Thomas Dermody

Thomas Dermody, an Irish poet, born at Ennis in 1775, died at Sydenham, near London, in 1802. His father was a schoolmaster, and is said to have employed him while only in his ninth year as his assistant in teaching Latin and Greek. He afterward ran away to Dublin, enlisted in the army, and served in the expedition to Holland under the earl of Moira, who promoted him to a second lieutenantcy; but by his intemperate habits he lost the favor of his patron, and afterward lived some time in London, and died in extreme poverty. A small volume of poems written by him in his 13th year appeared in 1792. In 1793 he published a pamphlet on the French revolution, to which was appended a poem entitled "The Reform." During his residence in London he published two volumes of poems, in 1800 and 1802, and a separate poem, "The Battle of the Bards." His life, by J. G. Raymond, was published in 1805, and his works, under the title of "The Harp of Erin," in 1807, each in 2 vols.

Thomas Dobson

Thomas Dobson, a bookseller and author of Philadelphia, died March 8, 1823. He republished the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" (21 | vols. 4to, including the supplement, 1798-1803), and wrote "Letters on the Character of the Deity and the Moral State of Man" (2 vols. 12mo, 1807).

Thomas Doughty

Thomas Doughty, an American landscape painter, born in Philadelphia, July 19, 1793, died in New York, July 24, 1856. He was apprenticed to a leather manufacturer, and afterward carried on the business on his own account. He had attempted painting in oil, and had received a quarter's tuition in India ink drawing, when a growing taste for art induced him in his 28th year, contrary to the advice of his friends, to become a painter. He practised his profession for many years in the United States, and also in London and Paris, acquiring a considerable reputation by his paintings of American scenery.

Thomas Duncan

Thomas Duncan, a Scottish artist, born at Kinclaven, Perthshire, May 24, 1807, died in Edinburgh, May 25, 1845. He was professor of coloring and drawing in the academy of Edinburgh, and an associate of the royal academy. His picture of "Charles Edward asleep after the battle of Culloden, protected by Flora McDonald," has been frequently engraved. Among the finest of his other pieces are "Charles Edward and the Highlanders entering Edinburgh, after the Battle of Preston-pans," and the "Martyrdom of John Brown of Priesthill." He excelled in portraits, of which he executed a large number.

Thomas Durfey

Thomas D'Urfey,, a humorous English poet, born in Exeter about 1650, died in London, Feb. 26, 1723. He was of a French Protestant family which had fled from La Rochelle in 1628, when it was besieged by Louis XIII., and had settled in Exeter. Abandoning law for literature, he wrote ballads, sonnets, irregular odes, and more than 30 pieces for the theatre. The last were very successful; but as they are written in the licentious style prevalent after the restoration, they are not now represented upon the stage. He used to sing his own songs, and counted among his patrons * King Charles II., Queen Anne, and even William III. His best known work, besides his plays, was a collection of songs and ballads, partly by himself, entitled "Wit and Mirth, or Pills to purge Melancholy" (6 vols. 12mo, London, 1719-'20).