r. But instead of getting
better, his condition became worse, and he even lost the use of one of
his hands. In this condition he turned from painting to music, and spent
his leisure hours in the pleasures of authorship. He did not long
survive, dying at Vienna in 1822, after long years of chronic suffering.
From two pictures now in the Belvedere gallery, and from numerous
engraved drawings from the neighbourhood of Tivoli, we gather that Dies
was never destined to rise above a respectable mediocrity. He followed
Salvator Rosa's example in imitating the manner of Claude Lorraine. But
Salvator adapted the style of Claude, whilst Dies did no more than copy
it.

DIEST, a small town in the province of Brabant, Belgium, situated on the
Demer at its junction with the Bever. Pop. (1904) 8383. It lies about
half-way between Hasselt and Louvain, and is still one of the five
fortified places in Belgium. It contains many breweries, and is famous
for the excellence of its beer.

DIESTERWEG, FRIEDRICH ADOLF WILHELM (1790-1866), German educationist,
was born at Siegen on the 29th of October 1790. Educated at Herborn and
Tubingen universities, he took to the profession of teaching in 1811. In
1820 he was appointed director of the new school at Mors, where he put
in practice the methods of Pestalozzi. In 1832 he was summoned to Berlin
to direct the new state-schools seminary in that city. Here he proved
himself a strong supporter of unsectarian religious teaching. In 1846 he
established the Pestalozzi institution at Pankow, and the Pestalozzi
societies for the support of teachers' widows and orphans. In 1850 he
retired on a pension, but continued vigorously to advocate his
educational views. In 1858 he was elected to the chamber of deputies as
member for the city of Berlin, and voted with the Liberal opposition. He
died in Berlin on the 7th of July 1866. Diesterweg was a voluminous
writer on educational subjects, and was the author of various school
text-books.

DIET, a term used in two senses, (1) food or the regulation of feeding
(see DIETARY and DIETETICS), (2) an assembly or council (Fr. _diete_;
It. _dieta_; Low Lat. _diaeta_; Ger. _Tag_). We are here concerned only
with this second sense. In modern usage, though in Scotland the term is
still sometimes applied to any assembly or session, it is practically
confined to the sense of an assembly of estates or of national or
federal representatives. The origin of th