateau in Transcaucasia, where they live by cattle-rearing.

DUCIS, JEAN, a French dramatist, born at Versailles; took Shakespeare for his model; declined Napoleon's patronage, thinking it better, as he said, to wear rags than wear chains (1733-1816).

DUCKING STOOL, a stool or chair in which a scolding woman was confined, and set before her own door to be pelted at, or borne in a tumbrel through the town to be jeered at, or placed at the end of a see-saw and _ducked_ in a pool.

DUCLOS, CHARLES, a witty and satirical French writer, born at Dinan; author of ”Observations,” and ”A History of the Manners of the Eighteenth Century,” and ”Memoires of the Reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV.”; he mingled much in French society of the period, and took studious note of its pa.s.sing whims (1704-1772).

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