[Illustration] A huge tusk, probably an elephant’s, is still shown at Warwick Castle as one of the horns of this wonderful cow.

DUNBAR AND MARCH (George, earl of), who deserted to Henry IV. of England, because the betrothal of his daughter Elizabeth to the king’s eldest son was broken off by court intrigue.

Elizabeth Dunbar, daughter of the earl of Dunbar and March, betrothed to Prince Robert, duke of Rothsay, eldest son of Robert III. of Scotland.  The earl of Douglas contrived to set aside this betrothal in favor of his own daughter Elizabeth, who married the prince, and became duchess of Rothsay.—­Sir W. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

DUNCAN “the Meek,” king of Scotland, was son of Crynin, and grandson of Malcolm II., whom he succeeded on the throne, Macbeth was the son of the younger sister of Duncan’s mother, and hence Duncan and Macbeth were first cousins.  Sueno, king of Norway, having invaded Scotland, the command of the army was entrusted to Macbeth and Banquo, and so great was their success that only ten men of the invading army were left alive.  After the battle, King Duncan paid a visit to Macbeth in his castle of Inverness, and was there murdered by his host.  The successor to the throne was Duncan’s son Malcolm, but Macbeth usurped the crown.—­Shakespeare, Macbeth (1606).

Duncan (Captain), of Knockdunder, agent at Roseneath to the Duke of Buckingham.—­Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.). Duncan (Duroch), a follower of Donald Beau Lean.—­Sir W. Scott, Waverley (time, George II.).

DUNCE, wittily or willfully derived from Duns, surnamed “Scotus.”

In the Gaelic, donas [means] “bad luck” or in contempt, “a poor ignorant creature.”  The Lowland Scotch has donsie, “unfortunate, stupid.”—­Notes and Queries, 225, September 21, 1878.

DUN’CIAD ("the dunce epic"), a satire by Alexander Pope—­written to revenge himself upon his literary enemies.  The plot is this:  Eusden the poet-laureate being dead, the goddess of Dulness elects Colley Cibber as his successor.  The installation is celebrated by games, the most important being the “reading of two voluminous works, one in verse and the other in prose, without nodding.”  King Cibber is then taken to the temple of Dulness, and lulled to sleep on the lap of the goddess.  In his dream he sees the triumphs of the empire.  Finally the goddess having established the kingdom on a firm basis, Night and Chaos are restored, and the poem ends (1728-42).

DUNDAS, (Starvation), Henry Dundas, first Lord Melville.  So called because he introduced into the language the word starvation, in a speech on American affairs (1775).