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denied miracles, the Trinity, and atonement by Christ; and they may fairly be taken as constituting one movement, though they by no means formed one school or agreed in the details of their teaching. Thus some believed and others rejected the immortality of the soul and human free-will, and they did not all teach the same doctrine as to the relation of God to the universe, some being almost pantheistic. They were not for the most part accurate scholars, and were rather acute than profound thinkers; but though their influence on English thought seemed for a time to be blotted out, they contributed largely to the progress of rationalism in Europe. The chief deists were Lord Herbert of Cherbury, called the Father of Deism' (died 1648), Blount, Tindal, Woolston, Toland, Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Bolingbroke, Collins, Morgan, and Chubb (died 1746). See the separate articles on these writers, also CHURCH HISTORY, RELIGION, RATIONALISM; Leland, View of the Deistical Writers (1754); Lechler, Geschichte des Englischen Deismus (1841); Hunt, Religious Thought in England (1872); Leslie Stephen, History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century (1876).

Déjazet, PAULINE VIRGINIE, a great French actress, born at Paris, 30th August 1797. On the stage before she was five years old, she grew up playing children's and boys' rôles with marvellous precocity of intelligence and grace, but first awoke to a sense of her real greatness in an engage. ment at Lyons, where her playing of such parts as were then known as soubrettes endeared her to the citizens. In 1821 she began to play at the Gymnase, but her greatest triumphs were won at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, whither she betook herself in 1834. From 1844 to 1849 she played at the Variétés, next at various Paris theatres, in the provinces, and at London, till 1859, when she undertook the management of the FoliesDramatiques. She left the boards in 1868, next year received a pension of 2000 francs, and died 1st December 1875. See Lives by Lecomte (1866) and Duval (1876).

Dekker, THOMAS, dramatist, was born in London about 1570. He was a very prolific writer, but only a few of his plays were printed. In 1600 he published two comedies, The Shoemaker's Holiday, or the Gentle Craft, and The Pleasant Comedy of Old Fortunatus. The first of these pieces is one of the pleasantest of old plays, and the second abounds in poetry of rare beauty. Dekker's next play was Satiromastix, or the untrussing of the Humorous Poet (1602), in which Ben Jonson was held up to ridicule. In Every Man out of His Humour and Cynthia's Revels Jonson had made some satirical reflections on Dekker; and in The Poetaster (1601) he had assailed Dekker and Marston with bitter vehemence. Long afterwards, in 1619, Jonson told Drummond of Hawthornden that Dekker was a knave. Before the quarrel Jonson and Dekker had worked in harmony; in 1599 they wrote together two plays (which have not come down), Page of Plymouth and Robert the Second. In 1603 Dekker published a pamphlet entitled The Wonderful Year, which gives a heart-rending account of the sufferings caused by the plague. To the same year belongs the very amusing tract The Bachelor's Banquet, in which he describes with gusto the ills to which henpecked married men are forced to submit. His most powerful writing is seen in The Honest Whore (1604), of which the second part was published in 1630. Middleton assisted him in the first part. In 1607 he published three plays written in conjunction with Webster, the Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyat (which has descended in a mutilated

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state), Westward Ho, and Northward Ho. A pamphlet entitled The Bellman of London (1608) gives a very lively account of the vagabonds of London; and Dekker pursued the subject further in Lanthorn and Candlelight (1608), which passed through several editions. The most famous of his pamphlets is The Gull's Hornbook (1609), in which the life of a town-gallant is racily depicted. The Roaring Girl (1611) was partly written by Dekker; but Middleton must take the chief credit for that excellent comedy. From 1613 to 1616 Dekker was confined in the King's Bench prison. Earlier in his career he had spent some time in the Counter prison. In each case his debts were the cause of his imprisonment. With Massinger he composed the Virgin Martyr; and Lamb was doubtless right in ascribing to Dekker the most beautiful scene (II. i.) in that play. The Sun's Darling, licensed for the stage in 1624, but not printed until 1656, was written in conjunction with Ford. A powerful tragedy, The Witch of Edmonton (posthumously published in 1658), was written by Dekker, Ford, and Rowley. We hear of Dekker in 1637, when he republished his Lanthorn and Candlelight under the title of English Villainies, and then he drops out of notice. His plays were collected in 1873 (4 vols.); and his pamphlets, which afford much valuable information about English social life in the early 17th century, were republished in 5 vols. in Dr Grosart's Huth Library.'

