fiOO 



DARMSTADT DARWIN. 



javelins, ami left liim to his fate. A Macedonian, 

 named Polystratus, saw the cluiriot of Darius, and, 

 as he was drinking at a neighbouring fountain, heard 

 the groans of a dying person, He ipaaMhed^ha 

 chariot, and foiuiil the king in the agonies of death. 

 Darius begged for some water, on receiving wliich 

 he requested 1'olystratus to thank Alexander, in liis 

 name, for the generosity with wliich he liad treated 

 the captive princesses. Scarcely had Darius expired, 

 when Alexander came up. He melted into tears at 

 the sight of the corpse, caused it to be embalmed, 

 ami sent it to Sysigambis, that it wight be deposited 

 by tlie side of the other Persian monarclis. Darius 

 died (330 B. C.) in the fiftieth year of his age, 

 with i he reputation of a humane, peaceful, and just 

 sovereign. 



DARMSTADT, capital and residence of the grand 

 duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, lias 1279 houses (among 

 which are fifty-three public buildings) and 20,000 

 inliabitants, mostly Lutherans, exclusive of the gar- 

 rison. It is, of course, the seat of the highest autho- 

 rities, and of a court of appeal ; lias a museum, library 

 (with 90,000 volumes), drawing-school, gymnasium, 

 an opera-house, theatre, &c. The house in wliich 

 the soldiers are drilled is 319 feet long, 157 feet 

 wide, and 83 feet high ; so that a traveller remarked, 

 tliat the drilling-house was larger tlian the duchy. 

 Lat. 49 56' 24" N. ; Ion. 8 34' 49'' E. 



DARMSTADT, or HESSE-DARMSTADT. See 

 Heste. 



DARTMOOR ; an extensive, rugged, mountain- 

 ous tract in England, in the western part of Devon- 

 shire, usually called the forest of Dartmoor, but at 

 present having no appearance of a forest, except 

 what is afforded by an assemblage of dwarf oaks, in- 

 termixed with ash and willow ; reaching from Brent 

 S., to Oakhampton N., twenty miles, and fjve to fif- 

 teen wide, and occupying 53,644 acres ; in all which 

 space is no town, and only two villages. Here is a 

 large prison, where many prisoners of war were fre- 

 quently confined. 



DARTMOUTH ; a seaport town of England, 

 county of Devon, situated near the confluence of the 

 river Dart with the British channel ; tliirty miles 

 south from Exeter. It has a good harbour, with deep 

 water, defended by a castle and two platforms of 

 camion. The chief occupation of the inhabitants 

 consists in the Newfoundland and other fisheries, 

 wherein about 350 vessels are engaged. Dartmouth 

 is a borough, sending two members to parliament. 

 The entrance to the harbour is defended by a castle. 

 Population, hi 1831, 4597. 



DARTMOUTH COLLEGE. See Hanover, N. H. 



DARU, PIERRE ANTOINE NOEL BRUNO, count, a 

 peer of France, and one. of the ablest French states- 

 men of the school of the revolution and Napoleon, 

 was born in the year 1767, at Montpellier. He com- 

 menced his military career in his sixteenth year, 

 after having received an excellent education. At 

 the breaking out of the revolution, he adopted its 

 principles, like other young men of talent. He never 

 relinquished his poetical and literary pursuits, even 

 in the camp, amidst the most uncongenial labours. 

 His reputation as a poet was established by his mas- 

 terly translation of Horace. The first edition ap- 

 peared in 1800. About the same time appeared his 

 Cleopedie, or Theory of Literary Reputation, a poem 

 full of elegance and animation. The penetrating eye 

 of Napoleon soon distinguished him from the multi- 

 tude, and showed him peculiar favour, while Daru 

 attached himself, with unbounded zeal, to that extra- 

 ordinary man. He was intrusted with the most im- 

 portant affairs, and executed these trusts with fidelity 

 to the interests of France and the emperor, by which 

 he drew upon himself the hatred of the opposite party. 



This is particularly evident in his administration as 

 general intendant, in 1805, 1806, and 1809, in Aus- 

 tria and Prussia. While in the council of state, J );iru 

 was considered the most diligent and hilarious mem- 

 ber of that body except the emperor. There wen- 

 few important posts in the liigher departments of the 

 administration which lie did not fill ; and the first re- 

 storation found him in j>ossession of the portfolio of the 

 department of war. Bluecher displayed his enmity to 

 him by sequestering liis estate at Meiilan ; but this 

 measure was immediately reversed by the allied mo- 

 narclis. In 1818, Daru was called to the chamber 

 of peers by Louis XVIII. In 1805, he was chosen 

 a member of the national institute. Not having been 

 called to any other public post after the restoration, 

 Daru devoted himself particularly to historical studies ; 

 and we are indebted to him tor two important works. 

 the Life of Sully and the History of Venice. The 

 last of these is one ofthe most important productions 

 of modern literature in the department of liistory. 

 It appeared, in 1819, in seven volumes ; second edi- 

 tion, in 1821, in eight volumes, and the third edition 

 in 1825. As a member of the chamber of peers, 

 Daru was one of the most zealous defenders of the 

 principles introduced by the revolution. He died 

 near the end of 1829. 



DARWIN, ERASMUS, M.D., a physician and 

 poet, was a native of Elton near Newark, in Notting- 

 hamshire, where he was born on the 12th Decem- 

 ber, 1731. After going through the usual school 

 education at Chesterfield, with credit, he was sent 

 to St John's, Cambridge. There he took his degree 

 as bachelor in medicine, and went to Edinburgh to 

 finish his education. After having graduated there, 

 he repaired to Litchfield and -commenced practice. 

 Having been so fortunate as to cure a gentleman ol 

 fortune in the neighbourhood of a severe- fever, after 

 his life had been despaired of, he acquired, a great re- 

 putation and extensive practice, insomuch that his 

 competitor, feeling himself neglected, quitted the 

 place, and left him the field to himself. Dr Darwin 

 soon after married a Miss Howard, by whom he had 

 three sons, of whom two died,afterattaining the age of 

 manhood, and the third was lately an eminent physi- 

 cian at Shrewsbury. Having lost his first wife, Dr 

 Darwin married, in 1781 , a second, who was a widow 

 lady of good fortune at Derby, to -which place he re- 

 moved soon after, and continued to reside there till 

 his death, which happened in April, 1802, in the 

 70th year of his age. 



The Doctor was of an athletic make, pitted with the 

 small-pox, and stammered much in his speech. Hav 

 ing been threatened with gout at an early age, he 

 soon after entirely renounced the use of wine, spirits, 

 and fermented liquors, and was in the habit of re- 

 commending the same abstinence to all his patients, 

 a system which he also advocated in ah 1 his writings. 

 His death was sudden : occasioned by a fit of what 

 he was used to call angina pectoris, which he had 

 repeatedly experienced, and had always succeeded 

 in relieving by copious blood-letting. 



His Poem of The Botanic Garden-first appeared in 

 1781. It is comprised in two parts ; the first treats 

 of the Economy of Vegetation, the second, the Loves 

 of the Plants. The fame it acquired was splendid 

 but very transient, and it has since almost sunk into 

 oblivion. A very ingenious parody, entitled The 

 Loves of the Triangles, published hi a monthly jour- 

 nal, (and since known to have been written by the hon- 

 ourable George Canning or Mr Frere,) was believed, 

 with a good deal of reason, to have contributed to its 

 decline. In 1793 Dr Darwin published the first 

 volume of Zoonomia, or the Laws of Organic Life, 

 the second volume, completing the work, appeared 

 three years afterwards. The talents and eccentric 



