A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature Part 14

The first and greatest of his novels, _Robinson Crusoe_, appeared in 1719, and its sequel (of greatly inferior interest) in 1720. These were followed by _Captain Singleton_ (1720), _Moll Flanders_, _Colonel Jacque_, and _Journal of the Plague Year_ (1722), _Memoirs of a Cavalier_ (1724), _A New Voyage Round the World_ (1725), and _Captain Carlton_ (1728). Among his miscellaneous works are _Political History of the Devil_ (1726), _System of Magic_ (1727), _The Complete English Tradesman_ (1727), and _The Review_, a paper which he ed. In all he _pub._, including pamphlets, etc., about 250 works. All D.'s writings are distinguished by a clear, nervous style, and his works of fiction by a minute verisimilitude and naturalness of incident which has never been equalled except perhaps by Swift, whose genius his, in some other respects, resembled. The only description of his personal appearance is given in an advertis.e.m.e.nt intended to lead to his apprehension, and runs, "A middle-sized, spare man about forty years old, of a brown complexion, and dark brown-coloured hair, but wears a wig; a hooked nose, a sharp chin, grey eyes, and a large mole near his mouth." His mind was a peculiar amalgam of imagination and matter-of-fact, seeing strongly and clearly what he did see, but little conscious, apparently, of what lay outside his purview.

_Lives_ by Chalmers (1786), H. Morley (1889), T. Wright (1894), and others; shorter works by Lamb, Hazlitt, L. Stephens, and Prof. Minto, Bohn's _British Cla.s.sics_, etc.

DEKKER, THOMAS (1570?-1641?).--Dramatist and miscellaneous writer, was _b._ in London. Few details of D.'s life have come down to us, though he was a well-known writer in his day, and is believed to have written or contributed to over 20 dramas. He collaborated at various times with several of his fellow-dramatists, including Ben Jonson. Ultimately Jonson quarrelled with Marston and D., satirising them in _The Poetaster_ (1601), to which D. replied in _Satiromastix_ (1602). D.'s best play is _Old Fortunatus_ (1606), others are _The Shoemaker's Holiday_ (1600), _Honest Wh.o.r.e_ (1604), _Roaring Girl_ (1611), _The Virgin Martyr_ (1622) (with Ma.s.singer), and _The Witch of Edmonton_ (1658) (with Ford and Rowley), _History of Sir Thomas Wyat_, _Westward Ho_, and _Northward Ho_, all with Webster. His prose writings include _The Gull's Hornbook_ (1609), _The Seven Deadly Sins of London_, and _The Belman of London_ (1608), satirical works which give interesting glimpses of the life of his time. His life appears to have been a somewhat chequered one, alternating between revelry and want. He is one of the most poetical of the older dramatists. Lamb said he "had poetry enough for anything."

DE LOLME, JOHN LOUIS (1740?-1807).--Political writer, _b._ at Geneva, has a place in English literature for his well-known work, _The Const.i.tution of England_, written in French, and translated into English in 1775. He also wrote a comparison of the English Government with that of Sweden, a _History of the Flagellants_ (1777), and _The British Empire in Europe_ (1787). He came to England in 1769, lived in great poverty, and having inherited a small fortune, returned to his native place in 1775.

DELONEY, THOMAS (1543-1600).--Novelist and balladist, appears to have worked as a silk-weaver in Norwich, but was in London by 1586, and in the course of the next 10 years is known to have written about 50 ballads, some of which involved him in trouble, and caused him to lie _perdue_ for a time. It is only recently that his more important work as a novelist, in which he ranks with Greene and Nash, has received attention. He appears to have turned to this new field of effort when his original one was closed to him for the time. Less under the influence of Lyly and other preceding writers than Greene, he is more natural, simple, and direct, and writes of middle-cla.s.s citizens and tradesmen with a light and pleasant humour. Of his novels, _Thomas of Reading_ is in honour of clothiers, _Jack of Newbury_ celebrates weaving, and _The Gentle Craft_ is dedicated to the praise of shoemakers. He "dy'd poorely," but was "honestly buried."

