The French navy being left unemployed during the minority of Louis XIV., Duquesne obtained leave to offer his services to the king of Sweden, who gave him a commission as vice-admiral in 1643. In this capacity he defeated the Danish fleet near Gothenburg and thus raised the siege of the city. The Danes returned to the struggle with increased forces under the command of King Christian in person, but they were again defeated—their admiral being killed and his ship taken. Peace having been concluded between Sweden and Denmark in 1645, Duquesne returned to France. The revolt at Bordeaux, supported as it was by material aid from Spain, gave him the opportunity of at once serving his country and gratifying his long-cherished hatred of the Spaniards. In 1650 he fitted out at his own expense a squadron with which he blockaded the mouth of the Gironde, and compelled the city to surrender. For this service he was promoted in rank, and received a gift of the castle and isle of Indre, near Nantes. Peace with Spain was concluded in 1659, and for some years afterwards Duquesne was occupied in endeavours to suppress piracy in the Mediterranean. On the revolt of Messina from Spain, he was sent to support the insurgents, and had to encounter the united fleets of Spain and Holland under the command of the celebrated Admiral de Ruyter. After several battles, in which the advantage was generally on the side of the French, a decisive engagement took place near Catania, on the 20th of April 1676, when the Dutch fleet was totally routed and de Ruyter mortally wounded. The greater part of the defeated fleet was afterwards burned in the harbour of Palermo, where it had taken refuge, and the French thus secured the undisputed command of the Mediterranean. For this important service Duquesne received a letter of thanks from Louis XIV., together with the title of marquis and the estate of Bouchet. His last achievements were the bombardment of Algiers (1682–1683), in order to effect the deliverance of the Christian captives, and the bombardment of Genoa in 1684. He retired from service in 1684, on the ground of age and ill-health. It is probable also that he foresaw the revocation of the edict of Nantes, which took place in the following year. He died in Paris on the 2nd of February 1688.
See Jal, Abraham Duquesne, et la marine de son temps (1873).
DUQUESNE, a borough of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the Monongahela river, about 12 m. S.E. of Pittsburg. Pop. (1900) 9036, of whom 3451 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 15,727. It is served by the Pennsylvania railway. Its most prominent buildings are the Carnegie free library and club (opened in 1904 and containing 17,500 volumes in 1908), and the city hall. A short distance N. of the borough limits Kennywood Park, with a large auditorium and pavilion, is an attractive resort. By far the most important industry of the borough is the manufacture of steel. The value of the borough’s factory products increased from $20,333,476 in 1900 to $28,494,303 in 1905, or 40·1%. The municipality owns and operates its water-works. Duquesne was settled in 1885 and was incorporated in 1891.
DURAMEN (a rare Latin word, meaning hardness, from durus, hard), a botanical term for the inner, harder wood of a tree, the heart-wood.
DURAN, a Jewish Provençal family of rabbis and scholars, of whom the following are the most important.
1. Profiaṭ Duran, called also Ephodi. He was in 1391 compelled to profess Christianity, but remained devoted to Judaism. His chief works were grammatical and philosophical. In the former realm his most important contribution was the Maʽaseh ʽEphod (completed in 1403); in the latter, his commentary to the Guide of the Perplexed by Maimonides (q.v.).
2. Simon Ben Ẓemaḥ Duran (1361–1441), rabbi of Algiers. He was one of the first of the medieval rabbis to be a salaried official of the synagogue. Before the 14th century the rabbinical post had been almost invariably honorary, and filled by men who derived their income from a profession, especially medicine. Duran wrote a systematic work on theology, Magen ʽAboth, but is chiefly famous for his numerous Responsa (known as Tashbaz) published in three vols. in 1738–1739. These Responsa, “Answers to questions sent from many lands,” give valuable information as to social and religious conditions in the earlier part of the 15th century. (I. A.)
DURÁN, AGUSTÍN (1789–1862), Spanish scholar, was born in 1789 at Madrid, where his father was court physician. He was sent to the seminary at Vergara, whence he returned learned in the traditions of Spanish romance. In 1817 he began the study of philosophy and law at the university of Seville, and in due course was admitted to the bar at Valladolid. From 1821 to 1823 he held a post in the education department at Madrid, but in the latter year he was suspended on account of his political opinions. In 1834 he became secretary of the board for the censorship of the press, and shortly afterwards obtained a post in the national library at Madrid. The revolution of 1840 led to his dismissal; but he was reinstated in 1843, and in 1854 was appointed chief librarian. Next year, however, he retired to devote himself to his literary work. In 1828, shortly after his first discharge from office, he published anonymously his Discurso sobre el influjo que ha tenido la crítica moderna en la decadencia del teatro antiguo; this treatise greatly influenced the younger dramatists of the day. He next endeavoured to interest his fellow-countrymen in their ancient, neglected ballads, and in the forgotten dramas of the 17th century. Five volumes of a Romancero general appeared from 1828 to 1832 (republished, with considerable additions, in 2 vols. 1849–1851), and Talia española (1834), a reprint of old Spanish comedies. Durán’s Romancero general is the fullest collection of the kind and is therefore unlikely to be superseded, though the texts are inferior to those edited by Menendez y Pelayo.
DURANCE (anc. Druentia), one of the principal rivers descending from the French slope of the Alps towards the Mediterranean. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhone (of which it is one of the principal affluents), a little below Avignon, is 21712 m. For the greater part of its course it flows in a south-westerly direction, but near Pertuis gradually bends N.W. and thenceforth preserves this direction. It passes through the departments of Hautes-Alpes, of Basses-Alpes, and between those of Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône. It is commonly said to take its origin in some small lakes a little south of the summit plateau of the Mont Genèvre Pass. But really this stream is surpassed both in volume and length of course by two others which it joins beneath Briançon:—the Clairée, flowing in from the north, through the smiling Névache glen, at the head of which, not far from the foot of the Mont Thabor (10,440 ft.), it rises in some small lakes, on the east side of the Col des Rochilles; and the Guisane (flowing in from the north-west and rising near the Col du Lautaret, 6808 ft.). The united stream soon receives its first affluent, the Cerveyrette (left), and, after having passed through some fine deep-cut gorges, the Gyronde (right). It then runs through a stony plain, where it frequently overflows and causes great damage, this being indeed the main characteristic of the Durance throughout its course. At the foot of the fortress of Mont Dauphin it receives (left) the Guil, which flows through the Queyras valley from near the foot of Monte Viso. Some way beyond it passes beneath Embrun, the first important town on its banks. It soon becomes the boundary for a while between the departments of the Hautes-Alpes and of the Basses-Alpes, and receives successively the considerable Ubaye river, flowing from near the foot of Monte Viso past Barcelonnette (left), and then the small stream of the Luye (right), on which, a few miles above, is Gap. It enters the Basses-Alpes shortly before reaching Sisteron, where it is joined (right) by the wild torrent of the Buëch, flowing from the desolate region of the Dévoluy, and receives the Bléone (left) (on which Digne, the capital of the department, is situated) and the Asse (left), before quitting the department of the Basses-Alpes just as it is reinforced (left) by the Verdon, flowing from the lower summits of the Maritime Alps past Castellane. After passing through some narrow gorges near Sisteron the bed of the river becomes wide, and spreads desolation around, the frequent overflows being kept within bounds by numerous dykes and embankments. These features are especially marked when the
