Chapter XXI: Part 21

DA COSTA, ISAAK (1798-1860), Dutch poet and theologian, was born at Amsterdam on the 14th of January 1798. His father was a Jew of Portuguese descent, and claimed kindred with the celebrated Uriel D'Acosta. An early acquaintance with Bilderdijk had a strong influence over the boy both in poetry and in theology. He studied at Amsterdam, and afterwards at Leiden, where he took his doctor's degree in law in 1818, and in literature in 1821. In 1814 he wrote _De Verlossing van Nederland_, a patriotic poem, which placed him in line with the contemporary national romantic poets in Germany and in France. His _Poezy_ (2 vols., 1821-1822) revealed his emancipation from the Bilderdijk tradition, and the oriental colouring of his poems, his hymn to Lamartine, and his translation of part of Byron's _Cain_, establish his claim to be considered as the earliest of the Dutch romantic poets. In 1822 he became a convert to Christianity, and immediately afterwards asserted himself as a champion of orthodoxy and an assailant of latitudinarianism in his _Bezwaren tegen den Geest der Eeuw_ (1823). He took a lively interest in missions to the Jews, and towards the close of his life was a director of the seminary established in Amsterdam in connexion with the mission of the Free Church of Scotland. He died at Amsterdam on the 28th of April 1860. Da Costa ranked first among the poets of Holland after the death of Bilderdijk. His principal poetical works were: _Alphonsus I._ (1818), a tragedy; _Poezy_ (Leiden, 1821); _God metons_ (1826); _Festliedern_ (1828); _Vijf-en-twintig jaren_ (1840); _Hagar_ (1852); _De Slag bij Nieupoort_ (1857). He also translated _The Persians_ (1816) and the _Prometheus_ (1818) of Aeschylus, and edited the poetical works of Bilderdijk in sixteen volumes, the last volume being an account of the poet. He was the author of a number of theological works, chiefly in connexion with the criticism of the gospels.

His complete poetical works were edited by J. P. Hasebroek (3 vols.,
Haarlem, 1861-1862). See G. Groen van Prinsterer, _Brieven van, Mr I.
da Costa, 1830-1849_ (1872), and J. ten Brink, _Geschiedenis der
Noord-Nederlandsche Letteren in de XIX^e Eeuw_ (vol. i., 1888), which
contains a complete bibliography of his works.

DACTYL (from Gr. [Greek: daktylos], a finger), in prosody, a long syllable followed by two short (see VERSE).

DAEDALUS, a mythical Greek architect and sculptor, who figures largely in the early legends of Crete and of Athens. He was said to have built the labyrinth for Minos, to have made a wooden cow for Pasiphae and to have fashioned a bronze man who repelled the Argonauts. Falling under the displeasure of Minos, he fashioned wings for himself and his son Icarus, and escaped to Sicily. These legends seem primarily to belong to Crete; and the Athenian element in them which connected Daedalus with the royal house of Erechtheus is a later fabrication. To Daedalus the Greeks of the historic age were in the habit of attributing buildings, and statues the origin of which was lost in the past, and which had no inscription belonging to them. In a later verse in the _Iliad_ (date, 7th or 6th century), Daedalus is mentioned as the maker of a dancing-place for Ariadne in Crete; and such a dancing-place has been discovered by A. J. Evans, in the Minoan palace of Cnossus. Diodorus Siculus says that he executed various works in Sicily for King Cocalus. In many cities of Greece there were rude wooden statues, said to be by him. Later critics, judging from their own notions of the natural course of development in art, ascribed to Daedalus such improvements as separating the legs of statues and opening their eyes. In fact the name Daedalus is a mere symbol, standing for a particular phase of early Greek art, when wood was the chief material, and other substances were let into it for variety.

This Daedalus must not be confused with Daedalus of Sicyon, a great sculptor of the early part of the 4th century B.C., none of whose works is extant. (P. G.)

