Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 8, DIA-England

94 DDL
Dole than he could have executed in as many months. His works
1) llond are conse(luent,y not numerous. He generally painted in
<- a sma^ size» although there are a few pictures by him as
large as life. He died at Florence in 1686, leaving a
daughter, Agnese, who also painted historical pieces, and
arrived at some degree of excellence in copying the works
of her father.
Carlo Dolci holds the same rank in the Florentine that
Sassoferrato does in the Roman school. Without the
possession of much genius or invention, both these artists
produced pleasing and highly-finished pictures. The
works of Dolci are easily distinguishable by the delicacy of
the composition, and by an agreeable tint of colour, im¬
proved by j udicious management of the chiaro-oscuro, which
give his figures a surprising relief. “ His pencil,” says
Pilkington, “ was tender, his touch inexpressibly neat,
and his colouring transparent; though he has often been
censured for the excessive labour bestowed on his pic¬
tures, and also for giving his carnations more of the ap¬
pearance of ivory than the look of flesh.” All his best pro¬
ductions are of a devout description, and most frequently
represent the patient suffering of Christ, or the sorrows
of the Mater Dolorosa. In these the heads are marked
with calm, intellectual beauty, and pathetic emotion, and
are peculiarly expressive of pure and tranquil devotion.
They are full of sensibility, and yet all unstained by
earthly passion. There is, we allow, a want of character
and deep shadowing in his pictures, but the colouring and
general tone accord with the idea of the passion pour-
trayed ; nothing is turgid or bold, harsh or obtrusive ; all
is modesty, repose, and placid harmony. The best works
of this master are the “ St Sebastianthe “ Four Evan¬
gelists,” at Florence ; “ Christ breaking the Bread,” in the
Marquis of Exeter’s collection at Burleigh; and several
smaller pictures, which are highly valued, and occupy
honourable places in the richest galleries. (z. z.)
DOLE, in the Saxon and British tongue, signified a
part or portion most commonly of a meadow where several
persons had shares. It also still signifies a distribution or
dealing of alms, or a liberal gift made by a great man to
the people.
Dole, an arrondissement in the department of Jura, in
France, extending over 470 square miles. It is divided
into nine cantons, and these into 155 communes, contain¬
ing 65,380 inhabitants. The chief place, a city of the
same name, is in a fine situation on the river Doubs, which
winds its way through beautiful meadows. In the neigh¬
bourhood are many Roman antiquities, especially of roads
and aqueducts. The canal for uniting the Doubs with the
Rhone, projected by Bonaparte, commences at this city.
It contains 1350 houses, and 8235 inhabitants. It is in
long. 5. 25. 1. E. and lat. 47. 2. 45. N.
Dole, in Scotch Law, from the Latin dolus, signifies a
malevolent intention. It is essential in every crime, that
it be committed intentionally, or by an act of the will;
and hence the rule, Crimen dolo contrahitur.
DOLIAH, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Guje-
rat, thirty-three miles north-east from Cambay, possessed
by independent chiefs. Long. 72. 26. E. Lat. 22. 47. N.
DOLLAR, or Thaller, a silver coin nearly of the value
of the Spanish piece of eight, or French crown. Dollars
are coined in different parts of Germany and Holland,
and have their diminutions, as semi-dollars, quarter-dol-
lars, and the like. See Money.
DOLLOND, John, a practical and theoretical opti¬
cian of the highest celebrity, the discoverer of the laws
of the dispersion of light, and inventor of the achromatic
telescope, descended from a family of French refugees, was
born in London on the 10th June 1706.
His first destination was the manufactory which afforded
D O L
employment to the greater part of the French colony es- Doll
tablished in Spittalfields, and he passed some of his ear- ;
Her years in the mechanical labour of a silk-weaver. He
was, however, always attached to the mathematics and to
natural philosophy, and he even extended his studies to
the outlines of anatomy and of scholastic divinity; and in
the pursuit of these objects he found himself obliged to
acquire a competent knowledge of the Latin and Greek
languages, a task which was much facilitated to him by
the possession of a memory no less retentive than his
observation was accurate and his reasoning correct. He
married early, and he continued in his first occupation
till he had established his eldest son, Peter Dollond, who
inherited his own tastes as an optical instrument maker;
and the success of the undertaking was such as to induce
him, in 1752, to leave his own business, and to enter into
partnership with his son in Vine Court.
These arrangements having taken place, it was not long
before Mr Dollond communicated to the Royal Society
some of the results of the application of his inventive
powers to his new pursuits; and Mr Short, who then en¬
joyed the highest reputation as an optician, paid him the
compliment of bringing them forward to the Society under
the auspices of his name.
1. A Letter to Mr James Short, F. R. S. concerning an
Improvement of Refracting Telescopes. Phil. Trans. 1753,
p. 103. The author here describes a telescope with six
glasses, as calculated for correcting, either wholly or in
great measure, the errors of refraction arising from the dis¬
persion of the different colours, as well as from the sphe¬
rical form of the surfaces of the eye-glasses; appealing to
the superiority of the telescopes which he had thus con¬
structed, to those which had before been in use; but he*
reserves a more ample detail of the theory for a future oc¬
casion, which, however, does not appear to have presented
itself, the improvement having been superseded by others
incomparably more important.
2. A Letter to James Short, A. M. F. R. S. concerning
a Mistake in Mr Euler s Theorem for correcting the Aberra-
tion in the Object Glasses of Refracting Telescopes; read
23d November 1752; together with an introductory letter
of Mr Short, in which Euler’s calculations are somewhat
too categorically condemned, and with Euler’s answers to
Short and Dollond. Phil. Trans. 1753, p. 287. It is re¬
markable with what profound respect the experiments
of Newton are treated in Mr Dollond’s letter: “ It is
somewhat strange,” he says, “ that any body now-a-days
should attempt to do that which so long ago has been de¬
monstrated impossible.” But although the investigation
of truth was perhaps in this instance retarded, yet its ulti¬
mate discovery was not prevented by a just deference to
a high authority. Euler was, however, certainly right in
considering the law which he had assumed as sufficiently
compatible with the results of Newton’s experiments;
although he was much mistaken in his conjectures respect¬
ing the achromatic properties of the eye.
3. A Description of a Contrivance for Measuring Small
Angles. Phil. Trans. 1753, p. 178. This apparatus consists
of a divided object-glass, with a scale for determining the
distance of the images, by measuring the linear displace¬
ment of the two portions of the glass, which subtends the
same angle from the focus of parallel rays, as the actual
distance of the images does from the object-glass. The
apparatus is recommended as particularly calculated to be
applied to a reflecting telescope, and was afterwards adapt¬
ed by Mr Peter Dollond to the improved achromatic
telescopes. Mr Savery and Mr Bouguer had before used
two separate lenses in a manner nearly similar; but the
employment of a single glass divided affords a much more
convenient arrangement.