The evidence concerning Eustace is collected by Herren Wendelin Forster and Johann Trost, in their edition of the French poem “Wistasse le moine” (Halle, 1891). See for the battle Sir N. Harris Nicolas,History of the Royal Navy(London, 1847).
The evidence concerning Eustace is collected by Herren Wendelin Forster and Johann Trost, in their edition of the French poem “Wistasse le moine” (Halle, 1891). See for the battle Sir N. Harris Nicolas,History of the Royal Navy(London, 1847).
DOVER,a city and the county seat of Strafford county, New Hampshire, U.S.A., on the Cochecho river, at the head of navigation, 10 m. N.W. of Portsmouth. Pop. (1890) 12,790; (1900) 13,207, of whom 3298 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 13,247. Land area, 26.4 sq m. It is at the intersection of two branches of the Boston & Maine railway, and is served by several interurban electric lines. The street plan is irregular. Dover has a fine city hall of red brick and freestone; a public library containing (1907) 34,000 volumes, the Wentworth hospital; the Wentworth home for the aged, a children’s and an orphans’ home. The Strafford Savings Bank is said to be the largest and oldest savings institution in the state. Dover has long had a considerable commerce, both by rail and by water, that by water being chiefly in coal and building materials. The navigation of the Cochecho river has been greatly improved by the Federal government, at a cost between 1829 and 1907 of about $300,000, and in 1909 there was a navigable channel, 60-75 ft. wide and 7 ft. deep at mean low water, from Dover to the mouth of the river; the mean range of tides is 6.8 ft. The Cochecho river falls 31½ ft. within the city limits and furnishes water-power for factories; among the manufactures are textiles, boots and shoes, leather belting, sash, doors and blinds, carriages, machinery and bricks. In 1905 Dover ranked fourth among the manufacturing cities of the state, and first in manufactures of woollens; the value of the city’s total factory product in that year was $6,042,901. Dover is one of the two oldest cities in the state. In May 1623 a settlement was established by Edward Hilton on Dover Point, about 5 m. S.E. of the Cochecho Falls; the present name was adopted in 1639, and with the development of manufacturing and trading interests the population gradually removed nearer the falls; Hilton and his followers were Anglicans, but in 1633 they were joined by several Puritan families under Captain Thomas Wiggin, who settled on Dover Neck (1 m. above Dover Point), which for 100 years was the business centre of the town. As the settlement was outside the jurisdiction of any province, and as trouble arose between the two sects, a plantation covenant was drawn up and signed in 1640 by forty-one of the inhabitants. Dissensions, however, continued, and in 1641, by the will of the majority, Dover passed under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts and so remained for nearly half a century. The town, between 1675 and 1725, suffered greatly from Indian attacks, particularly from that of the 28th of June 1689 at Cochecho Falls. Dover was first chartered as a city in 1855. Within the original territory of the town were included Newington, set off in 1713, Somersworth (1729), Durham (1732), Medbury (1755), Lee, set off from Durham in 1766, and Rollinsford, set off from Somersworth in 1849.
See Jeremy Belknap,History of New Hampshire(Philadelphia, 1784-1792); andRev. Dr A. H. Quint’s Historical Memoranda of Persons and Places in Old Dover, N.H., edited by John Scales (Dover, 1900).
See Jeremy Belknap,History of New Hampshire(Philadelphia, 1784-1792); andRev. Dr A. H. Quint’s Historical Memoranda of Persons and Places in Old Dover, N.H., edited by John Scales (Dover, 1900).
DOVER,a town of Morris county, New Jersey, U.S.A., on the Rockaway river and the Morris canal, about 40 m. by rail W.N.W. of Hoboken. Pop. (1900) 5938, of whom 947 were foreign-born; (1905) 6353; (1910) 7468. The area of the town is 1.72 sq. m. Dover is at the junction of the main line and the Morris & Essex division of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railway (which has large repair shops here), and is also served by the High Bridge branch of the Central of New Jersey, and by an electric line connecting with neighbouring towns. The town is situated about 570 ft. above sea-level. Building stone, used extensively for railway bridges, and iron ore abound in the vicinity. The river furnishes good water-power, and the town has various manufactures, including stoves and ranges, boilers, bar iron, rivets, steel castings, rock drills, air compressors, silk hose and underwear, organzine or thrown silk, and overalls. The waterworks are owned by the town, water being obtained from wells varying in depth from 193 to 213 ft. Dover was settled as early as 1748, and was separated from Randolph township and incorporated as a town in 1869.
DOVERCOURT,a watering-place in the Harwich parliamentary division of Essex, England, immediately S.W. of Harwich, with a station between Parkeston Quay and Harwich town on the Great Eastern railway, 70 m. N.E. by E. from London. Pop. (1901) 3894. The esplanade and sea-wall front the North Sea, and there is a fine expanse of sand affording good bathing. There is also a chalybeate spa. The scenery of the neighbouring Orwell and Stour estuaries is pleasant. The church, which stands inland in the old village distinguished as Upper Dovercourt, is Early English and later; it formerly possessed a miraculous rood which became an object of pilgrimage of wide repute. It is said to have been stolen and burnt in 1532, three of the four thieves being subsequently taken and hanged.
