origin is unknown. They were already territorial magnates at the time when
Bruce and Baliol were competitors for the crown. As their estates lay on
the borders they early became guardians of the kingdom against the
encroachments of the English, and acquired in this way power, habits, and
experience which frequently made them formidable to the Crown. We notice in
chronological succession the most distinguished members of the family.
James, son of the William Douglas who had been a companion of Wallace, and
is commonly known as the Good Sir James, early joined Bruce, and was one of
his chief supporters throughout his career, and one of the most
distinguished leaders at the battle of Bannockburn. He was called 'Black
Douglas' from his swarthy complexion. He fell in battle with the Moors
while on his way to the Holy Land with the heart of his master, in
1331.--Archibald, youngest brother of Sir James, succeeded to the regency
of Scotland in the infancy of David. He was defeated and killed at Halidon
Hill by Edward III in 1333.--William, son of the preceding, was created
first earl in 1357. He recovered Douglasdale from the English, and was
frequently engaged in wars with them. He fought at the battle of Poitiers
and died in 1384.--James, the second earl, who, like his ancestors, was
constantly engaged in border warfare, was killed at the battle of Otterburn
in 1388. After his death the earldom passed to an illegitimate son of the
Good Sir James, Archibald the Grim, Lord of Galloway.--Archibald, son of
Archibald the Grim and fourth earl, was the Douglas who was defeated and
taken prisoner by Percy (Hotspur) at Homildon 14th Sept., 1402. He was also
taken prisoner at Shrewsbury 23rd July, 1403, and did not recover his
liberty till 1407. He was killed at the battle of Verneuil, in Normandy, in
1427. Charles VII created him Duke of Touraine, which title descended to
his successors. He was surnamed 'The Tyneman', or loser, on account of his
many misfortunes in battle.--William, sixth earl, born 1422, together with
his only brother David was assassinated by Crichton and Livingstone at a
banquet to which he had been invited in the name of the king, in Edinburgh
Castle, on 24th Nov., 1440. Jealousy of the great power which the Douglases
had acquired from their possessions in Scotland and France was the cause of
this deed.--William, the eighth earl, a descendant of the third earl,
restored the power of the Douglases by a marriage with his cousin, heiress
of another branch of the family; was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of the
kingdom, and defeated the English at Sark. Having entered into treasonous
league, he was invited by James II to Stirling and there murdered by the
king's own hand, 22nd Feb., 1452.--James, the ninth and last earl, brother
of the preceding, took up arms with his allies to avenge his death, but was
finally driven to England, where he continued an exile for nearly thirty
years. He entered Scotland on a raid in 1484, but was taken prisoner and
confined in the abbey of Lindores, where he died in 1488. His estates,
which had been forfeited in 1455, were bestowed on the fourth Earl of
Angus, the 'Red Douglas', the representative of a younger branch of the
Douglas family, which continued long after to flourish. The fifth Earl of
Angus, Archibald Douglas, was the celebrated 'Bell-the-Cat', one of whose
sons was Gawin Douglas the poet. He died in a monastery in 1514. Archibald,
the sixth earl, married Queen Margaret, widow of James IV, attained the
dignity of regent of the kingdom, and after various vicissitudes of
fortune, having at one time been attainted and forced to flee from the
kingdom, died about 1560. He left no son, and the title of Earl of Angus
passed to his nephew David. James Douglas, brother of David, married the
heiress of the Earl of Morton, which title he received on the death of his
father-in-law. His nephew, Archibald, eighth Earl of Angus and Earl of
Morton, died childless, and the earldom of Angus then passed to Sir William
Douglas of Glenbervie, his cousin, whose son William was raised to the rank
of Marquess of Douglas. Archibald, the great-grandson of William, was
raised in 1703 to the dignity of Duke of Douglas, but died unmarried in
1761, when the ducal title became extinct, and the marquessate passed to
the Duke of Hamilton, the descendant of a younger son of the first
marquess. The line of Angus or the Red Douglas is now represented by the
Houses of Hamilton and Home, who both claim the title of Earl of
Angus.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: David Hume of Godscroft, _A History of the House of
Douglas and Angus_; Sir H. Maxwell, _A History of the House of Douglas_.