DE MORGAN, AUGUSTUS (1806-1871).--Mathematician, _b._ in India, and _ed._ at Camb., was one of the most brilliant of English mathematicians. He is mentioned here in virtue of his _Budget of Paradoxes_, a series of papers originally _pub._ in _The Athenaeum_, in which mathematical fallacies are discussed with sparkling wit, and the keenest logic.

DENHAM, SIR JOHN (1615-1669).--Poet, _s._ of the Chief Baron of Exchequer in Ireland, was _b._ in Dublin, and _ed._ at Oxf. He began his literary career with a tragedy, _The Sophy_ (1641), which seldom rises above mediocrity. His poem, _Cooper's Hill_ (1642), is the work by which he is remembered. It is the first example in English of a poem devoted to local description. D. received extravagant praise from Johnson; but the place now a.s.signed him is a much more humble one. His verse is smooth, clear, and agreeable, and occasionally a thought is expressed with remarkable terseness and force. In his earlier years D. suffered for his Royalism; but after the Restoration enjoyed prosperity. He, however, made an unhappy marriage, and his last years were clouded by insanity. He was an architect by profession, coming between Inigo Jones and Wren as King's Surveyor.

DENNIS, JOHN (1657-1734).--Critic, etc., _s._ of a saddler, was _b._ in London, and _ed._ at Harrow and Caius Coll., Camb., from the latter of which he was expelled for stabbing a fellow-student, and transferred himself to Trinity Hall. He attached himself to the Whigs, in whose interest he wrote several bitter and vituperative pamphlets. His attempts at play-writing were failures; and he then devoted himself chiefly to criticising the works of his contemporaries. In this line, while showing some acuteness, he aroused much enmity by his ill-temper and jealousy.

Unfortunately for him, some of those whom he attacked, such as Pope and Swift, had the power of conferring upon him an unenviable immortality.

Embalmed in _The Dunciad_, his name has attained a fame which no work of his own could have given it. Of Milton, however, he showed a true appreciation. Among his works are _Rinaldo and Armida_ (1699), _Appius and Virginia_ (1709), _Reflections Critical and Satirical_ (1711), and _Three Letters on Shakespeare_. He _d._ in straitened circ.u.mstances.

DE QUINCEY, THOMAS (1785-1859).--Essayist and miscellaneous writer, _s._ of a merchant in Manchester, was _b._ there. The aristocratic "De" was a.s.sumed by himself, his _f._, whom he lost while he was still a child, having been known by the name of Quincey, and he claimed descent from a Norman family. His _Autobiographic Sketches_ give a vivid picture of his early years at the family residence of Greenheys, and show him as a highly imaginative and over-sensitive child, suffering hard things at the hands of a tyrannical elder brother. He was _ed._ first at home, then at Bath Grammar School, next at a private school at Winkfield, Wilts, and in 1801 he was sent to the Manchester Grammar School, from which he ran away, and for some time rambled in Wales on a small allowance made to him by his mother. Tiring of this, he went to London in the end of 1802, where he led the strange Bohemian life related in _The Confessions_. His friends, thinking it high time to interfere, sent him in 1803 to Oxf., which did not, however, preclude occasional brief interludes in London, on one of which he made his first acquaintance with opium, which was to play so prominent and disastrous a part in his future life. In 1807 he became acquainted with Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Southey, and soon afterwards with C. Lamb. During the years 1807-9 he paid various visits to the Lakes, and in the latter year he settled at Townend, Grasmere, where Wordsworth had previously lived. Here he pursued his studies, becoming gradually more and more enslaved by opium, until in 1813 he was taking from 8000 to 12,000 drops daily. John Wilson (Christopher North), who was then living at Elleray, had become his friend, and brought him to Edinburgh occasionally, which ended in his pa.s.sing the latter part of his life in that city. His marriage to Margaret Simpson, _dau._ of a farmer, took place in 1816. Up to this time he had written nothing, but had been steeping his mind in German metaphysics, and out-of-the-way learning of various kinds; but in 1819 he sketched out _Prolegomena of all future Systems of Political Economy_, which, however, was never finished. In the same year he acted as ed. of the _Westmoreland Gazette_. His true literary career began in 1821 with the publication in the _London Magazine_ of _The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_. Thereafter he produced a long series of articles, some of them almost on the scale of books, in _Blackwood's_ and _Tait's_ magazines, the _Edinburgh Literary Gazette_, and _Hogg's Instructor_. These included _Murder considered as one of the Fine Arts_ (1827), and in his later and more important period, _Suspiria De Profundis_ (1845), _The Spanish Military Nun_ (1847), _The English Mail-Coach_, and _Vision of Sudden Death_ (1849). In 1853 he began a _coll._ ed. of his works, which was the main occupation of his later years. He had in 1830 brought his family to Edinburgh, which, except for two years, 1841-43, when he lived in Glasgow, was his home till his death in 1859, and in 1837, on his wife's death, he placed them in the neighbouring village of La.s.swade, while he lived in solitude, moving about from one dingy lodging to another.

