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D G Fowle was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of North Carolina from 1889 until 1891.
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D L Russell was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of North Carolina from 1897 until 1901.
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D L Swain was an American politician. He was a Whig governor of North Carolina from 1832 until 1835.
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D Russell Brown was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Rhode Island from 1892 until 1895.
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D S Reid was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of North Carolina from 1851 until 1854.
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D W Davis was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Idaho from 1919 until 1923.
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The Dacoits were Burmese guerrillas who fled to the hills and jungle after the overthrow of Burma in 1886, and waged a desultory campaign against the British for several years.
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Dagobert I (called Dagobert the Great on account of his military successes), was King of the Franks. In 628 he succeeded his father, Clothaire II. After a successful, magnificent, but licentious reign, he died at Epinay in 638.
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The Daimios were a class of feudal Lords in Japan. In 1871 they were deprived of their privileges and jurisdiction and made official governors for the state in districts they had previously held as feudal rulers.
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Daines Barrington was an English lawyer, antiquarian, and naturalist. He was born in 1727 and died in 1800. He wrote many papers for the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries; published some separate works, and was a correspondent of White of Selborne, who addressed to him a number of the letters in The Natural History of Selborne.
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Dakait is a Hindustani word for a robber.
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Dale L Bumpers was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Arkansas from 1971 until 1975.
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Damasus was the name of a pope born about 305, who reigned from 366 to 384. He was a friend of St Jerome, whom he led to undertake the improved Latin version of the Bible known as the Vulgate.
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Damocles was a sycophant of the court of Dionysius. He continually flattered the monarch, calling him the happiest man in the world. In order to show him the cares of a sovereign, Dionysius caused him to sit upon a throne at a feast of unparalleled splendour. Damocles gazed in delight on the scene until, looking up he saw a sword hanging point-downwards directly over his head, suspended by only a hair. This symbol convinced him of the dangers of kingship.
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Dan Curtis is an American film producer and director. He was born in 1928. He specialises in horror themes for television.
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Dan E Garvey was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Arizona from 1948 until 1951.
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Dan Moody was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Texas from 1927 until 1931.
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Daniel McLaren Rice was an American circus clown, circus owner and Union patriot. He was born in 1823 and died in 1900.
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Dan Rowan was an American comedian. He was born in 1922 and died in 1987. With Dick Martin he formed the comedy duo 'Rowan and Martin'.
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Dan Thornton was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Colorado from 1951 until 1955.
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Danebrog were an order of Danish knights instituted in 1219, and revived in 1693.
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Danica Sue Patrick is an American racing driver. She was born in 1982 at Beloit, Wisconsin. She is known for driving for Rahal-Letterman racing in the American Indy Racing League. In 2000 she finished second in the Formula Ford festival and was fourth in the 2005 Indianapolis 500 auto race.
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In Jewish legend, Daniel was a prophet. He was a contemporary of Ezekiel, and was born of a distinguished Hebrew family. In his youth, in 605 BC, he was carried captive to Babylon, and educated in the Babylonish court for the service of King Nebuchadnezzar. Thrown into the lions' den for conscientiously refusing to obey the king he was allegedly miraculously preserved, and finally made prime-minister in the court of the Persian king Darius. He ranks with what are called the 'greater prophets.' The book of the Old Testament which bears his name is divided into a historical and a prophetic part. Modern criticism generally regards it as written during the oppression of the Jews under Antiochus, about 170 BC. It is partly in Chaldee.
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Daniel Francois Esprit Auber was a French operatic composer. He was born in 1782, at Caen, in Normandy and died in 1871. He was originally intended for a mercantile career, but devoted himself to music, studying under Cherubini. His first great success was his opera La Bergere Chatelaine, produced in 1820. In 1822 he had associated himself with Scribe as librettist, and other operas now followed in quick succession. Chief among them were Masaniello or La Muette de Portici (1828), Fra Diavolo (1830), Lestocq (1834), L'Ambassadrice (1836), Le Domino Noir (1837), Les Diamants de la Couronne (1841), Marco Spada (1853), La Fiancee du Roi de Garbe (1864). Despite his success in Masaniello, his peculiar field was comic opera, in which his charming melodies, bearing strongly the stamp of the French national character, his uniform grace and piquancy, won him a high place.
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Daniel Boone was an American pioneer and explorer. He was born in 1735 in Pennsylvania and died in 1820. He emigrated to North Carolina in 1752 and proceeded with five companions to the area that is now Kentucky in 1769 - thus becoming the pioneer in the settlement of that State - where, while exploring, he was captured by Indians whilst on a hunt. He escaped and reached home in 1771. In 1778 he was taken prisoner by the Indians, and was retained and adopted into the family of a Shawanese chief, but at length he effected his escape. In the end of the century he removed from Kentucky into Missouri. From him a number of places in the United States take their name.
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Daniel D T Farnsworth was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of West Virginia during 1869.
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Daniel D Tompkins was an American politician. He was a Democratic-Republican governor of New York from 1807 until 1817.
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Daniel Defoe was an English novelist and political writer. He was born in 1660 or 1661 in London and died in 1731. His father, James Foe, carried on the trade of a butcher. In 1686 He joined the insurrection of the Duke of Monmouth, and had the good fortune to escape; after which he made several unsuccessful attempts at business, and at last turned bis attention to literature.
In 1701 appeared his satire in verse, The True-born Englishman, in favour of William III. As a zealous Whig and Dissenter he was frequently in trouble. For publishing The Shortest Way with the Dissenters in 1702, the drift of which was misunderstood by both Churchmen and Dissenters, he was pilloried and imprisoned in Newgate, obtaining bis liberty through the influence of Harley, who employed him in several important missions, particularly in the negotiations for the union with Scotland, of which he wrote the history. While in Newgate, in 1704, he commenced the Review, a literary and political periodical which lasted for nine years. In 1705 he wrote a short account of the Apparition of Mrs Veal, a fictitious narrative accompanying a translation of Drelincourt on Death. In 1706 he published his largest poem, entitled Jure Divino, a satire on the doctrine of divine right.
In 1707 he was in Scotland, which he also visited several times subsequently in connection with political affairs, and as an agent of those in power. In 1719 appeared the most popular of all his performances: The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, the favourable reception of which was immediate and universal. The success of Daniel Defoe in this performance induced him to write a number of other lives and adventures in character; as Moll Flanders, Captain Singleton, Roxana, Duncan Campbell, The Memoirs of a Cavalier, Journal of the Plague, etc.
After the accession of George I he was employed by government in some underhand work connected with the obnoxious Jacobite press, and was a prolific contributor to periodical and ephemeral literature.
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Daniel S Dickinson was an American politician. He was born in 1800 and died in 1866. He was lieutenant-Governor of New York from 1842 until 1844, and Senator from New York from 1844 until 1851. He was noted as an orator, and was a 'War Democrat'.
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Daniel G Du Lhut was a French fur-trader and explorer. He died in 1709. He was engaged as fur-trader and explorer on the North American frontier, and was of so much service to the French colonists in aiding them against Indian attacks that the city of Duluth was named after him.
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Daniel Dunklin was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Missouri from 1832 until 1836.
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Daniel F Davis was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Maine from 1880 until 1881.
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Daniel H Chamberlain was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of South Carolina from 1874 until 1876.
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Daniel H Hastings was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Pennsylvania from 1895 until 1899.
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Daniel Haines was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of New Jersey from 1843 until 1845.
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Daniel Heinsius was a Dutch scholar, poet, and critic. He was born in 1580 and died in 1655. He studied at Franeker and Leyden, at the latter under Joseph Scaliger; became professor of history and politics at Leyden in 1605, and librarian and secretary in 1607. He published editions of Hesiod, Horace, Virgil, and other classical writings, and wrote Latin and Greek poems.
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Daniel H Hill was an American soldier. He was born in 1821 at South Carolina and died in 1889. He graduated from West Point in 1842. He was brevetted major for gallant service at Chapultepec during the Mexican War. He enlisted in the Confederate service in 1861, gained a victory at Big Bethel, and was promoted major-general in 1862. He gained distinction,in the Seven Days battles about Richmond and at Boonesboro and Fredericksburg. He commanded in North Carolina and at Richmond and Petersburg. He was engaged at Chickamauga, and surrendered in 1865.
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Daniel J Evans was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Washington from 1965 until 1977.
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Daniel K Moore was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of North Carolina from 1965 until 1969.
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Daniel Maclise was an Irish painter. He was born in 1806 at Cork and died in 1870. His first notable picture was a water-colour drawing in 1829 entitled 'Malvolio Affecting the Count'. In 1835 he was elected ARA with full honours following in 1840. From 1830 to 1836 he worked under the pseudonym Alfred Croquis, producing character portraits for 'Fraser's Magazine'.
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Daniel Manning was an American politician. He was born in 1831 at New York and died in 1887. He was chairman of New York's Democratic State Committee from 1881 to 1884, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Cleveland in 1885, and served as such until 1887.
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Daniel Martin was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Maryland during 1831.
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Daniel Mendoza (nicknamed 'Light of Israel')was an English boxer. He was born in 1764 and died in 1836. He won the English prize-ring championship in 1795. He is remarkable for being the first boxer to realise the value of publicity, and of being the first to concentrate on defence, introducing side-stepping and quick movements of the feet to avoid his opponents blows. He was also the first boxer to give exhibitions before audiences which included women and members of the royal family. In 1791 he opened the Lyceum in the Strand as a boxing school.
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Daniel Morgan was an American soldier. He was born about 1736 in New Jersey and died in 1802. The son of Welsh parentage, he fought from the battle of the Monongahela through the French and Indian War, and Pontiac's War, and settled as a farmer in Virginia. In the American War of Independence he led a company of Virginian riflemen to George Washington's army before Boston. Joining Arnold's romantic expedition to Canada, he showed great valour in the assault on Quebec, where he was captured. Released, he won distinction under George Washington in 1777, and was sent with his rifle corps to reinforce Gates. In the two battles of Stillwater Daniel Morgan played a leading part. He resigned in 1779, but rejoined the army in 1780 as brigadier-general. At the opening of 1781 he gained at Cowpens one of the most brilliant victories of the war. Thereupon he conducted a famous retreat over the Catawba, and effected a junction with Greene, General Daniel Morgan was a Congressman from Virginia in 1797.
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Daniel Neal was an English historian. He was born in 1678 at London and died in 1743. From 1706 until his death he ministered to an Independent congregation in Aldersgate Street, London. His ' History of New England' published in 1720 was followed by the 'History of The Puritans' published in 1738.
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Daniel T Patterson was an American sailor. He was born in 1786 and died in 1839. He commanded the naval forces at New-Orleans in 1814, co-operating with General Jackson. He commanded the flotilla that destroyed the stronghold of Jean Lafitte at Barataria.
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Daniel Rodney was an American politician. He was a Federalist governor of Delaware from 1814 until 1817.
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Daniel Rogers was an American politician. He was a Federalist governor of Delaware from 1797 until 1799.
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Daniel Shays was an American insurgent. He was born in 1747 and died in 1825. He served as an ensign at the battle of Bunker Hill and attained the rank of captain during the American War of Independence. In 1786 he was the chief leader of the insurrection known as Shays' Rebellion. After the rebellion he lived for a year in Vermont. He received a pardon from Governor Bowdoin of Massachusetts and settled in New York in 1788.
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Daniel Edgar Sickles was an American soldier. He was born in 1823 and died after 1897. He was prior to the American Civil War a lawyer, Democratic member of the New York Legislature, Secretary of Legation at London, and Congressman from 1857 to 1861. He had command of a brigade in the Peninsula campaign and at Antietam, a division at Fredericksburg, and a corps at Chancellorsville and at Gettysburg, where his services were conspicuous. After the American Civil War he was sent abroad on a mission, and retired from the army with the rank of major-general in 1869. From 1869 to 1873 he was US Minister to Spain. In 1893 he re-entered the House of Representatives as a Democrat from New York City.
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Daniel Stern (real name Marie Catherine Sophie de Flavigny) was a German writer. She was born in 1805 at Frankfort and died in1876. In 1827 she married the Comte d'Agoult by abandoned him for the composer Franz Liszt, by whom she had three daughters.
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Daniel Sturgeon was an American politician. He was born in 1789 and died in 1878. He was treasurer of Pennsylvania in 1838 and 1839. He represented Pennsylvania in the US Senate as a Democrat from 1839 to 1851, and was treasurer of the US Mint from 1853 to 1858.
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Daniel T McCarty was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Florida during 1953.
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Daniel D Tompkins was Vice-President of the United States. He was born in 1774 and died in 1825. He was educated at Columbia, and became a leading lawyer and Democratic politician in the State of New York. He was a Judge in the Supreme Court of New York, and its Governor from 1807 until 1817. While holding this office he opposed the Bank and gave an efficient support to the War of 1812. Governor Tompkins was elected Vice-president in 1816 on the ticket with Monroe, and re-elected in 1820, serving from 1817 to 1825.
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Daniel W Turner was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Iowa from 1931 until 1933.
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Daniel Walker was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Illinois from 1973 until 1977.
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Daniel Webster was an American politician and lawyer. He was born in 1782 at Salisbury, New Hampshire and died in 1852. Educated at Phillips (Exeter) Academy and at Dartmouth, where he graduated in 1801, he taught school at Fryeburg, in Maine, studied law, was called to the bar in 1805, and began the practice of law in Boscawen, New Hampshire. In 1807 he removed to Portsmouth. He was soon a leader of the bar, and from 1813 to 1817 was Congressman. In views he was then a moderate Federalist. He now settled in Boston, and in 1818 rose to the front rank of lawyers by his plea before the US Supreme Court in the famous 'Dartmouth College case', which involved the obligation of contracts and the powers of the Government.
From 1823 to 1827 he was Congressman from Massachusetts, was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and had attracted attention by his speeches on Greece and on free trade. He had become widely known as an orator. Among his great speeches were : at Plymouth, 1820, on the bi-centennial; at the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825; the eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, 1826. In 1827 Daniel Webster entered the US Senate, and ranked chief among the orators, of the giants in Congress; Clay, John Calhoun, Benton, were among his contemporaries.
He favoured the protective tariff of 1828. Two years later he reached his highest point, in the debate on the Foote resolution, where his reply to Hayne won for him the title of 'Expounder of the Constitution'. Daniel Webster opposed Nullification, was often pitted against John Calhoun took an active part in the Bank controversy, and was, with Clay, highest in the Whig party. He came within reach of the nomination for President.
In 1836 he received the electoral vote of Massachusetts. President Harrison chose him for Secretary of State in 1841, and he alone of the members of Tyler's Cabinet refused to resign in September, 1841. He negotiated the Ashburton Treaty with Great Britain in 1842, and resigned in 1843. In 1845 he re-entered the Senate. He spoke on the Oregon question, gave a lame support to Taylor in 1848, and in 1850 in the Compromise excitement he alienated many former friends by his famous 'seventh of March speech'. He was again Secretary of State in 1850 until 1852. He received a few votes in the Convention of 1852, refused to support Scott, and died soon after at his home in Marshfield, Massachusetts
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Daniel Webster Jones was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Arkansas from 1897 until 1901.
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The Danites were an ancient tribe of the Middle East. At the time of the exodus the Danites numbered 62,700 adult males, being then the second tribe in point of numbers. The territory assigned them in Canaan lay on the coast, in the immediate neighbourhood of the hardy and well-equipped Philistines, and the Danites were pushed back into a more mountainous region. The tribe also possessed an isolated portion of territory in the extreme north of Canaan, containing the town of Laish or Dan, which gave rise to the proverbial expression 'from Dan to Beersheba.' The most notable person connected with the tribe was Samson.
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The Dankalil (singular Dankali) are (were?) a number of tribes that inhabited East Africa near the Red Sea. They were generally fishermen or cattle rearers and practised Islam.
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Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English painter and poet. He was born at London in 1828 and died in 1882.
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Daphne Du Maurier was an English novelist. She was born in 1907 and died in 1989. Several of her books have been made into successful films, including ' Rebecca' and 'Jamaica Inn'.
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Darius was the name of several Persian kings: Darius I, Darius II and Darius III.
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Darius N Couch was an American soldier. He was born in 1822 at New York and died in 1897. Educated at the US Military Academy, he served against the Seminole Indians in 1849 and 1850. During the American Civil War he served as colonel and brigadier-general, and commanded the Second Army Corps at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. He was quartermaster-general of Connecticut from 1877 until 1878 and adjutant-general from 1883 until 1884.
