Athenæus relates that they had a law by which they were obliged to exercise their children at it from the age of five years. This warlike people constantly retained the custom of accompanying their dances with hymns and songs. The following was sung for the dance called trichoria, said to be instituted by Lycurgus, and which had its name from its being composed of three choirs, one of children, another of young men, and the third of old. The old men opened the dance, saying, 'In time past we were valiant.' The young men answered, We are so at present.' We shall be still more so when our time comes,' replied the chorus of children. The Spartans never danced but with real arms. In process of time, however, other nations came to use only weapons of wood on such occasions. Nay, it was only so late as the days of Athenæus, who lived in the second century, that the dancers of the Pyrrhic, instead of arms, carried only flasks, thyrsuses or reeds. But, even in Aristotle's days, they had begun to use thyrsuses instead of pikes, and lighted torches in lieu of javelins and swords. With these torches they executed a dance which was called the conflagration of the world.

Religious dances were not confined to the pagan world. They have been practised both by Jews and Christians. Among the ancient Jews, it appears to have made a part of religious worship on some occasions, as we learn from passages in the Psalms, though we do not find it enjoined as a divine precept. In the Christian churches mentioned in the New Testament, there is no account of dancing being introduced as an act of worship, though it is certain that it was used as such in after ages,

Theatrical or stage dances. The Greeks were the first who united the dance to their tragedies and comedies; not indeed as making part of those spectacles, but merely as an accessary. The Romans copied after the Greeks; but in the reign of Augustus they left their instructors far behind them. Two remarkable men made their appearance at that time, who invented a new species of entertainment, and carried it to a great degree of perfection. These were Pylades and Bathylus, who first introduced among the Romans what the French call the ballet d'action, wherein the performer is both actor and dancer. I'ylades undertook the task of representing, with the assistance of the dance alone, strong and pathetic situations. He succeeded perhaps beyond his own expectation, and may be called the father of that style of dancing which is known to us by the name of grave or serious pantomine. Bathylus, an Alexandrian, and a freedman of Mecanas, took upon himself to represent such subjects as required a certain liveliness and agility. He was handsome in his person; and the two great scourges of Roman follies, Persius and Juvenal, speak of him as the gallant of every woman in Rome. After their death the art gradually sunk into obscurity, and became even entirely forgotten on the accession of Trajan to the empire. Thus buried with the other arts in oblivion, dancing remained uncultivated till about the fifteenth century, when ballets were revived in Italy at a magnificent entertainment

given by a nobleman of Lombardy at Tortona on account of the marriage between Galeas duke of Milan and Isabella of Arragon. At first the women had no share in the public or theatrical dance; but, in 1681, we find the then dauphiness, the princess of Conti, and some other ladies of the first distinction in the court of Louis XIV. performed a ballet with the opera called Le Triomphe de l'Amour. This union of the two sexes served to enliven and render the spectacle more pleasing and far more brilliant. It was received with so much applause, that in the May of that year, when the same opera was acted in Paris at the theatre of the Palais Royal, it was thought indispensable for the success of that kind of entertainment to introduce female dancers, and they have continued ever since to be the principal support of the opera. Thus, what was at first introduced as a mere accessary to the musical performance, became in process of time its only support; and this circumstance excited the emulation of several ballet masters.

Modern dancing is so much the creature of change and fashion, that we feel it impossible to detail its ever-varying steps in a work of science. We must refer our younger readers to the professors of the art; observing, only, that it seems in itself a natural and most innocent mode of exercise and graceful motion; while, on the other hand, in crowded assemblies, among the suffocating vapors of innumerable lights and breaths, the blood becomes often unnaturally propelled to the breast and head; perspiration is dangerously checked; the lungs are expanded, and the foundation is too often laid of that fatal disease, consumption.

DANCER (Daniel), an extraordinary miser, born near Harrow, in Middlesex, in 1716, of a family who possessed a considerable estate in that county. He succeeded to the family estate in 1736. For upwards of fifty years he led the life of a hermit, having no dealings with mankind but what the sale of his hay necessarily occasioned; and was seldom seen, except when he was out gathering logs from the common, or old iron, or sheep's dung under the hedges. His house was at one time robbed, to prevent which, he fastened up the door, and, by means of a ladder, went in at an upper window, drawing the ladder carefully up after him. He had a sister who lived with him for a number of years, and who left him a considerable increase to his store, at her death; on which occasion, to put himself in decent mourning, he purchased a pair of second-hand worsted stockings. Even this was an article of luxury, for he commonly wore bands of hay around his legs. He died in 1794, and left his estates to lady Tempest, who had been very charitable to the poor man and his sister.

