of Veliki Ustyug, at a height of 300 feet above the sea, in 60 46 N. lat. and 46 20 E. long. From its mouth, in the Gulf of Archangel, the distance to the confluence of the co-tributary streams is about 400 miles, and to the source of the Sukhona 750 miles. The drainage area is estimated at from 140,000 to 145,000 square miles. Except at the rapids the current of the Dwina is comparatively slow^ as the average fall per mile is only 9 inches. Till its union with the Viuchegda, a river which exceeds it in volume, it j Hows for the most part in a single, well-defined, and : permanent channel; but below that point it often breaks | up into several branches, and not unfrequently alters its course. In the neighbourhood of Archangel it divides into ! three distinct arms, which form a regular delta; but of I these that of Berezoff alone is navigable for seafaring 1 vessels, and even it is crossed by a bar at the mouth with not more than 14 or 15/ feet of water at full tide. Above the confluence of the Viuchegda the breadth is about 1750 feet; below that point it widens out to 3500; and near Archangel it attains more than three times that measure. The river affords a valuable means of inland navigation. From Vologda to Archangel the ordinary passage requires from 10 to 12 days, and the return journey from 6 to 8 weeks. The channel is free from ice for about 174 days in the year.
II. The Southern Dwina, or Dvina ZapaJnaya, in German Diina, belongs to the Baltic basin, and takes its rise in a small lake about 800 feet above the level of the sea, in the government of Tver, not far from the sources of the Volga and the Dnieper. In its whole course of about GOO miles it waters the seven governments of Tver, Fskoff, Vitebsk, Mogileff, Vilna, Curland, and Livonia; and it is calculated that it drains an area of about 65,000 square miles. From Diinaburg to Riga, a distance of 204 miles, there is altogether a fall of 295 feet, of which 105 are in the 46^ miles from Jakobstadt to Friedrichstadt. In the lower part of its course the river attains an ordinary depth of 30 feet, and an average breadth of 1400 feet; but during the spring flood it sometimes rises 14 feet above its usual level, and extends its waters for about a mile. The inundation lasts at Riga from two to ten days. Near the mouth the river is usually free from ice 245 days in the year, and in the government of Vitebsk for 229. It is navigable from the confluence of the Mezha downwards, but the number of rapids and shallows greatly diminishes its value. No fewer than 62 of the former are counted below Jakobstadt, and among these are some of the most dangerous of all. The passage to Iliga from Velish usually takes thirteen days, from Disna seven, from Diinaburg four, from Friedrichstadt one. Navigation can also be carried on by the following tributaries of the Dwina the Toropa, the Usviat, the Mezha and Obshei, the Kasplia, the Ulla, and the Bolder-aa. By Ptolemy and Marcian of Heraclea the river is mentioned as the Rhubon or Rhudon; at a later date it is called the Khezin or Turunt, and till the present day has the name of Polot among the White Russians. The modern designation is said to be due to the Schleswig and Bremen sailors, who were struck by the sandstone hills at the mouth of the river.
DYCE, Alexander, (1798–1869), a distinguished dramatic editor and literary historian, was born at Edinburgh on the 30th June 1798, and, after receiving his early education at the High School of his native city, became a student at Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated as B.A. Having adopted the clerical profession, he officiated as curate at Lantegloss, in Cornwall, and subsequently at Nayland, in Suffolk; and, in 1827, he settled in London. His first books were Select Translations from Quintus Smyrnæus, an edition of Collins, and Specimens of British Poetesses. He issued annotated editions of George Peele, Robert Greene, John Webster, Thomas Middleton, and Beaumont and Fletcher, with lives of the authors and much illustrative matter. He completed an edition of Shirley left unfinished by Gifford, and contributed biographies of Shakespeare, Pope, Akenside, and Beattie to Pickering's Aldine Poets. He has also edited several of Bentley's works, and Specimens of British Sonnets; and his carefully revised edition of John Skelton, which appeared in 1843, did much to revive interest in that trenchant satirist. In 1857 his edition of Shakespeare was published by Moxon; and the second edition, a great improvement on the old one, was issued by Chapman and Hall in 1866. Dyce's interest in Shakespeare manifested itself further in such works as Remarks on Collier's and Knight's Editions of Shakespeare, A Few Notes on Shakespeare, and Strictures on Collier's new Edition of Shakespeare. He was intimately connected with several literary societies, and undertook the publication of Kempe's Nine Days Wonder for the Camden Society; and the old plays of Timon and Sir Thomas More were published by him for the Shakespeare Society. He was associated with Halliwell, Collier, and Wright as one of the founders of the Percy Society, which aims at publishing old English poetry. Dyce also issued Recollections of the Table-Talk of Samuel Rogers, which has been several times reprinted both in Britain and in the United States. The editions of the dramatists already mentioned were re-issued with many improvements. Dyce died on the 15th May 1869. His reputation rests on his contributions to English literary biography, and on the untiring industry, abundant learning, and admirable critical acumen displayed in his editions of the old English poets. His wide reading in Elizabethan literature enabled him to explain much that was formerly obscure in Shakespeare; while his sound judgment was a sure check to anything like extravagance in emendation. His labours resulted in the best text of Shakespeare we possess. While preserving all that is valuable in former editions, Dyce has added much fresh matter. The Glossary, which consists of a large volume of 500 pages, is the most exhaustive that has appeared. Not only rare words are explained, but common words when employed with an unusual meaning, phrases, proverbs, old customs, and difficult allusions. The book is, therefore, an important contribution to philology and to the history of the English language, as well as to the elucidation of the text. The mere number of words in Dyce's Glossary shows a great advance in comprehensiveness. It is calculated that the Globe Glossary has about 2000 words, and Staunton's 2500, while Dyce's has upwards of 5000. The meanings of the words, as used by the poet, are accurately given, and are illustrated by literary quotation and linguistic comment. Altogether Dyce's Shakespeare is likely long to remain the standard edition of our English dramatist.
DYCE, William (1806–1864), a distinguished painter, was born in Aberdeen, where his father, a fellow of the Royal Society, was a physician of some repute. He attended Marischal College, took the degree of M.A. at sixteen years of age, and was destined for one of the learned professions. Showing a turn for design instead, he studied in the school of the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, then as a probationer (not a full student) in the Royal Academy of London, and thence, in 1825, proceeded to Rome, where he spent nine months. He returned to Aberdeen in 1826, and painted several pictures; one of these, Bacchus nursed by the Nymphs of Nysa, was exhibited in 1827. In the autumn of that year he went back to Italy, showing from the first a strong sympathy with the earlier masters of the Florentine and allied schools. A Virgin and Child which he painted in Rome in 1828 was much noticed by Overbeck and other foreign artists. In 1829 Dyce settled in
