Poles. In the time of king Charles II. there were about 53,000 of that nation in the neighbourhood, and Sir John Denham and Mr. Killigrew were sent to tax them by the poll, with the king of Poland's licence; which having obtained, they brought home £10,000 sterling, besides their charges in the journey. rick the Great, king of Prussia, from those claims which he made on the neighbouring countries; notwithstanding which, Frederick William II., his successor, seized its territories, under pretence of their having been formerly part of Polish Prussia, and possessed himself of the port-duties. In 1784 it was blockaded by his troops, on Dantzic has a noble harbour; and is still an various pretences; but by the interposition of eminent commercial city, although it seems to the empress of Russia, and the king of Poland, have past its meridian: which it enjoyed pro- they were withdrawn; and, a compromise having bably about the time that the president De Thou taken place, the city was restored to its former wrote his Historia sui Temporis, in which he immunities. In 1793 the king of Prussia seized speaks so highly of its commerce and grandeur. on the city itself with the remainder of the proIt was then a republic, claiming a small adjacent vince, which he added to his dominions. Its territory, about forty miles round, under the internal government, however, was undisturbed; protection of the king and republic of Poland. and thus it remained until 1807, when the French Its magistracy and the majority of its inhabitants entered it after a long siege, and held it until the are Lutherans; although other religious profes- peace of 1814, when it returned to Prussia. It sions are tolerated. It has twenty-six parishes, was blockaded for a great length of time prewith many convents and hospitals; and contains viously, and ably, though not very humanely, four dock-yards for building merchantmen. It defended by general Rapp. The German is the has an annual fair, called the fair of St. Dominic, language in common use here. Dantzic is sixtywhich begins on the 5th of August. Accounts eight miles W.S.W. of Konigsberg, thirty southare kept in florins, the value of which is much east of Marienburg, and 235 north-east of less than that of Holland or Germany, being not Berlin. quite equal to 94d. sterling. The chief public buildings are the cathedral, the church of St. Catherine, the Jesuits' college, the town-house, the arsenal, and the court of the nobles. The inhabitants were once computed to amount to 200,000; but later computations, and its memorable connexion with the late continental wars, have reduced them to little above 40,000 or 45,000. The road, or gulf of Dantzic consists of an arm of the sea, sheltered from north winds by a tongue of land on which stands the small town of Hela. Its own shipping is numerous, but the foreign ships constantly resorting to it are more so: of these the British are the most in number, particularly when our corn laws admit of the importation of that commodity; Poland being the greatest magazine for corn in all Europe, and Dantzic the principal port for its exportation. Besides which, Dantzic exports considerable quantities of naval stores, potash, linen, and amber. The value of these, and still more that of corn, is of course fluctuating, but £1,500,000 sterling is considered a fair average of the annual value of its exports. See our article CORN LAWS. It imports, from various parts of Europe, wine, oil, groceries, woollens, silk, iron, copper, lead, skins, and furs. Dr. Basching affirms that, as early as the year 997, Dantzic was a considerable commercial city. The inhabitants have often changed their masters, and have been under the protection of the English, Dutch, French, and Prussians in succession. The city is surrounded with ramparts which mount upwards of 100 brass cannon; and although it could not, through its situation, stand a long siege, by the facility it possesses of inundating the neighbourhood it has offered, as in 1807, an effectual resistance to assailants. In 1734 the inhabitants discovered a remarkable attachment and fidelity towards Stanislaus, king of Poland, not only when his enemies the Russians were at their gates, but even in possession of the city. This city was exempted by Frede DANUBE, the largest and most considerable river in Europe, rising in the Black Forest, near Zunberg, and running north-east through Suabia, by Ulm the capital of that