DUPERREY, Louis Isidore (1786-1865), a French navigator and scientific investigator, was born at Paris, entered the navy in 1803, took part in the military operations of 1809 at Brest and Rochefort, and assisted in the hydrographical survey of the coast of Tuscany carried on during that and the following year. From 1817 to 1820 he served under Freycinet in his great voyage round the world, being intrusted with the hydrographic operations on board the “Urania;” and he contributed largely to the preservation of the crew and the scientific collections when his vessel was wrecked at the Malouin Islands. In 1822 he attained the rank of lieutenant, and was intrusted with the command of the “Coquille,” which during the next three years was engaged in scientific explorations in the South Pacific and along the coasts of South America. From this voyage he brought back not only great additions to cartography and important data in regard to the currents of the Pacific, but also numerous pendulum observations, serving to determine the magnetic equator, and to prove the equality of the flattening of the two hemispheres. During the reet of his life he devoted himself mainly to the investigation of terrestrial magnetism; and the value of his labours was recognized by his admission into the Académie des Sciences in 1842. He died in August 1865.

The following are his principal works :—The Partie historique, the Hydrographie, and the Physique of the Voyage autour du Monde sur la Coquille, Paris 1826-1830; and extensive contributions to Becquerel’s Traite de Γ Electricité.

DUPERRON, Jacques Davy (1556-1618), a celebrated French cardinal, was born at St Lô, in Normandy, November 15, 1556. His father was educated fora physician, but on embracing the doctrines of the Reformation became a Protestant minister, and to escape persecution settled at Bern, in Switzerland. Here Jacques Davy received his education, being taught Latin and mathematics by his father, and learning without the aid of any one Greek and Hebrew and the philosophy which was then in vogue. At twenty years of a^o he came to Paris, and was presented to the king by the count of Matignon; and, after he had abjured Protestantism, being again presented by Philip Desportes, abbot of Tiron, as a young man without equal for knowledge and talent, he was appointed reader to the king. He was commanded to preach before the king at the convent of Vincennes, when the success of his sermon on the love of God, and of a funeral oration on the poet Ronsard, induced him to take orders. On the death of Mary Queen of Scots he was chosen to pronounce her eulogy, which, though it contained an attack on Elizabeth of England that the king thought it prudent to disavow, tended to advance both the ecclesiastic’s fame and fortune. When the Cardinal de Bourbon, at the end of Henry III.’s reign, plotted to secure to himself the throne to the prejudice of Henry IV., Duperron is accused of having joined in the plot and revealed to Henry TV. its secrets. However that may be, when the plot failed, and Henry IV. mounted the throne, Duperron enjoyed the favour of that monarch, and in 1591 was created by him bishop of Evreux. He converted Henry to the Catholic religion; and, after the taking of Paris, accompanied the Cardinal d’Ossat to Rome to obtain the removal of the interdict which had been passed upon ...

DUPIN, André Marie Jean Jacques (1783-1865), commonly called Dupin the Elder, a celebrated French advocate, president of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Legislative Assembly, was born at Varzy, in Nièvre, on the 1st February 1783. He was educated by his father, who was a lawyer of eminence, and at an early age he became principal clerk of an attorney at Paris. On the establishment of the Academie de Legislation he entered it as pupil from Nièvre. In 1800 he was made advocate, and in 1802, when the schools of law were opened, he received successively the degrees of licentiate and doctor from the new faculty. He was in 1810 an unsuccessful candidate for the chair of law at Paris, and in 1811 he also failed to obtain the office of advocate-general at the court of cassation. About this time he was added to the commission charged with the classification of the laws of the empire, and, after the interruption caused by the events of 1814 and 1815, was charged with the sole care of that great work. When he entered the Chamber of Deputies in 1815 he at once took an active part in the debates, and strenuously opposed the election of the son of Napoleon as emperor after his father’s abdication. At the election after the second restoration Dupin was not re-elected. He defended with great intrepidity the principal political victims of the reaction, among others, in conjunction with Berryer, Marshal Ney; and in October 1815 boldly published a tractate entitled Libre Défense des Accuses. In 1827 he was again elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies, and in 1830 took part in counselling the revolution, and in exhorting the citizens to resistance. In August of that year he became a member of Louis Philippe’s cabinet, and more than any one else contributed to the formation ...

DUPLEIX, Joseph, governor-general of the French establishments in India, was born about the close of the 17 th century. The son of a rich farmer-general, he was carefully educated, made several voyages to America and India, and in 1720 was named a member of the superior council at Pondicherry. He displayed great business aptitude, and, in addition to his official duties, made large ventures on his own account, and acquired a fortune. In 1730 he was made superintendent of French affairs in Chandernagore, the town prospering under his energetic administration and growing into great importance. His reputation procured him in 1742 the appointment of governor-general of all French establishments in India. His ambition now was to acquire for France vast territories in India; and for this purpose he entered into relations with the native princes, and adopted a style of Oriental gorgeousness in his dress and surroundings. The English took the alarm. But the danger to their settlements and power was partly averted by the bitter mutual jealousy which existed between Dupleix and La Bourdonnais, French governor of the Isle of Bourbon. W r hen Madras capitulated to the French in 1746, Dupleix opposed the restoration of the town to the English, thus violating the treaty signed by La Bourdonnais. He then sent an expedition against Fort St David (1747), which was defeated on its march by the nabob of Arcot, the ally of the English. Dupleix succeeded in gaining over the nabob, and again attempted the capture of Fort St David, but unsuccessfully. A midnight attack on Cuddalore was repulsed with great loss. In 1748 Pondicherry was besieged by the English; but in the course of the operations news arrived of the peace concluded between the French and the English at Aix-la-Chapelle. Dupleix ...