Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 8, DIA-England

134
DOW
D R A
Down
II
Downton.
it. Dundrum Castle, erected on a rock near a small har¬
bour in a bay of the same name, still preserves consider¬
able vestiges of its former grandeur. At Ardglass are the
remains of considerable fortifications.
Downpatrick, the county town, is situated at the extre¬
mity of the southern branch of Strangford Lough. It is
said to owe its name to St Patrick, the founder of the
abbey here, in which he was interred. The town, which
consists of four streets meeting in the bottom of a valley
formed by hills of some elevation, comprehends a surface of
1486 acres, and contains a population of 4780, according to
the latest return. Vessels coming to the town are obliged to
discharge their cargoes at the QuoillQuay, about a mile dis¬
tant. The public buildings are, the cathedral, the court¬
house and assembly rooms, the jail, the barracks, the pa¬
rish church, the Catholic chapel, some dissenting meeting¬
houses, the county infirmary, and the fever hospital. Near
the court-house is an asylum for clergymen’s widows, and
an hospital for the decayed tenants of the Southwell estate.
Two miles from the town is the race course, under the. su¬
perintendence of the corporation of horsebreeders. The
town is an ancient manor, governed by a seneschal. Pre¬
viously to the reform act it was the most open borough in
Ireland, as all persons who payed scot and lot, or boiled a pot
in the town, were electors. Newry, situated in the south¬
western extremity, and extending into the adjoining coun¬
ty of Armagh, is of much greater size and of more com¬
mercial importance than Downpatrick. It covers 2500
acres, contains 13,370 inhabitants, and ranks as the twelfth
of the principal towns of Ireland as to population. Situat¬
ed at the extremity of Carlingford Bay, and connected by
its canal with Lough Neagh and the Tyrone collieries, it
enjoys peculiar advantages. Even in the earlier periods
of British domination it maintained a high position, from
being at the extremity of the pale, and serving as the key
to the then unsubdued and generally hostile province of
Ulster. In 1641 the town was taken and cruelly treated.
In 1689 it was again stormed and reduced to ashes by the
Duke of Berwick, to secure his retreat from Duke Schom-
berg. The public buildings are, a court-house, jail, ex¬
change, assembly rooms, custom-house, theatre, and seve¬
ral places of worship. The environs of this town are of
great beauty. The prospect towards the Bay of Carling¬
ford is magnificent, and the villages of Narrow-water and
Rosstown on its northern coast are objects of much inte¬
rest to numerous visitors. The lordship, of which men¬
tion has been already made, is the property of the Need¬
ham family.
Harris’s History of the County of Down ; Dubourdieu’s
Statistical Survey of Down ; Shaw Mason’s Parochial Sur¬
vey; Rutty’s Mineral Waters; Nimmo’s Sailing Direc¬
tions; Parliamentary Reports on Population, Education,
and State of the Poor.
Down, the fine feathers on the breasts of several birds,
particularly of the duck kind. Those of the eider duck
are the most valuable. These birds pluck the down from
their breasts and line their nests with it. Three pounds of
this down may be compressed into a size scarce larger than
one’s fist; yet it is afterwards so dilatable as to fill a quilt
five feet square. That found in the nests is most valued,
and termed live down; it is infinitely more elastic than
that plucked from the dead bird.
DOWNHAM, a town in the hundred of Clackclose,
in the county of Norfolk, eighty-four miles from London,
and situated on the borders of Cambridgeshire. The river
Ouse, which receives the Cam, runs near it. It has mar¬
kets on Mondays and Saturdays. The inhabitants amount¬
ed in 1801 to 1512, in 1811 to 1771, in 1821 to 2044, and
in 1831 to 2198.
DOWNTON, a town in the hundred of the same name.
in the county of Wilts, ninety miles from London. There D0
was a castle here in former times. It has some trade in '
making paper, and in linen goods. It is an ancient burgage brl
tenure borough belonging to the Earl of Radnor, and one
of those recently disfranchised. The inhabitants amounted
in 1801 to 2426, in 1811 to 2624, in 1821 to 3114, and in
1831 to 3652.
DOWNIE, a town of Central Africa, on the Niger. It
has a manufactory of pottery ware, which is neatly made,
and sold to advantage in the neighbouring countries. It
lies twenty miles west-south-west of Timbuctoo.
DOWNS, a bank or elevation of sand, which the sea
gathers and forms along its shores, and which serves it as
a barrier. The word is formed from the French dune, or
the Celtic dun, a mountain. Charles de Visch (Compend.
Chronolog. Exord. et Progress. Abhat. Clariss. B. Maria,
de Dutiis) says, Vallem reperit arenarum collibus, quos in¬
voice Duynen vacant, undique cinctam.
Downs is particularly applied to a famous roadstead for
ships along the eastern coast of the county of Kent, from
Dover to the North Foreland, where both the outward
and homeward bound ships frequently make some stay,
and squadrons of men of war rendezvous in time of war.
It alfords excellent anchorage, and is defended by the cas¬
tles of Deal, Dover, and Sandwich.
DOWRY, the money or fortune which the wife brings
her husband in marriage; it is otherwise called mari-
tagium, or marriage goods, and differs from dower. See
Dower.
DOXOLOGY, a hymn used in praise of the Almighty,
and distinguished by the title of greater and lesser. The
lesser doxology was anciently only a single sentence, with¬
out response, running in these words, “ Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, world
without end, Amen.” Part of the latter clause, “ As it
was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,” was in¬
serted some time after the first composition. Some read
this ancient hymn, “ Glory be to the Father, and to the
Son, with the Holy Ghost;” and others, “ Glory be to
the Father in or by the Son, and by the Holy Ghost."
This difference of expression occasioned no dispute in the
church till the reign of the Arian heresy ; but when the
followers of Arius began to make use of the latter as a dis¬
tinguishing character of their party, it was entirely laid
aside by the Catholics, and the use of it was enough to
bring any one under suspicion of heterodoxy. The dox¬
ology was used at the close of every solemn office. The
western church repeated it at the end of every psalm,
and the eastern church at the end of the last psalm.
Many of their prayers were also concluded with it, parti¬
cularly the solemn thanksgiving or consecration prayer at
the eucharist. It was also the ordinary conclusion of their
sermons. The greater doxology, or angelic hymn, was
likewise of much consequence in the ancient church. It
began with these words, which the angels sung at our Sa¬
viour’s birth, “ Glory be to God on high,” &c. It was
chiefly used in the communion service, and in private de¬
votions. Both the doxologies have a place in the church
of England, the former being repeated after every psalm,
and the latter used in the communion service.
DRABLER, in nautical language, a small sail in a ship,
which is the same to a bonnet as a bonnet is to a course,
and is only used when the course and bonnet are both
too shoal to clothe the mast.
DRABS, in the salt works, a kind of wooden boxes for
holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pan. The
bottoms of these are made shelving or inclining forwards,
in order that the briny moisture of the salt may drain off.
DRACHM, a Grecian coin, of the value of sevenpence
three farthings. Drachm is also a weight used by our