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De la Beche, SIR HENRY THOMAS, a wellknown geologist, was born near London in 1796. He was educated at the military school at Great Marlow, and entered the army in 1814. Three years after, he became a Fellow of the Geological Society, of which he was afterwards made secretary, and eventually president in 1847. In 1820, while residing in Switzerland, he published a paper on the temperature and depth of the lake of Geneva. 1824 he visited Jamaica, and published a paper on the geology of the island. Other works are a Manual of Geology (1831), Researches in Theoretical Geology (1834), and a Geological Observer (1853). He undertook to form a geological map of England; and soon after he had begun, the government, sympathising with his design, instituted the Geological Survey, and placed him at its head. He was founder of the Geological Museum in Jermyn Street, and of the School of Mines. In 1848 he received the honour of knighthood; and in 1853 was elected a correParis. He died 13th April 1855. sponding member of the Academy of Sciences of

De la Borde, HENRY FRANÇOIS, COUNT, a French general, born at Dijon, 21st December 1764. The son of a baker, he enlisted at the outbreak of the Revolution, and by 1793 had risen to be general of brigade. He distinguished himself in Spain at the Bidassoa (1794), next commanded a division on the Rhine under Moreau, was governor of Lisbon in 1807, and was ennobled in 1808. He declared for the emperor on his return from Elba. He died 3d February 1830.

Delacroix, EUGENE, a French painter, chief of the Romantic school, was born at CharentonSaint-Maurice, near Paris, 26th April 1799. At the age of eighteen he entered the atelier of Pierre Guérin, a follower of David, and came under the far more powerful influence of his fellow-pupil, Géricault. In 1822 he exhibited his first work, 'Dante and Virgil,' the novel force of which attracted much attention and won the praise of M. Thiers among others. In 1824, Delacroix, who was now at the head of the new school of young painters, produced the Massacre of Scio,' which was entirely repainted after the artist had studied a work of Constable's. The July revolution left its impress on Delacroix, and in 1831 appeared his

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'Liberty directing the People on the Barricades.' In 1832 he made a voyage to Morocco, where he familiarised himself with novel effects of light and costumes. From this period, Delacroix continued to send forth picture after picture, besides decorating many public buildings and churches. He also executed a number of lithographs, including a series illustrating Hamlet, and one dealing with Faust, of which Goethe wrote that he found in these images all the impressions of his youth.' In 1857 he was chosen by the Institute to fill the place of Delaroche. He died August 13, 1863. The most striking quality of Delacroix's art is its invention, its impetuous imaginative force and vitality. He aimed at a powerful and dramatic expression of passion and emotion, and in the pursuit of this aim a sense of beauty was frequently lost. He was an admirable colourist, and his admirers have ranked him with Veronese and Rubens. His drawing, while sometimes incorrect, is always spirited and full of vigour. See his Life and Letters by Moreau (1873), Burty (1880), and Chesneau (1885).

Delagoa Bay, a Portuguese possession, is a large inlet of the Indian Ocean on the south-east coast of Africa. In April 1868 the Transvaal claimed by proclamation the Maputa River, from its junction with the Pongola to its embouchure into the southern part of Delagoa Bay. England and Portugal resisted the claim and set up counter pretensions. The matter was referred to the arbitration of Marshal MacMahon, who in 1875 declared the southern portion of Delagoa Bay, including the Maputa River up to the Lobombo Mountains, to belong to Portugal. The bay stretches for 70 miles between 26° 20′ and 25° 30' S. lat. It is 25 miles wide, and for size and accommodation is the finest natural harbour in South Africa, although landing facilities are yet of a very primitive character. There are several islands, notably Inyack, and a number of shoals in the bay, but its navigation is safe and easy, and the anchorage is commodious and well sheltered. The settlement of Lourenço Marques and surrounding country have been notoriously unhealthy; but in 1887 the swamps behind the town were filled in, and in 1888 an elaborate system of drainage, and a long sea-wall, intended to reclaim the flat beach on which decaying vegetable matter was deposited, were projected. The rivers Maputa, Tembe, and Umbelosi (joining to form the English River), and the Komati, fall into Delagoa Bay. The Maputa and Tembe rivers are navigable for some distance for small craft. The comparative proximity of Delagoa Bay to the newly-developed goldfields of Eastern Transvaal and Swaziland has brought to the front in South African politics the question of the desirability of Britain acquiring its possession by purchase. For over half a century there have been intermittent attempts to establish communication between the Transvaal and Delagoa Bay. All failed, however, till 1887, when a company with an authorised share capital of half a million was formed in London to work a concession from the Portuguese government for ninety years, for the construction of a railway from Delagoa Bay to the Transvaal frontier at the Komati Poort River. The line was partly opened in 1888, and great results are looked for as it is extended to the centres of population in the Transvaal. LOURENÇO MARQUES.