DAFFODIL, the common name of a group of plants of the genus _Narcissus_, and natural order Amaryllidaceae. (See generally under NARCISSUS.) The common daffodil, _N. Pseudo-narcissus_, is common in woods and thickets in most parts of the N. of Europe, but is rare in Scotland. Its leaves are five or six in number, are about a foot in length and an inch in breadth, and have a blunt keel and flat edges. The stem is about 18 in. long, and the spathe single-flowered. The flowers are large, yellow, scented and a little drooping, with a corolla deeply cleft into six lobes, and a central bell-shaped nectary, which is crisped at the margin. They appear early in the year, or, as Shakespeare says, "come before the swallow dares, and take the winds of March with beauty." The stamens are shorter than the cup, the anthers oblong and converging; the ovary is globose, and has three furrows; the seeds are roundish and black. Many new varieties of the flower have recently been cultivated in gardens. The bulbs are large and orbicular, and have a blackish coat; they, as well as the flowers, are reputed to be emetic in properties. The Peruvian daffodil and the sea daffodil are species of the genus _Ismene_. (For derivation see ASPHODEL.)

DAFYDD AB GWILYM (c. 1340-c. 1400), son of Gwilym Gam and Ardudful Fychan, greatest of the medieval Welsh poets, was born at Bro Gynin, Cardiganshire, about the year 1340. Educated by a scholarly uncle, Llewelyn ab Gwilym Fychan of Emlyn, he became steward to his kinsman, Ivor Hael of Maesaleg, Monmouthshire, who also appointed him instructor to his daughter. The latter arrangement leading to an attachment between tutor and pupil, the girl was banished to a convent in Anglesey, whither the poet followed her, taking service in an adjacent monastery, but on returning to Maesaleg he was permitted to retain his stewardship. He was elected chief bard of Glamorgan and became household bard to Ivor Hael. At Rhosyr in North Wales he met Morfudd Lawgam, to whom he addressed 147 amatory odes. In consequence of attempting to elope with this lady, Dafydd ab Gwilym, being unable to pay the fine demanded by her husband, was imprisoned. Liberated by the goodwill of his friends, he went back to Maesaleg, and after the death of his patron, retired to his birthplace, Bro Gynin. Tradition states that he was a man of noble appearance, and his poems bear evidence of high mental culture. He was acquainted with the works of Homer, Virgil, Ovid and Horace, and was also a student of Italian literature. Especially remarkable as a poet of nature in an age when more warlike themes were chosen by his contemporaries, his poems entitled "The Lark," "The Wind" and "The Mist" are amongst his finest efforts. He has been called the Petrarch, the Ovid, and (by George Borrow) the Horace of Wales. His poems were almost all written in the _cywydd_ form: a short ode not divided into stanzas, each line having the same number of syllables. The poet died about the year 1400, and according to tradition was buried in the graveyard of the monastery of Strata Florida, in Cardiganshire.

See also under CELT; _Celtic Literature_, iv. Welsh.

