Royal Society, to which he communicated his discoveries in electro-magnetism.  In addition to his scientific writings, which include Elements of Agricultural Chemistry (1813), and Chemical Agencies of Electricity, he wrote Salmonia, or Days of Fly Fishing (1828), somewhat modelled upon Walton, and Consolations in Travel (1830), dialogues on ethical and religious questions.  D. sustained an apoplectic seizure in 1826, after which his health was much impaired, and after twice wintering in Italy, he d. at Geneva, where he received a public funeral.  Though not attached to any Church, D. was a sincerely religious man, strongly opposed to materialism and scepticism.  He holds a foremost place among scientific discoverers.

DAY, JOHN (b. 1574).—­Dramatist, s. of a Norfolk yeoman, was at Camb., 1592-3.  It is only since 1881 that his works have been identified.  He collaborated with Dekker and others in plays, and was the author of The Isle of Gulls (1606), Law Trickes (1608), and Humour out of Breath (1608), also of an allegorical masque, The Parliament of Bees.

DAY, THOMAS (1748-1789).—­Miscellaneous writer, was b. in London, ed. at the Charterhouse and at Oxf., and called to the Bar 1775, but having inherited in infancy an independence, he did not practise.  He became a disciple of Rousseau in his social views, and endeavoured to put them in practice in combination with better morality.  He was a benevolent eccentric, and used his income, which was increased by his marriage with an heiress, in schemes of social reform as he understood it.  He is chiefly remembered as the author of the once universally-read History of Sandford and Merton.

DEFOE, DANIEL (1661?-1731).—­Journalist and novelist, s. of a butcher in St. Giles, where he was b. His f. being a Dissenter, he was ed. at a Dissenting coll. at Newington with the view of becoming a Presbyterian minister.  He joined the army of Monmouth, and on its defeat was fortunate enough to escape punishment.  In 1688 he joined William III.  Before settling down to his career as a political writer, D. had been engaged in various enterprises as a hosier, a merchant-adventurer to Spain and Portugal, and a brickmaker, all of which proved so unsuccessful that he had to fly from his creditors.  Having become known to the government as an effective writer, and employed by them, he was appointed Accountant in the Glass-Duty Office, 1659-1699.  Among his more important political writings are an Essay on Projects (1698), and The True-born Englishman (1701), which had a remarkable success.  In 1702 appeared The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, written in a strain of grave irony which was, unfortunately for the author, misunderstood, and led to his being fined, imprisoned, and put in the pillory, which suggested his Hymns to the Pillory (1704).  Notwithstanding