pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
DUCHY, in Geography, an appellation given to the dominions of a duke.
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Duchy Court, a court where all matters belonging to the duchy or county palatine of Lancaster are decided by decree of the chancellor of that court. The origin of this court was in the time of Henry . IV. who obtained the crown by the deposition of Richard II. and having taken the duchy of Lancaster by descent, in right of his mother, became seised thereof as king, not as duke; so that all the liberties, franchises, and jurisdictions of the said county passed from the king by his great seal, and not by livery or attornment, as the earldom of March, and other possessions, which descended to him by other ancestors than the king’s did. Henry IV. by authority of parliament, dissevered the possessions, liberties, &c. of the said duchy from the crown, but Edward IV. restored them to their former nature. The officers belonging to this court arc, a chancellor, attorney-general, receiver-general, clerk of the court, and messenger, besides the assistants, such as an attorney in the exchequer, another in chancery, and four counsellors.
DUCK. See Ornithology. Duck, Stephen, originally a common thrasher in a barn, was born about the beginning of the eighteenth century. By his poetical talents he first attracted the notice of some gentlemen at Oxford; and having been recommended to Queen Caroline, he, under her patronage, took orders, and was preferred to the living of Byfleet in Surrey. Swift, who, one would have thought, might have overlooked such an object as Duck, but whose splenetic humour prompted him to be satirical for any reason or none, chose to feel piqued at the generosity displayed by the queen, and under the influence of this feeling wrote the following bitter Epigram “on Stephen Duck the thresher and favourite poet

The thresher Duck could o’er the queen prevail;

The proverb says, “No fence against a flail.” From threshing corn he turns to thresh his brains, 1 For which her majesty allows him grains.

Though ’ tis confess’d that those who ever saw

His poems, think them all not worth a straw.

Thrice happy Duck, employ’d in threshing stubble!

Thy toil is lessened, and thy profits double.

Duck’s abilities, however, were much more conspicuous in his primitive station than in his advancement, though it is said he was not disliked as a preacher. At length, having fallen into a low-spirited melancholy way, probably owing to his change of life, and the cessation of his usual labour, he in a fit of insanity threw himself from a bridge near Reading, into the Thames, and was drowned. This unhappy accident occurred in the year 1756.
DUCKING, plunging in water, a diversion anciently practised among the Goths by way of exercise; but among the Celts, Franks, and ancient Germans, it was a sort of punishment for persons of scandalous lives.
DUCKINSHAHABAZPOOR, a large island of Hindustan, in the province of Bengal, situated at the junction of the great river Meyna with the sea, thirty miles in length by fifteen in average breadth. It lies low, and during the rains is almost wholly submerged.
DUCKUP, at sea, is a term used by the steersman when the mainsail, foresail, or spritsail hinders his seeing to steer by a landmark; upon which he calls out, Duchup the clew-lines of these sails, that is, haul the sails out of the way.
DUCT, in general, denotes any tube or canal. It is a term much used by anatomists.
DUCTILITY, in Physics, a property possessed by certain solid bodies; it consists in their yielding to percussion or pressure, and receiving different forms, without breaking.

