728 DEN 
told Dennis, that he had little intered with the perfons 
then in the minidry, but that he hoped the danger was 
not fo great as he imagined; for that he himfelf had 
made no application for fecurity in the articles of peace, 
and yet he could not but think he had done the French 
king almoft as much harm as Mr. Dennis had done. As 
a farther inftance of the poet’s fears, it is faid, that being 
upon a vifit to a friend who lived on the coad of Suflex, 
he faw a fhip making towards land ; when, taking it into 
his head that this was a French vedel come to feize him, 
he exclaimed, that he was betrayed, and made the bed 
of his way to London, without taking leave of his hod, 
His tragedy, intitled Coriolanus; or, the Fatal R'efent- 
ment, altered from Shakefpeare, caufed him to break 
with the managers. After three reprefentations to poor 
houfes, another play was given out for the next night. 
Dennis was equally furprifed and enraged. He publifhed 
his tragedy with a dedication to the duke of Newcadle, 
in which he dates his cafe, charging the “ three infolent 
adtors,” who were managers, with a confpiracy againlt 
him, and againd genius in general. 
As a political writer, there is little to didinguidi Den¬ 
nis from others of his party. He was a whig in principle, 
and fupported that caufe not only by his poetical pane¬ 
gyrics on its heroes, but by fome pamphlets againd Sa- 
cheverel, and the high-church faction. He alfo wrote a 
project for ruining the commerce of the French and Spa¬ 
niards ; and an effay upon public fpirit, in which he fa- 
tirifed the manners of the age. But it was a critic that 
he difplayed the greated confidence ; and fo forward did 
he dand in this department, that he acquired the appel¬ 
lation of Dennis the critic. It is allowed that, upon fome 
points of general criticifm, he exhibited no mean degree 
of fagacity and judgment; but his irritable temper in¬ 
volved him in perfonal difputes with men greatly his 
fuperiors, among whom were Addifon and Pope ; and 
though his attacks upon them were not without fome 
foundation of reafon and plain fenfe, yet they fhewed 
great infenfibility to poetical beauty, and much coarfe- 
nefs of animofity. His jealoufy of a fuccefsful rival, pro¬ 
voked him to publifii fome very fevere drictures on Ad- 
difon’s Cato, to which Dr. Johnfon feems to have done 
more honour than they deferved, by his long quotation 
from them in his life of Addifon. They probably did 
not deprive Cato of a fingle admirer, notwithdanding 
they might prove that it was not a perfedt piece. Still 
lets could his criticifm injure fuch an exquifite piece as 
the Rape of the Lock ; yet Pope, as irritable as himfelf, 
thought proper to give him a niche in the Dunciad; and 
further perlecuted him with a very laughable Narrative 
of the deplorable Phrenfy of Mr. John Dennis. 
Among the various peculiarities of his charadter, he 
profefled to have entertained a mod infurmountable an¬ 
tipathy to punning. Nay, fo hodile was he to this fpe- 
cies of wit, that he has been known to quit the company 
where puns have been made. There is an anecdote not 
generally known, which tends farther to illudrate his 
mod eccentric difpofition. One night at Button’s, Steele 
was defirous of excluding him irom a party which he 
wiflted to make, but which he could not conveniently 
manage, Dennis being at that time in the coffee-room. 
While he was at a lofs to get rid of him, he obferved 
Rowe fitting on the oppofite fide of the box to Dennis, 
the latter of whom he afked, “ What was the matter 
with him ?” “ What do you mean by the quedion ?” 
replied the critic. To which the other replied, “ You 
appeared to me like an angry waterman, for you look one 
way, and Rcwe another.” The ettedt of this pun was 
fuccefsful; and the critic left the room, execrating alL 
puns and panders. We are indebted to Dennis, however, 
for the ufeful dramatic imitation of thunder, fo fuccelf- 
fully pradtifed on our dage. He introduced it into his 
Tragedy of Appius and Virginia, a pday founded on the 
beautiful narration of Livy, but which met with a very 
cold reception. A few nights after the dernife of his 
3 
DEN 
piece, he happened to be in the pit at the reprefentatiort 
of Macbeth ; and, on hearing the thunder, he is faid to 
have exclaimed, in a phrenzy of indignation, “ That is 
my thunder! how thefe rafeals ufe me. They will not 
let my play run, and yet they deal my thunder!” 
