Chapter 3

I. DELIBERATIVE SPEECHES.Genuine.Or.14.On the Navy Boards354B.C.Or.16.For the People of Megalopolis352"Or.4.First Philippic351"Or.15.For the Rhodians351"Or.1.First Olynthiac349"Or.2.Second Olynthiac349"Or.3.Third Olynthiac348"Or.5.On the Peace346"Or.6.Second Philippic344"Or.8.On the Affairs of the Chersonese341"Or.9.Third Philippic341"Spurious.(a)Or.7.On Halonnesus (by Hegesippus)342B.C.Rhetorical Forgeries.(a)Or.17.On the Treaty with Alexander.(a)Or.10.Fourth Philippic.(m)Or.11.Answer to Philip’s Letter.4(m)Or.12.Philip’s Letter.(m)Or.13.On the Assessment (ρύντξις).II. FORENSIC SPEECHES.A. In Public Causes.Genuine.Or.22.In (κατά) Androtionem355B.C.Or.20.Contra (πρός) Leptinem354"Or.24.In Timocratem352"Or.23.In Aristocratem352"Or.21.In Midiam349"Or.19.On the Embassy343"Or.18.On the Crown330"Spurious.(a)Or.58.In Theocrinem339B.C.(a)Or.25, 26.In Aristogitona I. and II. (Rhetorical forgeries).B. In Private Causes.Genuine.Or.27, 28.In Aphobum I. et II.364B.C.(m)Or.30, 31.Contra Onetora I. et II.362"Or.41.Contra Spudiam?"(m)Or.55.Contra Calliclem?Or.54.In Cononem356"Or.36.Pro Phormione352"(m)Or.39.Contra Boeotum de Nomine350"Or.37.Contra Pantaenetum346-5"(m)Or.38.Contra Nausimachum et Diopithem?SPURIOUS.(The first eight of the following are given by Schäfer to Apollodorus.)(m)Or.52.Contra Callippum.369-8B.C.(a)Or.53.Contra Nicostratumafter 368"(a)Or.49.Contra Timotheum362"(m)Or.50.Contra Polyclem357"(a)Or.47.In Evergum et Mnesibulum356"(m)Or.45, 46.In Stephanum I. et II.351"(a)Or.59.In Neaeram349[343-0, Blass]"(m)Or.51.On the Trierarchic Crown by Cephisodotus?)360-359"(m)Or.43.Contra Macartatum?(m)Or.48.In Olympiodorum.after 343"(m)Or.44.Contra Leocharem?(a)Or.35.Contra Lacritum341"(a)Or.42.Contra Phaenippum?(m)Or.32.Contra Zenothemin?(m)Or.34.Contra Phormionem?(m)Or.29.Contra Aphobum pro Phano(a)Or.40.Contra Boeotum de Dote347"(m)Or.57.Contra Eubulidem346-5"(m)Or.33.Contra Apaturium?(a)Or.56.In Dionysodorumnot before 322-1"

Or. 60 (ἐπιτάφιος) and Or. 61 (ἐρωτικός) are works of rhetoricians. The six epistles are also forgeries; they were used by the composer of the twelve epistles which bear the name of Aeschines. The 56προοίμια, exordia or sketches for political speeches, are by various hands and of various dates.5They are valuable as being compiled from Demosthenes himself, or from other classical models.

