Chapter Dionysius to Divina Commedia of D by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Dirge in Cymbeline, a beautiful ode by Collins. It begins thus—

To fair Fidele’s grassy tombs.

Dirk Hatteraick. (See Hatteraick.)

Dirlos or D’Yrlos (Count), a paladin, the embodiment of valour, generosity , and truth. He was sent b y Charlemagne to the East, where he conquered Aliardê, a Moorish prince. On his return, he found his young wife betrothed to Celinos (another of Charlemagne’s peers). The matter was put right by the king, who gave a grand feast on the occasion.

Dirt. “If dirt were trumps, what a capital hand you would hold!” said by Sydney Smith to an untidy card- player. Sometimes, but erroneously, ascribed to C. Lamb.

We are told that it was said to J. Wolff, the missionary, and that he made answer, “Dirt, dirt! call you this dirt? What would you say if you saw my feet?”

Dirt is sometimes defined as “matter in the wrong place;” but this is absurd. A jewel may be dropped in a field or street, and is “matter in the wrong place,” but certainly not dirt.

Dirty Lane, now called Abingdon Street, Westminster.

Dirty Linen. Napoleon I. said, “Il faut laver sa linge en famille.”

Disastrous Peace (The), the peace signed at Cateau-Cambrésis, by which Henri II. renounced all claim to Genoa, Naples, Milan, and Corsica (1559).

Dismas, the penitent thief; Gesmas, the impenitent one. (See Desmas, p. 273.)

Imparibus meritis pendent tria corpora ramis:
Dismas et Gesmas, media est Divina Potestas;
Alta petit Dismas, infelix infima Gesmas;
Nos et res nostras conservet Summa Potestas,
Hos versus dicas, ne tu furto tua perdas.
   —A Latin Charm

Disney Professor, a chair in the University of Cambridge, founded by John Disney, Esq., of The Hyde, Ingatestone, for Archæology (1851).

Disowned (The), a novel by lord Lytton (1828).

Dispensary (The), a poem in six cantos by sir S. Garth (1690). In defence of an edict passed by the College of Physicians in 1687, requiring medical men to give their services gratuitously to the poor.

Distaffina, the troth-plight wife of general Bombastês; but Artaxaminous, king of Utopia, promised her “half a crown” if she would forsake the general for himself—a temptation too great to be resisted. When the general found himself jilted, he retired from the world, hung up his boots on the branch of a tree, and dared any one to remove them. The king cut the boots down, and the general cut the king down. Fusbos, coming up at this crisis; laid the general prostrate. At the close of the burlesque all the dead men jump up and join the dance, promising “to die again to-morrow,” if the audience desires it.—Rhodes: Bombastes Furioso (1790).

Falling on one knee, he put both hands on his heart and rolled up his eyes, much after the manner of Bombastes Furioso making love to Distaffina.—Sargent.

Distaff’s Day (St.), January 7; so called because the Christmas festivities terminate on “Twelfth Day,” and on the day following the women used to return to their distaffs or daily occupations.

Also called Rock Day, “rock” being another name for a distaff.