Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 14.djvu/346

 , however, when he speaks from personal knowledge, are often interesting and valuable. The manuscript of the ‘Historia Ecclesiastica’ is still preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, and shows several divergences from the printed edition; the most important being that the editors, fearful no doubt of ecclesiastical censure, have given a different turn to a passage which, as Dempster left it, expresses detestation of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Dempster's other writings on subjects connected with Scottish history are of the same untrustworthy character. A great deal of spurious information, ultimately derived from these works, has found its way into many modern books of reference, and in one or two instances even the cautious editors of the ‘Acta Sanctorum’ have been imposed on, though they were aware that Dempster was a dangerous authority.

Perhaps it may have been only under the influence of patriotism or (as in his autobiography) of personal vanity that Dempster was dishonest. At all events, the charge of inventing spurious quotations does not seem ever to have been alleged with regard to his writings on purely antiquarian subjects, though they are by general consent admitted to display more learning than judgment. His principal works of this class are ‘Antiquitatum Romanarum Corpus absolutissimum’ (Paris, 1613; other editions 1645, 1663, 1701, 1743); and ‘De Etruria Regali,’ printed at Florence in 1723–4 in two volumes, at the expense of Thomas Coke, afterwards earl of Leicester. The value of this publication is no doubt largely due to the magnificent engravings which it contained; but able critics have admitted that Dempster's own work is, for the time in which it was written, an admirable performance, and displays extraordinary diligence and learning. A tract by him on the Roman Calendar is inserted in vol. viii. of the huge compilation of Grævius. He produced the editio princeps of the ‘De Laudibus Justini Minoris’ of Corippius (Paris, 1610), and his notes are included in the edition of that author in Niebuhr's ‘Historiæ Byzantinæ Scriptores.’ His edition of Claudian is said to contain some happy emendations of the text, which have been accepted by later scholars. The one of his works which has received the most unqualified praise from modern critics is his corrected and laboriously annotated edition of Benedetto Accolti's ‘De Bello a Christianis contra Barbaros gesto,’ published at Florence in 1623, a reprint of which appeared at Groningen in 1731. He also published an annotated edition of Aldrovandi's ‘Quadrupedum omnium bisulcorum Historia’ (Florence, 1623, reprinted 1647). Although he was regarded as profoundly versed in ancient law, his only important publication in that department (with the exception of what is contained in his ‘Roman Antiquities’) was a small work entitled ‘Kεραυνὸς και Ὀβελος in Glossam librorum IV. Institutionum Justiniani’ (Bologna, 1622). As a Latin poet his reputation among his contemporaries was high, and not altogether undeserved. His best poem, ‘Musca Recidiva,’ went through three editions in the author's lifetime. He also published a tragedy in five acts, ‘Decemviratus abrogatus’ (Paris, 1613), besides many panegyrical and occasional poems. A selection from his poetry is included in Johnston's ‘Delitiæ Poetarum Scotorum,’ vol. i.  DENBIGH,. [See .]

DENDY, WALTER COOPER (1794–1871), surgeon, born in 1794 at or near Horsham in Sussex, after an apprenticeship in that locality came to London about 1811, and entered himself as a student at Guy's and St. Thomas's hospitals. He became a member of the College of Surgeons in 1814, and commenced practice in Stamford Street, Blackfriars, changing his residence soon after to 6 Great Eastcheap. He was chosen a fellow of the Medical Society of London, and became president. He was an admirable speaker.

Dendy was not a mere surgeon; he was conspicuous for cultivated taste and polished manners. He published a poem of much merit entitled ‘Zone,’ and the ‘Philosophy of Mystery,’ 1841, a treatise on dreams, spectral illusions, and other imperfect manifestations of the mind. He held some peculiar religious views, but his mind was too much imbued with enthusiasm for him to be a materialist. He was the author of many books, and contributed largely to medical journals, and was the writer of some remarkable papers in the ‘Psychological Journal.’ He was an admirable draughtsman, and illustrated his own works. His last efforts with his pencil were some sketches of the scenes described by the poet Cowper in the neighbourhood of Olney ὸ