DOW, LORENZO(1777-1834), American preacher, noted for his eccentricities of dress and manner, was born at Coventry, Connecticut, on the 16th of October 1777. He was much troubled in his youth by religious perplexities, but ultimately joined the Methodists, and in 1798 was appointed a preacher “on trial” in a New York circuit. In the following year, however, he crossed the Atlantic and preached as a missionary to the Catholics of Ireland, and thereafter was never connected officially with the ministry of the Methodist Church, though he remained essentially a Methodist in doctrine. Everywhere, in America and Great Britain, he attracted great crowds to hear and see him, and he was often persecuted as well as admired. In 1805 he visited England, introduced the system of camp meetings, and thus led the way to the formation of the Primitive Methodist Society. Dow’s enthusiasm sustained him through the incessant labours of more than thirty years, during which he preached in almost all parts of the United States. His later efforts were directed chiefly against the Jesuits; indeed he was in general a vigorous opponent of Roman Catholicism. He died in Georgetown, District of Columbia, on the 2nd of February 1834. Among his publications are:Polemical Works(1814);The Stranger in Charleston, or the Trial and Confession of Lorenzo Dow(1822);A Short Account of a Long Travel; with Beauties of Wesley(1823); and theHistory of a Cosmopolite; or the Four Volumes of the Rev. Lorenzo Dow’s Journal, concentrated in One, containing his Experience and Travels from Childhood to 1814(1814; many later editions); this volume also contains “All the Polemical Works of Lorenzo.” The edition of 1854 was entitledThe Dealings of God, Man, and the Devil as exemplified in the Life, Experience and Travels of Lorenzo Dow.
DOW, NEAL(1804-1897), American temperance reformer, was born at Portland, Maine, on the 20th of March 1804. His parents were Quakers and he was educated at the Friends’ School in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He subsequently became a merchant in his native city and rose to a position of importance in its business and political life. His chief interest, however, was in the temperance question, and he early attracted attention as an ardent champion of the prohibition of the sale of intoxicating drinks. He drafted the drastic Maine prohibitory law of 1851. He was mayor of Portland in 1851 and in 1855, and was a member of the Maine legislature in 1858-1859. Early in the Civil War he became colonel of the 13th Maine Volunteer Infantry. He served in General B. F. Butler’s New Orleans expedition, was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers in April 1862, and subsequently commanded for a time the department of Florida. He was twice wounded in the attack on Port Hudson, on the 27th of May 1863, and was taken prisoner, remaining eight months in Libby and other prisons before he was exchanged. After the war he devoted a great part of his time and energy to the extension of the prohibition movement in America and England. Through his exertions the prohibitory amendment was added to the Maine constitution in 1884. In 1880 he was the candidate of the National Prohibition Party for president, polling 10,305 votes. He died at Portland on the 2nd of October 1897.
HisReminiscenceswere published at Portland in 1898.
HisReminiscenceswere published at Portland in 1898.
DOWAGER(from the Old Fr.douagiere, mod.douairière), strictly, a widow in the enjoyment of dower. “Dowager” is also applied to widows of high rank to distinguish them from the wives of their sons, as queen-dowager, dowager-duchess, &c. The title was first used in England of Catherine of Aragon, widow of Arthur, prince of Wales, who was styled princess dowager till her marriage with Henry VIII. By transference the word is used of an elderly lady.
DOWDEN, EDWARD(1843- ), Irish critic and poet, son of John Wheeler Dowden, merchant and landowner, was born at Cork on the 3rd of May 1843, being three years junior to his brother John, who became bishop of Edinburgh in 1886. His literary tastes were shown early, in a series of essays written at the age of twelve. His home education was continued at Queen’s College, Cork, and Trinity College, Dublin; at the latter university he had a distinguished career, becoming president of the Philosophical Society, and winning the vice-chancellor’s prize for English verse and prose, and the first senior moderatorship in ethics and logic. In 1867 he was elected professor of oratory and English literature in Dublin University. His first book,Shakespeare, his Mind and Art(1875), was a revision of a course of lectures, and made him widely known as a critic, being translated into German and Russian; and hisPoems(1876) went into a second edition. HisShakespeare Primer(1877) was also translated into Italian and German. In 1878 he was awarded the Cunningham gold medal of the Royal Irish Academy “for his literary writings, especially in the field of Shakespearian criticism.” Later works by him in this field were hisShakespeare’s Sonnets(1881),Passionate Pilgrim(1883),Introduction to Shakespeare(1893),Hamlet(1899),Romeo and Juliet(1900),Cymbeline(1903), and his article (National Review, July 1902) on “Shakespeare as a Man of Science,” criticizing T. E. Webb’sMystery of William Shakespeare. His critical essays “Studies in Literature” (1878), “Transcripts and Studies” (1888), “New Studies in Literature” (1895) showed a profound knowledge of the currents and tendencies of thought in various ages and countries; but it was hisLife of Shelley(1886) that made him best known to the public at large. In 1900 he edited an edition of Shelley’s works. Other books by him which indicate his interests in literature are hisSouthey(in the “English Men of Letters” series, 1880), his edition ofSouthey’s Correspondence with Caroline Bowles(1881), andSelect Poems of Southey(1895), hisCorrespondence of Sir Henry Taylor(1888), his edition ofWordsworth’s Poetical Works(1892) and of hisLyrical Ballads(1890), hisFrench Revolution and English Literature(1897; lectures given at Princeton University in 1896),History of French Literature(1897),Puritan and Anglican(1900),Robert Browning(1904) andMichel de Montaigne(1905). His devotion to Goethe led to his succeeding Max Müller