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obtaining notice, and ultimately readied fame and affluence. In his colour, design, and finish he approaches, and often rivals the great Vandyck. He latterly squandered all his hard-earned fortune, and on several occasions was indebted to a friend for rescue from the brink of starvation.—R. M.

DEZA, Diego, a Spanish prelate, born at Toro in Leon in 1444; died in 1522. He early took the habit of the order of St. Dominic; was tutor to Prince John, son of Ferdinand and Isabella, and afterwards became archbishop of Seville. He wrote two works in defence of St. Thomas Aquinas, and also a work on the statutes of the inquisition.—F. M. W.

* DEZOBRY, Charles Louis, was born at St. Denis in 1798. His reputation rests on his "Rome at the time of Augustus," an attempt to reproduce the state of society as it might be supposed to have existed when luxury and loss of liberty were veiled by the presence of great writers. His object was to supply a pendant to the Abbé Barthelemy's picture of Greece, in the fanciful tone of the young Anacharsis; but imitations, however ingeniously executed, seldom succeed in reviving the pleasure excited by originality. The work is, nevertheless, deserving of attention.—J. F. C.

DHAHER, Sheik of Palestine in the beginning of the eighteenth century, was of Arab origin, and inherited, at the death of his father, the rule of a small village near the lake of Tiberias. Not content within the narrow bounds of his patrimony, he sought to enlarge his power by dispossessing some of his neighbours. This brought against him the pacha of Damascus, in 1742; but the death of that officer speedily relieved him of a danger which he could not expect to overcome, and he resumed the series of ambitious schemes which has made his name famous in the modern history of Syria. His first important acquisition was Acre, which he raised into new strength; his repression of outrage and encouragement of industry, along with the politic alliances which he formed, made it the centre of a flourishing principality; and he procured from the Porte confirmation of his authority, with the titles of sheik of Acre and Galilee. The Ottoman government, however, looked upon him with suspicion; disputes arose among his sons; and his confederation with Ali Bey, the rebel mameluke of Egypt, brought a Turkish army against him. Deserted by his Egyptian allies, he shut himself up in Acre, and was assassinated by some of his own partisans in 1775.—W. B.

D'HERBELOT. See Herbelot.

D'HILLIERS. See Baraguay.

* DIABELLI, Anton, a musician and music-publisher, was born at Mattsee in the district of Salzburg on 6th September, 1781. His father taught him singing, the pianoforte, and the violin; and at seven years old he was admitted as a singer in the church choir of his native place. In 1796 he went to Munich, to pursue his musical studies; but, in 1800, he applied himself more particularly to theological researches, intending to devote himself to the ecclesiastical profession. The temporary suppression of monastic institutions in Bavaria, obliged him to relinquish this design, and he went, therefore, to Vienna, to establish himself as a teacher of music. Michael Hadyn had long been his friend, his instructor, and adviser; and he now gave him an introduction to his brother Joseph, who greatly assisted Diabelli, to make his merits known in the Austrian capital. In 1818 he entered into partnership with Peter Cappi as a music-seller, and since 1824 has carried on the same business by himself; his warehouse is now one of the most important in Vienna. He has produced a prodigious quantity of music in every class of composition; his works for the church, the theatre, and the concert-room are little known; but his multitudinous arrangements and pieces for learners are meritorious, and have served a very considerable purpose.—G. A. M.

DIADUMENIANUS or DIADUMENUS, M. Opelius, was born in 208. On the elevation of his father, Macrinus, to the purple, he received the titles of Cæsar, Princeps juventutis, &c. He was betrayed and put to death after the victory of Elagabalus. Diadumenianus was celebrated for his beauty, as we learn from Lampridius, who says that he was beloved by all that looked on him.—R. M., A.

DIAGO, Francisco, a Spanish author, born at Valencia; died in 1615. He was historiographer to Philip III., and author of various works—among others, "Historia de los padres predicatores de la provincia de Arragon;" "Anales del reino de Valencia," &c.—F. M. W.