DANCETTE, in heraldry, an epithet applied to the bordure or ordinary, when very deeply indented, so as to make generally but three points in the breadth of the shield, as fig. 1. a fesse dancette sable, fig. 2, azure two bars indented or. Name James. Double dancette, fig. 3, is an epithet belonging peculiarly to the bend, as argent a bend double dancette, azure, name Henricson.

of risk or hazard. It has beer used in an obsolete sense for custody, as in the old French dangier. See the first example.

In danger had he at his owen gise
The yonge girles of the diocise,

And knew hir counseil and was of hir rede
A garland hadde he sette upon his hede.

Chaucer. Prol. to Cant. Tales.
Fareth every knight thus with his wif as ye?
Is this the lawe of king Artoure's hous?
Is every knight of his thus dangerous?

Id. Cant. Tales. Our craft is in danger to be set at nought.

He showed no less magnanimity in dangerless despising, than others in dangerous affecting, the multiplying of kingdoms. Sidney,

It is dangerous self-flattery to give soft and smoothing names to sins in order to disguise. Mason. Wealth heaped on wealth, nor truth nor safety buys, The dangers gather as the treasures rise.

Johnson. Vanity of Human Wishes. Deep in wide caves below the dangerous soil Blue sulphurs flame, imprisoned waters boil. Darwin. To me, Almighty, in thy mercy shining,

Life's dark and dangerous portals thou didst ope; And softly on my mother's lap reclining, Breathed through my breast the lively soul of hope.

K. White.

Thy days of health, and nights of sleep; thy toils, By danger dignified, yet guiltless; hopes Of cheerful old age and a quiet grave, With cross and garland over its green turf, And thy grand-children's love for epitaph; This do I see-and then I look within- Byron. DANGER, Isles of, three islands in the Pacific Ocean, seen by commodore Byron, in June 1765; and which he supposed to be the same with those seen by Quiros, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and named Solomon's Islands. They were very populous, but so surrounded with rocks on all sides, that it was not safe to attempt to land. The islands themselves had a more fertile and beautiful appearance than

any we had seen before,' says this navigator, ' and like the rest, swarmed with people, whose habitations we saw standing in clusters all along the coast. We saw also a large vessel under sail at a little distance from the shore; but to our unspeakable regret we were obliged to leave the place without further examination, for it was surrounded in every direction by rocks and breakers, which rendered the hazard more than equivalent to every advantage we might procure.' Long. 169° 28′ W., lat. 10° 15' S.

DA'NGLE, v. n. DA'NGER, n. s. DA'NGLING, adj.

Swed. dinglu or dangla, seems, as Mr. Todd suggests, the most probable ety mology; but Skinner derives it from Saxon dune, down, and hangan, hanging. To hang loose; to hang on and downwards; to follow. A dangler is a follower.

Go, bind thou up yon dangling aprico cks.

In faithful memory she records the crimes Or real, or fictitious, of the times; Laughs at the reputations she has torn, And holds them dangling at arm's length on scorn. Cowper. Task. DANIEL;, Heb. i. e. my judge is God; the fourth of the greater prophets, was born in Judea, of the tribe of Judah, about the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, A. M. 3376. He was led captive to Babylon, with other young Hebrews, after the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, That prince gave them masters to instruct them in the language and sciences of the Chaldeans, and ordered them to be fed with the most delicate viands; but they desired the king's officers to allow them only pulse. The wisdom and conduct of Daniel pleasing Nebuchadnezzar, that monarch gave him several posts of honor. We need not particularise them, or the few events of his life: they are contained in the prophecies universally attributed to him. It is believed that Daniel died in Chaldea, and did not take advantage of the permission granted by Cyrus to the Jews of returning to their own country. St. Epiphanius says he died at Babylon. The prophecies of Daniel concerning the coming of the Messiah, and the other great events of after times, are so clear and explicit, that, as St. Jerome tells us, Porphyry insisted that those which related to the kings of Syria and Egypt, chap. xi., must have been written after the times of Antiochus Epiphanes; whereas this prophecy was translated into Greek 100 years before his time, and was in the hands of the Egyptians, who had no particular kindness for the Jews or their religion. Josephus says the prophecies foretelling the successes of Alexander, chap. viii. 5, xi. 3, were shown to him

by the Jews, in consequence of which they obtained several privileges from him. Antiq. lib. xi. c. 8. The style of Daniel is not so lofty and figurative as that of the other prophets; but it is more clear and concise, and his narrations and descriptions are simple and natural; in short, he writes more like a historian than a prophet. Part of his book, viz. from the fourth verse of chapter ii. to the end of chapter vii. was originally written in Chaldee, all the rest of the book is in Hebrew. The first six chapters are a history of the kings of Babylon, and what befel the Jews under their government. In the last six he is altogether prophetic, foretelling not only what should happen to his own church and nation, but events in which foreign princes and kingdoms were concerned; and some of which appear to be even yet unfulfilled.