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Darius I was the fourth king of Persia. The son of Hystaspes, a prince of the royal family of the Achsemenidae, he attained the throne in 521 BC. His reign was distinguished by many important events. He reduced, after a two years' siege, the revolted city of Babylon, and led an expedition of 700,000 men against the Scythians on the Danube, from which he extricated himself after suffering great losses. To revenge himself against the Athenians who had promoted a revolt of the Ionian cities, he sent an army under Mardonius to invade Greece. But the ships of Mardonius were destroyed by a storm in doubling Mount Athos in 492 BC, and his army was cut to pieces by the Thracians. Darius, however, fitted out a second expedition of 500,000 men, which was met on the plains of Marathon by an Athenian army 10,000 strong, under Miltiades, and completely defeated in 490 BC. Darius had determined on a third expedition when he died in 485 BC.
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Darius II (Darius Nothos, Darius the Bastard) was king of Persia., An illegitimate son of Artaxerxes I, he ascended the throne in 423 BC, and died in 404 BC.
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Darius III was the twelfth king of Persia. He ascended the throne in 339 BC, when the kingdom had been weakened by luxury and the tyranny of the satraps under his predecessors, and could not resist the attacks of a powerful invader. Such was Alexander of Macedon; and the army which was sent against him by Darius was totally routed on the banks of the Gramcus, in Asia Minor. Darius then hastened with 400,000 soldiers to meet Alexander in the mountainous region of Cilicia, and was a second time totally defeated near the Issus, 333 BC. Two years afterwards, all proposals for peace having been rejected by Alexander, Darius collected a second army, and meeting the Macedonian forces between Arbela and Gaugamela was again routed and had to seek safety in flight in 331 BC. Alexander now captured Susa the capital, and Perse polls, and reduced all Persia. Meanwhile Darius was collecting another army at Ecbatana in Media, when a traitorous conspiracy was formed against him by which he was murdered in 330 BC. Alexander married his daughter Statira.
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Darius Milhaud was a French composer. He was born in 1892 and died in 1974.
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Dashiell Hammett was an American novelist. He was born in 1894 and died in 1961. He worked as a private detective before writing such detective stories as The Maltese Falcon in 1930 and The Thin Man in 1932.
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The Daughters of Liberty were an American society of women formed in Boston in 1769-1770, who pledged themselves not to buy goods from British importers and shopkeepers, and to help on the cause of liberty.
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The Daughters of the American Revolution were an American society of the female descendants of distinguished soldiers, sailors and patriots of the American War of Independence, organized at Washington on October the 11th, 1890.
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From 1370 until 1830, Dauphin was the title of the eldest son of the King of France. The title was said to be derived from the dolphin, the crest of the lords of Dauphiny. The name was assumed towards the middle of the 9th century by the lord of Dauphiny, which province was bequeathed by Humbert II to the King of France in 1349, on condition that the heir of the throne should bear the title of Dauphin of Viennois.
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David was a King of Israel. He was the youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem, and descended through Boaz from the ancient princes of Judah. The life of David is recorded in the first and second books of Samuel and the first book of Chronicles. The book of Psalms, a large portion of which has been attributed to him also contains frequent allusions to incidents in his life. He reigned from 1055 BC to 1015 BC according to the usual chronology, but investigations put the dates of David's reign from 30 to 50 years later. Under David the empire of the Israelites rose to the height of its power, and his reign has always been looked on by the Jews as the golden age of their nation's history.
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David Allan was a Scottish painter. He was born in 1744 and died in 1796. He studied in Foulis' academy of painting and engraving in Glasgow, and for sixteen years in Italy; finally establishing himself at Edinburgh, where he succeeded Runciman as master of the Trustees' Academy. His illustrations of the Gentle Shepherd, the Cotter's Saturday Night, and other sketches of rustic life and manners in Scotland, obtained for him the name of the 'Scottish Hogarth.'
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David Thomas Ansted was an English geologist. He was born in 1814 and died in 1880. He was professor of geology at King's College, London, and assistant-secretary to the Geological Society, whose quarterly journal he edited for many years. His writings on geology were standard authorities.
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Sir David Attenborough is a British naturalist and broadcaster. He was born in 1926. He is noted for his television series 'Life on Earth', 'The Living Planet' and 'Trials of Life.
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David B Mitchell was an American politician. He was a Jeffersonian- Republican governor of Georgia from 1809 until 1813.
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Sir David Baird was a British soldier. He was born in 1757 at Edinburghshire and died in 1829. He entered the army in 1772. Having been promoted to a lieutenancy in 1778 he
sailed for India, distinguished himself as a, captain in the war against Hyder Ali, was wounded and taken prisoner, and confined in the fortress of Seringapatam for nearly four years. He and his fellow-prisoners were treated with great barbarity, and many of them died or were put to death, but at last (in 1784) all that survived were set at liberty. After his release he received, in 1787, his majority, and in 1791 joined the army under Cornwallis as lieutenant-colonel, and was appointed to the command of a brigade in the war against Tippoo. After much hard service he received a colonelcy in 1795, went in 1797 to the Cape of Good Hope as brigadier-general, and in 1798, on his appointment as major-general, returned to India. In 1799 he commanded the storming party at the assault of Seringapatam, and, in requital, was presented with the state sword of Tippoo Saib. Being appointed in 1800 to command an expedition to Egypt, he landed at Kosseir in June, 1801, crossed the desert, and, embarking on the Nile, descended to Cairo, and thence to Alexandria, which he reached a few days before it surrendered to General Hutchinson. Next -year he returned to India, but being soon after superseded by Sir Arthur Wellesley (the Duke of Wellington), he sailed for Britain, where he was knighted and made K.C.B. With the rank of lieutenant-general he commanded an expedition in 1805 to the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1806, after defeating the Dutch, he received the surrender of the colony. He commanded a division at the siege of Copenhagen, and after a short period of service in Ireland sailed with 10,000 men for Corunna, where he formed a junction with Sir John Moore. He commanded the first division of Moore's army, and in the battle of Corunna lost his left arm. By the death of Sir John Moore Sir David succeeded to the chief command, receiving for the fourth time the thanks of Parliament, and a baronetcy. In 1814 he was made a general.
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David Beaton was a British divine. He was born in 1494 and died in 1546. He was raised to the rank of cardinal in December, 1538 by Pope Paul III. On the death of his uncle, Archbishop James Beaton, he succeeded him in the see of St Andrews in 1539. After the accession of Mary he became Chancellor of Scotland, and distinguished himself by his zeal in persecuting members of the Reformed party, among the rest the famous Protestant preacher George Wishart, whose sufferings at the stake he viewed from his window with apparent exultation. At length a conspiracy was formed against him, and he was assassinated at his own castle of St Andrews, on the 29th of May, 1546. His private character was marked by pride, cruelty, and licentiousness.
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David Bennett Hill was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of New York from 1885 until 1891.
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David Bogue was the originator of the London Missionary Society. He was born in 1750 at Berwickshire and died in 1825. He studied at Edinburgh, and was licensed as a preacher of the Church of Scotland. In 1771 he was employed as usher in London, and afterwards became minister of an Independent chapel at Gosport, where he formed an institution for the education of young men for the Independent ministry. He then began the formation of the grand missionary scheme which afterwards resulted in the London Missionary Society, and took an active part in the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Religious Tract Society. He wrote an Essay on the Divine Authority of the New Testament (1802); Discourses on the Millennium (1813-16); and, in conjunction with Dr. Bennet, a History of Dissenters (1809-12).
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David Brainerd was an American Presbyterian missionary. He was born in 1718 at Haddam and died in 1747. He was employed by the Honourable Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge from 1742 to 1747 and ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1744. He was a missionary to the Seneca and Delaware American Indians from 1744 to 1747 and gained posthumous fame through the publication of his diary by Jonathan Edward.
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David Brearley was an American patriot and a signatory of the American Constitution. He was born in 1745 and died in 1790. He was an ardent patriot during the pre-Revolutionary movements. He served in the Continental army from 1775 until 1779. he was Chief Justice of New Jersey from 1779 until 1789 when he became a US District Judge. While a member of the Federal Convention of 1787 he zealously opposed the unequal representation of States.
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Sir David Brewster was a British natural philosopher. He was born at Jedburgh in 1781 and died in 1868. He was educated at Edinburgh University for the church, but was attracted by the lectures of Robison and Playfair to science. In 1807 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the mathematical chair at St Andrews, but became in the same year MA of Cambridge, LLD. of Aberdeen, and member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, to the Transactions of which he contributed important papers on the polarization of light.
In 1808 he became editor of the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, and in 1819, in conjunction with Jameson, founded the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, of which he was sole editor from 1824 until 1832. David Brewster was one of the founders of the British Association, and its president in 1850. In 1832 he was knighted and pensioned, and both before and after this time his services to science obtained throughout Europe the most honourable recognition. From 1838 to 1859 he was principal of the united colleges of St Leonard's and St Salvador at St Andrews, and in the latter year was chosen principal of the University of Edinburgh - an office which he held until his death in 1868.
Among his inventions were the 'polyzonal lens' (introduced into British lighthouses in 1835), the kaleidoscope, and the improved stereoscope. His chief works are a Treatise on the Kaleidoscope published in 1829; Letters on Natural Magic published in 1831; Treatise on Optics (1831); More Worlds Than One (1854) and biographies of Euler, Newton, Galileo, Tycho, Brahe and Kepler.
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David John John Bryant MBE is an English champion lawn bowls player. He was born in 1931. He won the 1966 world singles championship, the 1970 Commonwealth Games singles and fours and the 1970 Commonwealth Games singles and many other British titles. His technical skill was derived from his experimental approach based on the premise that accepted styles are not beyond improvement.
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David Butler was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Nebraska from 1867 until 1871.
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David C Treen was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Louisiana from 1980 until 1984.
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David Carderwood was a Scottish divine and ecclesiastical historian. He was born in 1575 and died in 1650. In 1604 he was ordained minister of Crailing, Roxburghshire, where he distinguished himself by his opposition to the introduction of prelacy. In 1617 he was banished for contumacy, and went to Holland. In 1625 he returned to Scotland, and in 1640 became minister of the church of Pencaitland, near Edinburgh. He then engaged in writing the History of the Church of Scotland, a work published in 1842 to 1849 by the Wodrow Society.
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David Campbell was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Virginia from 1837 until 1840.
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David Cox was an English landscape painter. He was born in 1783 at Birmingham, and died in 1859. He was apprenticed to a locket and miniature painter. He travelled for two years with Macready as a scene painter and after 1801 settled at Dulwich near London and supported himself by teaching drawing. He joined the Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1813 and was drawing master at Hereford from 1814 to 1826. Later he took up painting in oils, under the influence of the painter W. Muller. In 1841 he returned to Birmingham, and to the rest of his life belong his greatest paintings, both in water-colours and in oils. His works are chiefly English landscapes, and his pictures are now very highly valued. Among some that have brought high prices are The Vale of Clwyd, Peace and War, Going to the Hayfield, Going to Market, The Skylark, The Church at Bettws-y-Coed, The Sea-shore at Rhyl. Favid Cox ranks with John Constable and a few others as among the greatest English landscape-painters of the earlier period.
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David Crockett (Davy Crockett) was a famous American frontiersman. He was born in 1786 and died in 1836. He was with General Jackson in the Creek War, was a member of Congress from 1837 to 1831 and from 1833 to 1835. He was one of the six survivors at Fort Alamo who were massacred by Santa Anna.
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Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, was a Scottish lawyer, antiquary, and historian. He was born in 1726 at Edinburgh and died in 1792. He studied at Eton and Utrecht. In 1748 he was called to the bar, and in 1766 was made a judge of the Court of Session. His publications were numerous, but consist principally of new editions and translations. Of his original productions the Annals of Scotland from Malcolm Canmore to the Accession of the House of Stuart, is the most important.
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David Davis was an American jurist. He was born in 1815 and died in 1886. Educated at Kenyon College in Ohio, he settled to the practice of law at Bloomington, Illinois. He was a member of the Illinois Legislature, a State judge, and an intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1860. President Lincoln appointed him an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, where he remained from 1862 to 1877, being in the latter year a member of the Electoral Commission. His reform tendencies had, meanwhile, made him the candidate for President, in 1872, of the Labor Reform party, and brought him some votes at the Liberal Republican Convention in the same year. From 1877 until 1883 he was US Senator from Illinois, and at one time president of the Senate. While in that body he was classed as an Independent, though he acted frequently with the Democrats.
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David Dixon Porter was an American sailor. He was born in 1813 and died in 1891. The son of David Porter he accompanied his father in his voyages, and became a midshipman in 1829. He had served in the Mexican War, and had commanded California mail steamers, when the American Civil War called out his powers. With the control of the mortar fleet in April, 1862, he bombarded Fort Jackson and Fort St Philip, aiding David Farragut in the great feat of taking New Orleans. He was continuously active in the operations near Vicksburg that year, commanded the Mississippi squadron, and captured Arkansas Post in January, 1863.
Promoted to be rear-admiral Porter, in May, 1863, took Grand Gulf near Vicksburg and co-operated with Grant in the reduction of that stronghold. The following year he aided Banks in the Red River expedition. Transferred the same year to the North Atlantic squadron Admiral Porter commanded the powerful naval contingents in the two assaults on Fort Fisher in December, 1864, and January, 1865; in the latter, Porter and General Terry succeeded in reducing this last of the important sea fortresses left to the Confederates. He was promoted to be vice-admiral in 1866 and admiral in 1870. Until 1869 he was superintendent of the naval academy. Besides writing a life of his father and other naval works Admiral Porter was also a successful novelist.
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David Douglas was a Scottish botanist. He was born in 1798 and died in 1834 in an accident. In 1828, as botanical collector to the Horticultural Society of London, he went to the United States, and in 1824 to California, collecting many rare plants and trees. In 1827 he returned to England, and some years later sailed on another expedition to the Sandwich Islands, where he met his death by an accident in 1834.
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David Emanuel was an American politician. He was a Jeffersonian-Republican governor of Georgia during 1801.
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David Montagu Erskine (Baron Erskine) was a British statesman. He was born in 1776 and died in 1855. He was British Minister to the United States from 1806 until 1809. In 1809 he officially announced that atonement would be made for the Chesapeake outrage, and that the British orders in council would be withdrawn, provided the American embargo and non-intercourse acts ceased as to Great Britain. In consequence of this, President Madison proclaimed that, on June the 10th, 1809, all interdicts against Great Britain would cease. The British Ministry repudiated the Erskine arrangements and declared them unauthorized. President Madison was, therefore, compelled to restore the suspension of intercourse on August the 9th.
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David F Cargo was an American politician, now retired. He was a Republican governor of New Mexico from 1967 until 1971.
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David Glasgow Farragut was an American sailor. He was born in 1801 and died in 1870. He entered the US navy at the age of nine. In the War of 1812, while a mere boy, he was intrusted with important missions; but in the long period of peace he found little opportunity for distinction. A Southerner by birth, he threw in his lot with the Union, and toward the end of the first year's fighting in the war he was assigned to important command. He had charge of the flotilla in the approach to New Orleans in April, 1862; his fame was founded on the passage of the river past the forts on April the 24th, which caused the fall of the city and its delivery into the hands of the Federals under Butler. On June the 28th he ran the batteries of Vicksburg, and the following year, having meanwhile received the rank of rear-admiral, he contributed to the fall of Port Hudson and the final opening of the river. The greatest event in David Farragut's life, and one of the greatest naval battles of the time, was the Battle of Mobile Bay on August the 5th, 1864. David Farragut's oversight of the contest while lashed to the mast of his flag-ship, the Hartford became one of the most familiar episodes of the war. The American office of vice-admiral was specially created for him in December, 1864, and that of admiral in 1866.
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Sir David Ferrier was a Scottish neuropathologist. He was born in 1843 near Aberdeen and died in 1928. He studied at Aberdeen University, graduating with distinction in 1863, and in the same year he carried off the Ferguson inter-university scholarship in classics and philosophy. After studying for a short time at Heidelberg, he took the medical course at Edinburgh, and graduated MD in 1870, with very high distinction. In 1872 he became professor of forensic medicine in King's College, London, a chair which he exchanged in 1889 for that of neuro-pathology, specially founded for him, a position which he still helds in 1905. He became FRS in 1876, and in 1890 received a royal medal for his researches on the brain. These experiments included a large number of experiments on living animals, and he was, in consequence, attacked by the anti-vivisectionists. In 1908 he was appointed emeritus professor at King's College London. David Ferrier was knighted in 1911. In 1913 he was president of the Medical Society of London. He was awarded honorary degrees from the universities of Cambridge and Birmingham. His results were published in the works on The Functions of the Brain (1876), and Cerebral Localization (1878-1890).