See

Delambre, JEAN JOSEPH, astronomer, was born at Amiens, 29th September 1749, and studied literature under the poet Delille. He had long to struggle with difficulties, and supported himself by translation and teaching. Becoming a tutor in a wealthy family, he devoted himself to physics and astronomy, studying under Lalande. The discovery

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of Uranus by Herschel in 1781 gave him the first opportunity of attracting the attention of the learned world in general by preparing tables of the motion of the new planet. Soon after, he commenced the construction of new solar tables, and tables of the motions of Jupiter and Saturn. Along with Méchain, he was appointed by the French government, in 1792, to measure the arc of the meridian between Dunkirk and Barcelona, which was completed in 1799 (see MÈTRE, ARAGO). He was elected member of the Academy, and in 1803 perpetual secretary of the mathematical section of the Institute. The result of his measurements appeared in his great work, Base du Système Métrique Décimal (1806–10). In 1807 he obtained the chair of Astronomy at the Collège de France, rendered vacant by the death of Lalande, his master and friend. In 1814 he was appointed a member of the Council of Public Instruction. He died at Paris, 19th August 1822. Delambre received a multitude of honours during his lifetime. He was a member of most of the learned bodies in Europe, and an officer of the Legion of Honour. His writings are very numerous. The principal are Traité d'Astronomie (1814), Histoire de l'Astronomie Ancienne (1817), Histoire de l'Astronomie du Moyen Age (1819), Histoire de l'Astronomie huitième Siècle (1827). Besides these, Delambre Moderne (1821), and Histoire de l'Astronomie au Dix

wrote several excellent Mémoires.

Delane, JOHN THADEUS, editor of the Times newspaper, was the second son of a barrister, and was born in London, 11th October 1817. He received the earlier part of his education in private schools, and at King's College, London, and finally went to Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1839. At the university, he was more famous for horsemanship than reading, and though bright and active-minded, he never professed to be a scholar. After leaving Oxford he studied life in many forms, walked the hospitals, was called to the bar, and reported in the House of Commons and on circuit. Mr Walter had early marked Delane's capable character, and soon placed him on the Times staff; and in May 1841, not yet twenty-four, he became its editor. For thirty-six years Delane held this post, aided, however, for the greater part of this period by his brother-in-law and college friend, George Dasent (q.v.). Under his editorship, the Times attained a prodigious circulation, and an influence unparalleled in the history of journalism. He wrote no articles, but he contributed excellent reports and letters. He merged his personality in his paper, and the history of his later life is the history of the extraordinary influence wielded by the leading journal. His exposure of the railway mania, his vehement attacks upon the management of the Crimean war, and his strong opposition to England's assisting Denmark in 1864, are among his best-remembered acts. He was singularly shrewd in weighing public opinion, possessed remarkable foresight, and seldom made a mistake. Having resigned the editorship in 1877, he died two years later, 22d November 1879. His successor was Thomas Chenery. A Life of Delane by Sir G. Dasent was announced, but abandoned in deference to Mr Walter.

Delany, MRS (Mary Granville), was born at Coulston, Wiltshire, 14th May 1700. The niece of Lord Lansdowne, she married first, in 1718, 'fat, snuffy, sulky' Alexander Pendarves (1659-1724); and secondly, in 1743, the Rev. Patrick Delany (1685-1768), an Irish divine, Swift's friend, and the author of a dozen volumes. After his death she lived chiefly in London, till her own death at Windsor on 15th April 1788. Her much-admired 'paper mosaics,' or flower-work, have long since

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faded; but she is remembered through her patronage of Miss Burney, and by her Autobiography and Correspondence (6 vols. 1861-62), with its gossip of the court and the literary society of her day.

De la Ramé, LOUISE. See OUIDA. Delaroche, HIPPOLYTE, known as PAUL, painter, the head of the modern Eclectic school of art in France, was born at Paris, 16th July 1797. He studied under Baron Gros, and between 1819 and 1823 acquired some note by painting scriptural subjects, but first excited public admiration in 1824, by his St Vincent de Paul preaching in the Presence of Louis XIII.,' and 'Joan of Arc before Cardinal Beaufort.' These exhibit the earliest indications of that style for which he afterwards became famous-a style which endeavoured to unite the picturesqueness of the romantic with the dignity of the classic school of art. In 1826 Delaroche produced his Death of President Durante; and in 1827 his 'Death of Queen Elizabeth.' These pictures greatly increased his reputation, but the last is reckoned a failure by English critics. In 1831 he produced the Princes in the Tower,' a work of high merit; in 1833, 'Cromwell contemplating the Corpse of Charles I.,' which is generally regarded as one of the first historical paintings of modern times. In 1834 appeared his 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey;' and in 1837 his Charles I. insulted by the Parliamentary Soldiers,' and his 'Strafford receiving Laud's Blessing on the Way to Execution.' From this period until 1841 he was engaged on what is probably his grandest workthe series of paintings on the wall of the semicircular saloon of the École des Beaux Arts, in the execution of which he was aided by Armitage and other of his pupils. This composition, in which the style is simple, lofty, and chaste, contains 74 figures, comprising the greatest sculptors, painters, and architects in all history, according to Delaroche's judgment. It was excellently engraved by Henriquel Dupont, from a reduced copy made by the painter himself. Among his later works may be mentioned, 'Bonaparte at St Bernard' (1850); Marie Antoinette before the Revolutionary Tribunal' (1851); The Finding of Moses' (1852); Calvary' (1853); Christ in Gethsemane' (1854); 'The Girondins in the Concierge' (1856); and, one of his best-known works, The Floating Martyr.' He also executed some striking portraits, including those of M. Guizot (1838), and M. Thiers (1856). He died November 4, 1856. The characteristic excellences of Delaroche are picturesqueness of conception, precision of handling, and accuracy of draw ing. He has been accused, however, of want of fire, imagination, and depth, and it must be admitted that he very rarely, if ever, exhibits the highest qualities of creative genius. Delaroche was made a member of the Institute in 1832, and professor of Painting in the École des Beaux Arts in 1833. See Rees, Vernet and Delaroche (1880).