in 1888 as president of the English Goethe Society. In 1889 he became the first Taylorian lecturer at Oxford, and from 1892 to 1896 was Clark lecturer at Trinity College, Cambridge. To his sagacity in research are due, among other matters of literary interest, the first account of Carlyle’s“Lectures on periods of European culture”; the identification of Shelley as the author of a review (inThe Critical Reviewof December 1814) of a lost romance by Hogg; description of Shelley’s “Philosophical View of Reform”; a MS. diary of Fabre D’Eglantine; and a record by Dr Wilhelm Weissenborn of Goethe’s last days and death. He also discovered a “Narrative of a Prisoner of War under Napoleon” (published inBlackwood’s Magazine), an unknown pamphlet by Bishop Berkeley, some unpublished writings of Hayley relating to Cowper, and a unique copy of theTales of Terror. His wide sympathies and scholarly methods made his influence on criticism both sound and stimulating, and his own ideals are well described in his essay on “The Interpretation of Literature” in hisTranscripts and Studies. As commissioner of education in Ireland (1896-1901), trustee of the National Library of Ireland, secretary of the Irish Liberal Union and vice-president of the Irish Unionist Alliance, he enforced his view that literature should not be divorced from practical life. He married twice, first (1866) Mary Clerke, and secondly (1895) Elizabeth Dickinson West, daughter of the dean of St Patrick’s.
DOWDESWELL, WILLIAM(1721-1775), English politician, was a son of William Dowdeswell of Pull Court, Bushley, Worcestershire, and was educated at Westminster school, at Christ Church, Oxford, and at the university of Leiden. He became member of parliament for the family borough of Tewkesbury in 1747, retaining this seat until 1754, and from 1761 until his death he was one of the representatives of Worcestershire. Becoming prominent among the Whigs, Dowdeswell was made chancellor of the exchequer in 1765 under the marquess of Rockingham, and his short tenure of this position appears to have been a successful one, he being in Lecky’s words “a good financier, but nothing more.” To the general astonishment he refused to abandon his friends and to take office under Lord Chatham, who succeeded Rockingham in August 1766. Dowdeswell then led the Rockingham party in the House of Commons, taking an active part in debate until his death at Nice on the 6th of February 1775. The highly eulogistic epitaph on his monument at Bushley was written by Edmund Burke.
DOWER(through the Old Fr.douairefrom late Lat.dotarium, classical Lat.dos, dowry), in law, the life interest of the widow in a third part of her husband’s lands. There were originally five kinds of dower: (1) at common law; (2) by custom; (3)ad ostium ecclesiae, or at the church porch; (4)ex assensu patris; (5)de la plus belle. The last was a conveyance of tenure by knight service, and was abolished in 1660, by the act which did away with old tenures. Dowerad ostium ecclesiae, by which the bride was dowered at the church porch (where all marriages used formerly to take place), and dowerex assensu patris, by the father of the bridegroom, though long obsolete, were formally abolished by the Dower Act 1834. Dower is governed in the United Kingdom, so far as women married after the 1st of January 1834 are concerned, by the Dower Act 1834, and under it only attaches on the husband’s death to the lands which he actually possessed for an estate of inheritance at the time of his death. It must be claimed within twelve years of the time of its accrual, but only six years’ arrears are recoverable. The wife is also entitled to dower out of equitable estates, but joint estates are exempt. By the act the wife’s dower is placed completely under her husband’s control. It does not attach to any land actually disposed of by him in his lifetime or by his will, nor to any land from which he has declared by deed his wife shall not be entitled to dower. He may also defeat her right, either as to any particular land or to all his lands, by a declaration in his will; while it is subject to all the deceased husband’s debts and contracts, and to any partial estates which he may have created during his life or by his will. A widow tenant in dower may make leases for twenty-one years under the Settled Estates Act 1878. Free-bench is an analogous right in regard to copyhold land; it does not fall within the Dower Act 1834, and varies with the custom of each manor. At common law, and prior to the act of 1834, dower was of a very different nature. The wife’s right attached, while the husband was still living, to any land whereof he was solely seised in possession (excluding equitable and joint estates) for an estate of inheritance at any time during the continuance of the marriage, provided that any child the wife might have had could have been heir to the same, even though no child was actually born. When once this right had attached it adhered to the lands, notwithstanding any sale or devise the husband might make; nor was it liable for his debts. In this way dower proved an obstacle to the free alienation of land, for it was necessary for a husband wishing to make a valid conveyance to obtain the consent of his wife releasing her right to dower. This release was only effected by a fine, the wife being separately examined. Often, by reason of the expense involved, the wife’s concurrence was not obtained, and thus the title of the purchaser was defective during the wife’s lifetime. The acceptance of a jointure by the wife before marriage was, however, destructive of dower, if after marriage she was put to her election between it and dower. By the ingenuity of the old conveyancers, devices, known as “uses to bar dower” (the effect of which was that the purchaser never had at any time an estate of inheritance in possession), were found to prevent dower attaching to newly purchased lands, and so to enable the owner to give a clear title, without the need of the wife’s concurrence, in the event of his wishing, in his turn, to convey the land. All this was, however, swept away by the Dower Act 1834, and a purchaser of land no longer need trouble himself to inquire whether the dower of the wife of the vendor has been barred, or to insist on her concurrence in a fine.