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David Forbes was a British geologist, metallurgist and consulting engineer. He was born in 1828 at Douglas on the Isle of Man and died in 1876.
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Dr David Guthrie Freeman (D.G. Freeman) is an American badminton and tennis player. He was born in 1920. He played badminton as a member of the American Thomas Cup team in 1948, establishing himself as the greatest singles player of the era. After he turned 18 he never lost a match.
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David G Burnet was an American politician. He was born in 1789 and died in 1870. He was active in securing the independence of Texas, and was chosen provisional president of the republic in 1836, afterwards serving as vice-president.
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Sir David Gill was a Scottish astronomer. He was born in 1843 at Aberdeen and died in 1914. He organised expeditions to observe two transits of Venus and in 1885 completed a systematic survey of the southern heavens and by 1898 had published a catalogue of 450,000 stars.
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David Gray was a Scottish poet. He was born in 1838 at Merkland, Dumbartonshire and died in 1861 He studied at Glasgow University, from which he went, with Robert Buchanan, to London in 1860 to try his fortune in literature. After a brief struggle consumption set in, and he died at Merkland in 1861. A small volume containing the poem entitled The Luggie, some lyrics, and a few sonnets, with the title In the Shadows, represents the whole of his work.
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David H Goodell was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New Hampshire from 1889 until 1891.
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David H Jerome was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Michigan from 1881 until 1882.
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David H Pryor was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Arkansas from 1975 until 1979.
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David Hall was an American politician. He was a Democratic-Republican governor of Delaware from 1802 until 1805.
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David Hartley was an English philosopher. He was born in 1705 near Halifax and died in 1757. He became a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, and finally practised medicine at Newark, Bury St Edmund's, and in London. In 1749 he published his work 'Observations on Man' which explained mental phenomena of the mind as proceeding from molecular nervous vibrations.
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David Hazzard was an American politician. He was a American governor of Delaware from 1830 until 1833.
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David Henshaw was an American politician. He was born in 1791 and died in 1852. He was a Massachusetts Senator in 1826 and a Representative in 1839. He was appointed Secretary of the Navy in 1843 by President John Tyler but was shortly afterwards rejected by the Senate and was sacked in 1844.
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David Holmes was an American politician. He was a Democratic-Republican governor of Mississippi from 1817 until 1820.
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David Edward Hughes was an English born American inventor. He was born in 1831 at London and died in 1900. He emigrated to the USA in 1850 and became a professor of music and subsequently of natural philosophy at Bardstown College, Kentucky. In 1855 he patented his type-printing telegraph which was widely adopted across the USA and Europe. In 1878 he invented the microphone and in 1879 the induction balance.
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David Hume was a British historian and philosopher. He was born in 1711 at Edinburgh and died in 1776. He was destined for the law, but was drawn away by his love of literature and philosophy; and retired to France, where during three years of quiet and studious life he composed his Treatise upon Human Nature. The work was published at London in 1738, but, in his own words, 'fell dead-born from the press.' His next work, Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary (published at Edinburgh, in 1742), met with a better reception.
In 1745 he became companion to the insane Marquis of Annandale; and he accompanied General Sinclair in 1746 and 1747 in his expedition against France and in a military embassy to Vienna and Turin. He now published a recasting of his Treatise upon Human .Nature, under the title of an Inquiry Concerning the Human Understanding (1747). In 1752 he published his Political Discourses, which were well received, and his Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. The same year he obtained the appointment of librarian of the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, and began to write his history of England, of which the first volume appeared in 1754. It was, like most of the succeeding volumes, severely attacked both for its religious and political tendencies; but, in spite of adverse criticism, his History of England, after its completion in 1761, was recognized as a standard work. Its merits are chiefly clearness and force of narrative and philosophical breadth of view in the judgment of men and events.
In 1763 he accepted an invitation from the Earl of Hertford, then proceeding as ambassador to Paris, to accompany him, and was enthusiastically received by Parisian circles in his character of philosopher and historian. After the departure of Lord Hertford in 1756, he remained as charge d'affaires, and returned to England in 1766, bringing with him Rousseau, for whom he procured a pension and a retreat in Derbyshire. But the morbid sensitivity of Rousseau brought about a disagreement which put an end to the friendship.
In 1767 he was appointed under-secretary of state, a post which be held until 1769, when he retired to Edinburgh. Here he lived until his death on August the 25th, 1776. As a philosopher, in which quality his reputation is perhaps greatest, David Hume's acute sceptical intellect did great service by directing research to the precise character of the fundamental conceptions on which our knowledge and our beliefs are based. His acute negative criticism of these conceptions (e.g. his reduction of the ideas of personal identity, conscience, causality, to mere effects of association) compelled philosophy either to come to a dead halt or to find, as Kant did, a new and profounder view of the nature of human reason.
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David Hunter was an American soldier. He was born in 1802 and died in 1886. He commanded the main column of McDowell's army in the Manassas campaign in 1861 and commanded a division at Bull Run. He succeeded General Fremont in command of the Western Department. He commanded the Department of Kansas from 1861 to 1862, when he was transferred to the Southern Department. He organized the first regiment of coloured troops. In 1864 he commanded the Department of West Virginia. He was president of the commission which tried the assassins of President Abraham Lincoln. He was brevetted major-general in 1865 and retired from service in 1866.
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David I was King of Scotland from 1124 to 1153. The son of Malcolm Canmore he was born about 1080 and died in 1153. He succeeded his brother Alexander I in 1124. He was the first to introduce feudal institutions and ideas into his native land. He twice invaded England to support his niece Matilda against Stephen, her rival claimant for the English crown, during one of his incursions being defeated at the Battle of the Standard in 1138. After David I's death he was succeeded by his grandson Malcolm. He acquired a considerable reputation for sanctity. While yet Prince of Cumbria he had begun the re-establishment or restoration of the Glasgow bishopric, and after he became king founded the bishoprics of Aberdeen, Ross, Caithness, Brechin, and Dunblane. Among the religious houses for regulars which date from his reign are Holyrood, Melrose, Jedburgh, Kelso, Dryburgh, Newbattle, etc. His services to the church procured for him the popular title of saint, but the endowments so taxed the royal domains and possessions that James VI bitterly characterized him as 'ane sair sanct for the crown.'
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David I Walsh was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Massachusetts from 1914 until 1916.
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David II was King of Scotland from 1329 to 1371. The son of Robert Bruce he was born in 1322 and died in 1370. On the death of his father he was acknowledged by the great part of the nation. Edward Baliol, however, the son of John Baliol, formed a party for the purpose of supporting his pretensions to the crown; he was backed by Edward III of England. Battles were frequent, and at first Edward Baliol was successful; but eventually David II succeeded in driving him from Scotland. Still, however, the war was carried on with England with increasing rancour, until at length David II was made prisoner at the battle of Neville's Cross in 1346. After being detained in captivity for eleven years he was ransomed for 100,000 merks. The remainder of his reign was occupied in disputes with his parliament.
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David Johnson was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of South Carolina from 1846 until 1848.
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David Kalakaua was king of Hawaii. He was born in 1836 and died in 1891. He was made king of Hawaii in 1874 and established his government with the aid of American and English ships. He died in San Francisco while negotiating a treaty of reciprocity with the United States.
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David Kimchi was a French grammarian. He was born in 1160 and died in 1235. His published grammar and lexicon formed the basis for all subsequent work.
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David L Boren was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Oklahoma from 1975 until 1979.
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David L Lawrence was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Pennsylvania from 1959 until 1963.
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David L Morrill was an American politician. He was a Democratic-Republican governor of New Hampshire from 1824 until 1827.
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David Herbert Lawrence (DH Lawrence) was an English poet and novelist. He was born in 1885 at Nottinghamshire and died in 1930.
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David Leslie was a Scottish soldier. He was born in 1601 and died in 1682. A younger son of Sir Patrick Leslie, a Fifeshire land-holder, he sought his fortune in the service of Gustavus Adolphus. He became a colonel in the Swedish army, and then returned home in 1640 upon hearing that war between Charles I and his enemies was imminent. He was made major-general in the army commanded by Alexander Leslie, that was raised to assist the English parliamentarians, and had much to do with the victory at Marston Moor. Upon being recalled to Scotland he defeated the Marquess of Montrose at Philliphaugh, and served in the Highlands. He stood aside from the disastrous expedition that ended at Preston, but was the real commander of the Scottish army raised to oppose Cromwell. His authority having been weakened, he was defeated at Dunbar, but continued to resist Cromwell in Scotland, and afterwards fought at Worcester. He was imprisoned until 1660, and fined. In 1661 Charles II made him a peer as Lord Newark.
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David Livingstone was a Scottish explorer. He was born in 1813 at Blantyre and died in 1873. From the age of ten he worked in a cotton factory, at the same time teaching himself Latin and studying natural history. In 1836 he attended the medical class at Anderson College, Glasgow, and lectures at Glasgow university, afterwards in 1840 receiving the diploma of the Glasgow Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, and in the same year was ordained as a missionary by the London Missionary Society and set sail for the Cape. Between 1852 and 1873 he discovered the course of the Zambezi, Victoria falls and lake Nyasa.
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David R Locke was an American patriot. He was born in 1833 and died in 1888. He was author of a series of patriotic satires known as the Nasby letters. They exerted great influence during the American Civil War in crushing the rebellion.
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David M Clough was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Minnesota from 1895 until 1899.
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David O Watkins was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New Jersey from 1898 until 1899.
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David Anthony Llewellyn Owen is a British politician. He was born in 1938. After serving as Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979 in the Labour government he became increasingly dissatisfied with the Labour Party's policies, and in 1981 broke away to become a founding member (one of the 'gang of four') of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He led the SDP from 1983 to 1987, resigning to form a breakaway SDP when the main party decided to merge with the Liberals; he eventually disbanded this party in 1990. In 1992 he was appointed the EC's chief mediator in attempts to solve the crisis in the former Yugoslavia.
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David P Buckson was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Delaware from 1960 until 1961.
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David Peter Lewis was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Alabama from 1872 until 1874.
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David Porter was an American sailor. He was born in 1780 and died in 1843. He came from a seafaring family, and fought in the wars with France and Tripoli. In 1812 he was appointed a captain, and with the Essex and captured a number of British prizes and the man-of-war HMS Alert. In 1813 he started on a cruise in the Pacific with the Essex, in the course of which he nearly destroyed the British whale-fishery in that ocean. In the harbour of Valparaiso on March the 28th, 1814, the Essex and the Phoebe fought a desperate battle, in which the former, completely disabled, was compelled to surrender. Porter fought against the West India pirates in 1824, and from 1826 to 1829 directed the Mexican navy. He was then US Consul to the Barbary States, and from 1831 until his death he was US Minister resident to Turkey.
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David R Francis was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Missouri from 1889 until 1893.
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David R Porter was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Pennsylvania from 1839 until 1845.
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David R Williams was an American politician. He was a Democratic-Republican governor of South Carolina from 1814 until 1816.
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David Ramsay was an American doctor, politician, soldier and historian. He was born in 1749 and died in 1815. He was a member of the South Carolina Legislature from 1776 to 1783. He was taken prisoner at Charleston in 1780, and confined eleven months as a prisoner. He represented South Carolina in the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1786. He wrote a 'History of the American Revolution', 'Life of George Washington', 'History of South Carolina' and 'History of the United States'.
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David Rittenhouse was an American astronomer. He was born in 1732 and died in 1796. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety in 1776 and treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1789. He was director of the US mint from 1792 to 1795.
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David Rizzio was an Italian musician. He was born in 1533 at Pancalieri and died in 1566. He went to Scotland as an attendant of an Italian envoy and while there attracted the attention of Mary Queen of Scots, who gave him an appointment in her court, first as a singer in the chapel, then as a valet de chambre, and finally as secretary. The promotion of a Roman Catholic foreigner aroused suspicion of a Popish plot, and Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, suspected Mary and David Rizzio of being lovers and took little persuasion from other jealous nobles that he should be murdered. On March the 9th 1566 at Holyrood, David Rizzio was dragged from Mary's presence and murdered, suffering 56 separate injuries in a frenzied attack.
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David Roberts was a Scottish landscape and architectural painter. He was born in 1796 at Stockbridge, Edinburgh and died in 1864. He became scene painter at Carlisle, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London in 1822 and exhibited a picture of Rouen Cathedral in 1826 which attracted some attention. In 1839 he was elected ARA and in 1841 RA.
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David S Walker was an American politician. He was a Conservative governor of Florida from 1865 until 1868.
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David Scott was a Scottish painter. He was born in 1806 at Edinburgh and died in 1849. In 1828 he exhibited 'The Hopes of Early Genius Dispelled by Death' and followed this with 'Fingal and the Death of Sappho'. In 1831 he published six designs in outline entitled 'Monograms of Man', and commenced a series of outline illustrations to Samuel Coleridge's 'Ancient Mariner'.
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David Sholtz was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Florida from 1933 until 1937.
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David Stone was an American politician. He was a Democratic-Republican governor of North Carolina from 1808 until 1810.
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David Friedrich Strauss was a German theologian. He was born in 1808 at Ludwigsburg and died in 1874. Educated at Tubingen and Berlin under Baur and Schleiermacher, he became a teacher at Maulbronn and later at Tubingen. In 1835 he published his 'Life of Jesus', which caused a sensation by its extreme rationalistic standpoint, from which Christianity was viewed as a myth and Jesus as a Jewish philosopher. This publication caused him to be sacked from his post as chair of philosophy at Zurich, and he virtually abandoned Christianity altogether. Later works he published attacked Christianity as a combination of Jewish and Greek mythology.
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David Teniers the elder was a Flemish artist. He was born in 1582 and died in 1649. He studied under Rubens and spent most of his life at Antwerp.
David Teniers the younger was a Flemish artist. He was born in 1610 at Antwerp and died in 1690. The son of David Teniers the elder, he studied under his father and became painter to the court of Hapsburgs at Brussels where he taught Don John of Austria. His numerous paintings mainly deal with peasant life.
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David Tod was an American politician. He was born in 1805 and died in 1868. He was Minister to Brazil from 1847 to 1852. He was a champion of the 'peace policy' in 1861, but when Governor of Ohio from 1862 to 1864 was a firm supporter of the Government.
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David E Twiggs was an American soldier. He was born in 1790 and died in 1862. He served during the War of 1812. He commanded the right wing at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. He fought at Monterey, and led a brigade at Vera Cruz and a division at the capture of Mexico. He was in command of the Department of Texas in 1861 and surrendered his army and military stores to the Confederate General McCulloch. He was dishonourably dismissed from the US army.
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David Urquhart was a British politician. He was born in 1805 at Cromarty and died in 1877. Educated on the continent, and at St John's College, Oxford, he fought under Cochrane in Greece, from 1827 to 1828, and from the knowledge he acquired of that country was given diplomatic employment. A friend of Turkey and violently anti-Russian, his attitude towards Russia necessitated his recall from Constantinople (Istanbul), where he was secretary of embassy from 1835 until 1837. He was member of parliament for Stafford from 1847 until 1852, he opposed Palmerston and denounced the participation of Britain and France in the Crimean War. He founded a journal, The Free Press, in 1855, and published The Pillars of Hercules, 1850, and The Lebanon, 1860.
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David Wallace was an American politician. He was a Whig governor of Indiana from 1837 until 1840.
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David Walters was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Oklahoma from 1991 until 1995.
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David Wickes is a British film director and producer, working mainly in television.
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Davis H Waite was an American politician. He was a Populist governor of Colorado from 1893 until 1895.
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The Dayak (Dyaks) are an aboriginal people of Indonesian Borneo and Sarawak. They are a finely-formed race, of a yellow complexion. 19th century explorers described them as docile, industrious, and superior to the Malays. The practice of head-hunting (hunting their enemies to make trophies of their heads) was still practised among the Dayak as late as 1900, but had been abolished where European influence prevailed.
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De Witt Clinton was an American politician. He was born in 1769 and died in 1828. He was three times Mayor of New York and inaugurated the 'spoils system' in New York. He worked for the completion of the Erie Canal scheme, the extension of education and the abolition of slavery and of imprisonment for debt.
