302   DELLA CRUSCA SCHOOL 
 
 
in Selden's Titles of Honor, v. 53--57 
(1672). 
 
  Defoe writes The History of the Plague 
of London as if he had been a personal 
spectator, but he was only three years old 
at the the time (1663--1731). 
 
  Deggial, antichrist. The Mohamme- 
dan writers say he has but one eye and 
one eyebrow, and on his forehead is writ- 
ten CAFER (" infidel.") 
  Chilled with terror, we concluded that the 
Deggial, with his exterminating angels, had sent 
forth their plagues on the earth.--W. Beckford, 
Vathek (1784). 
 
  Deird'ri, an ancient Irish story similar 
to the Dar-Thula of Ossian. Conor, king 
of Ulster, puts to death by treachery the 
three sons of Usnach. This leads to the 
desolating war against Ulster, which ter- 
minates in the total destruction of Eman. 
This is one of the three tragic stories of 
the Irish, which are: (1) The death of the 
children of Touran (regarding Tuatha de 
Danans); (2) the death of the children of 
Lear or Lir, turned into swans by Aoife; 
(3) the death of the children of Usnach (a 
"Milesian" story). 
 
  Dek'abrist, a Decembrist, from Dekaber, 
the Russian for December. It denotes 
those persons who suffered death or cap- 
tivity for the part they took in the mili- 
tary conspiracy which broke out in St. 
Petersburg in December, 1825, on the 
accession of Czar Nicholas to the throne. 
 
  Dela'da, the tooth of Buddah, preserved 
in the Malegawa temple at Kandy.    The 
natives guard it with the greatest jealousy, 
from a belief that whoever possesses it 
acquires the right to govern Ceylon. 
When the English (in 1815) obtained pos- 
 
 
session of this palladium, the natives 
submitted without resistance. 
 
  Delaserre (Captain Philip), a friend of 
Harry Bertram.-Sir W. Scott, Guy Man- 
nering (time, George II.). 
 
  De'lia, Diana; so called from the island 
Delos, where she was born.     Similarly, 
Apollo was called Delius. Milton says 
that Eve, e'en 
             Delia's self1 
In gait surpassed and goddess-like deport, 
Though not as she with bow and quiver armed. 
            Paradise Lost, ix. 338, etc. (1665).' 
 
  Delia, any female sweetheart. She is 
one   of  the shepherdesses  in  Virgil's 
Eclogues. Tibullus, the Roman poet, calls 
his lady-love "Delia," but what her real 
name was is not certain. 
 
  Delia, the lady-love of James Hammond's 
elegies, was Miss Dashwood, who died in 
1779.   She rejected his suit, and died 
unmarried. In one of the elegies the poet 
imagines himself married to her, and that 
they were living happily together till death, 
when pitying maids would tell of their 
wondrous loves. 
 
  Delian King (The). Apollo or the sun 
is so called in the Orphic hymn, 
   Oft as the Delian king with Sirius holds 
   The central heavens. 
         Akenside, Hymn to the Naiads (1767). 
 
  Delight of Mankind (The), Titus the 
Roman emperor, A. D. 40, 79-81). 
Titus indeed gave one short evening gleam, 
More cordial felt, as in the midst it spread 
Of storm and horror: "The Delight of Men." 
                 Thomson, Liberty, iii. (1725). 
 
   Della Crusca School, originally ap- 
plied in 1582 to a society in Florence, 
 
 
DEFENDER OF THE FAITH