His dramas, which in bulk are the greatest part of his work, add almost nothing to his fame; in them he was meeting a public demand, not following the native bent of his genius. In his satires, and in such poems as _Alexander's Feast_, he rises to the highest point of his powers in a verse swift and heart-stirring. In prose his style is clear, strong, and nervous. He seems to have been almost insensible to the beauty of Nature. SUMMARY.--_B._ 1631, _ed._ Westminster and Camb., became prolific playwright, _pub._ _Annus Mirabilis_ _c._ 1666, Poet Laureate 1667, _pub._ _Absalom and Achitophel_ (part 1) 1681, _Medal_ 1682, _MacFlecknoe_ 1682, _Religio Laici_ 1683, joined Church of Rome 1686, _pub._ _Hind and Panther_ 1687, deprived of offices and pensions at Revolution 1688, _pub._ translations including "Virgil" 1697, _St. Cecilia's Day_ and _Alexander's Feast_ _c._ 1697, and _Fables_ 1700, when he _d._ Sir W. Scott's ed. with _Life_ 1808, re-edited in 18 vols. by Prof. Saintsbury (1883-93); Aldine ed. (5 vols., 1892), Johnson's _Lives of the Poets_, etc. DUFF, SIR MOUNTSTUART E. GRANT (1829-1906).--Miscellaneous writer, was M.P. for the Elgin Burghs, and Lieut.-Governor of Madras. He _pub._ _Studies of European Politics_, books on Sir H. Maine, Lord de Tabley, and Renan, and a series of _Notes from a Diary_, perhaps his most interesting work. DUFFERIN, HELEN SELENA (SHERIDAN), COUNTESS OF (1807-1867).--Eldest _dau._ of Tom S., grand-daughter of Richard Brinsley S. (_q.v._), and sister of Mrs. Norton (_q.v._). She and her two sisters were known as "the three Graces," the third being the Duchess of Somerset. She shared in the family talent, and wrote a good deal of verse, her best known piece being perhaps _The Lament of the Irish Emigrant_, beginning "I'm sittin' on the stile, Mary." She also wrote _Lispings from Low Latitudes, or Extracts from the Journal of the Hon. Impulsia Gushington_, _Finesse, or a Busy Day at Messina_, etc. DUFFY, SIR CHARLES GAVAN (1816-1903).--Poet, _b._ in Monaghan, early took to journalism, and became one of the founders of the _Nature_ newspaper, and one of the leaders of the Young Ireland movement. Thereafter he went to Australia, where he became a leading politician, and rose to be Premier of Victoria. His later years were spent chiefly on the Continent. He did much to stimulate in Ireland a taste for the national history and literature, started _The Library of Ireland_, and made a collection, _The Ballad Poetry of Ireland_, which was a great success. He also _pub._ an autobiography, _My Life in Two Hemispheres_.