the Psalms remembered chiefly for the brutal mot of Malherbe: “Votre potage vaut mieux que vos psaumes.” Desportes died on the 5th of October 1606. He had published in 1573 an edition of his works including Diane, Les Amours d’Hippolyte, Élégies, Bergeries, Œuvres chrétiennes, &c.
An edition of his Œuvres, by Alfred Michiels, appeared in 1858.
DESPOT (Gr. δεσπότης, lord or master; the origin of the first part of the Gr. word is unknown, the second part is cognate with πόσις, husband, Lat. potens, powerful), in Greek usage the master of a household, hence the ruler of slaves. It was also used by the Greeks of their gods, as was the feminine form δέσποινα. It was, however, principally applied by the Greeks to the absolute monarchs of the eastern empires with which they came in contact; and it is in this sense that the word, like its equivalent “tyrant,” is in current usage for an absolute sovereign whose rule is not restricted by any constitution. In the Roman empire of the East “despot” was early used as a title of honour or address of the emperor, and was given by Alexius I. (1081–1118) to the sons, brothers and sons-in-law of the emperor (Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ed. Bury, vol. vi. 80). It does not seem that the title was confined to the heir-apparent by Alexius II. (see Selden, Titles of Honour, part ii. chap. i. s. vi.). Later still it was adopted by the vassal princes of the empire. This gave rise to the name “despotats” as applied to these tributary states, which survived the break-up of the empire in the independent “despotats” of Epirus, Cyprus, Trebizond, &c. Under Ottoman rule the title was preserved by the despots of Servia and of the Morea, &c. The early use of the term as a title of address for ecclesiastical dignitaries survives in its use in the Greek Church as the formal mode of addressing a bishop.
DES PRÉS, JOSQUIN (c. 1445–1521), also called Deprés or Desprez, and by a latinized form of his name, Jodocus Pratensis or A Prato, French musical composer, was born, probably in Condé in the Hennegau, about 1445. He was a pupil of Ockenheim, and himself one of the most learned musicians of his time. In spite of his great fame, the accounts of his life are vague and the dates contradictory. Fétis contributed greatly towards elucidating the doubtful points in his Biographie universelle. In his early youth Josquin seems to have been a member of the choir of the collegiate church at St Quentin; when his voice changed he went (about 1455) to Ockenheim to take lessons in counterpoint; afterwards he again lived at his birthplace for some years, till Pope Sixtus IV. invited him to Rome to teach his art to the musicians of Italy, where musical knowledge at that time was at a low ebb. In Rome Des Prés lived till the death of his protector (1484), and it was there that many of his works were written. His reputation grew rapidly, and he was considered by his contemporaries to be the greatest master of his age. Luther, who was a good judge, is credited with the saying that “other musicians do with notes what they can, Josquin what he likes.” The composer’s journey to Rome marks in a manner the transference of the art from its Gallo-Belgian birthplace to Italy, which for the next two centuries remained the centre of the musical world. To Des Prés and his pupils Arcadelt, Mouton and others, much that is characteristic in modern music owes its rise, particularly in their influence upon Italian developments under Palestrina. After leaving Rome Des Prés went for a time to Ferrara, where the duke Hercules I. offered him a home; but before long he accepted an invitation of King Louis XII. of France to become the chief singer of the royal chapel. According to another account, he was for a time at least in the service of the emperor Maximilian I. The date of his death has by some writers been placed as early as 1501. But this is sufficiently disproved by the fact of one of his finest compositions, A Dirge (Déploration) for Five Voices, being written to commemorate the death of his master Ockenheim, which took place after 1512. The real date of Josquin’s decease has since been settled as the 27th of August 1521. He was at that time a canon of the cathedral of Condé (see Victor Delzant’s Sépultures de Flandre, No. 118).
