“Not that I have—­have changed my mind, but it is not improper, I am sure that Miss Deborah’s sister should give me—­if she will be so good—­her hand, that I may say ‘goodbye’”—­Margaret Deland, John Ward, Preacher (1888).

D’EON DE BEAUMONT (Le Chevalier), a person notorious for the ambiguity of his sex; said to be the son of an advocate.  His face was pretty, without beard, moustache, or whiskers.  Louis XV. sent him as a woman to Russia on a secret mission, and he presented himself to the czarina as a woman (1756).  In the Seven Years’ War he was appointed captain of dragoons.  In 1777 he assumed the dress of a woman again, which he maintained till death (1728-1810).

DERBY (Earl of), third son of the Earl of Lancaster, and near kinsman of Edward III.  His name was Henry Plantagenet, and he died 1362.  Henry Plantagenet, earl of Derby, was sent to protect Guienne, and was noted for his humanity no less than for his bravery.  He defeated the Comte de l’Isle at Bergerac, reduced Perigord, took the castle of Auberoche, in Gascony, overthrew 10,000 French with only 1000, taking prisoners nine earls and nearly all the barons, knights, and squires (1345).  Next year he took the fortresses of Monsegur, Montpezat, Villefranche, Miraumont, Tonneins, Damazin, Aiguillon, and Reole.

That most deserving Earl of Derby, we prefer Henry’s third valiant son, the Earl of Lancaster.  That only Mars of men,

Dayton, Polyolbion, xviii. (1613).

Derby (Countess of), Charlotte de la Tremouille, Countess of Derby and Queen of Man.

Philip (earl of Derby), King of Man, son of the countess.—­Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

DANIEL DERONDA, pure young fellow whose influence for good over men and women is marvellous, and explicable only upon the principle that virtue is mightier than vice.  “You could not have seen his face thoroughly meeting yours without believing that human creatures had done nobly in times past and might do more nobly in time to come.”—­George Eliot, Daniel Deronda.

DER’RICK, hangman in the first half of the seventeenth century.  The crane for hoisting goods is called a derrick, from this hangman.

Derrick (Faith). The rural heroine of Susan Warner’s novel Say and Seal (1860).

Derrick (Tom), quarter-master of the pirate’s vessel.—­Sir W. Scott, The Pirate (time, William III.).

DERRY DOWN TRIANGLE (The), Lord Castlereagh; afterwards marquis of Londonderry; so called by William Hone.  The first word is a pun on the title, the second refers to his lordship’s oratory, a triangle being the most feeble, monotonous, and unmusical of all musical instruments.  Tom Moore compares the oratory of Lord Castlereagh to “water spouting from a pump.”

Q.  Why is a pump like viscount Castlereigh? A.  Because it is a slender thing of wood, That up and down its awkward arm doth sway, And coolly spout, and spout, and spout away, In one weak, washy, everlasting flood.

  T. Moore.