Oxford, rising, through his talents and character, to be vice-chancellor of his alma mater. About the year 1634, he was appointed tutor to Prince Charles, afterwards Charles II.; in 1638 he was nominated to the see of Chichester, and in 1641 to that of Salisbury. In the troubles which followed, he withdrew to Oxford, and was with Charles I. up to that monarch's last days. During the commonwealth he lived in great retirement at Richmond, a place which he loved; and where, when he died, he was founding an alms-house. At the Restoration he was translated to Winchester, and appointed lord-almoner. He died in 1662, and was buried in Westminster abbey. Charles II. is said to have knelt by his death-bed, and to have implored the blessing of his former tutor. Bishop Duppa published a few sermons and devotional pieces, and is said to have assisted Charles I. in the composition of the Eikon Basilike. Anthony Wood is enthusiastic in his praises of this prelate's "excellent parts," and that "comeliness of his person and gracefulness of his deportment, which rendered him worthy the service of a court, and every way fit to stand before princes."—F. E.
DUPPA, Richard, a miscellaneous writer, was born towards the close of last century, and died in 1831. He was educated at Trinity college, Oxford, and took his degree of LL.B. at Trinity hall, Cambridge, in 1814. Duppa was called to the bar, but appears to have devoted most of his time and labour to literary pursuits. Of his numerous works we may mention—"A Selection of Twelve Heads from the Last Judgment of Michel Angelo," 1801, imp. fol.; "Heads from the Fresco Pictures of Raffaelle in the Vatican," 1803, fol.; "The Life and Literary Works of Michel Angelo Buonarotti, with his Poetry and Letters," 1806, 4to; "Elements of Botany," 1809, 3 vols. 8vo; "Life of Raffaelle," 1816; and in the same year, "Dr. Johnson's Diary of a Journey into North Wales in 1774, with illustrative notes;" "Travels on the Continent, Sicily and the Lipari Islands," 1829.—R. M., A.
DUPRAT, Antoine, Chancellor of France, and afterwards archbishop of Sens, was descended from a noble family of Issoire. The duchess d'Angoulême first brought him into notice by employing him as her solicitor, and he so ingratiated himself into her good favour, that she placed her son (afterwards Francis I. of France) under his tuition. He was appointed attorney-general at the parliament of Toulouse, and in 1507 president of the parliament of Paris; and when Francis I. came to the throne in 1515, he was created Chancellor of France. Francis, being continually in want of funds to prosecute the numerous wars in which he had engaged, applied to Duprat for advice, and he recommended that monarch to sell for the highest sums all the offices of the judicature; he suggested that the king should increase the taxes without the sanction of parliament, and advised the creation of a new chamber, which was called La Tournelle, and was composed of twenty counsellors; indeed he was all-powerful by authority of the king's mother, and was the means to a certain extent, of rendering the royal authority almost absolute, for Francis I. was the first monarch of France who appended to his edicts "for such is our good pleasure." When Francis went into Italy on account of the Milanese war, Duprat accompanied him by the wish of the duchess d'Angoulême, and advised the abolition of the "Pragmatic sanction," which had been promulgated sixty years before under Charles VII., and had never been recognized by the court of Rome. This the king did by his celebrated "Concordat," by which the pope bestowed upon Francis the right of nominating the French bishops without the election of the clergy, and the king granted to the pope the annates of the grand benefices on the footing of current revenue. Duprat was not unmindful of his own interests in recommending the king to act thus, for shortly afterwards he embraced the ecclesiastical profession; and having a friend in the pope, and a patron in Francis, he was speedily raised to the bishoprics of Meaux, Albi, Valence, and Gap; then to the archbishopric of Sens; and in 1527 to the purple. It was Duprat who crowned Eleanor, queen of Austria. Sadolet speaks highly of the doctrine of Duprat, and the efforts he made to attach the bishop of Carpentras to the king's service, show that he had considerable literary merit. At the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, he built the hall called the Legate's Hall; which the king said "would be much larger if it could contain all the poor he has made." He died at the chateau de Nantouillet on July 9th, 1535.—W. H. P. G.
