(of the beginning of things). His great opponent was Thomas
Aquinas, and schoolmen of the day were divided into Scotists and
Thomists, or realists and nominalists.

D'URFEY, THOMAS (1653-1723).--Dramatist and song-writer, was a well-known
man-about-town, a companion of Charles II., and lived on to the reign of
George I. His plays are now forgotten, and he is best known in connection
with a collection of songs entitled, _Pills to Purge Melancholy_. Addison
describes him as a "diverting companion," and "a cheerful, honest,
good-natured man." His writings are nevertheless extremely gross. His
plays include _Siege of Memphis_ (1676), _Madame Fickle_ (1677),
_Virtuous Wife_ (1680), and _The Campaigners_ (1698).

DWIGHT, TIMOTHY (1752-1817).--Theologian and poet, _b._ at Northampton,
Mass., was a grandson of Jonathan Edwards, became a Congregationalist
minister, Prof. of Divinity, and latterly Pres. of Yale. His works
include, besides theological treatises and sermons, the following poems,
_America_ (1772), _The Conquest of Canaan_ (1785), and _The Triumph of
Infidelity_, a satire, admired in their day, but now unreadable.

DYCE, ALEXANDER (1798-1869).--Scholar and critic, _s._ of Lieut.-General
Alexander D., was _b._ in Edin., and _ed._ there and at Oxf. He took
orders, and for a short time served in two country curacies. Then,
leaving the Church and settling in London, he betook himself to his
life-work of ed. the English dramatists. His first work, _Specimens of
British Poetesses_, appeared in 1825; and thereafter at various intervals
ed. of Collins's _Poems_, and the dramatic works of _Peele, Middleton,
Beaumont and Fletcher, Marlowe, Greene, Webster_, and others. His great
ed. of _Shakespeare_ in 9 vols. appeared in 1857. He also ed. various
works for the Camden Society, and _pub._ _Table Talk of Samuel Rogers_.
All D.'s work is marked by varied and accurate learning, minute research,
and solid judgment.

DYER, SIR EDWARD (1545?-1607).--Poet, _b._ at Sharpham Park, Somerset,
and _ed._ at Oxf., was introduced to the Court by the Earl of Leicester,
and sent on a mission to Denmark, 1589. He was in 1596 made Chancellor of
the Order of the Garter, and knighted. In his own day he had a reputation
for his elegies among such judges as Sidney and Puttenham. For a long
time there was doubt as to what poems were to be attributed to him, but
about a dozen pieces have now been apparently identified as his. The best
known