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DES the Sugaun earl, entered the Spanish service, and was created Count Desmond; thence he passed into the service of the emperor, "where, says Sir Bernard Burke, in an interesting memoir just published, "he ended his career as became the last of his dignity; for, being governor of a fortress, he died in 1632 of the privations and sufferings consequent on his valiant and inflexible refusal to surrender to a besieging force."—J. F. W.  DESMOND,, Countess of, one of the most remarkable instances of well-authenticated longevity in postdiluvian times, was the daughter of Sir John Fitzgerald, lord of Decies, and wife of Thomas, twelfth earl of Desmond. The year of her birth is not known; but Sir Walter Raleigh speaks of her as having been married in the reign of Edward IV., and having been alive in 1589 and "many years afterwards, as all the noblemen and gentlemen in Munster can witness." Assuming she was married at fifteen years of age, in the last year of Edward's reign, 1483, she must have been one hundred and twenty-one years old in 1589. Upon her marriage, the lands of Inchequin in the county of Cork were charged with her jointure. The estates being forfeited, they were granted to Raleigh, who still suffered the old countess to retain her jointure; but when the great earl of Cork became possessed of them, the countess was forced to come to court to establish her identity and maintain her right. Horace Walpole says, that on the occasion of her visit, she stated that she had danced with Richard III. before his accession to the throne, and that he was the handsomest man in the room, except his brother Edward, "and very well made." The date of this visit to London is established on good authority to have been 1604, which was probably also the year of her death. "Shee might have lived much longer," says an old chronicle, "hade she not mette with a kind of violent death, for she must needs climb a nutt tree to gather nutts, soe falling down, she hurt her thighe, which brought a fever, and that brought death." Lord Bacon, in his Natural History, says, "They tell a tale of the old countess of Desmond, who lived until she was seven score years old, that she did dentize twice or thrice, casting her old teeth and others coming in their place." A portrait of her, taken when in London in 1604, is still preserved at Muckross Abbey, near Killarney, in Kerry.—J. F. W.  DESMOULINS,, a French physician and naturalist, born at Rouen in 1796, where he died in 1828. He wrote several works on the anatomy and functions of the nervous system. He also successfully cultivated various branches of natural history. Many of his papers appeared in the scientific journals of his time. His works on the nervous system have been published separately; also a work "On the Natural History of the Races of Men which inhabit the north-east of Europe," which was published in 1826.—E. L.  * DESMOULINS, ., a French naturalist resident at Bourdeaux. He is a member of the Linnæan Society of Bourdeaux, and has contributed numerous papers on various branches of natural history to the Transactions of that society. Amongst others he has written an essay "On the means of preventing corruption in the vessels in which living animals are kept." In this paper he anticipated the modern invention of the aquavivariums. He has also published a separate paper on the vegetation of the Peak of Bijone.—E. L.  DESMOULINS, (his one familiar surname being ), sprightliest of French revolutionists, was born at Guise in Picardy on the 2nd March, 1760. His father held an official post in Camille's native town; and the family not being very rich, a near relation procured for the promising boy a bourse at the college of Louis-le-Grand in Paris, where he had for friend and schoolfellow, Maximilian Robespierre. Brilliant success attended his academic career, but his study of the classics was not merely theoretical. His young head was heated by the glories of ancient republicanism; Vertot's Revolutions Romaines was his constant companion, and the Revolution of 1789 found him an ardent democrat. Ere this he had gone through a course of legal study, and been admitted an advocate in connection with the parliament of Paris, not without being suspected of addiction to dissipation. On the eve of the memorable convulsion he published his first pamphlet, "La Philosophie au peuple Français," and on the morrow, June 1789, his "France Libre," a violent attack on the aristocracy and clergy. Yet now, as always, Camille's violence was irradiated by the brightest wit, and diversified by expert classical allusiveness. Camille stuttered, and