DESERTER 
 
 
day, and in a fit of desperation gives 
himself up as a deserter, and is con- 
demned to death.    Lousia goes to the 
king, explains the whole affair, and re- 
turns with his pardon as the muffled 
drums begin to beat. 
 
  Desmas. The repentant thief is so 
called in The Story of Joseph ofArimathea; 
but Dismas in the apocryphal Gospel of 
Nicodernus. Longfellow, in  The Golden 
Leqend, calls him Duniachus. The impeni- 
tent thief is called Gestas, but Longfellow 
calls him Titus. 
Jinparibus meritis pendent tria corpora ramis: 
1)ismas et Gesmas, media est Divina Potestas; 
Alta petit Dismas, infelix infima Gesmas; 
Nos et res nostras conservet Summna Potestas. 
Of differing merits from three trees incline 
Dismias and Gesmas and the Power Divine; 
Dismas repents, Gesmas no pardon craves, 
The power Divine by death the sinner saves. 
 
  Desmonds of Kilmallock (Limerick). 
The legend is that the last powerful head 
of this family, who perished in the reign 
of Queen Elizabeth, still keeps his state 
under the waters of Lough Gur, that every 
seventh year he re-appears fully armed, 
rides round the lake early in the morning, 
and will ultimately return in the flesh to 
claim his own again. (See BARBAROSSA.) 
-Sir W. Scott, Fortunes of Niqel. 
 
  Despair   (Giant), lived in  Doubting 
Castle. He took Christian and Hopeful 
captives for sleeping on his grounds, and 
locked them in a dark dungeon from 
Wednesday to Saturday, without "one 
bit of bread, or drop of drink, or ray of 
light." By the advice of his wife, Diffi- 
dence, the giant beat them soundly "with 
a crab-tree cudgel." On Saturday night 
Christian remembered he had a key in his 
bosom, called " Promise," which would 
open any lock in Doubting Castle. So he 
 
 
opened the dungeon door, and they both 
made their escape with     speed.-John 
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i. (1678). 
 
  Deuce is in Him (The) a farce by 
George Colman, senior. The person re- 
ferred to is Colonel Tember, under which 
name the plot of the farce is given (1762). 
 
  Deuga'la, says Ossian, "was covered 
with the light of beauty, but her heart 
was the house of pride." 
 
  Deve'ta, plu. DEVETAS, inferior or 
secondary deities in Hindfl mythology. 
 
  Devil (The). Olivier Ledain, the tool 
of Louis XI., and once the king's barber, 
was called Le Diable, because he was as 
much feared, was as fond of making mis- 
chief, and was far more disliked than the 
prince of evil. Olivier was executed in 
1484. 
 
  Devil (The French), Jean Bart, an intrepid 
French sailor, born at Dunkirk (1650- 
1702). 
 
  Devil (The White). George Castriot, sur- 
named "Scanderbeg," was called by the 
Turks "The White Devil of Wallachia" 
(1404-1467). 
 
  Devil (The Printer's). Aldus Manutius, 
a printer in Venice to the holy Church and 
the doge, employed a negro boy to help 
him in his office. This little black boy was 
believed to be an imp of Satan, and went 
by the name of the "printer's devil." In 
order to protect him from persecution, 
and confute a foolish superstition, Mann- 
tius made a public exhibition of the boy, 
and announced that " any one who doubted 
him to be flesh and blood might come for- 
ward and pinch him." 
 
 
307 
 
 
DEVIL