country, then running east through Austria, it passes by Ratisbon, Passau, Ens. and Vienna. It then enters Hungary, and runs south-east from Presburg to Buda, and so on to Belgrade; after which it divides Bulgaria from Morlachia and Moldavia, discharging itself by several channels into the Black Sea, in the province of Bessarabia. Towards the mouth it was called, by the ancients, the Ister; and it is now said that four of the mouths are choked up with sand, and that there are only two remaining. It receives sixty rivers, great and small, in its course; and runs near to, or washes the following cities and towns :-Eschingen, Ulm (where it begins to be navigable), Donawert, Neuburg, Ingoldstadt, Passau, Lintz, Ips, Stein, Vienna, Presburg, Raab or Javarın, Comorn, Waitzen, Pest, Buda, Belgrade, &c. &c. so deep between Buda and Belgrade, that both the Turks and Christians have had men of war upon it; and yet it is not navigable to the Black Sea, on account of the cataracts. The Danube was generally supposed to be the northern boundary of the Roman empire in Europe. It was worshipped as a deity by the Scythians. It abounds in fish, and particularly in a large kind of sturgeon. It is DANUBE, CIRCLE OF THE UPPER, one of the chief divisions of the kingdom of Bavaria. It has on its frontiers the circles of the Rezat, the Regen, and the Iser; Tyrol, the lake of Constance, and Wirtemberg. It contains 4350 square miles, and 470,000 inhabitants, mostly Catholics. The capital is Eichstadt, and the other chief towns are, Neuburg, Nordlingen, Dillingen, Gunzburg, Hochstadt, Pappenheim, Donauwerth, and Ingoldstadt. The surface is in general hilly, diversified with forests and lakes, particularly in the direction of the Suabian Alps: and, besides the Danube, it is watered by the Iller and the Lech. In the low country, corn, hemp, and flax abound, but the majority of the peasantry rear cattle. Iron, coal, and copper, are the mineral productions, and in the towns the manufacture of paper and linen is carried on. DANUBE, CIRCLE OF THE LOWER, another circle of Bavaria, consists of the greater part of Lower Bavaria Proper, and the principality of Passau. It borders on Bohemia, Upper Austria, and the circles of the Iser and Regen. Its area is 4335 square miles, and its inhabitants amount to 396,150. The surface is an alternate succession of mountains, valleys, and plains. It is also traversed by the Inn, the Ilz, and the Iser. The climate is mild except in the north-west; and the tracts on the south side of the Danube are so fertile in corn as to be accounted the granary of Bavaria they have besides an excellent breed of horses. The chief productions are corn, flax, and hemp. In the larger towns there are manufactures of linen and other cloths, which, together with the natural productions, produce a brisk trade in the Danube, the Iser, and the Inn. The capital is Passau. DANVERS, a township of Massachusetts, in Essex county, adjoining Salem on the north-west, in which it was formerly comprehended by the name of Salem village. It consists of two parishes, and was incorporated in 1757. DANVILLE, a post town of the United States, in Kentucky, situated in a large fertile plain on Dick's River. It consists of about eighty houses. Thirty-five miles S. S. W. of Lexington, and 830 from Philadelphia.-Also a township in Ver mont. DAP, or DAPE, v. n., probably the same with DAB, which see. Dr. Johnson says it is a corruption of dip. I have taught him how to catch a chub by dapping with a grasshopper. Walton. DAPAT'ICAL, adj. Lat. dapiteus, sumptuous. Bailey. DAPHNE, in ancient geography, a small district on the lake Samachonites, in the Higher Galilee, very pleasant, and plentifully watered with springs, which feed the Lesser Jordan, whence its name seems to arise, probably in imitation of that near Antioch. DAPHNE, in botany, spurge laurel; a genus of the monogynia order and octandria class of plants; natural order thirty-first, vepreculæ CAL none: COR. quadrifid and marcescent, enclosing the stamina: FRUIT a monospermous berry. Species thirty, of which the following are the most remarkable. 1. D. gnidium, the flax-leaved daphne, is a low deciduous shrub: native of Italy, Spain, and about Montpelier. This species seldom grows higher than three feet. The branches are very slender, and ornamented with narrow, spear-shaped, pointed leaves, much like those of the common flax. The flowers are produced in panicles at the ends of the branches: they are small, come out in June, but are rarely succeeded by seeds in England. 