De Q. stands among the great masters of style in the language. In his greatest pa.s.sages, as in the _Vision of Sudden Death_ and the _Dream Fugue_, the cadence of his elaborately piled-up sentences falls like cathedral music, or gives an abiding expression to the fleeting pictures of his most gorgeous dreams. His character unfortunately bore no correspondence to his intellectual endowments. His moral system had in fact been shattered by indulgence in opium. His appearance and manners have been thus described: "A short and fragile, but well-proportioned frame; a shapely and compact head; a face beaming with intellectual light, with rare, almost feminine beauty of feature and complexion; a fascinating courtesy of manner, and a fulness, swiftness, and elegance of silvery speech." His own works give very detailed information regarding himself. _See_ also Page's _Thomas De Quincey: his Life and Writings_ (1879), Prof. Ma.s.son's _De Quincey_ (English Men of Letters). _Collected Writings_ (14 vols. 1889-90).

DERMODY, THOMAS (1775-1802).--Poet, _b._ at Ennis, showed great capacity for learning, but fell into idle and dissipated habits, and threw away his opportunities. He _pub._ two books of poems, which after his death were _coll._ as _The Harp of Erin_.

DE VERE, AUBREY THOMAS (1814-1902).--Poet, _s._ of Sir Aubrey de V., himself a poet, was _b._ in Co. Limerick, and _ed._ at Trinity Coll., Dublin. In early life he became acquainted with Wordsworth, by whom he was greatly influenced. On the religious and ecclesiastical side he pa.s.sed under the influence of Newman and Manning, and in 1851 was received into the Church of Rome. He was the author of many vols. of poetry, including _The Waldenses_ (1842), _The Search for Proserpine_ (1843), etc. In 1861 he began a series of poems on Irish subjects, _Inisfail_, _The Infant Bridal_, _Irish Odes_, etc. His interest in Ireland and its people led him to write prose works, including _English Misrule and Irish Misdeeds_ (1848); and to criticism he contributed _Essays chiefly on Poetry_ (1887). His last work was his _Recollections_ (1897). His poetry is characterised by lofty ethical tone, imaginative power, and grave stateliness of expression.