DAGGER, a hand weapon with a short blade. The derivation is obscure (cf. Fr. _dague_ and Ger. _Degen_), but the word is related to _dag_, a long pointed jag such as would be made in deeply nicking the edge of a garment. The war knife in various forms and under many names has of course been in use in all ages and amongst all races. But the dagger as generally understood was not a short sword, but a special stabbing weapon which could be used along with the sword. The distinction is often difficult to establish in a given case owing to the variations in the length of the weapon. The principal medieval dagger was the _misericorde_, which from the end of the 12th century was used, in all countries in which chivalry flourished, to penetrate the joints of the armour of an unhorsed adversary (hence Ger. _Panzerbrecher_, armour-breaker). It was so called either because the threat of it caused the vanquished to surrender "at mercy," or from its use in giving what was called the _coup de grace_. From about 1330 till the end of the succeeding century, in many knightly effigies it is often represented as attached on the right side by a cord or a chain to the sword-belt. This weapon and its sheath were often elaborately adorned. It was customary to secure it from accidental loss by a guard-chain fastened to the breast-armour. Occasionally the misericorde was fixed to the body-armour by a staple; or, more rarely, it was connected with a _gypciere_ or pouch. The misericorde may be called a poniard. The distinction between the dagger and the poniard is arbitrary, and in ordinary language the latter is taken as being the shorter and as having less resemblance to a short sword or cutlass. A weapon, with a longer blade than the misericorde, was habitually worn by civilians, including judges, during the middle ages; such weapons bore the name of _anlace_ (from _annulus_, as it was fastened by a ring), _basilarde_ or _langue de boeuf_, the last from the broad ox-tongue shape of the blade. This had often a small knife fixed on the scabbard, like a Highland officer's dirk of the present day. By nobles and knights the dagger or poniard was worn when they had exchanged their armour for the costume of peace. It is recorded besides that when they appeared at a tournament and on some other occasions, ladies at that time wore daggers depending, with their gypcieres, from their girdles. Thus, writing of the year 1348, Knighton speaks of certain ladies who were present at jousts as "habentes cultellos, quos _daggerios_ vulgariter dicunt, in powchiis desuper impositis." A longer and heavier dagger with a broad blade (Italian) is called _cinquedea_. The Scottish "dirk" was a long dagger, and survives in name in the dirk worn by midshipmen of the royal navy, and in fact in that worn by officers of Highland regiments. In the 15th and 16th centuries the infantry soldiers (Swiss or _landsknecht_) carried a heavy poniard or dagger. This and the earlier Spanish dagger with a thumb-ring were distinctively the weapons of professional soldiers. The rise of duelling produced another type, called the _main gauche_, which was a parrying weapon and often had a toothed edge on which the adversary's sword was caught and broken. One form of this dagger had a blade which expanded into a triple fork on pressing a spring; this served the same purpose. The satellites of the _Vehmgericht_ had a similar weapon, in order, it is suggested, that their acts should be done in the name of the Trinity. The smaller poniards are generally called "stilettos." Much ingenuity and skill have been lavished on the adornment of daggers, and in rendering the blades more capable of inflicting severe wounds. Daggers also were sometimes made to poison as well as to wound. Of oriental daggers may be mentioned the Malay "crease" or "kris," which has a long waxed blade; the Gurkha "kukri," a short curved knife, broadest and heaviest towards the point; and the Hindu "khuttar," which has a flat triangular-shaped blade, and a hilt of H-shape, the cross-bar forming the grip and the sides the guard.