DIAGORAS of Melos, commonly styled the Atheist, flourished probably in the latter half of the fifth century before Christ. Diagoras is chiefly known for his opinions concerning the gods; the existence of whom, it is said, he openly denied. For this reason it was that he had to flee from Athens; although Suidas and others attribute the indignation of the Athenians against him to his having divulged the nature of some of their mysteries. This latter circumstance may have given rise to the charge of atheism, as nothing that is known of his writings would lead us to suspect that he had made open avowal of his disbelief in the existence of the gods. Democritus is said to have bought him as a slave.—R. M., A.

DIAMANTE, Juan Battista, a Spanish dramatic writer, who flourished at the close of the seventeenth century. Two volumes of his works were published in 1670 and 1674. Some of the plays are religious, some historical, many others are founded on the old national traditions. One of his plays, "Honrador de su Padre" (the Son honouring his Father), is based on the quarrel of the Cid with Count Lozano. This is by most writers supposed to have been an imitation of Corneille's Cid; but Schack, the most modern authority, considers that there must have been an earlier edition of Diamante's work, now lost, from which Corneille borrowed. Twelve other plays of Diamante are found in the Comedias Escogidas. He finished his life in seclusion, probably about the end of the century.—F. M. W.

DIANA of Poitiers, mistress of Henry II. of France, was born on the 3rd of September, 1499, and died on the 22nd of April, 1566. She was the daughter of Jean de Poitiers, seigneur De Saint-Vallier, who was condemned to death while she was still young, for having been accessory to the flight of the constable De Bourbon; and it is recorded that during his imprisonment a violent paroxysm of fear made his hair grow suddenly white. He was saved by the powerful pleading of his daughter. Diana was married at the age of thirteen to Louis de Brézé, count of Maulevrier, who was a grandson of Charles VII. and of Agnes Sorel. He died in 1531, and his widow, it is said, never afterwards put off her mourning attire. This must, however, have been nothing but a whim. She soon won the affections of the dauphin, afterwards Henry II., although she was his elder by at least twenty years. So absolute a conquest had she gained that not even the exquisite beauty of his wife, Catherine de Medici, interfered with his affection for her. The disparity of their ages has indeed been alleged in confirmation of the conjecture, that no other relation than that of a strict friendship subsisted between them; but the evidence on the other side is all but perfectly conclusive. She was in 1548 created duchess of Valentinois. Her power was unbounded, and, like that of most favourites, exercised with great cruelty and caprice. She banished from the court the duchess d'Etampes, who had been mistress of Francis I.; and the measures which were at that time taken against the protestants, are, according to De Thou, traceable to her evil influence. After the death of Henry II. she retired to the château d'Anet, where she died. She was forsaken of all her friends save the constable De Montmorency; but she seems to have foreseen this turn of fortune, and to have borne it with much more courage than might have been expected from the manner of her former life.—R. M., A.

DIANA of France, daughter of Henry II., was born in 1538. Her mother was a Piedmontese, although some historians assert that she was the daughter of Diana of Poitiers. She was carefully educated, and having been legitimized, was married first to Orazio Farnèse and afterwards to François, maréchal de Montmorency. She was left a widow a second time in 1579, and did not again many. Her firmness and prudence gained her great respect, and exercised considerable influence during the civil wars. It was she that effected the reconciliation between Henry III. and Henry of Navarre in 1588. She died in 1619, and had seen seven kings on the throne of France.—R. M., A.

* DIAS, A. Gonçalves, a Brazilian poet, born in 1823 at the small town of Caxias in the province of Maranho. He came to Portugal, and received his education at Lisbon and Coimbra, returning to his native country in 1845. In the following year he published at Rio Janeiro his first volume of poems, "Primieros Cantos," which were favourably received. A second series, "Segundos Cantos," published in 1848, established his reputation. In this work the most naïve ballads are put into the mouth of a Dominican monk. Shortly after the publi-