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Ecclesiastically, a deacon is a person in the lowest degree of holy orders. The office of deacon was instituted by the apostles, and seven persons were chosen at first to serve at the feasts of Christians, and distribute bread and wine to the communicants, and to minister to the wants of the poor. In the Roman Catholic Church the deacon is the chief minister at the altar. He assists the priest in the celebration of mass, and on certain conditions can preach and baptize. In the Church of England the deacon is the lowest of the three orders of priesthood, these being bishops, priests, and deacons. The deacon may perform all the ordinary offices of the Christian priesthood except consecrating the elements at the administration of the Lord's Supper, and pronouncing the absolution. In Presbyterian churches the deacon's office is to attend to the secular interests, and in Independent churches it is the same, with the addition that he has to distribute the bread and wine to the communicants.
In Scotland, a deacon is the president of an incorporated trade, who is the chairman of its meetings and signs its records. Before the passing of the Burgh Reform Act the deacons of the crafts, or incorporated trades, in royal burghs, formed a constituent part of the town-council, and were understood to represent the trades as distinguished from the merchants and guild brethren.
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A Dean is an ecclesiastical dignitary, said to have been so called because he presided over ten canons or prebendaries ; but more probably because each diocese was divided into deaneries, each comprising ten parishes or churches, and with a dean presiding over each. In England, in respect of their differences of office, deans are of several kinds. Deans of chapters are governors over the canons in cathedral and collegiate churches. The dean and chapter are the bishop's council to aid him with their advice in affairs of religion and in the temporal concerns of his see, and the property of the cathedral is vested in them as a corporation, the dean being himself a 'corporation sole'. Rural deans are beneficed clergymen appointed by the bishop or archdeacon to exercise a certain supervision over the clergy and ecclesiastical affairs in districts of a diocese. Dean of the chapel royal is a title held by the Bishop of London, under whom there is also a sub-dean. In Scotland there is also a clergyman holding the same title, and the revenues which formerly belonged to the chapel royal are in the gift of the crown.
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Dean Gooderham Acheson was an American lawyer and politician. He was born in 1893 at Middletown, Connecticut and died in 1971. Educated at Yale and Harvard, he joined the department of state in 1941, where he was Under-Secretary from 1945 until 1947 and Secretary of State in the Truman administration from 1949 until 1953. He developed US policy for the containment of Communism, helped to formulate the Marshall Plan of 1947 and participated in the establishment of NATO in 1949. His works include Power and Diplomacy, published in 1958, Morning and Noon, published in 1965, and Present at the Creation published in 1969, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
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In some universities, as that of London and those of Scotland, the Dean of Faculty is the chief or head of a faculty (as of arts, law, or medicine); in the United States, he is a registrar or secretary of the faculty in a department of a college, as in a medical, theological, or scientific department.
In law, a Dean of Faculty is the president for the time being of an incorporation of barristers or law practitioners; specifically, the president of the incorporation of advocates in Edinburgh.
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In Scotland, the Dean of Guild, was originally that magistrate of a royal burgh who was head of the merchant company or guildry; later the name was applied to the magistrate whose proper duty was to take care that all buildings within the burgh were sufficient, that they were erected agreeably to law, and that they did not encroach either on private or public property. He could order insufficient buildings to be taken down.
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Dean Richmond was an American businessman and politician. He was born in 1804 and died in 1866. He gained an enviable reputation for his upright dealings in business. He was a leader of the Democratic party in New York. He secured the consolidation of the New York Central Railroad.
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Deane C Davis was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Vermont from 1969 until 1973.
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Deborah (Debbie) Harry was lead singer with the 70's punk band Blondie. An ex-prostitute she excited young male audiences with her silky voice and short skirts.
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Debutante is a term applied to a young lady making her first public appearance into society. The term is also applied looslely to a young woman in fashionable society. From the term derives such events as the 'debutante ball'where wealthy young women presented themselves to elligible young men, officially for the first time. These debutante balls were adopted and adapted into the school prom by the more common members of society, first in the USA and then later in the United Kingdom.
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The Deceangli were a Celtic tribe living in north-east Wales in the area now known as Flintshire. They were invaded and conquered by the Romans in the 1st century AD.
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The Decemvirs were the 10 magistrates who had absolute authority in Ancient Rome.
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Decimus Junius Brutus was a Roman commander. He served under Julius Caesar in Gaul, and later was commander of his fleet. He was involved in the assassination of Caesar, and opposed Anthony for a while afterwards until his soldiers deserted him in Gaul and he was betrayed to Anthony who had him executed in 43 BC.
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A Deemster was an officer formerly attached to the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland, who formally pronounced the doom or sentence of death on condemned criminals. The office was conjoined with that of executioner.
A Deemster is a Judge in the Isle of Man, who, without process or any charge to the parties, decides controversies in the island.
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DeForest Richards was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Wyoming from 1899 until 1903.
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Degimus Junius Brutus was a Roman soldier. He served under Julius Caesar in Gaul, and was afterwards commander of his fleet, but, like his relative, Marcus Junius Brutus, joined in the assassination of Julius Caesar. He was afterwards for a short time successful in opposing Antony, but was deserted by his soldiers in Gaul and betrayed into the hands of his opponent, who put him to death in 43 BC.
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Deioces was king the founder of the Median Empire. He lived about 7 BC. By acting as arbitrator in the disputes which took place in his own vicinity, the fame of his justice induced the Medes to choose him for their king after their revolt from the Assyrians. He built the city of Ecbatana, in which he resided; after a reign of thirty-five years he left the throne to his son Phraortes.
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A deipnosophist is someone skilled in the art of conversation at the dining table.
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A Del Credere Agent is an agent for the sale of goods who guarantees, for an additional commission, that the purchaser is solvent and will perform his contract.
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The Delaware Indians were a North American tribe of Indians of the Algonquin family. They were so called Delaware because they lived on the Delaware river, although they called themselves Lenni Lenape.
Penn bought much land of them. At first a peaceable tribe, they were largely under the control of the Five Nations. Later, they became warlike, and had a part in the war with Pontiac. In 1774 they received a signal defeat. After 1768 there were none east of the Alleghenies. The Christian Delawares, converts of the Moravians, were largely massacred by the Americans at Gnadenhutten, near the close of the American War of Independence.
From Ohio the tribe emigrated to Missouri in 1818, in 1829 into Kansas, and in 1868 into the Indian Territory. By 1905 the Delaware Indians had almost all been wiped out.
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A Delawarean is a resident of the US state of Delaware.
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Delia Derbyshire was a British composer and the inspiration behind modern electronic music. She died in 2001. As a studio manager at the BBC, working in the radiophonic workshop she arranged the theme tune for the 1960's television series 'Dr Who' from a few suggested notes passed to her on a scrap of paper by her boss. Delia Derbyshire composed music from adjusting sounds she found in everyday life, such as a metal lamp shade being struck by a stick, or a key run along a piano string, a sound which features in the Dr Who theme tune, recording these sounds onto short pieces of tape, and splicing them, adjusting the speed at which they were played and playing them backwards to produce revolutionary new sounds, all without the benefit of computers or synthesisers.
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The Della Cruscans were a coterie of English poetasters resident for some time in Florence, who printed inferior sentimental poetry and prose in 1785. Coming to England, they communicated the notion to like minded people and the newspapers of the day, chiefly the World and the Oracle, began to give publicity to their lucubrations. They were extinguished by the bitter satire of Gifford's Baviad and Maeviad. Mrs. Piozzi, Boswell, Merry, Cobb, Holcroft, Mrs. H. Cowley, and Mrs. Robinson were the leaders. They took the name from the Academiae Della Crusca in Florence.
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Delphine Gay was a French novelist. She was born in 1804 and died in 1855. The daughter of the novelist Madame Sophie Gay, and first wife of Emile de Girardin, she wrote the novels Le Lorgnon, Le Marquis de Pontanges, La Canne de M de Balxac, Il ne faut pas jouer avec Douleur, and Marguerite; contributed to the Presse newspaper, and wrote for the stage Lady Tartuffe and La Joie fait peur, and other pieces.
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A deltiologist is someone who collects postcards.
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Demetrius, or Dmitri was the name of a series of impostors who usurped supreme authority in Russia, and led to some of its remarkable revolutions during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Ivan Vasilievitch, who had put his eldest son to death with his own hand, left the throne in 1584 to another son, Fedor, a feeble prince, whom Boris Godunoff entirely supplanted in his authority. Ivan had left another son, Dmitri, by a second marriage; and Boris, fearing that he might one day prove a formidable obstacle to his ambitious projects, made away with him, but no one exactly knew how.
Grishka, or Gregory Otrepieff, a native of Jaroslav and a novice in a monastery, impersonated Dmitri, went to Lithuania, where he embraced the Roman Catholic religion and married the daughter of Mniszek, palatine or waiwod of Sandomir. In 1604 he entered Russia at the head of a body of Poles, was joined by a number of Russians and Cossacks, and defeated an army sent against him. On the death of Boris he was placed on the throne, but he offended the Russians by his attachment to Polish manners and customs, and still more by a want of respect to the Greek religion and its patriarch, and he was assassinated after reigning about eleven months. A rumour of his being still alive having spread, another impostor quickly appeared to personify him, and the Poles espousing the cause of the second false Dmitri, made it triumphant, until be was assassinated in 1610 by the Tartars whom he had selected as his body-guards. A state of anarchy ensued and continued for nearly half a century, during which a number of other false Dmitri appeared in different quarters.
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Demetrius Chalcondylas was a Greek grammarian. He was born about 1424 at Athens and died in 1510. On the taking of Constantinople (Istanbul) by the Turks he came to Italy, was invited to Florence by Lorenzo de'Medici about 1479, and afterwards by Ludovico Sforza to Milan. He did much to further the study of the Greek language and literature in the west of Europe.
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Demetrius Phalereus was a Greek orator and statesman. He was born in 345 BC. In 317 he was made Macedonian governor of Athens, and embellished the city by magnificent edifices. He fled to Egypt when Athens was taken by Demetrius Poliorcetes, where he is said to have promoted the establishment of the Alexandrian Library and of the museum. Demetrius Phalereus wrote on several subjects of philosophical and political science, but the work on rhetoric, which has come to us under his name, belongs to a later age.
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Demetrius Poliorcetes (the besieger of cities) was a king of ancient Macedonia. He was born about 339 BC and died in 283 BC. He was the son of Antigonus a successor of Alexander the Great and being sent by his father to wrest Greece from Cassander, he appeared before Athens with a fleet, expelled the governor Demetrius Phalereus, and restored to the people their ancient form of government in 307 BC. He conquered Macedonia in 294 BC and reigned seven years, but lost this country, was imprisoned by Seleucus, and died in Syria in 283 BC.
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Demi-monde is an expression first used by the younger Dumas in a drama of the same name (first performed in 1855), to denote that class of gay female adventurers who are only half-acknowledged in society. The term later popularly came to describe disreputable female society; courtesans.
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Democritus was a Greek philosopher of the new Eleatic school. He was born between 470 and 460 BC at Abdera and died in 370 BC. He travelled to Egypt, where he studied geometry, and probably visited other countries, to extend his knowledge of nature. Among the Greek philosophers he enjoyed the instruction of Leuoippus. He afterwards returned to his native city, where he was placed at the head of public affairs. Indignant at the follies of the Abderites, he resigned his office and retired to solitude, to devote himself exclusively to philosophical studies. According to later biographers he was called 'the laughing philosopher,' from his habit of laughing at the follies of mankind.
In his system he developed still further the mechanical or atomical theory of his master Leucippus. Thus he explained the origin of the world by the eternal motion of an infinite number of invisible and indivisible bodies or atoms, which differ from one another in form, position, and arrangement, and which have a primary motion, which brings them into contact, and forms innumerable combinations, the result of which is seen in the productions and phenomena of nature.
In this way the universe was formed, fortuitously, without the interposition of a First Cause. The eternal existence of atoms (of matter in general) he inferred from the consideration that time could be conceived only as eternal and without beginning. He applied his atomical theory, also, to natural philosophy and astronomy. Even the gods he considered to have arisen from atoms, and to be perishable like the rest of things existing. In his ethical philosophy Democritus considered the acquisition of peace of mind as the highest aim of existence. He is said to have written a great deal; but nothing has come to us except a few fragments.
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Demosthenes was an ancient Greek orator. He was born in 382 or 385 BC at Athens and died in 322 BC. He was the son of a sword-cutler at Athens. His father left him a considerable fortune, of which his guardians attempted to defraud him. Demosthenes, at the age of seventeen, conducted a suit against them himself, and gained his cause. He then set himself to study eloquence, and though his lungs were weak, his articulation defective, and his gestures awkward, by perseverance he at length surpassed all other orators in power and grace. He thundered against Philip of Macedon in his orations known as the Phi lippics, and endeavoured to instil into his fellow-citizens the hatred which animated his own bosom. He laboured to get all the Greeks to combine against the encroachments of Philip, but their want of patriotism and Macedonian gold frustrated his efforts.
He was present at the battle of Chaeroneia in 380 BC in which the Athenians and Boeotians were defeated by Philip, and Greek liberty crushed. On the accession of Alexander in 336 Demosthenes tried to stir up a general rising against the Macedonians, but Alexander at once adopted measures of extreme severity, and Athens sued for mercy. It was with difficulty that Demosthenes escaped being delivered up to the conqueror.
In 324 he was imprisoned on a false charge of having received a bribe from one of Alexander's generals, but managed to escape into exile. On the death of Alexander next year he was recalled, but the defeat of the Greeks by Antipater caused him to seek refuge in the temple of Poseidon, in the island of Oalauria, on the coast of Greece, where he poisoned himself to escape from the emissaries of Antipater in 322 BC.
The character of Demosthenes is by most modern scholars considered almost spotless. His fame as an orator is equal to that of Homer as a poet. Cicero pronounces him to be the most perfect of all orators. He carried Greek prose to a degree of perfection which it never before had reached. Everything in his speeches is natural, vigorous, concise, symmetrical. We have under his name sixty-one orations, some of which are not genuine. The great opponent - and indeed enemy - of Demosthenes as an orator was AEschines.
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Dena is the Athapaskan Indian name for themselves.
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The Dene are a North American Indian tribe found in the Northwest Territories, Canada.
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Denis Chales Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer and footballer. He was born in 1918 at Hendon and died in 1997. He played cricket for Middlesex from 1936 and for England from 1937 to 1957, playing in 78 test matches and is regarded as the best all-round cricketer of all time. In 1947 he scored a record 18 centuries. In addition, when younger he played Association Football for Arsenal and England, being England captain in 1943 and playing with Arsenal when they won the cup in 1950. In 1957 following a knee injury he retired from cricket and football to work as a journalist and broadcaster.
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Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, novelist, playwright, encyclopaedist and critic. He was born in 1713 at Langres in Champagne and died in 1784.
Educated in the school of the Jesuits, and afterwards at Paris, at the College of Harcourt, his first works were the Essai sur le Merite et la Vertu (1745); and the Pensees Philosophiques (1746), a pamphlet against the Christian religion. His Lettre sur les Aveugles a l'Usage de Ceux qui Voyent, is in the same strain. These heterodox publications cost him an imprisonment for some time at Vincennes. Denis Diderot now tried writing for the stage, but his pieces were failures. In 1749 he had begun along with D'Alembert and some others the Encyclopedia. At first it was intended to be mainly a translation of one already published in English by Chambers. Denis Diderot and D'Alembert, however, enlarged upon this project, and made the new Encyclopaedia a magnificently comprehensive and bold account of all the thought and science of the time. Denis Diderot, besides revising the whole, undertook at first the mechanical arts, and subsequently made contributions in history, philosophy, and art criticism. But the profits of all his labour were small, and it was only the liberality of the Russian Empress Catharine, who purchased his library for 50,000 livres and made him a yearly allowance of 1000 livres, that saved Denis Diderot from destitution.
In 1773 he visited St Petersburg to thank his benefactress and was received with great honour. On his return to France he lived in retirement, and died in 1784. Besides his articles in the Encyclopedia he wrote numerous works, some of which were published after his death. Among the best known are Le Neveu de Eameau, a kind of philosophical dialogue which Johann Goethe thought worthy of translation; Essai sur la Peinture, and Paradoxe sur le Comedien, suggestive essays on the principles of painting and acting; two lively tales, La Religieuse and Jacques le Fataliste.
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Denmark Vesey was an American Black slave. He was born in 1767 and died in 1822. He purchased his freedom in 1800 and lived in Charleston. He maintained the right of slaves to strike for liberty, and organized a plot for a general insurrection around Charleston. Several thousand slaves were in the plot. The attempt was made in 1822, but was promptly suppressed, and US troops guarded against a new attempt. The leaders were hanged.
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Dennis Gabor was a British physicist. He was born in 1900 in Hungary and died in 1979. His work in electron physics and the invention of holography led to him being awarded a Nobel prize in 1971. His other contributions included high-speed cathode ray oscillograph, information theory, and the physics of optics.
