is descended from the Latin school of which the
celebrated Alexander Hegius was master in the third quarter of the 15th
century, when the young Erasmus was sent to it, and at which Adrian
Floreizoon, afterwards Pope Adrian VI., is said to have been a pupil
about the same time. Another famous educational institution was the
"Athenaeum" or high school, founded in 1630, at which Henri Renery (d.
1639) taught philosophy, while Johann Friedrich Gronov (Gronovius)
(1611-1671) taught rhetoric and history in the middle of the same
century. The "Athenaeum" disappeared in 1876. In modern times Deventer
possessed a famous teacher in Dr Burgersdyk (d. 1900), the Dutch
translator of Shakespeare. The town library, also called the library of
the Athenaeum, includes many MSS. and _incunabula_, and a 13th-century
copy of _Reynard the Fox_. The archives of the town are of considerable
value. Besides a considerable agricultural trade, Deventer has important
iron foundries and carpet factories (the royal manufactory of Smyrna
carpets being especially famous); while cotton-printing, rope-making and
the weaving of woollens and silks are also carried on. A public official
is appointed to supervise the proper making of a form of gingerbread
known as "_Deventer Koek_," which has a reputation throughout Holland.
In the church of Bathmen, a village 5 m. E. of Deventer, some
14th-century frescoes were discovered in 1870.

In the 14th century Deventer was the centre of the famous religious and
educational movement associated with the name of GERHARD GROOT (q.v.),
who was a native of the town (see BROTHERS OF COMMON LIFE).

DE VERE, AUBREY THOMAS (1814-1902), Irish poet and critic, was born at
Curragh Chase, Co. Limerick, on the 10th of January 1814, being the
third son of Sir Aubrey de Vere Hunt (1788-1846). In 1832 his father
dropped the final name by royal licence. Sir Aubrey was himself a poet.
Wordsworth called his sonnets the "most perfect of the age." These and
his drama, _Mary Tudor_, were published by his son in 1875 and 1884.
Aubrey de Vere was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and in his
twenty-eighth year published _The Waldenses_, which he followed up in
the next year by _The Search after Proserpine_. Thenceforward he was
continually engaged, till his death on the 20th of January 1902, in the
production of poetry and criticism. His best-known works are: in verse,
_The Sisters_ (1861); _The Infant Bridal_ (1864); _Irish Odes_ (1869