DOBREE

dobree, peter paul (1782-1825), english classical scholar and critic, was born in guernsey. he was educated at reading school under richard valpy and at trinity college, cambridge, where he was elected fellow. he was appointed regius professor of greek in 1823, and died in cambridge on the 24th of september 1825. he was an intimate friend of porson, whom he took as his model in textual criticism, although he showed less caution in conjectural emendation. after porson's death (1808) dobree was commissioned with monk and blomfield to edit his literary remains, which had been bequeathed to trinity college. illness and a subsequent journey to spain delayed the work until 1820, when dobree brought out the _plutus_ of aristophanes (with his own and porson's notes) and all porson's _aristophanica_. two years later he published the _lexicon_ of photius from porson's transcript of the gale ms. in trinity college library, to which he appended a _lexicon rhetoricum_ from the margin of a cambridge ms. of harpocration. james scholefield, his successor in the greek professorship, brought out selections from his notes (_adversaria_, 1831-1833) on greek and latin authors (especially the orators), and a reprint of the _lexicon rhetoricum_, together with notes on inscriptions (1834-1835). the latest edition of the _adversaria_ is by william wagner (in bohn's _collegiate series_, 1883). an appreciative estimate of dobree as a scholar will be found in j. bake's _scholica hypomnemata_, ii. (1839) and in the _philological museum_, i. (1832) by j. c. hare. dobrentei, gabor [gabriel] (1786-1851), hungarian philologist and antiquary, was born at nagyszollos in 1786. he completed his studies at the universities of wittenberg and leipzig, and was afterwards engaged as a tutor in transylvania. at this period he originated and edited the _erdelyi muzeum_, which, notwithstanding its important influence on the development of the magyar language and literature, soon failed for want of support. in 1820 dobrentei settled at pest, and there he spent the rest of his life. he held various official posts, but continued zealously to pursue the studies for which he had early shown a strong preference. his great work is the _ancient monuments of the magyar language_ (_regi magyar nyelvemlekek_), the editing of which was entrusted to him by the hungarian academy. the first volume was published in 1838 and the fifth was in course of preparation at the time of his death. dobrentei was one of the twenty-two scholars appointed in 1825 to plan and organize, under the presidency of count teleki, the hungarian academy. in addition to his great work he wrote many valuable papers on historical and philological subjects, and many biographical notices of eminent hungarians. these appeared in the hungarian translation of brockhaus's _conversations-lexikon_. he translated into hungarian _macbeth_ and other plays of shakespeare, sterne's letters from yorick to eliza (1828), several of schiller's tragedies, and moliere's _avare_, and wrote several original poems. dobrentei does not appear to have taken any part in the revolutionary movement of 1848. he died at his country house, near pest, on the 28th of march 1851.