Encyclopaedia Britannica [4, 2 ed.]

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Encyclopedia Britannica; Or,

A

DICTIONARY O F

ARTS,

SCIENCES, &c.

On a Plan entirely New: By

THE

DIFFERENT

Which,

SCIENCES

AND ARTS

Are digefted into the Form of Diftindb

TREATISES

or

SYSTEMS,

COMPREHENDING

The History, Theory, and Practice, of each, according to the Lateft Difcoveries and Improvements; and full EXPLANATIONS given of the

VARIOUS DETACHED PARTS OF KNOWLEDGE, WHETHER RELATING TO

Natural and Artificial Obje&s, or to Matters Ecclesiastical, Civil, Military, Commercial, &c. TOGETHER WITH A Description of all the Countries, Cities, principal Mountains, Seas, Rivers, rt °r Dace. DARIEN, or the Ifthmus of Panama, is a province between South andNortli America, being a narrow ifthmus, or neck of land, which joins them together. It is bounded on the north by the North Sea, on the fonth by the South Sea, on the eaft by the gulph or river of Darien, and on the weft by another part of the South Sea and the province of Veragua. It lies in the form of a bow, or crefcent, about the great bay of Panama, in the South Sea; and is 300 miles in length, and 60 in breadth. This province is not the richeft, but is of the greateft importance to Spain, and has been the feene of more aftions than any other in America. The wealth of Peru is brought hither, and from hence ex«ported to EuropeThis has induced many enterpri¬ sing people to make attempts on Panama, Porto-Bel¬ lo, and other towns of this province, in hopes of ob¬ taining a rich booty. The Scotch got pofleffion of part of this province in 1699, and had laid the foundations of a new town, defigningto call it New Edinburgh ; but, as the Englifh were then in alliance with the Spaniards, king Wil¬ liam would not permit them to go on. However, this country is not a very defirable place to fettle in, it being generally mountainous and barren, as well as exceffive hot, and the lower grounds are liable to be fuddenly overflowed in the rainy feafon. Some of the mountains are fo high, and of fuch difficult accefs, that it requires feveral days to pafs them. It was from thefe mountains the Spaniards firft difeovered the South Sea, or Pacific Ocean, in 1513. DARII, in logic, one of the modes of fyllogifm of the firft figure, wherein the major propofition is an univerfal affirmative, and the minor and conclufion par¬ ticular affirmatives: thus, DaEvery thing that is moved, is moved by another; riSome body is moved; t. Therefore, fome body is moved by ano¬ ther. DARIUS, the name of feveral kings of Perfia. See {Hiflory of) Persia. % DARKING, a market-town of Surrey in England, fituated ten miles eaft of Guilford. The market is no¬ ted for corn and provi(ions, more efpecially for fowls. W. I ong. 8. 20. N. Lat. 51. 18. DARLINGTON, a town of the county of Dur¬ ham, fituated in a flat on the nver Skernc, which falls into the Tees. It is a pretty large place, has feveral ftreets and a fpacious market-place. W. Long. 1. 15. N. Lat. 54. 30. DARMSTADT, a town of Germany in the circle of the Upper Rhine, and capital of the Landgraviate of Hcfle-Darmftadt, with a handfome caftle, where its own prince generally refides. It is feated on a ri¬ ver of the fame name in E. Long. 8. 40. N. Lat. 49. JoDARNEL, in botany. See Lolium. DARNLEY (Lord). See (Hi/lory of) Scot¬ land. DARTFORD, a town of the county of Kent in England, feated on the river Darent not far from its 13 Y influx

DAS Dartmouth influx into the Thames. - PafypUS‘

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E. Long. o. 16. N. Lat. 51.

^DARTMOUTH, a fea-port town of Devonfhi're, feated on the river Dart, near its fall into the fea. It is a well frequented and populous place, having a Commodious harbour, and a confiderable trade by fea. The town is large and well built; but the ftreets are narrow and bad, though all paved. It has the title of an earldom, and fends two members to parliament. W. Long. 4. o. N. Lat. 50. 25. DARTOS, in anatomy, one of the coats which form the fcrotum. It is called the dartos mufcle ; but Dr Hunter fays, that nofuch mufcle can be found, and Albinus takes no notice of it in his tables. DASYPUS, the Armadillo or Tatou, in zoology; a genus of quadrupeds, belonging to the order of bruta. The dafypus has neither foreteeth nor dog¬ teeth ; it is covered with a hard bony (hell, interfered with diftinft moveable zones or belts : this (hell covers the head, the neck, the back, the flanks, and extends even to the extremity of the tail; the only parts to which it does not extend, are the throat, the breaft, and the belly, which are covered with a whitilh fkin of a coarfe grain, refembling that of a hen after the fea¬ thers are pulled off. The fliell does not confift of one entire piece, like that of the tortoife ; but is divided in¬ to feparate belts, connected to each other by mem¬ branes, which enable the animal to move it, and even to roll itfelf up like a hedge-hog. The number of thefe belts does not depend on the age of the animal, as fome have imagined ; but is uniformly the fame at all times, and ferve3 to diftinguiftl the different fpecies. All the fpecies of this animal were originally natives of America : they were entirely unknown to the ancients; and modern travellers mention them as peculiar to Mexico, Brafil, and the fouthern parts of America ; though fome indeed have confounded them with two fpecies of manis, or fliell-lizard, which are found in the Eaft Indies : others report that they are natives of Africa, becaufe fome of .them have been tranfported from Brafil to the coaft of Guinea, where a few have fince been propagated : but they were never heard of ill Europe, Afia or Africa, till after the difcovery of America.—They are all endowed with the faculty of extending and contra&ing their bodies, and of rolling themfelves up like a ball, but not into fo complete a fphere as the liedge-hog. They are very inoffenfive animals, excepting when they get into gardens, where they devour the melons, potatoes, and other roots. They walk quickly ; but can hardly be faid to run or leap, fo that they feldom efcape the purfuit either of men or dogs. But nature has not left them altogether defetiCelefs. They dig deep holes in the earth ; and feldom go very far from their fubterraneous habitations : upon any alarm, they immediately go into their holes; but, when at too great a diftance, they require but a few moments to make one. The hunters can hardly catch them by the tail before they fink their body in the ground ; where they flick fo clofe, that the tail fre¬ quently comes away and leaves the body in the earth; which obliges the hunters, when they want to take them alive and immutilated, to dilate the fides of the hole. When they are taken, and find that there is no refource, they inftantly roll themfelves up, and will not extend their bodies, unlefs they are held near a

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fire. When in deep holes, there is no other method of making them come out, but by forcing in fmoke or water. They keep in their holes through the day, and feldom go abroad in queft of fubfiftence but in the night. The hunters ufually chafe them with frnall dogs, which eafiiy come up with them. When the dogs are near, the creatures inftantly roll themfelves up, and in this condition the hunters carry them off. However, if they be near a precipice they often efcape both the dogs and hunters : they roll themfelves np, and tumble down like a ball, without breaking their fhell, or re¬ ceiving any injury. The dafypus is a very fruitful ani¬ mal : the female generally brings forth four young Ones every month; which is the reafon why the fpecies are fo numerous, notwithftanding they are fo much fought after on account of the fweetnefs of their fleih. The Indians likewife make bafkets, boxes, &c. of the fhells which cover their heads. Linnaeus enumerates fix fpecies of dafypus, prin¬ cipally diftinguilhed by the number of their moveable belts. See Plate LXXXVII. fig. 1. DATA, among mathematicians, a term for fuch things or quantities as are given or known, in order to find other things thereby that are unknown. Euclid ufes the WQrd data (of which he hath a particular trad) for fuch fpaces, lines, and angles as are given in magnitude, or to which we can aflign others equal. From the primary ufe of the word data in mathe¬ matics, it has been tranfplanted into other arts ; as philofophy, medicine, &c. where it expreffes any quantity, which, for the fake of a prefent calculation, is taken for granted to be fuch, without requiring an immediate proof for its certainty; called alfo the given quantity, number, or power. And hence alfo fuch things as are known, from whence either in natural philofophy, the animal mechaoifm, or the operation of medicines, wc come to the knowledge of others unknown, are now frequently in phyfical writers call¬ ed data. DATE, an addition or appendage in writings, ads, inftruments, letters, &c. exprefling the day and month of the year when the ad, or letter, was palled or figned ; together with the place where the fame was done. The word is formed from the Latin datum “ gi¬ ven,” the participle of do “ I give.” Date, the fruit of the phcenix or great palm-tree. This fruit is fomewhat in the lhape of an acorn. It is compofed of a thin, light, and gloffy mem¬ brane, fomewhat pellucid and yellowilh ; which con¬ tains a fine, foft,,and pulpy fruit, which is firm, fweet, and fomewhat vinous to the tafte, efculent, and wholefome ; and within this is inclofed a folid, tough, and hard kernel, of a pale grey colour on the outlide, and finely marbled within like the nutmeg.—For medicinal ufe, dates are to be chofen large, full, frelh, yellow on the furface, foft and tender, not too much wrinkled ; fuch as have a vinous tafte, and do not rattle when lhaken. They are produced in many parts of Europe* but never ripen perfectly there. The beft. are from Tunis : they are alfo very fine and good in Egypt, and in many parts of the eaft. Thofe of Spain and France look well; but are never perfeftly ripe, and are very fubjeft to decay. They are preferved three different ways: fome preffed and dry ; others preffed more mo¬ derately*

