published a History of the University and Colleges of Cambridge (1814).
DYER, John (c.1700-58). An English clergyman and poet. He began but rejected the law, turned painter, and in pursuit of his art wandered through South Wales and the English counties adjacent. After studying in Italy he returned to England to take orders, became vicar of Calthorp (Leicestershire) in 1741, was appointed to Belchford (Lincolnshire) in 1751, and in 1752 received the living of Coningsby, to which in 1755 that of Kirkby-on-Bane was added. His writings include chiefly: Grongar Hill (1727), still found in many anthologies; The Ruins of Rome (1740), of which Johnson well remarks that "the title raises greater expectation than the performance gratifies;" and The Fleece (1757), referred to by Wordsworth in his sonnet "To the Poet, John Dyer."
DYER, Louis (1851—). An American educator and author, born in Chicago, III. He graduated at Harvard in 1874 and at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1878, and was assistant professor of Greek at Harvard in 1881-87. In 1889 he was a Lowell Institute lecturer, in 1893-96 a lecturer at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1895-96 acting professor of Greek in Cornell University, and in 1899 a lecturer before the Royal Institution. In 1900 he gave at the University of California a series of lectures which in 1900-01 was repeated at many colleges and universities throughout the United States. His publications include a translation of Cossa's Introduction to the Study of Political Economy (1893); The Greek Question and Answer (1884); and Studies of the Gods in Greece (1891).
DYER, or DYAR, Mary (?-l660). One of the victims of the persecution of the Quakers in early Massachusetts. She and her husband, William Dyer, a milliner, emigrated from London to Boston, Mass., in 1635, but in 1638, owing to their support of Anne Hutchinson in the Antinomian controversy, were forced to remove to Rhode Island. She spent the years 1652-57 in England, where she was converted to Quakerism; and in 1658 was expelled from the Colony of New Haven for preaching Quaker doctrines. In September, 1659, she was arrested and imprisoned in Boston, whither she had gone to visit three Quakers who had already been thrown into prison, and soon afterwards she was banished with the others on pain of death should she remain in the Colony or return to it. In October she returned to Boston and was promptly sentenced to death, but was reprieved after being forced to witness the hanging of two other Quakers, Robinson and Stephenson. In May, 1660, she again visited Boston, was again condemned to death by Governor Endecott for "rebellions sedition and obtruding herself after banishment upon pain of death," and this time was publicly executed by hanging on Boston Common, June 1, 1660. Consult Rogers, Mary Dyer, the Quaker Martyr (Providence, 1896).
DYER, Nehemiah Mayo (1839—). An American naval officer, born at Provincetown, Mass. He entered the volunteer navy in 1861, in 1864 was promoted to be acting master and placed in command of the Randolph, in 1808 became lieutenant-commander, and in 1883 commander. Promoted to be captain in 1897, he commanded the protected cruiser Baltimore in the battle of Manila Bay, May 1, 1898. In 1901 he received the rank of rear-admiral and was retired.
DYER, Thomas Henry (1804-88). An English historian, born in London. For a time he held a commercial position in connection with the West India trade. In 1841 he published his Tentamina Æschylea, the result of his studies in the emendation and restoration of passages. Most important among his works are a Life of Calvin (1850), a History of Modern Europe (4 vols., 1801-64; 2d ed., revised and enlarged, 5 vols., 1877), and The History of the Kings of Rome (1868). His History of the City of Rome (1865) was the first connected narrative on that subject, and his Pompeii: Its History, Buildings, and Antiquities (1867), contained a careful description of the remains so far as known up to that time. His publications were scholarly, derived from authentic sources, profound in their learning, and clear in their structure.
DYER, William Turner Thistleton (1843—). An English botanist. He was born at Westminster and was educated at King's College, London, at Oxford, and at Halle, Germany. He became professor of natural history at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, in 1868, and professor of botany at Royal College of Science for Ireland, in 1870. In 1885 he was made director of the Royal Gardens at Kew. His principal works are an English edition of Sach's Text-book of Botany (1875) and editions of the Flora Capensis and of the Flora of Tropical Africa. In collaboration with Trimen he published the work entitled The Flora of Middlesex (1869).
DYER'S BROOM [dyer + broom, plant). Dyer's Green Weed, or Woadwaxen (Genista tinctoria). A leguminous shrub of European origin, bearing yellow flowers and simple leaves, and said to be the bush Genêt, from which the Plantagenet family took its name. It is used in Russia for preventing hydrophobia; and in Europe its tops were formerly used for a yellow dye. It was extensively cultivated in New England, but has escaped and become established in portions of New York and Massachusetts. Its medicinal value appears to be small.
DY'ERSBURG. A city and the county-seat of Dyer County, Tenn., 77 miles north-northeast of Memphis, on the Forked Deer River, at the head of navigation, and on the Illinois Central Railroad (Map: Tennessee, B 4). It is in a fertile agricultural region, and has cotton gins, a compress, cottonseed-oil mill, saw, planing, and flour mills, wagon-factories, stave and heading factories, a tobacco-factory, foundry and machine shop, wooden-bowl factory, etc. The waterworks and electric-light plant are owned by the municipality. Population, 1890, 2009; 1900, 3017.
DYER'S ROCKET, or Dyer's Weed. See Weld.
DYESTUFFS. See Animal Colors; Coal-Tar Colors: Mineral Colors: Vegetable Colors: Dyeing: Textile Printing.
DYING DECLARATION. See Declaration, Dying.
DYING GAUL. A famous statue of Greek origin in the Capitoline Museum, representing a