Some bodies are ductile both when they are hot and when they are cold, indeed in all circumstances. Such are metals, particularly gold and silver. Other bodies arc ductile only when heated to a sufficient degree; such as wax and other substances of that kind, and glass. Other bodies, again, particularly some kinds of iron, called by the workmen red short, brass, and some other metallic mixtures, are ductile only when cold, and brittle when hot. The degrees of heat requisite to produce ductility in bodies of the first kind, vary according to their different natures. In general the heat of the body must be such as is sufficient to reduce it to a middle state, betwixt solidity and perfect fusion. As wax, for instance, is fusible with a very small heat, it may be rendered ductile by a still smaller; and glass, which requires a most violent heat for its perfect fusion, cannot acquire its greatest ductility until it is made perfectly red hot, and almost ready to fuse. Lastly, some bodies are made ductile by the absorption of a fluid. Such are certain earths, particularly clay. When these earths have absorbed a sufficient quantity of water to bring them into a middle state betwixt solidity and fluidity, that is, to the consistence of a considerably firm paste, they have then acquired their greatest ductility. Water has precisely the same effect upon them in this respect that fire has upon the bodies above mentioned.
DUERO, or Douro, a river of Spain and Portugal. It rises in the Sierra de Urbion, not far from Durcula, in Soria, and empties itself into the ocean at St João da Foz, below Oporto. Its course through Spain is 306 miles, and through Portugal 185. In the latter kingdom it is not navigable more than seventy-four miles, on account of the rapidity of its course. The streams which flow into it are the Pisuerga, the Esla, the Adaja, the Valderaguary, the Yeltes, the Agueda, the Coa, the Sabor, the Tua, and the Tamaga.
DUFF’S GROUP, a range of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about eleven in number, extending fourteen or fifteen miles in a direction north-west to south-east. These islands were discovered by Captain Wilson in the course of his missionary voyage in the ship Duff. The largest two were covered with wood, the others appeared barren. The natives appeared shy and apprehensive of strangers.
DUGDALE, Sir William, an eminent English antiqua[7:8:255]ry and historian, was born at Shustoke, near Coleshill, in Warwickshire, in 1605. He was introduced into the herald’s office by Sir Christopher Hatton, and ascended gradually through all the degrees, until he became garter principal king at arms. His chief work is the Monastico An· glieanum, in 3 vols. folio, containing the charters and descriptions of all the English monasteries, adorned with engravings; a work in which he was assisted by Mr Roger Dodsworth. Nor are his antiquities of Warwickshire less esteemed. He wrote likewise, the History of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, 1658, folio; a History of Embanking and Draining, London, 1662, 1675, 1676, folio; a Baronage of England; and he completed the second volume of Sir Henry Spelman’s Councils, with a second part of his Glossary. He died on the 10th February 1686, in the eighty-first year of his age. His son, Sir John, was norroy king at arms, and published a Catalogue of the English nobility. His daughter Elizabeth was married to Elias Ashmole.
DUILLIUS Nepos, C., a Roman consul, the first who obtained a victory over the naval power of Carthage, in the year of Rome 492. He captured fifty of the enemy’s ships, and was honoured with a naval triumph, the first of the kind ever granted at Rome. The senate rewarded his valour by permitting him to have music playing and torches lighted at the public expense every day while he was at supper. Some medals were struck in commemoration of his victory; and there exists a column at Rome which was erected on the occasion.
DUISBURG, a city of the Prussian province of Westphalia, on the river Ruhr. It is an active manufacturing place, and carries on a regular trade by weekly passage vessels with Arnheim, Dort, and other places in Holland. There was formerly a university here, which is now reduced to a gymnasium. In 1817 it contained 4510 inhabitants, but their number has since increased.
DUKLA, a city in the circle of Jaslow, of the Austrian kingdom or province of Galicia. It stands on the river Ja-sielka, on the great road to Hungary, in a fertile district, in which are manufactories for cloth, flannels, and baizes.
DULVERTON, a market-town in the hundred of Willer-ton and Freemanners, in the county of Somerset, 168 miles from London. The town is well built, and clean, having two streams of water running through it. It was formerly a manufacturing town for coarse woollen goods, but the trade has greatly declined. The market is held on Saturday[7:8:258]. The inhabitants amounted in 1801 to 1049, in 1811 to 1035, in 1821 to 1127, and in 1831 to 1285.
DUMARSAIS, Cesar Chesnau, a French writer, who distinguished himself as a philosophical grammarian, was born at Marseilles on the 7th of July 1676. His life consisted of a succession of misfortunes; and his merits, considerable as they were, seem to have been entirely overlooked and neglected by his contemporaries. His father died while he was yet an infant; and his mother, by her extravagance, dissipated his patrimony. He was educated in his native town by the Fathers of the Oratory, into whose congregation he entered, but left them at the age of twenty-five, and repaired to Paris, where he married, and was admitted an advocate in 1704. He soon, however, quitted the bar; separated from his wife, to whom he gave up the little he possessed, and went to reside with the President de Maisons, in the capacity of tutor to his son. But his prospects in this quarter were blasted by the death of his patron, by whose family he was not treated with that respect and gratitude which were due to his talents and his services. He was afterwards successively tutor to the son of Law, the famous projector, and of the Marquis de Beaufremont. It was during this last period that he published the results of his grammatical investigations, which were received with great coldness. At a subsequent period he opened an establishment for education in the suburb St Victor, which scarcely afforded him the means of subsistence; and he expired, at length, under the accumulated pressure of years, infirmities, poverty, and neglect, on the 11th of June 1756, at the age of eighty.