De la Rue, WARREN, an eminent electrician, was born in the island of Guernsey, January 18, 1815. He was educated at Paris, and early entered his father's business-the manufacture of paper wares for which his inventive ability and scientific knowledge enabled him to devise many new machines and processes. He took an active part in the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862; was a member of the International Electrical Congress at Paris in 1861; and has been president of the Royal Astronomical Society, of the Chemical Society, and the London Institution. In 1878 he succeeded Spottiswoode as secretary of the Royal Institution, and in 1880 was elected a corresponding member of the French Académie des Sciences in the department of astronomy. His scientific work, done at his observatory at Cranford and at his private physical labor

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atory, is of the highest value in the departments of astronomical photography and electricity, and its results have been communicated from time to time to the Royal Society and the French Académie des Sciences.

Delaunay, LOUIS ARSENE, a French actor, was born 21st March 1826, at Paris, and made his début in October 1846 at the Odeon. In the year 1848 he first trod the classic boards of the Théâtre Français in the rôle of Durante, and here he soon procured an engagement and became secretary to the theatre in 1850. Delaunay is one of the most accomplished actors on the French stage. He has found some of his greatest parts in the plays of Hugo, Pailleron, De Musset, and Augiers.

Delavigne, JEAN FRANÇOIS CASIMIR, dramatist, satirist, and lyrist, was born at Le Havre on April 4, 1793. He became one of the most popular writers in France, after the publication in 1818 of his Messéniennes, satires directed against the monarchy of the Restoration. He then turned his attention to dramatic authorship and produced Les Vepres Siciliens (1819), a tragic piece, which was followed by the comedies, L'Ecole des Vieillards and Les Comédiens (1821). He was made an academician in 1825. As a lyrist and satirist, he espoused the cause of the patriots in Italy, Greece, and Poland, and of the democratic party in France, but although he appears to have been a sincere politician, he failed to give natural and original expression to his convictions. His tragedy of Louis XI., which was partly founded on Quentin Durward, and an adaptation of which is familiar to English playgoers, was brought out in 1833. Among his other dramas were Le Paria, Marino Faliero, Les Enfants d'Edouard, Don Juan d'Autriche (1835), and La Fille du Cid (1839). He died on December 11, 1843. He had no true poetic faculty; neither was he a skilful dramatist, though his plays, when first produced, gained considerable popularity. In his day he was supported by the opponents of the Romantic school, but his mediocrity has come to be recognised by critics of all parties.

by J. B. Lippincott

American Union, forms a part of a peninsula lying Delaware, one of the Atlantic States of the between the lower reaches of the Copyright 1889 in U.S. Susquehanna and Chesapeake Bay on the west, and the Delaware Company. River and Bay and Atlantic Ocean on the east. The state is bounded on the N. by Pennsylvania the boundary there being an arc of a circle), on Atlantic Ocean, and on the S. and W. by Marythe E. by the Delaware River and Bay and the land. With an area of 2050 sq. m., or little more than that of Northumberland, it is the smallest of all the states and territories, except Rhode Island; in 1890 it was the forty-second in population. Save in a small hilly section in the north, nearly all the surface is low and level, and in the extreme south there is much swampy land; while the most southern two-fifths of the area is in great part a sandy region. The hill-district in the north presents a stony surface overlying azoic rocks, such as gneiss and granite, with patches of serpentine and limestone. A strip of highly fertile red clay lies south of the hill-country; and next southward occurs a productive and fossiliferous greensand formation, succeeded by a somewhat sandy belt, less fertile than the greensand, although the greater part of its extent is by no means unproductive. The coast-region has many salt-marshes, some of them dyked, and thus rendered tillable; and farther inland is a considerable body of extremely rich alluvial soil. The western border of the state is generally well wooded, and in some places flat and marshy. The rivers of Delaware are mostly small,

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