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DOUAI — DOUGLAS

Dostoievsky obtained an exceptional insight into the dark and seamy side of Russian life. He formed new conceptions of human life, of the balance of good and evil in man, and of the Russian character. Psychological studies have seldom, if ever, found a more intense form of expression than that embodied by Dostoievsky in his novel called Crime and Punishment. The hero Raskolnikoff is a poor student, who is led on to commit a murder partly by self-conceit, partly by the contemplation of the abject misery around him. Unsurpassed in poignancy in the whole of modern literature is the sensation of compassion evoked by the scene between the self-tormented Raskolnikoff and the humble street-walker, Sonia, whom he loves, and from whom, having confessed his crime, he derives the idea of expiation. Raskolnikoff finally gives himself up to the police and is exiled to Siberia, whither Sonia follows him. The book gave currency to a number of ideas, not in any sense new, but specially characteristic of Dostoievsky: the theory, for instance, that in every life, however fallen and degraded, there are ecstatic moments of self-devotion; the doctrine of purification by suffering, and by sufi'ering alone; and the ideal of a Russian people forming a social state at some future period bound together by no obligation save mutual love and the magic of kindness. In this visionary prospect, as well as in his objection to the use of physical force, Dostoievsky anticipated in a remarkable manner some of the conspicuous tenets of his great successor Tolstoi. The book electrified the reading public in Russia upon its appearance in 1866, and its fame was confirmed when it appeared in Paris in 1867. To his remarkable faculty of awakening reverberations of melancholy and compassion, as shown in his early work, Dostoievsky had added, by the admission of all, a rare mastery over the emotions of terror and pity. But such mastery was not long to remain unimpaired. Crime and Punishment was written when he was at the zenith of his power. His remaining works exhibit frequently a marvellous tragic and analytic power, but they are unequal, and deficient in measure and in balance. The chief of them are : The Injured and the Insulted, The Demons (1867), The Idiot (1869), The Adult {1875), The Brothers Karamzov (1881). From 1865, when he settled in St Petersburg, Dostoievsky was absorbed in a succession of journalistic enterprises, in the Slavophil interest, and suffered severe pecuniary losses. He had to leave Russia, in order to escape his ■creditors, and to seek refuge in Germany and Italy. He was further harassed by troubles with his wife, and his work was interrupted by epileptic fits and other physical •ailments. It was under such conditions as these that his most enduring works were created. He managed finally to return to Russia early in the ’seventies, and was for some time director of the Russian World. From 1876 he published a kind of review, entitled Carnet Pun Ecrivain, to the pages of which he committed many strange autobiographical facts and reflections. The last ■eight years of his life were spent in comparative prosperity at St Petersburg, where he died on 9th February 1881. His life had been irremediably seared by his Siberian experiences. He looked prematurely old; his face bore an expression of accumulated sorrow; in disposition he had become distrustful, taciturn, contemptuous—his favourite theme the superiority of the Russian peasant over every other class; as an artist, though uncultured, he had ever been subtle and sympathetic, but latterly he was tortured by tragic visions and morbidly preoccupied by exceptional and perverted types. M. de Vogue, in his admirable Ecrivains Russes, has worked out with some success a parallel between the later years of Dostoievsky and those of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Siberia effectually convinced

the novelist of the impotence of Nihilism in such a country as Russia; but though he was assailed by ardent Liberals for the reactionary trend of his later writings, Dostoievsky became, towards the end of his life, an extremely popular figure, and his funeral, on 12th February 1881, was the occasion of one of the most remarkable demonstrations of public feeling ever witnessed in the Russian capital. The death of the Russian novelist was not mentioned in the London press; it is only since 1885, when Crime and Punishment first appeared in English, that his name has become at all familiar in England, mainly through French translations. A complete edition of his novels was issued at St Petersburg in fourteen volumes, 1882-83. Two critical studies by Tchij and Zelinsky appeared at Moscow in 1885, and a German life by Hoffmann at Vienna in 1899. (t. se.) Douai, chief town of arrondissement, department of Nord, France, 20 miles south of Lille, junction on railway from Paris to Lille. The manufacture of glass, oil, sugar, and paper, wool-spinning, leather-currying, and bell-founding, have all become important industries. The town library now contains 80,000 volumes and 1800 manuscripts.—Dorignies, 1|- mile north of the town, is an important industrial suburb; Sin-le-Noble, Dechy, and Sambres, though distinct municipalities, are practically suburban. The port traffic of Douai and Dorignies in 1898 amounted to 427,677 tons. Population (1881), 20,608; (1901), 33,918. DoilbS, a department in the east of France, bordering on Switzerland. It is traversed by the Jura mountains and watered by the Doubs. Area, 2052 square miles. The population decreased from 310,963 in 1886 to 296,957 in 1901. Births in 1899, 7222, of which 590 were illegitimate ; deaths, 6706 ; marriages, 2186. There were in 1896 1024 schools, with 51,000 pupils ; 1 per cent, of the population was illiterate. The area under cultivation in 1896 comprised 1,097,186 acres, of which only 360,785 acres were arable and 12,355 acres in vines. Forest, on the other hand, covers an extensive area, occupying with the natural grass lands nearly 741,000 acres. The wheat crop yielded in 1899 a value of only £420,000, but the produce of the green crop and grass lands amounted in 1899 to the value of £902,000, the natural pastures alone yielding the value of £603,000. The live-stock in 1899 included 19,990 horses, 121,330 cattle, 47,750 sheep, 45,580 pigs, and 6700 goats. Doubs has no coal, but it turned out, in 1896, 6200 metric tons of iron and 20,000 tons of rock-salt. It produced, in 1898, 19,000 metric tons of wrought-iron and steel, of the value of £170,000. Among the other industries watch-making takes the first rank, having its centres at Besan5on and Montbeliard, while distillation holds the second place, producing a yearly average of 687,800 gallons. Besangon, the capital, has 55,250 inhabitants. Douglas, a town and railway station on the east coast of the Isle of Man, England, 75 miles by steamer north-west of Liverpool. The steamship communication with this popular watering-place has been greyly improved during the last twenty-five years, in particular the service connecting it with Liverpool, Barrow, Fleetwood, Dublin, and the Clyde. Many improvements have also been made in the town itself, which has displaced Castletown as the legal capital of the island. A magnificent parade sweeps around the bay; new wide streets have been cleared in the old town and constructed in the new; municipal buildings, a free library, a second theatre, and three music - halls with capacious dancing saloons have been erected; an electric tramway has been laid down to all parts of the island; cable and horse trams encircle the town; and a sporting summer golf course has been constructed at Howstrake, in addition to the winter course behind the town. Many of the public undertakings, such as the water-works, abattoirs, markets, and cemetery, are under municipal control. Douglas is in the parish of Onchan, and in 1881 had a population of 15,725; in