DEKEN DELAWARE. 



DEKEN, AGATHE ; a Dutcli authoress, born in 

 1741, in the village of A mstelv ecu. near Amsterdam. 

 She wrote Dutcli novels ami poems of merit ; among 

 others, Liederen voor den Bcervenstand. She died 

 in 1804. 



DEKKER, THOMAS. See Decker. 



DEL AM Kit E; one of the most distinguished as- 

 tronomers of our time, was lx>ru at Amiens, in 1749 ; 

 and studied under the abbe Delille, who always re- 

 mained his friend. He first applied himself to the 

 Jan;iiai;cN, |iarticiilarly most ot the living ones, and 

 made himself one of the best Hellenists in France. 

 IIU ..indies were not directed to astronomy until his 

 thirty-sixth year. He enriched the writings of La- 

 lande with a commentary, and became the friend and 

 pupil of the author, who proudly called him his best 

 work. In 1790, eight years after the discovery of 

 Herschel, Delambre published the tables of that 

 planet, although in that period, it had performed but 

 a small part of its eighty years' course. He also 

 constructed tables of Jupiter and Saturn, and of the 

 satellites of Jupiter, which, with several treatises, 

 procured him a reception into the national institute. 

 He was engaged with Meehain, from 1792 till 1799, 

 in measuring an arc of the meridian from Barcelona 

 to Dunkirk, for the verification of which he measured 

 two bases of 6000 toises, one near Melun, the other 

 near Perpignan. (See his Base du Systeme Metrique 

 decimal, ou Mesure de VArc du Meridien compris entre 

 les Paralleles de Dunkerque et Barcelonne, Paris, 3 

 vols. 4to ; and Recueil d'Observat. Geodesiyuesfaisant 

 Suite au 3me vol. de la Base du Syst. Metr. redige 

 par Biot et Arago). He was made member of the 

 bureau lies longitudes. In 1802, Napoleon appointed 

 him inspecteur-general dcs etudes, which post he re- 

 igned when chosen perpetual secretary of the class 

 ofinathematical sciences (1803). His first tables of 

 the sun were published in 1792 ; in 1806, appeared 

 his new ones. In 1807, he succeeded Lalande in 

 the college de France, and wrote his Traite d'Astro- 

 nomie theorique et pratique (3 vols. 4to, 1814), His- 

 loire de I' Astronomic du moyen age (1819), Hist, de 

 fAstron. moderne (1821, 2 vols.) and Hist, de 

 fAstron. du 18me Siecle (2 vols.) ; a collection of 

 works such as no other nation can show. Delambre 

 also distinguished himself, as perpetual secretary of 

 the institute, by the justice and elegance of his eloges. 

 He died hi 1822. 



DELAVIGNE, JEAN FRANCOIS CASIMIR; a French 

 dramatic poet, born in 1794, at Havre. He com- 

 menced his poetical career while a youth, by the 

 dithyramb on the birth of the king of Rome (1811). 

 His poem on the discovery of vaccination received, 

 in 1814, the first of the secondary prizes from the 

 French academy. He then applied himself to dra- 

 matic poetry, and published his first tragedy, Les 

 Vepres Siciliennes (1821), which was received with 

 general applause ; and has since written a second, 

 Le Paria. The first piece, notwithstanding many 

 faults in the plan and the delineation of most of the 

 characters, displayed remarkable poetic genius : the 

 vigorous sketch of the chief character, by which the 

 whole action is animated, and his fine thoughts ex- 

 pressed in brilliant language, atone for many feeble 

 passages, and some false splendour. At the first 

 representation of this piece at the Odeon (1819), 

 some verses against arbitrary governments and the 

 insolence of ministers produced so much disturbance, 

 that the. police forbade the repetition of them ; but 

 they were still applauded, and this struggle between 

 die police and the audience contributed not a little 

 to give popularity to the production. In the second 

 piece, the improvement of the poet is visible ; he dis- 

 plays a great brilliancy of colouring, harmony of 

 versuication, and richness of ideas and images, though 



it is justly objected that he had not studied his sub- 

 ject profoundly, nor given it all the interest of which 

 it is susceptible. In his elegies, Les train Messenien- 

 nes, Delavigne bewailed the misfortunes of Franre. 

