then existed. They applied to the school of Plato at Athens, who found that the problem eluded all their efforts. Other writers make mention of the latter story, and Valerius Maximus, in particular, adds that Plato referred the querists to Euclid; which must be an anachronism. However this may be, the problem continued to furnish an unceasing object of research; and such was the importance of its solution in the eyes of Eratosthenes, that he hung up his own solution in a temple as an offering, and composed an epigram, of which the principal value now is the proof which it affords that he considered Menaechmus as the first inventor of the conic sections. Hippocrates of Chios (known as the first who could find the area of a curvilinear figure) perceived, according to Eratosthenes, that this problem could be solved as soon as two mean proportionals could be found between the side of the given cube and twice its length: that is, A being the length of the given cube, and X and Y two lines such
that A : X :: X . Y and X : Y :: Y : 2 A, this geometer saw that X was the side of the cube double of that on A. But the new problem presented exactly the same difficulty as before: various mechanical curves (as they were called) were invented for the purpose it was found that the conic sections were sufficient, but no solution appeared consistent with the restrictions implied in the postulates of Euclid. Eutocius has mentioned the solution of Eudoxus, and has preserved those of Plato, Hero, Philo, Apollonius, Diocles, Pappus, Sporus, Menaechmus, Archytas, Eratosthenes, and Nicomedes. Pappus himself (in the third book, the first of those which remain entire) has preserved the solutions of Eratosthenes, Nicomedes, and Hero. In several instances these notices are the only clue which we have to the dates of the investigators, as there is strong presumption that those who are named by Eutocius and not by Pappus lived between the two. The trisection of the angle (TRISEction] offered dif. ficulties of a similar kind, and engaged the attention of several of the individuals above mentioned. That of the uadrature of the circle is altogether of another kind. For the various solutions of the problem of the duplication, see Montucla, Histoire des Recherches sur la Quadrature du Cercle, 2nd edition, Paris, 1831; or Reimer, Historia Problematis de Cubi Duplicatione, Göttingen, 1798; or the works of Eutocius and Pappus already cited. The importance of this problem declined with the rise of the decimal arithmetic. Many different attempts were made, some avowedly mechanical (as opposed to geometrical), others by those who imagined they could overcome the original difficulty. Any process for the solution was called mesolabum (a term as old as Vitruvius). One of the last was that of the celebrated Vieta, containing an error, which is the more remarkable, that little, if any, notice has ever been taken of it. (See his works, Schooten's edition, page 273.) DUPUIS, THOMAS SAUNDERS, Mus. D., the composer of much good music for the chapels-royal, and a very distinguished organist, was born in }. in 1733, and received his education in the royal chapel, of which he became organist and composer on the death of Dr. Boyce in 1779. In 1790 he was admitted to the degree of doctor in music by the university of Oxford, and died in 1796. After his death a selection from his works was published in two volumes, by his pupil, John Spencer, Esq., nephew and son-in-law of the late duke of Marlborough; but many of his best productions still continue in manuscript, and remain buried in the books of the king's chapel, among several other compositions of the most undisputed merit. DUPUIS, CHARLES-FRANCO1s, was born of poor parents, at Fryè-Château, between Gisors and Chaumont, on the 26th of October, 1742. His early instructions were due to his father, who, though in very humble circumstances, appears to have been a man of some learning and considerable intelligence; and the early turn of mind in young Dupuis was very decidedly to mathematics and astronomy. It was his good fortune to become known while yet a boy to the Duc de Rochefoucault, who procured him an exhibition to the college of Harcourt. His studies here took a new direction, and he made such rapid progress in them as to secure the highest opinion of the professors of the college, and give promise of distinction in future life.
