and " Dixie." She has written under the pen- names of " Viola " and " Frank Dashniore."
DOWNING, Sir George, British statesman, b.
in Dublin, Ireland, in 1024; d. in East Hatley,
Cambridgeshire, England, in 1684. His father
emigrated to Salem, Mass., in 1638, and represented
that place in the general court in 1688-'48. His
wife was Lucy, a sister of Gov. Winthrop. The son
was graduated at Harvard in 1642, returned to
England in 1645, and became a preacher among
the Independents ; chaplain to Col. Okey's regi-
ment in Cromwell's army, and in 1658 commissary-
general and scoutmaster-general to the army in
Scotland ; member of parliament for a Scottish bor-
ough in 1654 and 1656, and agent in Holland in
lG58-'60. Turning royalist, he was knighted by
Charles II.. 21 May, 1660. He was elected member
of Parliament for Morpeth in 1661, and was again
made envoy-extraordinary to Holland. Here he
caused the arrest of Cols. Okey and Barksted, and
Miles Corbet, three of the judges of Charles I., who
were sent to England and executed. Principally
through his agency the New Netherlands were
wrested from the Dutch and annexed to the Eng-
lish possessions as New York. He was afterward
secretary of the treasury and a commissioner of the
customs. He was created a baronet, 1 July, 1668.
In 1671 he was sent on a commission to Holland,
but returned before completing his errand to the
satisfaction of the king, and was imprisoned in the
Tower, but was again received into favor. Gov.
Bradstreet was his brother-in-law. Downing street,
London, perpetuates his name. He was a man of
ability and natural fitness for politics, and was
author of " Political Tracts " (1664-72).— His grand-
son. Sir (Jeorg'e, d. in 1747, founded Downing col-
lege, Cambridge, England, in 1717.
DOWNING, Samuel, soldier, b. near Exeter,
N. H., in 1766 : d. near Amsterdam, N. Y., 18 Feb.,
1867. He enlisted in the Continental army in
1780, and served for three years. He received a
pension in 1818 of eight dollars a month, but this
was taken from him in 1820 on account of his pos-
session of property, and in 1828 was made $80 per
annum, increased in 1864 by the addition of $100
per annum, and in 1865 by the further addition of
$800 per annum. By act of 18 Feb., 1867, Con-
gress directed that he be paid a pension of $500 per
annum. He died the same day.
DOWSE, Thomas, book-collector, b. in Charles-
town, Mass., 28 Dec, 1772; d. in Cambridgeport, 4
Nov., 1856. He was called "the literary leather-
dresser." His father, Eleazer Dowse, was a leather-
dresser, and was driven with his family from Charles-
town on 17 June, 1775, his house being one of those
burned by the British forces. He settled at Sher-
burne, Middlesex co., where Thomas spent his
youth, receiving no other education than that of
the town school. On attaining his majority he
entered the service of a leather-dresser at Roxbury,
Mass., and remained in that employment for ten
yeai's. He once informed a friend that, at the age
of twenty-eight, his highest income had been twenty-
five dollars a month ; that he had never paid five
dollars for conveyance from one place to another ;
had never owned a pair of boots, but possessed sev-
eral hundred volumes of good books well bound.
In 1803 he set up in business as a leather-dresser at
Cambridgeport, and pursued the occupation suc-
cessfully till he was far advanced in life. From
the earliest period he devoted a large part of his
incojne to the purchase of books. Standing at his
bench, he would buy books, speculate on philo-
sophical truths, and discuss the great problems of
existence. By diligent search, great knowledge of
bibliography, shrewdness, and strict economy in
his purchases, he amassed a remarkable library. It
consisted of about 5,000 volumes in good, often ele-
gant, binding, and of the best editions. It was
mostly English, though containing translations of
the principal authors in the ancient languages and
the cultivated languages of modern Europe. The
library was estimated to have cost $40,000. Mr.
Dowse had a golden lamb in front of his store as a
sign ; and, when some Harvard students broke off
its head, he was so irritated that he changed his
will, by which he had intended to give property
valued at $100,000 to Harvard, and bequeathed it
instead to the Massachusetts historical society.
His library was deposited in a special room in their
building in Boston, and he left $10,000 as a perma-
nent fund for its preservation and care. He was
an admirer of Benjamin Franklin, and erected a
monument to his memory in Mount Auburn ceme-
tery. A collection of engravings and water-colors,
which he drew in a lottery about 1820, was given
to tlie Boston athen;eum. A jocose society gave
him the degree of LL. I)., which was interpreted
as "Literary Leather- Dresser."
DOX, Peter Myndert, lawyer, b. in Geneva,
N. Y., 11 Sept., 1813 ; d. in Huntsville, Ala., 3 April,
1891. His grandfather was John Nicholas, a mem-
ber of congress during the administrations of Wash-
ington and Adams. Peter was graduated at Hobart
in 1883, studied law, and was admitted to practice.
He was elected to the New York legislature in
1841, and was afterward chosen judge of the On-
tario county courts. In 1855 he removed to Ala-
bama, where he became a planter. He was elected
to the convention that revised the state constitu-
tion in 1865, and took an active interest in restor-
ing Alabama to its place in the Union. From
1869 till 1873 he was a member of congress, having
been elected as a Union democrat, and served on
the committee on banking and currency. He has
held many minor offices, such as commissioner of
schools, justice of the peace, etc. He is the author
of numerous speeches in congress, including one
delivered 6 June, 1870, on the admission of Georgia
to the Union, the true condition of the south, and
in favor of universal amnesty.
DOYLE, Sir John, British soldier, b. in Dublin,
Ireland, in 1756; d. 8 Aug., 1884. He was gradu-
ated at Trinity college, Dublin, entered the array,
and was a lieutenant of light infantry at Boston in
1775. He served as adjutant at the battles of
Long Island and Germantown, captain of the vol-
unteers of Ireland, then a major of brigade at the
capture of Charleston, and in the battles of Cam-
den and Hobkirk's Hill. In command of a corps of
light cavalry, he operated against Gen. Marion
in the spring of 1781, and destroyed his camp
at Snow Island, but, being pursued by Marion,
escaped with the loss of his baggage. He served
in Holland in 1794, in 1796 was made a colonel,
and was soon afterward appointed secretary of war
in Ireland. He served as a brigadier-general with
Abercrombie in Egypt in 1800, distinguished himself, and was made a baronet in 1805, and a full general in 1819. — His nephew. Sir Charles Hasting-s, British officer, b. about 1804. He entered the British army as an ensign in 1819, became captain in 1825, and colonel in 1854, serving in both the East and West Indies. He was on the staff as assistant adjutant-general and assistant quartermaster-general in 1847-'56, and served in the army of the Crimea. He was inspector-general of the militia of Ireland, 1856-'61, and was assigned to the command of the troops in Nova Scotia in the latter year. In 1867 he was made lieutenant-