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Dennis J Roberts was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Rhode Island from 1951 until 1959.
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Dennis Murphree was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Mississippi from 1927 until 1928.
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Denver S Dickerson was an American politician. He was a Silver-Democratic governor of Nevada from 1908 until 1911.
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Deodat Guy Silvain Tancrede Gratet de Dolomieu was a French geologist and mineralogist. He was born in 1750 at Dolomieu and died in 1801. After some years of military service he devoted himself to geological researches. He accompanied the French expedition to Egypt, but was shipwrecked on his return off the coast of Taranto, and imprisoned and harshly treated by the Neapolitan government. Among his works are Voyages aux lies de Lipari, etc. (1783); Sur le Tremblement de Terrede la Calabre (1784); Philosophie mineralogique (1802).
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Dermot Mac Murragh was the last Irish King of Leinster. He attained the throne in 1140. Having carried off the wife of O'Ruarc, prince of Leitrim, he was attacked by the latter, and after a contest of some years driven out of Ireland in 1167. He then did homage to the English king, and with the help of Richard, earl of Pembroke, recovered his kingdom in 1170, but died in the same year, and was succeeded by Pembroke, who had married his daughter.
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A Dervish, or Diverse, is a Mulsim devotee, distinguished by austerity of life and the observance of strict forms. There are many different orders of them. Some live in monasteries, others lead an itinerant life, others devote themselves to menial or arduous occupations. They are respected by the common people, and the mendicants among them carry a wooden bowl into which the pious cast alms. One of their forms of devotion is dancing or whirling about, another is shouting or howling, uttering the name Allah, accompanied by violent motions of the body, until they work themselves into a frenzy and sometimes fall down foaming at the mouth. They are traditionally credited with miraculous powers, and were traditionally consulted for the interpretation of dreams and the cure of diseases.
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Derwent Coleridge was an English teacher and writer. He was born in 1800 and died in 1883. From 1841 to 1864 he was principal of St Mark's College, Chelsea, and from 1864 to 1880 rector of Hanwell.
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Desiderius Erasmus was a Dutch scholar. He was born in 1466 at Rotterdam and died in 1536. His original name was Gerard, but this he changed according to a fashion of the time. After the death of his parents, when he was fourteenth years old, his guardians compelled him to enter a monastery; and at the age of seventeen he assumed the monastic habit. The Bishop of Cambray delivered him from this constraint. In 1492 he travelled to Paris to perfect himself in theology and polite literature. He there became the instructor of several rich Englishmen, from one of whom - Lord Mountjoy - he received a pension for life. He accompanied them to England in 1497, where he was graciously received by the king.
He returned soon after to the Continent, took his doctor's degree, was relieved from his monastic vows by dispensation from the pope, and published several of his works. He returned to England in 1510; wrote his Praise of Folly while residing with Sir Thomas More, and was appointed Margaret professor of divinity and Greek lecturer at Cambridge. In 1514 he returned to the Continent and lived chiefly at Basel, where he died in 1536.
To extensive learning Desiderius Erasmus joined a refined taste and a delicate wit. He rendered great and lasting service to the cause of reviving scholarship. Although he took no direct part in the Reformation, and was reproached by Luther for luke warmness, he attacked the disorders of monasticism and superstition, and everywhere promoted the cause of truth. He edited various classics, the first edition of the Greek Testament from manuscript (with Latin translation), etc, but his best-known books are the Encomium Moriae, or Praise of Folly, and his Colloquies. His letters are very valuable in reference to the history of that period.
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Originally the term despot (from the Greek, despotes) meant a master, a lord; at a later period it became an honorary title which the Greek emperors gave to their sons and sons-in-law when governors of provinces. During the 16th century the term despot refered to a petty Christian ruler dependent on or tributary to the Turks after the Turkish conquest of Constantinople. By the Victorian era the term despot meant an absolute ruler, as the Emperor of Russia, and in a narrower sense a tyrannous one. By the end of the 20th century the term had come to mean solely an oppressive, tyrannical absolure ruler.
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Dewey F Bartlett was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Oklahoma from 1967 until 1971.
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DeWitt Clinton Senter was an American politician. He was a Whig-Republican governor of Tennessee from 1869 until 1871.
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Dhuleep Singh was a Maharajah of Lahore who led his Sikh forces in several attacks against the British. He was born in 1837 and died in 1893.
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The Dhundhari are a people of India.
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Di Buoninsegna Duccio was an Italian painter. He was born in 1255 and died in 1319. He founded the Sienese school.
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Diagoras was an ancient Greek poet and philosopher who lived about 425 BC. He spent a great part of his life in Athens. Like his teacher Democritus, he attacked the prevailing polytheism, and sought to substitute the active powers of nature for the divinities of the Greeks. On this account he had to leave Athens.
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Diana of Poitiers was a mistress of Henry II of France and the Duchess of Valentinois. She was born in 1499 and died in 1566. She was descended from the noble family of Poitiers, in Dauphiny. At an early age she married the Grand-seneschal of Normandy, Louis de Breze, became a widow at thirty-one, and some time after the mistress of the young Duke of Orleans. On his accession to the throne, in 1547, as Henry II, Diana continued to exercise an absolute empire over him until his death in 1559. After that event she retired to her castle of Anet, where she died in 1566.
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Diana Ross is an American Motown singer. She was born in 1944. She is remembered for singing with a band called the Supremes and later, from 1970, as a solo artist.
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Diane Julie Abbott is an English politician. She was born in 1953. After being educated at Cambridge she worked for the National Council for Civil Liberties, the Greater London Council and Lambeth Borough Council before being elected to Parliament as member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington in 1987. A member of the Labour party since 1971, she was the first 'Black' woman to be elected to the British government.
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Dick McDonald was one of two brothers responsible for the McDonalds fast- food chain of restaurants. He was born in 1909 and died in 1998.
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Richard (Dick) Turpin was a notorious English highwayman. He was born in 1706 at Hempstead, Essex and died in 1739 when he was hanged at York. The son of the landlord of the Bell Inn, he started his career as a butcher's apprentice before becoming an associate of Tom King, whom he accidentally shot. A smuggler, cattle-thief, housebreaker, highwayman and horse-thief, he was finally caught and executed for the murder of an Epping keeper.
As a young man, Dick Turpin was reputedly allowed more money than he needed, and developed extravagant tastes, and was it was said of him that he 'cut a dash round the town among the blades of the road and turf, whose company he affected to keep.' His family thought that marriage would settle the roguish Dick, and he was betrothed to a Miss Palmer whom he married. However, Miss Palmer was of a similar nefarious nature and remained a loyal and faithful partner to Dick throughout his subsequent criminal life.
As a child, Dick Turpin had taught himself poaching, and later he joined a gang of small-time villains who showed him the profit to be made from stealing the occasional sheep. Leaving them, Dick Turpin started stealing deer from Epping Forest, which he sold to contacts in London he had made while training as a butcher. Suspicions of his activities abound, but it was not until he stole a local cow and sold its beef locally did he have to leave home and went to Plaistow where he stole two cows, butchered them and sold the beef locally, only to be discovered by the investigations of two farm workers who had been charged with looking after the cattle he stole.
Pursued by Bow Street Runners, Dick Turpin left for Essex where he noticed furtive figures both solitary and gangs roaming the roads at dusk. Enquiries revealed these figures were smugglers, and Dick Turpin took to confronting them at night and demanding money in the name of the king.
Becoming lonely he joined a gang of deer-stealers until they attracted too much attention, at which point he left the gang and became a house-breaker before joining Gregory's gang and within a few weeks leading the gang. While leading the Gregory gang Dick Turpin realised that it was in his own interests to be lenient with his victims, and courted public sympathy by insisting the gang were never unruly or ill treated their robbery victims.
Dick Turpin's demise was ridiculous. While in Yorkshire under an assumed name, that of Palmer, he worked as a legitimate horse dealer until one day while returning from a shooting party he deliberately shot a cockerel. The event was witnessed by a friend of the cock's owner who upon asking the reason for the killing was jokingly offered to be shot also by Dick Turpin. A warrant was subsequently issued and while in custody his true identity was recognised and he was tried, and condemned to be hanged for horse stealing.
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Didot was a famous house of printers, booksellers, and typefounders at Paris. The founder was Francois Didot born in 1689 and died in 1757. Of his sons Francois-Ambroise born in 1720 and died in 1804 and Pierre-Francois born in 1732 and died in 1795, the first distinguished himself in the type-founding art as an inventor of new processes and machines, the second was equally eminent by his bibliographical knowledge, and contributed much also to the advancement of printing.
Pierre Didot was born in 1761 and died in 1853. He succeeded his father Francois-Ambroise in the printing business. He made himself famous by his magnificent editions of classic authors in folio, amongst which his Virgil (1798) and his Racine (1801) may be particularly mentioned. He did much also for the improvement of types, etc. He is known also as an author.
Firmin Didot, born in 1764 and died in 1836, was the brother of Pierre Didot, and took charge of the type-founding. He was the inventor of a new sort of script, and an improver of the stereotype process.
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Diego D'Almagro was a Spanish conquistador. He was born in 1464 and died in 1538. He was associated with Pizarro and Hernando de Luque in the conquest of Peru. He reached Peru in 1533 and attacked Chile in 1536, and returning in 1537 relieved Cuzco which was besieged by the Peruvians. Pizarro refused to recognise his claim to Cuzco and to Lima and defeated him at Las Salmas in 1538 and had him executed.
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Diego de Almagro was a Spanish Conquistador. A foundling, he was born in 1475 and died in 1538. He took part with Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, and after frequent disputes with Pizarro about their respective shares in their conquests led an expedition against Chili, which he failed to conquer. On his return a struggle took place between him and Pizarro, in which Almagro was finally overcome, taken prisoner, strangled, and afterwards beheaded. He was avenged by his son, who raised an insurrection in which Pizarro was assassinated in 1541. The younger Almagro was put to death in 1542 by De Castro, the new viceroy of Peru.
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Diego Maradona is an Argentine footballer. He was born in 1960 at Lanus and in 1977 became Argentina's youngest ever international.
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Diego Rivera was a Mexican painter. He was born in 1886 at Guanajuato and died in 1957.
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Diego Velazquez was a Spanish administrator. He was born about 1460 at Cuellar, near Valladolid and died in 1522. He sailed with Cgristopher Columbus on his second voyage, and in 1511 conquered Cuba, of which he became governor, founding several towns, and remaining there until his death. Velazquez was responsible for an expedition which discovered Yucatan, in 1517, and sent Hernando Cortes to Mexico in 1518. Regretting, however, the extensive powers he had given to Cortes, he sent a force under Panfilo de Narvaez, which was overthrown by Cortes in 1520.
Diego Rodriguez De Silva Y Velazquez was a Spanish painter. He was born in 1599 at Seville and died in 1660. He studied under Francesco Herrera and then, when Herrera's temper got too much for him, under Pacheco whose daughter he later married. Velazquez also came under the influence of Luis Tristan, a pupil of El Greco. Settling in Madrid in 1623, he there painted a portrait of Fonseca, almoner to Philip IV which introduced him to the notice of the king. In the same year he painted a portrait of Philip IV, the first of a very long series which he painted of that king at every period of his life.
In 1628 Velazquez met Rubens, who came to Madrid as ambassador from the regent of the Netherlands. Having then conceived an eager desire to visit Italy, he left Spain in 1629, journeying to Venice, and then to Rome, by way of Ferrara and Bologna, and in 1630 was in Naples. The next year saw him back again at Madrid, and from that time began his long series of notable portraits.
His second visit to Italy was paid in 1649, v/hen his main object was to collect pictures and casts from the antique. On this occasion he painted his celebrated portrait of Pope Innocent X. In 1651, home again in Spain, he was given a high court appointment by the king, which took up much time. His pictures at this period include Maids of Honour, and the Tapestry Weavers.
The main feature of the art of Velazquez is its absolute truth. He was an impressionist in the truest meaning of the word, could seize upon an effect in its momentary force, and represent it in all its bare truth, painting colour as it really was. He had an unequalled command of values. There is never any false lighting or inaccurate incidence of light in his pictures, and he not only understood atmosphere, but grasped the mystery of shadows and darkness. He selected essentials with unerring judgement, and no other works are so near to the effect of nature as are his, or produce like them the true perspective of the atmosphere.
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Dietrich Buxtehude was a Danish composer. He was born in 1637 and died in 1707. He composed Organ works, vocal music.
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Dietrich of Bern is the name under which Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, appears in the old German legends. Bern stands for Verona, his capital.
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The diggers were a pacifist and radical sect of 17th century England.
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Dimitri Shostakovich was a Russian composer. He was born in 1906 and died in 1975. He composed Symphonies, Lady Macbeth of the District Mzensk.
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Dinah Maria Craik (born Dinah Maria Mulock) was an English novelist. She was born in 1826 at Stoke-upon-Trent and died in 1887. She married George Lillie Craik in 1865 and published a volume of poems under the title of Thirty Years; many essays and papers on ethical and domestic subjects; books for young people, and about twenty-four novels, the best of which are; John Halifax, Gentleman; A Life for a Life; Agatha's Husband; and The Woman's Kingdom.
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Dingaan was King of the Zulus. He granted the Boers, led by Pieter Retief, permission to enter Natal, but later massacred the whole community in 1838.
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The Dinka are a branch of the Nilotes, race of mixed Negro and Hamitic blood, inhabiting part of the Sudan. They are exceptionally tall, often reaching 7 ft, athletic and very proud.
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Diocletian was a Roman Emperor. He was born in 243 and died in 313. He was proclaimed Emperor by the troops at Chalcedon in 284.
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Diodorus Siculus (Diodorus of Argyrium) was a Greek historian of the 1st century BC. He documented Greek history from its mythical beginnings to the Gallic War.
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Diogenes of Sinope was the most famous of the Cynic philosophers. He was born about 412 BC and died in 323 BC Having been banished from his native place with his father, who had been accused of coining false money, he went to Athens, and thrust himself upon Antisthenes as a disciple. Like Antisthenes he despised all philosophical speculations, and opposed the corrupt morals of his time; but while the stern austerity of. Antisthenes was repulsive, Diogenes exposed the follies of his contemporaries with wit and good humour. As an exemplar of Cynic virtue he satisfied his appetite with the coarsest food, practised the most rigid temperance, walked through the streets of Athens barefoot, without any coat, with a long beard, a stick in his hand, and a wallet on his shoulders, and by night, according to the popular story, slept in a tub (or large earthenware vessel).
On a voyage to the island of AEgina he fell into the hands of pirates, who sold him as a slave to the Corinthian Xeniades in Crete. The latter emancipated him, and intrusted him with the education of his children. He attended to the duties of his new employment with the greatest care, commonly living in summer at Corinth and in winter at Athens.
Of the many stories related of him the majority are probably fictions; many indeed are chronologically impossible. His enemies accused him of various scandalous offences, but there is no ground for supposing him guilty of any worse fault than that of elevating impertinence to the rank of a fine art.
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Diogenes Laertius was the author of a sort of history of philosophy in Greek. He appears to have been born at Laerte, in Cilicia, and to have lived towards the close of the second century after Christ; but no certain information exists either as to his life, studies, or age. The work is divided into ten books, and bears in manuscript the title, On the Lives, Doctrines, and Apothegms of those who have distinguished themselves in Philosophy. It is full of absurd and improbable anecdotes, but contains valuable information regarding the private life of the Greeks, and many fragments of works now lost. It was the foundation of the earlier modern histories of philosophy.
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Diogenes of Apollonia known also as the Physicist was a Greek philosopher. He lived in the 5th century BC. He belonged to the Ionian school, and considered air as the element of all things.
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Dion Cassius or Dio Cassius was a Greek historian and administrator. He was born in 155 at Nicaea and died in 230. After accompanying his father to Cilicia, of which he held the administration, he came to Borne about 180, and obtained. the rank of a Roman senator. On the accession of Pertinax Dion Cassius was appointed prastor, and in the reign of Caracalla he was one of the senators whom it had become customary to select to accompany the emperor in his expeditions, of which he complains bitterly. In 219 he was raised to the consulship, and about 224 became proconsul of Africa. In 229 he was again appointed consul; but feeling his life precarious under Alexander Severus, he obtained permission to retire to his native town of Nicaea. The period of his death is unknown. The most important of his writings, though only a small part is extant, is a History of Rome, written in Greek and divided into eighty books, from the arrival of AEneas in Italy and the foundation of Alba and Rome to 229 AD.