2. D. laureola, the spurge laurel or evergreen daphne; a low evergreen shrub, common in some parts of this kingdom, also in Switzerland and France. This shrub seldom grows more than a yard or four feet high: it sends out many branches from the bottom, and these are covered with a smooth light-brown bark that is very thick. The leaves sit close to the branches, and are produced in such plenty, that they have the appearance, at a small distance, of clusters at the end of the branches. They are spear-shaped, shining, smooth, and thick; their edges are entire. These leaves, when growing under the drip of trees, spread open, and exhibit their green color, pure, and untarnished: when planted singly, in exposed places, they naturally turn back with a kind of twist, and the natural green of the leaf is often alloyed with a brown tinge. This shrub is also valuable on account of the fragrance of its flowers; it blows the beginning of January, and will continue until the middle or latter end of April before the flower falls off. They make but little show; being small, and of a greenish yellow. They are succeeded by oval berries, which are first green, and afterwards black when ripe. 3.D.mezereum, the mezereon, or spurge olive, is a low deciduous shrub. It is a native of Germany, and has also been discovered in some woods near Andover in Hampshire. Of this elegant plant there are four varieties: 1. The white; 2. The pale red; 3. The crimson; and 4. The purple flowering. They are of low growth, seldom arising to more than three or four feet in height, and, therefore, are proper even for the smallest gardens. They will be in bloom in February, nay, sometimes in January, when few trees, especially of the shrubby tribe, present their honors. Each twig has the appearance of a spike of flowers of the most consummate lustre; and, whether beheld near or at a distance, it has a most enchanting appearance, and the air is perfumed with their odors to a considerable distance. Besides the beauty of the leaves, which come out after the flowers are fallen, and which are of a pleasant green color and an oblong figure, it will be full of red berries in June, which continue growing till the autumn. The root of the mezereon was long used in the Lisbon diet-drink, a remedy said to be good for several complaints, particularly nodes and other symptoms resisting the use of mercury. The composition of this diet-drink is described in the Edinburgh Physical Essays, by Dr. Donald Monro. On chewing the root it proves very pungent, and its acrimony is accumulated about the fauces, and is very durable. It is employed chiefly under the form of decoction; and enters the decoctum sarsaparillæ compositum of the London college; but it has also been used in powder combined with some inactive one, as that of liquorice root. It is often usefully combined with mercury. The bark of the root, which is the most acrimonious part, is recommended, in the Pharmacopoeia Chirurgica, to be steeped in vinegar, and applied to promote the discharge of issues. Mezereon has also been of use in tumors and cutaneous eruptions. The whole plant is very corrosive; and six of the berries, it is said, will kill a wolf. A woman gave twelve grains of the berries to her daughter who had a quartan ague; she vomited blood, and died immediately. 4. D. villosa, the hairy-leaved daphne, a low deciduous shrub; native of Spain and Portugal. The stalks are ligneous, about two feet high, and send forth branches alternately from the sides. The leaves are spear-shaped, plane, hairy on hoth sides, and grow on very short foot-stalks. The flowers have very narrow tubes, are small, and make no great show; they come out in June, and are not succeeded by ripe seeds in England. This shrub, in some situations, retains its leaves all winter in such beauty as to cause it to be ranked among the low-growing evergreens; but in others it is sometimes shattered with the first black winds. DAPHNE, in the Pagan mythology, daughter of the river Peneus by the goddess Terra, of whom Apollo became enamoured. This passion had been raised by Cupid; with whom Apollo, proud of his late conquest of the serpent Python, had disputed the power of his darts. Daphne heard with horror his addresses, and endeavoured to avoid his importunity by flight. Apollo pursued her, and Daphne intreated the assistance