_ of the Chief Baron of Exchequer
in Ireland, was _b._ in Dublin, and _ed._ at Oxf. He began his literary
career with a tragedy, _The Sophy_ (1641), which seldom rises above
mediocrity. His poem, _Cooper's Hill_ (1642), is the work by which he is
remembered. It is the first example in English of a poem devoted to local
description. D. received extravagant praise from Johnson; but the place
now assigned him is a much more humble one. His verse is smooth, clear,
and agreeable, and occasionally a thought is expressed with remarkable
terseness and force. In his earlier years D. suffered for his Royalism;
but after the Restoration enjoyed prosperity. He, however, made an
unhappy marriage, and his last years were clouded by insanity. He was an
architect by profession, coming between Inigo Jones and Wren as King's
Surveyor.

DENNIS, JOHN (1657-1734).--Critic, etc., _s._ of a saddler, was _b._ in
London, and _ed._ at Harrow and Caius Coll., Camb., from the latter of
which he was expelled for stabbing a fellow-student, and transferred
himself to Trinity Hall. He attached himself to the Whigs, in whose
interest he wrote several bitter and vituperative pamphlets. His attempts
at play-writing were failures; and he then devoted himself chiefly to
criticising the works of his contemporaries. In this line, while showing
some acuteness, he aroused much enmity by his ill-temper and jealousy.
Unfortunately for him, some of those whom he attacked, such as Pope and
Swift, had the power of conferring upon him an unenviable immortality.
Embalmed in _The Dunciad_, his name has attained a fame which no work of
his own could have given it. Of Milton, however, he showed a true
appreciation. Among his works are _Rinaldo and Armida_ (1699), _Appius
and Virginia_ (1709), _Reflections Critical and Satirical_ (1711), and
_Three Letters on Shakespeare_. He _d._ in straitened circumstances.

DE QUINCEY, THOMAS (1785-1859).--Essayist and miscellaneous writer, _s._
of a merchant in Manchester, was _b._ there. The aristocratic "De" was
assumed by himself, his _f._, whom he lost while he was still a child,
having been known by the name of Quincey, and he claimed descent from a
Norman family. His _Autobiographic Sketches_ give a vivid picture of his
early years at the family residence of Greenheys, and show him as a
highly imaginative and over-sensitive child, suffering hard things at the
hands of a tyrannical elder brother. He was _ed._ first at home,