Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 14.djvu/324

  [Charnock's Biog. Nav. ii. 1; Campbell's Lives of the Admirals; Lediard's Nav. Hist.; Chester's Westminster Registers; official documents in Public Record Office.]  DELAWARR, and. [See .]

DELEPIERRE, JOSEPH OCTAVE (1802–1879), author and antiquary, was born at Bruges in Belgium, 12 March 1802. His father was Joseph Delepierre, for many years receveur-général of the province of West Flanders. His mother was a Penaranda, descended from a Spanish family settled in the Netherlands from the days of Margaret of Parma. His boyhood was passed under an exclusively physical and moral training, so that at the age of twelve he could neither read nor write. But his bodily powers were highly developed, and when at last he was put to school he made such rapid progress that he was soon qualified for the university of Ghent. Having obtained the degree of doctor of laws, he became an avocat, and was appointed ‘archiviste de la Flandre Occidentale’ in Bruges. From political and other causes the archives were in great confusion, and Delepierre at once set himself to bring them into better order. His earliest publication was a small volume of poetry in 1829; two years later he brought out, in association with M. J. Perneel, a translation of a contemporary life of Charles-le-Bon, by Gualbert of Bruges, with a continuation to the end of the fourteenth century. Researches among the ancient charters and documents under his charge produced in 1834, ‘Chroniques, traditions, &c., de l'ancienne histoire des Flamands,’ in which old legends were retold with a slight addition of fiction. ‘Précis des annales de Bruges,’ in 1835, was the first of many volumes devoted to the antiquities of his native city. He had long been collecting books and works of art, and his fame as a local antiquary attracted many visitors. Professor J. W. Loebell of Bonn, writing from Bruges 30 Sept. 1835, speaks of his friendly reception by Delepierre, who had done so much in awakening enthusiasm for the past in Flanders (Reisebriefe aus Belgien, Berlin, 1837, p. 277). Among the other distinguished visitors at this period were Sir E. B. L. Bulwer, Dr. Dibdin, Ch. Nodier, Alex. Dumas, J. Michelet, &c. When the prince consort and his brother passed through Bruges to England in 1839, Delepierre was chosen as their cicerone. During the next five years his publications included a translation of the vision of Tundal, editions of ‘Tiel Eulenspiegel’ and ‘Reynard the Fox,’ for both he claimed a Flemish origin, and ten works relating to Bruges and Belgium. In 1840 appeared the first volume of a ‘Précis Analytique’ of the contents of the archives under his care, with his name as compiler. He contributed the letter-press in 1841 to two works on the famous reliquary of Ste. Ursula, painted by Hans Memling, and edited the ‘Philippide’ of Guillaume-le-Breton to supersede an unsatisfactory edition brought out by Guizot in 1825. This was one of several volumes edited by him for the Société d'Emulation. He busied himself with many literary undertakings during the next year or so, but was not satisfied with his official position, an application for promotion having been disregarded. He had made the acquaintance of Van de Weyer, afterwards Belgian minister in England, who induced him in 1843 to come to London, and in August 1849 appointed him a secretary of legation, and obtained for him the post of Belgian consul. He soon made himself popular, and many of the best-known men and women of literary, artistic, and social distinction were to be seen at his Sunday evening receptions. He produced nothing between 1843 and 1845, when he published his first English book, ‘Old Flanders,’ a collection of stories adapted from an earlier French book by himself. During the first years of his life in England official cares occupied him so completely, that, with the exception of two or three translations, he published nothing of importance until 1849, when he drew up an interesting account of a unique collection of early French farces and moralities in the British Museum. In 1852 he produced ‘Macaronéana,’ followed by ‘Macaronéana Andra’ in 1862. These publications form an encyclopædia of information on this curious branch of literary history. In them, says Brunet, ‘l'histoire de la littérature macaronique, depuis son origine jusqu'à nos jours, se trouve ainsi faite et parfaite; il n'y a plus à y revenir’ (Le Livre, January 1880, p. 26).

When the Duc d'Aumale, Van de Weyer, Lord Houghton, and others founded the Philobiblon Society in 1853 (then limited to thirty-six members), Delepierre was appointed one of the honorary secretaries. He contributed twenty-two papers to its privately printed ‘Miscellanies,’ among them being his valuable contributions on centos, or poetry made up of words or verses from other poems, on the literary history of lunatics, on parodies, and on visions of hell; all of these he enlarged and republished separately. His most matured and valuable writings were produced during his residence in England. He printed a history of Flemish literature, the best work on the subject in English, in