could never be a public speaker; but one of his public speeches produced an era in the early history of the Revolution. On the 11th of July, 1789, the day of Necker's dismissal, he harangued the multitude from a table in the Palais Royal, summoned them to arms, gave them "the Bastille" for a watchword, and for badges the green riband, afterwards displaced by the tricolor. He was now a patriot of note. He entered for a short time into familiar relations with Mirabeau, but he naturally gravitated towards his future fellow-victim, the "Mirabeau of the sansculottes," Danton. Dubbing himself "attorney-general of the Lanterne," and founding his successful journal, the Revolutions de France et de Brabant, most vehement and most witty of patriots, Camille found time and inclination for the indulgence of the softer affections. After much opposition from her father, a wealthy employé of the department of finance, he succeeded in marrying, on the 29th September, 1790, Lucile Duplessis, beautiful, amiable, and gifted. Opulence and a happy home did not at first modify Camille's revolutionary enthusiasm. No journalist so loud as he against the Girondists. He worked hard to prepare the way for the 10th of August; and, at the time of the September massacres, he became secretaire-general of the new minister of justice, his friend Danton. Elected one of the deputies for Paris in the convention, he wielded his pen and gave his vote for the strongest measures—the death of the king, and the destruction of the Girondists. Yet, after the inauguration of the Reign of Terror, he, along with Danton, began to relent, and at Danton's suggestion he founded his Vieux Cordelier, in which the ultras were lashed classically and wittily, and the cause of mercy genially pleaded. This was too much, even for a man of Camille's antecedents. He became one of the "suspects," and was accused, with Danton, of reactionism. Both, under the terrorist régime of Robespierre and Saint Just, were executed in the same batch, on the 5th of April, 1794. His wife, the mother of their one child, followed him a few days later to the guillotine. An admirable monograph of Camille Desmoulins has been published by M. Edmund Fleury, in his series of exact and pleasing Etudes Révolutionaires.—F. E.  DESNOYER,, a French dramatic writer, was born at Amiens in 1806, and died in 1858. He made his debut in the double character of actor and author in 1827. Some years after he quitted the stage, and devoted himself to dramatic literature. He wrote under several pseudonyms, in conjunction with several other young authors. Under the management of M. Védel, he was employed at the Théâtre Française in the capacity of régisseur général. He undertook the administration of the Ambigu-comique in 1852. Desnoyer has produced a vast number of pieces for the stage. He has attempted, and is indeed a prolific writer in, every department of the drama. We may mention—"Le Seducteur et son Élève;" "Le Petit Chapeau;" "Le Naufrage de la Méduse;" and "Les Trois Éloges, ou Peuple, Noblesse, Bourgeoisie."—R. M., A.  DESNOYERS, , Baron, a most distinguished French engraver, was born at Paris in 1779. Destined to a military career, some reverses in the fortunes of his family caused him to turn his studies in drawing to practical account, and he ultimately became an engraver. Early success in this art procured Desnoyers some excellent opportunities of distinguishing himself, which were not lost; and his skill and fame increasing every day, he was enabled to produce a very considerable number of engravings both after the early masters and modern works. He also used the brush, having executed several good copies of subjects by Raphael for the school of fine arts in Paris. He died in 1857.—R. M.  * DESNOYERS,, geologist and historian, was born at Nogent le Rotrou, October, 1800. Although his early years were devoted to geological studies, yet the great impetus given to historical research under the auspices of M. Guizot, when the latter became minister of public instruction, induced Desnoyers to accept the place of secretary to the commission nominated by the minister for collecting, arranging, and printing the unpublished documents connected with the history of France—a noble undertaking, well executed, and which has rendered invaluable service to the cause of historical science. A course of lectures on the archæology of the middle ages, delivered in 1830, had previously fixed the minister's attention on Desnoyers, and justified so important an appointment. He was allowed to retain, at the same time, the librarianship of the museum of natural-history.—J. F. C. <section end="103Hnop" />