685 



D'URFEY, THOMAS. 



DURHAM, EARL OF. 



638 



Charles V., who appointed him their painter, and bestowed upon him 

 riches and honours. 



To please his father, Diirer had married, against his inclination, the 

 daughter of a wealthy neighbour ; but the match turned out so unfor- 

 tunate that it embittered his life, and his countrymen attributed his 

 premature death to his domestic misfortune. He died in 1528, in the 

 fifty-eighth year of his age. The senate of Nurnberg, to honour the 

 memory of their illustrious citizen, decreed him a public funeral, 

 which was celebrated with great pomp and solemnity. 



Diirer was the first man in Germany who taught the rules of per- 

 spective and the proportions of the human body according to mathe- 

 matical and anatomical principles. In fact, his works were in this 

 respect so classical, that even his prints and wood-outs were purchased 

 by the Italian painters for their improvement in those branches. 



His paintings are admired for the vivid and fertile imagination, the 

 sublime conception, and the wonderful union of boldness and correct- 

 ness of design which they display. Some critics have found fault 

 with the unnecessary, or, as it has been termed, ostentatious correct- 

 new of drawing and the exuberance of his imagination ; but the only 

 fault that can be really objected to in him is his total neglect of 

 costume. Yet the censure of this fault arises from his adopting a 

 conventional costume, which is contrary in its character to that of the 

 great Italian masters, rather than from the costume being untrue. 

 His eontume certainly appears faulty enough, but the fault is that it 

 is over-elaborate rather than neglected. His pictures, in spite of this 

 Tiolation of the rules of taste, produce lasting impressions of the 

 sublime and beautiful ; and impartial judges must always honour in 

 him the greatest master of the old German school. 



Besides hU greit historical paintings, the best of which are in the 

 collections of Vienna, Prague, Munich, and Dresden, Durer has left 

 some landscapes that are highly valued. Durer's portraits were also 

 highly esteemed : it was said of him that he not only possessed the 

 talent of catching the exact expression of the features, but also of 

 delineating the different characters and passions. Diirer was also an 

 excellent engraver in copper and wood ; his wood-cuts are masterpieces 

 of the art, and considered equal to those of Hugo da Carpi. The 

 beit among his wood-cuts, both in respect of invention and execution, 

 are his greater ' Passion ' and his ' Revelation of St. John.' So much 

 were they sought after, even during his lifetime, that a Venetian artist 

 was induced to counterfeit them. When Diirer heard of this forgery 

 he went to Venice and commenced a suit against the man, whose name 

 was Hare Antonio Franci. The senate of Venice would have punished 

 the offender severely if Diirer had not obtained his pardon. There 

 is a volume containing more than 200 original drawings by Albert 

 Diirer in the print-room of the British Museum, which formerly 

 belonged to the collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and was probably part 

 of the celebrated collection of Durer's friend, W. Pirkhamer. In the 

 same room is preserved an exquisite carving by him, in hone-stone, of 

 the 'Birth of St. John,' bequeathed to the museum by Mr. R. P. Knight, 

 who had purchased it at the price of 5001. It is dated 1510. 



An extensive collection of Albert Durer's engravings was bequeathed 

 to the British Museum by the sculptor Nollekens, and many have 

 since been purchased. It is a matter of great regret that there is not 

 a single painting by Diirer in the National Gallery. The Durer 

 engravings in the British Museum are of course, under present 

 arrangements, not open to public inspection; though it certainly 

 appears very desirable that a selection of the magni'.icent collection 

 of drawings and engravings now in that museum should be shown to 

 the public, and the exhibition of the Raffaelle drawings in the Taylor 

 Buildings at Oxford proves that it is perfectly practicable. 



Two inventions are attributed to Diirer : that of printing wood-cuts 

 in two colours, and that of etching. His claim to the invention of 

 the art of etching is however disputed, though it is not denied that he 

 was the first who excelled in it. 



Diirer wrote several valuable works on geometry, perspective, and 

 fortification. He bestowed such labour on the purity of his native 

 tongue that his writings even now are regarded well worth the study 

 of the German scholar. In his private life Diirer waa amiable, 

 upright, and benevolent. 



His life has been written by Arend and Roth, and lately by Heller, 

 who has given the most critical and complete catalogue of all his 

 works. Gbthe, Tiejk, Wackenrode, and other distinguished writers 

 have vindicated his claims, which under the baneful influence of 

 French taste had been so disregarded, that Durer had come by his 

 own countrymen to be regarded as a barbarian. Since the revival of 

 German art, Durer has been looked upon by all Germans as the great 

 exemplar of national art. 



D'UKFEY, THOMAS, was born in Devonshire, but the exact time 

 of his birth is uncertain. He was designed for the law, but quitted 

 that profession for poetry. His dramas had remarkable success in 

 the days of Charles II., but were soon aftewards banished from the 

 stage on account of their outrageous indecency, and at present scarcely 

 their names are known, except to the students of English dramatic 

 history. Much of his fame was owing to his songs and satirical odes, 

 which have a good deal of vivacity, and which he is said to have him- 

 self rang in a lively and agreeable manner. He is represented in the 

 Guardian ' as being on such terms of intimacy with Charles II., that 

 the king would sometimes lean on big shoulder and hum tunes with 



him : he was also a favourite at most convivial parties, and was so 

 much celebrated for his qualities as a good companion, that it was 

 considered a kind of honour to have been in his company. He how- 

 ever outlived his reputation, probably outlived also his convivial 

 powers, and was reduced to such distress in the latter part of his life, 

 that he applied to the managers of the theatre, who performed for his 

 benefit one of his comedies, and Addison wrote a kind-hearted paper 

 in the ' Guardian ' to procure him a full house. The profits which 

 were acquired seem to have been sufficient to render his last days 

 comparatively easy, if any judgment is to be founded on his poems of 

 this period, which are written with liveliness. He died in 1723, and 

 was buried in St. James's, Westminster. 



