Dumouriez (du˙-mö-ri-ā), Charles François Duperrier, a French general of great military talent, was born at Cambrai in 1739 of a noble family of Provence, died near Henley-on-Thames 1823. He served as an officer in the Seven Years' War. In 1768 he went to Corsica as quartermaster-general of the small army which was sent for the conquest of that island, and was afterwards made colonel. In 1778 he was appointed Governor of Cherbourg. At the Revolution he joined the Jacobins, and subsequently the Girondists, and in 1792 he was Minister of Foreign Affairs. War breaking out between France and Austria, he resigned in order to take command of the army; invaded Flanders, and defeated the Austrians at Jemappes and conquered Belgium. Instead of prosecuting the war vigorously, he now entered upon measures for the overthrow of the Revolutionary Government, issued a proclamation, in which he promised the restoration of the constitutional monarchy in the person of the heir to the crown, but was attacked by the Versailles volunteers, and compelled to flee (4th April, 1793). The Convention set a price of 300,000 livres upon his head. At first he retired to Brussels, and after various wanderings found a final refuge in England. His Memoirs, written by himself, appeared in 1794; an enlarged edition in 1822. He was also the author of a large number of political pamphlets.—Bibliography: J. Holland Rose and A. M. Broadley, Dumouriez and the Defence of England against Napoleon; H. Welschinger, Le Roman de Dumouriez.
Düna (dü'na˙), or Western Dvina, a river of Russia, which rises in the government of Tver, about 15 miles W. of the source of the Volga, falls into the Gulf of Riga, has a course of about 650 miles, and waters the seven governments of Tver, Pskov, Vitebsk, Mogilev, &c., draining an area of about 65,000 sq. miles. It is navigable for a considerable distance, but is frozen for about four months each year.
Dünaburg (dü´na-bu¨rg), Dvinaburg, or Dvinsk, a fortified town in Latvia, formerly belonging to Russia, in the government of Vitebsk on the right bank of the Düna, or Dvina, 112 miles south-east of Riga. It carries on various industries, a considerable trade, and has three yearly fairs. The official name is Dvinsk, or Daugavpils. It was captured by the Germans in Feb., 1918. Pop. 110,912.
Dünamünde (dü´na-mu˙n-de; 'Dünamouth'), a fortress and port on the Gulf of Riga, at the mouth of the Düna, having a large winter harbour for the shipping of Riga. Pop. 2500.
Dunbar´, William, the most eminent of all the old Scottish poets, was born, probably in East Lothian, about 1460-5. In 1475 he went to St. Andrews, where, in 1477, he took the degree of B.A., and two years later that of M.A. After this he seems to have become a begging friar of the Franciscan order, and made journeys in England and France, but he returned to Scotland about 1490, and attached himself to the court of James IV, from whom he received a pension of £10. On the marriage of James IV to Margaret of England Dunbar celebrated the event in a poem of great beauty, entitled The Thrissil and the Rois. His pension was ultimately raised to £80 a year, and he was the recipient of various additional gratuities, though he appears frequently to have addressed both the king and the queen for a benefice, but always without success. After the defeat at Flodden his name disappears from the royal accounts, and he probably died about 1520. His works, which consist of elaborate allegories, satirical and grimly humorous pieces, and poems full of brilliant description and luxuriant imagination, first collected by David Laing (Edinburgh, 1834), were edited by John Small and Æ. J. G. Mackay, for the Scottish Text Society, between 1884 and 1893.—Cf. The Cambridge History of English Literature (vol. ii).
Dunbar´ (Gael., Castle Point), a town of
Scotland; a royal and municipal (formerly parliamentary) burgh and seaport in Haddingtonshire, at the mouth of the Firth of Forth. It is a place of great antiquity, having originated in a castle, once of great strength and importance, which underwent several memorable sieges, on one occasion being successfully defended (in 1338) against the English for nineteen weeks by Black Agnes of Dunbar, Countess of March. In 1650, at the 'Race of Dunbar', Cromwell totally defeated the Scottish army under David Leslie near the town. The harbour is not very commodious, but the town is an important fishing-station. Pop. 4830.
Dunblane´, an old episcopal city, Scotland, in Perthshire, 6 miles north-east of Stirling, on the Allan. The ancient cathedral, partly in ruins, dates from the twelfth century. The nave is 130 feet by 58 feet, and the choir, now the parish church, is 80 feet by 30 feet. The building was restored in 1893. Bishop Leighton held the see from 1662 to 1670. About two miles from the town the indecisive battle of Sheriffmuir was fought in 1715, between the Royal forces under the Duke of Argyle, and the Jacobites under the Earl of Mar. Pop. 4600.
Dun´can, Adam, Viscount, a British naval officer, was born in Dundee in 1731, died 1804. He went to sea when young, and was a post-captain in 1761. In the following year he served at the taking of Havana; and in 1779 he shared in the victory of Admiral Rodney over the Spaniards. In 1789 he became rear-admiral of the blue, and in 1794 vice-admiral of the white squadron. The following year he was appointed commander of the North Sea fleet, and in Oct., 1797, won a brilliant victory over the Dutch fleet off Camperdown, for which he was rewarded with the title of Viscount Duncan of Camperdown and a pension of £2000 a year.
Duncan, Thomas, an eminent Scottish painter, was born in 1807, died at Edinburgh 1845. He studied under Sir W. Allan, and was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1843. His principal works were illustrative of Scottish history and character. Among the best known of them are: The Abdication of Mary Queen of Scots, Anne Page and Slender, Prince Charles Edward and the Highlanders entering Edinburgh after Prestonpans, Charles Edward asleep in a Cave after Culloden, and The Martyrdom of John Brown of Priesthill.