DAGHESTAN, a province of Russia, Transcaucasia, occupying the triangular space between the Andi ridge, the south-east division of the main Caucasus range, and the Caspian Sea. It has the province of Terek on the N.W., the government of Tiflis on the S.W., and that of Baku on the S.E. With the exception of a narrow strip along the sea-coast and a small district in the N., it is entirely mountainous. Area, 11,332 sq. m. The snow-clad Andi ridge, belonging to the system of transverse upheavals which cross the Caucasus, branches off the latter at Borbalo Peak (10,175 ft.), and reaches its highest altitudes in Tebulos-mta (14,775 ft.) and Diklos-mta (13,740 ft.). It is encircled on the N. by a lower outer ridge, the Karadagh, through which the rivers cut their way. This ridge is thickly clothed with forests, chiefly beech. The Boz-dagh and another ridge run between the four Koisu rivers, the head-streams of the Sulak, which flows into the Caspian. The next most important stream, out of the great number which course down the flanks of the Caucasus and terminate in the Caspian, is the Samur. The most notable feature of the province is, however, according to O. W. H. Abich (_Sur la structure et la geologie du Daghestan_, 1862), the successive folds of Jurassic limestones and slates, all nearly parallel to the Caucasus, which form lofty, narrow plateaus. Many of the peaks upon them rise higher than 12,000 ft., and the passes lie at altitudes of 11,000 ft. in the interior and 9000 ft. towards the Caspian. Towards the Caspian, especially between Petrovsk and the river Sulak, the Cretaceous system is well represented, and upon its rocks rest marls, shales, and sandstones of the Eocene period. The country is altogether difficult of access, and only one military route leads up from the river Terek, while every one of the eleven passes known across the Caucasus is a mere bridle-path. The climate is severe on the plateaus, hot towards the Caspian, and dry everywhere. The average temperatures are--year 51 deg., January 26 deg., July 73 deg. at Temir-khan-shura (42 deg. 49' N.; alt. 1510 ft.). The annual rainfall varies from 17 to 21 in. The population, estimated at 605,100 in 1906, numbered 587,326 in 1897, of whom only 5000 were Russians. They consist chiefly of mountaineers known as Lesghians (i.e. 158,550 Avars, 121,375 Darghis, 94,506 Kurins), a race closely akin to the Circassians, intermingled towards the Caspian Sea with Tatars and Georgians. There are also sprinklings of Jews and Persians. The highlands of Daghestan were for many years the stronghold of the Circassians in their struggle against Russia, especially under the leadership of Shamyl, whose last stand was made on the steep mountain fastness of Gunib, 74 m. S. of Temir-khan-shura, in 1859. The difficulty of communication between the valleys has resulted in the growth of a great number of dialects. Avarian is a sort of inter-tribal tongue, while Lakh or Kazi-kumukh, Kurin, Darghi-kaitakh, Andi, and Tabasaran are some of the more important dialects, each subdivided into sub-dialects. The mountaineers breed some cattle and sheep, and cultivate small fields on the mountain-sides. In the littoral districts excellent crops of cereals, cotton, fruit, wine and tobacco are obtained with the aid of irrigation. Silkworms are bred. The mountaineers excel also in a variety of petty trades. Sulphur, salt and copper are the most important of the minerals. A railway line to connect the North Caucasian line (Rostov to Petrovsk) with the Transcaucasian line (Batum to Baku) has been built along the Caspian shore from Petrovsk, through the "gate" or pass of Derbent, to Baku. The province is divided into nine districts--Temir-khan-shura, Avar, Andi, Gunib, Dargo, Kazi-kumukh, Kaitago-Tabasaran, Kurin, and Samur. The only towns are Temir-khan-shura (pop. 9208 in 1897), the capital of the government, Derbent (14,821) and Petrovsk (9806), the last two both on the Caspian.

See G. Radde, "Aus den Daghestanischen Hochalpen," in _Petermanns
Mitteilungen_, Erganzungsheft, No. 85, 1887, and, with E. Konig, "Der
Nordfuss des Daghestan," in _Petermanns Mitteil._, Erganzungsheft, No.
117, 1895. (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)

DAGO, a name given somewhat contemptuously to Spanish, Portuguese and Italian sailors, as "Dutchman" is similarly applied to Germans and Scandinavians as well as to natives of Holland. In America the word is generally confined to the poorer class of Italian immigrants. In the South Wales mining districts the casual labourers, who are only engaged when work is plentiful, are so called. The word is apparently a corruption of the common Spanish and Portuguese Christian name "Diego."

