Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/787

 DELOLME DELOS 783 ocean ; area, 1,440 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 2,022, of whom 217 were Chinese. The Klamath river forms a part of the S. border, and also intersects the E. part. A great part of the surface is mountainous. Forests are abundant, but the chief wealth is mineral. Gold is found on the Klamath and branches, and in the sands of the seashore, and copper in the mountains. The chief productions in 1870 were 7,423 bush- els of wheat, 14,955 of oats, 2,650 of barley, 20,495 of potatoes, 869 tons of hay, and 35,- 853 Ibs.. of butter. The total value of live stock was $65,888. Capital, Crescent City. DELOLME, Jean Louis, a Swiss author, born in the city of Geneva in 1740, died in the can- ton of Schwytz, July 16, 1806. Having pub- lished a pamphlet which gave umbrage to the authorities of his native city, in which he had been established as a lawyer, Delolme repair- ed to England, where he became an earnest student of British institutions. He was the author of various works and essays on po- litical affairs, but his fame rests upon his great work, Constitution de VAngleterre, ou etat du gouvernement anglais compare avec la forme republicaine et avec les autres monarchies de V Europe. First published at Amsterdam in 1771, it met with a favorable reception, which induced Delolme to enlarge and improve it, and to publish a new edition in English, which appeared in 1772, and was several times repub- lished. An edition with life and notes by J. Macgregor, M. P., was published in 1853. De- lolme wrote several other works in English. He was finally reduced to great poverty, and returned home through charity. DELORME, Marlon, a French courtesan, born near Chalons-sur-Marne about 1612, died in Paris in 1650. She was the daughter of a tradesman, and received little if any education. Endowed with extraordinary personal attrac- tions, and with intelligence and wit equalled only by the recklessness and frivolity of her disposition, she captivated as soon as she came to Paris the hearts of many of the most bril- liant gentlemen of the French court. Among her most devoted admirers was the marquis de Cinq-Mars, who was on the point of mar- rying her privately in order to put an end to the attentions paid to her by Richelieu, when this occasion is said to have suggested to the cardinal his law prohibiting secret marriages, the effect of which was to separate the lovers and to make Marion yield herself to the pow- erful minister. Her house soon became a centre for the most distinguished people. She shared her empire with Ninon de 1'Enclos, who, however, was greatly her superior in mental culture, and who survived her half a century. Her favors were extended successively or sim-. ultaneously to the learned Saint-Evremond, the brilliant duke of Buckingham, and many other more or less eminent men. During the minority of Louis XIV. she took an active in- terest in the movements of the Fronde. Her social circle, once the fashionable resort of the 255 VOL. v. 50 wits and rou6s of Paris, now became a focus of politicians and conspirators. In June, 1650, Mazarin ordered her arrest, but she died just before the officers came to take her to prison. Reports of her having only simulated death, to make good her escape, and other romantic stories in regard to her, were rife at the time, and have since been repeated, although they are not authenticated by facts. DELOS, or Delos (now Dili or Sdilli), an isl- and of the Grecian archipelago, one of the small- est in the group of the Cyclades, in lat. 37 23' N., Ion. 25 17' E. It is little more than 5 m. in circumference, and consists for the most part of barren rock, culminating in Mt. Cynthus, about 400 ft. high. At the foot of this are the ruins of the ancient town of Delos. The only present inhabitants are a few shepherds, and even these do not spend the entire year in the island. With the ancients the island de- rived great importance from the religious be- liefs connected with it. It was also called Ortygia, Cynthia, and sometimes Asteria, and still other names are occasionally found. The ancient legend, probably alluding to its origin from a volcanic eruption, represents it as hav- ing risen from the sea at a stroke of Neptune's trident and floated until it was moored to the bottom with adamantine chains by Jupiter, in order that it might become a place of refuge for Latona, who was delivered there, on a des- ert rock and under a shady tree, of Apollo and Diana, hence called Delius and Delia. To them, but especially to Apollo, the island was sacred ; and in accordance with a vow of La- tona a temple was erected by Erysichthon, son of Cecrops, at the foot of Mount Cynthus, which in due time was enriched by the gifts of nations, and remained unshaken by the earthquakes that often desolated neighboring islands. The oracle of Apollo, who gave re- sponses here in summer, and at Patara in Lycia in winter, was regarded as the most dis- tinct and trustworthy. Delian festivals were held here every four years; the Athenians sent yearly an embassy with choruses and dances. Latona had also her temple. Delos was colonized by the lonians, became the centre of splendid festivals in honor of Apollo, and was ruled by kings, who at the same time performed the functions of priests. In later times it became dependent upon the Athe- nians, who performed there two purifications, first under Pisistratus, and secondly in the sixth year of the Peloponnesian war (426 B. C., as described in the third book of Thucydides), by removing the tombs and dead bodies to a neighboring island, and who also enacted a law to guard the sacred grounds from the pol- lution of births and deaths. Its towns, having no walls, were guarded by their sanctity ; its temple and immense treasures were untouched by the Persians in their invasion ; and during the following wars it became the seat of the common treasury of the Grecian states. When this was removed to Athens, Delos decayed,