He successively became teacher in various schools, till he was appointed director of the training college for schoolmasters at Berlin in 1832. This was the situation best adapted to his wishes and faculties, and here he began zealously to advocate liberal reforms in the method of instruction, as well as in the administration of schools. His views, founded on the doctrines of Rousseau and Pestalozzi, soon became obnoxious to the Prussian ministry, and after a hard struggle he was removed from office in 1847. His numerous writings evince a comprehensive understanding, a liberal mind, and a manly and independent character. They are therefore widely popular. We note, above all, his Rheinische Blätter für Erziehung und Unterricht, a periodical which he has edited since 1827; his "Wegweiser zur Bildung für deutsche Lehrer," 2 vols.; "Lehrbuch der mathematischen Geographie und populären Himmelskunde;" and "Practisches Rechenbuch."—K. E.
DIETERICI, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm, a distinguished German writer on statistics, was born at Berlin, August 23, 1790, and devoted himself to the study of mathematics and political economy in the universities of Königsberg and Berlin. During the wars of 1813 and 1815, he was attached to the head-quarters of Blucher as engineer and geographer. When peace was restored he entered the civil service, and was gradually raised to the directorship of the statistical bureau, as well as to the chair of political economy at Berlin, in 1834. His able works on statistics have done great service to science, and will secure him a lasting reputation. He died in July 30, 1859.—K. E.
DIETRICH, Johann Wilhelm Ernst, one of the most distinguished landscape and genre painters of Germany during the last century, was born at Weimar in 1712, and received his primary artistical education from his father, Johann Georg, also a genre painter, but of limited acquirements. He then entered the school of Alexander Thiele, where his taste for landscape developed itself, and attracted the attention of an intelligent and warm-hearted patron, the Count Von Bruhl. After having executed several works for this highly-gifted nobleman, Dietrich was by him introduced and recommended to the king of Poland, who for a while availed himself of his talents. During a journey which he made to Italy he was generously supported by his kind patron, Von Bruhl, and by the Saxon court; and to the results of the studies he made in that period is to be attributed the celebrity which he attained. Imitating Rembrandt, the Carraccis, and the great Italian landscape painters, without losing his own originality, Dietrich produced a large number of pictures, remarkable above all for fecundity of invention and brilliancy of touch. Amongst the most celebrated are—"Give to Cæsar what is due unto Cæsar," the "Adulteress," "Bathing Nymphs," in London; the "Portrait of an Old Man," "Mercury and Argus," "Simeon and the infant Jesus," the "Soap-bubbles," and several others at Dresden; the "Adoration of the Shepherds," at Vienna; the "Marriage of St. Catherine," at Berlin; the "Poor Lazarus in Heaven," and others, at Munich; another "Adulteress," in Paris, &c.—R. M.
DIEU, Louis de, born in 1570; died at Leyden in 1642. His grandfather, though a protestant, was ennobled by the Emperor Charles V. His father, a clergyman of the reformed church, was a good Hebrew, Greek, and Latin scholar, and preached as occasion required, in French, German, Italian, and English. He educated his son Louis, who became one of the professors at Leyden. He was offered a professorship of theology at Utrecht, which he declined. He published grammars of the Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, and Persian. They have been reprinted (Frankfort, 1683) in one volume, entitled "Grammatica Linguarum Orientalium."—J. A., D.
* DIEZ, Friedrich Christian, an eminent German philologist, was born at Giessen, 15th March, 1794, and in the university of his native town devoted himself to the study of antiquity and the classical languages. After having done service in a volunteer corps against Napoleon in 1813, he resumed his studies at Giessen and Göttingen, where he turned aside from the ancient to the modern languages. Several years afterwards he was called to a chair at Bonn. By his opus magnum—the "Grammar of the Romance Languages"—he may be justly said to have laid the foundation for the philological study of these languages. Amongst his other works we mention—"Die Poesie der Troubadours," 1826; "Leben und Werke der Troubadours," 1829; and his "Etymological Dictionary."—K. E.