The most complete list of his compositions—consisting of masses, motets, psalms and other pieces of sacred music—will be found in Fétis. The largest collection of his MS. works, containing no less than twenty masses, is in the possession of the papal chapel in Rome. In his lifetime Des Prés was honoured as an eminent composer, and the musicians of the 16th century are loud in his praise. During the 17th and 18th centuries his value was ignored, nor does his work appear in the collections of Martini and Paolucci. Burney was the first to recover him from oblivion, and Forkel continued the task of rehabilitation. Ambros furnishes the most exhaustive account of his achievements. An admirable account of Josquin’s art, from the rare point of view of a modern critic who knows how to allow for modern difficulties, will be found in the article “Josquin,” in Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, new ed. vol. ii. The Répertoire des chanteurs de St Gervais contains an excellent modern edition of Josquin’s Miserere.
DESPRÈS, SUZANNE (1875–), French actress, was born at Verdun, and trained at the Paris Conservatoire, where in 1897 she obtained the first prize for comedy, and the second for tragedy. She then became associated with, and subsequently married, Aurelien Lugné-Poë (b. 1870), the actor-manager, who had founded a new school of modern drama, L’Œuvre, and she had a brilliant success in several plays produced by him. In succeeding years she played at the Gymnase and at the Porte Saint-Martin, and in 1902 made her début at the Comédie Française, appearing in Phèdre and other important parts.
DESRUES, ANTOINE FRANÇOIS (1744–1777), French poisoner, was born at Chartres in 1744, of humble parents. He went to Paris to seek his fortune, and started in business as a grocer. He was known as a man of great piety and devotion, and his business was reputed to be a flourishing one, but when, in 1773, he gave up his shop, his finances, owing to personal extravagance, were in a deplorable condition. Nevertheless he entered into negotiations with a Madame de la Mothe for the purchase from her of a country estate, and, when the time came for the payment of the purchase money, invited her to stay with him in Paris pending the transfer. While she was still his guest, he poisoned first her and then her son, a youth of sixteen. Then, having forged a receipt for the purchase money, he endeavoured to obtain possession of the property. But by this time the disappearance of Madame de la Mothe and her son had aroused suspicion. Desrues was arrested, the bodies of his victims were discovered, and the crime was brought home to him. He was tried, found guilty and condemned to be torn asunder alive and burned. The sentence was carried out (1777), Desrues repeating hypocritical protestations of his innocence to the last. The whole affair created a great sensation at the time, and as late as 1828 a dramatic version of it was performed in Paris.
DESSAIX, JOSEPH MARIE, Count (1764–1834), French general, was born at Thonon in Savoy on the 24th of September 1764. He studied medicine, took his degree at Turin, and then went to Paris, where in 1789 he joined the National Guard. In 1791 he tried without success to raise an émeute in Savoy, in 1792 he organized the “Legion of the Allobroges,” and in the following years he served at the siege of Toulon, in the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, and in the Army of Italy. He was captured at Rivoli, but was soon exchanged. In the spring of 1798 Dessaix was elected a member of the Council of Five Hundred. He was one of the few in that body who opposed the coup d’état of the 18th Brumaire (November 9, 1799). In 1803 he was promoted general of brigade, and soon afterwards commander of the Legion of Honour. He distinguished himself greatly at the battle of Wagram (1809), and was about this time promoted general of division and named grand officer of the Legion of Honour, and in 1810 was made a count. He took part in the expedition to Russia, and was twice wounded. For several months he was commandant of Berlin, and afterwards delivered the department of Mont Blanc from the Austrians. After the first restoration Dessaix held a command under the Bourbons. He nevertheless joined Napoleon in the Hundred Days, and in 1816 he was imprisoned for five months. The rest of his life was spent in retirement. He died on the 26th of October 1834.
See Le Général Dessaix, sa vie politique et militaire, by his nephew Joseph Dessaix (Paris, 1879).
DESSAU, a town of Germany, capital of the duchy of Anhalt, on the left bank of the Mulde, 2 m. from its confluence with the