The ancient fame of Demosthenes as an orator can be compared only with the fame of Homer as a poet. Cicero, with generous appreciation, recognizes Demosthenes as the standard of perfection. Dionysius, the closest and most penetrating of his ancient critics, exhausts the language of admiration in showing how Demosthenes united and elevated whatever had been best in earlier masters of the Greek idiom. Hermogenes, in his worksLiterary history of Demosthenes.on rhetoric, refers to Demosthenes asὁ ῥήτωρ,theorator. The writer of the treatise On Sublimity knows no heights loftier than those to which Demosthenes has risen. From his own younger contemporaries, Aristotle and Theophrastus, who founded their theory of rhetoric in large part on his practice, down to the latest Byzantines, the consent of theorists, orators, antiquarians, anthologists, lexicographers, offered the same unvarying homage to Demosthenes. His work busied commentators such as Xenon, Minucian, Basilicus, Aelius, Theon, Zosimus of Gaza. Arguments to his speeches were drawn up by rhetoricians so distinguished as Numenius and Libanius. Accomplished men of letters, such as Julius Vestinus and Aelius Dionysius, selected from his writings choice passages for declamation or perusal, of which fragments are incorporated in the miscellany of Photius and the lexicons of Harpocration, Pollux and Suidas. It might have been anticipated that the purity of a text so widely read and so renowned would, from the earliest times, have been guarded with jealous care. The works of the three great dramatists had been thus protected, about 340 B.C., by a standard Attic recension. But no such good fortune befell the works of Demosthenes. Alexandrian criticism was chiefly occupied with poetry. The titular works of Demosthenes were, indeed, registered, with those of the other orators, in the catalogues (ῥητορικοὶ πίνακες) of Alexandria and Pergamum. But no thorough attempt was made to separate the authentic works from those spurious works which had even then become mingled with them. Philosophical schools which, like the Stoic, felt the ethical interest of Demosthenes, cared little for his language. The rhetoricians who imitated or analysed his style cared little for the criticism of his text. Their treatment of it had, indeed, a direct tendency to falsify it. It was customary to indicate by marks those passages which were especially useful for study or imitation. It then became a rhetorical exercise to recast, adapt or interweave such passages. Sopater, the commentator on Hermogenes, wrote onμεταβολαὶ καὶ μεταποιήσεις τῶν Δημοσθένους χωρίων, “adaptations or transcripts of passages in Demosthenes.” Such manipulation could not but lead to interpolations or confusions in the original text. Great, too, as was the attention bestowed on the thought, sentiment and style of Demosthenes, comparatively little care was bestowed on his subject-matter. He was studied more on the moral and the formal side than on the real side. An incorrect substitution of one name for another, a reading which gave an impossible date, insertions of spurious laws or decrees, were points which few readers would stop to notice. Hence it resulted that, while Plato, Thucydides and Demosthenes were the most universally popular of the classical prose-writers, the text of Demosthenes, the most widely used perhaps of all, was also the least pure. His more careful students at length made an effort to arrest the process of corruption. Editions of Demosthenes based on a critical recension, and calledἈττικιανά (ἀντίγραφα), came to be distinguished from the vulgates, orδημώδεις ἐκδόσεις.

Among the extant manuscripts of Demosthenes—upwards of 170 in number—one is far superior, as a whole, to the rest. This isParisinusΣ 2934, of the 10th century. A comparisonManuscripts.of this MS. with the extracts of Aelius, Aristeides and Harpocration from the Third Philippic favours the view that it is derived from anἈττικιανόν, whereas theδημώδεις ἐκδόσεις, used by Hermogenes and by the rhetoricians generally, have been the chief sources of our other manuscripts. The collation of this manuscript by Immanuel Bekker first placed the textual criticism of Demosthenes on a sound footing. Not only is this manuscript nearly free from interpolations, but it is the sole voucher for many excellent readings. Among the other MSS., some of the most important are—Marcianus416 F, of the 10th (or 11th) century, the basis of the Aldine edition;AugustanusI. (N 85), derived from the last, and containing scholia to the speeches on the Crown and the Embassy, by Ulpian, with some by a younger writer, who wasperhaps Moschopulus;ParisinusΥ;AntverpiensisΩ—the last two comparatively free from additions. The fullest authority on the MSS. is J. T. Vömel,Notitia codicum Demosth., and Prolegomena Critica to his edition published at Halle (1856-1857), pp. 175-178.6

The extant scholia on Demosthenes are for the most part poor. Their staple consists of Byzantine erudition; and their value depends chiefly on what they have preserved of olderScholia.criticism. They are better than usual for theΠερὶ στεφάνου, Κατὰ Τιμοκράτους; best for theΠερὶ παραπρεσβείας. The Greek commentaries ascribed to Ulpian are especially defective on the historical side, and give little essential aid. Editions:—C. W. Müller, inOrat. Att.ii. (1847-1858);Scholia Graeca in Demosth. ex cod. aucta et emendata(Oxon., 1851; in W. Dindorf’s ed.).