A collection of D'Urfey's poems, entitled ' Pills to purge Melan- 

 choly,' is extremely rare, and sells for a high price. It is much 

 esteemed by those bibliographers who think licentious works valuable 

 if they are but scarce. 



DURHAM, JOHN GEORGE LAMBTON, EARL OF, was born 

 at the family seat of Lambton Hall, or, as it is usually called, 

 Lambton Castle, in Durham, on the 12th of April 1792. His father 

 was William Henry Lambton, Esq.; his mother, the Lady Anne 

 Barbara Francis Villiers, second daughter of George Bussey, fourth 

 Earl of Jersey. The family is said to have possessed its manor of 

 Lambton ever since the 12th century, the male succession never having 

 been interrupted since that remote date. The property was originally 

 of inconsiderable value ; the wealth of the family, arising principally 

 from coal mines, dates from the time of Major General John Lambton, 

 the late Lord Durham's grandfather, who succeeded to the estate in 

 1774, and died, at the age of eighty-four, in 1794. The Latnbtons 

 however had held an eminent place among the county gentry from the 

 beginning of the last century; and either the head or some other 

 member of the family represented the city of Durham in parliament 

 from 1727 till the death of the late earl's father, at the aga of thirty- 

 three, 30th of December 1797, after he had sat in the House of 

 Commons for about ten years. Mr. William Henry Lambton, who 

 was, like his ancestors, a decided Whig, was an intimate friend and 

 associate of Charles Fox, and the other leaders or chief members of 

 his party ; and he was also highly popular with his constituents. 



The subject of the present notice was educated at Eton. On the 

 let of January 1812, he was married at Gretna Groen to Mi->s Harriet 

 Cholmondeley, described in the ' Annual Register ' as " daughter of the 

 late celebrated Madam St. Alban ; " and about the same time he is 

 stated to have entered the 10th Hussars. By Miss Cholmondeley, 

 who died llth July, 1815, he had three daughters, who all died before 

 himself, though not till after they had all attained the age of woman- 

 hood. On the 9th of December 1816 he married the Lady Louisa 

 Elizabeth Grey, eldest daughter of Earl Grey. 



Meanwhile, on the vacancy occasioned by the death of Sir Henry 

 Vane Tempest, Bart, on the 1st of August 1313, Mr. Lambton had 

 been returned to parliament for his native county. He very soon 

 took a part in the proceedings of the House, his maiden speech 

 having been delivered on the 12th of May 1814, in seconding an 

 unsuccessful motion of Mr. C. W. Wynne, for an address to the 

 Prince Regent against the annexation of Norway to Sweden. He con- 

 tinued to sit for the county of Durham so long as ho remained a 

 commoner, and, though he did not speak often, took a part in many 

 important debates ; opposing the new Corn Law Bill in 1815 ; opposing 

 the additions made to the incomes of tho royal dukes, and the con- 

 tinuance of the Alien and Bank Restriction Acts in 1816; opposing 

 the Indemnity Bill demanded by ministers in 1818, and the six 

 repressive bills brought in by the government after the great Reform 

 meeting at Manchester in 1819; and by a plan of parliamentary 

 reform which he submitted to the House on the 17th of April 1821. 



His exertions in the House of Commons however began to relax 

 undei the pressure of ill-h.-alth ; and his name is scarcely connected 

 with any measure of consequence down to the great and eventually 

 successful renewal of the Reform agitation iu 1830. With the gene- 

 rality of his party, he supported both the Canning ministry of May 

 1827, and that of Lord Goderich, by which it was succeeded, iu 

 October of the same year ; and on the dissolution of the latter, in 

 January 1828, he was raised to the peerage with the title of Baron 

 Durham of the. City of Durham. 



On the formation of the ministry of Lord Grey, iu November 1830, 

 Lord Durham n as rnadj Lord Privy Seal ; and the preparation of the 

 government Reform Bill was intrusted to four persons, of whom he 

 was one, the others being Lord John Russell, Sir James Graham, aud 

 Lord Duncannou. It is known that Lord Durham proposed the 

 introduction of the ballot into the scheme, aud persuaded his col- 

 leagues to agree with him; but the ballot was excluded from the bill 

 as actually drawn up and brought forward in tho Commons by Lord 

 John Russell on the memorable 1st of March 1831. A speech which 

 Lord Durham delivered on the 28th of March, iu the House of Lords, 

 in explanation of the measure, was published. The plan reported by 

 the four persons was also materially improved by making tho qualifi- 

 cation 101. instead of 202. He took no part iu the discussion of the 

 second Reform Bill in the House of Lords, where it was defeated on 

 the second reading, on the 3rd of October. His eldest sou, a beautiful 

 boy, whose features will live for ever in the well-known picture by 

 Lawrenea, had died of consumption, at tho age of thirteen, on the 



