Dieu et Mon Droit, the parole of Richard I. at the battle of Gisors (1198).
Diggery, one of the house-servants at Strawberry Hall. Being stage-struck, he inoculates his fellow-servants (Cymon and Wat) with the same taste. In the same house is an heiress named Kitty Sprightly (a ward of Sir Gilbert Pumpkin), also stage-struck. Diggery's favorite character is "Alexander the Great," the son of "Almon." One day, playing Romeo and Juliet, he turns the oven into the balcony, but, being rung for, the girl acting "Juliet" is nearly roasted alive. (See DIGGORY.)—J. Jackman, All the World's a Stage.
Digges (Miss Maria), a friend of Lady Penfeather; a visitor at the Spa.—Sir W. Scott, St. Ronan's Well (time, George III.).
Diggon [Davie], a shepherd in the Shephearde's Calendar, by Spenser. He tells Hobbinol that he drove his sheep into foreign lands, hoping to find better pasture; but he was amazed at the luxury and profligacy of the shepherds whom he saw there, and the wretched condition of the flocks. He refers to the Roman Catholic clergy, and their abandoned mode of life. Diggon also tells Hobbinol a long story about Roffynn (the bishop of Rochester) and his watchful dog Lauder catching a wolf in sheep's clothing in the fold.—Ecl. ix. (September, 1572 or 1578).
Diggory, a barn laborer, employed on state occasions for butler and footman by Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle. He is both awkward and familiar, laughs at his master's jokes and talks to his master's guests while serving. (See DIGGERY.)—Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer. (1773).
Diggory (Father), one of the monks of St. Botolph's Priory.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Dimanche, (Mons.), a dun. Mons. Dimanche, a tradesman, applies to Don Juan for money. Don Juan treats him with all imaginable courtesy, but every time he attempts to revert to business interrupts him with some such question as, Comment se porte Madame Dimanche? or Et votre petite fille Claudine comment se porte-t-ell? or Le petit Colin fait-il toujours bien du bruit avec son tambour? or Ét votre petit chien Brusquet, gronde-t-il toujours aussi fort ...? and, after a time, he says he is very sorry, but he must say good-bye for the present, and he leaves Mons. without his once stating the object of his call. (See SHUFFLETON.) Molière, Don Juan (1665).
Dimmesdale (Arthur). Master Prynne, an English physician living in Amsterdam, having determined to join the Massachusetts Colony, sent his young wife Hester before him to await his coming. He was detained two years, and on reaching Boston, the first sight that met his eyes was his wife standing in the pillory with a young babe in her arms and with the letter A, the mark of her shame, embroidered in scarlet on her breast. A young clergyman, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, regarded by all the people as a saint, too good for earth, was earnestly exhorting her to declare the name of the child's father, but she steadfastly refused, and was sent back to prison. Prynne who had heard in Amsterdam rumors of his wife's infidelity, both to discover her betrayer and to hide his own relation to his wife, had taken the name of Roger Chillingworth, and with eyes sharpened by jealousy and wounded pride, soon discovered that his wife's lover was no other than Dimmesdale himself. As a physician and under the guise of friendship he attached himself to the minister, and pursued his ghastly search for the secret cause that was eating away his life. How it all ended is shown in that wonderful book where, as in a Greek drama, the fates of Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and the love-child, Little Pearl, are traced in lines of fire.—Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter.
Dinant', a gentleman who once loved and still pretends to love Lamira. the wife of Champernel.—Beaumont and Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (1647).
Dinarza'de (4 syl.), sister of Scheherazadê, Sultana of Persia. Dinarzadê was instructed by her sister to wake her every morning an hour before daybreak, and say, "Sister, relate to me one of those delightful stories you know," or "Finish before daybreak the story you began yesterday." The sultan got interested in these tales, and revoked the cruel determination he had made of strangling at daybreak the wife he had married the preceeding night. (See SCHEHERAZADE.)