DIBDIN, CHARLES (1745-1814).--Dramatist and song writer, _b._ at Southampton, began his literary career at 16 with a drama, _The Shepherd's Artifice_. His fame, however, rests on his sea songs, which are unrivalled, and include _Tom Bowling_, _Poor Jack_, and _Blow High Blow Low_. He is said to have written over 1200 of these, besides many dramatic pieces and two novels, _Hannah Hewitt_ (1792), and _The Younger Brother_ (1793), and a _History of the Stage_ (1795).

d.i.c.kENS, CHARLES (1812-1870).--Novelist, _b._ at Landport, near Portsmouth, where his _f._ was a clerk in the Navy Pay-Office. The hardships and mortifications of his early life, his want of regular schooling, and his miserable time in the blacking factory, which form the basis of the early chapters of _David Copperfield_, are largely accounted for by the fact that his _f._ was to a considerable extent the prototype of the immortal Mr. Micawber; but partly by his being a delicate and sensitive child, unusually susceptible to suffering both in body and mind. He had, however, much time for reading, and had access to the older novelists, Fielding, Smollett, and others. A kindly relation also took him frequently to the theatre, where he acquired his life-long interest in, and love of, the stage. After a few years' residence in Chatham, the family removed to London, and soon thereafter his _f._ became an inmate of the Marshalsea, in which by-and-by the whole family joined him, a pa.s.sage in his life which furnishes the material for parts of _Little Dorrit_. This period of family obscuration happily lasted but a short time: the elder D. managed to satisfy his creditors, and soon after retired from his official duties on a pension. About the same time D. had two years of continuous schooling, and shortly afterwards he entered a law office. His leisure he devoted to reading and learning shorthand, in which he became very expert. He then acted as parliamentary reporter, first for _The True Sun_, and from 1835 for the _Morning Chronicle_.

Meanwhile he had been contributing to the _Monthly Magazine_ and the _Evening Chronicle_ the papers which, in 1836, appeared in a _coll._ form as _Sketches by Boz_; and he had also produced one or two comic burlettas. In the same year he _m._ Miss Ann Hogarth; and in the following year occurred the opportunity of his life. He was asked by Chapman and Hall to write the letterpress for a series of sporting plates to be done by Robert Seymour who, however, _d._ shortly after, and was succeeded by Hablot Browne (Phiz), who became the ill.u.s.trator of most of D.'s novels. In the hands of D. the original plan was entirely altered, and became the _Pickwick Papers_ which, appearing in monthly parts during 1837-39, took the country by storm. Simultaneously _Oliver Twist_ was coming out in _Bentley's Miscellany_. Thenceforward D.'s literary career was a continued success, and the almost yearly publication of his works const.i.tuted the main events of his life. _Nicholas Nickleby_ appeared in serial form 1838-39. Next year he projected _Master Humphrey's Clock_, intended to be a series of miscellaneous stories and sketches. It was, however, soon abandoned, _The Old Curiosity Shop_ and _Barnaby Rudge_ taking its place. The latter, dealing with the Gordon Riots, is, with the partial exception of the _Tale of Two Cities_, the author's only excursion into the historical novel. In 1841 D. went to America, and was received with great enthusiasm, which, however, the publication of _American Notes_ considerably damped, and the appearance of _Martin Chuzzlewit_ in 1843, with its caustic criticisms of certain features of American life, converted into extreme, though temporary, unpopularity.

The first of the Christmas books--the _Christmas Carol_--appeared in 1843, and in the following year D. went to Italy, where at Genoa he wrote _The Chimes_, followed by _The Cricket on the Hearth_, _The Battle of Life_, and _The Haunted Man_. In January, 1846, he was appointed first ed. of _The Daily News_, but resigned in a few weeks. The same year he went to Switzerland, and while there wrote _Dombey and Son_, which was _pub._ in 1848, and was immediately followed by his masterpiece, _David Copperfield_ (1849-50). Shortly before this he had become manager of a theatrical company, which performed in the provinces, and he had in 1849 started his magazine, _Household Words_. _Bleak House_ appeared in 1852-53, _Hard Times_ in 1854, and _Little Dorrit_ 1856-57. In 1856 he bought Gadshill Place, which, in 1860, became his permanent home. In 1858 he began his public readings from his works, which, while eminently successful from a financial point of view, from the nervous strain which they entailed, gradually broke down his const.i.tution, and hastened his death. In the same year he separated from his wife, and consequent upon the controversy which arose thereupon he brought _Household Words_ to an end, and started _All the Year Round_, in which appeared _A Tale of Two Cities_ (1859), and _Great Expectations_ (1860-61). _Our Mutual Friend_ came out in numbers (1864-65). D. was now in the full tide of his readings, and decided to give a course of them in America. Thither accordingly he went in the end of 1867, returning in the following May.

