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DEIDAMIA 306 DELACROIX DEIDAMIA (de-dam'ya), daughter of Lycomedes, King of Scyros. She was the mother of Neoptolemos by Achilles, ac- cording to the legend. DEISM, the doctrines or tenets of a deist; the system of belief which admits the being of a God, and acknowledges several of His perfections, but denies not only the existence but the necessity of a divine revelation. DEIST, one v/ho admits the being of a God, but denies the existence or even necessity of a divine revelation, believing that the light of nature and reason are sufficient guides in doctrine and prac- tice; a believer in natural religion only; a freethinker. DEISTIC, or DEISTICAL, pertaining to deism or the deists; containing the doc- trines of deism. Also a term applied to a controversy which arose in England in the 17th and 18th centuries, between those who be- lieved and those who disbelieved in revela- tion; the latter, however, not occupying the atheistic standpoint, but accepting as a settled point the being of a God. The first, in point of time, of the celebrated English deists was Lord Herbert of Cher- bury, the publication of whose work, "De Veritate" (1624), began the controversy. There followed, on the same side, Hobbes, Tindal, Morgan, Toland, Boling- broke, Paine, and others. DE KALE, a city of Illinois in De Kalb CO. It is on the Chicago, Aurora and De Kalb, the Chicago Great Western, and the Chicago, Milwaukee and Gary railroads. The city has manufactures of barbed wire, agricultural implements, pianos, shoes, etc. It is the seat of the Northern Illinois State Normal School. Pop. (1910) 8,102; (1920) 7,871. DE KALB, JOHN, BARON, a French officer; born in Bavaria, about 1732. He accompanied Lafayette to America in 1777; was appointed the same year Major-General in the American army; and joined the main force under Wash- ington. In the battle of Camden, Aug. 16, 1780, he was at the head of the Mary- land and Delaware troops, who main- tained their ground till Cornwallis con- centrated his whole force upon them. He fell, pierced with 11 wounds, in the charge upon his regiment before they gave way. He died three days after at Cam.den, where a monument, of which Lafayette placed the corner-stone, was erected to his memory in 1825. DE KAY, CHARLES, an American poet, grandson of Joseph Rodman Drake ; born in Washington, D. C, July 25, 1848. His poems are mostly founded on themes from Oriental, classical, and literary Ws- story. Among his works are: "Hesperus and Other Poems" (1880) ; "The Vision of Nimrod" (1881); "The Vision of Esther" (1882) ; "The Love Poems of Louis Barnaval, Edited (and written) by Charles De Kay" (1883). His prose in- cludes: "Life and Works of Antoine Louis Barye, Sculptor" (1889) ; and "The Family Life of Heinrich Heine" (1892), a translation. He was literary and art editor of New York "Times," 1876-1906; art editor "Evening Post," 1907. From 1915 he was associate editor of the "American Art World." He was a mem- ber of the American Institute of Arts and Letters. DEKKER, THOMAS, an English dramatist; born in London, about 1570; died some time after 1637. He wrote a great number of plays, but only a few of them were published, among them the two comedies, "The Shoemak- er's Holiday," and "Old Fortunatus"; they are both specimens of whatever is best and most genuine in English humor, and the second in particular abounds in passages of consummate poetic beauty. Of other writings of his we have "The Wonderful Year," a pamphlet describing graphically the horrors of the plague; an amusing tract, "The Bachelor's Banquet," a satire on henpecked husbands; and many other fugitive pieces lashing the vices and follies of the age. He also col- laborated with other dramatists. DE KOVEN (HENRY LOUIS) REGI- NALD, an American composer born in Middletown, Conn., April 3, 1859. He was graduated at Oxford in 1879 and studied music in the leading cities of Europe. His operettas have had great success, notably "The Begum," "Don Quixote," "Robin Hood," "The Fencing Master," "The Three Dragoons," "Maid Marian," "Student King," etc. He com- posed some popular songs, as "Oh, Prom- ise Me," and "Recessional." Died 1915. DELACROIX, EUGENE (-krwii'), a French painter, chief of the romantic school; born near Paris, April 26, 1799. At the age of 18 he entered the atelier of Pierre Guerin, and came under the influ- ence of his fellow-pupil, Gericault. In 1822 he exhibited his first work, "Dante and Vergil," the novel force of which at- tracted much attention. In 1824, Dela- croix, now at the head of the new school of young painters, produced the "Massa- cre of Scio," which was entirely repainted after the artist had studied a work of Constable's. The July revolution left its impress on Delacroix, and in 1831 ap- peared his "Liberty Directing the People on the Barricades." In 1832 he made a