DOUGLAS, Gawin, an early Scottish poet of eminence. He was the son of
Archibald, fifth Earl of Angus, and was born at Brechin about 1474. He
received a liberal education, commenced at home and completed at the
University of Paris. On returning to Scotland he took orders in the Church,
and ultimately became Bishop of Dunkeld, through the influence of his
nephew, the sixth Earl of Angus, who married Queen Margaret, widow of James
IV. He died of the plague in 1522 in London, where he had been obliged to
take refuge on account of political commotions. He translated Virgil's
_Aeneid_ into verse with much spirit and elegance, prefixing original
prologues to the different books of the original. This was the first
poetical translation into English of any classical author. It was written
about 1512, and first published in 1553. He also wrote _The Palace of
Honour_ and _King Hart_, both allegorical poems.--Cf. J. H. Millar,
_Literary History of Scotland_.
DOUGLAS, Sir Howard, Baronet, G.C.B., a British general, born in 1776, the
son of Admiral Sir Charles Douglas. He served in Spain in the Peninsular
War, and acquired much reputation by his writings on military subjects,
especially by his _Military Bridges and the Passage of Rivers_ (1816), and
_Treatise on Naval Gunnery_ (1819). From 1823 to 1829 he was Governor of
New Brunswick, and from 1835 to 1840 Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian
Islands. He attained the rank of general in 1851, and died in Nov., 1861.
DOUGLAS, Stephen Arnold, American politician, born in Vermont, 1813, died
1861. Having gone to Jacksonville, Illinois, he became an attorney, was
appointed Attorney-General for the State, and in 1843 was elected a member
of the United States House of Representatives. In 1847 he was elected to
the Senate, and by re-election was a member of this body till his death. He
was especially prominent in connection with the question as to the
extension of slavery into new states and territories, which he maintained
was a matter to be settled by the people of the respective states or
territories, and not by Congress. He was a presidential candidate in 1860,
when Lincoln was elected.
DOUGLAS, Sir William Fettes, painter, born in Edinburgh 1822, died in 1891.
He was educated at the High School in that city, spent ten years in a bank
before finally deciding (in 1847) upon the artist's profession. In 1851 he
was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, and three years
later a full member. In 1877 he became Curator of the National Gallery of
Scotland, resigning the post in 1882 on his election as president of the
Royal Scottish Academy. Among the finest of his early pictures are:
_Bibliomania_ (1852, in the National Gallery), _The Ruby Ring_ (1853), _The
Alchemist_ (1855), _Hudibras and Ralph visiting the Astrologer_ (1856), and
_The Rosicrucian_ (1856), many of these showing much of the Pre-Raphaelite
spirit, with abundance of detail. After 1870 he devoted himself rather to
landscape, and his _Stonehaven Harbour_ and _A Fishing Village_ (1874-5)
are perhaps his masterpieces. He was knighted in 1882.
DOUGLAS (dug'las), capital of the Isle of Man, is situated on the
south-east coast, on a beautiful semicircular bay. It is frequented by
immense numbers of visitors during the summer. Among the objects of
interest are the House of Keys, the custom-house, the extensive breakwater,
and the promenade. Pop. 21,192.
DOUGLASS, Frederick, American lecturer and journalist, was born at
Tuckahoe, in Maryland, about 1817. His father was a white man, but his
mother being a negro slave, he was, according to the law, reared as a
slave. In 1832 he was purchased by a Baltimore shipbuilder, but made his
escape in 1838. As he had taught himself to read and write, and showed
talent as an orator, he was employed by the Anti-slavery Society as one of
their lecturers. In 1845 he published his autobiography, and afterwards
made a successful lecturing tour in England. In 1870 he started a journal
entitled _The New National Era_; in 1871 he was appointed secretary of the
Commission to Santo Domingo; in 1877 Marshal for the district of Columbia,
then Commissioner of Deeds, and eventually Minister to Hayti. He died in
1895.
