DYCE, BEY. ALEXANDER. 



DYER, JOHN. 



historical parts, especially those reUtiog to the Indian history, man- 

 tun, and warfare, an of much interact Dr. Dwight s earliest publi- 

 cation, was an epic entitled the ' Conquest of Canaan,' finished in hi* 

 twenty-second year, and he subsequently publiihed several other 

 volumes of religious verse, which were read in their days, bat hare 

 long iiDC passed into oblivion. Hi. chief work is hie 'Theology 

 ExptaiMd and Defended in a Seme of Sermons,' 5 Tola. Svp. It U a 

 coune of 173 lecture*, delivered by him an professor of divinity on 

 the Sundays in term-time, so as to occupy about four years. His 

 method of preaching was from rery concise notes or heads, his eyes 

 not permitting him to undergo the labour of writing ; so that this 

 Toluminous body of divinity wae not committed to paper till 1805, in 

 which year he was provided with an amanuensis at the expense of the 

 college. Two more volumes of his sermon*, fifty-nine in number, 



s published in 1827, and many sermons, essays, &c., remain 

 unpublished. Dr. Dwight was a pleasing as wall as a prolific writ r ; 

 but he bad little originality or depth of thought, and his florid, 

 diffuse, and uuciitical writings are not likely to be of lasting reputa- 

 tion. Dr. Dwight is said to have been eminently a useful and effective 

 as well ss a learned preacher, and his life bore witness to the eraoacy 

 of his own belief. 



(Life, prefixed to his Theology Explained.) 



DYCE, REV. ALEXANDER, was born in Edinburgh in 1798, 

 and in the High School of that city he received the early part of his 

 education. Being intended for the church, he proceeded to Exeter 

 College, Oxford ; waa ordained, and officiated for several years as a 

 curate in Cornwall and Suffolk. In 1827 he came to reside iu London, 

 and entered upon a literary career, in which his g-neral learning and 

 critical acquaintance with old writers have gained him a well-merited 

 diitinction. His first publication wag 'Select Translations from 

 Quintus SuiymaeuV followed by an edition of the poems of Coiling, 

 and ' Specimens of British Poetesses.' Of our elder dramatists, hia 

 editions of Peele, Greene, Webster, Middleton, Beaumont and Fletcher, 

 and Marlowe and Shirley, display great research and critical sagacity, 

 and are now recognised as the standard editions. Mr. Dyce has like- 

 wise edited the poetical works of John Skelton, and contributed 

 memoirs to the editions of Pope, Collins, Beattie, Aken-ide, and others, 

 for the 'Aldine Biitish Poets,' published by Mr. Pickering. The 

 critical and theological works of Bentley were also published by Mr. 

 Dyoa. As a commentator upon Shakspere, he has produced ' Remarks 

 on Collier's and Knight's Editions of Shakespeare,' ' A Few Notes on 

 Shake* p< arc, ' and a volume examining some of the emendations pro- 

 posed by Mr. Collier, on the authority of the manuscript corrections 

 he discovered on a copy of the second folio. In these publications Mr. 

 Dyce not nnfrequently injures the real value of his own knowledge by 

 displaying something of the same sneering and self-satisfied temper 

 with which Stevens was accustomed to assail his brother commentators. 

 Mr. Dyoe is a member of several literary societies, and has edited 

 Kemp's ' Nine Days' Wonder ' for the Camden Society ; ' Timon ' aud 

 'Sir Thomas More,' two tragedies, for the Shakspeare Society; and some 

 tracts for the Percy Society. 