Bibliography.—Editio princeps(Aldus, Venice, 1504); J. J. Reiske (with notes of J. Wolf, J. Taylor, J. Markland, &c., 1770-1775); revised edition of Reiske by G. H. Schäfer (1823-1826); I. Bekker, inOratores Attici(1823-1824), the first edition based on codex Σ (see above); W. S. Dobson (1828); J. G. Baiter and H. Sauppe (1850); W. Dindorf (in Teubner series, 1867, 4th ed. by F. Blass, 1885-1889); H. Omont, facsimile edition of codex Σ (1892-1893); S. H. Butcher in OxfordScriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca(1903 foll.); W. Dindorf (9 vols., Oxford, 1846-1851), with notes of previous commentators and Greek scholia; R. Whiston (political speeches) with introductions and notes (1859-1868). For a select list of the numerous English and foreign editions and translations of separate speeches see J. B. Mayor,Guide to the Choice of Classical Books(1885, suppt. 1896). Mention may here be made ofDe coronaby W. W. Goodwin (1901, ed. min., 1904); W. H. Simcox (1873, with AeschinesIn Ctesiphontem); and P. E. Matheson (1899);Leptinesby J. E. Sandys (1890);De falsa legationeby R. Shilleto (4th ed., 1874);Select Private Orationsby J. E. Sandys and F. A. Paley (3rd ed., 1898, 1896);Midiasby W. W. Goodwin (1906). C. R. Kennedy’s complete translation is a model of scholarly finish, and the appendices on Attic law, &c., are of great value. There are indices to Demosthenes by J. Reiske (ed. G. H. Schäfer, 1823); S. Preuss (1892). Among recent papyrus finds are fragments of a special lexicon to theAristocrateaand a commentary by Didymus (ed. H. Diels and W. Schubart, 1904). Illustrative literature: A. D. Schäfer,Demosthenes und seine Zeit(2nd ed., 1885-1887), a masterly and exhaustive historical work; F. Blass,Die attische Beredsamkeit(1887-1898); W. J. Brodribb, “Demosthenes” inAncient Classics for English Readers(1877); S. H. Butcher,Introduction to the Study of Demosthenes(1881); C. G. Böhnecke,Demosthenes, Lykurgos, Hyperides, und ihr Zeitalter(1864); A. Bouillé,Histoire de Démosthène(2nd ed., 1868); J. Girard,Études sur l’éloquence attique(1874); M. Croiset,Des idées morales dans l’Éloquence politique de Démosthène(1874); A. Hug,Demosthenes als politischer Denker(1881); L. Brédit,L’Éloquence politique en Grèce(2nd ed., 1886); A. Bougot,Rivalité d’Eschine et Démosthène(1891). For fuller bibliographical information consult R. Nicolai,Griechische Literaturgeschichte(1881); W. Engelmann,Scriptores Graeci(1881); G. Hüttner in C. Bursian’sJahresbericht, li. (1889).

(R. C. J.)

1See Jebb’sAttic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeos, vol. ii. p. 267 f.2It is generally agreed that the Third Olynthiac is the latest; but the question of the order of the First and Second has been much discussed. See Grote (History of Greece, chap. 88, appendix), who prefers the arrangement ii. i. iii., and Blass,Die attische Beredsamkeit, iii. p. 319.3The dates agree in the main with those given by A. D. Schäfer inDemosthenes und seine Zeit(2nd ed., 1885-1887), and by F. Blass inDie attische Beredsamkeit(1887-1898), who regards thirty-three (or possibly thirty-five) of the speeches as genuine.4Or. 11 and 12 are probably both by Anaximenes of Lampsacus.5According to Blass, the second and third epistles and theexordiaare genuine.6See also H. Usener inNachrichten von der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, p. 188 (1892); J. H. Lipsius, “Zur Textcritik des Demosthenes” inBerichte ... der Königl. Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften(1893) with special reference to the papyrus finds at the end of the 19th century; E. Bethe,Demosthenis scriptorum corpus(1893).

1See Jebb’sAttic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeos, vol. ii. p. 267 f.

2It is generally agreed that the Third Olynthiac is the latest; but the question of the order of the First and Second has been much discussed. See Grote (History of Greece, chap. 88, appendix), who prefers the arrangement ii. i. iii., and Blass,Die attische Beredsamkeit, iii. p. 319.

3The dates agree in the main with those given by A. D. Schäfer inDemosthenes und seine Zeit(2nd ed., 1885-1887), and by F. Blass inDie attische Beredsamkeit(1887-1898), who regards thirty-three (or possibly thirty-five) of the speeches as genuine.

4Or. 11 and 12 are probably both by Anaximenes of Lampsacus.

5According to Blass, the second and third epistles and theexordiaare genuine.

6See also H. Usener inNachrichten von der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, p. 188 (1892); J. H. Lipsius, “Zur Textcritik des Demosthenes” inBerichte ... der Königl. Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften(1893) with special reference to the papyrus finds at the end of the 19th century; E. Bethe,Demosthenis scriptorum corpus(1893).

DEMOTIC(Gr.δημοτικός, of or belonging to the people), a term, meaning popular, specially applied to that cursive script of the ancient Egyptian language used for business and literary purposes,—for the people. It is opposed to “hieratic” (Gr.ἱερατικός, of or belonging to the priests), the script, an abridged form of the hieroglyphic, used in transcribing the religious texts. (SeeWriting, andEgypt: II.,Ancient, D.Language and Writing.)

DEMOTICA,orDimotica, a town of European Turkey, in the vilayet of Adrianople; on the Maritza valley branch of the Constantinople-Salonica railway, about 35 m. S. of Adrianople. Pop. (1905) about 10,000. Demotica is built at the foot of a conical hill on the left bank of the river Kizildeli, near its junction with the Maritza. It was formerly the seat of a Greek archbishop, and besides the ancient citadel and palace on the summit of the hill contains several Greek churches, mosques and public baths. In the middle ages, when it was named Didymotichos, it was one of the principal marts of Thrace; in modern times it has regained something of its commercial importance, and exports pottery, linen, silk and grain. These goods are sent to Dédéagatch for shipment. Demotica was the birthplace of the Turkish sultan Bayezid I. (1347); after the battle of Poltava, Charles XII. of Sweden resided here from February 1713 to October 1714.