Before the age of twenty-four, he was appointed professor of rhetoric in the college of Lisieux; and having sufficient leisure allowed him by his duties, he completed his course of law studies, and in 1770 was admitted an advocate of the parliament. Being directed by the rector of his univer. sity to pronounce the discourse on the distribution of the prizes, this led also to his being nominated to deliver the funeral oration, in the name of the university, on the queen Marie-Thérèse. With these his literary reputation commenced, and they are considered good specimens of purity and elegance in Latin composition. The nature of his literary pursuits again led him into contact with the subjects of his early study; and profiting by the lessons and the friendship of Lalande, he entered upon the study of astronomical history with a zeal which never abated to the close of his life. His attention was especially directed in the first place to the probable signification of the astronomical symbols which constituted the signs of the zodiac; and thence to all the other antient constellations., His active mind, however, even in the midst of these deeply interesting speculations, was alive to other objects; and among his amusements was the construction of a telegraph, founded on the suggestions of Amontons, by means of which, from 1778 to the commencement of the Revolution, he carried on a correspondence with his friend M. Fortin, who was resident at Bagneux, he himself being located at Belleville. This mode of correspondence he however very prudently laid aside, lest it should lay him open to suspicion from the factions that then governed rance. In 1777 and 1778 he published in the 'Journal des Savans' the first sketches of the theory at which he had arrived; and shortly after, both in the astronomy of his friend Lalande, and in a separate 4to. volume under the title of 'Mémoire sur l'Origine des Constellations et sur l'explication de la Fable par l'Astronomie,' 1781. The sceptical tendency of the views entertained by Dupuis led Condorcet to recommend him to Frederick the Great, as professor of literature in the College of Berlin, and successor to Thiébault; and the offer was accepted by Dupuis. The death of Frederick, however, prevented the arrangement from being carried into effect; but the chair of Latin elouence in the College of France becoming then vacant by the death of Bejot, he was appointed to #. In the same year (1778) he was named a member of the Academy of Inscriptions, and was appointed one of the four commissioners of public instruction for the department of Paris. The danger of his residence in the capital now induced him to seek a retreat at Evreux. He was, notwithstanding his retirement, named member of the Convention for the department of Seine-et-Oise; and was remarkable for the moderation of his views. Caution was the characteristic of his political career. In the year II. he was elected secretary of the Assembly; and in the following year a member of the Council of Five Hundred. He was elected one of the forty-eight members of the French Institute, though after much determined and discreditable opposition from the ultra-revolution party. On the 18th Brumaire, year IV., he was elected by the department of Seine-et-Oise their member of the legislative body, and soon after president of that assembly, and ultimately was nominated a candidate for the senate. Hopeless of the regeneration of France, he retired at once from public life, and devoted the remainder of his days to the investigations of the questions which arose out of his early speculations. We have hence to trace his progress only as a man of letters and a man of science, and to give some general idea of the views which are contained in his several works. On the publication of the 'Mémoire sur les Constellations' a new course of erudite inquiry was opened; and though the arguments and conclusions were contested by Bailly, he gave Dupuis full credit for the ability and learning displayed in the work. He afterwards renewed his researches, and made them the subject of a course of lectures delivered from his chair in the college of Lisieux. In 1794 he published his great work entitled 'Origine de tous les Cultes, ou la Religion Universelle, 3 vols. 4to. with an Atlas; and also, slightly abridged in one of its parts (the "Justification'), in 12 vols. 8vo. This work gave rise to much discussion, often conducted with a sectarian bitterness little creditable to philosophical or theological investigation. In 1798 he published an abridgment of the "Origine' in one vol. 8vo., or rather a series of extracts from his large work, under the same title; but a much more methodical abridgment was shortly after given to the world by Destutt-de-Tracy. The wildly-displayed hatred towards Christianity which so strongly developed itself during the eventful period of the French revolution was well calculated to create deep interest in the work of Dupuis. He had been led to conclude that the earliest traces of the general mythology of the southern climates would be found in Upper Egypt, if indeed they had not their origin there. In this celebrated work, therefore, originated the 'Commission' to explore the ruins of that country, which was undertaken by Napoleon after his return from Italy. Nothing indeed can show so clearly the influence which this work had exercised over the 'regenerated nation," as that the most ambitious of all the men of his time should leave the scene of the most glittering hopes to a