chief actor of his own drama. In the Commedia for the first time Christianity wholly revolutionizes art, and becomes its seminal principle. But aesthetically also, as well as morally, Dante stands between the old and new, and reconciles them. The theme of his poem is purely subjective, modern, what is called romantic; but its treatment is objective (almost to realism, here and there), and it is limited by a form of classic severity. In the same way he sums up in himself the two schools of modern poetry which had preceded him, and, while essentially lyrical in his subject, is epic in the handling of it. So also he combines the deeper and more abstract religious sentiment of the Teutonic races with the scientific precision and absolute systematism of the Romantic. In one respect Dante stands alone. While we can in some sort account for such representative men as Voltaire and Goethe, or even Shakespeare, by the intellectual and moral fermentation of the age in which they lived, Dante seems morally isolated and to have drawn his inspiration almost wholly from his own internal resources. Of his mastery in style we need say little here. Of his mere language, nothing could be better than the expression of Rivarol: "His verse holds itself erect by the mere force of the substantive and verb, without the help of a single epithet." In all literary history there is no such figure as Dante, no such homogeneousness of life and works, such loyalty to idea, and such sublime irrecognition of the unessential; and there is no moral more touching than that the contemporary recognition of such a nature, so endowed and so faithful to its endowment, should be summed up in the sentence of Florence: Igne comburatur sic quod moriatur.—The best authorities on the life and works of Dante are: Troya, Il veltro allegorico (Florence, 1826); Arrivabene, Il secolo di Dante (Udine, 1827); Ugo Foscolo, Discorso sul testo (Lugano, 1827, and in London ed. of Dante, 1843, vol. i.); Dante, edited with Ottimo Comento (Pisa, 1827-'9); ditto, edited by Ciarditti (5 vols. 8vo, Florence, 1830, and 6 vols. 8vo, Molini, 1830); Rossetti, Sullo spirito antipapale, &c. (London, 1832); Colomb de Batines, Bibliografia dantesca (Prato, 1845-'6); Balbo, Vita di Dante (Florence, 1853); Witte, Dante's lyrische Gedichte (Leipsic, 1842); Dante metrisch übertragen, etc., von Philalethes [John of Saxony] (2d ed., 3 vols. 4to, Dresden and Leipsic, 1849), containing the best notes and commentary hitherto; Wegele, Dante's Leben und Werke (Jena, 1852); Schlosser, Studien, &c. (Leipsic and Heidelberg, 1855); Bruce-Whyte, Histoire des langues romanes (Paris, 1841, vol. iii.); Aroux, Dante, hérétique, révolutionnaire et socialiste (Paris, 1854); Fauriel, Dante, &c. (Paris, 1854); Ozanam, Dante et la philosophie catholique, &c. (3d ed., Paris, 1855); Villemain, Cours de littérature française (Paris, 1855, vol. i.); Quinet, Les révolutions d'Italie, &c. (Paris, 1856); Saint-René Taillandier, in

Revue des Deux Mondes for Dec. 1, 1856; Carlyle, "Heroes in History " (London, 1841); Emerson, "Representative Men" (Boston, 1850); and Mariotti (Gallenga), “Fra Dolcino and his Times" (London, 1853). See also "Dante as Philosopher, Patriot, and Poet," by Vincenzo Botta (New York, 1865), and Symonds's "Introduction to the Study of Dante" (London, 1873). Of the earlier English translations, the most elegant is Cary's, though Dante is a little Miltonized in it. Cayley's preserves the original metre, the difficulty of which makes him sometimes obscure, often rugged; but in parts it is admirable. John A. Carlyle's prose version of the Inferno is perhaps as good as any prose rendering of a poem remarkable for rhythm can be. Parsons's excellent version of the whole of the Inferno was published in 1867. Longfellow's translation of the entire Divina Commedia (1867-170), in blank verse, is notable for its fidelity to the original; its notes are very valuable. A translation of the Vita nuora, by Charles Eliot Norton, was published at Boston in 1867.

