Dame; "Hector reproaching Paris," in the Luxembourg; and the four paintings in Nôtre-Dame-de-Loretto—are sufficient to give an idea of the attractions of his noble style.—R. M.
DELPECH, Jacques-Mathieu, a French surgeon, born at Toulouse in 1777. He studied at Montpellier, where, in 1812, he obtained the chair of clinical surgery. His admirable popular talents insured his success as a professor. Under his instruction there sprang up a great number of expert and intelligent operators in the south of France. Delpech, in spite of his numerous strictly professional labours, found time to write many valuable works, of which the most important is—"Précis des Maladies réputées chirurgicales," 3 vols. Delpech was assassinated in open day in October, 1832.—R. M., A.
DELUC Jean Andre, a naturalist and geologist, born at Geneva in 1727. He was appointed professor of philosophy and geology in the university of Gottingen in 1798, and passed several years in Berlin, Hanover, and Brunswick. After the battle of Jena he came to England, and was appointed reader to Queen Charlotte, consort of George III. He died at Windsor, Nov., 1817, in his ninety-first year.—His brother and fellow-labourer, Guillaume Antoine Deluc, died at Geneva in 1812, and left a rich collection of mineralogy, which was increased by his son Andre Deluc, who wrote a work entitled "Histoire du Passage des Alpes par Annibal," 1818. The works of the elder Deluc are numerous and valuable. They are written chiefly in French, as are also those of his brother and nephew. They contain elaborate discussions on the different epochs of creation, corresponding to the six days of Genesis, as well as observations on the atmosphere and the phenomena of air, heat, and light.—E. L.
DELRIEU, Etienne Joseph Bernard, born in 1761, and died in 1836. Of Delrieu's early life little is known. He wrote political verses, in which he appears to have faithfully lauded the various parties which successively exercised the administrative power of the French government. In 1793 he hymned the "Mountain;" and in 1811 the advent of the king of Rome was welcomed in strains of poetical prophecy. He wrote numberless theatrical pieces—of which "Artaxerxes," produced in 1808, and "Demetrius" in 1815, attracted most attention. Unluckily for Delrieu's reputation, the plot of the first of these dramas was traced to Metastasio, and some of the most striking scenes in the latter were said to be but adaptations of similar passages in Crebillon and Corneille. Delrieu was given a pension of two thousand francs, which was reduced in the days of Louis Philippe to twelve hundred.—J. A., D.
DELRIO, Martin Antonio, a learned commentator, born of Spanish parents at Antwerp in 1551. He was educated at Douai, but took his degree of doctor of law in 1574. Returning to the Netherlands, he filled successively several public offices. On the breaking out of the war against Philip II., Delrio abandoned public life and entered the jesuit college at Valladolid, and became afterwards teacher of philosophy at Douai, Liège, Louvain, Grätz, and Salamanca. He died at Louvain in 1608. He is best known by a work entitled "Disquisitionarum magicarum libri VI.," translated into French by Duchesne in 1611; and by a commentary on the Old and New Testaments entitled "Adagialia Sacra." He also wrote Latin commentaries on Genesis and the Lamentations of Jeremiah, some controversial works, and notes upon Seneca.—F. M. W.
DEMARATUS, the fifteenth king of Sparta, of the family of the Eurypontides, was the son of King Ariston, and reigned from 510 to 491 b.c. He was distinguished for his great ability and courage, and alone of all the kings of Sparta was victor in the chariot races at the Olympic games. Differences having arisen between him and his unscrupulous colleague Cleomenes, the latter disputed the legitimacy of Demaratus's birth, and obtained a decision against him by bribing the oracle at Delphos. Demaratus took refuge at the court of Persia, where he was cordially welcomed, and soon acquired vast influence. He accompanied Xerxes on his invasion of Greece, and gave him sagacious advice respecting the best mode of conducting the campaign. His descendants were long influential in Asia.—J. T.
