onastery, where she died (1697-1780).

DEFOE, DANIEL, author of "Robinson Crusoe," born in London; bred for
the Dissenting ministry; turned to business, but took chiefly to
politics; was a zealous supporter of William III.; his ironical treatise,
"The Shortest Way with Dissenters" (1703), which, treated seriously, was
burned by order of the House of Commons, led to his imprisonment and
exposed him for three days to the pillory, amidst the cheers, however,
not the jeers, of the mob; in prison wrote a "Hymn to the Pillory," and
started his _Review_; on his release he was employed on political
missions, and wrote a "History of the Union," which he contributed to
promote. The closing years of his life were occupied mainly with literary
work, and it was then, in 1719, he produced his world-famous "Robinson
Crusoe"; has been described as "master of the art of forging a story and
imposing it on the world for truth." "His circumstantial invention," as
Stopford Brooke remarks, "combined with a style which exactly fits it by
its simplicity, is the root of the charm of his great story" (1661-1731).

DEGE`RANDO, BARON, a French philanthropist and philosopher, born at
Lyons, of Italian descent; wrote "History of Philosophy," long in repute
as the best French work on the subject (1772-1842).

DEIANEIRA, the wife of Hercules, whose death she had been the
unwitting cause of by giving him the poisoned robe which NESSUS
(q. v.) had sent her as potent to preserve her husband's love; on
hearing the fatal result she killed herself in remorse and despair.

DEIPHOBUS, a son of Priam and Hecuba, second in bravery to Hector;
married Helen after the death of Paris, and was betrayed by her to the
Greeks.

DEIR-AL-KAMAR, a town in Syria, once the capital of the Druses, on a
terrace in the heart of the Lebanon Mountains.

DEISM, belief on purely rational grounds in the existence of God,
and distinguished from theism as denying His providence.

DEISTS, a set of free-thinkers of various shades, who in England, in
the 17th and 18th centuries, discarded revelation and the supernatural
generally, and sought to found religion on a purely rational basis.

DEJAZET, VIRGINIE, a celebrated French actress, born in Paris; made
her _debut_ at five years of age (1797-1875).

DEKKER, THOMAS, a dramatist, born in London; was contemporary of Ben
Jonson, between whom and him, though they formerly worked together, a
bitter animosity arose;