Data, Date-

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derately, and again tnoiftened with their own juice; and others not prelfed at all, but moiftened with the juice ' of other dates, as they are packed up, which is done in bafkets or in (kins. Thofe preferved in this laft way • are much the beft. Dates have always been efteemed moderately' ftrengthening and aftringent. DATI (Carlo), profeffor of polite learning at Flo¬ rence. His native country' became very famous, as well on account of his works, as of the eulogies which have been bellowed on him by learned men. The chief work to which Dati applied himfelf, was Della Pittura Antica, of which he publiflied an effay in the year 1667. He died in 1675, much lamented, as well for his humanity and amiable manners, as for his parts and learning. DATISI, in logic, a mode of fyllogifms in the third figure, wherein the major is an uuiverfal affirma¬ tive, and the minor and conclufion particular affirma¬ tive propofitions. For example, DaAll who ferve God are kings; tiSome who ferve God are poor; si Therefore, fome who are poor are kings. DATIVE, in grammar, the third cafe in the declenfion of nouns; expreffing the date or relation of a thing to whofe profit or lofs fome other thing is re¬ ferred. See Grammar. It is called dative, becaufe ufually governed by a verb implying fomething to be given to fome perfon. As, commodare Socrati, “ to lend to Socrates;” utilis reipublica, 11 ufeful to the commonwealth;” pernseiofus ecclefite, “ pernicious to the church. In Euglifii, where we have properly no cafes, this relation i3 exprefled by the fign to, or for. DATURA, the thorn-apple ; a genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the pentandria clafs of plants. There are fix fpecies. The ftramonium, or common thorn-apple, rifes a yard high, with an ere&, ftrong, round, hollow, green ftalk, branching luxu¬ riantly, having the branches widely extended on every fide; large, oval, irregularly-angulated, fmooth, darkgreen leaves ; and from the divilions of the branches, large white flowers lingly, fucceeded by large, oval, prickly capfules, growing ereft, commonly called thornapples. At night the upper leaves rife up and inclofe the flowers. The bloifoms have fometimes a tinge of purple or violet. The flowers confift of one large, funnel (haped petal, having a long tube, and fpreading pentagonal limb, fucceeded by large roundiih cap¬ fules of the fize of middling apples, clofely befet with fharp fpines. An ointment prepared from the leaves gives eafe in external inflammations and in the hasmorrhoids. The feeds were lately recommended by Dr Storck to be taken internally in cafes of madnefs ; but they feem to be a very unfafe remedy. Taken even in a fmall dcfe, they bring on a delirium, and in a large one would certainly prove fatal. Cows, horfes, ffieep, and goats, refufe to eat this plant. DATYL, in natural hiftory, a fort of Pholwis. DAUCUS, the Carrot ; a genus of the digynia order, belonging to the pentandria clafs of plants. There are five fpecies ; but the only one which merits attention is the carota, or common carrot. This is fo well known as to need no defcription. There are feveral varieties, as the white, the orange, and the purple carrot; but of thefe the orange carrot is the moft e-

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fteemed. It grows longer, larger, and is commonly Daueus, more handfome than the others, being often 15 sir 18 or Carrot. inches long in the eatable part, and from two to four in diameter at top. Carrots are propagated by feeds, which are fown at different feafous of the year, in or¬ der to procure a fupply of young roots for the table at all times. The feafon for flowing for the earlieft crop is foon after Chriilmas. They fhould be fown in an open fituation, but near a wall ; though if they are fown clofe under it they will be apt to run up to feed too faft, and give no good roots : about eight inches diftance is the moft proper. They delight in a warm fandy foil, which fhould be light, and well dug to a good depth, that the roots may meet with no obftruction in running down, fo as to make them forked, and fhoot out lateral branches. This will happen efpecially when the ground has been too much dunged the fame year that the feeds were fown, which will alfo occafion them to be worm-eaten. The hairynefs of thefe feeds makes the flowing of them difficult, on account of their being fo apt to flick together. Before fowing, therefore, they fhould be put through a fine chaff fieve ; and a calm day fhould be chofen for fowing them. When fown, they fhould be trod in with the feet, and the ground raked level over them. When they' firfl come up they fhould be cut up to four inches diftance, and a month after this they are to be cleared again ; and if drawn while young, they are now to be left at fix inches diftance every way : if they are to ftand to grow large, they mu ft be feparated to ten inches di¬ ftance. The fecond feafon for fowing carrots is in Fe¬ bruary. This muft be done under a wall or hedge, on warm banks : but thofe which are to be on open large quarters fhould not be fown till the beginning of March. In July, carrots may be fown for an autumnal crop ; and laftly, in the end of Auguft, for thofe which are to ftand the winter. Thefe laft will be fit for ufe in March, before any of the fpring ones; but they are feldom fo tender or well tafted. In order to preferve carrots for ufe all winter, they are to be dug up in the beginning of November, and laid in a dry place in fand ; and thefe roots being again planted in February, will ripen feeds in Auguft for fuceeeding crops: the longcft and ftraighteft roots are to be chofen for this purpofe. Under the article Agriculture, n° 44. we have taken notice of the good properties of carrots as a food for cattle. They have been greatly recommended as proper for fattening hogs ; but from fome experiments mentioned in the GeorgicalEffiays,\x. appears, that tho* the bacon thus fed is of excellent quality, the feeding is confiderably dearer than that fed with peafe, pollard, &c. In the fame eflays, the following experiment is mentioned by Dr Hunter, concerning the propriety of railing carrots for the ufe of the diftiller. “ In the month of O&ober (1773), I took 24 bufhels of car¬ rots. After being walhed, topped, and tailed, I put them into a large brewing copper with four gallons of water ; and covering them up with cloths to haften the maceration, I ordered a fire to be kindled under¬ neath, which in a fhort time reduced the whole into a tender pulp. They were then put into a common ferew-prefs, and the jnice taken from them ; which, together with the liquor left in the copper, was run through a flannel bag. The juice was then returned into the copper; and, as it was my defign to make it 13 Y 2 into