DANIEL (Gabriel), a celebrated Jesuit, and one of the best French historians, was born at Rouen in 1649. He taught polite literature, philosophy, and divinity, among the Jesuits; and was superior of their house at Paris, where he died in 1728. There are a great number of his works published in French, of which the principal are: 1. A History of France, of which he also wrote an abridgment, in 9 vols. 12mo. 2. A History of the French Militia, in 2 vols. 4to. 3. An Answer to the Provincial Letters. 4. A Voyage to the World of Descartes. 5. Letters on the Doctrines of the Theorists, and on Probability. 6. New Difficulties relating to the Knowledge of Brutes: and, 7. A Theological Treatise on the Efficacy of Grace.

DANIEL (Samuel), an eminent poet and his torian, born near Taunton in Somersetshire, in 1562, and educated at Oxford; but, leaving that University without a degree, he applied himself to English history and poetry under the patronage of the earl of Pembroke. He was afterwards tutor to the lady Ann Clifford ; and, upon the death of Spencer, was created poet laureat to queen Elizabeth. In king James's reign he was appointed gentlenian extraordinary, and afterwards one of the grooms of the privy chamber to the queen consort. He wrote a History of England, several dramatic pieces, and some poems, and

died in 1619.

DA'NKISH.

DANK, n. s. & adj. Į Swed. dunk; Germ. tunck. Skinner says, from the kindred German word tunken. Damp, moist, humid; or inclining to that state. Milton uses dank as a substantive.

Along the leaguered wall and bristling bank, Of the armed river, while with straggling light The stars peep through the vapours dim and dank. Byron.

DANMONII, an ancient British nation, supposed to have inhabited the tract of country now called Cornwall and Devonshire, bounded on the south by the British Ocean, on the west by St. George's Channel, on the north by the Severn Sea, and on the east by the country of the Durotriges. Some other British tribes were also seated within these limits: as the Cossini and Ostidamnii, which were probably particular clans of the Danmonii. Ptolemy names a few places, both on the sea-coasts and in the inland parts of their country, which were known to the Romans. The most considerable of these are the famous promontories of Bolerium and Ocrinium, now the Landsend and the Lizard; and the towns of Isca Danmoniorum and Tamare, now Exeter and Saltash. After the departure of the Romans kingly government was immediately revived amongst the Danmonii in the person of Vortigern.

DANTE (Aligheri), a most distinguished poet of Italy, was born at Florence in 1265, of an ancient and honorable family. Boccaccio, who lived in the same period, has left a very curious and entertaining treatise, on the life, studies, and manners of this extraordinary man; whom he regarded as his master, and for whose memory he professed the highest veneration. He relates that Dante, before he was ten years old, conceived a passion for the lady whom he has immortalised in his poems. Her age was near his own; and her name was Beatrice, the daughter of Folco Portinari, a noble citizen of Florence. The passion of Dante, however, seems to have been of the platonic kind; but on the death of his mistress, at the age of twenty-four, he fell into a deep melancholy, from which his friends endeavoured to raise him, by persuading him to marriage. He followed their advice, but unfortunately made choice of a Xantippe. The poet, not possessing the patience of Socrates, separated from her, and never afterwards admitted her to his presence. In the early part of his life he gained some credit in a military character; distinguishing himself by his bravery in an action where the Florentines obtained a signal victory over the citizens of Arezzo. He became still more eminent by the acquisition of civil honors; and at the age of thirty-five rose to be one of the chief magistrates of Florence, being elected by the suffrages of the people. Italy was at that time distracted by the contending factions of the Gibellines and the Guelphs: the latter, among whom Dante took an active part, were again divided into the Blacks and the Whites. Dante, says Gravina, exerted all his influence to unite these inferior parties; but his efforts were ineffectual, and he had the misfortune to be unjustly persecuted by those of his own faction. A powerful citizen of Florence, named Corso Donati, had taken measures to terminate these intestine broils, by introducing Charles of Valois, brother to Philip the Fair, king of France. Dante, with great vehemence, opposed this disgraceful project, and obtained the banishment of