(H. S. S.)
DOWIE, JOHN ALEXANDER(1848-1907), founder of “Zionism,” was born in Edinburgh, and went as a boy to South Australia with his parents. He returned in 1868 to study for the Congregationalist ministry at Edinburgh University, and subsequently became pastor of a church near Sydney, Australia. He was a powerful preacher, and later, having become imbued with belief in his powers as a healer of disease by prayer, he obtained sufficient following to move to Melbourne, build a tabernacle, and found “The Divine Healing Association of Australia and New Zealand.” In 1888 he went to America, preaching and “healing,” and in spite of opposition and ridicule attracted a number of adherents. In 1896 he established “The Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion,” with himself as “First Apostle”; and in 1901, with money liberally contributed by his followers, he founded Zion City, on a site covering about 10 sq. m. on the west shore of Lake Michigan, with a central temple for the Zionist church. In 1903 and 1904, in the course of a visit to the branches of the Zionist movement throughout the world, he appeared in London, but was mobbed. In April 1906 a revolt against his domination took place in Zion City. He was charged with peculation and with practising polygamy, and was deposed, with the assent of his own wife and son. A suit brought by him in the United States district court to recover possession of the Zion City property, valued at two millions sterling, was unsuccessful, and his defalcations were fully proved. Dowie was now broken in health and unmistakably insane; he was struck with paralysis and gradually becoming weaker died in Zion City in March 1907.
DOWLAS,the name given to a plain cloth, similar to sheeting, but usually coarser. It is made in several qualities, from line warp and weft to two warp and weft, and is used chiefly for aprons, pocketing, soldiers’ gaiters, linings and overalls. The finer makes are sometimes made into shirts for workmen, and occasionally used for heavy pillow-cases. The word is spelt in many different ways, but the above is the common way of spelling adopted in factories, and it appears in the same form in Shakespeare’sFirst Part of Henry IV., Act III. scene 3. The modern dowlas is a good, strong and closely woven linen fabric.
DOWN,a maritime county of Ireland, in the province of Ulster, occupying the most easterly part of the island, bounded N. by Co. Antrim and Belfast Lough, E. and S. by the Irish Sea, and W. by Co. Armagh. The area is 607,916 acres, or nearly 950 sq. m. The coast line is indented by several loughs and bays. The largest of these is Strangford Lough, a fine sheet of water studded with 260 islets, 54 of which have names. All are well wooded orrich in pasturage. The lough runs for 10 m. northwards, and the ancient castles and ruined abbeys on some of the islets render the scene one of singular interest and beauty. Farther south Dundrum Bay forms a wider expanse of water. In the south-west Carlingford Lough separates the county from Louth. There are no lakes of importance. Between Strangford and Carlingford loughs the county is occupied by a range of hills known in its south-western portion as the Mourne Mountains, which give rise to the four principal rivers—the Bann, the Lagan, the Annacloy and the Newry. This mass includes, several striking peaks, of which the principal is Slieve Donard, rising finely direct from the sea to a height of 2796 ft., which is exceeded in Ireland only by one peak in the Wicklow range, and by the higher reeks in Killarney. Several other summits exceed 2000 ft.
Holy wells and mineral springs are numerous in Co. Down. These are both chalybeate and sulphurous, and occur at Ardmillan, Granshaw, Dundonnell, Magheralin, Dromore, Newry, Banbridge and Tierkelly. Those of Struell near Downpatrick were accredited with miraculous powers by the natives until recent times, and religious observances of an extravagant nature took place there.
Geology.—The foundation of this county is Silurian rock throughout, the slates and sandstones striking as a whole north-east, but giving rise to a country of abundant small hills. The granite that appears along the same axis in Armagh continues from Newry to Slieve Croob, furnishing an excellent building stone. South of it, the Eocene granite of the Mournes forms a group of rocky summits, set with scarps and tors, and divided by noble valleys, which are not yet choked by the detritus of these comparatively youthful mountains. Basalt dykes abound, being well seen along the coast south of Newcastle. At the head of Strangford Lough, the basalt, possibly as intrusive sheets, has protected Triassic sandstone, which is quarried at Scrabo Hill. A strip of marine Permian occurs on the shore at Holywood. The north-west of the county includes, at Moira, a part of the great basaltic plateaux, with Chalk and Trias protected by them. The haematite of dehomet near Banbridge is well spoken of. Topaz and aquamarine occur in hollows in the granite of the Mournes. The Mourne granite is quarried above Annalong, and an ornamental dolerite is worked at Rosstrevor.