DOULTON (d[=o]l'tun), Sir Henry, 'the greatest potter of the nineteenth
century', born in Lambeth in 1820, died in 1897. On leaving University
College School, in 1835, he joined his father, who had carried on a small
pottery since 1815, and began by perfecting himself in all the mechanical
processes then used by potters. He scored his first distinct success in
1846 with glazed drain-pipes, and in 1851 and 1862 the firm obtained medals
for stoneware vessels and chemical apparatus. At the South Kensington
Exhibition in 1871 a striking display was made of the new Doulton artistic
ware. Doulton exhibited at Vienna in 1873, and at Paris five years later,
when he was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He then established a
school of artists in connection with his manufactory, with the object of
promoting originality in design. He received the Albert gold medal of the
Society of Arts in 1885, and was knighted at the Jubilee two years later.
[Illustration: Doum Palm (_Hyphaene thebaica_)]
DOUM PALM (d[=o]m), a palm tree, _Hyphaene thebaica_. It is remarkable,
like the other species of the genus, for having a repeatedly branched stem.
Each branch terminates in a tuft of large fan-shaped leaves. The fruit is
about the size of an apple; it has a fibrous mealy rind, which tastes like
gingerbread (whence the name _gingerbread tree_ sometimes applied to this
palm), and is eaten by the poorer inhabitants of Upper Egypt, where it
grows. An infusion of the rind is also used as a cooling beverage in
fevers. The seed is horny, and is made into small ornaments. Ropes are made
of the fibres of the leaf-stalks.
DOUNE (d[:o]n), a police borough in W. Perthshire, Scotland, on the River
Teith, 9 miles north-west of Stirling, once famous for its manufacture of
Highland pistols and sporrans. The old ruined castle--an imposing structure
now partially repaired--is described in Scott's _Waverley_. Pop. 890.
DOURO (d[:o]'r[=o]), one of the largest rivers of the Spanish Peninsula,
which, flowing west, traverses about one-half of Spain and the whole of
Portugal, and, after a course of 500 miles, falls into the Atlantic 3 miles
below Oporto. It is navigable for small vessels for about 70 miles.
DOVE. See _Turtle-dove_ and _Pigeon_.
DOVE (d[=o]v), a river, England, Derbyshire, which, after a course of 39
miles through highly picturesque scenery, falls into the Trent.
DOVE-COTES. Pigeon-keeping to provide a food-supply is a practice of
considerable antiquity, and dove-cotes are found in many quarters of the
world. Those introduced into Britain by the Normans were modelled on the
Roman _columbarium_, a massive circular structure, lined with nest-holes,
and having a domed roof. A fine example of this type, built 1326, survives
at Garway, Herefordshire. Till towards the end of the sixteenth century,
these buildings, numbering some 26,000, formed items of manorial privilege
in England, and were long confined to Scottish baronies. About this period
square and octagonal forms became common, a fine brick specimen of the
latter style remaining at Whitehall, Shrewsbury. In Scotland typical
'doo'-cots' exist in the Edinburgh suburbs of Liberton and Corstorphine.
That at Liberton, a type common in Scotland but rare in England, is oblong,
with lean-to roof and two compartments--probably to avoid disturbing the
whole flock when 'squabs' were taken from the nests. Dove-cotes fell
generally into disuse when the introduction of 'roots' insured the winter
feeding of farm-stock and a consequent steady supply of fresh meat; but
their antiquarian interest and frequent beauty call for the careful
preservation of existing specimens.