of the gods, who changed her into a laurel. Apollo crowned his head with the leaves of the laurel, and ordered that that tree should be for ever sacred to his divinity. DAPHNE, a daughter of Tiresias, priestess in the temple of Delphi. She was consecrated to the service of Apollo by the Epigoni, or accord ing to others by the goddess Tellus. She was called Sibyl on account of the wildness of her looks and expressions when she delivered oracles. Her oracles were generally in verse; and Homer, according to some, has introduced much of her poetry in his compositions. DAPHNEPHORIA, a festival in honor of Apollo, celebrated every ninth year by the Bootians. It was then usual to adorn an olive bough with garlands of laurel and other flowers, and place on the top a brazen globe. on which were suspended smaller ones. In the middle were placed a number of crowns and a globe of inferior size, and the bottom was adorned with a saffron-colored garment. The globe on the top represented the sun or Apollo. That in the middle was an emblem of the moon, and the other of the stars. The crowns, which were 365 in number, represented the sun's annual revolution. This bough was carried in solemn procession by a beautiful youth of an illustrious family, and whose parents were both living. He was called dapun popos, daphnephorus, laurelbearer; and at the time executed the office of priest of Apollo. Behind him followed a train of virgins with branches in their hands. In this order the procession advanced as far as the temple of Apollo Ismenius, where supplicatory hymns were sung to the gods. DAPHNIN, in chemistry, the bitter principle of the laurel, first discovered by M. Vauquelin. From the alcoholic infusion of this bark the resin was separated by its concentration. On diluting the tincture with water, filtering, and adding acetate of lead, a yellow daphnate of lead fell, from which sulphureted hydrogen separated the lead, and left the daphnin in small transparent crystals. They are hard, of a grayish color, a bitter taste when heated, evaporate in acrid acid vapors, sparingly soluble in cold, but moderately in boiling water. VOL VII. DAP'IFER, n. s. Lat. and Old Fr. dapifer; a dish carrrier: formerly an officer of considerable rank at our coronations, and those of the kings of France. See CORONATION. In France the barons and great men gave in like manner their attendance at the king's court. Such were the dapifer, butler, chamberlain, constable, chancellor, and others. Mador's Hist. of the Excheq. DAPPER, adj. Belg. dapper; Teut. DAP PERLING, n. s. tappir; which signify brave, valiant; and therefore Dr. Johnson thinks this word is generally applied in contempt. But Minsheu suggests its possible derivation from dapifer (see above), and well defines it, neat; spruce; dainty. Dapperling is a diminutive of dapper. The dapper ditteis that I won't devise To please youths' fancy. Spenser. Shepherd's Calender. And on the tawny sands and shelves, Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves. Milton. A pert dapper spark of a magpie fancied the birds would never be governed till himself should sit at the helm. L'Estrange. DAP'PLE, v. a. & adj., from apple, as pommelé in the French. To variegate; to streak with different colors: that which is so streaked or variegated. Hosses that are dappled turn white; and old squirrels turn grisly. But under him a grey steed did he wield, Whose sides with dappled circles were endight. The gentle day Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey. Bacon. Spenser. DAR, DART, or DACE, n. s., a fish. See DACE. DARABJIRB, or DARAB-GUIERD, a town of Persia, in the province of Kerman, surrounded by groves of lemon and orange trees, yielding such abundance of fruit that the juice is exported to every part of Persia. It is watered by a copious stream. A considerable portion of the town is in ruins, but it contains a population of 10,000 or 15,000, and was formerly very celebrated, being supposed to have been founded by the Darius Nothus of ancient historians. It was invested by Lootf Ali Khan, in the year 1794, but he was compelled to relinquish the siege. Distant 150 miles north-east of Schiras. DARAH, or DRAS, a country of Northern Africa, bounded on the north by Morocco, Gezula, and Tafilet, on the east and the south by the Great Desert, and on the west by Suz. It takes its name from the river Darah, or Dras, which F passes through it, and is absorbed in the desert. The