DYCE, WILLIAM, H.A., was born in Scotland early in the present 

 ceatury. He received his education in art at the Scottish Academy, and 

 at toe acadetnj's exhibition iu 1827 made his first public appearance as 

 a painter of classical subject* For more prosaic patrons be painted 

 portraits. Some three or four years later Mr. Dyce appeared as a 

 contributor to the Royal Academy, London, without attracting much 

 notice, though his career was watched by hia countrymen with some 

 iatrrest. He gradually made bis way as a correct draughtsman and a 

 careful painter, with aspirations toward* a high class of art ; and when 

 it was proposed to impart to the new School of Design at Somerset 

 House a really artistic character, Mr. Dyce was selected as the head- 

 master. This office he retained only about three yean too brief a 

 time to effect any real good, but a rather long period for that very 

 variable institution. On his return to the undivided pursuit of his 

 profession, be showed that the interval bad not been ill-employed. 

 His contribution to the Exhibition of 1844 was a work more original 

 and characteristic, and far more effective, than any he had hitherto 

 painted, ' King Joash Shooting the Arrow of Deliverance ;' and its 

 purity of Ktyla and admirable execution at once secured Mr. Dyce 

 admbeion as an Associate within the coveted precincts of the Royal 

 Academy. Ho had in fact not only been, as his style showed, studying 

 the works of the eminent living German historical painters, but he 

 had alto bren making himself master of their methods of fresoo- 

 palnttng, of his skill in which art he exhibited some examples at the 

 Fresco Exhibition in the same year. These, parts of a large historical 

 composition, were regarded as among the most successful specimens 

 sent to Westminster Hall. Soon after Prince Albert gave him a 

 commission to paint in fresco one of the compartments of his summer- 

 boose at Buckingham Palace, and subsequently he was employed to 

 execute some fresco-paintings at Osborne. Mr. Dyce was also one of 

 the fint artists employed upon the new Palace of Westminster. In 

 the House of Lords bis fresco of the Baptism of Ethelbert ' is generally 

 regarded as one of the best paintings in the room. So much indeed 

 was it approve*] of by the authorities, that Mr. Dyce has since been 

 pretty constantly employed in adorning the walls of tbat vast building. 



(S 



le Queen's rubing-room is being entirely painted by him. 

 Mr. Djrce's occupation at the houses of parliament has i 



has interfered of 



coune with his practice as a paiuter of cabinet and gallery pictures, 

 and his contributions to the Royal Academy exhibitions during the 

 last ten years have been somewhat scanty. In 1846 he sent 

 < Madonna and Child ;' in 1847 only a sketch. The next year he was 

 elected R.A., and signalised his accession of dignity by sending to the 

 exhibition an ' Oinnia Vanitas,' and another sketch for a fresc >. In 

 1850 he contributed a ' Meeting of Jacob and Rachel,' of which subject 

 he sent another version in ISM. The only other pictures which have 

 appeared from his easel are ' King Lear and the Fool in the Storm' 

 (1851); 'Christabel' in 1855 (a very nice German hoe, very nicely 

 painted in the German manner, but certainly not the Christabol of 

 Coleridge); and the ' Good Shepherd ' (1866). 



DYER. OKORQE, was born iu London on the 15th of March. 

 H was educated at Christ's Hospital, where, when hia standing in the 

 school gained him access to the library, he acquired that taste for 

 extensive reading which produced the works that will preserve hi* 

 name : he was at the school from the age of seven to nineteen. 

 While at school he wa much noticed by Dr. Askew, physician to the 

 hospital, at whose table he waa a frequent guest, in company with 

 much of the distinguished part of the literary world. Iu 1774 ho 

 entered at Emanuel College, Cambridge, and took the degree of B.A. 

 in 177S. After being for a time usher at a free grammar school and 

 several others, he returned to Cambridge, not taking up his residence 

 iu college, but, having become a Baptist, in the family of bin friend 

 the Rev. K. Robinson, the Baptist minister, as tutor to his children 

 and pupil of their father. Ha next officiated for some time at Oxford 

 as a Baptist minister; but after relinquixhin^ this duty, and again 

 residing for some time in Cambridge, he finally settled in London in 

 17ui From that time till 1830 his time waa employed at first as a 

 reporter iu the House of Commons (which occupation he abandoned 

 alter two months' trial of it), afterwards as a private teacher, finally 

 iu various literary undertakings presently mentioned. In 1830 his 

 eyesight gradually failed, and at length he became totally blind. He 

 died at his chambers in Clifford's Inn, on the 2nd of MoruU 1841. 



