DIGBY, SIR KENELM (1603-1665).--Miscellaneous writer, _b._ near Newport Pagnell, _s._ of Sir Everard D., one of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, was _ed._ at Oxf., travelled much, and was engaged in sea-fighting. Brought up first as a Romanist, then as a Protestant, he in 1636 joined the Church of Rome. During the Civil War he was active on the side of the King, and on the fall of his cause was for a time banished. He was the author of several books on religious and quasi-scientific subjects, including one on the _Choice of a Religion_, on the _Immortality of the Soul_, _Observations on Spenser's Faery Queen_, and a criticism on Sir T. Browne's _Religio Medici_. He also wrote a _Discourse on Vegetation_, and one _On the Cure of Wounds_ by means of a sympathetic powder which he imagined he had discovered. DILKE, CHARLES WENTWORTH (1789-1864).--Critic and writer on literature, served for many years in the Navy Pay-Office, on retiring from which he devoted himself to literary pursuits. He had in 1814-16 made a continuation of Dodsley's _Collection of English Plays_, and in 1829 he became part proprietor and ed. of _The Athenæum_, the influence of which he greatly extended. In 1846 he resigned the editorship, and assumed that of _The Daily News_, but contributed to _The Athenæum_ his famous papers on _Pope_, _Burke_, _Junius_, etc., and shed much new light on his subjects. His grandson, the present Sir C.W. Dilke, _pub._ these writings in 1875 under the title, _Papers of a Critic_. DISRAELI, B., (_see_ BEACONSFIELD). D'ISRAELI, ISAAC (1766-1848).--Miscellaneous writer, was descended from a Jewish family which had been settled first in Spain, and afterwards at Venice. _Ed._ at Amsterdam and Leyden, he devoted himself to literature, producing a number of interesting works of considerable value, including _Curiosities of Literature_, in 3 series (1791-1823), _Dissertation on Anecdotes_ (1793), _Calamities of Authors_ (1812), _Amenities of Literature_ (1841); also works dealing with the lives of James I. and Charles I.D. was latterly blind. He was the _f._ of Benjamin D., Earl of Beaconsfield (_q.v._). DIXON, RICHARD WATSON (1833-1900).--Historian and poet, _s._ of Dr. James D., a well-known Wesleyan minister and historian of Methodism, _ed._ at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Oxf., took Anglican orders, was Second Master at Carlisle School, Vicar of Hayton and Warkworth, and Canon of Carlisle. He _pub._ 7 vols. of poetry, but is best known for his _History of the Church of England from the Abolition of Roman Jurisdiction_ (1877-1900).