DUNS, SCOTUS JOHANNES (1265?-1308?).--Schoolman. The dates of his birth and death and the place of his birth are alike doubtful. He may have been at Oxf., is said to have been a regent or prof. at Paris, and was a Franciscan. He was a man of extraordinary learning, and received the sobriquet of Doctor Subtilis. Among his many works on logic and theology are a philosophic grammar, and a work on metaphysics, _De Rerum Principio_ (of the beginning of things). His great opponent was Thomas Aquinas, and schoolmen of the day were divided into Scotists and Thomists, or realists and nominalists. D'URFEY, THOMAS (1653-1723).--Dramatist and song-writer, was a well-known man-about-town, a companion of Charles II., and lived on to the reign of George I. His plays are now forgotten, and he is best known in connection with a collection of songs entitled, _Pills to Purge Melancholy_. Addison describes him as a "diverting companion," and "a cheerful, honest, good-natured man." His writings are nevertheless extremely gross. His plays include _Siege of Memphis_ (1676), _Madame Fickle_ (1677), _Virtuous Wife_ (1680), and _The Campaigners_ (1698). DWIGHT, TIMOTHY (1752-1817).--Theologian and poet, _b._ at Northampton, Mass., was a grandson of Jonathan Edwards, became a Congregationalist minister, Prof. of Divinity, and latterly Pres. of Yale. His works include, besides theological treatises and sermons, the following poems, _America_ (1772), _The Conquest of Canaan_ (1785), and _The Triumph of Infidelity_, a satire, admired in their day, but now unreadable. DYCE, ALEXANDER (1798-1869).--Scholar and critic, _s._ of Lieut.-General Alexander D., was _b._ in Edin., and _ed._ there and at Oxf. He took orders, and for a short time served in two country curacies. Then, leaving the Church and settling in London, he betook himself to his life-work of ed. the English dramatists. His first work, _Specimens of British Poetesses_, appeared in 1825; and thereafter at various intervals ed. of Collins's _Poems_, and the dramatic works of _Peele, Middleton, Beaumont and Fletcher, Marlowe, Greene, Webster_, and others. His great ed. of _Shakespeare_ in 9 vols. appeared in 1857. He also ed. various works for the Camden Society, and _pub._ _Table Talk of Samuel Rogers_. All D.'s work is marked by varied and accurate learning, minute research, and solid judgment. DYER, SIR EDWARD (1545?-1607).--Poet, _b._ at Sharpham Park, Somerset, and _ed._ at Oxf., was introduced to the Court by the Earl of Leicester, and sent on a mission to Denmark, 1589. He was in 1596 made Chancellor of the Order of the Garter, and knighted. In his own day he had a reputation for his elegies among such judges as Sidney and Puttenham. For a long time there was doubt as to what poems were to be attributed to him, but about a dozen pieces have now been apparently identified as his. The best known is that on contentment beginning, "My mind to me a kingdom is."