Many “De Valmonts” I have witnessed in fifty-four years, but have never seen the equal of Joseph George Holman [1764-1817].—­Donaldson.

DEAF AND DUMB (The), a comedy by Thomas Holcroft.  “The deaf and dumb” boy is Julio, count of Harancour, a ward of M. Darlemont, who, in order to get possession of his ward’s property, abandons him when very young in the streets of Paris.  Here he is rescued by the Abbe De l’Epee, who brings him up under the name of Theodore.  The boy being recognized by his old nurse and others, Darlemont confesses his crime, and Julio is restored to his rank and inheritance.—­Th.  Holcroft, The Deaf and Dumb (1785).

DEAN OF ST. PATRICK (The), Jonathan Swift, who was appointed to the deanery in 1713, and retained it till his death. (1667-1745).

DEANS (Douce Davie), the cowherd at Edinburgh, noted for his religious peculiarities, his magnanimity in affection, and his eccentricities.

Mistress Rebecca Deans, Douce Davie’s second wife.

Jeanie Deans, daughter of Douce Davie Deans, by his first wife.  She marries Reuben Butler, the Presbyterian minister.  Jeanie Deans is a model of good sense, strong affection, resolution, and disinterestedness.  Her journey from Edinburgh to London is as interesting as that of Elizabeth from Siberia to Moscow, or of Bunyan’s pilgrim.

Effie [Euphemia] Deans, daughter of Douce Davie Deans, by his second wife.  She is betrayed by George [afterward Sir George] Staunton (called Geordie Robertson) and imprisoned for child-murder.  Jeanie goes to the queen and sues for pardon, which is vouchsafed to her, and Staunton does what he can to repair the mischief he has done by marrying Effie, who thus becomes Lady Staunton.  Soon after this Sir George is shot by a gypsy boy, who proves to be his own son, and Effie retires to a convent on the Continent.—­Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II).

[Illustration] J.E.Millais has a picture of Effie Deans keeping tryst with George Staunton.

[Illustration] The prototype of Jeanie Deans was Helen Walker, to whose memory Sir W. Scott erected a tombstone in Irongray churchyard (Kirkcudbright).

DEAN (Elder).  Rigid and puritaincal church, official who brings a charge of heretical opinions and blacksliding against his pastor’s wife in John Ward, Preacher, Margaret Deland (1888).

DEATH OR MORS.  So did Tennyson call Sir Ironside the Red Knight of the Red Lands, who kept Lyonors (for Liones) captive in Castle Perilous.  The name “Mors,” which is Latin, is very inconsistent with a purely British tale, and of course does not appear in the original story.—­Tennyson, Idylls ("Gareth and Lynette"); Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, i. 134-137 (1470).

DEATH FROM STRANGE CAUSES.

AEschylus was killed by the fall of a tortoise on his head from the claws of an eagle in the air.—­Pliny, Hist. vii. 7.