DAGOBERT I. (d. 639), king of the Franks, was the son of Clotaire II. In 623 his father established him as king of the region east of the Ardennes, and in 626 revived for him the ancient kingdom of Austrasia, _minus_ Aquitaine and Provence. As Dagobert was yet but a child, he was placed under the authority of the mayor of the palace, Pippin, and Arnulf, bishop of Metz. At the death of Clotaire II. in 629, Dagobert wished to re-establish unity in the Frankish realm, and in 629 and 630 made expeditions into Neustria and Burgundy, where he succeeded in securing the recognition of his authority. In Aquitaine he gave his brother Charibert the administration of the counties of Toulouse, Cahors, Agen, Perigueux, and Saintes; but at Charibert's death in 632 Dagobert became sole ruler of the whole of the Frankish territories south of the Loire. Under him the Merovingian monarchy attained its culminating point. He restored to the royal domain the lands that had been usurped by the great nobles and by the church; he maintained at Paris a luxurious, though, from the example he himself set, a disorderly court; he was a patron of the arts, and delighted in the exquisite craftsmanship of his treasurer, the goldsmith St Eloi. His authority was recognized through the length and breadth of the realm. The duke of the Basques came to his court to swear fidelity, and at his _villa_ at Clichy the chief of the Bretons of Domnone promised obedience. He intervened in the affairs of the Visigoths of Spain and the Lombards of Italy, and was heard with deference. Indeed, as a sovereign, Dagobert was reckoned superior to the other barbarian kings. He entered into relations with the eastern empire, and swore a "perpetual peace" with the emperor Heraclius; and it is probable that the two sovereigns took common measures against the Slav and Bulgarian tribes, which ravaged in turn the Byzantine state and the German territories subject to the Franks. Dagobert protected the church and placed illustrious prelates at the head of the bishoprics--Eloi (Eligius) at Noyon, Ouen (Audoenus) at Rouen, and Didier (Desiderius) at Cahors. His reign is also marked by the creation of numerous monasteries and by renewed missionary activity in Flanders and among the Basques. He died on the 19th of January 639, and was buried at St Denis. After his death the Frankish monarchy was again divided. In 634 he had been obliged to give the Austrasians a special king in the person of his eldest son Sigebert, and at the birth of a second son, Clovis, in 635, the Neustrians had immediately claimed him as king. Thus the unification of the realm, which Dagobert had re-established with so much pains, was annulled.

See the _Chronicon_ of Fredegarius; "_Gesta Dagoberti I. regis
Francorum_" in _Mon. Germ. hist. Script. rer. Meroving._ vol. ii.
edited by B. Krusch; J. H. Albers, _Konig Dagobert in Gesch., Legende,
und Sage_ (2nd ed., Kaiserslautern, 1884); E. Vacandard, _Vie de Saint
Ouen, eveque de Rouen_ (Paris, 1901); and H. E. Bonnell, _Die Anfange
des karoling. Hauses_ (Berlin, 1866). (C. Pf.)

DAGON, a god of the Philistines who had temples at Ashdod (1 Sam. v. 1), and Gaza (Judg. xvi. 21, 23); the former was destroyed by Jonathan, the brother of Judas the Maccabee (1 Macc. x. 84; 148 B.C.). But Dagon was more than a mere local deity; there was a place called Beth-Dagon in Judah (Josh. xv. 41), another on the borders of Asher (_ib._ xix. 27), and a third underlies the modern Bet Dejan, south-east of Nablus. Dagon was in all probability an old Canaanite deity; it appears in the name of the Canaanite Dagantakala as early as the 15th century, and is possibly to be identified with the Babylonian god Dagan. Little is known of his cult (Judg. xvi. 23 seq.), although as the male counterpart of Ashtoreth (see ASTARTE) his worship would scarcely differ from that of the Baalim (see BAAL). The name Dagon seems to come from _dag_ "fish," and that his idol was half-man half-fish is possible from the ichthyomorphic representations found upon coins of Ascalon and Arvad, and from the fact that Berossus speaks of an Assyrian merman-god.