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Daucus, into ale, I put to it a proportionable quantity of hops. Davenant. ][qUOr was then boiled about an hour, when it ac¬ quired both the tafte and colour of wort. It was next put into a cooler, and afterwards into the working veflel, where the yeaft was added to it. It worked kindly, and in all refpefts was treated as ale. I al¬ lowed it to remain in the calk about four months, when I broached it, but found it of a thick, muddy appear¬ ance. I attempted to fine it, but in vain. The tafte was by no means difpleafing, as it much refembled malt liquor. My firft intention being fruftrated, I threw it into tl-e Hill, being about 40 gallons in meafure, and by two diftillations obtained four gallons of a clean proof fpirit. It had, however, contrafted a flavour from the hop, which Ihould be left out when the intention is to reduce the liquor into fpirit. From a grofs calculation I am induced to think that a good acre of carrots manufa&ured in this manner, will leave a profit of L. 40, after deducing the landlord’s rent, cultivation, diliillation, and other incidental expences. In this calculation, I prefume that the fpirit is worth fix ftiillings per gallon, and not excifed. An acre of barley will by no means produce fo much fpirit. A rich fandy loam is the belt land for carrots; which, af¬ ter the crop is removed, will be in high cultivation for corn.” Attempts have alfo been made to prepare fngar from carrots, but without fuccefs; a thick fyrnpy matter like treacle being only obtainable.—Raw carrots are gi¬ ven to children troubled with worms. They pafs thro’ mod people but little changed.—A poultice made of the roots hath been found to mitigate the pain and abate the ftenchof foul and cancerous ulcers.—Crickets are very fond of carrots ; and are eafily deftroyed'by making a pafte of powdered arfenic, wheat-meal, and fcraped carrots, which muft be placed near their habi¬ tations.—By their ftrong antifeptic .qualities, a mar¬ malade made from carrots has alfo been found ufeful in preventing and curing the fea-fcurvy.—The feeds have been reckoned carminative and diuretic; and were formerly much ufed as a remedy for the ftone, but are at prefent difregarded.—Carrots were firft introduced into England, by the Flemings, in the reign of queen Elizabeth. DAVENANT (Sir William), an eminent poet in the 17th century, was born at Oxford in 1606. After fome ftay at the univerfity, he entered into the fervice of Frances firft duchefs of Richmond, and afterward of Fulke Grevil, lord Brook; who having an excellent tafte for poetry, was much charmed with him. He got great efteem by writing poems and plays; and up¬ on the death of Ben Johnfon was created poet-laureat. He wrote his poem Gondibert at Paris. He formed a defign for carrying over a confiderable number of artificers, efpecially weavers, to Virginia, by the en¬ couragement of Henrietta Maria, the-queen-mother of England, who obtained leave for him of the king of France. But he and his company were feized by fome parliament : ps, and he carried prifoner firft to the Ifle of Wight, 3nd then to the Tower of London ; but, by the mediation of Milton and others, he got his liberty as a prifoner at large. At this time tragedies and co¬ medies being prohibited, he contrived to fet up an Opera, to be performed by declamations and mufic. This Italian opera began in Rutland-houfe in Charter-

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houfe-yard, t656 ; but was afterwards removed to the Davenant Cock-Pit in Drury-Lane, and was much frequented 5 for many years. In 1648, his Madagafcar, with other_L poems, were printed. He died in 1668. DAVENANT (Do&or Charles), an eminent ci¬ vilian and writer, eldeft fon of the preceding, and edu¬ cated in Cambridge : he wrote feveral political tra&s ; and likewife plays. He was (1685) impowered, with the mailer of the revels, to infpedl the plays defigned for the ftage, that no immoralities might be prefented. His Effays on Trade are in high efteem ; and were lately reprinted in 5 vols. 8vo. Dodlor Davenant was infpe&or-general of exports and imports; and died in 1712. DAVENTRY, or Daintry, a handfome town of NorthamptonIhire in England, fituated on the fide of a hill on the great road to Chefter andCarlifle. W. Long, j. 15. N. Lat. 52. 12. DAUGHTER, jilt a, a female child. See the ar¬ ticle Children. DAVID, king of Ifrael, and Hebrew poet, was born at Bethlehem 1085, and died 1014 years B. C. His hiftory is particularly recorded in the facred writings. St DAVID’s, an epifcopal town of Pembrokr(hire, in S. Wales; but has neither-market nor fair. It is feated in a barren foil on the river Hen, not a mile from the fea-lhore. It was once a confiderable place, and had walls, which are now demolished; but it is fmall at prefent, and thinly inhabited; however, the cathedral is a pretty good ftru&ure. From the cape, near this place, there is a profpe& into Ireland. W. Lon. 5. 20. N. Lat. 52. o. St David’s, a town and fort of Afia, in the pe» ninfula on this fide the Ganges, and on the coaft of Coromandel. It is an Englifh faftory, and one of the ftrongeft places they have in the Eaft-Indies. The fort Hands clofe to the river, and the territory belong¬ ing to it is 8 miles on the fea-lhore, and 4 within land. It produces good long-cloths, chints, callicoes, and muflins. Each houfe has a garden ■} and there are plenty of black cattle, but fmall. The rivers and fea abound with excellent fifh. It ifc 80 miles S. of Fort St George. E. Long. 79. 55. N. Lat. 11. 30. DAVIES (Sir John), an eminent lawyer and oet, born about the year 1570. He firft diftinguilhed imfelf by his poem Nofce Teipfum on the Immortality of the Soul. He became attorney-general, and fpeaker of the Houfe of Commons in Ireland ; and afterward was appointed lord chief jullice of the court of King’s Bench in England, but died before his iuftallation, in 1626. He pnblilhed many law trafts ; but vvas efteemed more of a fcholar and a wit, than of a lawyer. DAVILA (Henrico Catherino), a celebrated hiftorian, was born of an illuftrious family in the Ifle of Cyprus j but was obliged to leave his country, on its being taken by the Turks, in 1571. He firft re¬ tired to Avila in Spain, whence his family fuppofed they had derived their name and origin ; from thence he went to France, and made himfelf known at court under the reigns of Henry III. and Henry the Great. He there diftinguilhed himfelf on feveral occafions by his valour ; and at length went to Venice, where he had a very handfome penfion fettled upon him by that re¬ public, in whofe fervice his brother Lewis Davila had bee*

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Davis been a commander. Davila, while he was at Venice, 11^. wrote his admirable Hiftory of the Civil Wars of aHp irl‘ France, which contains every thing worth notice that palled from the death of Henry II. in 1559, to the peace of Vervins in 1598. He was killed about the year 1635, by- a gentleman of Verona; who, in a difpute about furnilhing him with carriages in purfuauce of his having a commiffion from the republic, difeharged a piftol at Davila, and wounded him in fnch a man¬ ner, that he died foon after. Davila’s fon, a youth of abont 18, being prefent, had the fpirit to revenge the death of his father ; for, inftantly rulhing upon the murderer, he cut him in pieces. DAVIS (John), a famous navigator in the 16th century', was born at Sandridge, near Dartmouth, in Devonfhire ; and diftinguilhed himfclf by making three voyages to the moft northern parts of America, in or¬ der to difeover a North-weft paffage to the Eaft-Indies; in which he difcover.ed the Straits which bear his name. He aftevwards performed five voyages to the EaftIndies; in the laft of which he was liain in a defperate fight with fome Japanefe, near the coail of Malac¬ ca, on the 27th of December 1605. He wrote an ac¬ count of his fecond voyage for the dilcovery of the North-weft paffage; a Voyage to the Eaft-Indies; and other tra&s. Davis’s Straits. See New Britain. DAVIT, in a Ihip, a long beam of timber, repre¬ sented by *, a, Plate LXXXVII. fig. 2. and ufed as a crane whereby to hoift the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the tides of the Ihip as it afeends ; an operation which, by mariners, is cal¬ led fijhing the anchor. The anchors being, fituated on both the bows, the davit may be occafionally Ihifted, fo as to projeft over either fide of the Ihip, according to the pofition of that anchor on which it is employed. The inner end of the davit is fecured by being thruft into a fquare ring of iron b, which is bolted to the deck, and forelocked under the beams. This ring, •which is called the fpan-floackle, exhibited at large by fig. 9. is fixed exadtly in the middle of the deck, and elofe behind the foremaft. Upon the outer end of the davit is hung a large block c, through which a ftrong rope traverfes, called the fijh-pendent, d; to whofe foremoft end is fitted a large iron hook e, and to it6 after-end a tackle or complication of pullies f; theformer of which is called the fijh-hcok, and the latter the fijh-tackle. The davit, therefore, according to the fea-phrafe, is employed to fijh the anchor; which being previoufly xatted, the filh-hook is fattened upon its flukes; and the effort of the tackle being tranfmitted to the hook, by means of the filh-pendent, draws up that part of.the anchor fufficiently high upon the bow to fatten it, which is done by he Jhank painter. See that article. —There is alfo a davit of a fmaller kind occafionally fixed in the long-boat, and employed to weigh the anchor therein. DAUPHIN, a title given to the eldeft fon of France, and heir prefumptive of the crown, on account of the province of Dauphiny ; which, in 1343, was given to Philip of Valois, on this condition, by Hum¬ bert, dauphin of tile Viennois. The feigneurs or lords of Auvergne have likevvife •borne the appellation of dauphin y but the dauphins of

