Page:Imperialdictiona02eadi Brandeis.pdf/139

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
DOM
121
DOM

the best which France has produced on the subject of which it treats. Victor Cousin regards it as having paved the way for, and as being almost a preface to, the Code Napoleon. Domat's first principle, from which he deduces all the relations of society and the obligations of law, is thus expressed by him—"L'homme est fait par Dieu et pour Dieu." Many passages in his work seem inspired by the genius of Pascal. It has been translated into English by Dr. Strahan, who has added, as a supplement, a short book on public law, first published in the original after Domat's death. Strahan's translation has been frequently reprinted.—J. A., D.

DOMBEY, Joseph, a French medical man and botanist, was born at Maçon on 20th February, 1742, and died at Montserrat in May, 1793. His early education was neglected, and it was not until he repaired to Montpellier, and put himself under the tuition of the celebrated Commerson, that he was enabled to cultivate his mental powers. He showed early a taste for botany, and was led to prosecute the study of medicine. In 1768 he acquired the title of doctor. In 1772 he studied botany at Paris under Jussieu and Lemonnier. He became connected with the Paris garden, and was sent to explore Spanish America. In 1777 he went with Ruiz and Pavon to South America, and commenced his herborizations in Peru, where he made valuable observations on cinchona barks. His collections and drawings, however, were seized at different times; and on his return to Paris, he was unable to draw up a full account of his explorations, although urged to do so by Buffon. It was only after the death of Dombey that justice was done to his labours by L'Heritier. Buffon procured a sum of money, and reimbursed Dombey for the losses he had sustained. His various troubles and trials seem to have disgusted him, and he refused to take a natural history appointment when offered to him. He retired to Dauphiny, and then to Lyons. In 1793 he went on a mission to the United States, but was carried to Guadaloupe by a tempest, and there made prisoner. He died of grief and misery in the prison of Montserrat. He was one of the first botanists of the eighteenth century, and enriched the garden of plants, and the museum of natural history at Paris, with many valuable specimens. His herbarium contained upwards of one thousand five hundred plants, amongst which there were at least sixty new genera. The labours of Dombey were of assistance to Ruiz and Pavon in their Flora Peruviana. Cavanilles has called a genus of Byttneriaceæ, Dombeya, after him.—J. H. B.

DOMBROWSKI, John Henry, a celebrated Polish general, was born in 1755. In 1770 he entered the regiment of houlans under Prince Albert of Saxe, and was promoted step by step till he was appointed aid-de-camp to General Bellegarde. In 1792 he distinguished himself in the campaign against the Russians in their invasion of Poland. In 1794, when Kosciusko raised the standard of national independence, Dombrowski was sent into Grand Poland, then under the Prussian yoke, and effected a junction with General Madalinski, who, although the superior officer, pressed the chief command upon his junior. Dombrowski defeated the Prussians at Labiszyn and Bydgoszcz, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. But the defeat of Kosciusko on the 10th of October, totally changed the aspect of affairs. The massacre of Prague, and the seizure of the capital by Suwaroff followed, and the war was terminated by the capitulation of Radoszyce, 18th November, 1794. Dombrowski was treated with great distinction by the Russian general, and offered a high command in the service of the emperor, which, however, he at once declined. He repaired to Paris in September, 1796, on the invitation of the directory, for the purpose of raising a Polish legion in Italy. Having received suitable instructions, he repaired to Milan with that view, and made a spirit-stirring appeal to his fellow-countrymen, which was attended with complete success. The Polish legion thus formed, fought with the most brilliant courage on the side of the French, throughout the whole Italian campaigns; but when the peace of Amiens was concluded, and the interests of Poland were completly neglected by Bonaparte, Dombrowski entered the service of the Italian republic, and afterwards of the king of Naples. In 1806, when war broke out between Prussia and France, Dombrowski rejoined Napoleon at Berlin, and conjointly with Wibicki, in the course of two months, raised thirty thousand Poles, who did excellent service in the campaign of 1807. At the head of this corps, Dombrowski distinguished himself at Kiew Tczewo, at the siege of Dantzig, and at Friedland, where he was wounded. In the campaign of 1809, in conjunction with Prince Joseph Poniatowski, he expelled from Gallicia forty thousand Austrians, with only half that number of Poles. But once more they were treated with great ingratitude by Napoleon, who, at the peace of Vienna, handed over to the Austrians the conquests made by the Poles. In 1812 Dombrowski commanded a division of the fifth corps of the grand army in the Russian campaign, and rendered important service in covering the retreat of the French. In 1813 he took part in the battle of Leipzig, and after the death of Poniatowski, was appointed to the command of the Polish corps, and led them back into France. On the downfall of Napoleon, the Czar Alexander endeavoured to gain over the Polish troops, by promising important benefits to their country, and Dombrowski was appointed general of the cavalry, nominated a senator, and received the grand cordon of the white eagle. He soon after retired to his estates in the grand duchy of Posen, and died there in 1818.—J. T.