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Dion Chrysostom was a Greek sophist and rhetorician and a favourite of Trajan. He was born in 50 and died about 110 AD. Eighty of his orations (in excellent Attic) have been preserved.
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Dion of Syracuse was in Greek history, a connection by marriage of the elder and the younger Dionysius, tyrants of Syracuse, over whom he long exercised great influence. He attempted to reform the younger Dionysius, but his enemies succeeded in effecting his banishment. He afterwards returned and made himself ruler of the city, but became unpopular, and in 353 BC one of his followers, Callipus of Athens, caused him to be assassinated.
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Dionys Calvaert was a Flemish painter. He was born in 1555 at Antwerp and died in 1619 at Bologna. At an early age he went to Italy, and ultimately opened a school at Bologna, from which proceeded 137 masters, and among these Albano, Guide, and Domenichino.
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Dionysius the Elder was a tyrant of Syracuse. He was born around 430 BC and died around 367 BC. He obtained the rank of general, and afterwards of commander-in-chief; and gaining the support of the army he gained control of the city during the war with Carthage, in 405 BC and extended his power by defeating the Carthaginians in 397 BC. His successful campaign against Rhegium and other Greek cities in Italy between 391 BC and 386 BC further extended his power, but he was defeated by the Carthaginians soon after. Dionysius raised Syracuse to the position of a leading city and was a patron of literature. He is said to have died from a potion administered at the instigation of his son Dionysius the Younger.
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Dionysius of Halicarnassus in Caria was a Greek critic and teacher of eloquence. He was born about 70 BC and died about 6 BC. He went to Rome about 30 BC, where he wrote his Roman Antiquities, in twenty books, in which he relates (in Greek) the early history of Rome and its government up to the times of the first Punic war. We have the first nine books of this work entire, the tenth and eleventh nearly so, and some fragments of the others. His rhetorical writings are of greater value, especially his essays on the Greek orators.
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Dionysius the Little (so called on account of his short stature) was a Scythian monk who was abbot of a monastery at Rome in the beginning of the 6th century, and died about the year 530, according to others about 545. He was celebrated as the author of the computation of time from the Christian era. This mode of computation, however, was not publicly used until the 8th century.
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Dionysius the Younger was a tyrant of Syracuse, who in 367 BC succeeded his father, Dionysius the Elder. For the purpose of recalling him from the excesses to which he was addicted Dion persuaded him to invite Plato to his court, but the influence of the philosopher effected no permanent change. Becoming suspicious of Dion, the tyrant banished him and confiscated his property, but in 357 BC Dion made himself master of Syracuse. Dionysius the Younger fled to Locri, but after the murder of Dion recovered his power in Syracuse. His misfortunes, however, had rendered him more cruel, and Timoleon, who came to Syracuse with aid from Corinth against the Carthaginians, deposed him in 344 BC. He was carried to Corinth, where he is said to have gained a living by giving lessons in grammar, or as one of the attendants on the rites of Cybele.
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Diophantus of Alexandria was the first Greek writer on algebra. He lived, according to some authorities, about the middle-of the 4th century AD. He left behind him thirteen books of Arithmetical Questions, of which only six are extant; and a work on Polygon Numbers.
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A Diplomat is a person sent to a foreign country as one of the representatives of his country. Traditionally diplomats have spied on their host country.
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Dirk Bouts was a Flemish painter. He was born in 1415 at Haarlem and died in 1475. He was made city painter of Louvain in 1468. Bouts painted religious works and portraits in a linear, reserved, yet deeply felt style influenced by Roger van der Weyden. He skilfully used landscape as background and depicted still-life objects as accessories. Famous for the subtlety of his colouring and for his ability to suggest space in his interiors and landscapes, he is considered a foremost northern painter of his time, surpassed only by Jan van Eyck. Outstanding among Bouts's works are five panels in a triptych on biblical themes, including a masterly Last Supper in the central panel, painted for St. Pierre, Louvain. Also important is the Ordeal by Fire.
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Dirk Hals was a Dutch artist. He was born in 1589 and died in 1656. He was a younger brother of Frans Hals. He painted social pictures of young people assembled at dinner, dancing, talking or listening to music.
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Dirty Dick was the nickname given to Nathaniel Bentley, an 18th century English dandy who, following the death of his fiancee on the eve of their wedding, spent the rest of his life living in squalor until he died in 1809. A pub was built on the site of his house, in Bishop's Gate, London, in 1870, and named 'Dirty Dick's' in memory of the tragic man.
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Dixon Denham was an English explorer. He was born in 1786 at London and died in 1828 at Sierra Leone 1828. Between 1823 and 1824 he was engaged, in company with Captain Clapperton and Dr. Oudney, in exploring the central regions of Africa. Dixon Denham himself explored the region around Lake Tchad, was wounded and separated from his company, but found his way home after great suffering, when he published his Narrative of Travels. In 1826 he went to Sierra Leone as superintendent of the liberated Africans, and in 1828 was appointed lieutenant-governor of the colony.
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Dixy Lee Ray was an American politician. She was a Democratic governor of Washington from 1977 until 1981.
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Dmitri Aleksandrovich Bystroletov was a Soviet OGPU agent. He was born in 1901. His first major success as an agent came in 1927 at Prague when he seduced a 29 year old woman (subsequently codenamed Laroche) working at the French embassy. She provided Bystroletov with copies of French diplomatic ciphers and classified communications.
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Dmitri Ivanovitch Mendeleyev was a Russian scientist. He was born in 1834 at Tobolsk and died in 1907. He discovered that characteristic properties of chemical elements recur in regular cycles in a table starting with the element of lowest atomic weight and progressing consecutively in order of weight.
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Doctor is a term literally signifying teacher. In the middle ages, from the twelfth century, it came into use as a title of honour for men of great learning, such as Thomas Aquinas (Doctor Angelicus), Duns Scotus (Doctor Subtilis), etc. It was first made an academical title by the University of Bologna, and emperors and popes soon afterwards assumed the right of granting universities the power of conferring the degree in law. The faculties of theology and medicine were soon included, but for a long time the faculty of arts retained the older title of Magister, until the German universities substituted that of Doctor. The title of Doctor is in some cases an honorary degree, and in other cases (as in medicine and science) conferred after examination.
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Doctors of the Church is a name given to four of the Greek Fathers (Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and Chrysostom) and three of the Latin Fathers (Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great). The Roman Catholic Church, however, recognizes seventeen 'Doctors of the Church,' including, besides those already mentioned, Chrysologus, Leo, Isidore, Peter Damian, Anselm, Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventura, and Alphonsus of Liguori. The title is conferred only after death.
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The Doctrinaires were a section of French politicians, represented by the Duc de Broglie, Royer-Collard, Francois Guizot and others, who became prominent after the Restoration in 1815. They favoured a constitutional monarchy with a balance of powers similar to that which then existed in Britain. In the chambers they thus occupied a.place between radicals and ultra-royalists. They received the name of doctrinaires because they were looked upon more as theoretical constitution-makers than practical politicians, and the term is now used with a wider application to political theorists generally.
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A dog-whipper was formerly a beadle employed to whip all the dogs from the precincts of a church. Possibly the last dog-whipper in Britain was John Pickard, appointed in 1856 at Exeter Cathedral.
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Doge was formerly the title of the first magistrates in the Italian republics of Venice and Genoa. The first doge of Venice elected for life was Paolo Anafesto, in 697; and in Genoa, Simon Boccanera, in 1339. In the former city the dignity was always held for life; in the latter, in later times, only for two years. In both cities the office was abolished by the French in 1797.
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The Dogon are inhabitants of Mali. They depend mainly on the cultivation of grain crops such as millet for their livelihood. Traditionally they lived in inaccessible villages on steep hill-sides - exhibiting famed skill as mountaineers and climbers, and this isolation encouraged the development of their remarkably intricate cosmology and mythology and more than thirty language dialects. To the Dogon, myths and symbolism are as real as the material form of things, and every aspect of social life reflects the working of the universe.
Dogon villages, for instance, are laid out in such a way as to symbolize the world egg out of which all life is believed to originate. Each district has its own spiritual leader, or hogon; nevertheless, the knowledge of myths and symbols is not confined to a priest-caste but is open to anyone who has the patience and intelligence to learn. The Dogon houses are called a ginna and are made in the shape of a human body. Each Dogon village also has a togu na or man's shelter where the men and village elders loaf around, talk and smoke, and women are barred.
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The Dolcinites were a Christian sect of Piedmont, named from their leader Dolcino. They arose in 1304 as a protest against Papacy, but were suppressed by the troops of the Inquisition in 1307.
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Dolph Briscoe was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Texas from 1973 until 1979.
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The Domari, Dom or Zott are a Muslim gypsy people of the Middle East.
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Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri) was an Italian painter of the Lombard school. He was born in 1581 or 1582 at Bologna and died in 1641. He studied under Annibal Carracci, and afterwards went to Rome, where he became painter to Pope Gregory XV. Among his best works are the Communion of St Jerome in the Vatican Museum, the History of Apollo, the Martyrdom of St. Agnes, and the Triumph of David.
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Domenico Beccafumi was an Italian painter. He was born in the latter half of the fifteenth century near Sienna and died in 1551. He enriched the churches of Sierma with many noble frescoes and other paintings. He drew and coloured well, and possessed strong inventive powers.
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Domenico Cimarosa was one of the earlier Italian operatic composers. He was born in 1749 (or 1754 or 1755) and died in 1801 at Venice. He composed about 120 operas, most of which are comic His best-known work is Il Matrimonio Segreto (the Secret Marriage).
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Domenico Fontana was an Italian architect and engineer. He was born in 1543 and died in 1607. He was employed by Pope Sixtus V in many great works, among the chief of which was the erection of the Egyptian obelisk in front of St Peter's. Among other buildings erected by Domenico Fontana, were the Lateran Palace and the library of the Vatican. He also executed important works at Naples.
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Domenico Ghirlandaio was a Florentine sculptor. He was born in 1449 and died in 1494.
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Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer. He was born in 1685 at Naples and died in 1757.
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Domenico Theotocopuli (El Greco) was a Greco-Spanish painter. He was born in 1547 at Candia, Crete and died in 1614. After studying at Venice under Titian he painted portraits and religious pictures in Rome, settling in Spain around 1577 where he worked at Toledo as a painter, architect and sculptor.
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Dominic Frontiere is an American composer. He was born in 1931 at New Haven, Connecticut. He composed the music for many of America's films and television series since the 1960's including the 1963 'The Outer Limits' and the 1974 'The Mark Of Zorro'.
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The Dominicans also called the predicants, or preaching friars (prcedicatores), derived their name from their founder, St Dominic. At their origin in 1216, at Toulouse they were governed by the rule of St Augustine, perpetual silence, poverty, and fasting being enjoined upon them; and the principal object of their institution was to preach against heretics. Their distinctive dress consists of a white habit and scapular with a large black mantle, and hence they have been commonly known as Black Friars. They were almost from the first a mendicant order. They spread rapidly not only in Europe, but in Asia, Africa, and America. In England there were fifty-eight Dominican houses at the dissolution of the monasteries, and the Blackfriars locality in London took its name from one of their establishments. They produced some famous scholars, such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, and became formidable as managers of the Inquisition, which was committed exclusively to them in Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
In 1425 they obtained permission to receive donations, and ceased to belong to the mendicant orders, paying more attention to politics and theological science. With the Franciscans, their great rivals, they divided the honour of ruling in church and state until the 16th century, when the Jesuits gradually superseded them in the schools and courts. They obtained new importance in 1620 by being appointed to the censorship of books for the church. Amongst notable Dominicans we may mention Savonarola, Las Casas, and Lacordaire. There are still establishments of the Dominicans both in England and Ireland.
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Dominique Francois Arago was a French physicist. He was born in 1786 and died in 1853. After studying in the Polytechnic School at Paris, he was appointed a secretary of the Bureau des Longitudes. In 1806 he was associated with Jean Biot in completing in Spain the measurements of Jean Delambre and Mechain to obtain an arc of the meridian. Before he got back to France he had been shipwrecked and narrowly escaped being enslaved at Algiers. In 1809 he was elected to the Academy of Sciences, and appointed a professor of the Polytechnic School. He distinguished himself by his researches in the polarization of light, galvanism, magnetism, astronomy, etc. His discovery of the magnetic properties of substances devoid of iron, made known to the Academy of Sciences in 1824, procured him the Copley medal of the Royal Society of London in 1825. A further consideration of the same subject led to the equally remarkable discovery of the production of magnetism by electricity. He took part in the revolution of 1848, and held the office of minister of war and marine in the provisional government. At the coup d'etat of December 1852, he refused to take the oath to the government of Louis Napoleon, but the oath was not pressed. His works, which were posthumously collected and published, consist, besides his Astronomie Populaire, chiefly of contributions to learned societies, and biographical notices (eloges) of deceased members of the Academy of Sciences.
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Dominique Bouhours was a French Jesuit and etymologist. He was born in 1628 at Paris and died in 1702. He entered the order of Jesuits at sixteen and became professor of grammar and rhetoric at Paris and Rhouen. In 1666 he returned to Paris as tutor to Colbert's eldest son.
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Dominique de Gourgues was a French soldier. He was born in 1537 and died in 1593. He set sail in 1567, with three vessels and about 230 men, to punish the Spaniards led by Menendez, for killing French explorers in Florida. He enlisted the services of the Indians and attacked Fort San Mateo on the St John's River, Florida, completely annihilated the garrison, and likewise destroyed the fortifications at the mouth of the river.
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Dominique Rene Vandamme was a French soldier. He was born in 1770 at Cassel and died in 1930. He entered the French army when a boy, and by the age of 22 had risen to be a brigadier-general in the revolutionary force. His greatest exploit was the reduction of Silesia in 1806-1807. In 1813, after the battle of Dresden, he was defeated at Kulm, and forced to surrender with 10,000 men When, in 1815, Napoleon returned to France, Dominique Vandamme joined him, and was appointed to command a corps which fought at Ligny, but not at the Battle of Waterloo. He was exiled by the Bourbons until 1824.
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Domitian (fully Titus Flavius Domitianus Augustus) was a Roman emperor. He was the son of Vespasian, and brother of Titus. He was was born in 51 and died in 96. In 81 succeeded to the throne. At first he ruled with a show of moderation and justice, but soon returned to the cruelty and excesses for which his youth had been notorious. He was as vain as he was cruel, and after an ineffective expedition against the Catti, carried a multitude of his slaves, dressed like Germans, in triumph to the city. He executed great numbers of the chief citizens, and assumed the titles of Lord and God. He established the most stringent laws against high treason, which enabled almost anything to be construed into this crime. At length a conspiracy, in which his wife Domitia took part, was formed against him, and he was assassinated in his bed-room.
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Don is a Spanish title of honour, originally given only to the highest nobility, afterwards to all the nobles, and finally used indiscriminately as a title of courtesy. It corresponds with the Portuguese Dom. During the Spanish occupation it was introduced and became naturalized in some parts of Italy, and was particularly applied to the priests.
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Don Carlos was a Spanish prince. He was born in 1545 and died in 1568. He was deformed in person, and described as being of a violent and vindictive disposition, and though originally declared heir to the throne he was afterwards passed over in favour of his cousins Rodolph and Ernest. In consequence of this he is supposed to have entered into a plot against the king and the Duke of Alva. Tried on the charge of conspiring against the life of the king, he was found guilty, and imprisoned, waiting sentence from the king. He died shortly after, presumably murdered, but of this there is no proof. The story of Don Carlos has furnished the subject of several tragedies including one by Otway.
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Don Maria Isaior Carlos de Bourbon was a Spanish prince. He was born in 1788 and died in 1855. The second son of Charles IV of Spain and brother of Ferdinand VII, he was heir presumptive to the throne until the birth of Maria Isabella in 1830. On the death of his brother he claimed the throne as legitimate king of Spain, and was recognized as such by a considerable party, who excited a civil war in his favour, and thenceforward were designated by the title of Carlists. After a course of hostilities extending over several years with varying success he found himself obliged in 1839 to take shelter in France.
In the meantime he and his descendants had been formally excluded from the succession by a vote of the Cortes in 1836. In 1845 he resigned his claims in favour of his eldest son, and in 1847 was permitted to take up his abode in Trieste, where he died.
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Don Alonso de Ercilla y Zuniga was a Spanish soldier and poet. He was born in 1533 and died in 1595. He became page to the Infant Don Philip, accompanied him on his travels, and in 1554 went with him to England, on the occasion of his marriage with Queen Mary. After this he fought against the Araucanians of South America in Chile, and his epic La Araucana is based on the events of this war. It was first published in 1569, is written in excellent Spanish, and occupies an honourable position in the national literature.