DEMPSTER, THOMAS(1579-1625), Scottish scholar and historian, was born at Cliftbog, Aberdeenshire, the son of Thomas Dempster of Muresk, Auchterless and Killesmont, sheriff of Banff and Buchan. According to his own account, he was the twenty-fourth of twenty-nine children, and was early remarkable for precocious talent. He obtained his early education in Aberdeenshire, and at ten entered Pembroke Hall, Cambridge; after a short while he went to Paris, and, driven thence by the plague, to Louvain, whence by order of the pope he was transferred with several other Scottish students to the papal seminary at Rome. Being soon forced by ill health to leave, he went to the English college at Douai, where he remained three years and took his M.A. degree. While at Douai he wrote a scurrilous attack on Queen Elizabeth, which caused a riot among the English students. But, if his truculent character was thus early displayed, his abilities were no less conspicuous; and, though still in his teens, he became lecturer on the Humanities at Tournai, whence, after but a short stay, he returned to Paris, to take his degree of doctor of canon law, and become regent of the college of Navarre. He soon left Paris for Toulouse, which in turn he was forced to leave owing to the hostility of the city authorities, aroused by his violent assertion of university rights. He was now elected professor of eloquence at the university or academy of Nîmes, but not without a murderous attack upon him by one of the defeated candidates and his supporters, followed by a suit for libel, which, though he ultimately won his case, forced him to leave the town. A short engagement in Spain, as tutor to the son of Marshal de Saint Luc, was terminated by another quarrel; and Dempster now returned to Scotland with the intention of asserting a claim to his father’s estates. Finding his relatives unsympathetic, and falling into heated controversy with the Presbyterian clergy, he made no long stay, but returned to Paris, where he remained for seven years, becoming professor in several colleges successively. At last, however, his temporary connexion with the collège de Beauvais was ended by a feat of arms which proved him as stout a fighter with his sword as with his pen; and, since his victory was won over officers of the king’s guard, it again became expedient for him to change his place of residence. The dedication of his edition of Rosinus’Antiquitatum Romanorum corpus absolutissimumto King James I. had won him an invitation to the English court; and in 1615 he went to London. His reception by the king was flattering enough; but his hopes of preferment were dashed by the opposition of the Anglican clergy to the promotion of a papist. He left for Rome, where, after a short imprisonment on suspicion of being a spy, he gained the favour of Pope Paul V., through whose influence with Cosimo II., grand duke of Tuscany, he was appointed to the professorship of the Pandects at Pisa. He had married while in London, but ere long had reason to suspect his wife’s relations with a certain Englishman. Violent accusations followed, indignantly repudiated; a diplomatic correspondence ensued, and a demand was made, and supported by the grand duke, for an apology, which the professor refused to make, preferring rather to lose his chair. He now set out once more for Scotland, but was intercepted by the Florentine cardinal Luigi Capponi, who induced him to remain at Bologna as professor of Humanity. This was the most distinguished post in the most famous of continental universities, and Dempster was now at the height of his fame. Though hisRoman AntiquitiesandScotia illustriorhad been placed on the Index pending correction, Pope Urban VIII. made him a knight and gave him a pension. He was not, however, to enjoy his honours long. His wife eloped with a student, and Dempster, pursuing the fugitives in the heat of summer, caught a fever, and died at Bologna on the 6th of September 1625.

Dempster owed his great position in the history of scholarship to his extraordinary memory, and to the versatility which made him equally at home in philology, criticism, law, biography and history. His style is, however, often barbarous; and the obviousdefects of his works are due to his restlessness and impetuosity, and to a patriotic and personal vanity which led him in Scottish questions into absurd exaggerations, and in matters affecting his own life into an incurable habit of romancing. The best known of his works is theHistoria ecclesiastica gentis Scotorum(Bologna, 1627). In this book he tries to prove that Bernard (Sapiens), Alcuin, Boniface and Joannes Scotus Erigena were all Scots, and even Boadicea becomes a Scottish author. This criticism is not applicable to his works on antiquarian subjects, and his edition of Benedetto Accolti’sDe bello a Christianis contra barbaros(1623) has great merits.

A portion of his Latin verse is printed in the first volume (pp. 306-354) ofDelitiae poëtarum Scotorum(Amsterdam, 1637).

DEMURRAGE(from “demur,” Fr.demeurer, to delay, derived from Lat.mora), in the law of merchant shipping, the sum payable by the freighter to the shipowner for detention of the vessel in port beyond the number of days allowed for the purpose of loading or unloading (seeAffreightment: underCharter-parties). The word is also used in railway law for the charge on detention of trucks; and in banking for the charge per ounce made by the Bank of England in exchanging coin or notes for bullion.