DANTON, Georges Jacques, a French revolutionist, born at Arcis-sur-Aube, Oct. 28, 1759, executed in Paris, April 5, 1794. A lawyer by profession, he became one of the most fervent champions of the revolution. He had some intercourse with Mirabeau, and while the latter was exercising his influence over the constituent assembly and the middle classes, he controlled the populace, whose affections he won by his fervid eloquence, energetic bearing, and cordial manners. He was one of the founders of the club of Cordeliers, in conjunction with Camille Desmoulins and Marat, and advocated the most violent measures. After the return of Louis XVI. from Varennes, Danton was one of the most ardent promoters of the petition for his deposition. This petition, presented for signature at a popular mass meeting, resulted, July 17, 1791, in the "massacre of the Champ de Mars." Toward the end of the same year Danton was appointed a member of the administration of the department of the Seine, and assistant attorney of the common council of Paris. He was foremost in organizing and conducting the attack upon the Tuileries, Aug. 10, 1792, and eagerly participated in the fight. A few days afterward he received as a reward from the legislative assembly his appointment to the ministry of justice. At the advance of the Prussian army of invasion in the latter part of August, which filled Paris with consternation, he showed such firmness and confidence that the assembly and the people were reassured; but at the same time he cried, "To stop the progress of the enemy, we must strike the royalists with terror!" On the receipt of the news of the fall of Verdun (Sept. 1) the mob broke into the prisons of Paris, and the dreadful September massacres ensued. Danton himself was unquestionably instrumental in bringing about this bloody work. On being elected to the convention he resigned

his office and became one of the leaders of that body. The death of the king was in his view a political necessity. "We have no right to be his judges, it is true," he said; "well, we will kill him." On his motion a levy of 300,000 men was ordered, and the revolutionary tribunal established, March 10, 1793. On the organization of the committee of public safety, April 6, he was appointed one of its members. Associating himself with Robespierre against the Girondists, he contributed to their fall, but he would willingly have spared their lives. In his opinion, the moment had come when rigor should yield to forbearance. Robespierre, however, did not agree with him, and seized the occasion to rid himself of an ally whom he had always secretly hated. Branded as a modéré, Danton was seized at his house, March 31, 1794, and imprisoned at the Luxembourg. Some of the members of the convention desired to save him; but Robespierre, supported by Saint-Just, obtained from the assembly an indirect approval of the arrest; it was decreed that, "in the name of virtue, terror was irrevocably the order of the day." Danton was arraigned with Camille Desmoulins, Lacroix, Fabre d'Eglantine, and others of his friends, before the revolutionary tribunal, April 2. Charged with having been the accomplice of all those enemies of the republic whom he had himself destroyed, he was not even allowed to put in a defence. He had himself instituted this tribunal, for doing which he now publicly begged pardon of God and

man. "My object," said he, "was to prevent a new September, and not to let loose a scourge upon mankind. These Cains know nothing about government. I leave everything in frightful disorder." The contempt with which he treated his judges hastened his sentence. On hearing it he exclaimed: "We fall victims to contemptible cowards, but they will not long enjoy their victory. Robespierre follows me; I drag him after me." On the road to the place of execution he preserved the most perfect composure, looking disdainfully at the mob that followed him with insults, and telling Camille to take no notice of such a vile rabble. Moved by the recollection of his wife, he shed a few tears, but immediately regaining his selfpossession, said: "Be thyself, Danton; no weakness!" To the executioner he said: "Show my head to the crowd; it is worth their seeing." Robespierre witnessed the execution, and departed gleefully rubbing his hands.

