Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/906

* DAPHNE. 786 DARBHANGA. for the fragrance of its flowers and for its medicinal uses, naturalized in some places in England and escaped in Canada and the United States. The garou bush (Daphne ynidiuni), a native of the soiith of Europe, less hardy than tlie mezereon, has the same medicinal properties. The spurge-laurel (Daphne hiureola), a native of Great Britain, is an evergreen shrub three to four feet high, with obovate-lanceolate leaves, which grow in tufts at the end of the branches, and give it a remarkable appearance. It grows well under the shade of trees. Daphne odora, a species in- troduced from Japan, has lemon-scented leaves. Of species in cultivation. Daphne mezereon is the only one hardy as -far north as New York. The evergreen species are as a rule less hard.v, though Daphne encoruin is fairly resistant. (For illustration, see Plate of JIountain Plants.) From the bark of some species of Daphne and of the most nearly allied genera paper is made in difi'erent parts of the East, particularly 'Nepal paper,' from that of Daphne cannahina. Slips of the inner bark are boiled in a lye of wood ashes for half an hour, till quite soft; are then reduced to a homogeneous pulp by beat- ing with a wooden mallet in a mortar, churned with water into a thin paste, and poured through a coarse sieve upon a cloth stretched on a frame. The paper is subsequently polished by friction, with a shell or a piece of hard wood, and is remarkable for its toughness, smoothness, and durability. Host of tlie paper used in Tibet is made from the bark of different spe- cies of Daphne and allied genera, particularly of Edgeworthia Gardneri, a beautiful shrub, with globes of waxy, cowsli])-colored, deliciously fragrant flowers, growing on the Himalava, at an elevation of 6000 to 7000 feet. The bark of Lasiosiphon Madagascariensis is made into paper and ropes in iladaga.^car. DAPHNE. The first, strictly speaking, of the Italian operas, produced in 1596, under the auspices of the Society of the Alterati. The score was by Caccini and Peri, and the libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini. When translated by Opitz to the new music of Ileinrich Schiitz, it became the first German opera as Avell (1627). DAPHNEPHORIA, daf ■ne-fo'ri-a. See Greek FESTIV.il.S. DAPHNIN, daf'nin (from Daphne). C^.H^c 0,,+H,0. A glucoside found in the Daphne me- zereum and readily decomposed into sugar and a substance called daphnetin. which, like the a;sculetin obtained fron the glucoside oesculin, has the composition represented by the molec- ular formula C^H.O;. Daphnetin lias also been prepared artificially. DAPHNIS, daf'nis (Lat., from Gk. Ad<^ra). A favorite character in the bucolic poetry of the ancients. The first certain appearance of the story in literature is in the early part of the third century B.C.. in Timseus and Theocritus. In its earliest form it seems a Sicilian folk-tale. The herdsman Daphnis, son of Hermes and a nymph, was beloved by a nymph, who made him promise never to love a mortal. Under the in- fluence of wine he was seduced by a Sicilian princess : thereupon the nymph punished him with blindness or petrifaction. The bucolic poets altered the details of this very common folk-tale to suit themselves, and Daphnis became merely a conventional fiuure. Late writers in- deed piade him the inventor of the Sicilian herds- man's song, which was regarded as the original bucolic poetry. Consult Prescott, "A Study of the Daphnis Myth," in Jlarcard Studies in Class- ical Philology, vol. .x. (Boston, 1899). DAPHNIS. A modest shepherd in Beau- mont and Fletcher's The Faithful Shepherdess. DAPHNIS AND CHLOE, klo'e (Gk. Ad0wj Kal Xti, Daphnis kai Chloe). The title of an e.xquisite Greek pastoral love story by the pseudo- ]>ongus, dating from the later period of the Koman Empire. It is the source of Tasso's Aminta, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's Paul et Yir- ginie, and Ramsay's (fentle Shepherd. Almost all these authors knew the story as rendered into French by Amyot (1559). See" Longus. DA PONTE, da pon'ta, Lorenzo (I749-I838). An Italian librettist, born at Ceneda, near Ven- ice, and for many years a resident of New York City. Exiled from Venice for writing a satirical poem, he went to 'ienna, where he became one of the secretaries of Joseph II. There he wrote for the stage, among other works, the librettos for llozarfs Don Giovanni and Le Xozze di Figaro. After the Emperor's death he went to London, where he was secretary and poet of the Italian opera. In 1805 he emigrated to New- York, where he taught Italian, and in 1828 was appointed professor of that language in Colum- bia College. He described his adventurous life in Memorie (1823-27), and also wrote sonnets, and translations of English works into Italian. DAPONTES, da-pr.n'tes, Con.sta.ti?jos ( ? - 1789). A Greek monk and poet. He was at- tached to the court of the Hospodar of Moldavia, ilaurocordatos, and frequently came into conflict with the Mohanmiedan authorities. He is re- garded as the most distinguished of the modern poets of the Greek Church, and several of his works, such as the Harden of Mercy, are still read. He died in a monastery on ilount Athos. One of his works has been translated into French by E. Legrand under the title, Ephemerid^s Daces, ou chronique de la guerre de qxtatre ans, J 736-39 (1880). DAP'PLE. In Cervantes's Don Quixote, the ass ridden by Sancho Panza. DAQIQI, da-ke'ke. The name of a Persian poet, one of the predecessors of Firdausi. See FiRDAusi : Persian Literature. DARAB, dii-riib'. or DARABGHERD, -gerd' (Pers., city of Darius, from Dara. OPers. Dara- yavansh, Gk. AapeTor. Dareios. Darius + gird, OPers. vardana. city; connected with Ljjt. urhs, city). A town of Persia in the Province of Farsistan. situ- ated on a small river, about 130 miles southeast of Shiraz (Map: Persia. E 6). It has some tan- neries and exports southern fruits, especially dates. In its vicinity is situated a caravansary he-wn in rock, and also a relief commemorating the victorv of Shahpur over Valerian. The popu- lation is estimated at from 4000 to 12.000. DARBHANGA, diirb han'ga. The capital of a district of the same name in the Patna di- vision, Bengal, India (Map: India. E 3). It is situated on the Little Baghmati River, and is an important railway junction, 78 miles north- east of Patna. Its chief building is the mahara- jah's palace, situated in beautiful gardens, with noteworthy zoological sections. It has a large market-place, important bazaars, a hospital, and