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Don Juan is the hero of a Spanish legend which seems to have had some historical basis in the history of a member of the noble family of Tenorio at Seville. According to the legend Don Juan was a libertine of the most reckless character. An attempt to seduce the daughter of a governor of Seville brought the indignant father and the profligate don into deadly conflict, in which the former was slain. Don Juan afterwards, in a spirit of wild mockery, goes to the grave of the murdered man and invites the statue of him erected there to a revel. To the terror of Don Juan the 'stony guest' actually appears at the table to bear him away to the infernal world.
The legend has furnished the subject for many dramas and operas. The most famous of the latter is Mozart's Don Giovanni, which has made the story familiar to everybody. Amongst the former are Burlador de Sevilla by Tellez, Don Juan ou Le Pestin de Pierre, by Moliere, and The Libertine by Shadwell. The Don Juan of Byron bears no relation to the old story but in name and in the libertine character of the hero.
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Don Juan Ruize de Alarcon' Y Mendoza was one of the most distinguished dramatic poets of Spain. He was born about the beginning of the seventeenth century at Mexico and died in 1639. He came to Europe about 1622, and in 1628 he published a volume containing eight comedies, and in 1634 another containing twelve. One of them, called La Verdad Sospechosa (The Truth Suspected), furnished Corneille with the groundwork and greater part of the substance of his Menteur. His Tejador de Segovia (Weaver of Segovia) and Las Paredes Oyen (Walls have Ears) are still performed on the Spanish stage. He died in 1639.
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Don Luis D'Avila y Zuniga was a Spanish general, diplomatist, and historian. He was born about 1490 and died after 1552. A favourite of Charles V his chief work, translated into five or six languages, was on the war of Charles V in Germany.
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Don Manuel Breton de Los Herreros was a popular Spanish poet. He was born in 1800 and died in 1873. He furnished the Spanish stage with more than 150 pieces, original and adapted, besides writing lyrical and satirical poems, etc.
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Don Pedro Calderon de la Barca was a Spanish dramatist. He was born in 1600 at Madrid, 1600 and died in 1681. Educated in the Jesuits' College, Madrid, and at Salamanca. Before his fourteenth year he had written his third play. Leaving Salamanca in 1625 he entered the army and served with distinction for ten years in Italy and the Netherlands. In 1656 he was recalled by Philip IV, who gave him the direction of the court entertainments. The next year he was made knight of the order of Santiago, and he served in 1640 in the campaign in Catalonia.
In 1651 he entered the clerical profession, and in 1653 obtained a chaplain's office in the archiepiscopal church at Toledo, but as this situation removed him too far from court, he received, in 1663, another at the king's court chapel (being still allowed to hold the former); and at the same time a pension was assigned him from the Sicilian revenue. His fame greatly increased his income, as he was solicited by the principal cities of Spain to compose their autos sacramentales, for which he was liberally paid, and on which he specially prided himself.
Besides heroic comedies and historical plays, some of which merit the name of tragedies, Galderon has left ninety-five autos sacramentales, 200 loas (preludes), and 100 saynetes (farces). He wrote his last play in the eightieth year of his age. His smaller poems are now forgotten; but his plays have maintained their place on the stage even more than those of Lope de Vega. Their number amounts to 128. He wrote, however, many more, some of which were never published.
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Don Samuelson was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Idaho from 1967 until 1971.
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Donald Bane was King of Scotland during 1093.
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Donald Campbell was a British soldier. He was born in 1735 and died in 1763. While he was stationed at Detroit he met with Pontiac, who was then besieging the city, in conference. Donald Campbell was treacherously not permitted to return, and was tortured to death by the Indians.
Donald Campbell was a British speed racer. He was born in 1921 and died in 1967. The son of Malcolm Campbell. He broke the world water speed record on Ullswater in 1955.
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Donald Cargill was a Scottish covenanting preacher. He was born about 1610 and died in 1681. He studied at Aberdeen, and became minister of the Barony Church in Glasgow in 1650. In 1679 he took part in the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, where he was wounded. He had a principal hand in the Queensferry and Sanquhar Declarations. For formally excommunicating Charles II, the Duke of York, and others, he was executed at Edinburgh for high treason.
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Donald G Nutter was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Montana from 1961 until 1962.
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Donald was King of Scotland from 860 to 863.
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Donald II was King of Scotland from 878 to 889.
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Donald Maclean was a British diplomat. He defected to the Russians with Guy Burgess in 1951.
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Donald S Russell was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of South Carolina from 1963 until 1965.
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Donald Alexander Smith (Lord Strathcoma and Mount Royal) was a Canadian politician. He was born in 1820 at Archiestown, Morayshire and died in 1914. He emigrated to Canada when he was eighteen years old and worked as a junior clerk in the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1866 he became general manager of the Hudson Bay Company in Canada, and eventually governor of Montreal. In 1886 he was knighted and in 1896 was made high commissioner for Canada in England. In 1897 he was made a baron of the United Kingdom with the title Lord Strathcoma and Mount Royal.
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Donatello (Donato Di Nicolo Di Betto Bardi) was an Italian sculptor. He was born in 1386 at Florence and died in 1466. His first great works in marble were statues of St Peter and St Mark, in the church of St Michael in hia native town, in an outside niche of which is also his famous statue of St George. Along with his friend Brunelleschi he made a journey to Rome to study its art treasures. On his return he executed for his patrons, Cosmo and Lorenzo de'Medici, a marble monument to their father and mother, which is of high merit. Statues of St John, of Judith, David, and St Cecilia are amongst his leading works.
Donatello was an Italian opera composer. He was born in 1797 and died in 1848.
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The Donatists were one of a body of African schismatics of the 4th century, so named from their founder Donatus, Bishop of Casa Nigra in Numidia (Algeria), who taught that though Christ was of the same substance with the Father yet that he was less than the Father, that the Catholic Church was not infallible, but had erred in his time and become practically extinct, and that he was to be the restorer of it. All joining the sect required to be rebaptized, baptism by the impure church being invalid.
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The Doones were a marauding English tribe living at Badgworthy in Exmoor. In the 17th century they were exterminated by the surrounding population.
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Doria was one of the most powerful families of Genoa, became distinguished about the beginning of the twelfth century, and shared with three other leading families, the Fieschi, Grimaldi, and Spinola, the early government of the republic. Amongst the older heroes of this family are Oberto Doria, who in 1284 commanded the Genoese fleet which at Meloria annihilated the power of Pisa; Lamba Doria, who in 1298 defeated the Venetian Dandolo at the naval battle of Curzola; Paganino Doria, who in the middle of the fourteenth century distinguished himself by great victories over the Venetians.
But the greatest name of the Dorias is that of Andrea Doria, born at Oneglia in 1466, of a younger branch of the family. After serving some time as a condottiere with the princes of Southern Italy, he was entrusted by the Genoese with the reconstruction of their fleet. Disagreement with the Genoese factions drove him to take service with Francis I of France, in which he highly distinguished himself, and in 1527 he took Genoa in name of the French king. But being displeased with the projects of Francis for reducing Genoa to a place of secondary importance he went over to the service of Charles V in 1529, carrying with him the whole influence and resources of Genoa. He reestablished order in Genoa, reorganized the government, and although refusing the title of doge practically controlled its affairs to the end of his life. As imperial admiral he performed many services for Charles, clearing the seas of Moorish pirates and assisting the emperor in his expeditions to Tunis and Algiers. In 1547 his authority was threatened by the conspiracy of Fieschi, and he narrowly escaped assassination in the tumult. He died in 1560.
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The Dorians were one of the four great branches of the Greek nation who migrated from Thessaly southwards, settling for a time in the mountainous district of Doris in Northern Greece and finally in Peloponnesus. Their migration to the latter was said to have taken place in 1104 BC; and as among their leaders were certain descendants of Hercules (or Heracles), it was known as the return of the Heraclidae. The Dorians ruled in Sparta with great renown as a strong and warlike people, though less cultivated than the other Greeks in arts and letters. Their laws were severe and rigid, as typified in the codes of the great Doric legislators Minos and Lycurgus. The Doric dialect was characterized by its broadness and hardness, yet on account of its venerable and antique style was often used in solemn odes and choruses.
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Dorigny was the name of several French painters and engravers. Michael Dorigny was born in 1617, became professor in the Academy at Paris, and died in 1665. Louis Dorigny, son of Michael Dorigny, was born in 1654, settled in Italy, and died in 1742. Sir Nicholas Dorigny, brother of Louis Dorigny, was born in 1658 at Paris, was the most celebrated of the three. He spent eight years in engraving the famous cartoons of Raphael at Hampton Court, and was knighted by George I. He died in 1746.
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Dositheane was an ancient sect among the Samaritans, so called from their founder Dositheus, who was a contemporary and associate of Simon Magus, and lived in the first century of the Christian era. They rejected the authority of the prophets, believed in the divine inspiration of their founder, and had many superstitious practices.
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Dosso Dossi was Italian painter of the Ferrara school. He was born in 1479 and died in 1542. He was much honoured by Duke Alfonso of Ferrara, and immortalised Ariosto (whose portrait he executed in a masterly manner) in his Orlando. Modena and Ferrara possess most of his works.
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Dost Mohammed Khan was an amir of Afghanistan. He was born in 1793 and died in 1863. He established himself as amir in 1834, but his alliance with Russia led to the invasion of his territory by British troops in 1839, he lost his throne but was ultimately restored, and latterly became a steady supporter of British power in the East.
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Douglas is a family distinguished in the annals of Scotland. Their origin is unknown. They were already territorial magnates at the time when Bruce and Baliol were competitors for the crown. As their estates lay on the borders they early became guardians of the kingdom against the encroachments of the English, and acquired in this way power, habits, and experience which frequently made them formidable to the crown.
We notice in chronological succession the most distinguished members of the family. James Douglas son of the William Douglas who had been a companion of Wallace, and is commonly known as the Good Sir James, early joined Bruce, and was one of his chief supporters throughout his career, and one of the most distinguished leaders at the battle of Bannockburn. He fell in battle with the Moors while on his way to the Holy Land with the heart of his master, in 1331.
Archibald Douglas, youngest brother of Sir James Douglas, succeeded to the regency of Scotland in the infancy of David. He was defeated and killed at Halidon Hill by Edward III. in 1333.
William Douglas, son of Archibald Douglas, was created first earl in 1357. He recovered Douglasdale from the English, and was frequently engaged in wars with them. He fought at the battle of Poitiers. He died in 1384.
James Douglas, the second earl, who, like his ancestors, was constantly engaged in border warfare, was killed at the battle of Otterburn in 1388. After his death the earldom passed to an illegitimate son of the Good Sir James Douglas, Archibald the Grim Lord of Galloway.
Archibald Douglas, son of Archibald the Grim and fourth earl, was the Douglas who was defeated and taken prisoner by Percy (Hotspur) at Homildon the 14th of September, 1402. He was also taken prisoner at Shrewsbury on the 23rd of July 1403, and did not recover his liberty until 1407. He was killed at the battle of Verneuil, in Normandy, in 1427. Charles VII. created him Duke of Touraine, which title descended to his successors.
William Douglas, sixth earl, was born in 1422, together with his only brother David was assassinated by Crichton and Livingstone at a banquet to which he had been invited in the name of the king, in Edinburgh Castle, on the 24th of November, 1440. Jealousy of the great power which the Douglases had acquired from their possessions in Scotland and France was the cause of this deed.
William Douglas, the eighth earl, a descendant of the third earl, restored the power of the Douglases by a marriage with his cousin, heiress of another branch of the family; was appointed lord-lieutenant of the kingdom, and defeated the English at Sark. Latterly having entered into a treasonous league, he was invited by James II to Stirling and there murdered by the king's own hand, on the 22nd of February 1452.
James Douglas, the ninth and last earl, brother of William Douglas, took up arms with his allies to avenge the death of his brother, but was finally driven to England, where he continued an exile for nearly thirty years. Having entered Scotland on a raid in 1484 he was taken prisoner and confined in the abbey of Lindores, where he died in 1488. His estates, which had been forfeited in 1455, were bestowed on the fourth Earl of Angus, the 'Red Douglas,' the representative of a younger branch of the Douglas family, which continued long after to flourish.
The fifth Earl of Angus, Archibald Douglas, was the celebrated ' Bell-the-Cat,' one of whose sons was Gawin Douglas the poet. He died in a monastery in 1514.
Archibald, the sixth earl, married Queen Margaret, widow of James IV, attained the dignity of regent of the kingdom, and after various vicissitudes of fortune, having at one time been attainted and forced to flee from the kingdom, died about 1560. He left no son, and the title of Earl of Angus passed to his nephew David.
James Douglas, brother of David Douglas, married the heiress of the Earl of Morton, which title he received on the death of his father-in-law.
His nephew, Archibald, eighth Earl of Angus and Earl of Morton, died childless, and the earldom of Angus then passed to Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie, his cousin, whose son William was raised to the rank of Marquis of Douglas.
Archibald, the great-grandson of William, was raised in 1703 to the dignity of Duke of Douglas, but died unmarried in 1761, when the ducal title became extinct, and the marquisate passed to the Duke of Hamilton, the descendant of a younger son of the first marquis. The line of Angus or the Red Douglas is now represented by the houses of Hamilton and Home, who both claim the title of Earl of Angus.
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Douglas Adams was an English author. He was born in 1952 at Cambridge and died in 2001 of a heart-attack. Best remembered for his science fiction comedy, 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy', Douglas Adams also wrote and edited many of the scripts for the BBC television series 'Doctor Who' in which his subtle English humour and outstanding creativity and originality helped to make the series such an international success.
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Sir Douglas Bader was a British airman. He was born in 1910 and died in 1983. A flying accident in 1931 resulted in the loss of both of his legs, and the prediction by doctors that he would never walk again. Bader went on to teach himself how to walk and to fly again, being accepted back into the RAF, becoming a fighter pilot with No 242 Squadron RAF Fighter Command. In 1941 he was captured after a mid-air collision with an enemy plane.
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Douglas William Freshfield was an English explorer and mountaineer. He was born in 1845. He was the first person to climb mount Kazbek.
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Douglas Haig (first earl Haig) was a British field marshal. He was born in 1861 and died in 1928. After seeing action in the Sudan in 1898 and during the South African War, he was given command of the 1st Army Corps in France in 1914 and in 1915 commanded the British Expeditionary Force in France during the Great War. Under pressure from the French commander, Joseph Joffre, he undertook the Battle of the Somme in 1916, which resulted in very heavy casualties and little territorial gain. Under the supreme command of Foch, Haig directed the final victorious assault on the Hindenburg line.
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Douglas MacArthur was an American general. He was born in 1880 and died in 1964. He defended the Philippines against the Japanese during the second world war. In 1951 he was relieved of command during the Korean war.
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Douglas McKay was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Oregon from 1949 until 1952.
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Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen was an English writer. He was born in 1856 at London. Educated at Cheltenham and Trinity College, Oxford he was professor of history at Sydney University from 1882 until 1884. He travelled extensively and became an authority on Japan. He planned the modified form to 'Who's Who' in 1897 and edited it until 1899. His stories include 'A Japanese Marriage' published in 1895 and 'Trincolox' published in 1898. He wrote several travel books including 'Queer Things About Japan' published in 1903, 'Queer Things About Persia' published in 1907, 'Queer Things About Egypt' published in 1910, 'How To See Italy' published in 1911 and 'How To See Egypt' published in 1920.
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Sir Douglas Straight was an English judge and journalist. He was born in 1844 at London and died in 1914. Educated at East Sheen and Harrow, he was employed for a while in newspaper and magazine work before being called to the bar in 1865 and subsequently acquiring a large practice. He was member of parliament for Shrewsbury from 1870 until 1874, a judge of the high court at Allahabad from 1879 until 1892 and editor of The Pall Mall Gazette from 1896 until 1909.
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Doutzen Kroes is a Dutch fashion model. She was born in 1985 at Oostermeer, Friesland.
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Doyle E Carlton was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Florida from 1929 until 1933.
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Draco was an Athenian law-maker about 620 BC. He made every violation of the law a capital offence. He gave his name to the term 'draconian' meaning very severe.
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A draper is someone who deals in cloth.
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Drapier is an old alternative name for a Draper. The name was assumed by Jonathan Swift in writing the Drapier's Letters against the contract for copper coinage given to Wood in 1722.
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Draw-latch is a seventeenth century term for a thief.
