Dian’a, daughter of the widow of Florence with whom Hel’ena lodged on her way to the shrine of St. Jacques le Grand.  Count Bertram wantonly loved Diana, but the modest girl made this attachment the means of bringing about a reconciliation between Bertram and his wife Helena.—­Shakespeare, All’s Well that Ends Well (1598).

DIAN’A DE LASCOURS, daughter of Ralph and Louise de Lascours, and sister of Martha, alias Ogari’la.  Diana was betrothed to Horace de Brienne, whom she resigns to Martha.—­E.  Stirling, The Orphan of the Frozen Sea (1856).

DIAN’A THE INEXORABLE. (1) She slew Orion with one of her arrows, for daring to make love to her. (2) She changed Actaeon into a stag and set her own dogs on him to worry him to death, because he chanced to look upon her while bathing. (3) She shot with her arrows the six sons and six daughters of Niobe, because the fond mother said she was happier than Latona, who had only two children.

  Dianae non movenda numina.

Horace, Epode, xvii.

DIANA THE SECOND OF SALMANTIN, a pastoral romance by Gil Polo.

“We will preserve that book,” said the cure, “as carefully as if Apollo himself had been its author.”—­Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. i. 6 (1605).

DIANA (the Temple of), at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of antiquity, was set on fire by Herostratos to immortalize his name.

DIANA OF THE STAGE, Mrs. Anne Brace-girdle (1663-1748).

DIAN’A’S FORESTERS, “minions of the moon,” “Diana’s knights,” etc., highwaymen.

Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us that are “squires of the night’s body” be called thieves ... let us be “Diana’s foresters,” “Gentlemen of the shade,” “minions of the moon.”—­Shakespeare, I Henry IV. act i. sc. 2 (1597).

DIANO’RA, wife of Gilberto of Friu’li, but amorously loved by Ansaldo.  In order to rid herself of his importunities, she vowed never to yield to his suit till he could “make her garden at midwinter as gay with flowers as it was in summer” (meaning never).  Ansaldo, by the aid of a magician, accomplished the appointed task; but when the lady told him that her husband insisted on her keeping her promise, Ansaldo, not to be outdone in generosity, declined to take advantage of his claim, and from that day forth was the firm and honorable friend of Gilberto.—­Bocaccio, Decameron, x.5.

The Franklin’s Tale of Chaucer is substantially the same story. (See DORIGEN).

DIARMAID, noted for his “beauty spot,” which he covered up with his cap; for if any woman chanced to see it, she would instantly fall in love with him.—­Campbell, Tales of the West Highlands ("Diarmaid and Grainne").

DIAV’OLO (Fra), Michele Pezza, Insurgent of Calabria (1760-1806).—­Auber, Fra Diavolo (libretto by Scribe, 1836).