DOVE DEITIES. The cult of the dove is of great antiquity. In Crete and at
Mycenae, and in the area of Hittite control in Asia Minor, it was connected
with the Mother-goddess. The bird appears in archaic clay figurines from
Phoenicia, Rhodes, Delos, Athens, and Etruria. Whether or not the dove cult
originated in Crete or Asia Minor is uncertain. Some think it is of
Egyptian origin, but there is no trace of a dove goddess in Nilotic art. In
the love poems found in Egyptian tombs, however, the dove is referred to,
being in one case addressed by a lover, who asks it if love is to be denied
to her; she then tells the dove that she has found her chosen one and is
happy by his side. The pigeon was protected in Egypt, and is still regarded
as a 'luck bird', and it may have been connected with ancient folk
religion. In Babylonia and Assyria the dove was associated with the goddess
Ishtar, but not specially during the earlier periods. The Allatu bird is,
however, referred to in the Gilgamesh epic, and Pinches has translated the
suggestive reference in an Ishtar hymn, _Like a lonely dove I rest_. In
another hymn the worshipper moans like a dove. According to Diodorus, the
famous Assyrian Queen Semiramis, who was abandoned after birth, was
protected and fed by doves. In Crete two forms of the Great Mother-goddess,
who was an Aphrodite in one of her phases, were the snake goddess and the
dove goddess. Two doves appear on a model of a Mycenaean shrine. The dove
is associated with the Hittite goddess at Marash, Yarre, and Fraktin. It is
sometimes found with the nude Syrian goddess. Lucian states, in reference
to a Syrian cult, that the dove is the holiest bird (_De Dea Syria_,
chapter liv), and that there was a golden dove in the temple, but nothing
was known regarding its origin, some referring it to Dionysus, some to
Deukalion, and some to Semiramis (a name said to mean mountain dove)
(chapter xxxiii). Aelian tells that the dove was the sacred companion of
Astarte (_Hist. Nat._, iv, 2). Like the Egyptians, the Semites regarded the
pigeon with veneration. The Hebrews sacrificed it on special occasions
(_Num._ vi, 10; _Lev._ xiv, 4, 49). Noah sent out a dove from the ark
(_Gen._ viii, 8). A prophet mourns as a dove (_Is._ xxxviii, 14). The dove
is 'silly' (_Hos._ vii, 11). Doves were sold in the temple (_Mark_, xi,
15). The Spirit of God appears as a dove (_Matt._ iii, 16). According to
Herodotus, the Persians drove away white pigeons, connecting them with
leprosy (_Book I_, 139). At Dodona, the famous sanctuary in Epirus,
auguries were taken from the moaning of doves in the tree-tops, and the
priestesses of Zeus were called doves (_Peleiai_). Doves and pigeons were
mystical birds in the British Isles. In England it was believed that one
could not die on a bed of pigeon feathers, and the dying person had,
therefore, to be removed from one so that the suffering might not be
prolonged. The early Christian saints reverenced the dove. St. Gregory the
Great is shown with a dove on his shoulder, and the emblem of St. Remigius
is a dove with an oil-cruse in its beak. A snow-white dove with golden bill
was wont to sit on the head of St. Mungo, the patron saint of Glasgow.
Stories used to be told of sick persons recovering on seeing a white dove
on an altar. In the folk lore attached to the memory of Michael Scott, the
dove is connected with heaven, and the raven with hell. St. Columba's name
signifies 'Dove'. Dove-cotes were connected with old churches, especially
in England.
DO'VER, a municipal borough of England, county of Kent, 67 miles south-east
of London. It lies on the coast of the Straits of Dover, and is 21 miles
distant from Calais on the French coast. It is an important railway
terminus, and as a port for mail and packet service with the Continent has
a large passenger traffic. Ship-building, sail-making, and fisheries are
carried on. There are two docks and a tidal harbour; an outer harbour of 70
acres, enclosed by a new pier and the extended Admiralty Pier, completed in
1871. Very extensive harbour improvements, begun in 1893, were carried out
in subsequent years. The celebrated castle stands on a high chalk cliff.
Dover is the chief of the Cinque Ports, and has extensive barracks. A
parliamentary borough till 1918, Dover now gives its name to a
parliamentary division of Kent. Dover was frequently raided by German
aviators during the European War. Pop. 43,645.