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Originally a dray-man was a man in charge of a dray. Since dray's were commonly used in recent times for transporting beer kegs, the term is still used for a beer delivery man, even though they now drive lorries rather than drays.
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Dred Scott was an American blavk slave. He was born in 1810 at Missouri and died after 1857. His suit for freedom was known as the Dred Scott case. He was afterward owned by C C Chafee, of Massachusetts. In 1857 he was emancipated in St Louis.
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A dreng was formerly a type of general servant boy.
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The druids were ancient Celtic priests. Their group still exists today in secret, despite the existence of charlatan groups claiming to be druids.
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The Druses are a people of mixed Syrian and Arab origin inhabiting the mountains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, and also the Hauran (south-west of Damascus). In their faith are combined certain Jewish, Christian, and Muslim doctrines. They describe themselves as followers of Khalif Hakim Biamr-Allah, whom they regard as an incarnation of deity, the last prophet, and the founder of the true religion.
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Drusilla was a Jewish princess. She was born in 38. A daughter of Herod Agrippa I, king of the Jews, she married Azizus, king of Emesa, whom she divorced in order to marry Felix, procurator of Judea. She is thus the Drusilla who is mentioned in the Acts, and was probably present when Paul preached before Felix.
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Drusus was the name of several distinguished Romans, among whom were:
Marcus Livius, an orator and politician. He became tribune of the people in 122 BC. He opposed the policy of Caius Gracchus, and became popular by planting colonies.
Marcus Livius, son of Marcus Livius, who was early a strong champion of the senate or aristocratic party, but showed great skill in manipulating the mob. He rose to be tribune of the people, and was assassinated in 91 BC.
Nero Claudius brother of the Emperor Tiberius. He was born in 38 BC and died in 9 BC. By a series of brilliant campaigns he extended the Roman empire to the German Ocean and the river Elbe, and was hence called Germanicus. By his wife Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony, he had a daughter, Livia, and two sons, Germanicus and Claudius, the latter of whom afterwards became emperor.
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Before becoming the Duchess of Gordon, Jane, in 1770 undertook a wager to ride down the High Street of Edinburgh, in broad daylight, on the back of a pig. She won her bet.
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The Duchoborzi are a Russian sect of religious mystics which arose in the 18th century. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity, of the deity of Christ, hold property in common, and refuse oaths and military service, thus they closely resemble the Quakers. A body of several thousands emigrated to Canada around the end of the 19th century, where they subsequently suffered persecution for their difference.
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Dudley Costello was an Irish novelist and journalist. He was born in 1803 and died in 1865. He was a constant contributor to many journals and magazines, and author of several popular works of fiction, etc.
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Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound was an English naval commander. He was born in 1877 and died in 1943. After becoming a Captain in 1914 he commanded the battleship Colossus at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, serving with distinction, after which he served at the Admiralty directing operations. He was promoted to rear-admiral and from 1936 to 1939 was Commander-In-Chief of the Mediterranean fleet during the periods of the Spanish War and the war in Abyssinia, in 1939 he was promoted Admiral of the Fleet and First Sea Lord.
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Formerly, a Duenna was the chief lady-in-waiting on the Queen of Spain. In a more general sense, the term was used to describe an elderly female holding a middle station between a governess and companion, appointed to take charge of the younger female members of Spanish and Portuguese families.
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Duff was King of Scotland from 962 to 967.
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Duff Green was an American politician and journalist. He was born in 1780 and died in 1875. An influential politician, he edited an opposition organ during John Quincy Adams' administration, and the U. S. Telegraph (an 'official' organ) during Jackson's first term. He supported Clay in 1833, and John Calhoun in 1836.
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Dugald Stewart was a Scottish philosopher. He was born in 1753 and died in 1828. Educated at the high school, Edinburgh and at Edinburgh university, he became professor of mathematics at Edinburgh university in 1775, proceeding to the chair of moral philosophy in 1785. Dugald Stewart was one of the chief representatives of the Scottish school, an upholder of the doctrine of 'common sense' as the fundamental; law of human belief. The existence of the Ego is suggested by the understanding; the existence of the objects of the external world is shown by the repeated perception of the same thing and the fixed and coherent order of nature.
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Duke is the highest rank in the British peerage. Dukes take precedence over all except princes and princesses of royal blood and certain officials of the Crown. The first duke to be created in England was Edward the Black Prince, who was made Duke of Cornwall in 1337. The honour is rarely given in modern times except to princes of royal blood; and the duchy of Westminster, created in 1874, was the last to be given to anyone not of the royal family. The duke's mantle has four rows of ermine on the cape, and his coronet is formed of a circle of silver gilt, surmounted by eight strawberry leaves, with a cap of crimson velvet topped with a golden tassel, which is turned up with ermine. The oldest existing duchy in the United Kingdom is the dukedom of Norfolk, which was created in 1483. A letter to a duke should be addressed: To His Grace the Duke of -.
At various periods and in different continental countries the title duke (Herzog in Germany) has been given to the actual sovereigns of small states. The title 'grand-duke' and 'grand-duchess,' 'archduke' and ' archduchess,' were also in use on the European continent, the latter to distinguish the princes and princesses of the Austrian imperial family.
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The Duke of Bedford (John of Lancaster) was an English prince and soldier. He was born in 1389 and died in 1435. He was the third son of Henry IV by his first wife, Mary of Bohun. He was created Duke of Bedford in 1414 by his brother, Henry V. After Henry's death in 1422 he became regent of England; and in the struggle for the French crown which followed the death of Charles VI he commanded the English army in France, proclaiming Henry VI, a child of nine months, at Paris and defeated the French at Verneuil in 1424. His success was checked by the rise of Joan of Arc - whom he had executed - and the desertions of the dukes of Brittany and Burgundy.
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Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berri was the second son of the Count d'Artois (afterwards Charles X). He was born in 1778 at Versailles and died in 1820 when he was assassinated. In 1792 he fled with his father to Turin and served under him and Conde on the Rhine. In 1801 he came to Britain, where he lived alternately in London and Scotland, occupied with plans for the restoration of the Bourbons. In 1814 he landed at Cherbourg, and passed on to Paris, gaining many adherents to the royal cause; but they melted away when Napoleon landed from Elba, and the count was compelled to retire with the household troops to Ghent and Alost.
After the battle of Waterloo he returned to Paris, and in 1816 married. He was assassinated by Louvel, a political fanatic, on February the 14th, 1820. The duke had by his wife, Carolina Ferdinanda Louisa, eldest daughter of Francis, afterwards king of the Two Sicilies, a daughter, Louise Marie Therese, afterwards Duchess of Parma, and a posthumous son subsequently known as Comte de Chambord.
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James Fitz-James Duke of Berwick was the natural son of the Duke of York (afterwards James II) and Arabella Churchill, sister of Marlborough. He was born in 16760 at Moulins, in the Bourbonnais and died in 1734. He first went by the name of Fitz-James. He received his education in France, served in the army in Hungary, returned to England at the age of seventeen, and received from his father the title of duke. On the landing of the Prince of Orange he went to France with his father, and he was wounded at the battle of the Boyne, where he nominally commanded. He afterwards served under Luxembourg in Flanders; in 1702 and 1703 under the Duke of Burgundy; then under Marshal Villeroi. In 1706 he was made marshal of France, and sent to Spain, where he gained the battle of Almanza, which rendered Philip V again master of Valencia. In 1709 he held with honour the command in Dauphine, displaying the highest strategic skill against the superior forces of the Duke of Savoy. He was killed at the siege of Philipsburg by a cannon-ball in 1734.
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The title Duke of Chandos was an English title borne from 1719 to 1789 by the family of Byrdges. The title became extinct with the death of the third duke in 1789.
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John Churchill (First Duke of Marlborough) was an English soldier. He was born in 1650 at Ashe and died in 1722. He served under Turenne in 1672 and distinguished himself at Nimeguen and Maestricht. In 1678 he married Sarah Jennings, a lady of the bedchamber of the Princess Anne. John Churchill showed great skill and resource in serving the royal army at Sedgemoor in 1685. In 1688 he went over to the Prince of Orange, and was made Earl of Marlborough by William III.
In the war in Ireland, from 1689 to 1691, his capture of the two ports of Cork and Kinsale severed the communications of France. He made his mark also in the war in the Low Countries. But he was disliked by William and his Dutch favourites. This and a strong feeling of sympathy with his old master caused Marlborough to enter into plots with King James at Saint-Germain. Following the affair of Brest he was arrested, kept in the Tower in 1692 and was for a time disgraced. But when a rupture with France appeared impending, the king took him to Holland to negotiate for the Grand Alliance.
After the death of William in 1702, he was made, largely through the influence of his wife with the new queen Anne, captain-general of the British army. John Churchill also commanded the forces of the Dutch republic. The career of John Churchill in the field was one of peculiar splendour. In 1702 to 1703 he seized the line of the Meuse. In the following year he arranged with Eugene the operations that saved the empire. After a march of extraordinary skill he struck down the veteran French and Bavarian armies, under Tallard and Marsion, on the field of Blenheim in 1704, piercing the enemy's centre by finely designed attacks. He had Villars, an adversary worthy of him, in his front in 1705; and he fell back in retreat before the marshal in Lorraine, having been left in the lurch by a colleague, Louis of Baden. Then he turned the celebrated lines constructed by the French to cover the east of Belgium, and in 1706 won the great battle of Ramillies.
John Churchill and Eugene triumphed again at Oudenarde, on the Scheldt, another battle won by a single stroke of tactics; and having captured the great fortress of Lille, they made preparations for the invasion of France. Villars, sent to defend his country, was just defeated on the terrible day of Malplaquet in 1709, for the allies only won a Pyrrhic victory. their losses, especially those of the Dutch, were enormous; the league against France was severely shaken. In 1710 the marshal covered the northern borders of France by a system of skilfully constructed lines. John Churchill, whose influence in England had been greatly weakened, became cautious, and would not attack; and though he turned the lines by a fine manoeuvre in 1711, he gained only insignificant success. In 1712, on the accession to power of the Tories he was deprived of all his commands.
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Frederick Hermann, first Duke of Schomberg, was a German mercenary. He was born in 1615 at Heidelberg and died in 1690. He fought first in the army of the Prince of Orange, and then in the Swedish army against the Imperialists in the Thirty Years War. He then fought for France, conducting a campaign against Spain, and was made marshal. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 drove him from France of account of him being a Protestant and he re-entered the service of the Prince of Orange, whom he accompanied to England in 1688. He was appointed commander in Ireland, and fought at the Battle of The Boyne, in which he was killed.
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The Duke Of Somerset is an English title held by the families of Beaufort and Seymour. In 1397 Richard II granted the earldom of Somerset to his kinsman, John Beaufort. His son, John, was made duke in 1443, as was another son, Edmund Beaufort in 1448. Edmund's son Henry was deprived of the title during the Wars of the Roses.
In 1547 Edward Seymour was made Duke Of Somerset but on his attainder in 1552, the title passed into abeyance, only to be restored in the person of his grandson, William Seymour, the husband of Lady Arabella Stuart, in 1660. He was succeeded by his grandson, William on whose death without heirs in 1671 it fell to John Seymour, the 2nd duke's youngest son. He too died without issue, and the dukedom devolved upon his cousin Francis who became the 5th duke in 1675. His brother, Charles, an important figure at the court of Anne and George I, became the 6th duke in 1678.
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Arthur Wellelsley (first Duke of Wellington) was an Irish-born English soldier and politician. He was born in 1769 at Dublin and died in 1852. He was a younger son of Garrett Wesley, the first earl of Mornington. Educated at Eton, military school and at Angers in 1787 he entered the 73rd Highlanders and in 1793 became a lieutenant-colonel in the 33rd Regiment of Foot. In 1814 he conducted the campaign against France, after which he was made Duke of Wellington and sent to France as ambassador. Hearing of Napoleon's escape from Elba, he took command of the British army and defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. From 1815 to 1818 he commanded the international army of occupation in France, making him very unpopular in France and a target for several assassination attempts. In 1818 he began his career as a Tory politician, and in 1828 became prime minister, resigning in 1830.
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The Dulcinists were followers of Dulcinus, a layman of Lombardy, in the 14th century, who preached the reign of the Holy Ghost, affirming that the Father had reigned until Christ's incarnation, and that the Son's reign terminated in 1300. He was followed by a great many people to the Alps, where he and his wife were taken and burned by order of Clement IV.
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Duncan C Heyward was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of South Carolina from 1903 until 1907.
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Duncan Forbes of Culloden was a Scottish lawyer and politician. He was born in 1685 and died in 1747. He studied law at Edinburgh and Leyden; was called to the bar in 1709, and appointed Sheriff of Midlothian. He helped to crush the rebellion of 1715; in 1716 was advocate-depute, in 1722 member of parliament for the Inverness burghs, in 1725 lord-advocate, and in 1737 lord-president of the Court of Session. In 1734, in consequence of the death of his brother, he fell heir to the estate of Culloden. He devoted himself to the improvement of the industry of Scotland, and materially aided in laying the foundations of that commercial prosperity to which his country since attained. He also effected many improvements in the procedure of the Court of Session. It was mainly owing to his exertions that the rebellion of 1745 was prevented from spreading more rapidly among the clans; but so ungratefully was he treated by the government, that he was never able to obtain repayment of the large sums he had expended to uphold it. He wrote several religious works: Thoughts on Religion; Reflections on the Sources of Incredulity in Regard to Religion; Letter to a Bishop; etc.
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Duncan I was King of Scotland from 1034 to 1040.
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Duncan II was King of Scotland during 1093.
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Duncan N Ingraham was an American sailor. He was born in 1802 and died in 1891. He entered the US navy in 1812. While commander of the 'St Louis' in the Mediterranean, in 1853, he secured the liberation of Martin Koszta, a prospective American citizen, who had been seized by Greeks at Smyrna at the instigation of Austrian officials. In 1861 he was appointed chief of ordnance, construction and repair in the Confederate navy.
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Duncan McArthur was an American politician. He was born in 1772 and died in 1839. He served during the War of 1812, commanding the Army of the West in 1814. He was a Democratic US Congressman from Ohio from 1833 to 1825. He was Governor of Ohio from 1830 to 1832.
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The Dunkers (Tunkers, Dippers, Dunkards or Brethren) are a denomination of American Baptists who originated in Germany in 1708, but were driven by persecution to America between 1719 and 1729. They were most numerous in Ohio. In 1790 a number who held Universalist views seceded and still remain apart. They strive to reproduce the exact order of the apostolic church, dress plainly, refuse to go to law or to engage in war, take no interest on money lent to the brethren, and take especial care of the poor. They reject infant baptism; and anoint the sick with oil in order to aid their recovery, depending on this unction and prayer, and rejecting the use of medicine. Every brother is allowed to speak in the congregation, and their best speaker is usually set apart as their minister.
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Archbishop Dunstan was advisor to King Edgar of England.
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The Durani (formerly Abdali) are an Afghan tribe found between Herat and Kandahar.
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A dustbinman, often called a dustman, is a person who collects rubbish from residences and businesses. In the 19th century, is was only ashes or dust that were collected by 'dust contractors'. Households were required to burn their vegetable and animal waste, and the ashes could then be placed in the dustbin for collection.
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David Dudley Field was a prominent American law reformer. He was born in 1805 and died in 1894. From 1847 to 1850 he was a commissioner to prepare Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure, which was in several instances adopted; and from 1857 to 1865 he was chairman of a New York commission to prepare political, penal and civil codes. In 1873 he published Outlines of an International Code, which attracted wide attention.
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Dwight David Eisenhower was an American president and military leader. He was born in 1890 at Texas and died in 1969. He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1915 and in 1935 served in the Philippines at Manila under MacArthur and from 1940 held high staff appointments at Washington. In June 1942 he was sent to England as US Commander in the European theatre and in November 1942 became Commander in Chief of the American and British forces on the occasion of the invasion of North Africa.
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Dwight Griswold was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Nebraska from 1941 until 1947.
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Dwight H Green was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Illinois from 1941 until 1949.
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Dwight W Burney was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Nebraska from 1960 until 1961.
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The Dwr-trigs were a British tribe occupying the area now called Dorset. Their name translates as water dwellers, and through the Saxons was translated into dor-aetta, which evolved into the modern Dorset and gave rise to the modern name of the area.
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Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet. He was born in 1914 in Swansea and died in 1953. He wrote Under Milk Wood. In 1934 he moved from Wales to London, and his first book of poetry appeared to critical acclaim, moving back to Wales in 1938 following his marriage to Caitlin MacNamara.
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