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Auvergne held it not till a good while after thofe of Dauphiny the Viennois, and even received it from them. II DAUPHINY, a province of France, bounded on ay‘ the well by the river Rhone, on the north by the Rhone and Savoy, on the fouth by Provence, and on the eaft by the Alps. Hence the prefumptive heir of France is called the Dauphin. In fome places it is very fertile; and produces corn, wine, olives, woad, cop¬ peras, filk, cryftal, iron, and copper. But the greateft part of this province is barren, and the inhabitants are obliged to go into other countries for fubfiftence. The mountains abound in fimples and game of all forts ; and here are fir-trees proper for malls. The principal rivers are, the Rhone, the Durance, the Ifere, and the Drone. There a great number of mineral fprings; and Grenoble is the capital town. DAURAT (John), an eminent French poet, born in 1507. In the reign of Henry II. he was preceptor to the king’s pages, and Charles IX. who took great delight in his converfation, and hci .Hired him with the title of his poet: but his generality and wan* of .ma¬ nagement, placed him in that clafs of learned men who have been very near (tarving. Conformable to the tafte of the age, he had fo much (kill in making anagrams, that feveral illuftrious perfons gave him their names to anagrammatife : he alfo undertook to explain the Cen¬ turies of Nottradamus. Making verfes was a difeafe in him : for no book was printed, nor did any perfon of confequence die, but Daurat made fome verfes on the occalion; as if he had been poet in ordinary, or his mufe had been a hired mourner, to the whole kingdom. Scaliger tells us, that he fpent the latter part of his life in endeavouring to find all the bible in Homer. He died in 1588. DAY, according to the moft natural and obvious fenfe of the word, fignifies that fpace of time during which it continues to be light; in contradiftindlion to night, being that partition of time wherein it is dark 1 but the fpace of time fn which it is light, being fomewhat vague and indeterminate, the time between the riling and the fetting of the fun is ufually looked on as the day ; and the time which lapfes from its fetting to its riling again, the night. The word day « often taken in a large fenfe, fo as to include the night alfo4 or to denote the time of a whole apparent revolution of the fun round the earth ; in which fenfe it is called by fome a natural day, and by others an artificial one : but, to avoid confufion, it is ufual to call it in the former fenfe limply the day, and in the latter a nychthemeron ; by which term that acceptation of it is aptly denoted, as it implies both day and night. The nychthemeron is divided into twenty-four parts, called hours ; which are of two forts, equal and unequal or temporary. See the article Hour. Different nations begin their day at a different hour. Thus the Egyptians began their day at midnight; from whom Hippocrates introduced that way of reckoning into aftronomy, and Copernicus and others have fol¬ lowed him; But the greateft part of aftronomers rec¬ kon the day to begin at noon, and fo count twentyfour hours, till the noon of the next day ; and not twice twelve, according to the vulgar computation. The method of beginning the day at midnight prevails alfo in Great Britain, France, Spain, and moft parts of Europe,

DAY Day-coal, '

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Europe. See Astronomy, n° 300. The Babylonians began their day at fun-rifing; reckoning the hour immediately before its riling again, the twenty-fourth hour of the day ; from whence the hours reckoned in this way are called the Babylonic. In feveral parts of Germany, they begin their day at funfetting, and reckon on till it fcts next day, calling that the twenty-fourth hour: tliefe are generally termed Ita¬ lian hours. The Jews alfo began their nychtliemeron at fnn-fetting: but then they divided it into twice twelve hours, as we do; reckoning twelve for the day, be it long or Ihort, and twelve for the night; fo that their hours continually varying with the day and night, the hours of the day were longer than thofe of the night for one half year, and the contrary the other; from whence their hours are called temporary : thofe at the time of the equinoxes became equal, becaufe then thofe of the day and night are fo. The Romans alfo reckoned their hours after this manner, as do the Turks at this day. This kind of hours is called planetary, becaufe the feveu planets were auciently looked upon as preliding over the affairs of the world, and to take it by turns each of thefe hours, according to the following order: Saturn firft, then Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mer¬ cury, and lalt of all the Moon : hence they denomina¬ ted each day of the week from that planet whofe turn it was to prelide the firft hour of the nychtliemeron. Thus, afiigning the firft hour of Saturday to Saturn, the fecond will fall to Jupiter, the third to Mars; and fo the twenty-fecund of the fame nychthemeron will fall to Saturn again, and therefore the twenty-third to Jupiter, and the laft to Mars : fo that on the firft hour of the next day, it will fall to the Sun to prefide; and by the like manner of reckoning, the firft hour of the next will fall to the Moon ; of the next, to Mars ; of the next, to Mercury ; of the next, to Venus: hence, the days of the week came to be diftinguifhed by the Latin names of Dies Saturni, Solis, Luna-, Martis, Mercurii, Jovis, and Veneris; and among us, by the names of Saturday, Sunday, Monday, &c. Day-Coal, in natural hiftory, a name given by the miners of England, and the common people who live in coal-countries, to that feam or ftratum of the coal which lies uppermoft in the earth. The fame vein or ftratum of coal ufually runs a great way thro’ the country, and dips and rifes in the earth at different places ; fo that this upper ftratum, or day-coal, is, in the various parts of the fame ftratum, fometimes near the furface, and fometimes many fathoms deep. The fubterranean fires found in fome of our coal-countries feed principally on this coal; and are nearer to or far¬ ther from the furface, as it rifes or finks. Day-Ac'/, among fowlers, a net generally ufed for taking fuch fmall birds as play in the air, and will ftoop either to prey, gig, or the like; as larks, linnets, bunt-

Sportman's ^nSs’ &c* ^e l‘me year f°r uf*ng this net is JDid. from Auguft to November ; and the berf time is very early in the morning : and it is to be obferved, that the milder the air, and the brighter the fun is, the bet¬ ter will be the fport, and of longer continuance. The place where this net Ihould be laid, ought to be plain champaign, either on fhort ftubbles, green lays, or flat meadows, near corn-fields, and fomewhat remote from towns and villages : you muft be fure to let your net

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lie clofe to the ground, that the birds creep not out Day-net. and make their efcape.—The net is made of a fine pack-thread with a fmall melh, not exceeding half an inch fquare ; it muft be three fathoms long, and but one broad: it muft be verged about with a fmall, but ftrong, cord ; and the two ends extended upon two fmall, long, poles, fnitable to the breadth of the net, with four ttakes, tail-ftrings, and drawing-lines.—This net is.compofed of two, which muft be exadlly alike ; and are to be laid oppolite to one another, fo even and clofe, that when they are drawn and pulled over, the fides muft meet and touch each other.—Yon muft ftake this net down with ftrong flakes, very ftiff on their lines, fo that you may with a nimble touch call them to and fro at pleafure ; then fallen your drawing-cords or hand-lines (of which there muft be a dozen at leaft, and each two yards long) to the upper end of the foremoft Haves : and fo extend them of fuch a ftraightnefs, that with a little ftrength they may rife up in the nets, and call them over. Your nets being thus laid, place your gigs, or play¬ ing-wantons, about 20 or 30 paces beyond, and as much on this fide your nets : the gigs muft be fattened to the tops of long poles, and turned into the wind, fo as they may play to make a noife therein. Thefe gigs are a fort of toys made of long goofe-feathers, like Ihuttle-cocks, and with little fmall tunnels of wood running in broad and flat fwan-quills, made round like a fmall hoop; and fo, with longer firings fattened to a pole, will, w'ith any fmall wind or air, move after fuch a manner, that birds will come in great flocks to play about them. When you have placed your gigs, then place your ftale; which is a fmall ftake of wood, to prick down into the earth, having in it a mortice-hole, in which a fmall and flender piece of wood, about two foot long, is fattened, fo as it may move up and down at pleafure : and fatten to this longer flick a fmall Hue, which, running through a hole in the flick abovementioned, and fo coming up to the place where you are to fit, you may, by drawing the line up and down with your right hand, raife up the longer Hick as you fee occafion. Fatten a live lark, or fuch like bird, to this longer flick, which, with the line making it to ftir up and down by your pulling, will entice the birds to come to your net. There is another ftale, or enticement, to draw on thefe birds, called a looking-glafs; which is a round ftake of wood, as big as a man’s arm, made very (harp at the end, to thruft it into the ground : they make it very hollow in the upper part, above five fingers deep ; into which hollow they place a three-fquare piece of wood about a foot long, and each two inches broad, lying upon the top of the ftake, and going with a foot into the hollownefs : which foot muft have a great knob at the top, and another at the bottom, with a deep flendernefs between ; to which flendernefs you are to fatten a fmall pack-thread, which, running through a hole in the fide of the ftake, muft come up to the place where you fit. The three-fquare piece of wood which lies on the top of the ftake, muft be of fuch a poile and evennefs, and the foot of the focket fo fmooth and round, that it may whirl and turn round upon the leaft touch ; winding the pack-thread fo many times about

DAY Pays, Daze.