Geology.—The foundation of this county is Silurian rock throughout, the slates and sandstones striking as a whole north-east, but giving rise to a country of abundant small hills. The granite that appears along the same axis in Armagh continues from Newry to Slieve Croob, furnishing an excellent building stone. South of it, the Eocene granite of the Mournes forms a group of rocky summits, set with scarps and tors, and divided by noble valleys, which are not yet choked by the detritus of these comparatively youthful mountains. Basalt dykes abound, being well seen along the coast south of Newcastle. At the head of Strangford Lough, the basalt, possibly as intrusive sheets, has protected Triassic sandstone, which is quarried at Scrabo Hill. A strip of marine Permian occurs on the shore at Holywood. The north-west of the county includes, at Moira, a part of the great basaltic plateaux, with Chalk and Trias protected by them. The haematite of dehomet near Banbridge is well spoken of. Topaz and aquamarine occur in hollows in the granite of the Mournes. The Mourne granite is quarried above Annalong, and an ornamental dolerite is worked at Rosstrevor.
Industries.—The predominating soil is a loam of little depth, in most places intermixed with considerable quantities of stones of various sizes, but differing materially in character according to the nature of the subsoil. Clay is mostly confined to the eastern coast, and to the northern parts of Castlereagh. Of sandy soil the quantity is small; it occurs chiefly near Dundrum. Moor grounds are mostly confined to the skirts of the mountains. Bogs, though frequent, are scarcely sufficient to furnish a supply of fuel to the population. Agriculture is in a fairly satisfactory condition. The bulk of the labouring population is orderly and industrious, and dwell in circumstances contrasting well with those of others of their class in some other parts of Ireland. Tillage land declines somewhat in favour of pasture land. Oats, potatoes and turnips are the principal crops; flax, formerly important, is almost neglected. The breed of horses is an object of much attention, and some of the best racers in Ireland have been bred in this county. The native breed of sheep, a small hardy race, is confined to the mountains. The various other kinds of sheep have been much improved by judicious crosses from the best breeds. Pigs are reared in great numbers, chiefly for the Belfast market, where the large exportation occasions a constant demand for them. Poultry farming is a growing industry. The fisheries, of less value than formerly, are centred at Donaghadee, Newcastle, Strangford and Ardglass, the headquarters of the herring fishery. The chief industries in the county generally are linen manufacture and bleaching, and brewing.
Communications.—The Great Northern railway has an alternative branch route to its main line by Portadown, from Lisburn through Banbridge to Scarva, with a branch from Banbridge to Ballyroney and Newcastle. Newry is on a branch from the Dublin-Belfast line to Warrenpoint on Carlingford Lough. The main line between Lisburn and Portadown touches the north-western extremity of the county. The eastern part of the county is served by the Belfast & County Down railway with its main line from Belfast to Newcastle to Dundrum Bay, and branches from Belfast to Bangor, Comber to Newtownards and Donaghadee, Ballynahinch Junction to Ballynahinch, and Downpatrick to Ardglass and Killough. The Newry Canal skirts the west of the county, and the Lagan Canal intersects the rich lands in the Lagan valley to the north.
Population and Administration.—The population (219,405 in 1891; 205,889 in 1901) decreases slightly. The population in 1891 on the area of the county before the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 was 224,008, for in this case the figures for part of the county borough of Belfast were included. This is worth notice from the comparative point of view, since, whereas emigration to foreign ports is considerable, a large portion of the moving population travels no farther than the metropolis of Belfast. About 39% of the population is of the Presbyterian faith, about 31% Roman Catholic, among whom, as usual, education is in the most backward condition; about 23% are Protestant Episcopalians.
The following are the principal towns:—Newry (pop. 12,405), Newtownards (9110), Banbridge (5006), Downpatrick (2993; the county town), Holywood (3840), Gilford (1199), Bangor (5903), Dromore (2307), Donaghadee (2073), Comber (2095) and Warrenpoint (1817). Other small towns are Portaferry, Rathfryland, Killyleagh, Kilkeel, Ballynahinch, Dundrum, a small port, and Hillsborough, near Dromore, where the castle is the seat of the marquesses of Downshire. There are several popularwatering-placeson the coast, notably Newcastle, Donaghadee, Ardglass and Rosstrevor. On the shore of Belfast Lough are many pleasant residential villages and seats of the wealthy class in Belfast. The county is divided into fourteen baronies, and contains sixty-four parishes. The assizes are held at Downpatrick, and quarter-sessions at the same town and at Banbridge, Newry and Newtownards. The county is in the Protestant diocese of Down, and the Roman Catholic dioceses of Down and Dromore. Down returns four members to parliament—for the north, south, east and west divisions. The borough of Newry returns a member. Previous to the act of Union the county returned fourteen members to the Irish parliament.
History and Antiquities.—The period at which Down was constituted a county is not certain. A district, however, appears to have borne this name before the beginning of the 14th century, but little is known of it even later than this. However, when in 1535 Sir John Perrot undertook the shiring of Ulster, Down and Antrim were excepted as already settled counties. That some such settlement would have been attempted at an early period is likely, as this coast was a place of Anglo-Norman colonization, and to this movement was due the settlement of the baronies of Lecale, the Ards and others.