It is probable that acrimony of the critic’s temper was 
heightened by the narrownefs of his circumdances. The 
private fortune he podelfed feems foon to have been 
fpent. Through the favour of the duke of Marlbo¬ 
rough, he obtained a place of a land-waiter at the cuf- 
tom-houfe, which his extravagance obliged him in a few 
years to fell, with the refervation of an annuity for a cer¬ 
tain term. This he outlived, fo that he was totally un¬ 
provided for the necefiities of old age. He was obliged 
to fecure hi.s perfon by refidence within the verge of the 
court, and his quiet was continually didurbed by the fear 
of bailiffs. When he was far advanced in years, and af¬ 
flicted with lofs of fight, a play was adted at the Hay- 
market for his benefit, to which his old antagonid Pope 
wrote a prologue. This adt of generofity would have 
been more to the poet’s credit, had he not written his 
prologue in a dyle of ironical ridicule upon the old critic. 
Thomfon, who took the mod adtive part in the charity, 
was complimented, in Dennis’s name, with fome elegant 
lines, faid to be written by Savage. The veteran did 
not long furvive this kindnefs, dying in his feventy- 
feventh year, 1734. 
DENO'MINABLE, adj. \_denomino, Lat.] That may 
be named or denoted.—An inflammation confids of a 
fanguineous affludtion, or elfe is denominable from other 
humours, according to the predominancy of melancholy, 
phlegm, or choler. Brown. 
To DENO'MINATE, v. a. [denomino, Lat.J To name; 
to give a name to.—Prededination is dedrudtive to all 
that is edabliflied among men, to all that is mod pre¬ 
cious to human nature, to the two faculties that denomi¬ 
nate us men, underdanaing and will; for what ufe can 
we have of our underdandings, if we cannot do what we 
know to be our duty ? Hammond. 
DENOMINATION, f. \_denominatio, Lat.] A name 
given to a thing, which commonly marks fome principal 
quality of it.—Philofophy, the great idol of the learned 
part of the heathen world, has divided it into many fedts 
and denominations ; as Stoics, Peripatetics, Epicureans, and 
the like. South. —All men are dinners : the mod righteous 
among us mud confefs ourfelves to come under that de¬ 
nomination. Rogers. 
DENO'MINATIVE, adj. That which gives a name; 
that which gives a didindt appellation. That which con¬ 
fers a didindt appellation. That which obtains a didindt: 
appellation. This would be more analogically denomina¬ 
te. —The lead denominative part of time is a minute, the 
greated integer being a year. Cocker. 
DENOMPNATIVES, f. in logic, are terms which 
take their original and name from others. 
DENOMINATOR, f. The giver of a name; the 
perfon or thing that caufes an appellation.—Both the 
feas of one name fltould have one common denominator. 
Brown. 
DENOMINATOR, /] of a Fraction, in arithme¬ 
tic, is the number or quantity placed below the line, 
which fhews the whole integer, or into how many parts 
the integer is fuppofed to be divided by the fradtion; as 
that which gives denomination or name to the parts of 
the fradtion. Thus, in the fradtion-j^, five-tweitths, the 
number 12 is the denominator, and (hews that'the integer 
is here divided into 12 parts, or that it confids ot 12 oT 
thofe parts of which the numerator contains 5. Alfo b 
a 
is the denominator of the fradtion* 
DENOMINATOR, f. of a Ratio, is the quotient 
arifing from the divifion of the antecedent by the confe- 
quent. Thus, 6 is the denominator of the ratio 30 to 5, 
becaufe 30 divided by 5 gives 6. It is otherwife called 
the exponent of the ratio. 
DENOTATION. 