DANTZIC (Germ. Danzig; Pol. Gdańsk), a seaport town of Prussia, capital of a district of the same name in the province of West Prussia, in lat. 54° 21' 18" N., lon. 18° 41' 12" E., on the left bank of the west or principal arin of the Vistula, about 3 m. from its mouth in the bay of Dantzic, and 250 m. E. N. E. of Berlin; pop. in 1871, 89,121, of whom 76 per cent. were Protestants. It is traversed by the Mottlau and Radaune, two small affluents of the Vistula. The town, which ranks as a fortress of the first class, is nearly circular, and is surrounded by walls and bastions, defended by a citadel and outworks, and provided with the means of flooding a considerable part of the country on three sides. Including its nine suburbs, it has a circumference of more than 12 m. It is divided into five principal parts, the Old, New, and Low towns, the Speicherinsel (Granary island), and the Langgarten. The latter is the more modern part, and is regularly

Dantzic.

and well built. On the Speicher island are immense granaries capable of holding 4,000,000 bushels. No dwelling houses and no lights or fires are allowed on this island. The principal street of Dantzic is the Langgasse, which intersects it from E. to W., and leads into the Langemarkt, or Long Market. It abounds in antique buildings of splendid and fantastic architecture, the most remarkable of which is the Rathhaus, erected in the 14th century. In the older parts of the town the streets are narrow and winding, and the houses poor. The principal buildings are the cathedral or Marienkirche, begun in 1343 and finished in 1503, which contains the celebrated picture of "The Last Judgment," supposed to be the work of Memling, though attributed to Jan van Eyck; the Catharinenkirche, which is still older; the exchange, built in 1379; the town house, arsenal, navigation school, and school of arts. There are also three monasteries, a nunnery,

a number of other churches, several synagogues, foundling and orphan asylums and hospitals for the sick, a lunatic asylum, a theatre, and many institutions of learning and art. The port of Dantzic is Neufahrwasser, at the mouth of the Vistula, which has been built since 1841, when the river changed its course and formed a new outlet, reducing the depth of the main channel. Of late years, however, a canal with 15 ft. of water has been excavated, and large vessels now come up to the town as in former times. In 1869, 1,388 vessels entered with cargoes, and 415 in ballast; total tonnage, 428,888. In the same year 1,753 vessels sailed from the port with cargoes, and 98 in ballast; total tonnage, 446,679. Three steamers and 125 sailing vessels were owned here. The exports by sea in 1869 included 4,057,768 bushels of wheat, 1,323,344 of rye, 697,752 of barley, and 520,000 tons of timber. In 1870 nearly 8,000,000 bushels of grain were exported. The other chief articles of export are liqueurs, beer, wool, flax, hemp, pitch, tallow, leather, potash, salt, saltpetre, starch, and chiccory. The great staple is grain, particularly wheat, which is chiefly Polish, and is noted for the fine quality of the flour made from it. The imports are principally iron, iron nails, coal, coffee, rice, herrings, cotton, guano, lead, and dyewoods. The exports in 1869 amounted to 25,693,310 thalers, the imports to 29,257,910 thalers. The manufactures are chiefly brandy, beer, tobacco, starch, oil, refined sugar, potash, woollen and linen cloths, ship biscuit, and various articles of metal. Amber is also wrought to a considerable extent, supporting a large number of workmen. It is collected on the beach of the Baltic, where it is thrown up by the sea, and large quantities are annually exported to France in the crude state. Dantzie contains 40 beer breweries, 25 distilleries, and 80 establishments where the liqueur known in commerce as Danziges Goldwasser is made. It is connected by railway with Berlin, Stettin, and Königsberg. There was a considerable town on the site of Dantzic before the end of the 10th century, but its early history is involved in obscurity. It was captured by the Poles in 1294, and in 1310 it fell into the hands of the Teutonic knights, and became a German city among a Polish population. In 1454 it placed itself under the supremacy of the king of Poland, who made it a free city with important privileges. In 1793, on the second partition of Poland, it fell under the dominion of Prussia. It was besieged, bombarded, and taken by the French under Marshal Lefebvre in 1807, and was retaken by the Prussians in 1814, after the famous defence of 12 months made by Gen. Rapp, when the town was half destroyed and the inhabitants were reduced by famine and pestilence to the deepest distress. Dantzic has now partially regained its ancient importance. It is one of the four naval ports of the German empire.