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it, which being fuddenly drawn, and as fuddenly let and yellow daze, to thefe ftones. _g°j W>11 beep the engine in a conftant rotatory motion: DEACON, Diaconus, a perfon in the lowed dethen fatten with glue on the uppermoft flat fquares of gree of holy orders, whofe bufmefs is to baptize, read in the three-fquare piece, about twenty/mall pieces of the church, and affiit at the celebration of the eucharift. looking-glafs, and paint all the fquare wood between The word is formed from the Latin Diaconus, of the them of a light and lively red : which, in the contiGreek miuifter, fervant. Deacons were inmal motion, will give fuch a refle&ion, that the birds llituted feven in number, by the apoftles, Ads chap. vi. will play about to admiration until they are taken. which number was retained a long time in fcveral Both this and the other ftale are to be placed in the churches. Their office was to ferve in the Agapas, middle between the two nets, about two or three feet and to diftribute the bread and wine to the communidiftance from each other ; fo that, in the falling of the cants. Another part of the office of deacons, was to nets, the cords may not touch or annoy them: neither be a fort of monitors and diredlors to the people in the mutt they ftand one before or after another; the glafs cxercife of their public devotions in the church ; for being kept in a continual motion, and the bird very which purpofe they made ufe of certain known forms of often fluttering. Having placed your nets in this words, to give notice when each part of the fervice bemanner, as alfo your gigs and ftales, go to the further gan. Whence they are fometimes called eirokerukes ; end of your long-drawing lines and ftale lines 5 and, “ the holy cryers of the church.” having placed yourfelf, lay the main drawing line acrofs Deacons had, by licence and authority from the biyour thigh, and, with your left, pull the ttale-line to fhop, a power to preach, to reconcile penitents and fhew the birds; and when yon perceive them to play grant them abfolution, and to reprefent their bifhops near and about your nets and ftales, then pull the net in general councils. Their office out of the church wa* over with both hands, with a quick, but not too hafty to take care of the neceffitous, fuch as orphans, wimotion; for otherwife your fport will be fpoiled. dows, prifoners, and all the poor and fick who hadany See Plate XCV. fig. 1. where A fhews the bodies of title to be maintained out of the revenues of the church; the main net, and how they ought to belaid. B, the to inquire into the morals and converfation ofthepeople, tail-lines, or the hinder lines, flaked to the ground, and to make their report thereof to the bifhop. Whence, C, the fore-lines flaked alfo to the ground. D, the on account of the variety of bufinefs, it was ufual to bird-ftale. E, the looking-glafs ftale. G, the line havefeveral deacons in the fame church, which draws the bird-ftale. H, the line that draws In the Romifh church, it is the deacon’s office to inthe glafs-ftalc. I, the drawing, double lines of the cenfe the officiating pried or prelate; to lay the cor¬ nets, which pulls them over. K, the flakes which poral on the altar ; to receive the patten or cup from flake down the four nether points of the net, and the the fubdeacon, and prefent them to the perfon officiattwo tail-lines. L, the flakes that flake down the foreing ; to incenfe the choir; to receive the pax from the lines, M, the fingle line, with the wooden button to officiating prelate, and carry it to the fubdeacon; and pull the net over with. N, the flake that flakes down at the pontifical mafs, when the bifhop gives the blefthe fingle line, and where the man fhould fit; find C> fing, to put the mitre on his head, and to take off the the %'%• archbifhop’s pall and lay it on the altar. In EngDays of Grace are thofe granted by the court at the land, the form of brdaining deacons, declares that it is prayer of the defendant, or plaintiff, in whofe delay their office to affift the prieft in the diftribution of the it is. holy communion ; in which, agreeably to the praftice Days of grace, in commerce, are a cuftomary num¬ of the ancient church, they are confined to the admiber of days allowed for the payment of a bill of ex¬ nifleringthe wine to the communicants. A deacon in change, &c. after the fame becomes due. England is not capable of any ecelefiaftical promotion; Three days of grace are allowed in Britain ; ten in yet he may be a chaplain to a family, curate to a beFrance and Dantzic ; eight at Naples ; fix at Venice, neficed clergyman, or lefturer to a parifti-cliurch. He Amfterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp ; four at Francmay be ordained at 23 years of age, anno currents; fort; five in Leipfic; twelve at Hamburg; fix inPorbut it is exprefly provided, that the bifhop fhall not tugal; fourteen in Spain ; thirty in Genoa, &c. ordain the fame perfon a prieft and deacon in the fame UAY’s-Man, in the north of England, an arbitrator day. Deacons, according to St Paul, fhould be challe. or petfon chofen to determine an affair in difpute. fiucere, and blamelefs ; neither great drinkers, nor gi¬ Intercalary Days. See Intercalary Days. ven to filthy lucre : they fhould hold the myftery of T)ay’s-IVork, among feamen, the reckoning c the faith iti a pure confidence ; and fhould be well apcount of the /hip’s courfe during 24 hours, or between proved before they are admitted to the miniltry. noon and noon, according to the rules of trigonomeDEACONESS, a female deacon ; an order of wotry. See Dead-Reckoning. men who had their diftindl offices and fervices in the DAZE, in natural hiftory, a name given by our primitive church. This office appears as ancient as the miners to a glittering fort of ftoue, which often occurs apoftolical age ; for St Paul calls Phebe a fervant of in their works ; and, as it is unprofitable fubftance, is the ^church of Cenchrea. The original word is one of thofe things they call *1veeds. The word daze n«»«r, anfwerable to the Latin word miniftra. Tertakes in with them every flone that is hard and glittullian calls them vidua, widows, becaufe they were tering ; and therefore it comprehends the whole genus commonly chofen out of the widows of the church ; of the telangia, or ftony modules, which have the and, for the fame reafon, Epipha'nius, and the coun¬ flakes of talc in their fubftance: thefe, according to the cil of Laodicea, calls them jrpff£v7dar, elderly women, colour of the ftony matter they are bedded in, and their becaufe none but fuch were ordinarily taken into this own colour, give the names of black daze, white, red, office. For, indeed, by fome ancient laws, thefe four quafifi*

\

D Pe»ue fa majejie ne laijferoit jamais fon coufin d'Ejfex ejloigner de fon cotillon.”— After his confinement, on hearing he was ill, die fent him word, with tears in her eyes, that if file might with her honour, (he would vifit him. “ If,” fays Mr Walpole, “ thefe indances are pro¬ blematic, are the following fo? I11 one of the curious letters of Rowland White, he fays, the queen hath of late ufed the fair Mrs Bridges with words and blows of anger. In a fubfequent letter, he fays, the earlis again fallen in love with his fairejl B. It cannot chufe but come to the queen's ears, and then he is undone.'’’—Effex himfelf fays, that her fond parting with him when he fet out for Ireland, pierced his very foul. Probably the reader has now very little doubt as to leen Elizabeth’s affeftion for the unfortunate Effex; but, in proportion to our belief of the exiftence of this affeftion, her motives for confenting to his execution

