Chapter Day to Deans of D by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Dickens. His fatal day was June 9. He was in the terrible railway accident of June 9, 1861 (at Staplehurst), from which he never recovered; and he died June 9, 1870.

Harold’s day was October 14. It was his birthday, and also the day of his death. William the Conqueror was born on the same day, and, on October 14, 1066, won England by conquest.

Henry VII. always regarded Saturday as his lucky day.

Napoleon’s day was August 15, his birthday; but his “lucky” day, like that of his nephew, Napoleon III., was the 2nd of the month. He was made consul for life on August 2, 1802; was crowned December 2, 1804; won his greatest battle, that of Austerlitz, for which he obtained the title of “Great,” December 2, 1805; married the archduchess of Austria April 2, 1810; etc.

Napoleon III. The coup d’état was December 2, 1851. Louis Napoleon was made emperor December 2, 1852; he opened, at Saarbrück, the Franco-German war August 2, 1870; and surrendered his sword to William of Prussia, September 2, 1870.

Dazzle, in London Assurance, by D. Boucicault (1841).

“Dazzle” and “lady Gay Spanker” “act themselves,” and will never be dropped out of the list of acting plays.—Percy Fitzgerald.

De Bourgo (William), brother of the earl of Ulster and commander of the English forces that defeated Felim O’Connor (1315) at Athunree, in Connaught.

Why tho’ fallen her brothers kerne [Irish infantry]
Beneath De Bourgo’s battle stern.
   —Campbell: O’Connor’s Child.

De Courcy, in a romance called Women, by the Rev. C. R. Maturin. An Irishman, made up of contradictions and improbabilities. He is in love with Zaira, a brilliant Italian, and also with her unknown daughter, called Eva Wentworth, a model of purity. Both women are blighted by his inconstancy. Eva dies, but Zaira lives to see De Courcy perish of remorse (1822).

De Gard, a no ble, staid gentleman, newly lighted from his travels; brother of Oriana, who “chases” Mirabel “the wild goose,” and catches him.—Fletcher: The Wild-Goose Chase (1619).

De l’Epée (Abbé). Seeing a deaf-and-dumb lad abandoned in the streets of Paris, he rescued him, and brought him up under the name of Theodore. The foundling turned out to be Julio count of Harancour.

“In your opinion who is the greatest genius that France has ever produced?” “Science would decide for D’Alembert, and Nature [would] say Buffon; Wit and Taste [would] present Voltaire; and Sentiment plead for Rousseau; but Genius and Humanity cry out for De l’Epée, and him I call the best and greatest of human creatures.”—Holcroft: The Deaf and Dumb, iii. 2 (1785).

De Profundis (“out of the depths …”), the first two words of Psalm cxxx. in the Roman Catholic Liturgy; sung when the dead are committed to the grave.

At eve, instead of bridal verse,
The De Profundis filled the air.
   —Longfellow: The Blind Girl.

De Valmont (Count), father of Florian and uncle of Geraldine. During his absence in the wars, he left his kinsman, the baron Longueville, guardian of his castle; but under the hope of coming into the property, the baron set fire to the castle, intending thereby to kill the wife and her infant boy. When De Valmont returned and knew his losses, he became a wayward recluse, querulous, despondent, frantic at times, and at times most melancholy. He adopted an infant “found in a forest,” who turned out to be his son. His wife was ultimately found, and the villainy of Longueville was brought to light.—W. Dimond: The Foundling of the Forest.