Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/28

 DKN'ON DENTALIUM son of a saddler, but was sent to Harrow sohoo and Cambridge university, wln.-rc be rrinaine< y.-nrs. taking his degree of A. M. in 1 '!*:{
 * -:ivlliiiir some tinn- on tin- continent b<

returned. n wbL' in politics, and mingled witl M<1 literary men of London AIIIOIIL' bis friends were Dryden, Halifax and Congreve. By bis expensive hf soon dissipated a small fortune which bad bi'i-n b-ft him, and the duke of Marlborough obtained tor bini an appointment in the cus toms worth 120 a year; but he was com prlli-d to sell this to satisfy pressing demands only resn-vinu' a small annuity for a term <>t Having outlived this term, he was re- duced to great poverty, became blind, and was compelli'd in the latter part of his life to de- pend upon the charity of literary friends, many of whom be had grossly calumniated. He some verses of little merit, and severa plays which obtained a transient popularity especially the one entitled " Liberty Asserted,' in wbicb tbo French, with whom the English were then at war, were roughly handled. Of his essays the best are "The Grounds of Criti- cism " and those on Addison's "Cato" and Pope's "Rape of the Lock," though the two latter are characterized by the bitterness with which he usually spoke of bis contemporaries. He attacked Swift, Pope, Addison, Steele, and nearly all the prominent writers of the day, thereby making enemies of those best able to a-titrate him. This was done most effectually by Swift and Pope, the latter devoting to him some of the sharpest hits in the "Dunciad." He bad a most exaggerated idea of his own importance, and desired to have a clause in the treaty of Utrecht protecting him from the wrath of the French king, which he imagined had been aroused by his play, "Liberty Asserted." He had invented a new way of imitating thun- Qer for his play of "Appius and Virginia," vas brought out and failed in 1708. afterward, during the performance of " ," bearing the thunder produced by A is, he rose in the pit and denounced te for stealing his thunder. His ij(iinly to the abuse which he re- i he had assailed. e Vlvant, baron, a French at Chalon-sur-Sa6ne, Jan. S, April 27, 1825. lie was dy law, but devoted his a*d literatore. He gained

. "f the U minister itly to Na- i-'/Jor, he spent engaged having a dispute with him, be brought out the work independently. The portion rela- ting to continental Italy appeared in the notes to a French translation of the journey of Swin- burne, and that relating to Sicily and Malta in a separate volume. Having returned to Paris during the revolution (after a second stay in Italy), he met Bonaparte at the house of Mme. de Beauharnais, and was chosen by him to accompany the expedition to Egypt in the ca- pacity both of a savant and artist. In 1802 ap- peared his Voyage dans la basse et la luniii gypte, profusely illustrated by bis own band. It was first published in two large folio vol- umes, but there are several editions of small- er size. He also took the chief part in the preparation of the Description de Vfigypte, under the auspices of the Egyptian institute, of which be was a member. Bonaparte made him inspector general of the museums of France, and he accompanied the army in the various campaigns of the emperor, selecting the works of art which were gathered to enrich the galleries of the Louvre. On the second restoration he retired to private life, and spent some years in collecting and arranging the material for a history of art, which was finished by Amaury Duval (Monuments des arts du des- sin chez les peuples tant anciens que modemes, 4 vols. fol., 1829). Denon's own etchings ' number more than 300. DENT, a S. E. county of Missouri ; area, about 750 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 6,357, of whom 31 were colored. The soil is fertile and the surface much diversified. Current river and several smaller streams have their sources here. The chief productions in 1870 were 55,024 bushels of wheat, 215,693 of Indian corn, 53,- 042 of oats, 16,539 of potatoes, 988 tons of hay, 58,588 Ibs. of butter, and 26,770 of to- bacco. There were 1,241 horses, 1,547 milch cows, 3,426 other cattle, 6,861 sheep, and 11, 230 swine. Capital, Salem. DENT1LRM, or Tooth Shell, a gasteropod mol- usk, usually placed near the limpets. The shell is tubular, symmetrical, curved like a ong slender tooth, open at each end, atten- uated posteriorly ; the surface is either smooth or longitudinally striated; aperture circular. The animal is attached to the shell near the posterior anal surface ; bead rudimentary, vithout eyes, with teeth in mouth at the base of a long, conical foot; there are two sym- metrical branch! ; sexes believed to be united, n the early stages they have wing-like ex- >ansions at the anterior part of the body, and many tentacles around the bead. They are inimal feeders, devouring minute bivalves and oraminifera ; they are all marine, living in ilmost all seas, on sandy and muddy bottoms, n which they often bury themselves; they re found in from 10 to 100 fathoms. There re about 50 living and 125 fossil species. miring from the Devonian forward. They were classed by the early zoologists with the worms, and even Cuvier placed them near