Donati and his partizans. The exiles applied to pope Boniface VIII., and by his assistance succeeded in their design. Charles of Valois entered Florence in triumph, and those who had opposed his admission were banished in their turn. Dante took refuge at Signa, and afterwards at Arezzo, where many of his party were assembled. An attempt was made to surprise the city of Florence, by a small army which Dante is supposed to have attended; but the design miscarried, and our poet wandered to various parts of Italy, till he found a patron in the great Candella Scala, prince of Verona, whom he has celebrated. The high spirit of Dante was ill suited to courtly dependence; and he is said to have lost the favor of his Veronese patron by the rough frankness of his behaviour. From Verona he retired to France, according to Manetti; and Boccacio affirms that he disputed in the theological schools of Paris with great reputation. The election of Henry count of Luxemburgh to the empire, in November, 1308, afforded Dante a prospect of being restored to his native city, as he attached himself to the interest of the new emperor, in whose service he is supposed to have written his Latin treatise De Monarchiâ, in which he asserted the rights of the empire against the encroachments of the papacy. In 1311 he instigated Henry to lay siege to Florence; in which enterprise, however, he did not appear in person. The emperor was repulsed by the Florentines; and his death, in 1312, deprived Dante of all hope of reestablishment in Florence. After this he passed some years in Italy, in a state of poverty and distress, till he found an establishment at Ravenna, under the protection of Guido Novello da Polenta, the lord of that city, who received this illustrious exile with the most endearing liberality, continued to protect him through the few remaining years of his life, and extended his munificence to his ashes. Eloquence was one of the many talents which Dante eminently possessed, and on this account he was employed on fourteen different embassies. Guido sent him to negociate a peace with the Venetians, who were preparing to attack Ravenna. Manetti asserts that he was unable to procure a public audience at Venice, and returned to Ravenna by land, from his apprehensions of the Venetian fleet; when the fatigue of his journey, and the mortification of failing in the attempt to preserve his patron from the impending danger, threw him into a fever, which terminated in death on the 14th of September, 1321. He died in the palace of his friend; and the affectionate Guido paid the most tender regard to his memory. He commanded the body to be adorned with ornaments, and after being carried on a bier through the streets of Ravenna, by the most illustrious citizens, to be deposited in a marble coffin. He himself pronounced the funeral oration, and expressed his design of erecting a splendid monument in honor of the deceased: a design which his subsequent misfortunes rendered him unable to accomplish. This was afterwards done by Bernard Bembo, the father of the cardinal of that name. Boccacio asserts that Dante began his Inferno, the work which has Immortalised his name, and finished seven cantos of it before his exile; that in the plunder of

his house, on that event, the beginning of his poem was fortunately preserved, but remained for some time neglected, till its merit being accidentally discovered by an intelligent poet named Dino, it was sent to the marquis Malespina, an Italian nobleman, by whom Dante was then protected The marquis restored these papers to the poet, and intreated him to proceed in the work To this incident we are probably indebted for this celebrated poem, which Dante must have continued under all the disadvantages of an unfortunate and agitated life. It does not appear at what time he completed it; perhaps before he quitted Verona, as he dedicated the Paradise to his Veronese patron. The very high estimation in which this production was held by his countrymen, appears from a singular institution in the republic of Florence; which, in 1373, assigned a public stipend to a person appointed to read lectures on it. The critical dissertations that have been written on Dante are almost as numerous as those to which Homer has given birth; the Italian, like the Grecian bard, having been the subject of the highest panegyric, and of the grossest invective. Voltaire has spoken of him with that precipitate vivacity which so frequently led him to insult the reputation of the best writers. But more temperate and candid critics have sufficiently vindicated his claims as an original and most captivating poet. There are many valuable editions of his works, among which it will be sufficient to specify those of Conte Zapato, Venice, 1757, 3 vols. 4to.; and Parma, Bodoni, 1796, vols. folio. There is an English translation of his Comedia by the Rev. H. Boyd; and another and much better by the Rev. H. F. Carey of Chiswick.

DANTON (George James), a celebrated French politician, who took an active part, during the French revolution, in erecting those bloody tribunals, and establishing that despotic power, to which he himself fell a victim. He was born at Arcis sur l'Aube, in 1760; was bred to the law, and became an advocate: with regard to religious opinions, he openly avowed himself an atheist; and, in politics, he was a decided republican: but having differed with Robespierre he was accused of monarchical opinions, and, being condemned by the revolutionary tribunal, was guillotined with eight other deputies at Paris on the 5th of April, 1794, in the thirty-fourth year of his age.

DANTZIC, or DANTZIG, the capital of West Prussia, is seated on a branch of the Vistula, about five miles above its embouchure into the Baltic. This city is famous in history on several accounts, particularly as having been formerly at the head of the Hanse towns. It is large, beautiful, populous, and rich; its houses being generally five stories high, and many of its streets planted. It is traversed by two branches of the Vistula, and consists properly of three towns: the Vorstadt, or Fore-town; the Aldstadt,or Old-town; and the Rechstadt. The suburbs, called Old and New Scotland, are the best built parts of the place; and the Scotch have considerable privileges here, in consequence, as they tell us, of their gallant defence of the town under one of the family of Douglas, when it was besieged by the