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* DON GIOVANNI. 389 DONJON. DON GIOVANNI, din j6-v:iii'm-. The title of ail uiura i Mozart, produced with iinexam- plod siutcss at Prague in 1787. It is the com- poser's masterpiece. See Dox Juan. DONGOLA, dOij'gola. A province of Egyp- tian Sudan, situated between latitudes IS" 30' and HI' 40' N. It is generally level and fertile, and produces large quantities of wlieat and dates for ex[)ort. Its inhabitants are a mixed race of Turkish, Arabic, and Mameluke descent, and pro- fess Islamism. Dougola was formerly a promi- nent province of Xubia. It was taken in 1812 by the llaniolukes, who had been expelled from Egypt, but they were soon compelled to abandon their new place of refuge after the expedition of Ibrahim Pasha, in IS2I. During the Mahdist re- volt the province fell into the liands of the der- vishes, from whom it was regained by the Aiiglo- Egjptian forces under Kitchener in ISlMi. The present capital of the province is ICl-Ordeh (q.v.), or Xew Dongola, on the west bank of the Xile. Old Dongola. situated on the east bank of the Xile, about 60 miles above El-Ordeli, which was an important place in antiquity, is now a mere village. DONGOLA (from Dongola in Egyptian Su- dan ) KID, Sheepskin or goatskin so finished as to resemble French kid. It was first put on the market in 1880 by .James Kent, of Gloversville, X, Y., and created a revolution in certain branches of the leather industry. DONIOL, dS'nyol', Jean Hexbi Axtoine (1818 — ). A French publicist and historian, born at Riom (Puy-de-Dome), He studied at the University of Paris, and from 1S49 to 1879 was a member of the departmental administration. In 1882 he was appointed director of the national printing establishment. His publications include the following scholarly works: Hist aire des classes rurales en France (1857) ; La revolution fravgaise et la feodalite (1874) ; and Histoire de la participation de la France A Veiahlissement dcs Etals-Vnix d'Amcriqtie (5 vols, and sup.. 1886-1000), the last being a valuable and monu- mental work, in which nunierous iiii]iort;int docu- ments were first |)laced before the ))ublic, and for which he is best known, especially in America, DONIS CONDITIONALIBTJS, dO'nis kon- dish'I-6-nfil'i-bus, St-Vtite de (Lat,, concerning conditional gifts). The usual legal title of the famous statute of Westminster II. (1.3 Edward I., c. 1), passed in 128.5, which created and stereo- typed the form of estate which is known as a fee tail. Prior to its enactment such estates were known as conditional fees or gifts, w-hence the name of the statute. Thus, a gift of lands to a man and the heirs of his body was construed to be a fee sinii>le, dcsiendiblc to his heirs in general, in case he complied with the condition that he have lawful issue. He could then, by alienating the lands to a stranger in fee simple, defeat the expectations of his issue, just as a man may now, by alienation of an estate of in- heritance, defeat the expectations of his heirs. By the same act, the right or expectation of any remainderman to whom the estate was to go on failure of issue was also cut ofT, This disposition of the conditional fee contrary to the expressed intention of the one who created it (known as the donor) was regarded as a giave abuse, and it was to remedy this that the statute dc donin was passed. It provided that for the future the will of the donor of conditional gifts should be ob- served "so that they to whom the land was given under such condition shall have no power to aliene the land so given, but that it shall remain unto the issue of them to whom it was given after their death, or shall revert unto the giver or his heirs if issue fail," etc. This limitation upon the power of the donor of a conditional gift had the practical etlect of restricting the descent thereof to the heirs of his body, and so created the fee-tail estate as it has come down to us. For the nermanent efi'ccts of the statute, see CoxniTioN; Fee Tail. DONIZETTI, di-.'ne-zet'te, Gaetano (1797- 1848), An Italian operatic composer, born at Bergamo. He studied at the local conservatory under Simon ]layr, Salari, and Gonzalez, and later at Bologna. In 1S19 his first opera, IJnrico di Borgogna, Avon success at Venice, and he there- after wrote about three ojieras a year. He mas- tered so perfectly the style of Rossini, then reign- ing supreme, as to rival the 'Swan of Pesaro' him- self. Then Bellini appeared and threatened to eclipse him. Donizetti took iiarticular pains with his Anna Bolena (1830), which was jire- sented at ^Milan on the same night as Bellini's Sonnambula. This marked the beginning of more serious work on his part. L'Elisir d'Amore (1832), a comic opera, and the tragic Lucrezia Borgia (1834) and Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) were his next particular successes. Upon the death of Bellini he remained the undisputed mas- ter of the Italian stage, and was eagerly ac- claimed all over Europe. He settled in Paris (1835) and began to write for the French stage. La fille du regiment (1840) had enormous suc- cess at the Opera Comique; Lcs jnartyrs (for- bidden by the censor in Italy as Poliuto) and La favorita were both given in Paris the same year, and Don Pasquale, a comic opera, in 1843. In 1842 Linda di Chamounix created a furore in Vienna, and the Emjieror showered honors upon him. Amid this unexampled series of successes and honors his mind gave way, and the last four years of his life he was insane. A great festival was held in Donizetti's honor at Bergamo on the one hundredth anniversary of his birth, and a monument was erected there in 1855. The facil- ity of his pen was astounding; the fourth act of La favorita was composed in a tavern while he was waiting for a friend, and both music and liberetto of II CampanrUo di yottr were written within nine days. Vith this facility he combined an endless flow ot melody and a genuine dramatic talent, applied to only rarely. The fourth act of La favorita and the famous sextet of Lucia di Lammermoor (his masterpiece) are splendid -specimens of musico-draniatic writing combined with melodic beauty. In his comic operas, as, e.g. Don I'asfjuale, La fille du rfgiment, he ex- hibits an excellent comic vein, and the music is light and sparkling. In all he wrote about sev- enty operas. Consult: Cicconetti, Vitadi O. Doni- zetti (Rome. 1804) ; Ferris, Great Musical Com- posers (Xcw York, 1887). DONJON (OF. donjon, dongon. dongcon. Fr. donjon. Prov. donjon, dompnhon. from ilL. dom- nio. dungeon, from dominio. Lat. dominium, lord- ship, from dominu.<i. lord), or DtxoEox. The principal tower, or keep, of a castle or fortress, it was so called because, from its position, it dominated or eomnianded the other parts of the