DEMURRER(from Fr.demeurer, to delay, Lat.morari), in English law, an objection taken to the sufficiency, in point of law, of the pleading or written statement of the other side. In equity pleading a demurrer lay only against the bill, and not against the answer; at common law any part of the pleading could be demurred to. On the passing of the Judicature Act of 1875 the procedure with respect to demurrers in civil cases was amended, and, subsequently, by the Rules of the Supreme Court, Order XXV. demurrers were abolished and a more summary process for getting rid of pleadings which showed no reasonable cause of action or defence was adopted, called proceedings in lieu of demurrer. Demurrer in criminal cases still exists, but is now seldom resorted to. Demurrers are still in constant use in the United States. SeeAnswer;Pleading.

DENAIN,a town of northern France in the department of Nord, 8 m. S.W. of Valenciennes by steam tramway. A mere village in the beginning of the 19th century, it rapidly increased from 1850 onwards, and, according to the census of 1906, possessed 22,845 inhabitants, mainly engaged in the coal mines and iron-smelting works, to which it owes its development. There are also breweries, manufactories of machinery, sugar and glass. A school of commerce and industry is among the institutions. Denain has a port on the left bank of the Scheldt canal. Its vicinity was the scene of the decisive victory gained in 1712 by Marshal Villars over the allies commanded by Prince Eugène; and the battlefield is marked by a monolithic monument inscribed with the verses of Voltaire:—

“Regardez dans Denain l’audacieux VillarsDisputant le tonnerre à l’aigle des Césars.”

“Regardez dans Denain l’audacieux Villars

Disputant le tonnerre à l’aigle des Césars.”

DENBIGH, WILLIAM FEILDING,1st Earl of(d. 1643), son of Basil Feilding1of Newnham Paddox in Warwickshire, and of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Walter Aston, was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and knighted in 1603. He married Susan, daughter of Sir George Villiers, sister of the future duke of Buckingham, and on the rise of the favourite received various offices and dignities. He was appointedcustos rotulorumof Warwickshire, and master of the great wardrobe in 1622, and created baron and viscount Feilding in 1620, and earl of Denbigh on the 14th of September 1622. He attended Prince Charles on the Spanish adventure, served as admiral in the unsuccessful expedition to Cadiz in 1625, and commanded the disastrous attempt upon Rochelle in 1628, becoming the same year a member of the council of war, and in 1633 a member of the council of Wales. In 1631 Lord Denbigh visited the East. On the outbreak of the Civil War he served under Prince Rupert and was present at Edgehill. On the 3rd of April 1643 during Rupert’s attack on Birmingham he was wounded and died from the effects on the 8th, being buried at Monks Kirby in Warwickshire. His courage, unselfishness and devotion to duty are much praised by Clarendon.

See E. Lodge,Portraits(1850), iv. 113; J. Nichols,Hist. of Leicestershire(1807), iv. pt. 1, 273; Hist. MSS.Comm Ser.4th Rep. app. 254;Cal. of State Papers, Dom.; Studies in Peerage and Family History, by J. H. Round (1901), 216.

His eldest son,Basil Feilding, 2nd earl of Denbigh (c. 1608-1675), was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was summoned to the House of Lords as Baron Feilding in March 1629. After seeing military service in the Netherlands he was sent in 1634 by Charles I. as ambassador to Venice, where he remained for five years. When the Civil War broke out Feilding, unlike the other members of his family, ranged himself among the Parliamentarians, led a regiment of horse at Edgehill, and, having become earl of Denbigh in April 1643, was made commander-in-chief of the Parliamentary army in Warwickshire and the neighbouring counties, and lord-lieutenant of Warwickshire. During the year 1644 he was fairly active in the field, but in some quarters he was distrusted and he resigned his command after the passing of the self-denying ordinance in April 1645. At Uxbridge in 1645 Denbigh was one of the commissioners appointed to treat with the king, and he undertook a similar duty at Carisbrooke in 1647. Clarendon relates how at Uxbridge Denbigh declared privately that he regretted the position in which he found himself, and expressed his willingness to serve Charles I. He supported the army in its dispute with the parliament, but he would take no part in the trial of Charles I. Under the government of the commonwealth Denbigh was a member of the council of state, but his loyalty to his former associates grew lukewarm, and gradually he came to be regarded as a royalist. In 1664 the earl was created Baron St Liz. Although four times married he left no issue when he died on the 28th of November 1675.

His titles devolved on his nephewWilliam Feilding(1640-1685), son and heir of his brother George (created Baron Feilding of Lecaghe, Viscount Callan and earl of Desmond), and the earldom of Desmond has been held by his descendants to the present day in conjunction with the earldom of Denbigh.