Dumarsais possessed no ordinary talents. His researches are distinguished alike by their accuracy, ingenuity, and depth. As a man, he combined the greatest purity of morals and simplicity of character with a rare degree of manly fortitude in the midst of his misfortunes; yet during the greater part of his life he was left to languish in obscurity, and his merits scarcely attracted any notice until nearly half a century after his death. His works on philosophy and general grammar, however, are worthy of attention. Of these, the best is his Treatise on Tropes or Figures. D’Alembert and Voltaire have both paid a just and discriminating tribute to the merits of Dumarsais. An edition of his works was collected by Duchosal and Millon, and published at Paris in 1797, in seven vols. 8vo.

In the year 1804, the French Institute proposed a prize for an Eloge on Dumarsais, which was gained by Μ. Degerando, whose work was published at Paris, -1805, in 8vo. A previous and well-written Eloge on the same author, by D’Alembert, is to be found in the Melanges de Littérature, and prefixed to the above-mentioned edition of the Works of Dumarsais. See also Biographie Universelle.
DUMBLANE, a town of Scotland, in the south-western portion of Perthshire. It is delightfully situated on the eastern bank of the river Allan, at the distance of forty-one[7:8:261] miles from Edinburgh. In the middle ages this place was distinguished as being the seat of a convent of Culdees, and continued to be so till about the twelfth century. Dumblane was constituted the seat of a bishop by David I. Amongst those who, subsequently to the reformation, filled the chair, was the celebrated philanthropist Robert Leighton, who bequeathed his valuable library to the cathedral and diocese. It is still in existence, and has been augmented by several donations. Dumblane is at present only a village, consisting of a single street of an old-fashioned character, with various diverging lanes. A mineral well in the neighbourhood causes an influx of visitors during the summer months. The chief attraction of Dumblane is what was once the cathedral of the bishop, the choir of which is now the parish church. It is a large Gothic edifice, with a steeple of modern erection of 128 feet in height. Besides the parish church, there is a dissenting meeting-house. There is here a weekly market, and there are also four annual fairs. The population of the town and parish amounted in 1821 to 3135, and in 1831 to 3228.
DUMBNESS, the privation of speech. See Deaf and Dumb.
DUMBOWITSKA, a circle in the western part of Wallachia, between the rivers Ardfisch and AIuta. It is watered by the streams of the Ardfisch, Jalomitza, and Dumbowitska, and contains one city, Tergovst, and 164 villages.
DUMPALIS, a spacious bay on the west coast of the island of Celebes, into which flow two considerable rivers. Good anchorage is found here, and the bay is much resorted to on account of the great quantity of fish which are found in it. At the bottom of this bay is situated the town of Dumpalis, which has a considerable trade. The inland merchants bring gold dust and a particular drug, which they dispose of to the inhabitants in the town, receiving in return tobacco, opium, white cloths, iron knives, and creeses. The natives here fight with poisoned barbed arrows, blown out of black ebony tubes; and are sure to kill at the distance of twenty yards.
DUN, or Burgh, the name of an ancient species of building, of a circular form, common in the Orkney and Zetland Islands, the Hebrides, and the northern parts of Scotland. The latter term points out the founders, who at the same time bestowed on them their native name of borg, a Sueo-Gothic word signifying a defence Qr castle; and the Highlanders universally apply to these places the Celtic name dun, signifying a hill defended by a tQwer 1 which [7:8:268]plainly points out their use. They are confined to the countries once subject to the crown of Norway. With few exceptions, they are built within sight of the sea, and several of them within sight of each other; so that, on a signal by fire, by flag, or by trumpet, they could give notice of approaching danger, and afford mutual support. In the Orkney and Zetland Islands they are most frequently called wart or ward hills, which shows that they were garrisoned. They had their wardmadher, or watchman, a sort of sentinel, who stood on the top, and challenged all who came in sight. The gackman was an officer of the same kind, who not only had to watch against surprise, but was also bound to give notice if he saw any ships in distress. He was allowed a large horn of generous liquor, which he had always by him, to keep up his spirits. Along the Orkney and Zetland shores they almost formed a chain, and by that means not only kept the natives in subjection, but were situated commodiously for covering the landing of their countrymen, who were perpetually roving on piratical expeditions. These towers were even made use of as state prisons; for we learn from Torfaeus, that after Sueno had surprised Paul, count of Caithness, he carried him into Sutherland, and confined him there in a Norwegian tower. Out of this kingdom no buildings similar to these are to be found anywhere, except in Scandinavia. On the mountain of Swalberg in Norway is one; on the Stir-biskop, at Upsal, in Sweden, is another; and on Umsborg, in the same kingdom, is a third.

