ginning of the 18th century, and, after a rough experience of Indian captivity in the woods of Maine, settled in Londonderry. N. PI. He received a scanty education. For a sliort while he was under the tuition of an old British soldier, and afterward he studied with Master McKeen, who spent much of his time hunting squirrels with his pupils. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the Revolution- ary army, and served at the battle of Saratoga. He became a farmer at Windham, was a zealous Presbyterian, and used to make verses, in the Scot- tish dialect or in simple English, on topics arising from personal incidents or his subjective emotions. He called himself the " Rustic Bard," and published in 1828, at Haverhill, Mass., a volume entitled " In- cidental Poems," accompanied with letters and a few select pieces for their illustration, with a sketch of the author's life. In his " Old Portraits and Modern Sketches," John G. Whittier says : " He lived to a good old age, a home-loving, unpretend- ing farmer, cultivating his acres with his own horny hands, and cheering the long rainy days and winter evenings with homely rhyme. Most of his pieces were written in the dialect of his ancestors, which was well understood by his neighbors and friends, the only audience upon which he could venture to calculate. He loved all old things, old language, old customs, old theology. . . . He wrote sometimes to amuse his neighbors, often to soothe their sorrow under domestic calamity, or to give expression to his own. With little of that delicacy of taste which results from the attrition of fastidi- ous and refined society, and altogether too truthful and matter-of-fact to call in the aid of imagination, he describes in the simplest and most direct terms the circumstances in which he found himself, and the impressions which these circumstances had made on his own mind. . . . Never having seen a nightingale, he makes no attempt to describe the fowl ; but he has seen the night-hawk, at sunset, cutting the air above him, and he tells of it. Side by side with his waving corn-fields and orchard- blooms, we have the barn-yard and pig-sty." — liis brother, Samuel, governor of New Ham})shire, b. in Londonderry, N. H., 1 July, 17G6 ; d. in Keene, N. H., 15 Marcli, 1885, was graduated at Dartmouth in 1789, studied law, and practised at Keene. He entered the militia, and rose to be major-general. In 1810 he was elected to congress as a war demo- crat, but was defeated at the next election. In 1821 he was a state councillor and a presidential elector on the Monroe ticket. He was defeated as a candi- date for governor by Levi Woodbury. He was judge of probate for Cheshire county from 1823 till 1831, when he was elected governor, and served two years. In 1825 he served on the commission to fix the boundary-line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. — Samuel's son, Samuel, b. in Keene, N. H., 8 May, 1799 ; d. there, 24 Feb., 1809. was graduated at Dartmouth in 1814, and admitted to the bar in 1818. He passed some time in Arkan- sas, going there in 1819. From 1826 till 1831 he was clerk of the senate of New Hampshire, and he was elected governor of the state in 1849, and re- elected in 1851.
DINSMORE, Samuel Porter, journalist, b. in
Bristol, Me., in 1822 ; d. in New York city, 22
March, 1882. He was graduated at Bowdoin in
1844, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in
Bangor. Shortly afterward he became editor of the
Bangor " Mercury." He took an active part in the
presidential canvass for John C. Fremont in 1856.
He went to New York to practise law in 1857, was
appointed to a place in the war department by
President Lincoln, and subsequently became financial editor of the New York " Evening Post." He contributed to the " North American Review " and other periodicals.
DINWIDDIE, Robert, colonial governor of
Virginia, b. in Scotland about 1690; d. in Clifton,
England, 1 Aug., 1770. While a clerk in the cus-
toms department, he detected his principal, a col-
lector of customs in the West Indies, in gross frauds
on the government, and as a reward for this ser-
vice he was made surveyor of customs for the colo-
nies, and soon afterward lieutenant-governor of
Virginia. He arrived in the colony in 1752, and
in December of that year transmitted to the board
of trade an elaborate i-eport in favor of annexing
the Ohio valley for the extension of British settle-
ments, and of constructing a line of forts, and mak-
ing an alliance with the Miami Indians, to secure
the settlements against French aggressions. He
discerned the military capacity of Washington,
whom in 1753 he appointed adjutant-general of
one of the four military districts of Virginia, with
the rank of major, and sent as a commissioner to
expostulate with St. Pierre, the French commander
on the Ohio, for his aggressions upon British ter-
ritory, and to demand the withdrawal of the French
troops. Maj. Washington delivered to the French
commander Dinwiddie's letter, asserting that the
lands on the Ohio belonged to the British crown,
demanding to know by whose authority an armed
force had crossed the lakes, and insisting on their
speedy (U'|iarlure. The governor was incensed at
the French soldier's reply, to the effect that it did
not become him to discuss treaties, and, calling his
council together, determined, by their advice, to
expel the French from the disputed territory.
Washington's expedition followed. The capture
of Fort Trent by the French was the first overt
act of the war. The British government, after
seeking explanations at the French court, sent
Braddock with two regiments to aid the colonists.
Dinwiddle met five of the other colonial governors
at Annapolis, and afterward at Alexandria, and
planned expeditions against Fort Duquesne, Ni-
agara, Frontenac, and Crown Point. He was highly
incensed at the tardiness of the house of burgesses
in voting money for the public defence, and at their
refusal to put it under his absolute disposal. In
1754 he suggested to the British board of trade the
pi'opriety of taxing the colonies for the purpose of
raising funds to carry on the war, and in the suc-
ceeding year was one of the five colonial governors
who memorialized the ministry to the same effect.
He urged the imposition by the British parliament
of a general poll-tax and a general land-tax in
America, on the ground that it was impossible to
obtain joint efforts of the colonies by appealing to
their assemblies. After the defeat of Braddock he
continued to busy himself with the military opera-
tions on the frontiers, displaying great incapacity,
and wearying Washington, then in command of
the colonial troops, by frequent exhibitions of ill
temper, folly, or caprice. His arrogance brought
him into collision with the legislature, while his
avarice led him to exact illegal or obsolete fees,
and he was at length recalled, leaving Virginia in
January, 1758. At the time of his departure he
was charged with appropriating to his own use
£20,000 placed in his hands to compensate the Vir-
ginians for money expended in excess of their pro-
portion of the expenses of the war, for which he
never satisfactorily accounted.
DION, Cyrille, billiard player, b. in Montreal, Canada, 22 March, 1843; d. there, 1 Oct., 1878. His first public appearance was in Montreal on 13 July, 1865, when he won the championship of Can-
