Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/151

Rh and in 1868 transformed into a court-house, Alexander's Church, with the ducal burial-place, and the church which was built by Charles XL of Sweden. The industry of the inhabitants is mainly devoted to the manufacture of cotton, silk-plush, tobacco, and oil. Population in 1875, 9349. Deux Fonts, which derives its name from the two bridges over the Erbach, was before 1394 the seat of an imperial countship. On the partition of the Palatinate, with which it had been incorporated, it became in 1410 an independent duchy, which in 1654 furnished a king to Sweden in the person of Charles Gustavus. The death of Charles XII. in 1718 broke its connection with the Swedish crown ; and the extinction of the Kleuburg line, to which it was next transmitted, passed it on to the present ruling family of Bavaria. In literary history it is interesting as the place where the Bipontine editions of the Greek, Latin, and French classics were published by a learned society in the latter part of the 18th century. See J. C. Crollius, Origines Bipontince, 1761-1769 ; Lehmann, Voll- stdndiye Gfeschichte des Herzogthums Zweibriicken, Munich, 1867. 

DEVAPRAYAGA, a town of British India, in the pre sidency of Bengal and province of Gurhwal, in 30 9 N. lat. and 78 39 E. long. It is one of the five sacred towns of the Hindus, a pre-eminence which it owes to its position at the confluence of the Alakananda arid the Bhagirathi, whose united waters constitute the Ganges proper. It stands at an elevation of 2266 feet above the sea. 

DEVELOPMENT. See and. 

DEVENTER, or, by corruption, DEMTER, a town of Holland, in the province of Overyssel, about 25 miles north of Arnheim, on the right bank of the Yssel, which there receives the waters of the Schipbeek, and is crossed by a bridge of boats. It is a clean, prosperous place, and at the same time preserves a large number of ancient buildings as well as its fortifications. Of special interest are the Protestant church of St Leivin, which dates from 1334, occupies the site of an older structure of the llth century, and possesses some fine stained glass ; the Roman Catholic Broerekerk, with three ancient gospels ; the Bergkerk, which belonged to the Premonstratensians ; the town-hall, built in 1693, containing a remarkable painting by Terburg, who was for some time burgomaster of the town ; and the weigh-house, which dates from 1528. There are also cavalry-barracks, an arsenal, a court-house, a hospital, and a lunatic asylum ; while among the scientific and educational institutions, an observatory, a gymnasium, and a high school may be mentioned. The last, known as the &quot; Athenaeum&quot; down to 1864, dates from 1830, and has a library of 6000 volumes, inclusive of a number of Oriental MSS., several incunabula, and a 13th century copy of Reynard the Fox. The archives of the town are of considerable value from the fact that it was the chief town of a province. Besides a good agricultural trade, the inhabitants carry on the weaving of carpets, woollens, and silks, cotton-printing, and iron-founding ; and their honey-cakes are exported in large quantities to all parts of the Netherlands. Population in 1869, 17,983. Deventer is mentioned in 778 in connection with a Saxon inroad, but its importance only dates from the llth century. In 1123 it was relieved by the emperor Henry V. from an investment by the duke of Saxony and the bishop of Munster. To Queen Eleanor of England it was indebted for the monastery of the Recollets, and in 1356 she breathed her last within its walls. During the War of Independence it was treacherously sur rendered to the Spaniards by Edward Stanley, an Englishman, but was recaptured in 1591 by Prince Maurice of Orange. Its bishopric, which had been established only in 1559, was then abolished ; and in the following year it was found necessary to destroy its wooden bridge over the Yssel. In 1813 it was in vested by the Allies ; and iu 1814 the French withdrew in terms of the peace. 

DEVEREUX. See. 

 (1797-1863), a distinguished French poet and novelist, was born at Loches, in Touraine, March 27, 1797 (or 1799). His father, a man of noble descent, was a cavalry officer, who had served with distinction in the Seven Years War. Ilia mother was the daughter of an admiral. Tales of military achievements and traditions of the ancien regime were familiar to him in his childhood, and furnished the most powerful influences towards the formation of his character and the direction of his early ambition. He received his education at Paris, at the school of M. Hix ; but, his royalist sympathies being threatened by the prevailing admiration for the empire, he was removed and placed under a private tutor. After the first restoration of the Bourbons he was admitted, at the age of sixteen, into the musqueteers of the royal household, and in this capacity he accompanied the royal family to Ghent in 1815. In the following year, on the suppression of the musqueteers, he passed into the royal guard. He remained in the army about thirteen years, and attained the rank of captain, but without seeing active service ; and, wearied with the dulness of the life which he had desired, resigned his com mission in 1827. He had not long before married a rich English lady. The leisure of his soldier-life had not been wasted. Not only was he gaining knowledge by observa tion of men and experience of life, but he meditated much, and, as he says, had all his works in his head, &quot; ils marchaient avec moi. . . et quand on m arre tait, j ecrivais.&quot; His first publication was a volume of poems, which appeared in 1822. Some of these had already been published in periodicals ; and he was therefore starting on his poetical career about the same time that Victor Hugo was writing his earliest Odes and Lamartine his earliest Meditations. Two years later (1824) he published the poem of loa, a graceful embodiment of a delicate fancy. It is the story of a bright creature, &quot; sister of the angels,&quot; born of a tear of the Saviour, and whose tender pity for the evil spirit becomes the occasion of her own fall. This was followed by several other poems, Le Deluge, Moise, Dolorida, &c. In these later pieces De Vigny shows himself to have been under the powerful influence of Victor Hugo. Hitherto, however, notwithstanding the evident tokens of his genuine inspiration as a poet, he had not attained general recogni tion. This he first secured, won it even by storm, by the publication, in 1826, of his historical romance, Cinq-Mars, the story of a conspiracy under Louis XIII. This work appeared one year before Manzoni s famous novel, 1 Promessi Sposi ; and both works were among the most noteworthy productions of the school of Walter Scott, whose Continental reputation was then at its height. Tha book had an immense run, and passed through many edi tions. In its pages the author shows himself qualified to present in a masterly and truthful way the character of an age, to draw vigorous portraits of great historical figures, and to depict feeling with delicacy and simplicity. It was about this time that De Vigny s friendship with Lamartine began. He was now one of the recognized chiefs of the new school, the Romantic, and one of the editors of the Muse franq aise. In 1829 he produced a translation of Othello, which was acted at the Theatre Frangais, but was not very warmly received. His next dramatic attempt was La Marechale d Ancre, performed at the Od6on in 1831. It is characterized as a learned study of the period, wanting the breath of life and the fire of poetic passion. These qualities were present in superabundance in his next and last dramatic work, Chatterton, produced in 1835. Although faulty in construction, and better fitted for the closet than for the stage, this powerful play has kept its place in the theatrical repertory. De Vigny s remarkable prose work, entitled Stello, ou les Diables bleus, appeared in 1832. It consists of three biographical studies, the subjects of which are three unfortunate poets, Gilbert, Chatterton, and Andre Chtinier, whose fate is narrated to Stello, an invalid poet, by a philosophical physician, le 