Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan … > Volume 2, C-L

D E R ( 417
company or body, to a prince or aflembly, to treat of
matters in their name.
DEPUTY, a perfon fent upon fome bufinefs, by fome
community.
Deputy is alfo one that exercifes an office in another’s
right; and the forfeiture or mifdemeanor of fuch de¬
puty ffiall caufe the perfon whom he reprefents to lofe
his office.
DEPUTATUS, among the ancients, a name applied to
perfons employed in making of armour: and likewife
to briflc aftive people, whofe bufinefs was to take care
of the wounded in engagements, and carry them off the
field.
DERBENT, a city of Dagiftan, on the weftern coaft
of the Cafpian fea: E. long. ji°, and 41® 15' N.lat.
DEREHAM, a market-town of Norfolk, about fifteen
miles weft of Norwich : E. long, i0, and N. lat.
52° 40'.
DERIVATIVE, in grammar, a word which is deri¬
ved from another called its primitive. See Primi¬
tive.
Thus, manhood is derived from man, deity from
Dens, and lawyer from law.
DERMESTES, in zoology, a genus of infedts belong¬
ing to the order of coleoptera. The antennal are cla-
vated, with three of the joints thicker than the reft ;
the breaft is convex; and the head is infle&ed below
the breaft. There are thirty fpecies, diftinguiffied by
their colour, <&c.
DERNIER ressort. See Ressort.
DEROGATORY, a claufe importing derogation. A
derogatory claufe in a teftament, is a certain fentence,
cipher, or lecret chara<fter, which the teftator inferts
in his will, and of which he referves the knowledge
to himfelf alone, adding a catodition, that no will he
may make hereafter is to be reckoned valid, if this de¬
rogatory claufe is not inferted exprefsly, and word
for word. It is a precaution invented by lawyers a-
gainft latter-wills extorted by violence, or obtained by
fuggeftion.
DERPT, a town of Livonia, fituated on the river Eim-
bec : E. long. 28° to', and N. lat. 58° io'.
DERVIS, a name given to all Mahommedan monks,
though of various orders. The moft noted among them
are the Bektafhi, thelvlevelevi, the Kadri, and the
Seyah. The Bektafhi, who are allowed to marry and
live in cities and towns, are obliged, by the rules of
their order, to vifit remote lands, and to falute every
one they meet with gazel, or love-fongs, and with ef-
ma, or the invocation of the names of God, and hum¬
bly to wiffi him profperity, which they do by repeat¬
ing the word eivallah, a folemn exclamation of the
wreftl^rs, by which the conquered yields the palm to
the conqueror. The Mevelevi, fo called from Meve-
lava their founder, are ufed to turn round for two or
three hours together, with fuch fwiftnefs that you can¬
not fee their faces; they are great lovers of mufic: in
their monafteries they profefs great huihility and pover¬
ty, and when vifited make no -diftindUon of perfons ;
they firft bring their guefts coffee to drink ; and if the
) D E S
ways have been dirty, they waffi their feet and fandals..
The Kadri, with a peculiar fuperftition, emaciate their
bodies; they go quite naked, except their thighs, and
often join hands and dance, fometimes a whole day,
repeating with great vehemence, hu! hu! hul (one
of the names of God) till, like madmen, they fall
on the ground, foaming at the mouth, and running
down with fweat: the prime vizir Kupruji Achmed
Paffia, thinking this fed! unbecoming the Mahommedan
religion, ordered it to be fuppreffed; but, after his
death, it revived, and is at prefent more numerous
than ever, efpecially at Conftantinople. The Seyah
are wanderers, and though they have monafteries, yet
they often fpend their whole life in travelling; Mien;
they are fent out, their fuperiors impofe upon them
fuch a quantity of money or provifions, forbidding
them to come back till they have procured it, and fent
it to the mofiaftery; wherefore when a Seyah comes
into a town, he cries aloud in the market-place, Ta
allah fenden, &C. 0 God! give me, I pray, five thou-
fund crowns, or a thoufand meafures of rice. Ma¬
ny of thefe dervifes travel over the whole Mahom¬
medan world, entertaining the people where-ever they
come, with agreeable relations of all the curiofities
they have met with. There are dervifes in Egypr,
who live with their families, and exercife their trades,
of which kind are the dancing dervifes at Damafcus.
They are all diftinguiffied among themfelves by the
different forms and colours of their habits; thofe of
Perfia wear blue; the (binaries and wanderers wear
only rags of different colours; others carry on their
heads a plume made of the feathers of a cock; apd
thofe of Egypt wear an ©diagonal badge of a green-
iffi white alabafter at their girdles, and a high ftiff
cap, without any thing round it.
DERWENT, a river, which, taking its rife in the
north riding of Yorkffiire, runs fouth, and falls into
the Oufe.
Derwent-water, a river of Cumberland, which falls-
into the Iriffi fea below Cockermouth.
DESART, a large extent of country entirely barren,
and producing nothing. In this fenfe fome are fandy
defarts, as thofe of Lop, Xamo, Arabia, and feveral
others in Afia; in Africa, thofe of Lybia and Zara:
others are ftony, as the defart of Pliai an in Arabia
Petrea.
fhe Desart, abfolutely fo called, is that part of Ara¬
bia, .fouth of the Holy Land, where the children of
Ifrael wandered forty years.
DESCANT, in mufic, the art of compofing in feveral,
parts. See Music.
DESCENDENTS, in Scots law. The iffue of a com¬
mon parent in infinitum are called his defcendents.
DESCENSION, in aftronomy, is either right or ob¬
lique.
Right Descension is an arch of the equinoctial, in-
, tercepted between the. next eq/inodfial point and the
interfedlion of the meridian, palling through the cen¬
tre of the objedl, at its fetting, in a right fphere.
Oblique Descension, an arch of the equinodtial, in¬
tercepted;