The county is not wanting in interesting remains. At Slidderyford, near Dundrum, there is a group of ten or twelve pillar stones in a circle, about 10 ft. in height. A very curious cairn on the summit of Slieve Croob is 80 yds. in circumference at the base and 50 at the top, where is a platform on which cairns of various heights are found standing. The village of Anadorn is famed for a cairn covering a cave which contains ashes and human bones. Cromlechs, or altars, are numerous, the most remarkable being the Giant’s Ring, which stands on the summit of a hill near the borders of Antrim. This altar is formed of an unwrought stone 7 ft. long by 6½ broad, resting in an inclined position on rude pillars about 3 ft. high. This solitary landmark is in the centre of an enclosure about a third of a mile in circumference, formed of a rampart about 20 ft. high, and broad enough on the top to permit two persons to ride abreast. Near Downpatrick is a rath, or encampment, three-quarters of a mile in circumference. In its vicinity are the ruins of Saul Abbey, said to have been founded by St Patrick, and Inch Abbey, founded by Sir John de Courcy in 1180. The number of monastic ruins is also considerable. The most ancient and celebrated is the abbey or cathedral of Downpatrick. Dundrum Castle, attributed to the de Courcy family, stands finely above that town, and affords an unusual example (for Ireland) of a donjon keep. The castle of Hillsborough is of Carolean date. There are three round towers in the county, but all are fragmentary.
DOWN,a smooth rounded hill, or more particularly an expanse of high rolling ground bare of trees. The word comes from theOld Englishdún, hill. This is usually taken to be a Celtic word. The Gaelic and Irishdunand Welshdinare specifically used of a hill-fortress, and thus frequently appear in place-names,e.g.Dumbarton, Dunkeld, and in the Latinized termination—dunum,e.g.Lugdunum, Lyons. The Old Dutchduna, which is the same word, was applied to the drifted sandhills which are a prevailing feature of the south-eastern coast of the North Sea (Denmark and the Low Countries), and the derivatives, Ger.Düne, modern Dutchduin, Fr.dune, have this particular meaning. The English “dune” is directly taken from the French. The low sandy tracts north and south of Yarmouth, Norfolk, are known as the “Dunes,” which may be a corruption of the Dutch or French words. From “down,” hill, comes the adverb “down,” from above, in the earlier form “adown,”i.e.off the hill. The word for the soft under plumage of birds is entirely different, and comes from the Old Norwegiandun, cf.ædar-dun, eider-down. For the system of chalk hills in England known as “The Downs” seeDowns.
DOWNES[D(o)unaeus],ANDREW(c. 1549-1628), English classical scholar, was born in the county of Shropshire. He was educated at Shrewsbury and St John’s College, Cambridge, where he did much to revive the study of Greek, at that time at a very low ebb. In 1571 he was elected fellow of his college, and, in 1585, he was appointed to the regius professorship of Greek, which he held for nearly forty years. He died at Coton, near Cambridge, on the 2nd of February 1627/1628. According to Simonds d’Ewes (Autobiography, ed. J. O. Halliwell, i. pp. 139, 141), who attended his lectures on Demosthenes and gives a slight sketch of his personality, Downes was accounted “the ablest Grecian of Christendom.” He published little, but seems to have devoted his chief attention to the Greek orators. He edited LysiasPro caede Eratosthenis(1593);Praelectiones in Philippicam de pace Demosthenis(1621), dedicated to King James I.; some letters (written in Greek) to Isaac Casaubon, printed in theEpistolaeof the latter; and notes to St Chrysostom, in Sir Henry Savile’s edition. Downes was also one of the seven translators of theApocryphafor the “authorized” version of the Bible, and one of the six learned men appointed to revise the new version after its completion.
DOWNING, SIR GEORGE,Bart. (c. 1624-1684), English soldier and diplomatist, son of Emmanuel Downing, barrister, and of Lucy, sister of Governor John Winthrop, was born in England about 1624.1His family joined Winthrop in America in 1638, settling in Salem, Massachusetts, and Downing studied at Harvard College. In 1645 he sailed for the West Indies as a preacher and instructor of the seamen, and arrived in England some time afterwards, becoming chaplain to Colonel John Okey’s regiment. Subsequently he seems to have abandoned his religious vocation for a military career, and in 1650 he was scout-master-general of Cromwell’s forces in Scotland, and as such received in 1657 a salary of £365 and £500 as a teller of the exchequer. His marriage in 1654 with Frances, daughter of Sir William Howard of Naworth, and sister of the 1st earl of Carlisle, aided his advancement. In Cromwell’s parliament of 1654 he represented Edinburgh, and Carlisle in those of 1656 and 1659. He was one of the first to urge Cromwell to take the royal title and restore the old constitution. In 1655 he was sent to France to remonstrate on the massacre of the Protestant Vaudois. Later in 1657 he was appointed resident at The Hague, to effect a union of the Protestant European powers, to mediate between Portugal and Holland and between Sweden and Denmark, to defend the interests of the English traders against the Dutch, and to inform the government concerning the movements of the exiled royalists.