principal produce is indigo and dates. The inhabitants are Arabians and Mahommedans, and some of the districts of the country are dependencies of Morocco. It contains a superior breed of goats. Copper and antimony are found in the mountains, and in the southern part, at Atta and Takka, are places of rendezvous for the great caravan which passes to Timbuctoo from Morocco. DARANTASIA, in ancient geography, a town of the Centrones, in Gallia Narbonensis, between Lemincum and Augusta Prætoria, called Forum Claudii by the Romans. It is now called Moûtiers. DARAPTI, among logicians, one of the modes of syllogisms of the third figure, whose premises are universal affirmatives, and the conclusion is a particular affirmative: thus, DAR Every body is divisible; TI. Therefore, some substance is divisible. DARCET (John), a French physician and chemist, was born in 1725, at Douazit in Guienne. Being discarded by his father, who was a magistrate, for preferring the study of medicine to the profession of the law, he was obliged, while pursuing his studies, to teach Latin for his support, at Bourdeaux. Here he became acquainted with Montesquieu, with whom he went to Paris in 1742; remaining with him as a literary assistant till his death. He afterwards went with the duke de Lauraguais into Germany, and had an opportunity of critically examining the Hartz mines, in Hanover. At the peace he applied himself to technical chemistry, and the improvement of the porcelain manufacture, respecting which he drew up several memoirs presented to the Academy of Sciences in 1766 and 1768. He also demon diameter in the bore, and lie on a paved terrace DARDANIA, in ancient geography, 1. A district of Masia Superior on the south, now the south part of Servia, towards the confines of Macedonia and Illyricum. 2. A small district of Troas, along the Hellespont. 3. The ancient name of Samothracia; from Dardanus, who removed thither. DARDANUS, a son of Jupiter and Electra, who, after the death of his brother Jason, left Samothrace, his native country, and passed into Asia Minor, where he married Batia, the daughter of Teucer king of Teucria. After the death of his father-in-law, he reigned sixty-two years. He built the city of Dardania, and was reckoned the founder of the kingdom of Troy. He was succeeded by Erichthonius. According to some, Corybas, his nephew, accompanied him to Teucria, where he introduced the worship of Cybele. Dardanus taught his subjects to worship Minerva, and he gave them two statues of the goddess, one of which is well known by the name of Palladium. According to Virgil, Dardanus was originally an Italian. DARE, v. a., v. n. & n. s. DAREFUL, adj. DARING, adj. & n. s. DARINGLY, adv. DARINGNESS, n. s. Sax. dearren, Belg. and Teut. darren; Lat. audere; probably from the Greek Oapper, to adventure. To be confident; to be prepared or bold for any purpose; to challenge; to defy. In Shakspeare only do we find dare used as a substantive. In Beaumont and Fletcher's Maid Tragedy, it is used for affrighting or amazing: and this seems to be the meaning in the phrase, to dare a lark or bird. strated, about this time, the combustibility of the diamond; on which subject he addressed the academy in 1770. In 1762 he was made regent of the Faculty of Medicine at Paris; in 1771 he married the daughter of the chemist Rouelle; and in 1774 travelled over the Pyrenees, to study the geology of those mountains. He succeeded Macquer as a member of the Academy of Sciences, and director of the manufactory of Dar ony of ghou that hath a cause aghens a nothir Sevres, and became afterwards inspector-general be demed at wicked men, and not at hooli men? of the assay of coins, and of the gobelin manufactory. His valuable life was preserved during the reign of terror, by Fourcroy, who procured the obliteration of his name from Robespierre's list; and he died in 1801, a member of the Institute, and of the conservative Senate. DARDANELLES, two ancient and strong castles of Turkey, one of which is in Romania, and the other in Natolia, on each side of the ancient Hellespont, now the strait of Gallipoli, which opens a communication between the Archipelago, and the Propontis, or sea of Marmora. The mouth of the canal is four and a half miles over; and the castles which were built in 1659, to secure the Turkish fleet from the insults of the Venetians, are defended on each side by fourteen brass guns with chambers like mortars, to receive granite balls. They are twenty-two feet long, from twenty-five to twenty-eight inches Wicklif. 