He had a magnificent reception, and his profits amounted to 20,000; but the effect on his health was such that he was obliged, on medical advice, finally to abandon all appearances of the kind. In 1869 he began his last work, _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_, which was interrupted by his death from an apoplectic seizure on June 8, 1870.

One of D.'s most marked characteristics is the extraordinary wealth of his invention as exhibited in the number and variety of the characters introduced into his novels. Another, especially, of course, in his entire works, is his boundless flow of animal spirits. Others are his marvellous keenness of observation and his descriptive power. And the English race may well, with Thackeray, be "grateful for the innocent laughter, and the sweet and unsullied pages which the author of _David Copperfield_ gives to [its] children." On the other hand, his faults are obvious, a tendency to caricature, a mannerism that often tires, and almost disgusts, fun often forced, and pathos not seldom degenerating into mawkishness. But at his best how rich and genial is the humour, how tender often the pathos.

And when all deductions are made, he had the laughter and tears of the English-speaking world at command for a full generation while he lived, and that his spell still works is proved by a continuous succession of new editions.

SUMMARY.--_B._ 1812, parliamentary reporter _c._ 1835, _pub._ _Sketches by Boz_ 1836, _Pickwick_ 1837-39, and his other novels almost continuously until his death, visited America 1841, started _Household Words_ 1849, and _All the Year Round_ 1858, when also he began his public readings, visiting America again in 1867, _d._ 1870.

_Life_ by John Foster (1872), _Letters_ ed. by Miss Hogarth (1880-82).

Numerous Lives and Monographs by Sala, F.T. Marzials (Great Writers Series), A.W. Ward (Men of Letters Series), F.G. Kitton, G.K. Chesterton, etc.

DIGBY, SIR KENELM (1603-1665).--Miscellaneous writer, _b._ near Newport Pagnell, _s._ of Sir Everard D., one of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, was _ed._ at Oxf., travelled much, and was engaged in sea-fighting.

Brought up first as a Romanist, then as a Protestant, he in 1636 joined the Church of Rome. During the Civil War he was active on the side of the King, and on the fall of his cause was for a time banished. He was the author of several books on religious and quasi-scientific subjects, including one on the _Choice of a Religion_, on the _Immortality of the Soul_, _Observations on Spenser's Faery Queen_, and a criticism on Sir T.

Browne's _Religio Medici_. He also wrote a _Discourse on Vegetation_, and one _On the Cure of Wounds_ by means of a sympathetic powder which he imagined he had discovered.

DILKE, CHARLES WENTWORTH (1789-1864).--Critic and writer on literature, served for many years in the Navy Pay-Office, on retiring from which he devoted himself to literary pursuits. He had in 1814-16 made a continuation of Dodsley's _Collection of English Plays_, and in 1829 he became part proprietor and ed. of _The Athenaeum_, the influence of which he greatly extended. In 1846 he resigned the editorship, and a.s.sumed that of _The Daily News_, but contributed to _The Athenaeum_ his famous papers on _Pope_, _Burke_, _Junius_, etc., and shed much new light on his subjects. His grandson, the present Sir C.W. Dilke, _pub._ these writings in 1875 under the t.i.tle, _Papers of a Critic_.

DISRAELI, B., (_see_ BEACONSFIELD).