daring spirit like his, to lead an expedition such as this. Out of that expedition what new and unexpected results have arisen! The very phraseology of history has been changed; and the sacred rites and domestic manners of antient Egypt are now scarcely, if at all, less understood than those of Greece and Rome. The Zodiac of Tentyra (or Denderah) engaged much of the attention of Dupuis, upon which he published a mémoire and an erplication, in the "Revue Philosophique' for May 1806, which he afterwards published in an enlarged and separate form in one volume 4to, under the title of "Mémoire explicatif du Zodiaque Chronologique et Mythologique." In this curious dissertation he compares the Greek and Egyptian Zodiacs with those of the Chinese, the Persians, the Arabs, and all the others of which he could obtain any distinct notices. He afterwards read to his class of the Institute a 'Mémoire sur le Phénix,' which, as he contended, signified the reproduction of the cycle of 1461 common (vague) Egyptian years. In the "Nouvel Almanach des Muses' for 1805 he also published a fragment of the poem of Nonnius; it is indeed said that his astronomical system was suggested by this poem originally, and it is certain that his 'Origine des Cultes' is but a voluminous commentary on the ideas contained in that poem. Dupuis died at Is-sur-Tille, on September 29, 1809, aged 67. He was a member of the Legion of Honour. He was a man of strict probity, and much esteemed by his friends for his personal qualities. He amassed no fortune, being satisfied to expend his income upon the materials for his researches. He left in MS, a work on cosmogonies and theogonies, intended as a defence and illustration of the doctrines of the Origine des Cultes. In this work Leblond considered that Dupuis had at last discovered the interpretation of the Egyptian hieroglyphics—a conclusion that few, since the researches of Dr. Young and Champollion, will feel disposed to admit, even though they may not adopt the views of Champollion to any great extent. There is also reason to believe that it was in consequence of conversations with Dupuis that Volney composed his celebrated work on the Ruins of Empires. Dupuis has been often stigmatized as a paradoxical writer. Bold and speculative he was, but there is certainly little cause to call him paradoxical. His conjectures are often lausible, though his deductions from them are frequently inconsequential. Whatever might have been the immediate effect of his scepticism, there can be little doubt that the ultimate effect has been alike favourable to early history and to the Christian religion. He was a sincere and candid man, and always appeared to be fully impressed with the truth of the conclusions at which he had arrived. It was indeed that earnestness of character that gave so much weight to his opinions and so much influence to his suggestions. Had this feature been wanting in the character of Dupuis, the expedition to Egypt had never been undertaken, nor, consequently, would the brilliant discoveries to which it finally led have been made. DURA MATER. [BRAIN.] DURA'MEN, the name given by physiologists to the central wood or heart-wood in the trunk of an exogenous tree. It is the oldest part of the wood, and is filled by the secretions of the tree, so that fluid can no longer ascend through its tubes, which are choked up by the deposition of solid matter; otherwise it is of the same nature as the alburnum. It is only where plants form solid hard secretions that heart-wood is distinguishable from sap-wood: in the poplar, willow, lime, &c., no secretions of this kind are formed; the two parts of the wood are both nearly alike,
and consequently the timber of such trees is uniformly perishable. Ship carpenters call the duramen the spines: it is always distinguishable from sap-wood by its deeper colour, and sometimes, as in the yew, the sandarach, and certain kinds of deal, the limits of the two are clearly defined. But in most cases the heart-wood and sap-wood gradually pass into each other, so that no certain line can be drawn between them. DURANCE, a river in the south of France, belonging to the basin of the Rhône. The source of the Durance is marked in the maps near Briançon; but the sources of the Guisane and the Claret, which flow from the ridge of the Alps that separates the department of Hautes Alpes from Savoy, have each a better title to be considered the true head of the Durance. These streams unite at Briançon, about 20 miles from their respective sources, and just after their junction receive the Servières, another small stream. From Briançon the Durance flows south-south-west above 25 miles to Embrun, receiving by the way the Gyronde (which receives the Gy and the Boude) and lie Guil (which receives the Aigue-blanche, the Melesen, and the Rioube), and several small mountain streams, as the Crevoux, the Vachere, &c. The Ubaye, from Barcelonette (which receives the Ubayete, and the Bachelard), joins the Durance 10 miles below Embrun. From the junction of the Ubaye the Durance flows first south-west, then south, and then west by north 135 miles, into the Rhône below Avignon, receiving a great number of tributaries, of which the principal are the Buech (which joins it at Sisteron), the united streams of the Bes and the Bleone from Digne, the Asse, the Verdon from Castellane, and the Calavon from Apt. In the lower part of its course the bed of the Durance is full of islands. The stream is very rapid, and its inundations frequent. It is not