DONAU, the German name for the Danube.

DONCASTER (26), a market and manufacturing town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, well built, in a pleasant country, on the right bank of the Don, 33 m.  S. of York; famous for its races, the St. Leger in particular, called after Colonel St. Leger, who instituted them in 1776.

DONDRA HEAD, the southern extremity of Ceylon, once the site of the capital.

DONEGAL (185), a county in the NW. of Ireland, in the province of Ulster, the most mountainous in the country; is mossy and boggy, and is indented along the coast with bays, and fringed with islands.

DONETZ, a tributary of the Russian Don, the basin of which forms one large coal-field, reckoned to be as large as all Yorkshire, and is reckoned one of the largest of any in the world.

DONGOLA, NEW, a town in Nubia, on the left bank of the Nile, above the third cataract, 20 deg.  N. and over 700 m. from Cairo; was founded by the Mamelukes.

DONIZETTI, a celebrated Italian composer, born at Bergamo, Lombardy, and studied at Bologna; devoted himself to dramatic music; produced over 60 operas, among the number “Lucia di Lammermoor,” the “Daughter of the Regiment,” “Lucrezia Borgia,” and “La Favorita,” all well known, and all possessing a melodious quality of the first order (1797-1848).

DONNE, JOHN, English poet and divine, born in London; a man of good degree; brought up in the Catholic faith; after weighing the claims of the Romish and Anglican communions, joined the latter; married a young lady of sixteen without consent of her father, which involved him in trouble for a time; was induced to take holy orders by King James; was made his chaplain, and finally became Dean of St. Paul’s; wrote sermons, some 200 letters and essays, as well as poems, the latter, amid many defects, revealing a soul instinct with true poetic fire (1573-1631).  See “Professor Saintsbury on Donne.”

DONNYBROOK, a village now included in Dublin, long celebrated for its fairs and the fights it was the scene of on such occasions.

DONON, the highest peak of the Vosges Mountains.

DOO, GEORGE THOMAS, a celebrated English line-engraver, and one of the best in his day (1800-1886).

DOON, a river rendered classic by the muse of Burns, which after a course of 30 m. joins the Clyde 2 m.  S. of Ayr.

DORA, the child-wife of “David Copperfield,” Dickens’s novel.

DORA D’ISTRIA, the pseudonym of Helena Ghika, born in Wallachia, of noble birth; distinguished for her beauty and accomplishments; was eminent as a linguist; translated the “Iliad” into German; wrote works, the fruits of travels (1829-1888).

DORAN, JOHN, an English man of letters, born In London, of Irish descent; wrote on miscellaneous subjects; became editor of the Athenaeum and Notes and Queries (1807-1878).

DORAT, JEAN, a French poet, born at Limoges; a Greek scholar; contributed much to the revival of classical literature in France, and was one of the FRENCH PLEIADE (q. v.); d. 1588.