ctor of the court
theatre in Dresden. Appointed to Karlsruhe in 1852, he began a thorough
reorganization of the theatre, and in the course of seventeen years of
assiduous labour, not only raised it to a high position, but enriched
its repertory by many noteworthy librettos, among which _Die Gunst des
Augenblicks_ and _Verirrungen_ are the best known. But his chief work is
his history of the German stage--_Geschichte der deutschen
Schauspielkunst_ (Leipzig, 1848-1874). He died on the 4th of October
1877. A complete edition of his works--_Dramatische und dramaturgische
Schriften_--was published in ten volumes (Leipzig, 1846-1873).

The youngest and the most famous of the three nephews of Ludwig Devrient
was GUSTAV EMIL DEVRIENT (1803-1872), born in Berlin on the 4th of
September 1803. He made his first appearance on the stage in 1821, at
Brunswick, as Raoul in Schiller's _Jungfrau von Orleans_. After a short
engagement in Leipzig, he received in 1829 a call to Hamburg, but after
two years accepted a permanent appointment at the court theatre in
Dresden, to which he belonged until his retirement in 1868. His chief
characters were Hamlet, Uriel Acosta (in Karl Gutzkow's play), Marquis
Posa (in Schiller's _Don Carlos_), and Goethe's Torquato Tasso. He acted
several times in London, where his Hamlet was considered finer than
Kemble's or Edmund Kean's. He died on the 7th of August 1872.

OTTO DEVRIENT (1838-1894), another actor, born in Berlin on the 3rd of
October 1838, was the son of Philipp Eduard Devrient. He joined the
stage in 1856 at Karlsruhe, and acted successively in Stuttgart, Berlin
and Leipzig, until he received a fixed appointment at Karlsruhe, in
1863. In 1873 he became stage manager at Weimar, where he gained great
praise for his _mise en scene_ of Goethe's _Faust_. After being manager
of the theatres in Mannheim and Frankfort he retired to Jena, where in
1883 he was given the honorary degree of doctor of philosophy. In 1884
he was appointed director of the court theatre in Oldenburg, and in
1889 director of dramatic plays in Berlin. He died at Stettin on the
23rd of June 1894.

DEW. The word "dew" (O.E. _deaw_; cf. Ger. _Tau_) is a very ancient one
and its meaning must therefore be defined on historical principles.
According to the _New English Dictionary_, it means "the moisture
deposited in minute drops upon any cool surface by condensation of the
vapour of the atmosphere; formed after a hot day, during