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become more inexplicable. Queen Elizabeth bad a DevereuxA very high opinion of her beauty and perfonal attrac¬ !l DeviL j tions, and probably expected more entire adoration than the earl’s paffion for variety would fuffer him to pay. Towards the latter end of her life, the was certainly an objeift of difgnft. He had too much honed fimplicity in his nature, to feign a paffion which he did not feel. She foolifhly gave credit to the dories of his ambitious proje&s incompatible with her fafety ; and was informed that he had once inadvertently faid, that Jhe grew old and cankered, and that her mind was become as crooked as her carcafe. If this be true, where is the woman that would not facrifice fuch a lover to her r fentment? It is faid, however, that, concerning his execution, her majedy was irrefolute to the lad, and fent orders to countermand it; but, confidering his obdinacy in re¬ futing to adc her pardon, afterwards dire&ed that he fiiould die. It is reported, that the queen, in the height of her paffion for the earl of Edex, had given him a ring, ordering him to keep it, and that whatever crime he fhould commit, (he would pardon him when he diould return that pledge. The earl, upon his con¬ demnation, applied to admiral Howard’s lady, his re¬ lation, defiring her, by a perfon whom die could trud, to return it into the queen’s own hands; but her hufband, who was one of the earl's greated enemies, and to whom (he had imprudently told the circumdance, would not fuffer her to acquit herfelf of the commiffion; fo that the queen confented to the earl’s death, being full of indignation againd fo proud and haughty a fpirit, who chofe rather to die than implore her mefcy. Some time after, the admiral’s lady fell fick, and being near her death, fhe fent word to the queen that die had fomething of great confequence to communicate before fhe died. The queen came to.lier bed-fide, and having ordered all her attendants to withdraw, the lady re¬ turned, but too late, the ring, defiring to be excufed that fhe did not return it fooner : on which, it is faid, the queen immediately retired, overwhelmed with grief. The earl of Effex died in the thirty-fourth year of his age; leaving by his lady, one fon and two daugh¬ ters. DEVICE, among painters. See Devise. DEVIL, an evil angel, one of thofe celeftial fpirits call down from heaven for pretending to equal himfelf with God. The Ethiopians paint the devil white, to be even with the Europeans who paint him black. There is no mention of the word devil in the Old Teftament, but only of the word Satan and Belial: nor do we meet with it in any heathen authors, in the fenfe it is taken among Chriftians, that is, as a creature re¬ volted from God. Their theology went no farther than to evil genii, or daemons. Some of the-American idolaters have a notion of two collateral independent beings, one of whom is good, and the other evil; which laft they imagine has the dire&ion and fuperintendance of this earth, for which reafou they chiefly worfhip him : whence thofe that give us an account of the religion of thefe favages give out, with fome impropriety, that they worfhip the devil. The Chaldeans, in like manner, believed both a good principle and an evil one; which laft they imagined was an enemy to mankind. Ifaiah,

DEV Devil II ^(hire *

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Ifaiah, fpeaking, according to fome commentators, of the fall of the devil, calls him Lucifer, from his ^ormer elevation and ftate of glory: but others explain - this pafiage of Ifaiah in reference to the king of Ba¬ bylon, who had been precipitated from his throne and glory. The Arabians call Lucifer, Mbits; which fome think is only a diminutive or corruption of the word Diabolus. Devil on the Neck, a tormenting engine made of iron, ftraitening and wincing the neck of a man, with his legs together, in a horrible manner; fo that the more he ftirreth in it, the ftraiter it prefTeth him; for¬ merly in ufe among the perfecting papifts. DEVINCTION, in antiquity, a kind of love-charm, defcribed by Virgil in his eighth eclogue: it confifted in tying certain knots, and repeating a formula of words.

DEVISE, or Device, in heraldry, painting, and fculpture, any emblem ufed to reprefent a certain fa¬ mily, perfon, adion, or quality ; with a fuitable motto, applied in a figurative fenfe. See Motto. The efienee of a device confifts in a metaphorical fimilitude between the things reprefenting and reprefented : thus, a young nobleman, of great courage and ambition, is faid to have borne for his devife, in a late caroufal at the court of France, a rocket mounted in the air, with this motto in Italian, “ poco duri purche m'inah'r,” exprefiing, that he preferred a fhort life, provided he might thereby attain to glory and emi¬ nence. The Italians have reduced the making of devifes in¬ to an art, fome of the principal laws of which arethefe. 1. That there be nothing extravagant or monftrous in the figures. 2. That figures be never joined which have no relation or affinity with one another; excep¬ ting fome whimfical unions eftabliffied in ancient fables, which cuftom has authorifed. 3. That the hu¬ man body be never ufed. 4. The fewer figures the better. 5. The motto fhould be every way fuitable. Devise, in law, the ad whereby a perfon bequeaths his lands or tenements to another by his laft will or teftament. DEIJNX, in Roman antiquity, 11 ounces, or|' of the Libra. DEVOLUTION, in law, a right acquired by fucceffion from one to another. DEVONSHEERING, a term ufed by the farmers to exprefs the burning of land by way of manure : the method is to cut off the turf about four inches thick, and burn it in heaps, and then fpread the afhes upon the land. The name is probably derived from its having been earlieft pradifed in Devonfhire. DEVONSHIRE, a county of England, bounded on the fouth by the Englifh channel, on the north by the Briftol channel, on the eaft by Somerfetfhire, and on the weft by Cornwall; It is about 69 miles long, and 66 broad. The foil is various ; in the weftern parts of the county it is coarfe and moorifh, bad for fheep, but proper for black cattle. In the northern parts, the dry foil and-downs are well adapted to fheep, with numerous flocks of which they are well covered. Tolerable crops of corn are alfo produced there when the land is well manured. The foil of the reft of the cuuntry is rich and fertile both in corn and pafture, yielding alfo in fome places plenty of marie for ma¬

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nuring it. In other places they pare off and burn the Devotion, furface, making ufe of the afhes as a manure. Dr Campbell ftyles it a rich and pleafant country ; as in nonlca; different parts it abounds with all forts of grain, pro¬ duces abundance of fruit, has mines of lead, iron, and filver, in which it formerly exceeded Cornwall, though now it is greatly inferior. On the coaft alfo they have herring and pilchard fifheries. DEVOTION, devotio, a fincere ardent worfhip of the Deity. See Prayer, Adoration, Wor¬ ship, &c. Devotion, as defined by Jurieu, is a foftening and yielding of the heart, with an internal confolation, which the fouls of believers feel in the pradice or exercife of piety. By devotion is alfo underftood certain religious practices, which a perfon makes it a rule to difeharge regularly ; and with reafon, if the exactitude be founded on foil’d piety, otherwife it is vanity or fuperftition. That devotion is vain and trifling, which would accommodate itfelf both to God and to the world. Trevoux, Devotion, among the Romans, was a kind of facrifice, or ceremony, whereby they cohfecrated themfelves to the fervice of fome perfon. The ancients had a notion, that the life of one might be ranfomed by the death of another, whence thofe devotions became fre¬ quent for the lives of the emperors. Devotion lo any particular perfon, was unknown among the Romans till the time of Auguftus. The very day after fhe title of Auguftus had been conferred upon Odavius, Pacuvius, a tribune of the people, publicly declared, that he would devote himfelf to Auguftus, and obey him at the expence of his life, (as was the praftice among bar¬ barous nations), if he was commanded. His example was immediately followed by all the reft ; till, at length, it became an eftablifhed cuftom never to go to falute the emperor, without declaring that they were devoted to him—Before this, the pradice of the Romans was that of devoting themfelves to their country *. * See DeDEUTEROCANONICAL, in the fchool-theo- «'«*• logy, an appellation given to certain books of holy feripture, which were added to the canon after the reft; either by reafon they were not wrote till after the com¬ pilation of the canon, or by reafon of fome difpute as to their canonicity The word is Greek, being com¬ pounded of ■J'wTfjof, Jecond, and xavouxor, canonical. The Jews, it is certain, acknowledged feveral books in their canon, which were put there later than the reft. They fay, that under Efdras, a great aflembly of their dodors, which they call by way of eminence the great fynagogue, made the colledion of the facred books which we now have in the Hebrew Old Teftament. And they agree that they put books therein which had not been fo before the Babylonifh captivi¬ ty ; fuch are thofe of Daniel, Ezekiel, Haggai, See. and thofe of Efdras and Nehemiah. And the Romifh church has fince added others to the canon, that were not, nor could not be, in the ca¬ non of the Jews ; by reafon fome of them were not compofed till after. Such is the book of Ecclefiafticus; with feveral of the apocryphal books, as the Maecabees, Wifdom, &c. Others were added ftill later, by reafon their canonicity had not been yet examined; and till fuch examen, and judgment, they might be fet afide at pleafure.—But fince that church has pronoun-

