Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/523

Rh formal school lessons, at the same time pandered to his evil passions, and encouraged him in their indulgence. He gained the favour of Louis XIV. by bringing about the marriage of his pupil with Mademoiselle do Blois, a natural but legitimated daughter of the king ; and for this service he was rewarded with the gift of the abbey of St Just in Picardy. He was present with his pupil at the battle of Steinkirk, and &quot;faced fire,&quot; says Marshal Luxembourg, &quot; like a grenadier.&quot; Sent to join the French embassy in London, he made himself so active that by the request of the ambassador he was recalled. When the duke of Orleans became regent, Dubois, who had for some years acted as his secretary, was made councillor of state, and the chief power passed gradually into his hands. His ambition grew with what it fed on. To counteract the intrigues of Cardinal Alberoni, first minister of Spain, he suggested an alliance with England, and succeeded in negotiating the Triple Alliance. He was now made minister of foreign affairs. But he coveted the chief dignities of the church no less than political offices ; and he impudently prayed the regent to give him the arch bishopric of Cambray, the richest in France. His demand was supported by George I., and the regent yielded. In one day all the usual orders were conferred on him, and even the great preacher Massillon consented to take part in the ceremonies. His next aim was the cardinalate, and, after long opposition on the part of the Pope, Clement XL, the red hat was given to him by Innocent XIII. . In the following year he was named first minister of France (August). He was soon after received at the French Academy ; and, to the disgrace of the French clergy, he was named president of their assembly. While the projects of Law were bringing financial ruin upon the kingdom, Dubois was accumulating from various sources an immense private fortune. In addition to his see he possessed the revenues of seven abbeys. He was, however, a prey to the most terrible pains of body and agony of mind. His health was ruined by his debaucheries, and a surgical operation became necessary. This was almost immediately followed by his death, at Versailles, August 10,. His portrait was thus drawn by the duke of St Simon : &quot; He was a little, pitiful, wizened, herring-gutted man, in a flaxen wig, with a weasel s face, brightened by some intellect. All the vices perfidy, avarice, debauchery, ambition, flattery fought within him for the mastery. He was so consummate a liar that, when taken in the fact, he could brazenly deny it. Even his wit and knowledge of the world were spoiled, and his affected gaiety was touched with sadness, by the odour of falsehood which escaped through every pore of his body.&quot; In appeared Vie privee du Cardinal Dubois, attributed to one of his secretaries, and in his Memoir es secrets et cor- respondance inedite, edited by L. de Sevelinges.  DUBOS, (–), an eminent French author, was born at Beauvais in December. After studying for the church he renounced theology for the study of public law and politics. He was employed by M. de Torcy, minister of foreign affairs, and by the regent and Cardinal Dubois in several secret missions, in which he acquitted himself with great success. He was rewarded with a pension and several benefices. Having obtained these, he retired from political life, and devoted himself to history and literature. He gained such distinction as an author that in he was elected a member of the French Academy, of which, in, he was appointed perpetual secretary in the room of M. Dacier. He died at Paris on the 23d of March, at the age of seventy-two, repeat ing as he expired the well-known remark of an ancient, &quot; Death is a law, not a punishment.&quot; His first work was L Histoire des quatre Gordiens prouvee et illustree par des Medailles (Paris,, 12mo), wkich, in spite of its ingenuity, did not succeed in altering the common opinion, which only admits three emperors of this name. About the commencement of the war of, being charged with different negotiations both in Holland and in England, with the design to engage these powers if possible to adopt a pacific line of policy, he, in order to promote the objects of his mission, published a work entitled Les Interets de VAngleterre mal entendus dans la Guerre presente, Amsterdam,, 12mo. But as this work contained indiscreet disclosures, of which the enemy took advantage, and predictions which were not fulfilled, a wag took occasion to remark that the title ought to be read thus : Les Interets de VAngleterre mal entendus par I Abbe Dubos. It is remarkable as containing a distinct prophecy of the revolt of the American colonies from Great Britain. His next work was L Histoire de la Ligue de Cambray (Paris,, , and , 2 vols. 12mo), a full, clear, and interesting history, which obtained the commendation of Voltaire. In. he published his Histoire Critique de I etablissementde la Monarchic Franqaise dans les Gaules, 3 vols. 4 to, a work the object of which was to prove that the Franks had entered Gaul, not as conquerors, but at the request of the nation, which, according to him, had called them in to govern it. But this system, though unfolded with a degree of skill and ability which at first procured it many zealous partisans, was victoriously refuted by Montesquieu at the end of the thirtieth book of the Esprit des Lois. His Reflexions critiques sur la Poesie et sur la Peinture, published for the first time in, 2 vols. 12mo, but often reprinted in three volumes, constitute one of the works in which the theory of the arts is explained with the utmost sagacity and discrimination. Like his history of the League of Cambray, it was highly praised by Voltaire. The work was rendered more remarkable by the fact that its author had no practical acquaintance with any one of the arts whose principles he discussed. Besides the works above enumerated, a manifesto of Maximilian, elector of Bavaria, against the emperor Leopold, relative to the suc cession in Spain, has been attributed to Dubos, chiefly, it appears, from the excellence of the style.  DUBOSSARI, or, a town of European Russia, in the government of Kherson, on the left bank of the Dniester, 101 miles from Odessa, in 47 16 JST. lat. and 29 9 E. long. It occupies a picturesque position, is surrounded by fertile fields and gardens, has two churches, a synagogue, and a public hospital, and contains from 7000 to 8000 inhabitants Moldavians, Malo-Russians, and Jews who are mainly dependent on the trade in the local wine and tobacco, though they also deal in timber, cattle, and grain. Dubossari was founded in keeping with the terms of the Russian peace of, and received the epithet Novie, or ISTew, to distinguish it from the old town of Dubossar (Tombasari, or Tymbashari), on the right bank of the Dniester, in Bessarabia, which had been of consider able importance under the Tatar domination.  DUBROVNA, a town of European Russia, in the government of Mogileff, 11 miles east of Orsha, on the highway to Smolensk, in 54 34 K lat. and 30 41 9&quot; E. long. Its wooden houses are ranged for the most part along the left bank of the Dnieper, and in the neighbour hood of the two streams Dubrovenka and Svinka; and among its public buildings are six orthodox churches, a Roman Catholic chapel, a synagogue, a hospital, and a Jewish high school supported by Government. The town is mentioned at a pretty early date, and frequently appears in the history of the. In it requested to be received into allegiance by Vasili Ivanovitch of Moscow ; but after his defeat near Orsha it returned to Lithuania. In it was burned by Vasili Shuiski; 