and in 1868 transformed into a court-house, Alexander's Church, with the ducal burial-place, and the church which was built by Charles XL of Sweden. The industry of the inhabitants is mainly devoted to the manufacture of cotton, silk-plush, tobacco, and oil. Population in 1875, 9349. Deux Fonts, which derives its name from the two bridges over the Erbach, was before 1394 the seat of an imperial countship. On the partition of the Palatinate, with which it had been incorporated, it became in 1410 an independent duchy, which in 1654 furnished a king to Sweden in the person of Charles Gustavus. The death of Charles XII. in 1718 broke its connection with the Swedish crown ; and the extinction of the Kleuburg line, to which it was next transmitted, passed it on to the present ruling family of Bavaria. In literary history it is interesting as the place where the Bipontine editions of the Greek, Latin, and French classics were published by a learned society in the latter part of the 18th century. See J. C. Crollius, Origines Bipontince, 1761-1769 ; Lehmann, Voll- stdndiye Gfeschichte des Herzogthums Zweibriicken, Munich, 1867.
DEVAPRAYAGA, a town of British India, in the pre
sidency of Bengal and province of Gurhwal, in 30 9 N.
lat. and 78 39 E. long. It is one of the five sacred towns of
the Hindus, a pre-eminence which it owes to its position
at the confluence of the Alakananda arid the Bhagirathi,
whose united waters constitute the Ganges proper. It
stands at an elevation of 2266 feet above the sea.
DEVELOPMENT. See Embryology and Evolution.
DEVENTER, or, by corruption, DEMTER, a town of
Holland, in the province of Overyssel, about 25 miles
north of Arnheim, on the right bank of the Yssel, which
there receives the waters of the Schipbeek, and is crossed
by a bridge of boats. It is a clean, prosperous place, and
at the same time preserves a large number of ancient
buildings as well as its fortifications. Of special interest
are the Protestant church of St Leivin, which dates
from 1334, occupies the site of an older structure of
the llth century, and possesses some fine stained glass ;
the Roman Catholic Broerekerk, with three ancient gospels ;
the Bergkerk, which belonged to the Premonstratensians ;
the town-hall, built in 1693, containing a remarkable
painting by Terburg, who was for some time burgomaster
of the town ; and the weigh-house, which dates from 1528.
There are also cavalry-barracks, an arsenal, a court-house,
a hospital, and a lunatic asylum ; while among the
scientific and educational institutions, an observatory, a
gymnasium, and a high school may be mentioned. The
last, known as the " Athenaeum" down to 1864, dates from
1830, and has a library of 6000 volumes, inclusive of a
number of Oriental MSS., several incunabula, and a 13th
century copy of Reynard the Fox. The archives of the
town are of considerable value from the fact that it was
the chief town of a province. Besides a good agricultural
trade, the inhabitants carry on the weaving of carpets,
woollens, and silks, cotton-printing, and iron-founding ; and
their honey-cakes are exported in large quantities to all
parts of the Netherlands. Population in 1869, 17,983.
Deventer is mentioned in 778 in connection with a Saxon
inroad, but its importance only dates from the llth century.
In 1123 it was relieved by the emperor Henry V. from an
investment by the duke of Saxony and the bishop of Munster.
To Queen Eleanor of England it was indebted for the monastery
of the Recollets, and in 1356 she breathed her last within its
walls. During the War of Independence it was treacherously sur
rendered to the Spaniards by Edward Stanley, an Englishman,
but was recaptured in 1591 by Prince Maurice of Orange. Its
bishopric, which had been established only in 1559, was then
abolished ; and in the following year it was found necessary to
destroy its wooden bridge over the Yssel. In 1813 it was in
vested by the Allies ; and iu 1814 the French withdrew in terms
of the peace.
DEVEREUX. See Essex, Earls of.
DE VIGNY, Alfred Victor, Count (1797-1863), a
distinguished French poet and novelist, was born at
Loches, in Touraine, March 27, 1797 (or 1799). His
father, a man of noble descent, was a cavalry officer, who
had served with distinction in the Seven Years War. Ilia
mother was the daughter of an admiral. Tales of military
achievements and traditions of the ancien regime were
familiar to him in his childhood, and furnished the most
powerful influences towards the formation of his character
and the direction of his early ambition. He received his
education at Paris, at the school of M. Hix ; but, his
royalist sympathies being threatened by the prevailing
admiration for the empire, he was removed and placed
under a private tutor. After the first restoration of the
Bourbons he was admitted, at the age of sixteen, into the
musqueteers of the royal household, and in this capacity
he accompanied the royal family to Ghent in 1815. In
the following year, on the suppression of the musqueteers,
he passed into the royal guard. He remained in the army
about thirteen years, and attained the rank of captain, but
without seeing active service ; and, wearied with the
dulness of the life which he had desired, resigned his com
mission in 1827. He had not long before married a rich
English lady. The leisure of his soldier-life had not been
wasted. Not only was he gaining knowledge by observa
tion of men and experience of life, but he meditated much,
and, as he says, had all his works in his head, " ils
marchaient avec moi . . . et quand on m arre tait, j ecrivais."
His first publication was a volume of poems, which appeared
in 1822. Some of these had already been published in
periodicals ; and he was therefore starting on his poetical
career about the same time that Victor Hugo was writing
his earliest Odes and Lamartine his earliest Meditations.
Two years later (1824) he published the poem of loa, a
graceful embodiment of a delicate fancy. It is the story
of a bright creature, " sister of the angels," born of a tear
of the Saviour, and whose tender pity for the evil spirit
becomes the occasion of her own fall. This was followed
by several other poems, Le Deluge, Moise, Dolorida, &c.
In these later pieces De Vigny shows himself to have been
under the powerful influence of Victor Hugo. Hitherto,
however, notwithstanding the evident tokens of his genuine
inspiration as a poet, he had not attained general recogni
tion. This he first secured, won it even by storm, by the
publication, in 1826, of his historical romance, Cinq-Mars,
the story of a conspiracy under Louis XIII. This work
appeared one year before Manzoni s famous novel, 1
Promessi Sposi ; and both works were among the most
noteworthy productions of the school of Walter Scott,
whose Continental reputation was then at its height. Tha
book had an immense run, and passed through many edi
tions. In its pages the author shows himself qualified
to present in a masterly and truthful way the character
of an age, to draw vigorous portraits of great historical
figures, and to depict feeling with delicacy and simplicity.
It was about this time that De Vigny s friendship with
Lamartine began. He was now one of the recognized chiefs
of the new school, the Romantic, and one of the editors of
the Muse franq aise. In 1829 he produced a translation of
Othello, which was acted at the Theatre Frangais, but was
not very warmly received. His next dramatic attempt was
La Marechale d Ancre, performed at the Od6on in 1831.
It is characterized as a learned study of the period, wanting
the breath of life and the fire of poetic passion. These
qualities were present in superabundance in his next and
last dramatic work, Chatterton, produced in 1835.
Although faulty in construction, and better fitted for the
closet than for the stage, this powerful play has kept its
place in the theatrical repertory. De Vigny s remarkable
prose work, entitled Stello, ou les Diables bleus, appeared
in 1832. It consists of three biographical studies, the
subjects of which are three unfortunate poets, Gilbert,
Chatterton, and Andre Chtinier, whose fate is narrated to
Stello, an invalid poet, by a philosophical physician, le