DUPUIS, Charles—born in 1685; died in 1742—and his brother, Nicholas Gabriel—born in 1695; died in 1771—celebrated French engravers, pupils of Duchange, who reproduced with great softness and delicacy many works of their time.—R. M.
DUPUIS, Charles-François, a distinguished savan, born at Frie-le-Château, 1742; died at Dijon, 1809. He received the first elements of education under his father, who was the teacher of his native village. It was intended that he should pursue a career similar to that of his father, but a simple circumstance altered his prospects. While the young Dupuis was attempting to measure the height of a tower by geometrical means, the duke of Rochefoucauld came up, and entering into conversation with him, was struck with his intelligent answers. This nobleman having generously promised to provide for his education, he was sent to the college of Harcourt, where he soon distinguished himself by his brilliant talents. At the age of twenty-four he was appointed professor of rhetoric at the college of Lisieux, having previously passed at the university as a licentiate of theology. He laid aside the ecclesiastical garb, and married in 1775. Astronomical study occupied much of his time, and intimate acquaintance with Lalande fostered this taste. It was his astronomical tastes, combined with his theological training, that induced him to undertake the great work by which his name is chiefly known, namely, "l'Origine de tous les cultes, ou la religion universelle." His object was to discover some common principle, which would explain the forms of belief and worship among all nations. Polytheism presents the widest diversity of rites and ceremonies, which appear to have no bond of connection. Various attempts had been made to discover some such bond; but it was reserved for Dupuis to attempt an astronomical solution, which, notwithstanding its ingenuity and the great learning displayed in it, is better calculated to amuse than convince. He started from the fundamental fact, that in ancient planispheres, the configuration of the constellations bore no resemblance to the things from which they received their names, and he concluded that it was not on account of any such resemblance the names were given. He also proceeded on the assumption, that some principle must have determined the invariable connection of certain figures with certain constellations; it being incredible that this should be a matter of whim or chance. His solution of the enigma is, that in reference to the zodiac at least, the constellations, with the figures with which they are adorned, served as a kind of almanac for agricultural operations. According to this view, each constellation represented a particular season of the year, and such figures were drawn over it as would suggest the agricultural operations that ought to be attended to. His next object was to determine the country in which the relative positions of the constellations, in reference to the horizon, would correspond with the representation of the zodiacs. He concluded that upper Egypt satisfied all the conditions, and that there was an entire correspondence between the signs and the things signified, about fifteen thousand years ago. The inference was, that the signs in question were the invention of the Egyptians. This formed the basis of his ingenious theory of the mythologies of the world. The sky was found to offer a solution of all the superstitions which have appeared in the history of the human race. Frederick the Great, who had become acquainted with the speculations of Dupuis, offered his patronage, and promised a vacant professorship of literature at Berlin; but the death of the monarch prevented the fulfilment of the promise. The distractions of the French revolution for a time arrested his philosophical labours, but at the first breathing-time he gave the final touches to his work "l'Origine des cultes." He found that the period was one when the wildest religious speculation would be tolerated, and it was published in 1795. The success of the work did not meet his expectations. The scientific details and the dryness of the style repelled the general reader, so that its circulation was very limited. This led him to publish an abridgment, which was read with avidity, and did much to precipitate the irreligious crisis of the Revolution. His daring speculations gained for him much notoriety, and he was elevated to various positions of political and literary honour. In 1806 he published in the Revue Philosophique an exposition of the zodiac of Denderah, in which he found a confirmation of his former speculations. Having resigned his political functions, he retired in 1809 to a country seat which he had purchased in the neighbourhood of Dijon. He did not, however, live to enjoy the repose which he coveted. A few days after his arrival he was seized with a fatal fever, which carried him off in the sixty-seventh year of