* DEMBINSKI, Henry, a Polish general, was born in 1791. In 1809 he entered the fifth regiment of horse chasseurs, and was rewarded by Napoleon for the extraordinary courage he displayed at Smolensko by being promoted on the field to the rank of lieutenant. In 1813 he distinguished himself at the battle of Leipzig, and went to Paris after the abdication of Napoleon. In 1815 he returned to Poland, and in 1825 he was elected a deputy to the diet. When the Polish insurrection took place in 1830, Dembinski at once embraced the popular cause, was appointed general of a brigade of cavalry, took a distinguished part in all the important battles during the struggle of the Poles for their independence, and for a short time held the office of commander-in-chief on the dismissal of Skrzynecki. On the disastrous termination of the war Dembinski took refuge in France. When the Hungarians were compelled to take up arms in defence of their liberties, Dembinski joined them, though he had now reached his fifty-eighth year. He was at once appointed to an important command, and was for some time commander-in-chief. But he committed several serious mistakes, which lost him the confidence of the officers, while his coarse manners and neglect of the comfort of his troops alienated the affections of the common soldiers, and he was obliged to resign. On the surrender of Görgey, Dembinski escaped along with Kossuth and Bem to Turkey, and ultimately returned to Paris, where he has since lived in retirement. Dembinski is an experienced soldier, skilful in forming plans, but wanting in the decision and firmness necessary to carry them out. He is the author of a history of the campaign in Lithuania in 1830.—J. T.
DEMETRIUS I., king of Macedon, surnamed Poliorcetes (besieger), was the son of Antigonus and Stratonice. At an early age he commanded in his father's army against Eumenes; and, being afterwards left by him in the chief command of Syria, was totally defeated there by Ptolemy. Soon after, however, he surprised and took Cilles, whom Ptolemy had sent against him. The next mission was that undertaken by him in 307 b.c., whose object was to wrest Greece from the power of Lysander and Ptolemy. For the services he rendered the Athenians, they flattered and honoured him as a god. Having been recalled thence by his father to take the command against Ptolemy in Cyprus, he conquered him in a great naval fight, so that he surrendered, and all Cyprus was given up into the victor's hands. He now assumed the title of king. Soon after he and his father suffered reverses in an expedition against Egypt. To punish the Rhodians for their refusal to help him in this undertaking, he laid siege to Rhodes, which was defended with great vigour and bravery. He then went to Athens to relieve the inhabitants from Cassander, whom he compelled to raise the siege. All the principal cities of Greece now fell into his hands successively; and, at a general assembly held at Corinth, he received the title of commander-in-chief of all Greece. But he had not yet conquered Cassander, who had strengthened himself by concluding a league with Lysimachus. In the great battle of Ipsus, Antigonus and Demetrius were totally defeated by Lysimachus and Seleucus, and Antigonus himself slain in 301. Still his fortunes were not wrecked, though he lost Greece. After a time he attempted to recover his dominion there, which the death of Cassander enabled him to effect. Athens yielded to him after a long siege. He had almost taken Sparta, when the affairs of Macedon called him away. The young king, Alexander, who had been established on the throne of Macedon, was assassinated at a banquet, and Demetrius was proclaimed king by the army. After various fortunes against Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, he concluded a treaty with him, which was soon broken by the latter, when Ptolemy sent a powerful fleet against Greece. But Lysimachus and Pyrrhus invaded Macedon simultaneously on different sides. Discontent broke out among the troops; the Macedonians declared for Pyrrhus, and Demetrius was obliged to fly in disguise. In Cilicia he was at last compelled to surrender himself to Seleucus, when all had forsaken him. That king sent him to the Syrian Chersonese, where he was confined in one of the royal residences, and died in the third year of his imprisonment, aged fifty-five years, in 283 b.c. Seleucus sent his body to his son Antigonus, who interred it at Demetrias in Thessaly. Demetrius was a man of great abilities and resources—active, bold, restless, enterprising. His vicissitudes were numerous, yet they did not crush a spirit which was exceedingly elastic. His great sin was licentiousness, in which, according to Plutarch, he exceeded all contemporary monarchs.—S. D.
DEMETRIUS, son of Philip V., king of Macedonia. When very young he was given up as a hostage to Flaminius, and was afterwards sent to Rome. Having been restored to his father, he was subsequently sent as ambassador to the Roman senate. The gracious manner in which he had been received at Rome, excited the jealousy of the father and the ill-will of his brother