navigable, but is used for floating timber. Many of its tributaries are used for floating. It was known to the Romans by the name Druentia. DURANGO, a town in the Mexican United States, the capital of the state of the same name, is situated in about 24° 28' N. lat. and near 105° W. long. in a wide plain, 6848 feet above the sea, and at no great distance from the Sierra Madre, which rises to the west of the town. Its population amounts to upwards of 22,000 souls, and it carries on a considerable commerce in the agricultural produce of the country lying about it, and in that of the numerous and rich mines, partly situated in the Sierra Madre and partly east of the town. Iron ore is found within a quarter of a league from the town, but the attempts to turn it to advantage have, so far as we know, not succeeded to any extent. Not far from Durango is the Breña, a tract more than 30 miles in length and about half that width, which is occupied by hills composed of basalt and covered with scoria; among them is a crater of considerable dimensions. (Humboldt; Ward.) DURANTE, FRANCESCO, a celebrated Italian composer, was born in Naples, in 1693, and educated under Alessandro Scarlatti. is works are not numerous, and chiefly of the sacred kind. The duets, on which his reputation now mainly rests, are, Dr. Burney states, the cantatas of his master, arranged for two voices! Hence the fame of this much-vaunted composer will hereafter depend on that of his disciples, Pergolesi, Piccini, Sacchini, Paisiello, &c., who received instructions from him at the Neapolitan Conservatorios of St. Onofrio, and the Poveri di Gesu Cristo, of both of which Durante was the principal. DURA'ZZO, DURA'S, the antient Epidamnus, afterwards called Dyrrachium, is a town on the coast of Albania, in 41° 22' N. lat., and 19° 27' E. long., situated on the south coast of a peninsula which projects into the Adriatic, and forms the south boundary of the gulf of Drin. Epidamnus was a colony of Corcyra [Colony], but it afterwards changed its name into Dyrrachium. It fell under the Romans at the time of the conquest of Macedonia, and its harbour became the principal means of communication between Italy and the north parts of Greece, Macedonia, and Thrace. The Romans embarking at Brundisium, which is nearly opposite, landed at Dyrrachium, and thence by the Via Egnatia they reached Thessalonica, on the . Egean sea. Pompey defended Dyrrachium with success, against Caesar before the battle of Pharsalia. After the fall of the Roman empire Dyrrachium came successively into the hands of the Goths, Bulgarians, and the Normans from Sicily, who made it their stronghold in their wars with the Byzantine emperors. It afterwards fell into the hands of the Venetians, from whom it was taken by sultan Bayazid II. Durazzo is now included in the pachalik of Skutari, near the borders of that of Berat. It carries on some trade by sea, and exports the surplus corn which grows abundantly in the neighbouring plains. Its population is reckoned at between 4000 and 5000, and it has a Greek bishop. It is a place little visited by travellers: the scanty remains of Apollonia, which are two short days' journey to the south of it, near the banks of the Apsus, io been described by Colonel Leake and Dr. Holland. (Leake's Travels through orthern Greece.) Leake was prevented by illness from proceeding to Durazzo. John, the eighth son of Charles II. of Anjou, king of N. pies, assumed, with the consent of the Byzantine emperor, the title of duke of Durazzo and lord of Albania; and from him sprung the Durazzo branch of the Anjous, who reigned a while over Naples and Hungary. Charles III., king of Naples, was a grandson of John; he died in Hungary, and left two children, Ladislaus and Joanna, who reigned in succession at Naples, but died both without 1SSule.
Coin of Dyrrachium.
British Museum. Actual size. Silver. Weight, 469 grains.
DüREN, a minor circle of the administrative circle of Achen (Aix la Chapelle), in the Prussian province of the Rhine. Its area is about 215 square miles, and it contains l town, l market village, .06 villages, and 16 hamlets, with a population of about 46,600 (1816, 37, 186). The Roer traverses it from south to north-west: it is hilly in parts, and has about 128,000 acres of arable land, 18,330 of meadows and pastures, and 51,700 of woods and forests. It produces much grain and fruit, rears cattle, contains iron, lead, alum, and eoal mines, and manufactures woollens, ironware, paper, vegetable oil, &c.
DUREN, the chief town, called by the Romans Marcodurum, whence its former name of Mark-Düren, lies near the banks of the Roer, 50° 46' N. lat., and 6° 36' E. long. It is a walled town, the seat of a public miningdirection, possesses a Roman Catholic gymnasium or high school, three nunneries, five Catholic and two Protestant churches, and a synagogue, and contains about 6800 inhabitants: in 1818 their numbers were 4909; and in 1825, 5610. Düren has considerable manufactures of fine and ordinary woollen cloths, stuffs, and coverlids, which employ between 1200 and 1300 hands, as well as of screws and nails. There are also manufactures of iron and steel ware, paper, coarse cottons, soap, leather, oil, trinkets, &c. It has an extensive trade in grain, a horse market, and three large fairs in the course of the year. On this spot several cohorts of the Ubii, who had assumed the Roman name of Agrippinenses, were surprized and cut to pieces by Civilis, the Batavian leader, in the year 70 A.D. (Tacit. Hist. iv. 28.)