D'ISRAELI, ISAAC (1766-1848).--Miscellaneous writer, was descended from a Jewish family which had been settled first in Spain, and afterwards at Venice. _Ed._ at Amsterdam and Leyden, he devoted himself to literature, producing a number of interesting works of considerable value, including _Curiosities of Literature_, in 3 series (1791-1823), _Dissertation on Anecdotes_ (1793), _Calamities of Authors_ (1812), _Amenities of Literature_ (1841); also works dealing with the lives of James I. and Charles I.D. was latterly blind. He was the _f._ of Benjamin D., Earl of Beaconsfield (_q.v._).

DIXON, RICHARD WATSON (1833-1900).--Historian and poet, _s._ of Dr. James D., a well-known Wesleyan minister and historian of Methodism, _ed._ at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Oxf., took Anglican orders, was Second Master at Carlisle School, Vicar of Hayton and Warkworth, and Canon of Carlisle. He _pub._ 7 vols. of poetry, but is best known for his _History of the Church of England from the Abolition of Roman Jurisdiction_ (1877-1900).

DIXON, WILLIAM HEPWORTH (1821-1879).--Historian and traveller, _b._ near Manchester, went to London in 1846, and became connected with _The Daily News_, for which he wrote articles on social and prison reform. In 1850 he _pub._ _John Howard and the Prison World of Europe_, which had a wide circulation, and about the same time he wrote a _Life of Peace_ (1851), in answer to Macaulay's onslaught. Lives of _Admiral Blake_ and _Lord Bacon_ followed, which received somewhat severe criticisms at the hands of competent authorities. D. was ed. of _The Athenaeum_, 1853-69, and wrote many books of travel, including _The Holy Land_ (1865), _New America_ (1867), and _Free Russia_ (1870). His later historical works include _Her Majesty's Tower_, and _The History of Two Queens_ (Catherine of Arragon and Anne Boleyn). Though a diligent student of original authorities, and sometimes successful in throwing fresh light on his subjects, D. was not always accurate, and thus laid himself open to criticism; and his book, _Spiritual Wives_, treating of Mormonism, was so adversely criticised as to lead to an action. He wrote, however, in a fresh and interesting style. He was one of the founders of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and was a member of the first School Board for London (1870). He was called to the Bar in 1854, but never practised.

DOBELL, SYDNEY THOMPSON (1824-1874).--Poet, _b._ at Cranbrook, Kent, _s._ of a wine-merchant, who removed to Cheltenham, where most of the poet's life was pa.s.sed. His youth was precocious (he was engaged at 15 and _m._ at 20). In 1850 his first work, _The Roman_, appeared, and had great popularity. _Balder, Part I._ (1854), _Sonnets on the War_, jointly with Alexander Smith (_q.v._) (1855), and _England in Time of War_ (1856) followed. His later years were pa.s.sed in Scotland and abroad in search of health, which, however, was damaged by a fall while exploring some ruins at Pozzuoli. D.'s poems exhibit fancy and brilliancy of diction, but want simplicity, and sometimes run into grandiloquence and other faults of the so-called spasmodic school to which he belonged.

DODD, WILLIAM (1729-1777).--Divine and forger, _ed._ at Camb., became a popular preacher in London, and a Royal Chaplain, but, acquiring expensive habits, got involved in hopeless difficulties, from which he endeavoured to escape first by an attempted simoniacal transaction, for which he was disgraced, and then by forging a bond for 4200, for which, according to the then existing law, he was hanged. Great efforts were made to obtain a commutation of the sentence, and Dr. Johnson wrote one of the pet.i.tions, but on D.'s book, _Thoughts in Prison_, appearing posthumously, he remarked that "a man who has been canting all his days may cant to the last." D. was the author of a collection of _Beauties of Shakespeare_, _Reflections on Death_, and a translation of the _Hymns of Callimachus_.

DODDRIDGE, PHILIP (1702-1751).--Nonconformist divine and writer of religious books and hymns, _b._ in London, and _ed._ for the ministry at a theological inst.i.tution at Kibworth, became minister first at Market Harborough, and afterwards at Northampton, where he also acted as head of a theological academy. D., who was a man of amiable and joyous character, as well as an accomplished scholar, composed many standard books of religion, of which the best known is _The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul_ (1745). In 1736 he received the degree of D.D. from Aberdeen. He _d._ at Lisbon, whither he had gone in search of health.