 In 1819, followed two elegies. Sitr la Pie et la Mart 

 de Jeanne d'Arc. His comedy Les Comediens, 5 acts 

 in verse, in the style of the Metromanie, is directed 

 against the principles of the old French stage. His 

 Nouvelles Messeniennes (1822) were produced by the 

 Greek revolution. In 1823, his comedy L'Ecole des 

 Vieillards was received with general applause. In a 

 new Messenienne, Felavigne expresses the grief of 

 Europe at the death of ford Byron. It is in the 

 tenth edition of his Messeniennes et Poesies diverse.* 

 (Paris, 1824, 2 vols.). In 1 824, Delavigne was made 

 member of the French academy, and, in 1825, was 

 offered a pension of 1200 francs from the civil list, 

 which, however, as well as the cross of the legion of 

 honour, he declined, that he might preserve his in- 

 dependence. For his political correspondence with 

 Lamartine, see Lamarline. 



DELAWARE; one of the United States of 

 America, bounded N. by Pennsylvania, E. by Dela- 

 ware river and bay, S. and W. by Maryland ; Ion. 

 740 56' to 75<> 40' W. ; lat. 38 29' to 39 47' N. ; 

 ninety-two miles long, and twenty-three broad; square 

 miles, 2120: population, in 1790,59,094; in 1800, 

 64,272; in 1810, 72,674; in 1820, 72,749; white 

 males, 27,904 ; white females, 27,377 ; free blacks, 

 12,958; slaves, 4509. It is subdivided into three 

 counties, which are subdivided into twenty-five hun- 

 dreds. Dover is the seat of government. Wilming- 

 ton is the largest town. The other most considerable 

 towns are Newcastle, Georgetown, Smyrna, Milford, 

 and Lewistown. Presbyterians are the most numer- 

 ous denomination of Christians : there are, besides, a 

 considerable number of Methodists. The legislature 

 consists of a senate, chosen for three years, and a 

 house of representatives, chosen annually on the first 

 Tuesday in October. The governor is chosen by the 

 people for three years, but can hold the office only 

 three years in six. The principal rivers besides the 

 Delaware, which forms a part of the boundary, are 

 Brandywine creek, Christiana creek, Duck creek, 

 Mispillion creek, Indian river, Choptonk, and Nanti- 

 coke. Delaware is, next to Rhode island, the 

 smallest state in extent in the Union, and the least 

 diversified in surface. The general aspect of the 

 greater part is that of an extended plain, though the 

 north-western part of the county of Newcastle is hilly 

 or uneven. The heights of Christiana are lofty and 

 commanding, and the hills of Brandywine are rough 

 and stony ; but in the lower country, there is very 

 little diversity of level. The highest ridge between 

 Delaware and Chesapeake bays passes through this 

 state. On the summit of the ridge, there is a chain 

 of swamps, from which a number of waters descend 

 on the west to Chesapeake bay, and on the east to 

 the river Delaware. Along the Delaware river, and 

 for about nine miles into the interior, the soil is 

 generally a rich clay, which produces large timber, 

 and is well adapted to the purposes of agriculture ; 

 but, between this tract and the swamps, the soil is 

 light, sandy, and of an inferior quality. In the 

 county of Newcastle, the soil is a strong clay ; in 

 Kent, it is mixed with sand ; and in Sussex, the sand 

 greatly predominates. The principal articles of pro- 

 duce are wheat, Indian corn, rye, barley, oats, flax, 

 buck-wheat, and potatoes. The county of Sussex 

 contains some excellent grazing lands ; and it exports 

 great quantities of timber, obtained from Cypress 

 swamp, on Indian river, which extends about six 

 miles from E. to W., and nearly twelve from N. to 

 S. The staple commodity is wheat, which is of a 

 superior quality, and is highly esteemed for its un- 