Dyer was a poet, a scholar, and an antiquarian, deeply versed in 

 books and their history. As a poet he attracted notice, but not 

 f.ime ; as a scholar he edited some plays of Euripides and an edition 

 of the Greek Testament; but he is best known as editor, or joint 

 editor, of Valpy's combination of the Delphin, Bipout, aud Variorum 

 editions of the Classics, iu a hundred and forty-one volumes, in which 

 all the original matter and ' additatnenta,' except the preface, were con- 

 tributed by him. As an antiquary his principal works are ' History 

 of the University aud College* of Cambridge,' 2 vols. 8vo, London, 

 1814; 'Privileges of the University of Cambridge,' 9 vols. 8vo, 

 London, 1824 ; the first volume containing the charters, statutes, ftc., 

 the second being a supplement to the history ; and in connection with 

 these, 'Academic Unity,' 8vo, London, 1827, beiug a translation with 

 additions of the ' Diesertatio Genernlia ' iu the se.'oud work. Dyer 

 published a ' Life of the Rev. Robert Robinson,' and many other works 

 of less note (a list of which is in the postscript of the second volume 

 of the ' Privileges,' &c., just mentioned), and was a large contributor 

 to the magazines. 



Dyer was a man of a remarkable single-mindedness and simplicity 

 of character ; and not only remarkable, but remarked and recorded, 

 and that in a singular manner, by his friend Charles Lamb (so well 

 known under the signature of ' Elia'} in the ' London Magazine' for 

 October and December 1823, and republished in the ' Essays of Elia.' 



Dyer's ' History of Cambridge ' is rather a sketch than a history ; 

 but it is the sketch of a man who had all the raiding necessary for 

 writing Uio history ; and it may be added that the materials for the 

 early annals of the university are very defective. Dyer has given a 

 good account of his materi iN ; but it is much to be regretted that he 

 has not made more specific references to them in the body of the work. 

 It will be found however, on examination, to b<) the work not only of 

 a laborious but of a very honest man for to this character he has a 

 most unimpeachable title and as such the ' History of Cambridge ' is 

 a very important addition to what existed on the subject ; and nothing 

 but the opportunities of a Wood will surpass it. 



1AKH. JOHN, bom in 1700, was the second son of a respectable 

 solicitor of Abcrglasney in Caermirthenahire. He received his educa- 

 tion at Westminster school, and when that was completed, began the 

 study of the law. An early taste for poetry an 1 punting l.-.l him to 

 relinquish his legal pursuits, and he travelled about South Wales in 

 the capacity of an itinerant painter. At this period he wrote hispojm 

 ' Orongar Hill,' which was published in 1727- Though he seems to 

 have made but small proficiency in painting, he went to Italy to study, 

 where he wrote the ' Kuius of Rome,' a descriptive poem, published 

 in 1740. On his return to England, having a small independence, he 

 retired into the country, entered into holy orders, and married a lady 

 named Ensor, whom be states to be a descendant of Shakspere. He 

 was a man of excellent moral habits, of a singularly modest and un- 

 ambitious temper, and strongly imbued with the love of a country- 

 life. He died in 1 758, shortly after the publication of his longer poem, 

 ' The Fleece.' 



' The Fleece' is a long posin, of a purely didactic kind. The mid He 

 of the last century was remarkably prolific iu poems which took for 

 thi-ir model Virgil's 'Qeorgics.' Dyer's 'Fleece,' Granger's 'Sugar- 

 cane/ and Philllps'l 'Cyder,' are all of this class. By selecting 