He showed himself in these negotiations an able diplomatist. He was maintained in his post during the interregnum subsequent to the fall of Richard Cromwell, and was thus enabled in April 1660 to make his peace with Charles II., to whom he communicated Thurloe’s despatches, and declared his abandonment of “principles sucked in” in New England, of which he now “saw the error.” At the Restoration, therefore, Downing was knighted (May 1660), was continued in his embassy in Holland, was confirmed in his tellership of the exchequer, and was further rewarded with a valuable piece of land adjoining St James’s Park for building purposes, now known as Downing Street.2Considering his past, he showed a very indecent zeal in arresting in Holland and handing over for execution the regicides Barkstead, Corbet and Okey. Pepys, who characterized his conduct as odious though useful to the king, calls him a “perfidious rogue,” and remarks that “all the world took notice of him for a most ungrateful villain for his pains.”3On the 1st of July 1663 he was created a baronet. Downing had from the first been hostile to the Dutch as the commercial rivals of England. He had strongly supported the Navigation Act of 1660, and he now deliberately drew on the fatal and disastrous war. During its continuance he took part at home in the management of the treasury, introduced the appropriation of supplies, opposed strongly by Clarendon as an encroachment on the prerogative, and in May 1667 was made secretary to the commissioners, his appointment being much welcomed by Pepys.4He had been returned for Morpeth in the convention parliament of April 1660, a constituency which he represented in every ensuing parliament till his death, and he spoke with ability on financial and commercial questions. He was appointed a commissioner of the customs in 1671. The same year he was again sent to Holland to replace Sir William Temple, to break up the policy of the Triple alliance and incite another war between Holland and England in furtherance of the French policy. His unpopularity there was extreme, and after three months’ residence Downing fled to England, in fear of the fury of the mob. For this unauthorized step he was sent to the Tower on the 7th of February 1672, but released some few weeks afterwards. He defended the Declaration of Indulgence the same year, and made himself useful in supporting the court policy. He died in July 1684. Downing Street, London, is named after him, while Downing College, Cambridge, derived its name from his grandson, the 3rd baronet. The title became extinct when the 4th baronet, Sir Jacob G. Downing, died in 1764.
Downing was undoubtedly a man of great political and diplomatic ability, but his talents were rarely employed for the advantage of his country and his character was marked by all the mean vices, treachery, avarice, servility and ingratitude. “A George Downing” became a proverbial expression in New England to denote a false man who betrayed his trust.5He published a large number of declarations and discourses, mostly in Dutch, enumerated in Sibley’s biography, and wrote also “A True Relation of the Progress of the Parliament’s Forces in Scotland” (1651),Thomason Tracts, Brit. Mus., E 640 (5).
1The date of his birth is variously given as 1623, 1624 and 1625 (Sibley’sHarvard Graduates, 1883).2Cal. of St Pap.;Dom.(1661-1662) p. 408;Notes and Queries, ix. ser. vii. 92.3Diary, March 12, 17, 1662.4Ib. May 27, 1667.5Sibley, i. 46.
1The date of his birth is variously given as 1623, 1624 and 1625 (Sibley’sHarvard Graduates, 1883).
2Cal. of St Pap.;Dom.(1661-1662) p. 408;Notes and Queries, ix. ser. vii. 92.
3Diary, March 12, 17, 1662.
4Ib. May 27, 1667.
5Sibley, i. 46.
DOWNMAN, JOHN(1750-1824), English portrait painter, was the son of Francis Downman, attorney, of St Neots, by Charlotte Goodsend, eldest daughter of the private secretary to George I.; his grandfather, Hugh Downman (1672-1729), having been the master of the House of Ordnance at Sheerness. He is believed to have been born near Ruabon, educated first at Chester, then at Liverpool, and finally at the Royal Academy schools, and he was for a while in the studio of Benjamin West. His exquisite pencil portrait drawings, slightly tinted in colour, usually from the reverse, are well known, and many of them are of remarkable beauty. Several volumes of sketches for these drawings are still in existence. Downman is believed to have been “pressed” for the navy as a young man, and on his escape settled down for a while in Cambridge, eventually coming to London, and later (1804) going to reside in Kent in the village of West Malling. He afterwards spent some part of his life in the west of England, especially in Exeter, and then travelled all over the country painting his dainty portraits. In 1818 he settled down at Chester, finally removing to Wrexham, where his only daughter married and where he died and was buried. He was an associate of the Royal Academy. The Downman family is usually known as a Devonshire one, but the exact connexion between the artistand the Devonshire branch has not been traced. Many of his portraits have attached to them remarks of considerable importance respecting the persons represented.
SeeJohn Downman, his Life and Works, by G. C. Williamson (London, 1907).
SeeJohn Downman, his Life and Works, by G. C. Williamson (London, 1907).
(G. C. W.)
DOWNPATRICK,a market town and the county town of Co. Down, Ireland, in the east parliamentary division, 28 m. S.S.E. of Belfast by the Belfast & County Down railway. Pop. (1901) 2993. It stands picturesquely on a sloping site near the south-west extremity of Strangford Lough. It is the seat of the Protestant and Roman Catholic dioceses of Down. St Patrick founded the see about 440, but the present Protestant cathedral dates from 1790, the old structure, after suffering many vicissitudes, having been in ruins for 250 years. The cathedral is said to contain the remains of its founder, together with those of St Columba and St Bridget. A round tower adjoining it was destroyed in 1790. A small trade is carried on at Strangford Lough by means of vessels up to 100 tons, which discharge at Quoile quay, about 1 m. from the town; but vessels of larger tonnage can discharge at a steamboat quay lower down the Quoile. The imports are principally iron, coal, salt and timber; the exports barley, oats, cattle, pigs and potatoes. Linen manufacture is also carried on, and brewing, tanning and soap-making give considerable employment. The Down corporation race-meeting is important and attracts visitors from far outside the county. The rath or dun from which the town is named remains as one of the finest in Ireland. It was called Rath-Keltair, or the rath of the hero Keltar, and covers an area of 10 acres. In the vicinity of the town are remnants of the monastery of Saul, a foundation ascribed to St Patrick, and of Inch Abbey (1180), founded by Sir John de Courcy. Three miles south is a fine stone circle, and to the south-east are the wells of Struell, famous as miraculous healers among the peasantry until modern times. The town is of extreme antiquity. It was calledDun-leth-glas, the fort of the broken fetters, from the miraculous deliverance from bondage of two sons of Dichu, prince of Lecale, and the first convert of St Patrick. It is theDunumof Ptolemy, and was a residence of the kings of Ulster. It was already incorporated early in the 15th century. It returned two members to the Irish parliament until the Union in 1800, and thereafter one to the Imperial parliament until 1832.