Several of his hymns, _e.g._, _Ye Servants of the Lord_, _O Happy Day_, and _O G.o.d of Bethel_, are universally used by English-speaking Christians, and have been translated into various languages.

DODGSON, CHARLES LUTWIDGE ("LEWIS CARROLL") (1832-1898).--Mathematician and writer of books for children, _s._ of a clergyman at Daresbury, Cheshire, was _ed._ at Rugby and Oxf. After taking orders he was appointed lecturer on mathematics, on which subject he _pub._ several valuable treatises. His fame rests, however, on his books for children, full of ingenuity and delightful humour, of which _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_, and its sequel, _Through the Looking-gla.s.s_, are the best.

DODSLEY, ROBERT (1703-1764).--Poet, dramatist, and bookseller, _b._ near Mansfield, and apprenticed to a stocking-weaver, but not liking this employment, he ran away and became a footman. While thus engaged he produced _The Muse in Livery_ (1732). This was followed by _The Toy Shop_, a drama, which brought him under the notice of Pope, who befriended him, and a.s.sisted him in starting business as a bookseller. In this he became eminently successful, and acted as publisher for Pope, Johnson, and Akenside. He projected and _pub._ _The Annual Register_, and made a collection of _Old English Plays_, also of _Poems by Several Hands_ in 6 vols. In addition to the original works above mentioned he wrote various plays and poems, including _The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green_ (1741), and _Cleone_ (1758).

DONNE, JOHN (1573-1631).--Poet and divine, _s._ of a wealthy ironmonger in London, where he was _b._ Brought up as a Roman Catholic, he was sent to Oxf. and Camb., and afterwards entered Lincoln's Inn with a view to the law. Here he studied the points of controversy between Romanists and Protestants, with the result that he joined the Church of England. The next two years were somewhat changeful, including travels on the Continent, service as a private sec., and a clandestine marriage with the niece of his patron, which led to dismissal and imprisonment, followed by reconciliation. On the suggestion of James I., who approved of _Pseudo-Martyr_ (1610), a book against Rome which he had written, he took orders, and after executing a mission to Bohemia, he was, in 1621, made Dean of St. Paul's. D. had great popularity as a preacher. His works consist of elegies, satires, epigrams, and religious pieces, in which, amid many conceits and much that is artificial, frigid, and worse, there is likewise much poetry and imagination of a high order. Perhaps the best of his works is _An Anatomy of the World_ (1611), an elegy. Others are _Epithalamium_ (1613), _Progress of the Soul_ (1601), and _Divine Poems_.

Collections of his poems appeared in 1633 and 1649. He exercised a strong influence on literature for over half a century after his death; to him we owe the unnatural style of conceits and overstrained efforts after originality of the succeeding age.

DORAN, JOHN (1807-1878).--Miscellaneous writer, of Irish parentage, wrote a number of works dealing with the lighter phases of manners, antiquities, and social history, often bearing punning t.i.tles, _e.g._, _Table Traits with Something on Them_ (1854), and _Knights and their Days_. He also wrote _Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover_ (1855), and _A History of Court Fools_ (1858), and ed. Horace Walpole's _Journal of the Reign of George III._ His books contain much curious and out-of-the-way information. D. was for a short time ed. of _The Athenaeum_.

DORSET, CHARLES SACKVILLE, 6TH EARL of (1638-1706).--Poet, was one of the dissolute and witty courtiers of Charles II., and a friend of Sir C.

Sedley (_q.v._), in whose orgies he partic.i.p.ated. He was, however, a patron of literature, and a benefactor of Dryden in his later and less prosperous years. He wrote a few satires and songs, among the latter being the well-known, _To all you Ladies now on Land_. As might be expected, his writings are characterised by the prevailing indelicacy of the time.