Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 13.djvu/404

Dallas Inner Temple, but on coming of age went to Jamaica to take possession of the estates which he had inherited upon his father's death. He was there appointed to ‘a lucrative office.’ After three years he visited England and married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Harding of Nelmes, Essex. He returned with his wife to Jamaica, but resigned his office and left the island upon finding that her health was injured by the climate. He lived on the continent, till upon the outbreak of the French revolution he emigrated to America. He was disappointed in the country and returned to Europe. He became an industrious author, but is chiefly remembered by his connection with Byron. His sister, Henrietta Charlotte, was married to George Anson Byron, uncle of Lord Byron. Dallas introduced himself to Byron by a complimentary letter upon the publication of the ‘Hours of Idleness.’ Dallas saw something of Byron after the poet's return from the East, gave him literary advice, and communicated for him with publishers. Byron presented him with the sums received for ‘Childe Harold’ and the ‘Corsair.’ Some letters addressed by Byron to his mother during his eastern travels were given to Dallas by Byron. Dallas, on the strength of these and other communications, prepared an account of Byron from 1808 to 1814. He proposed to publish this upon Byron's death; but Hobhouse and Hanson, as the poet's executors, obtained an injunction from Lord Eldon against the publication of the letters. Dallas died immediately afterwards, 20 Nov. 1824, at Ste.-Adresse in Normandy. He was buried at Havre in presence ‘of the British consul and many of the respectable inhabitants.’ The book upon Byron came out simultaneously, edited by his son, A. R. C. Dallas [q. v.], as ‘Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron from the year 1808 to the end of 1814.’ An account of the disputes about the publication is prefixed.

Dallas also published: 1. ‘Miscellaneous Writings, consisting of Poems; Lucretia, a Tragedy; and Moral Essays, with a Vocabulary of the Passions,’ 1797, 4to. 2. ‘Percival, or Nature Vindicated,’ 4 vols. 1801 (novel). 3. ‘Elements of Self-Knowledge’ (compiled and partly written by Dallas), 1802. 4. ‘History of the Maroons, from their Origin to their Establishment in Sierra Leone,’ 2 vols. 1803 (‘much esteemed’). 5. ‘Aubrey,’ 4 vols. 1804 (novel). 6. ‘The Marlands, Tales illustrative of the Simple and Surprising,’ 4 vols. 1805. 7. ‘The Knights, Tales illustrative of the Marvellous,’ 3 vols. 1808. 8. ‘Not at Home, a Dramatic Entertainment,’ 1809. 9. ‘The New Conspiracy against the Jesuits detected,’ 1815 (in French, 1816). 10. ‘Letter to C. Butler relative to the New Conspiracy,’ &c., 1817. 11. ‘Sir Francis Darrell, or the Vortex,’ 4 vols. 1820 (novel). 12. ‘Adrastus, a Tragedy; Amabel, or the Cornish Lovers; and other Poems,’ 1823. His ‘Miscellaneous Works and Novels,’ in 7 vols., were published in 1813.

[Gent. Mag. for 1824, ii. 642, 643; Moore's Life of Byron.]  DALLAWAY, JAMES (1763–1834), topographer and miscellaneous writer, only son of James Dallaway, banker of Stroud, Gloucestershire, by Martha, younger daughter of Richard Hopton of Worcester, was born at Bristol on 20 Feb. 1763, received his early education at the grammar school of Cirencester, and became a scholar on the foundation of Trinity College, Oxford (B.A. 1782, M.A. 1784). He failed to obtain a fellowship in consequence, it is supposed, of his having written some satirical verses on an influential member of the college. Taking orders he served a curacy in the neighbourhood of Stroud, where he lived in a house called ‘The Fort.’ Subsequently he resided at Gloucester, and from about 1785 to 1796 he was employed as the editor of Bigland's ‘Collections for Gloucestershire.’

In 1789 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and in 1792 he published ‘Inquiries into the Origin and Progress of the Science of Heraldry in England, with Explanatory Observations on Armorial Ensigns,’ 4to. The dedication to Charles, duke of Norfolk, earl marshal, brought him under the notice of that nobleman, who thenceforward was his constant patron. Through the duke's introduction he was appointed chaplain and physician to the British embassy at the Porte. He had previously taken the degree of M.B. at Oxford 10 Dec. 1794. After his return from the East he published ‘Constantinople, Ancient and Modern, with Excursions to the Shores and Islands of the Archipelago and to the Troad,’ Lond. 1797, 4to. This work, which was translated into German (Chemnitz, 1800, 8vo; Berlin and Hamburg, 1801, 8vo), was pronounced by the great traveller, Dr. Clarke, to be the best on the subject. Dallaway at the same time announced his intention to publish ‘The History of the Ottoman Empire, from the Taking of Constantinople by Mohammed II in 1452 to the Death of the Sultan Abdulhamid in 1788, as a continuation of Gibbon;’ but this he did not accomplish.

On 1 Jan. 1797 he was appointed secretary to the earl marshal. This office, which he