in 1636 joined
the Church of Rome. During the Civil War he was active on the side of the
King, and on the fall of his cause was for a time banished. He was the
author of several books on religious and quasi-scientific subjects,
including one on the _Choice of a Religion_, on the _Immortality of the
Soul_, _Observations on Spenser's Faery Queen_, and a criticism on Sir T.
Browne's _Religio Medici_. He also wrote a _Discourse on Vegetation_, and
one _On the Cure of Wounds_ by means of a sympathetic powder which he
imagined he had discovered.

DILKE, CHARLES WENTWORTH (1789-1864).--Critic and writer on literature,
served for many years in the Navy Pay-Office, on retiring from which he
devoted himself to literary pursuits. He had in 1814-16 made a
continuation of Dodsley's _Collection of English Plays_, and in 1829 he
became part proprietor and ed. of _The Athenaeum_, the influence of which
he greatly extended. In 1846 he resigned the editorship, and assumed that
of _The Daily News_, but contributed to _The Athenaeum_ his famous papers
on _Pope_, _Burke_, _Junius_, etc., and shed much new light on his
subjects. His grandson, the present Sir C.W. Dilke, _pub._ these
writings in 1875 under the title, _Papers of a Critic_.

DISRAELI, B., (_see_ BEACONSFIELD).

D'ISRAELI, ISAAC (1766-1848).--Miscellaneous writer, was descended from a
Jewish family which had been settled first in Spain, and afterwards at
Venice. _Ed._ at Amsterdam and Leyden, he devoted himself to literature,
producing a number of interesting works of considerable value, including
_Curiosities of Literature_, in 3 series (1791-1823), _Dissertation on
Anecdotes_ (1793), _Calamities of Authors_ (1812), _Amenities of
Literature_ (1841); also works dealing with the lives of James I. and
Charles I.D. was latterly blind. He was the _f._ of Benjamin D., Earl of
Beaconsfield (_q.v._).

DIXON, RICHARD WATSON (1833-1900).--Historian and poet, _s._ of Dr. James
D., a well-known Wesleyan minister and historian of Methodism, _ed._ at
King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Oxf., took Anglican orders, was
Second Master at Carlisle School, Vicar of Hayton and Warkworth, and
Canon of Carlisle. He _pub._ 7 vols. of poetry, but is best known for his
_History of the Church of England from the Abolition of Roman
Jurisdiction_ (1877-1900).

DIXON, WILLIAM HEPWORTH (1821-1879).--Historian and traveller, _b._ near
Manchester, went to London in 1846, and became connected w