DURER, ALBRECHT, or ALBERT, born at Nürnberg the 20th of May, 1441, was the son of a skilful goldsmith, and received that sound education which the wealthy burghers of the free towns of Germany were accustomed to give to their children. In all branches of instruction Albrecht made great progress, and showed also much ingenuity in the profession for which he was intended; but his genius being bent towards a nobler art, he gave up at once, to the great vexation of his father, the working ygold, and placed himself, under the most able painter of his native country, Michael Wohlgemuth (1486). After finishing his appren: ticeship he set out on his travels, and in 1490 went through Germany. On his journey he painted portraits and other pictures which were highly admired. Improved by experience and with increased reputation, he returned home in 1494, and soon after executed his master-piece, a drawing of Orpheus. It was the custom of those times for a painter, in order to be received and acknowledged as a master, to exhibit a piece which merited the approbation of his teacher and of the other masters of his craft. When this was accomplished, the candidate received a kind of diploma, and was entitled to the honours and rights of a master.
After obtaining the mastership Dürer visited Holland and Italy, where he executed some of his best pictures, such as the Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew for the church of St. Mark, and Adam and Eve for the German church in Venice, which was afterwards bought for the Gallery of Prague. In Bologna he became acquainted with Raphael, who esteemed him highly. In token of their friendship, each presented the other with his portrait. . He returned home in 1507, with the reputation of being the first painter of his country. "Certainly," says Vasari (Vite de' Pittori), "if this diligent, industrious, universal man had been a native of Tuscany, and if he could have studied as we have done in Rome, he would have been the best painter in our country, as he was the most celebrated that Germany ever had.' His productions were so highly valued as to attract the notice of the most powerful sovereigns of his time, Maximilian the First and Charles the Fifth, who appointed him their painter, and bestowed upon him riches and honours. To please his father Dürer had married, against his inclination, the daughter of a wealthy neighbour ; but the match turned out so unfortunate that it embittered his life, and his countrymen attributed his premature death to his domestic misfortune. It is said that his wife was not deficient in personal attractions, but peevish and jealous to the utmost degree. He died broken-hearted in 1528, in the 58th year of his age. The senate of Nürnberg, to honour the memory of their illustrious citizen, decreed him a public funeral, which was celebrated with great pomp and solemnity. This circumstance has led some of his biographers to suppose that Dürer died in poverty, which however was not the case. In spite of his liberality, he left a tolerably good fortune to his surviving Xantippe. Dürer's paintings are admired for the vivid and fertile imagination, the sublime conception, and the wonderful union of boldness and correctness of design which they display. He was the first man in Germany who taught the rules of perspective and the proportions of the human body according to mathematical and anatomical principles. In fact, his works were in this respect so classical, that even his prints and wood-cuts were purchased by the Italian painters for their improvement in those branches. Some critics have found fault with the unnecessary correctness of drawing and the exuberance of his imagination; but the only fault that can be really objected to him is his total neglect of costume. Yet this fault is more conventional than real. His pictures, in spite of this violation of the rules of taste, produce lasting impressions of the sublime and beautiful; and impartial judges must always honour in him the greatest master of the German school. Besides his great historical paintings, the best of which are in the collections of Vienna, Prague, Munich, and Dresden, Dürer has left some landscapes that are highly valued. Some of his paintings were in England in the collection of Lord Arundel. Dürer was also an excellent engraver in copper and wood; his woodcuts are masterpieces of the art, and considered equal to those of Hugo da 8. The best among his woodcuts, both in respect of invention and execution, are his greater Passion and his Revelation of St. John. So much were they sought after, even during his lifetime, that a Venetian artist was induced to counterfeit them. When Dürer heard of this forgery, he went to Venice, and commenced a suit against the man, whose name was Marc Antonio Franci. The senate of Venice would have punished the offender severely, if Dürer had not obtained his pardon. There is a volume containing more than 200 original drawings by Albert Dürer in the print-room of the British Museum, which formerly belonged to the collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and Wo. part of the celebrated collection of Dürer's friend W. Pirkhamer. In the same room is preserved an exquisite carving by him, in hone-stone, of the Birth of St. John, bequeathed