DELTA [Illustration] of Blackwood is D.M.Moir (1798-1851).

DEL’VILLE (2 syl.), one of the guardians of Cecilia.  He is a man of wealth and great ostentation, with a haughty humility and condescending pride, especially in his intercourse with his social inferiors.—­Miss Burney, Cecilia (1782).  DEME’TIA, South Wales; the inhabitants are called Demetians.

  Denevoir, the seat of the Demetian king.

Drayton, Polyolbion, v. (1612).

DEME’TRIUS, a young Athenian, to whom Egeus (3 syl.) promised his daughter Hermia in marriage.  As Hermia loved Lysander, she refused to marry Demetrius, and fled from Athens with Lysander.  Demetrius went in quest of her, and was followed by Helena, who doted on him.  All four fell asleep, and “dreamed a dream” about the fairies.  On waking, Demetrius became more reasonable.  He saw that Hermia disliked him, but that Helena loved him sincerely, so he consented to forego the one and take to wife the other.  When Egeus, the father of Hermia, found out how the case stood, he consented to the union of his daughter with Lysander.—­Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream (1592).

Deme’trius, in The Poetaster, by Ben Jonson, is meant for John Marston (died 1633).

Deme’trius, (4 syl.), son of King Antig’onus, in love with Celia, alias Enan’the.—­Beaumont and Fletcher, The Humorous Lieutenant (1647).

Deme’trius, a citizen of Greece during the reign of Alexius Comnenus.—­Sir W. Scott, Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

DEMIURGUS, that mysterious agent which, according to Plato, made the world and all that it contains.  The Logos or “Word” of St. John’s Gospel (ch. i.  I) is the demiurgus of platonizing Christians.

DEMOC’RITOS (in Latin Democritus), the laughing or scoffing philosopher, the Friar Bacon of his age.  To “dine with Democ’ritos” is to go without dinner, the same as “dining with Duke Humphrey,” or “dining with the cross-legged knights.”

People think that we [authors] often dine with Democritos, but there they are mistaken.  There is not one of the fraternity who is not welcome to some good table.—­Lesage, Gil Blas, xii. 7 (1735).

DEMOCRITUS JUNIOR, Robert Burton, author of The Anatomy of Melancholy (1576-1640).

DEMOD’OCOS (in Latin Demodocus), bard of Alcin’ous (4 syl.) king of the Phaea’cians.

  Such as the wise Demodicos once told
  In solemn songs at King Alcinous’ feast,
  While sad Ulysses’ soul and all the rest
  Are held, with his melodious harmony,
  In willing chains and sweet captivity.

Milton, Vacation Exercise (1627).

DEM’OGOR’GON, tyrant of the elves and fays, whose very name inspired terror; hence Milton speaks of “the dreaded name of Demogorgon” (Paradise Lost, ii. 965).  Spenser says he “dwells in the deep abyss where the three fatal sisters dwell” (Faery Queen, iv. 2); but Ariosto says he inhabited a splendid palace on the Himalaya Mountains.  Demogorgon is mentioned by Statius in the Thebaid, iv. 516.