DIGBY, Sir Everard, son of Everard Digby, of Tilton and Drystoke in Rutlandshire, born in 1581, was celebrated for his connection with the gunpowder plot. He lost his father in his childhood, and was a ward of Queen Elizabeth, by whom he was favourably noticed. He obtained a considerable estate by his wife, the heiress of the family of Walshs of Goathurst in Buckinghamshire, whom he married in 1596. He was knighted by James VI. at Belvoir castle, on his journey from Scotland to London; but in spite of the favours he had received from the king, he suffered himself to be drawn by Catesby into the conspiracy against his sovereign and the royal family. He says in one of his examinations, that "upon the first breaking of it to him he showed much dislike;" but it clearly appears that he cordially joined in the plot from religious zeal. He agreed to contribute £1500 towards defraying the expenses of the conspiracy, together with a number of hands and a quantity of arms and ammunition. On the discovery of the plot Sir Everard fled, but was pursued and captured near Dudley. He was brought to trial for treason in January, 1605-6, and pleaded in justification of his conduct that the king had broken the promises which he had made to the Roman catholics, and that he was willing to sacrifice everything dear to him for the sake of restoring the Romish religion in England. When sentence was passed upon him he said—"If I may but hear any of your lordships say you forgive me, I shall go more cheerfully to the gallows." Whereupon the lords said—"God forgive you; we do." On the 30th of January he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at the west end of St. Paul's, London. Sir Everard appears to have been amiable, but weak and bigoted.—J. T.
DIGBY, George, Earl of Bristol, son of the preceding, was born at Madrid in 1612. In 1626 he entered Magdalen college, Oxford, where he acquired a great reputation for ability and learning. He was elected a member of the Long Parliament, became one of the leaders of the popular party, and was nominated a member of the committee appointed to prepare the charges against the earl of Strafford. He strongly disapproved, however, of the resolution to proceed against that nobleman by bill of attainder, and delivered a speech on that subject which was condemned by the commons to be burned, and led to his expulsion from the house in 1641. His letters from Holland to the king and queen subsequently fell into the hands of the parliament, who caused him to be arrested and confined in Hull; but Sir John Hotham, the governor of that town, allowed him to escape, and in 1642 the earl was appointed secretary of state. When the civil war broke out he took an active part on the side of the king, and rendered him important service in Ireland, Jersey, and France. After the execution of Charles the earl was excepted from pardon by the dominant party, and remained in exile until the Restoration. Charles II. restored him to his estates, and made him a knight of the garter. Digby died in 1676. "He was," says Horace Walpole, "a singular man, whose life was one contradiction He wrote against popery and embraced it; he was a zealous opposer of the court and a sacrifice for it; was conscientiously converted in the midst of his prosecution of Lord Strafford, and was most unconscientiously a prosecutor of Lord Clarendon. With great parts he always hurt himself and his friends; with romantic bravery he was always an unsuccessful commander. He spoke for the test act though a Roman catholic, and addicted himself to astrology on the birthday of true philosophy."—J. T.
DIGBY, Henry, a brave English admiral, who was born in 1770. He entered the navy in 1784, and soon distinguished himself by his courage, activity, and skill. On one occasion while in command of a small frigate called the Aurora, on the Lisbon station, he captured a Spanish frigate, a French corvette, a privateer, and several other vessels, carrying in all two hundred and fourteen guns and seven hundred and forty-four men, in addition to forty-eight sail of merchantmen taken, sunk, and destroyed. He commanded the Africa of sixty-four guns in the battle of Trafalgar, where his behaviour attracted the notice of Lord Nelson. Captain Digby was nominated a companion, and subsequently a knight commander of the bath, and was appointed commander-in-chief at Sheerness in 1840, and attained the rank of admiral in 1841. He died in 1843.—J. T.
DIGBY, John, Earl of Bristol, an English statesman and writer, was born in 1580, and was descended of a respectable family seated at Coleshill in Warwickshire. He was educated at Magdalen college, Oxford, and after completing his travels, was appointed by King James a gentleman of the privy chamber.