These towers vary in their inner structure, but externally they are universally the same, though some have an addition of strength on the outside. The burgh of Culs-wick, in Zetland, notwithstanding it is built on the top of a hill, is surrounded with a dry ditch thirteen feet broad; that of Snaburgh, in Unst, has both a wet and a dry ditch, the first being cut with great labour through the solid rock. The burgh of Moura is surrounded by a wall, now reduced to a heap of stones, and the inside is cylindrical, not tapering, as is usual with others. The burgh of Hog-ster, upon an isle in a loch of the same name, has also the addition of a wall; a peculiarity in a causeway to join it to the main land, and a singular internal structure. Numbers of little burghs, with single cells, are scattered about these islands, in the neighbourhood of the greater, and were probably built by the poorer sort of people, in order to enjoy their protection. A multitude of places in these islands have the addition of burgh to their names, notwithstanding there is not a vestige of a tower near them, the materials having long since been carried away and applied to various uses.
DUNABURG, a circle in the Russian government of Witebsk or Witepsk, formerly a part of Lithuania. It is bounded on the north by Livonia, on the east by Rcsitka, on the south-east by Wilna, and on the west by Courland. It is watered by the Düna, which is joined by other streams, and fertilizes the land, which is highly productive of rye and flax, and maintains a large stock of cattle. It contains three cities, one town, and 1078 villages, with a population in 1797 of 47,785, in 1827 of 61,500 inhabitants. The extent is 328 square miles, or 190,000 acres. The chief city, of the same name, is situated on the Düna. It was formerly fortified. ^It contains a Greek and a Catholic church, and 4000 inhabitants.
DUNCAN’S Sugar Loaf, an, island in the Mergui Archipelago, of a triangular form, about six miles in circuit, near the south coast of the island of St Matthew. Lat. 9. 42. N.
DUNCHURCH, a small town of the hundred of Knight-low, in the county of Warwick, eighty-one miles from London. It is situated on what was once a heath, celebrated for an ancient legend of the Dun Cow, some of whose bones are still affirmed to be preserved there. The inhabitants amounted in 1801 to 1087, in 1811 to 789, in 1821 to 947, and in 1831 to 1029.
DUNCOMBE, William, younger, son of John Duncombe of Stocks, in Hertfordshire, was born in London in January 1690. He published in 1722 a translation of Racine’s Atltalie, which was well received by the public, and has gone through three editions. In 1724 he was editor of the works of Mr Needier; in 1735, of the poems of his deceased brother-in-law Mr Hughes, two vols. 12nio; in 1737, of the miscellanies of his younger brother Mr Jabez Hughes, for the benefit of his widow, in one volume 8vo; and in 1745, of the works of the Rev. Samuel Say, in one vol. 4to. In 1726 he married the only sister of Mr John Hughes, whom he long survived. In 1734 his tragedy of Lucius Junius Brutus was acted at Drury Lane Theatre. It was published in 1735, and again in 1747. The works of Horace, in English verse, by several hands, were published by him in two vols. 8vo, with notes, in 1757; and a second edition, in four vols. 12mo, with many imitations, appeared in 1762. In 1763 he collected and republished “Seven Sermons by Archbishop Herring, on public occasions, with a biographical preface.” He died in February 1769, at the age of eighty.
DUNDALK, a seaport town of Ireland, in the county of Louth, about forty miles from Dublin. It is a large and thriving town, with a wide street nearly a mile in length, and a very fine market-house near the entrance from Dublin. In the reign of Edward II. it was a royal city, the last we read of where a monarch of all Ireland was actually crowned and resided. It was formerly very strong, and had many towers and small castles in it. The bay has good moorings at all times, and from four to above eight fathoms water, with very good landmarks, either for bringing up to or making the harbour. In crossing the bar at high water, or ordinary neap tides, there is from fifteen to eighteen feet water. The manufacture of cambric was established in this town in 1737, for the first time in Ireland, and it has ever since flourished. Muslin is also made here, and corn is exported. It is the assize town of the county. The population amounts to 10,078.
DUNGALLY, a town on the western coast of the island of Celebes, situated on the south point of land which forms one side of Parlow Bay, which affords good anchorage. It is defended by a fort, and carries on a considerable trade.
DUNGANNON, a town of Ireland, in the county of Tyrone, situated on a hill. It is of some extent, and contains a charter school liberally endowed, also barracks for a troop of horse. This place is said to have been the chief residence of the O’Neils, monarchs of Ulster. There are coal mines in the neighbourhood of the town. It lies seventy-two miles north-west of Dublin. The population amounts to 3515.
DUNGARVON, a town of Ireland, in the county of Waterford, situated on the south side of a bay of the same name. The principal article of export is potatoes. This place is much resorted to in summer for sea-bathing. It lies twenty-two miles west-south-west of Waterford, and a hundred miles south-south-west of Dublin. The population amounts to 6519.
DUNGYE, a town of Hindustan, province of Bahar, district of Shahabad, sixty-eight miles south-west from Patna. Long. 84. 17. E. Lat. 24. 55. N.
DUNKELD, a town of Scotland, in the county of Perth, situated on the northern bank of the river Tay, in a truly romantic spot, embosomed among lofty crags, now almost wholly covered with wood. It is the chief market-town of the Central Highlands. The immediate vicinity has been greatly improved by the Dukes of Atholl, particularly by the last, under whom much was done not merely to beautify his own residence, but also to enrich the scenery which encloses Dunkeld, particularly on the north. He also commenced building a new mansion, or rather palace, on an extensive and magnificent scale; but the building was interrupted by his death, and has not yet, it seems, been resumed.

