Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 112

[Ill.u.s.tration] Charlemagne's sword "Joyeuse" was also buried with him, and "Tizo'na" was buried with the Cid.

DUROTI'GES (4. _syl_.). Below the Hedui (those of Somersets.h.i.+re) came the Durotiges, sometimes called Mor'ini. Their capital was Du'rinum (_Dorchester_), and their territory extended to Vindel'ia (_Portland Isle_).--Richard of Cireneestre, _Ancient State of Britain_, vi. 15.

The Durotiges on the Dorsetian sand.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xvi. (1613).

DURWARD (_Quentin_), hero and t.i.tle of a novel by Sir W. Scott.

Quentin Durward is the nephew of Ludovic Lesly (surnamed _LeBalafre_).

He enrolls himself in the Scottish guard, a company of archers in the pay of Louis XI., at Plessis les Tours, and saves the king in a boar-hunt. When Leigeis is a.s.saulted by insurgents, Quentin Durward and the Countess Isabelle de Croye escape on horseback. The countess publicly refuses to marry the duc d'Orleans, and ultimately marries the young Scotchman.

DUSRONNAL, one of the two steeds of Cuthullin, general of the Irish tribes. The other was "Sulin-Sifadda" (_q. v._).

Before the left side of the car is seen the snorting horse. The thin-maned, high-headed, strong-hoofed, fleet, bounding son of the hill.

His name Dusronnal, among the stormy sons of the sword ... the [_two_] steeds like wreaths of mist fly over the vales. The wildness of deer is in their course, the strength of eagles descending on the prey.--Ossian, _Fingal_ i.

DUTCH SCHOOL of painting, noted for its exactness of detail and truthfullness to life:--For _Portraits_: Rembrandt, Bol, Flinck, Hals, and Vanderhelst.

For _Conversation pieces_: Gerhard Douw, Terburg, Metzu, Mieris, and Netscher.

For _low life_: Ostade Brower and Jan Steen.

For _landscapes_: Ruysdael, Hobbema, Cuyp, Vanderneer (_moonlight scenes_), Berchem and A. Both.

For _battle scenes_: Wouvermans and Huchtenburg.

For _marine pieces_: Vandevelde and Bakhuizen.

For _still life and flowers_: Kalf, A. van Utrecht, Van Huysum, and De Heem.

DUTCH HOUSEWIFERY. In his papers upon _Old New York_ (1846), John Fanning Watson pays a just tribute to Knickerbocker housekeepers.

"The cleanliness of Dutch housewifery was always extreme. Everything had to submit to scrubbing and scouring; dirt in no form could be endured by them, and dear as water was in the city, where it was generally sold, still it was in perpetual requisition. It was their honest pride to see a well-furnished dresser, showing copper and pewter in s.h.i.+ning splendor as if for ornament rather than for use. In all this they differed widely from the Germans, a people with whom they have been erroneously and often confounded. Roost fowls and ducks are not more different. As water draws one it repels the other."

DUTTON (_Mrs. Dolly_), dairy-maid to the Duke of Argyll.--Sir W.

Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time George II.).

DWARF. The following are celebrated dwarfs of real life:--

ANDROMEDA, 2 feet 4 inches. One of Julia's free maids.

ARISTRATOS, the poet. "So small," says Athenaeos, "that no one could see him."

BEBE (2 _syl_), 2 feet 9 inches. The dwarf of Stanislas, king of Poland (died 1764). BORUWLASKI (_Count Joseph_), 2 feet 4 inches. Died aged 98 (1739-1837). He had a brother and a sister both dwarfs.

BUCHINGER (_Matthew_), who had no arms or legs, but _fins_ from the shoulders. He could draw, write, thread needles, and play the hautboy.

Fac-similes of his writing are preserved among the Harleian MSS. (born 1674-_).

CHUNG, recently exhibited with Chang the giant.

COLO'BRI (_Prince_), of Sleswig, 25 inches; weight, 25 lbs. (1851).

CONOPAS, 2 feet 4 inches. One of the dwarfs of Julia, niece of Augustus.

COPPERNIN, the dwarf of the princess of Wales, mother of George III.

The last court-dwarf in England.

CRACHAMI (_Caroline_), a Sicilian, born at Palermo, 20 inches. Her skeleton is preserved in Hunter's Museum (1814-1824).

DECKER or DUCKER (_John_), 2 feet 6 inches. An Englishman (1610).

FARREL (_Owen_), 3 feet 9 inches. Born at Cavan. He was of enormous strength (died 1742).

FERRY (_Nicholas_), usually called Bebe, contemporary with Boruwlaski.

He was a native of France. Height at death, 2 feet 9 inches (died 1737).

GIBSON (_Richard_) and his wife Anne Shepherd. Neither of them 4 feet.

Gibson was a noted portrait painter, and a page of the back-stairs in the court of Charles I. The king honored the wedding with his presence; and they had nine children (1615-1690).

Design or chance makes others wive, But Nature did this match contrive.

Waller (1642).

HUDSON (_Sir Jeffrey_), 18 inches. He was born at Oakham, in Rutlands.h.i.+re (1619--1678).

LUCIUS, 2 feet; weight 17 lbs. The dwarf of the Emperor Augustus.

PHILE'TAS, a poet, so small that "he wore leaden shoes to prevent being blown away by the wind" (died B.C. 280).

PHILIPS (_Calvin_) weighed less than 2 lbs. His thighs were not thicker than a man's thumb. He was born at Bridgewater, Ma.s.sachusetts, in 1791.

RITCHIE (_David_), 3 feet 6 inches. Native of Tweeddale.

SOUVRAY (_Therese_).

STOBEUIN (_C.H._) of Nuremberg was less than 3 feet at the age of 20.

His father, mother, brothers, and sisters were all under the medium height.

THUMB (_General Tom_). His real name was Charles S. Stratton; 25 inches; weight, 25 lbs. at the age of 25. Born at Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1832.

THUMB (_Tom_), 2 feet 4 inches. A Dutch dwarf.

XIT, the royal dwarf of Edward VI.

[Ill.u.s.tration] Nicephorus Calistus tells us of an Egyptian dwarf "not bigger than a partridge."

_Dwarf_ of Lady Clerimond was named Pac'olet. She had a winged horse, which carried off Valentine, Orson, and Clerimond from the dungeon of of Ferragus to the palace of King Pepin; and subsequently carried Valentine to the palace of Alexander, his father, emperor of Constantinople. _Valentine and Orson_ (fifteenth century).

_Dwarf_ (_The Black_), a fairy of malignant propensities, and considered the author of all the mischief of the neighborhood. In Sir W. Scott's novel so called, this imp is introduced under various _aliases_, as Sir Edward Mauley, Elshander the recluse, cannie Els.h.i.+e, and the Wise Wight of Micklestane Moor.