1The descent of the Feildings from the house of Habsburg, through the counts of Laufenburg and Rheinfelden, long considered authentic, and immortalized by Gibbon, has been proved to have been based on forged documents. See J. H. Round,Peerage and Family History(1901).

DENBIGH(Dinbych), a municipal and (with Holt, Ruthin and Wrexham) contributory parliamentary borough, market town and county town of Denbighshire, N. Wales, on branches of the London & North Western and the Great Western railways. Pop. (1901) 6438. Denbigh Castle, surrounding the hill with a double wall, was built, in Edward I.’s reign, by Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, from whom the town received its first charter. The outer wall is nearly a mile round; over its main gateway is a niche with a figure representing, possibly, Edward I., but more probably, de Lacy. Here, in 1645, after the defeat of Rowton Moor, Charles I. found shelter, the castle long resisting the Parliamentarians, and being reduced to ruins by his successor. The chief buildings are the Carmelite Priory (ruins dating perhaps from the 13th century); a Bluecoat school (1514); a free grammar school (1527); an orphan girl school (funds left by Thomas Howel to the Drapers’ Co., in Henry VII.’s reign); the town hall (built in 1572 by Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, enlarged and restored in 1780); an unfinished church (begun by Leicester); a market hall (with arcades or “rows,” such as those of Chester or Yarmouth); and the old parish church of St Marcella. The streams near Denbigh are the Clwyd and Elwy. The inhabitants of Denbigh are chiefly occupied in the timber trade, butter-making, poultry-farming, bootmaking, tanning and quarrying (lime, slate and paving-stones). The borough of Denbigh has a separate commission of the peace, but no separate court of quarter sessions. The town has long been known as a Welsh publishing centre, the vernacular newspaper,Baner, being edited and printed here. Near Denbigh, at Bodelwyddan, &c., coal is worked.

The old British tower and castle were calledCastell caled fryn yn Rhôs, the “castle of the hard hill in Rhôs.”DininDinbychmeans a fort. There is a goblin well at the castle. Historically, David (Dafydd), brother of the last Llewelyn, was here (aet.Edward I.) perhaps on a foray; also Henry Lacy, who built the castle (aet.Edward I.), given to the Mortimers and to Leicester (under Edward III. and Elizabeth, respectively).

DENBIGHSHIRE(Dinbych), a county of N. Wales, bounded N. by the Irish Sea, N.E. by Flint and Cheshire, S.E. by Flint and Shropshire, S. by Montgomery and Merioneth, and W. by Carnarvon. Area, 662 sq. m. On the N. coast, within the Denbighshire borders and between Old Colwyn and Llandulas, is a wedge of land included in Carnarvonshire, owing to a change in the course of the Conwy stream. (Thus, also, Llandudno is partly in the Bangor, and partly in the St Asaph, diocese.) The surface of Denbighshire is irregular, and physically diversified. In the N.W. are the bleak Hiraethog (“longing”) hills, sloping W. to the Conwy and E. to the Clwyd. In the N. are Colwyn and Abergele bays, on the S. the Yspytty (Lat.Hospitium) and Llangwm range, between Denbigh and Merioneth. From this watershed flow the Elwy, Aled, Clywedog, Merddwr and Alwen, tributaries of the Clwyd, Conwy and Dee (Dyfrdwy). Some of the valleys contrast agreeably with the bleak hills, e.g. those of the Clwyd and Elwy. The portion lying between Ruabon (Rhiwabon) hills and the Dee is agricultural and rich in minerals; the Berwyn to Offa’s Dyke (Wâl Offa) is wild and barren, except the Tanat valley, Llansilin and Ceiriog. One feeder of the Tanat forms the Pistyll Rhaiadr (waterspout fall), another rises in Llyncaws (cheese pool) under Moel Sych (dry bare-hill), the highest point in the county. Aled and Alwen are both lakes and streams.