DOVER, a city of the United States, in New Hampshire. It is situated on
both sides of the Cochecho, which has here a fall of over 30 feet,
affording abundant water-power for the large iron and cotton manufactories.
Pop. 13,247.
DOVER, STRAITS OF, the narrow channel between Dover and Calais which
separates Great Britain from the French coast. At the narrowest part it is
only 21 miles wide. The depth of the channel at a medium in the highest
spring-tides is about 25 fathoms. On both the French and English sides the
chalky cliffs show a correspondency of strata which leaves no room for
doubt that they were once united, a fact which is clearly shown by many
other proofs.
DOVER'S POWDER, a preparation frequently used in medical practice to
produce perspiration. It consists of 1 grain of opium, 1 of ipecacuanha,
and 8 of sulphate of potash in every 10 grains, which constitute a full
dose. It is named after Thomas Dover, an English physician of the
eighteenth century.
DOVRE-FJELD (d[=o]-vre-fyel), an assemblage of mountain masses in Norway,
forming the central part of the Scandinavian system, and extending as a
plateau 2000 feet high E.N.E. from lat. 62deg N. to lat. 63deg. It is
generally composed of gneiss and mica schist. One of the mountains
belonging to it is Snehaetta, 7620 feet.
DOW, Gerard, an eminent painter of the Dutch school, was the son of a
glazier, and born at Leyden in 1613. He studied under Rembrandt, and united
his master's manner in chiaroscuro with the most minute finish and
delicacy. Among his pictures, generally of small size and mostly scenes of
family life, are: _The Evening School_, _Young Mother_, _Woman Sick with
Dropsy_, and _The Bible Reader_. Dow died in 1675.
DOWDEN, Edward, English critic, historian, and educator, was born at Cork
in 1843, died in 1913. He studied at Queen's College, Cork, and Trinity
College, Dublin, where he gained great distinction, especially in English
and Philosophy; and in 1867 he was elected to the professorship of English
literature in the university. He was the first Taylorian lecturer at Oxford
University in 1889, and held the Clark lecturership in English literature
at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1893 to 1896. Besides contributing to
periodicals, Professor Dowden published various works on literary subjects,
in particular: _Shakspere: his Mind and Art_ (1875); _Shakspere Primer_;
_Studies in Literature_; _Southey_; _Southey's Correspondence with Caroline
Bowles_; _Life of Shelley_ (2 vols., 1886), the chief authority on the
poet's life, being founded on papers in the possession of the Shelley
family; _Wordsworth's Poetical Works_ (1892-3); _Introduction to Shakspere_
(1893); _New Studies in Literature_ (1895); _The French Revolution and
English Literature_ (lectures delivered at Princeton College, New Jersey,
in 1896); _History of French Literature_ (1897); _Robert Browning_ (1904);
_Michel de Montaigne_ (1905); _Essays, Modern and Elizabethan_ (1910). A
volume of poems by him appeared in 1876, and his collected _Poetical Works
and Letters_ appeared in 1914.
DOWER (Fr. _douaire_, Lat. _dos_, dower), in English law, is the right
which a wife (not being an alien) has in the freehold lands and tenements
of which her husband dies possessed and undisposed of by will. By common
law this right amounts to one-third of his estate during her life; by local
custom it is frequently greater. Where the custom of _gavelkind_ prevails,
the widow's share is a half, and that of _free-bench_ gives her the whole
or a portion of a copyhold, according to the custom of the manor. The term
is also applied to the property which a woman brings to her husband in
marriage, but this is more correctly _dowry_.
DOWIE, John Alexander, religious impostor, born at Edinburgh in 1847, died
in 1907. Educated at the university of his native town, he joined his
family in Sydney, Australia, and entered the ministry as clergyman of the
Congregational denomination. In 1878 he started evangelistic work,
maintaining that it was wrong to take a minister's salary. In 1882 he
established a tabernacle at Melbourne, and began to practise faith-healing.
