Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/386

368 this fatal instinct of isolation. The Spartans, who stood at the head of the Dorian portion of the Greek world, are regarded by K. O. Muller, in his History of the Dorians, as exhibiting in their institutions and government the true type of the race. This theory is strenuously combated by Grote, History of Greece, pt. ii. ch. 6 ; and at the least it must be said that if they displayed the true Dorian type, that type must have been completely lost among all the other Dorian tribes. The Spartans occupied Laconia strictly as an army of occupation, and carrying out inflex ibly their rigid system, they opposed an uncompromising resistance, not only to luxury, but generally to art, refine ment, and speculation (Cox, History of Greece, i. 72). No such condition of things is found even in Crete, from which Sparta was supposed to have derived her special institutions. Not only is their reputation as models of Dorism altogether undeserved, but it probably would have been exceedingly distasteful to the countrymen of Leonidas, Archidamus, and Agesilaus.  DORIS, the name which, in the time of Herodotus and later writers, designated the little territory which lay to the south-west of the Malian Gulf, and between the ranges of Œta and Parnassus, bounded by the lands of the Phocians on the east, of the Etoliaus on the west, of the Malians and Epicnemidian Locrians on the north, and of the Ozolian Locrians on the south, the whole being barely thirty miles in length by ten at its greatest width. The inhabitants were divided into the four townships of Boion, Cytinion, Erineus, and Pindus. Of their history down to the time of the invasion of Xerxes we know nothing, and probably they had none ; nor is there more to be said than that they then consulted their interests by submitting to the Persian king. This confederacy of four little townships was honoured by the Spartans as their metropolis, or the home from which the Dorians had come who achieved the con quest of the Peloponnesus a tradition which has been noticed in the article. The political insignificance of Doris is to be ascribed to the fact that it had no sea board. The only other Greek communities in like plight were those of Arcadia or the Peloponnesian highlands, and both Doris and Arcadia remained far in the rear of Hellenic development generally.  DORKING, a market town of West Surrey, England, situated on a small brook, a tributary of the Mole, 29 miles S. of London by rail. The town is well built and clean, and occupies a picturesque position in a sheltered vale near the base of Box Hill. The parish church of St Martin s is a handsome edifice rebuilt in ; and St Paul s district church, erected in, is a building of some pretension. Lime of exceptionally good quality is burnt to a large extent in the. neighbourhood, and forms an important article of trade ; it is derived from the Lower Chalk formation. Dorking has long been famous for a finely-flavoured breed of fowl, distinguished by their having five claws. Several elegant mansions are in the vicinity of the town, notably that of Deepdene, containing a gallery of sculpture collected here by the late Thomas Hope, the author of Anastasius. The Roman road which crossed from the Sussex coast to the Thames, passed close to Dorking. The population of town is about 4800 ; that of parish in was 8567.  DORLEANS,, (–), a minor French poet and political pamphleteer, and a prominent partisan of the Catholic League, was born in, probably at Paris, though one of his biographers states that Orleans was his birthplace. He studied under Jean Daurat, and after taking his degree in law began to practise at the bar with but slight success. He added little to his reputation by writ ing indifferent verses, and it was not until the League had taken the daring step of arresting the royalist members of parliament, that he was brought into prominence by being appointed its advocate-general. He maintained the position and claims of the League in language that was always strong and often insolent, going so far as to express regret that the king of Navarre and the prince of Conde had not been assassinated. He was, however, courageous enough to intercede with the duke of Mayenne for the inhabitants of Paris, but without effect. After this failure he con tinued the publication of violently-worded pamphlets in tended to render the accession of Henry impossible. Ono of these, Le Banquet et Apres-dinee du Comte d Arete, in which he accused Henry of insincerity in his return to the Roman Catholic faith, was so scurrilous as to be dis approved of by many members of the League. When Henry at length entered Paris, Dorleans was among the number of the proscribed. He took refuge in Antwerp, where he remained for nine years. At the expiration of that period he received a pardon, and returned to Paris, where he had not been long before he was imprisoned for sedition. The king, however, ordered him to be set free after he had been three mouths in the Conciergerie, and this generous conduct had the effect of attaching him ever afterwards to the cause of Henry. His last years were passed in obscurity, and he died in at the age of eighty- seven. Dorleans s political pamphlets are now exceed ingly scarce. His chief poem, Benaud (Paris, ), is a poor imitation or translation of part of the Orlando Furioso.  DORMOUSE, the common name of a family of sinnll rodents (Myoxidce), generally regarded as intermediate be tween mice and squirrels. It contains 12 species, distributed over the temperate parts of the great Palsearctic region from Britain to Japan, and throughout the greater portion of Africa. The Common Dormouse (Myoxus avellanarius) occurs in most parts of Europe, and is the only species found in Britain, It is an active little creature, measuring about three inches long, with a thick bushy tail of nearly similar length. Its posterior legs are slightly longer than those in front, and both fore and hind feet form pre hensile organs, whereby the dormouse climbs along the twigs of the low bushes among which it lives, and in which it builds a neat round nest formed of leaves. It is a shy and timid animal, choosing the recesses of woods for its habitation, and seldom showing itself by day ; in confine ment, however, it is readily tamed and becomes very familiar. It feeds, as its specific name implies, on hazels, and is also partial to berries, haws, and grain. These it eats, either sitting on its haunches or suspended by its hind feet, and holding them between its forepaws like a squirrel. In autumn it grows very fat, and lays up a store of food for winter use, retiring at the commencement of the cold season to its nest, and curling itself up into a ball, when it becomes dormant. A warmer day than usual restores it to temporary activity, and then it supplies itself with food from its autumn hoard, again becoming torpid till the advent of spring finally rouses it. Owing to this hyberuat- ing habit it is known as the Sleeper, while the name dormouse has reference to the same peculiarity. The young of the dormouse are generally four in number, and these, according to Bell, are produced twice a year. They are born blind, but in a marvellously short period are able to cater for themselves, and their hibernation begins later in the season than with the adult form. The fur of the dormouse is of a tawny colour above, and paler beneath, with a white patch on the throat. The Fat Dormouse (Myoxus glis) is larger than the British species, and is the one most commonly found in Southern Europe.  DORNBIRN, or, a straggling but well-built township of Austria, in Tyrol, about six miles S. of Bregenz, situated on the right bank of a stream known as the Dornbiru Ach, which flows into the Lake of Con- 