D'OVIDIO, Francesco, Italian philologist and critic: b. 1849. In 1876 he be came professor of Romance philology at the University of Naples. With Ascoli and D'An cona he holds a prominent place in the develop ment of philological science and in the criticism of literature from the historical viewpoint.
DOW, or DOUW, Gerard, Dutch painter: b. Leyden, 7 April 1613; d. there, February 1675. He studied under Rembrandt and was distin guished for the excellence of his coloring and chiaroscuro. He surpassed his master in diligence and nothing can be more finished than his small pieces, which are so delicate that a magnifying glass is necessary to see distinctly the work in them. His softest figures are full of life and he never neglected, in his representations, the almost invisible minutiae of nature. He is re garded as the inventor of the ingenious mode of painting large pictures on a reduced scale, by covering the original with a frame, including a space divided into small quadrangular parts by means of threads and then transferring the parts into an equal number of similar divisions drawn on the canvas. He made use of the convex mirror to represent objects on a reduced scale. Among his best paintings are (The Even ing School,' a fine study in candle-light effect, now in the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam; (Young Mother,' at The Hague; the and the at Dresden. He numbers among his pupils Gabriel Metsu, Franz van Mieris, Schalken and Van Slingeland. Consult Van Dyke, (Old Dutch and Flemish Masters) (New York 1895).
DOW, Lorenzo, American preacher: b. Coventry, Conn., 16 Oct. 1777; d. Georgetown, D. C , 2 Feb. 1834. Adopting the doctrines of the Methodists, 1796, he finally received a regu lar license to preach, and, in spite of contumely and rebuffs and ceaseless hardships and dangers of all kinds, persevered for nearly 40 years, with an enthusiasm which never relaxed and often with astonishing effect. In the course of
his ministry he traveled over many parts of the United States and Canada, and in 1799 and again in 1805 visited England and Ireland, where his peculiar eloquence attracted much at tention and on several occasions subjected him to persecution. Dow's eccentricity of manner and dress for a long time excited a prejudice against him, and in many parts of the country he was familiarly known as "crazy Dow." But to the class whom he most frequently addressed, his simple fervor, though coupled with illiterate phraseology, supplied the place of eloquence, and he seldom failed of having attentive hear ers. His journal, containing the history of his life to his 40th year, together with some of his miscellaneous writings, was published in 1856. His wife was Peggy Dow, who was likewise well known for her religious eccentricities.
DOW, Neal, American temperance re former: b. Portland, Me., 20 March 1804; d. 2 Oct. 1897. He was the author of the bill which prohibited the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors in the State of Maine, widely known as the "Maine Law?' During the Civil War he was colonel of a Maine regiment and a brigadier-general of volunteers. In 1880 he was the Prohibitionist candidate for the Presidency and lectured widely on the subject.