[Damiens, Robert François], the would-be assassin of Louis XV., born near Arras; aimed at the king as he was entering his carriage at Trianon, but failed to wound him mortally; was mercilessly tortured to death; was known before as Robert le Diable; his motive for the act was never known (1715-1757).
[Damietta] (36), a town, the third largest, in Egypt, on an eastern branch of the Nile, 8 m. from its mouth; has a trade in grain, rice, hides, fish, &c.; was taken by St. Louis in 1249, and restored on payment of his ransom from captivity.
[Damocles], a flatterer at the court of the elder Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, whom, after one day extravagantly extolling the happiness of kings, Dionysius set down to a magnificent banquet, but who, when seated at it, looked up and saw a sword hanging over his head suspended by a single hair; a lesson this which admonished him, and led him to change his views of the happiness of kings.
[Damon and Pythias], two Pythagoreans of Syracuse of the days of Dionysius I., celebrated for their friendship; upon the latter having been condemned to death, and having got leave to go home to arrange his affairs beforehand, the former pledged his life for his return, when just as, according to his promise, he presented himself at the place of execution, Pythias turned up and prepared to put his head on the block; this behaviour struck the tyrant with such admiration, that he not only extended pardon to the offender, but took them both into his friendship.
[Dampier, William], an English navigator and buccaneer; led a roving and adventurous life, and parting company with his comrades, set off on a cruise in the South Seas; came home and published a "Voyage Round the World"; this led to his employment in further adventures, in one of which Alexander Selkirk accompanied him, but was wrecked on Juan Fernandez; in his last adventure, it is said, he rescued Selkirk and brought him home (1652-1715).
[Dana, Charles Anderson], American journalist, member of [Brook Farm] (q. v.), and became editor of the New York Tribune, the Sun, and a cyclopædia: b. 1829.
[Dana, James Dwight], American mineralogist and geologist, born at Utica, New York State; was associated as scientific observer with Commodore Wilkes on his Arctic and Antarctic exploring expeditions, on the results of which he reported; became geological professor in Yale College; author of works on mineralogy and geology, as also on South Sea volcanoes (1813-1895).
[Dana, Richard Henry], an American poet and critic; editor of the North American Review, author of the "Dying Raven," the "Buccaneer," and other poems (1787-1879).
[Dana, Richard Henry], a son of the preceding, lawyer; author of "Two Years before the Mast" (1815-1882).