He then came to the United States, where he organized his own Church,
establishing it in 1901 at Zion City, 42 miles from Chicago, on the shore
of Lake Michigan. He styled himself 'Elijah II', and 'the First Apostle of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and General Overseer of the Catholic Apostolic
Church'. Suspended in 1906 by his congregation of Zion City, who accused
him of tyranny, polygamy, and misuse of funds, he died shortly afterwards.
DOWLAIS, a town of South Wales, Glamorganshire, included in the
parliamentary borough of Merthyr Tydfil, from which it is distant 1 1/2
miles north-east, with important iron- and steelworks. Pop. 18,112.
DOWLAS, a kind of coarse linen formerly much used by working people for
shirts; this use of it is now generally superseded by calico.--Cf.
Shakespeare, _1st Henry IV_, iii, 3.
DOWLETABAD. See _Daulatabad_.
DOWN, a county of Ireland, in Ulster, bounded on the north by Belfast Lough
and on the east by the Irish Sea; area, 610,730 acres, of which over
five-sixths are productive. Down is copiously watered by the Rivers Bann,
Lagan, and Newry, and has numerous small lakes. The surface is very
irregular, and in parts mountainous, Slieve Donard, in the Mourne
Mountains, being 2796 feet high. Agriculture is in a flourishing condition,
oats, wheat, flax, turnips, and potatoes being the principal crops. The
native breed of sheep is small, but valued for the delicacy of its mutton
and the fine texture of its wool. The principal manufactures are linen and
muslin. The fisheries on the coast, principally cod, haddock, and herring,
are considerable. The county has five parliamentary divisions, each
returning a member. The county town is Downpatrick; others are Newry,
Newtownards, Bangor, and Banbridge. Pop. 204,303.
DOWNING COLLEGE, one of the colleges of the University of Cambridge,
chartered in 1800 and opened in 1821. Its founder was Sir George Downing, a
Cambridgeshire gentleman.
DOWNING STREET, a street in London, leading from Whitehall. The name is
used as a synonym for the British Government, the Foreign Office and
Colonial Office being located in it. No. 10 is the official residence of
the Prime Minister, and No. 11 that of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
DOWNPAT'RICK, a market town of Ireland, county town of Down, 21 miles S.E.
of Belfast. It is the seat of the diocese of Down, Connor, and Dromore, has
a cathedral, and is celebrated as the supposed burial-place of St. Patrick.
Pop. 3200.
DOWNS, a term given to undulating grassy hills or uplands, specially
applied to two ranges of undulating chalk hills in England, extending
through Surrey, Kent, and Hampshire, known as the North and South Downs.
The word is sometimes used as equivalent to _dunes_ or sand-hills.
DOWNS, THE, a celebrated roadstead for ships, extending 6 miles along the
east coast of Kent in England, protected on the seaward side by the Goodwin
Sands.
DOWNTON, a town of England, in Wilts., on the Avon, 6-1/2 miles S.S.E. of
Salisbury; an ancient place, with a large cruciform church in the Norman
and later styles, an old earthwork mound called 'the Moat', and an
agricultural college. Pop. 1933.
DOXOL'OGY (from Gr. _doxa_, praise, glory, and _logos_), a set form of
words giving glory to God, and especially a name given to two short hymns
distinguished by the title of _greater_ (Glory be to God on high, &c.) and
_lesser_ (Glory be to the Father, &c.). Both the doxologies have a place in
the Church of England liturgy, the latter being repeated after every psalm,
and the former used in the communion service.
DOYEN, Eug[`e]ne Louis, famous French surgeon, born at Rheims in 1859, died
at Paris in 1916. He made numerous discoveries in gynaecological surgery,
and in 1895 established a private clinic, where many French and foreign
surgeons came to study under him. His surgical methods were adopted,
although his claim to have discovered the germ of cancer has been disputed.
In 1898 he received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Edinburgh,
where he introduced the method of teaching surgery by means of the
cinematograph. His works include: _La maladie et le m['e]decin_ and _Le
Cancer_.