Dunkeld is of great antiquity. It was the capital of ancient Caledonia. About the dawn of Christianity, a Pictish king made it the seat of religion, by erecting there a monastery of Culdees, which king David I., in 1130, converted into a cathedral, and it ranked as the first in Scotland. Since the Reformation it has in a great measure fallen into ruins. The choir, however, is still entire, and converted into the parish church, which has of late been very elegantly fitted up. On the north side of the choir is the charter-house, built by Bishop Lauder in 1469, the vault of which is now used as the burying-place of the Atholl family. In the porch of the present church is the tomb of Alexander Stuart, earl of Buchan, third son of Robert IL, but better known by the name of The Wolfe of Padenoch, who died in 1394. The seat of the Atholl family, when the new building is completed, will be one of the finest in the kingdom. There is, almost right opposite, a cascade, on the water of Bran, which, in its way from the western hills, forms a considerable fall called the Rumbling Brig, from a narrow bridge made by the fall of two rocks across the stream. The pencil of Rosa never delineated a wilder or more striking scene. The stream has a second fall, which, but for the other, would be deemed superb. Sir James Galloway, master of requests to James VI. and to Charles I. was created Lord Dunkeld in 1645; but his grandson James was attainted at the Revolution, and having died at the beginning of last century, the title became extinct. Besides the parish church, there are two dissenting meeting-houses in Dunkeld. The village has five fairs annually. The population amounted in 1821 to 1915, and in 1831 to 1471.
DUNKIRK, an arrondissement of the department of the [7:8:283] North, in France, extending over 310 square miles, divided into seven cantons, and these subdivided into fifty-nine communes, containing 86,580 inhabitants.

Dunkirk, a city in the department of the North, in France, at the end of a harbour which is nearly dry at low water. It was formerly more flourishing than it is at present, and once created such apprehensions on the part of England, that in several treaties the demolition of the fortifications was stipulated. It now contains 1800 houses and 24,600 inhabitants. There are still the rudiments of a naval arsenal; and it has some trade, and shipping employed in the whale fishery.