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DUPKEZ DUQITESNE 325 of the parliament, and succeeded in reducing it to a mere judicial body, and freeing the king from all control. Duprat was noted for his subservience to the king, his cupidity, and his intolerance. DIPREZ. I. Gilbert Louis, a French tenor singer, born in Paris, Dec. 6, 1806. He re- ceived his musical education at the conserva- tory, and was admitted to the singing school of Choron. In 1825 he was engaged at the Odeon, and married two years later Mile. Du- peron, a vocalist. After a successful tour through the principal cities of Europe, he ob- tained in 1837 an engagement at the Opera in Paris, and continued there till 1849, when he retired from the stage. He was a professor at the conservatory from 1842 to 1850. He pro- duced some of his own compositions on the stage, but they failed. The principal ones are Joanita (1852), La lettre au bon Dieu, Jeanne cTArc (1865), and an oratorio entitled Le juge- ment dernier (1868). He has also written a work entitled Hart du chant. II. Caroline Van den Heuvel, a French soprano, daughter of the preceding, born in Florence in 1832. She was one of the principal singers at the Opera Comique from 1852 to 1856, when she married M. Van den Heuvel. She sang subsequently at the Theatre Lyrique, and became in 1860 a member of the Opera. She reappeared recent- ly at the Opera Comique, but remained only for a short time, and retired from the stage. III. Edonard, brother of Gilbert, was for some time a member of the troupe of the Opera Comique, and has written several librettos for his broth- er and the composer Verdi. Le bal masque, Rigoletto, and La traviata are among the best known of his writings. DUPUIS, Charles Francois, a French scholar and philosopher, born at Trie-le-Chateau, Nor- mandy, in October, 1742, died near Dijon, Sept. 29, 1809. He was the son of a country school- master, and through La Rochefoucauld was en- abled to complete a course of collegiate studies at Paris. In 1766 he was made professor of rhetoric at the Lisieux college, and in 1787 of Latin eloquence in the college de France. He had a thorough knowledge of astronomy and ancient mythology, and spent the best part of his life in elaborating a theory tracing to the former the origin of all religions. His theory, first presented in several papers in the Jour- nal des Savants, was more fully expounded in a 4to volume printed in 1781, under the title of Memoires sur Vorigine des constellations et sur V explication de la fable par V astronomie, and 14 years later was developed in L'origine de tons les cultes, ou la religion universelle (3 vols. 4to, Paris, 1795). In 1796 he published an abridgment, which has been frequently re- printed. While a deputy to the convention, Dupuis acted with the moderate party; he was a member of the council of 500, and a candidate for the directorship. On the estab- lishment of the empire he returned to private life, and in 1806 published his Dissertation sur le zodiaque de Tentyra ou Denderah, the com- plement of his great work. DLPU1TREN, Guillanme, a French surgeon, born at Pierre-Buffiere, Limousin, Oct. 6, 1777, died in Paris, Feb. 8, 1835. At the age of 12 he was placed in the college of La Marche at Paris, where he engaged in literary studies, but was rebellious, abandoned Latin for the sciences, and became enthusiastic only after undertaking the study of medicine. At 18 he was appointed one of the six assistant dissec- tors in the newly established schools of health; and in 1801 he succeeded Dumeril .without competition as curator of the anatomical de- partment. He displayed unprecedented skill and activity in dissection, and became succes- sively surgeon of the second class in the Hdtel- Dieu, inspector general of the university, pro- fessor of medical practice, and in 1815 sur- geon-in-chief of the Hotel-Dieu. Having now absolute power in the oldest and wealthiest hospital of France, he regularly passed five hours in the morning in performing operations in the presence of more than 400 students. After the fatal attack on the duke de Berry, in 1820, Dupuytren was called to the Tuileries for consultation, and three years later he was made first surgeon to the king. His proud, silent, and capricious character was the object of innumerable epigrams and calumnies. His health failed in 1833, and he went to Italy, but soon returned and resumed his lectures. He died after much suffering, which excited rather his curiosity than complaints or disquietude, and left a part of his fortune for the founda- tion of a chair of pathological anatomy in the faculty of medicine in Paris, and of a museum which bears his name. His principal works have been collected in an edition entitled Lecons orales. He simplified many surgical opera- tions, and made some valuable innovations. DIQUESNE, Abraham, a French naval officer, born in Dieppe in 1610, died Feb. 2, 1688. He was educated in his native town, early entered the naval service, and gained distinction in sev- eral encounters with the Spaniards, especially in 1637 off the isles of Lerins, in 1641 off Tar- ragona, and in 1643 off Cape de Gatte. Hostil- ities being suspended, he entered the Swedish service in the latter year as vice admiral, and in 1644 completely defeated the Danish fleet commanded by King Christian IV. in person. He soon afterward returned to France, and in 1650 fitted out a squadron at his own expense, with which he prevented the Spaniards from entering Bordeaux, then the stronghold of the rebellious princes. After the peace of 1659 he served against the pirates on the coast of Africa. He was made naval lieutenant gene- ral in 1667, and in the war with Holland was twice engaged against De Ruyter in 1676, in the Mediterranean. In both engagements the Dutch were defeated, and in the latter they lost their commander. A few weeks later Duquesne destroyed the remains of their fleet, and secured the naval supremacy of France.