DANUBE (anc. Danubius, or, in its lower course, Ister; Ger. Donau), the largest river of Germany, and, next to the Volga, of Europe. It is formed by the confluence of two streams, the Brege and Brigach, rising in the grand duchy of Baden, on the S. E. slope of the Black Forest, the former, which is considered the principal source of the river, in lat. 48° 6' N., lon. 8° 9' E., about 24 m. from the Rhine, at an elevation of about 2,850 ft. above the level of the Black sea. In an air line the distance from the sources to the mouth of the Danube is nearly 1,020 m., while the length of its course is 1,820 m. The river system of the Danube and all its tributaries drains an area of 300,000 sq. m. In its course it traverses nearly 22° of longitude and 54° of latitude. The elevation of its surface above the level of the sea at Ulm, the head of steam navigation, is about 1,500 ft., at Ratisbon 1,100, at Vienna 500, at Presburg 425, at Buda 350, and at Moldova 200. Three principal divisions of the river basin are indicated by the character of the adjacent country, and the river itself: the upper course, terminating at Passau; the middle, at Kladova; and the lower, at the mouth. In its upper course the Danube, flowing in an easterly direction, skirts the southern base of the sterile table land of the Rough Alps (Rauhe Alp), the rapidity of its current being 5 ft. a second, or about 34 m. an hour. Its breadth having increased to 250 ft., and its current slackened, it becomes navigable at Ulm. There, sweeping to the N. E. through the fertile Bavarian plain, it forms a curve, of which the northern apex is Ratisbon, and the eastern base Passau. On the N. side the Ludwigscanal connects it with the Main and Rhine rivers. Near Passau the Bavarian forest on one side, and the northern ranges of the Noric Alps on the other, approach the Danube, narrowing its bed in some places to less than 1,000 ft., while in others it expands to a breadth of 5,000 ft. From Passau to Linz the fall is 24 ft. in a mile; from there to Vienna only 14 ft. In this portion of its course the scenery of the Danube fairly rivals that of the Rhine, and even excels it in sombre grandeur. Nearer Vienna the mountains recede, and the river enters a large plain, which, being but scantily protected by dikes, is subject to terrible inundations. The measures heretofore adopted for preventing these inundations having been found wholly inadequate, the Austrian government in 1864 appointed a committee, consisting of representatives of the monarchy and of the crownland of Lower Austria and the city of Vienna, to regulate the course of the Danube at and near Vienna. The plan of the committee, which involves the leading of the river into a new channel, was approved in 1868. The cost of the work is estimated at 24,600,000 florins, of which one third is to be paid by the monarchy, one third by Lower Austria, and one third by Vienna. The principal portions of the work are to be completed during 1874.