Geology.-The geology of the county is full of interest, as it develops all the principal strata that intervenes between the Ordovician and the Triassic series. In the Ordovician district, which extends from the southern boundary to the Ceiriog, the Llandeilo formation of the eastern slopes of the Berwyn and the Bala beds of shelly sandstone are traversed east and west by bands of intrusive felspathic porphyry and ashes. The same formation occurs just within the county border at Cerrig-y-Druidion, Langum, Bettys-y-coed and in the Fairy Glen. Northwards from the Ceiriog to the limestone fringe at Llandrillo the Wenlock shale of the Silurian covers the entire mass of the Hiraethog and Clwydian hills, but verging on its western slopes into the Denbighshire grit, which may be traced southward in a continuous line from the mouth of the Conway as far as Llanddewi Ystrad Enni in Radnorshire, near Pentre-Voelas and Conway they are abundantly fossiliferous. On its eastern slope a narrow broken band of the Old Red, or what may be a conglomeratic basement bed of the Carboniferous Limestone series, crops up along the Vale of Clwyd and in Eglwyseg. Resting upon this the Carboniferous Limestone extends from Llanymynach, its extreme southern point, to the Cyrnybrain fault, and there forks into two divisions that terminate respectively in the Great Orme’s Head and in Talargoch, and are separated from each other by the denuded shales of the Moel Famma range. In the Vale of Clwyd the limestone underlies the New Red Sandstone, and in the eastern division it is itself overlaid by the Millstone Grit of Ruabon and Minera, and by a long reach of the Coal Measures which near Wrexham are 4½ m. in breadth. Eastward of these a broad strip of the red marly beds succeeds, formerly considered to be Permian but now regarded as belonging to the Coal Measures, and yet again between this and the Dee the ground is occupied—as in the Vale of Clwyd—by the New Red rocks. As in the other northern counties of Wales, the whole of the lower ground is covered more or less thickly with glacial drift. On the western side of the Vale of Clwyd, at Cefn and Plâs Heaton, the caves, which are a common feature in such limestone districts, have yielded the remains of the rhinoceros, mammoth, hippopotamus and other extinct mammals.Coal is mined from the Coal Measures, and from the limestone below, lead with silver and zinc ores have been obtained. Valuable fireclays and terra-cotta marls are also taken from the Coal Measures about Wrexham.

Coal is mined from the Coal Measures, and from the limestone below, lead with silver and zinc ores have been obtained. Valuable fireclays and terra-cotta marls are also taken from the Coal Measures about Wrexham.

The uplands being uncongenial for corn, ponies, sheep and black cattle are reared, for fattening in the Midlands of England and sale in London. Oats and turnips, rather than wheat, barley and potatoes, occupy the tilled land. The county is fairly wooded. There are several important farmers’ clubs (the Denbighshire and Flintshire, the vale of Conway, the Cerrig y druidion, &c.). The London & North-Western railway (Holyhead line), with the Conway and Clwyd valleys branches, together with the lines connecting Denbigh with Ruabon (Rhiwabon), via Ruthin and Corwen, Wrexham with Connah’s Quay (Great Central) and Rhosllanerchrhugog with Glyn Ceiriog (for the Great Western and Great Central railways) have opened up the county. Down the valley of Llangollen also runs the Holyhead road from London, well built and passing through fine scenery. At Nantglyn paving flags are raised, at Rhiwfelen (near Llangollen) slabs and slates, and good slates are also obtained at Glyn Ceiriog. There is plenty of limestone, with china stone at Brymbo. Cefn Rhiwabon yields sandstone (for hones) and millstone grit. Chirk, Ruabon and Brymbo have coal mines. The great Minera is the principal lead mine. There is much brick and pottery clay. The Ceiriog valley has a dynamite factory. Llangollen and Llansantffraid (St Bridgit’s) have woollen manufactures.

The area of the ancient county is 423,499 acres, with a population in 1901 of 129,942. The area of the administrative county is 426,084 acres. The chief towns are: Wrexham, a mining centre and N. Wales military centre, with a fine church; Denbigh; Ruthin, where assizes are held (here are a grammar school, a warden and a 13th-century castle rebuilt); Llangollen and Llanrwst; and Holt, with an old ruined castle. The Denbigh district of parliamentary boroughs is formed of: Denbigh (pop. 6483), Holt (1059), Ruthin (2643), and Wrexham (14,966). The county has two parliamentary divisions. The urban districts are: Abergele and Pensarn (2083), Colwyn Bay and Colwyn (8689), Llangollen (3303), and Llanrwst (2645). Denbighshire is in the N. Wales circuit, assizes being held at Ruthin. Denbigh and Wrexham boroughs have separate commissions of the peace, but no separate quarter-session courts. The ancient county, which is in the diocese of St Asaph, contains seventy-five ecclesiastical parishes and districts and part of a parish.

The county was formed, by an act of Henry VIII., out of the lordships of Denbigh, Ruthin (Rhuthyn), Rhos and Rhyfoniog, which are roughly the Perfeddwlad (midland) between Conway and Clwyd, and the lordships of Bromfield, Yale (Iâl, open land) and Chirkland, the old possessions of Gruffydd ap Madoc,arglwydd(lord) of Dinas Brân. Cefn (Elwy Valley) limestone caves hold the prehistoric hippopotamus, elephant, rhinoceros, lion, hyena, bear, reindeer, &c.; Plâs Heaton cave, the glutton; Pont Newydd, felstone tools and a polished stone axe (like that of Rhosdigre); Carnedd Tyddyn Bleiddian, “platycnemic (skeleton) men of Denbighshire” (like those of Perthi Chwareu). Clawdd Coch has traces of the Romans; so also Penygaer and Penbarras. Roman roads ran from Deva (Chester) to Segontium (Carnarvon) and from Deva to Mons Heriri (Tomen y mur). To their period belong the inscribed Gwytherin and Pentrefoelas (near Bettws-y-coed) stones. The Valle Crucis “Eliseg’s pillar” tells of Brochmael and the Cairlegion (Chester) struggle against Æthelfrith’s invading Northumbrians, A.D. 613, while Offa’s dike goes back to the Mercian advance. Near and parallel to Offa’s is the shorter and mysterious Watt’s dike. Chirk is the only Denbighshire castle comparatively untouched by time and still occupied. Ruthin has cloisters; Wrexham, the Brynffynnon “nunnery”; and at both are collegiate churches. Llanrwst, Gresford and Derwen boast rood lofts and screens; Whitchurch and Llanrwst, portrait brasses and monuments; Derwen, a churchyard cross; Gresford and Llanrhaiadr (Dyffryn Clwyd), stained glass. Near Abergele, known for its sea baths, is theogof(or cave), traditionally the refuge of Richard II. and the scene of his capture by Bolingbroke in 1399.