DOMENICHI, Lodovico, born at Piacenza (the date of his birth is unknown); died at Pisa in 1564. He was educated for the profession of the law, which he abandoned for literature. At Florence he fell into some difficulties with the inquisition, and was sentenced to imprisonment for life, but contrived through some interest to escape. Doni, who, like himself, derived some poor support from what was called literature, had a dispute with him, and each accused the other of plagiarism and ignorance. Both were believed. Among Domenichi's works one was an edition of Boiardo's Innamorato, in which the language was altered so as to be more easily understood. The work, like Berni's, was popular enough to supersede the original. It and Berni's Rifacimenti have been often reprinted, the original scarce ever, till in our days by Mr. Panizzi.—J. A., D.

DOMENICHINO. See Zampieri, Domenico.

DOMENICO of Venice, the Italian painter to whom Antonello of Messina, on his return from the studio of Van Eyck, revealed the new method of oil painting. He was the first to introduce it in Florence; and in doing so, having imparted the mystery to his fellow-worker, Castagno, he was assassinated by the latter, who hoped to remain sole possessor of the envied secret. Domenico's pictures at St. Lucia and in the monastery Degli Angeli, at Florence, are visited with twofold interest—to see the first steps of the new mode of painting, and to inspect the traces of the mind of this gentle-hearted but ill-requited man. His death happened about the middle of the fifteenth century, when he was fifty-six years of age.—R. M.

DOMETT, Sir William, an English naval officer, born in 1754, served in the Invincible under Admiral Graves, and in the Barfleur under Sir Samuel Hood, towards the latter part of the 18th century. Sir George Rodney promoted him to the command of the Ceres in 1782; and the same year saw him with the rank of post-captain, in command of Sir Alexander Hood's flag-ship, accompanying the expedition under Earl Howe to Gibraltar. He afterwards commanded the Royal George, took a prominent part in the exploits of the Channel fleet under Lord Howe, and gained a high reputation in the service by the proficiency which his crew acquired under his training. At the beginning of the present century he served in the Baltic under Sir Hyde Parker and Lord Nelson, was captain of the Channel fleet under Lord Cornwallis, received the rank of admiral in 1804, and on his return home was placed on the board of admiralty. At a later period he was commander-in-chief at Plymouth; and in 1828 he died, having attained the rank of admiral of the white.—W. B.

DOMINIC, St., founder of the order of Dominicans, and, as some say, of the inquisition, was born at Calahorra in Old Castile in 1170. It has been disputed whether he belonged, as is often stated, to the noble family of the Guzmans. He received his first education from an uncle who was a priest, and at the age of fourteen was sent to the public schools of Palencia, where he became noted for the practice of those austerities which afterwards formed such a prominent feature in his history. After he had taken his degrees, he expounded the scriptures in the schools, teaching principally at Palencia. In 1199 the bishop of Osma made him a presbyter and a canon of his cathedral, and a few years afterwards took him with him on an embassy to the earl of La Marche—a circumstance which in a manner determined the course of his future life. Before the arrival of Dominic and the bishop in Narbonesian Gaul, the