DOWNS,the name of a system of chalk hills in the south-east of England. For the etymology of the word and its meaning seeDown. It is most familiar in its application to the two ranges of the North and South Downs. Of these the North Downs are confined chiefly to the counties of Surrey and Kent, and the South to Sussex. Each forms a well-defined long range springing from the chalk area of Dorsetshire and Hampshire, to which, though broken up into a great number of short ranges and groups of hills, the general name of the Western Downs is given. The Downs enclose the rich district of the Weald (q.v.).
The North Downs, extending from a point near Farnham to the English Channel between Dover and Folkestone, have a length along the crest line, measured directly, of 95 m. The crest, however, is not continuous, as the hills are breached by a succession of valleys, forming gaps through which high-roads and railways converge upon London. The rivers flowing through these gaps run northward, and, except in the extreme east, are members of the Thames basin. These breaching valleys, which are characteristic of the South Downs also, “carry us back to a time when the greensand and chalk were continued across, or almost across, the Weald in a great dome.” The rivers “then ran down the slopes of the dome, and as the chalk and greensand gradually weathered back ... deepened and deepened their valleys, and thus were enabled to keep their original course.”1The western termination of the North Downs is the Hog’s Back, a narrow ridge, little more than a quarter of a mile broad at the summit, sloping sharply north and south, and reaching 489 ft. in height. At the west end a depression occurs where the rivers Wey and Blackwater closely approach each other; and it is thought that the Wey has beheaded the Blackwater, which formerly flowed through the gap. In this depression lies Farnham, the first of a series of towns which have grown up at these natural gateways through the hills. The Wey, flowing south of the Hog’s Back, breaches the Downs at its eastern extremity, the town of Guildford standing at this point. The next gap is that of the Mole, in which Dorking lies. Between Guildford and Dorking the main line of the Downs reaches a height of 712 ft., but a lateral depression, followed by the railway between these towns, marks off on the south a loftier range of lower greensand, in which Leith Hill, famous as a view-point, is 965 ft. in height. East of the Mole the northward slope of the Downs is deeply cut by narrow valleys, and the depression above Redhill may have been traversed by a stream subsequently beheaded by the Mole. A height of 868 ft. is attained east of Caterham. The next river to break through the main line is the Darent, but here another lateral depression, watered by the headstreams of that river, marks off the Ragstone Ridge, south of Sevenoaks, reaching 800 ft. The lateral depression is continued along the valleys of streams tributary to the Medway, so that nearly as far as Ashford the Downs consist of two parallel ranges; but the Medway itself breaches both, Maidstone lying in the gap. The elevation now begins to decrease, and 682 ft. is the extreme height east of the Medway. The direction, hitherto E. by N., trends E.S.E. The final complete breach is made by the Great Stour, between Ashford and Canterbury, east of which a height of 600 ft. is rarely reached. The valley of the Little Stour, however, offers a well-marked pass followed by the Folkestone-Canterbury railway, and the North Downs finally fall to the sea in the grand white cliffs between Dover and Folkestone.
The South Downs present similar characteristics on a minor scale. Springing from the main mass of the chalk to the south of Petersfield they have their greatest elevation (889 ft. in Butser Hill) at that point, and extend E. by S. for 65 m. to the English Channel at the cliffs of Beachy Head. As in the case of the North Downs a succession of rivers breach the hills, and a succession of towns mark the gaps. These are, from east to west, the Arun, with the town of Arundel, the Adur, with Shoreham, the Ouse, with Lewes and Newhaven, and the Cuckmere, with no considerable town. The steep slope of the South Downs is northward towards the Weald. The southern slopes reach the coast east of Brighton, but west of this town a flat coastal belt intervenes, widening westward. Apart from the complete breaches mentioned, the South Downs, scored on the south with many deep vales, are generally more easily penetrable than the North Downs, and the coast is less continuous.
Smooth convex curves are characteristic of the Downs; their graceful and striking outline gives them an importance in the landscape in excess of their actual height; their flanks are well wooded, their summits covered with close springy turf.
“The Downs” is also the name of a roadstead in the English Channel off Deal between the North and the South Foreland. It forms a favourite anchorage during heavy weather, protected on the east by the Goodwin Sands and on the north and west by the coast. It has depths down to 12 fathoms. Even during southerly gales some shelter is afforded, though under this condition wrecks are not infrequent.