See J. Williams,Denbigh(1856), and T. F. Tout,Welsh Shires.

DENDERA,a village in Upper Egypt, situated in the angle of the great westward bend of the Nile opposite Kena. Here was the ancient city of Tentyra, capital of the Tentyrite nome, the sixth of Upper Egypt, and the principal seat of the worship of Hathor [Aphrodite] the cow-goddess of love and joy. The old Egyptian name of Tentyra was written ’In·t (Ant), but the pronunciation of it is unknown: in later days it was ’In·t-t-ntr·t, “ant of the goddess,” pronounced Ni-tentôri, whenceΤέντυρα, Τέντυρις. The temple of Hathor was built in the 1st century B.C., being begun under the later Ptolemies (Ptol. XIII.) and finished by Augustus, but much of the decoration is later. A greatrectangular enclosure of crude bricks, measuring about 900 X 850 ft., contains the sacred buildings: it was entered by two stone gateways, in the north and the east sides, built by Domitian. Another smaller enclosure lies to the east with a gateway also of the Roman period.

The plan of the temple may be supposed to have included a colonnaded court in front of the present façade, and pylon towers at the entrance; but these were never built, probably for lack of funds. The building, which is of sandstone, measures about 300 ft. from front to back, and consists of two oblong rectangles; the foremost, placed transversely to the other, is the great hypostyle hall or pronaos, the broadest and loftiest part of the temple, measuring 135 ft. in width, and comprising about one-third of the whole structure; the façade has six columns with heads of Hathor, and the ceiling is supported by eighteen great columns. The second rectangle contains a small hypostyle hall with six columns, and the sanctuary, with their subsidiary chambers. The sanctuary is surrounded by a corridor into which the chambers open: on the west side is an apartment forming a court and kiosk for the celebration of the feast of the New Year, the principal festival of Dendera. On the roof of the temple, reached by two staircases, are a pavilion and several chambers dedicated to the worship of Osiris. Inside and out, the whole of the temple is covered with scenes and inscriptions in crowded characters, of ceremonial and religious import; the decoration is even carried into a remarkable series of hidden passages and chambers or crypts made in the solid walls for the reception of its most valuable treasures. The architectural style is dignified and pleasing in design and proportions. The interior of the building has been completely cleared: from the outside, however, its imposing effect is quite lost, owing to the mounds of rubbish amongst which it is sunk. North-east of the entrance is a “Birth House” for the cult of the child Harsemteu, and behind the temple a small temple of Isis, dating from the reign of Augustus. The original foundation of the temple must date back to a remote time: the work of some of the early builders is in fact referred to in the inscriptions on the present structure. Petrie’s excavation of the cemetery behind the temple enclosures revealed burials dating from the fourth dynasty onwards, the most important being mastables of the period from the sixth to the eleventh dynasties; many of these exhibited a peculiar degradation of the contemporary style of sculpture.

The zodiacs of the temple of Dendera gave rise to a considerable literature before their late origin was established by Champollion in 1822: one of them, from a chamber on the roof, was removed in 1820 to the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Figures of the celebrated Cleopatra VI. occur amongst the sculptures on the exterior of the temple, but they are purely conventional, without a trace of portraiture. Horus of Edfu, the enemy of the crocodiles and hippopotami of Set, appears sometimes as the consort of Hathor of Dendera. The skill displayed by the Tentyrites in capturing the crocodile is referred to by Strabo and other Greek writers. Juvenal, in his seventeenth satire, takes as his text a religious riot between the Tentyrites and the neighbouring Ombites, in the course of which an unlucky Ombite was torn to pieces and devoured by the opposite party. The Ombos in question is not the distant Ombos south of Edfu, where the crocodile was worshipped; Petrie has shown that opposite Coptos, only about 15 m. from Tentyra, there was another Ombos, venerating the hippopotamus sacred to Set.

Back to Index Next