ceeding centuries the countries bordering on the Danube were frequently the theatre of conflict between the Christians and the Turks. The Germans occupy the entire upper basin, and portions of the middle and lower; the Slavs parts of both banks of the middle course of the river; the Magyars the central portion of the valley, and the Roumanians the lower regions. The commercial use of the Danube has scarcely begun to be developed. The rapidity of the current in its upper course, the reefs, rapids, whirlpools, and sudden changes of the channel and banks, its shallowness where it passes through the Hungarian plains, and its numerous windings, offered so many impediments to navigation, that up to a comparatively recent period it was limited to the scantiest intercourse between the provinces immediately adjoining the river. The application of steam in 1830 inaugurated a new era in the history of the Danube. Then the governments, becoming aware of the importance of the river, adopted a system of improvements. Reefs were removed, flats deepened by narrowing the channel, and canals and cut-offs constructed. By the treaty of Paris (1856) the entire freedom of the navigation from tolls and dues was stipulated for; and in pursuance of this, the governments of the states through which the river flows agreed upon a convention (Nov. 7, 1857), by which vessels of all nations were allowed to ascend the Danube from its mouth to any point above, while the navigation between different points on the river was reserved to the subjects of the riparian states. The provisions of the treaty of Paris were partially modified by the treaty of March 13, 1871, which authorizes the riparian states, in case of their agreement as to the removal of the remaining obstructions at the Iron Gate, to levy a provisional tax on all commercial vessels availing themselves of its advantages, until the expenditure shall have been repaid. The principal drawback to the importance of the Danube as a channel of commerce is the shallowness of its mouths. The three outlets enclosing the delta (or rather the flat islands Tehetal, Leti, and Moïshe, the highest elevation of which is not more than 6 or 7 ft. above the level of the sea), the Kilia Boghasi, Sulina Boghasi, and Kediskeh Boghasi (St. George channel), have a length of 72, 53, and 55 m. respectively, and according to the report of E. Dejardins, submitted to the prince of Roumania in 1867, convey the waters of the Danube in the respective proportions of 1,, and of the volume of the river. Formerly the St. George's channel was used almost exclusively; but having been choked with sand by the simultaneous occurrence of a strong freshet in the river and a violent gale from the sea, it was abandoned, and the Sulina channel resorted to. The Turkish government took good care to keep this channel open; but when, by the treaties of 1812 and 1829, the mouths of the Danube passed under the control of Russia, all efforts

in that direction were abandoned, with the intention, it was said, of diverting the Danubian trade into the Kilia branch for the advantage of the harbor of Ismail. The bar of the Sulina continues 1,000 yards outside of the mouth; it has a width of 2 to 3 m., and a depth of water varying from 10 to 14 ft. The energetic efforts of the Austrian government immediately after the retreat of the Russians (1854) at last succeeded so far as to obtain an available average. depth of 10 ft., while under Russian rule the depth had been reduced to 7 ft. By the treaty of Paris an international committee was appointed for the regulation of the mouths of the Danube. The majority of this committee concluded that it would be feasible to suppress or cut off two of the principal outlets, and, by leading their waters into the third, increase the volume and power of the current sufficiently to sweep away the mud and sand banks. A special committee, appointed by Austria, reported in 1857 that the St. George channel, if restored to its former condition, would in all respects offer the shortest and safest outlet, and that the cost of this improvement would not exceed 3,700,000 florins, nor the cost of keeping it in repair 65,000 florins per annum. The Danube and its principal tributaries (the Inn, Drave, Theiss, and Save) are navigated by steam vessels for an aggregate length of 2,400 m. The Bavarian Danube steam navigation company was established in 1838, and in 1862 was merged in the Austrian company, which was organized in 1830. In 1870 the latter company employed 155 steamers and 547 transports. The voyage from Vienna to Constantinople is now performed in seven days.

It

DANVERS, a town of Essex co., Mass., 15 m. N. N. E. of Boston; pop. in 1870, 5,600. contains a carpet factory, a rolling mill, six tanneries, six brick yards, manufactories of boots and shoes, a national bank, and two weekly newspapers. It is connected by rail with Boston and Newburyport. In 1852 George Peabody, a native of this town, gave $20,000 (afterward increased to $200,000) "for the promotion of knowledge and morality" among the inhabitants. With this donation the Peabody institute was founded, and enriched with a library. He also gave $50,000 to establish a branch in that part of the town known as North Danvers. Until 1756 Danvers formed a part of Salem. In 1855 it was divided by the incorporation of South Danvers, now Peabody, as a separate town.

DANVILLE. I. A borough and the capital of Montour co., Pennsylvania, on the N. branch of the Susquehanna river, 12 m. above Sunbury, and 50 m. N. E. of Harrisburg; pop. in 1870, 8,436. Montour's ridge, extending nearly 21 m. along the river, abounds in excellent iron ore, and in limestone, which is used as a flux in smelting. Rich mines of anthracite coal have also been opened in the vicinity, and the northern branch of the Pennsylvania canal affords means of transportation. The Cata