The true meaning of the name is doubtful. In 1 Sam. v. 4, Thenius and
Wellhausen, followed by Robertson Smith and others, read "only his
fish-part (_dago_) was left to him"; against this, see the comm. of H.
P. Smith and Budde. The identification of Dagon with the Babylonian
Dagan is doubted by G. F. Moore (_Encyc. Bib._, col. 985), and that of
the latter with Odacon and Ea-Oannes is questionable. Philo Byblius
(Muller, _Fr. Hist. Graec._ iii. 567 seq.) makes Dagon the inventor of
corn and the plough, whence he was called [Greek: Zeus Harotrios].
This points to a natural though possibly late etymology from the
Hebrew and Phoenician _dagan_ "corn." It is not improbable that, at
least in later times, Dagon had in place of, or in addition to, his
old character, that of the god who presided over agriculture; for in
the last days of paganism, as we learn from Marcus Diaconus in the
_Life of Porphyry of Gaza_ (S 19), the great god of Gaza, now known as
Marna (our Lord), was regarded as the god of rains and invoked against
famine. That Marna was lineally descended from Dagon is probable in
every way, and it is therefore interesting to note that he gave
oracles, that he had a circular temple, where he was sometimes
worshipped by human sacrifices, that there were wells in the sacred
circuit, and that there was also a place of adoration to him situated,
as was usual, outside the town. Certain "marmora" in the temple, which
might not be approached, especially by women, may perhaps be connected
with the threshold which the priests of Dagon would not touch with
their feet (1 Sam. v. 5, Zeph. i. 9). See further, the comm. on the
Old Testament passages, Moore (_loc. cit._), and Lagrange, _Relig.
semit._ p. 131 seq.

DAGUERRE, LOUIS JACQUES MANDE (1789-1851), French, painter and physicist, inventor of the daguerreotype, was born at Cormeilles, in the department of Seine-et-Oise, and died on the 12th of July 1851 at Petit-Brie-sur-Marne, near Paris. He was at first occupied as an inland revenue officer, but soon took to scene-painting for the opera. He assisted Pierre Prevost (1764-1823) in the execution of panoramic views of Rome, Naples, London, Jerusalem, and Athens, and subsequently (July 11, 1822), in conjunction with Bouton, he opened at Paris the Diorama ([Greek: dis], double; [Greek: horama], view), an exhibition of pictorial views, the effect of which was heightened by changes in the light thrown upon them. An establishment similar to that at Paris was opened by Daguerre in Regent's Park, London. On the 3rd of March 1839 the Diorama, together with the work on which Daguerre was then engaged, was destroyed by fire. This reverse of fortune was soon, however, more than compensated for by the distinction he achieved as the inventor of the daguerreotype photographic process. J. Nicephore Niepce, who since 1814 had been seeking a means of obtaining permanent pictures by the action of sunlight, learned in 1826 that Daguerre was similarly occupied. In 1829 he communicated to Daguerre particulars of his method of fixing the images produced in the camera lucida by making use of metallic plates coated with a composition of asphalt and oil of lavender; this, where acted on by the light, remained undissolved when the plate was plunged into a mixture of petroleum and oil of lavender, and the development of the image was effected by the action of acids and other chemical reagents on the exposed surface of the plate. The two investigators laboured together in the production of their "heliographic pictures" from 1829 until the death of Niepce in 1833. Daguerre, continuing his experiments, discovered eventually the process connected with his name. This, as he described it, consists of five operations:--the polishing of the silver plate; the coating of the plate with iodide of silver by submitting it for about 20 minutes to the action of iodine vapour; the projection of the image of the object upon the golden-coloured iodized surface, the development of the latent image by means of the vapour of mercury; and, lastly, the fixing of the picture by immersing the plate in a solution of sodium "hyposulphite" (sodium thiosulphate). On the 9th of January 1839, at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Arago dwelt on the importance of the discovery of the daguerreotype; and, in consequence of the representations made by him and Gay Lussac to the French government, Daguerre was on the 15th of June appointed an officer of the Legion of Honour. On the same day a bill was presented to the chambers, according to the provisions of which Daguerre and the heir of Niepce were to receive annuities of 6000 and 4000 francs respectively, on the condition that their process should be made known to the Academy. The bill having been approved at the meetings of the two chambers on the 9th of July and on the 2nd of August, Daguerre's process, together with his system of transparent and opaque painting, was published by the government, and soon became generally known (see PHOTOGRAPHY).

Daguerre's _Historique et description des procedes du daguerreotype et
du diorama_ (Paris, 1839) passed through several editions, and was
translated into English. Besides this he wrote an octavo work,
entitled _Nouveau moyen de preparer la couche sensible des plaques
destinees a recevoir les images photographiques_ (Paris, 1844).