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DAMIBON DAMPIERRE 657 crusaders, looking upon it as the bulwark of Egypt on the Mediterranean side, made it the object of many attacks. In one of these sieges it was captured by Louis IX. of France (1249) ; but the victorious monarch, having fallen soon after into the hands of the Arabs, was forced to purchase his freedom by restoring the city to its former owners. The sultan of Egypt, because of its exposed position, razed it to the ground, built the present city, and blocked up that mouth of the Nile by which it commu- nicates with the sea. DAM1RON, Jean Phillbert, a French eclectic philosopher, born at Belleville, May 10, 1794, died in Paris, Jan. 11, 1862. A pupil of the normal school, he taught literature and phi- losophy in provincial colleges, and was called to Paris, where he occupied a chair of phi- losophy in three of the principal colleges, and was finally appointed professor of philosophy in the faculty of letters. In 1836 he was elected to the academy of moral and political sciences, where he succeeded Destutt de Tracy. His works are : Essai sur Vhistoire de la phi- losophic au XIX" siecle (1828) ; Cours de phi- losophie (1831), treating of psychology, logic, and morals ; Essai sur Vhistoire de la philoso- phieau X VI I e siecle (1846), giving a synopsis of the philosophical systems of Descartes, Gassen- di, Spinoza, Malebranche, Bossuet, and Fe"ne- lon, and concluding with his own opinions ; Me- moires pour servir a Vhistoire de la philosophic du XVIII* siecle (1857); Souvenirs de mngt ans d* enseignement a la faculte des lettres de Paris (1859) ; and Conseils adresses a des en- fants d'ouvriers et a leurs families (1861). He also edited Jouffroy's Nouveaux melanges, with an introductory notice, besides publish- ing a variety of miscellaneous philosophical memoirs, including sketches of Bayle, Leib- nitz, Clarke, Helvetius, Diderot, and others. DAMOCLES, one of the courtiers of Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse. As related by Cicero, Damocles had extolled the happiness of Dionysius in being a rich and powerful king, and the latter, wishing to show him the nature of that happiness, placed him one day at a magnificent banquet, with a naked sword suspended above his head by a single hair. DAMON AND PYTHIAS, two celebrated Syra- cusans, whose names are always joined as the types of true and noble friendship. They were both Pythagoreans. Pythias, or correctly Phintias, was condemned to death by Diony- sius the Elder, but requested to be temporarily released in order to arrange his affairs, prom- ising to procure a friend to take his place and suffer his punishment if he should not return. Pythias was allowed to depart, and Damon gave himself up as his substitute. Be- fore the time for the execution Pythias re- turned, and Dionysius set both of them free. DAMOREAU, Laure Cinthie (MONTALANT), a French vocalist, born in Paris, Feb. 6, 1801, died at Chantilly in 1863. Her parents were employed- as concierges in the conservatory, and she became one of the pupils of that in- stitution. In 1819 she made her first appear- ance in Paris under the name of Mademoiselle Cinti ; but her reputation was not established until four years afterward. In 1827 she left the Paris opera and went to Belgium, where she married M. Damoreau, an actor connected with the theatre of Brussels. In 1829 she sang in the first act of the Matrimonio segreto together with Malibran and Sontag, without being eclipsed by either of those artists. In 1844 she took leave of the French stage, and made a professional tour in the United States. She afterward became professor in the con- servatory, and held that position till 1856. She published a Methode de chant, an Album de romances, and some fugitive pieces. DAMPIER, William, an English navigator, born at East Coker, Somersetshire, about 1652 ; the date of his death is unknown. In early life he went to sea, served in the war against the Dutch, and afterward became overseer of a plantation in Jamaica. He next spent three years with a party of logwood cutters on the bay of Campeachy, and wrote an account of his observations on that coast in " Voyages to the Bay of Campeachy " (London, 1729). In 1679 he crossed the isthmus of Darien with a party of buccaneers, who captured several Spanish vessels and pillaged the towns on the Peruvian coast. In 1684 he set out from Vir- ginia with the expedition of Capt. John Cook, which cruised along the coasts of Chili, Pe- ru, and Mexico, making depredations on the Spaniards. He then embarked for the East Indies, touched at Australia, and after cruising for some time in the Indian archipelago landed at Bencoolen. He arrived in England in 1691, and published his " Voyage around the World." In 1699, having been appointed to the com- mand of a sloop of war, he was sent on a voy- age of discovery to the South sea. He ex- plored the W. and N. W. coasts of Australia, the coasts of Papua, New Britain, and New Ireland, and gave his name to a small archi- pelago, and to the strait between Papua and New Britain. After numerous other discov- eries, he returned by a new route to Ceram in the Moluccas. On his way to England his ship was wrecked off the island of Ascension. He reached England in 1701, and continued to go to sea till 1711, but the latter part of his life is obscure. He published a " Treatise on Winds and Tides," and a u Vindication of his Voyage to the South Sea in the Ship St. George" (1707). The best edition of his col- lected voyages appeared in London in 1729, in 4 vols. 8vo. DAMPIERRE, Angnste Henri Marie Pieot, mar- quis de, a French soldier, born in Paris, Aug. 19, 1756, died in battle near the forest of Vioogne, May 8, 1793. He early entered the army, but Louis XVI. ridiculing his partiality for Fred- erick the Great and Prussian tactics, he re- signed his commission. He became president of the department of Aube, and in 1791 aide-