DEW

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funder at the bottom, and fo tall as to reach 32 feet Dew. high. To the fever&l fteps of thefe he fadened large ; — fquares of glafs like the panes of windows, placing them in fuch a manner that they (hould not overlhade one another. On the trial it appeared exaftly as Mr Dufay had apprehended. The lower furface of the lowed piece of glafs was fird wetted, then the upper, then the lower furface of the pane next above it; and fo on, till all the pieces were wetted to the top. Hence it appeared plain to him, that the dew confided of the vapours afcending from the earth during the night¬ time ; which, being condenfed by the coldnefs of the atmofphere, are prevented from being difiipated as in the day-time by the fun’s heat. He afterwards tried a fimilar experiment with pieces of cloth indead of panes of glafs, and the refiilt was quite conformable to his expectations. He weighed all the pieces of cloth next morning, in order to know what quantity of water each had imbibed, and found thofe that had been placed lowermod confiderably heavier than fuch as had been placed at the top ; tho’ he owns that this experiment did not fucceed fo perfeftly as the former. M. Mufchenbroek, who embraced the contrary opi¬ nion, thought he had invalidated all Mr Dufay’s proofs, by repeating his experiments, with the fame fuccefs, on a plane covered with Iheet-lead. But to this Mr Dufay replied, that there was no occafion for fuppoling the vapour to rife through the lead, nor from that very fpot; but that as it arofe from the adjoining open ground, the continual fluctuation of the air could not but fpread it abroad, and carry it thither in its afcent. But though this experiment of M. Mufchenbroek’s is not fufficient to overthrow thofe of Mr Dufay, it mult dill remain dubious whether the dew rifes ox falls. One thing which feems to favour the hypothefis of its defcent is, that in cloudy weather there is little or no dew to be obferved. From this M. de Luc brings au argument in favour of the hypothefis juft now mention¬ ed. He accounts for it in the following manner. When there are no clouds in the air, the heat of the Phil. Tranj inferior air and that which rifes from the earth, diffi- vo1pates itfelf into the fuperior regions ; and then the va- part a* ] pours which are difperfed throughout the air, condenfe, and fall down in dew: But, when the clouds continue, they feparate the inferior from the fuperior part of the atmofphere, and thus prevent the diflipation of the DEW, a denfe, mold vapour, found on the earth heat, by which means the vapours remain fufpended. In fpring and fummer mornings, in form of a mifling When the fky grows cloudy, fome hours after fun-fet, rain, being collefted there chiefly while the fun is be¬ although the heat has been fenfibly diminifhed, it is alow the horizon. gain increafed; becaufe, continuing to rife out of the It hath been difputed whether the dew is formed earth, it is accumulated in the inferior air. But nei¬ from the vapours afcending from the earth during the ther can this be reckoned a pofitive proof of the defcent night-time, or from the defcent of fuch as have been of the dew ; fince we may as well fuppofe the heat of already raifed through the day. The mod remarkable the atmofphere to be great enough to difiipate it in its experiments adduced in favour of the fird hypothefis afcent, as to keep it fufpended after its afcent through are thofe of Mr Dufay of the Royal Academy of the day. Sciences at Paris. He fuppofed, that if the dew aOn the other hand, its being found-in greater quanti¬ fcended, it mud wet a body placed low down fooner ties on bodies placed low down than on fuch as are high than one placed in a higher fituation: and, if a num¬ up, is no proof of the afcent of the dew; becaufe the ber of bodies were placed in this manner, the lowerfame thing is obferved of rain. A body placed low mod would be wetted fird; and the red in like manner, down receives more rain than one placed in an elevated gradually up to the top. fituation ; and yet the rain certainly defcends from the To determine this, he placed two ladders againd atmofphere. The reafon why the dew appears firft on the one another, meeting at their tops, fpreading wide a- lower parts of bodies may be, that, in the evening, the

Deuteio- ced as to the canonicity of thefe books, there is no n°my more room now for her members to doubt of them, _J than there was for the Jews to doubt of thofe of the ew' — canon of Efdras. And the deuterononical books are with them as canonical, as the proto-canonical; the only difference between them confiding in this, that the canonicity of the one was not generally known, exa¬ mined, and fettled, fo foon as that of the others. The deuterocanonical books in the modern canon, are the book of Either, either the whole, or at lead the feven lad chapters thereof. The epidle to the Hebrews; that of James; and that of Jude; the fecond of St Peter; the fecond and third of St John ; andr the Revelation. The deuterocanonical parts of books, are, in Daniel, the hymn of the three children ; the prayer of Azariah ; the hidorres of Sufannah, of Bel and the Dragon ; the lad chapter of St Mark; the bloody fvveat, and the appearance of the angel, related in St Luke, chap, xxii 5 andthehillory of the adulte¬ rous woman in St John, chap, viii. DEUTERONOMY, one of the facred books of the Old Tedament 5 being the lad of thofe written by Mofes: (See Pentateuch.) The word is Greek, compounded of fsvrtgo( fecond, and law. Deuteronomy was written the 40th year after the delivery from Egypt, in the country of the Moabites beyond Jordan ; Mofes being then in the 120th year of his age. It contains, in Hebrew, 11 parafches, though only 10 in the edition of the rabbins at Venice; XX chapters, and 955 verfes. In the Greek, Latin, and other verfions, it contains XXXIV chapters. The latt is not of Mofes. Some fay it was added by Jolhua immediately after Mofes’s death; which is the mod probable opinion. Others will have it added by Efdras. DEUTEROPOTMI, in Grecian antiquity, a defignation given to fuch of the Athenians as had been thought dead, and, after the celebration of the fu¬ neral rites, unexpectedly recovered. It was unlaw¬ ful for the deuteropotmi to enter into the temple of the Eumenides, or to be admitted to the holy rites, till after they were purified, by being let through the lap of a woman’s gown, that they might feem to be new born. DEUTEROSIS, the Greek name by which the Jews called their Mifchnah, or fecond law. See MischNAH.

DEW Dew.

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lower part of the atmofphere is firft cooled, andconfequently molt difpofed to part with its vapour. It is alfo certain, that part of the water contained in the air may be condenfed at any time on the fides of a glafs, by means of cold, fo as to run down its fides in fmall drops like dew. It feems, therefore, that this fubje£t is not fufficiently determined by fuch experiments as have yet been made; nor indeed docs it appear eafy to make fuch experiments as fhall be perfeftly decijive on the matter. Several fubftances, expofed to the fame dew, receive and charge themfelves with it in a very different man¬ ner ; fome more, others lefs, and fome even not at all. The drops feem to make a fort of choice of what bo¬ dies they fhall affix themfelves to: glafs and cryftals are thofe to which they adhere inr the mod ready man¬ ner, and in the largeft quantity; but metals of all kinds never receive them at all, nor do the drops ever adhere to them. The reafon of this is probably becaufe metals promote evaporation more than glafs does. Thus, if a piece of metal and a piece of glafs are both made equally moift, the former will be found to dry in much lefs time than the latter. Hence it would feem, that there is between metals and water fome kind of repulfion: and this may be fufficient to keep off the very fmall quantity that falls in dew; for whatever tends to make water evaporate after it is a&ually in con¬ tact with any fubftance, alfo tends to keep the water from ever coming into contaft with it. Substances of a very different kind from the ufual dew, are faid to have fometimes fallen from the at¬ mofphere. In the Phil. Tranf. we are told, that in the year 1695 there fell in Ireland, in the provinces of Leinfter and Munfter, for a confiderable part of the winter and fpring, a fatty fubftance refembling butter, inftead of the common dew. It was of a clammy tex¬ ture, and dark yellow colour 5 and was, from its great refemblance, generally called dew-butter by the country people. It always fell in the night, and chiefly in the moorifh low grounds; and was found hanging on the tops of the grafs, and on the thatch of the houfes of the poor people. It was feldom obferved to fall twice in the fame place ; and ufually, wherever it fell, it lay a fort¬ night upon the ground before it changed colour ; but after that it gradually, dried up, and became black. The cattle fed in the fields where it lay as well as in others, and received no harm by it. It fell in pieces of the bignefs of one’s finger-end ; but they were difperfed fcatteringly about, and it had an offenfive fmell like a church-yard. There were in the fame places very (linking fogs during the winter, and fome people fuppofed this no other than a fediment from the fog. It would not keep very long, but never bred worm3. May-~Dz-w whitens linen and wax ; the dew of autumn is converted into a white froft. Out of dew putrifled by the fun, arife divers infects, which change apace from one fpecies into another : what remains is converted into a fine white fait, with angles like thofe of falt-petre, after a number of evaporations, calcina¬ tions, and fixations. There is a fpirit drawn from May-dew, which has wonderful virtues attributed to it. The method of collefting and preparing it, is prefcribed by Hanneman, phyfician at Kiel. It is to be gathered in clean li¬ sten cloths ; expofed to the fun in clofe vials; then diVol. IV,