1 Cor. vi. She was so propre, and swete, and likerous, And he a cat he wolde hire hente anon Chaucer. Cant. Tales. Ah! dame,' quoth he, thou temptest me in DARES, a Phrygian, who lived during the Trojan war, in which he was engaged, and of which he wrote the history in Greek. This history was extant in the time of Elian; the Latin translation, now extant, is universally believed to be spurious, though it is attributed by some to Cornelius Nepos. This translation first made its appearance A. D. 1477, at Milan. Homer mentions Dares, Iliad, lib. v., ver. 10, & 27. DARFUR, DARFOOR, or FUR, a large kingdom of Central Africa, between Abyssinia and Bornou. We are indebted for all our knowledge of it to Mr. Browne, who resided here from 1793 to 1796. According to this writer it is bounded on the east by Kordofan, and the country of the Shilluks, which separates it from Sennaar and Abyssinia; on the west by Bergoo, which divides it from Begherme and Bornou; while the regions to the south are occupied by barbarous nations, extending to, and inhabiting the Mountains of the Moon, and the rise of the Bahr-el-Abiad. It does not seem to contain any great river or lake; during the dry season, therefore, all nature wears a parched and barren appearance; but the rainy season begins in June and continues till September. This is the sowing season, and the king, with his attendants, goes out into the fields, and makes, with his own hand, the first holes in the ground. Water and vegetation are now most abundant. In the south the tamarind, plane, and sycamore are found. The heglig and the nebbek, having very hard wood, are two species peculiar to Darfur. A kind of bean and pea, used not for food but for being strung in beads, seems also indigenous here. Other plants largely produced are the mimosa nilotica, yielding a gum which is carried into Egypt; the water melon, the gourd, Cayenne pepper, hemp, and tobacco. But a small quantity of wheat is raised; the principal grains are the dokn, a species of millet, and another species of larger size, called the kassob. The harvest is conducted by women and slaves, who break off the ears with their hands, and carry it away in baskets; while the straw is left standing. The grain being threshed, is buried in the earth to preserve it. It is ground and boiled for food, and eaten either with milk or the juice of a particular kind of herb, which has a bitter and slightly acid taste. The wild animals are the lion, hyena, leopard, wild buffalo, wolf, and jackall: herds of the jackall and hyena are said to enter the villages at night. Here are also found the rhinoceros, the elephant, the camelopardalis, the hippopotamus, and the crocodile; and still more abundantly the invaluable camel. The horses, asses, and sheep are inferior, but goats and horned cattle are numerous, and their flesh very good. Gold is plentiful both to the east and west, and very fine copper is brought from the south. The rocks consist chiefly of gray granite; containing alabaster, various kinds of marble, sulphur, and fossil salt. The houses are built of clay, with a coating of plaster; the roofs being flat, and formed of light beams of wood, with a clay covering. A house containing two dongas, the apartment for the stowage of property, two knournacs and two sukteias, both sleeping and sitting rooms, is considered fit for the accommodation of persons of supreme rank. Mr. Browne did not conceive that the population could be more than 200,000 souls. Cobbe, the capital, contains about 6000; our traveller heard only of eight other considerable places, Sweini, Kourma, Cubcabia, Ril, Cours, Shoba, Gidid, and Gelle; although a native of the country named to Dr. Seetzen more than fifty. The capital is wholly occupied by foreign merchants, from Egypt and the eastern countries of Dongola, Kordofan, and Sennaar. Other great towns abound also with Arabs and other foreigners On the death of the monarch, the crown, which is perfectly despotic, descends to the eldest son; or is seized by any stronger or more popular member of the royal family. The military have, in this case, the chief influence, and are always much courted. The usual residence of the sultan is at a village near Cobbe, called El Fasher. Mr. Browne, being admitted to an audience of state, found the monarch seated on his throne, under a lofty canopy, composed |