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Hilled, and the fpirit thrown upon the caput mortuum; Dew, this is to be repeated till the earth unite with the fpi- De Wit' rit, and become liquid; which happens about the feventh or eighth cohobation, or diftillation. By fuch means you gain a very red, odoriferous fpirit. Stolterfoht, a phyfician of Lubec, thinks May-dew may be gathered in glafs-plates, efpecially in ftill weather, and before fun-rife. And Etmuller is of the fame fentiment. It might likewife be collefted with a glafs funnel, expofed to the air, having a crooked neck to bring the dew into a vial in a chamber. See Phil. Tranf. n° 3. Hoffman, and others. It is apparent¬ ly from the preparation of this dew, that the brothers of the Rofy-Crofs took their denomination *. * s;Ctionanonly be defined in fuch a manner, as that they mud be confidered ae exaCtly fynonymous. We omit gi¬ ving any quotations from Johnfon, to point out thefe defeCts; and fliall content ourfelves with giving a few examples, to fliow how, according to our idea, a dictionary of the Englilh language ought to be com¬ piled. IMMEDIATELY, adv. of time. 1. Indantly, without delay. Always employed tc* denote future time, and never pad. Thus, we may fay, I will come immediately ; but not, I am im¬ mediately come from fuch a place. See Presently. 2. Without the intervention of any caufe or event ; as oppofed to triediately. PRESENTLY, adv. of time. 1. Indantly, without delay. ExaCtly fynonymous with immediately ; being never with propriety em¬ ployed to denote any thing but future time. 2. Formerly it was employed t tlie term dignity is appropriated. Further, to behave with dignity, and to refrain from all mean aAions, is felt to be, not a virtue only, but a duty: it is a duty every man owes to himfelf. By aAIng in that manner, he attraAs love and efteem: by acting meanly, or below himfelf, he is difapproved and con¬ temned. This fenfe of the dignity of human nature, reaches even our pleafures and amufements. If they enlarge the mind by raffing grand or elevated emotions, or if they humanize the mind by exercifing our fympathy, they are approved as fuited to the dignity of our na¬ ture: if they contraA the mind by fixing it on trivial objeAs, they are contemned as not fuited to the dig¬ nity of our nature. Hence, in general, every occupa¬ tion, whether of ufe or amufement, that correfponds to the dignity of man, is termed manly} and every occu¬ pation below his nature, is termed ohildijh. To thofe who ftudy human nature, there is a point which has always appeared intricate: How comes it that generofity and courage are more efteemed, and be¬ llow more dignity, than good-nature, or even juftice ; though the latter contribute more than the former to rivate as well as to public happinefs-? This queftion, luntly propofed, miglft puzzle even a philofopher; but, by means of the foregoing obfervations, will eafily be folved. Human virtues, like other objeAs, obtain a rank in our eftimation, not from their utility, which is a fubjeA of refleAion, but from the direA impreflion they make on us. Juftice and good-nature are a fort of negative virtues, that fcarce make any impreflion but when they are tranfgrcfled : courage and generofity, on the contrary, producing elevated emotions, enliven greatly the fenfe of a man’s dignity, both in himfelf and in others; and for that reafon, courage and gene¬ rofity are in higher regard than the other virtues men¬ tioned ; we defcribe them as grand and elevated, as of greater dignity, and more praife-worthy. This leads us to examine more direAly emotions and pa (lions with refpeA to die prefent fubjeA : and it will not be difficult to form a fcale of them, beginning with the meancft, and afcending gradually to thofe of the higheft rank and dignity. Pleafure felt as at the oran of fenfe, named corporeal pleafure, is perceived to e low; and when indulged to excefs, is perceived alfo to be mean : for that reafon, perfons of any delicacy diflemhle the pleafure they take in eating and drink¬ ing- The pleafures of the eye and ear, having no or¬ ganic feeling, and being free from any fenfe of mean¬ nefs, are indulged without any fhame : they even rife to a certain degree of dignity when their objeAs are grand or elevated. The fame is the cafe of the fym-

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pathetic pafiions: a virtuous perfon behaving with for- Dignity gi titude and dignity under cruel misfortunes, makes a 1 capital figure ; and the fympathifing fpeAator feels in himfelf the fame dignity. Sympathetic diftrefs at the fame time never is mean: on the contrary, it is agreeable to the nature of a focial being, and has gene¬ ral approbation. The rank that love poflefies in the fcale, depends in a great meafure on its objeA: it poffefles a low place when founded on external properties merely ; and is mean when beftowed on a perfon of in¬ ferior rank without any extraordinary qualification : but when founded on the more elevated internal pro¬ perties, it affumes a confiderable degree of dignity. The fame is the cafe of friendftiip. When gratitude is warm, it animates the mind; but it fcarce rifes to dignity- Joy bellows dignity when it proceeds from an elevated caufe. If we can depend upon induAion, dignity is not a property of any difagreeable paffion : one is flight, an¬ other fevere ; one deprefies the mind, another animates it; but tbeTe is no elevation, far lefs dignity, in any of them. Revenge, in particular, though it enflame and fwcll the mind, is not accompanied with dignity, not even with elevation : it is not however felt as mean or groveling, unlefs when it takes indireA meafures for gratification. Shame and remorfe, though they fink the fpirits, are not mean. Pride, a difagreeable paf¬ fion, beftows no dignity in the eye of a fpeAator. Va¬ nity always appears mean ; and extremely fo where founded, as commonly happens, on trivial qualifica¬ tions. We proceed to the pleafures of the onderftanding, which poflefs a high rank in point of dignity. Of this every one will be fenfible, when he confiders the im¬ portant truths that have been laid open by fcience; fuch as general theorems, and the general laws that govern the material and moral worlds. The pleafures of the underllanding are fuited to man as a rational and contemplative being, and they tend not a little to en¬ noble his nature; even to the Deity he ftretcheth his contemplations, which, in the difeovery of infinite power, wifdom, and benevolence, afford delight of the moft exalted kind. Hence it appears, that the fine arts, ftudied as a rational fcience, afford entertainment of great dignity; fuperior far to what they afford as a fubjeA of tafte merely. But contemplation, howeverin Itfelf valuable, is chief¬ ly refpeAed as fubfervient to aAion; for man is intended to be more an aAive than a contemplative being. He accordingly (hows more dignity in aAion than in con¬ templation : generofity, magnanimity, heroifin, raife bis charaAer to the higheft pitch : thefe heft exprefe the dignity of bis nature, and advance him nearer to divinity than any other of his attributes. Having endeavoured to aflign the efficient caufe of dignity and meannefs, by unfolding the principle on which they are founded, we proceed to explain the final caufe of the dignity or meannefs bellowed upon the feveral particulars above-mentioned, beginning with corporeal pleafures. Thefe, as far as ufeful, are, like juftice, fenced with fufficient fanAions to prevent their being negleAed: hunger and third are p>ainful fenfations; and we are incited to animal love by a vigorous propenfity : were corporeal pleafures dignified over and above with a place in a high clafs, they would infal-

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Dike libJy overturn the balance of the mind, by outweighing the name; of an order or fecondary divifion in each of U the focial affeftions. This is a fatisfaftory final caufe the firft 13 clafles, except the 9th, in Linnaeus’s fexual method ; confiding of plants, which to the clafiic cha- im-n lon' _ for refufing to thefe pleafures any degree of dignity: and the final caufe is notlefs evident of their meannefs, rafter, whatever it is, add the eircumftance of having when they are indulged to excefs. The more refined two ftyles or female organs. DIKE, a ditch, or drain, made for the paffage of pleafures of external fenfe, conveyed by the eye and the ear from natural objefts and from the fine arts, de- waters.—The word feems formed from the verb, to dig; tho’ others choofe to derive it- from the Dutch, dak, a ferve a high place in our efteem, becaufe of their fin • gular and extenfive utility: in fome cafes they rife to a dam, fea-bank, or wall. Dike, or Dyke, alfo denotes a work of ftone, tim¬ confiderable dignity; and the very lowed pleafures of ber, or fafeines, raifed to oppofe the entrance or paf¬ the kind are never efteemed mean or groveling. The fage of the waters of the fea, a river, lake, or the like. pleafure arifing from wit, humour, ridicule, or from what is fimply ludicrous, is ufefal, by relaxing the —The word comes from the Flemifh dyk, or diik, a heap of earth to bound or ftem the water. Junius mind after die fatigue of more manly occupation: but the mind, when it furreuders itfelf to pleafure of that and Menage take the Flemifh to have borrowed their Guichard derives kind, lofes its vigour, and finks gradually into floth. word from the Greek r«^