to the Museum by Mr. R. P. Knight, who had purchased it at the price of 500l. It is dated 1510. An extensive collection of Albert Dürer's engravings was bequeathed to the British Museum by the late Mr. Nollekens. - Dürer's portraits were also highly esteemed : it was said of him that he not only possessed the talent of catching the exact expression of the features, but also of delineating the different characters and passions. . . . Two inventions are attributed to him; that of print' (ig woodcuts in two colours, and that of etching. Some, however, dispute his claim to the invention of the art of etching, though it is not denied that he was the first who excelled in it. In his private life he was amiable, upright, and benevolent. He was a strong supporter of the Protestant religion, without making any pretensions to superior piety. Dürer wrote several valuable works on geometry, perspective, and fortification. He bestowed such labour on the purity of his native tongue, that his writings even now are well worth the study of the German scholar. While the French corruption of taste was exercising a baneful influence over the fine arts, Dürer was looked upon as a barbarian; but opinion is now changed, and the modern school of German painters and critics view him as one of their great masters, and as a model by following which the art of painting may be brought back to its former dignity; His life has been written by Arend and Roth, and lately by Heller, who has given the most critical and complete catalogue of all his works. Gočthe, Tieck, Wackenrode, and other distinguished writers have vindicated his claims. D'URFEY, THOMAS, was born in Devonshire, but the exact time of his birth is uncertain. He was designed for the law, but quitted that profession for poetry. His dramas had remarkable success in the days of Charles II., but were soon afterwards banished from the stage on account of their outrageous indecency, and at present scarcel their names are known, except to the students of Englis dramatic history. Much of his fame was owing to his songs and satirical odes, which he is said to have himself sung in a lively and agreeable manner. He is represented in the "Guardian' as being on such terms of intimacy with Charles II., that the king would sometimes lean on his shoulder and hum tunes with him: he was also a favourite at most convivial parties, and was so much celebrated for his qualities as a good companion, that it was considered a kind of honour to have been in his company. He was reduced to great distress in the latter part of his life, and applied to the managers of the theatre, who performed for his benefit one of his comedies. The profits which were acquired seem to have been sufficient to render his last days comparatively easy, if any judgment is to be founded on his poems of this period, which are written with liveliness. He died in 1723, and was buried at St. James's, Westminster. A collection of D'Urfey's poems, entitled 'Pills to purge Melancholy," is extremely rare, and sells for a o price. It is o esteemed by those bibliographers who think licentious works valuable if they are but scarce. DURHAM, an English county, consisting of the main part, between the rivers Tyne and Tees, and of three detached portions, which are separated from the main portion by the intervening county of Northumberland, or by that of York. 1. The main portion is bounded on the north and north-west by Northumberland, from which it is for the most part separated by the river Tyne and its tributaries, the Stanley Burn and the river Derwent ; on the west it is bounded by Cumberland and Westmoreland, from the former of which it is partly separated by the Crook Burn, a feeder of the Tees, and from the latter by the Tees itself; on the south it is bounded by Yorkshire, from which it is separated throughout by the river Tees; and on the east it is bounded by the German Ocean. Its greatest length is from east to west, from Seaton Snook, a headland at the mouth of the Tees, to the junction of the Crook Burn and the Tees, on the boundary of the three counties of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham, 48 miles; its greatest breadth, at right angles to the length, is from the fort at the mouth of the Tyne, at South Shields, to Stockburn, or Sockburn, on the Tees, 39 miles. , 2. The principal detached part, consisting of Norhamshire and Islandshire, which latter includes Holy Island and the Farne Isles, is bounded on the north by Berwick bounds, from which it is separated by the Tweed; on the north-west and west by Bérwickshire in Scotland, from which also it is separated by the Tweed; on the south by Northumberland, and on the cast and north-east by the German Ocean. The form of this portion of the county approaches that of a triangle, of which one side faces the north and north-west, and is nearly 11 miles long in a straight line; another, the north-east, and is 14 miles long in a straight line; and the third, the south, and is 17 miles long in a straight line. 3. The second detached portion, comprehending the parish of Bedlington, sometimes called Bedlingtonshire, is bounded on the north, west,
and south by Northumberland, from which it is separated on the north by the river Wensbeck, on the south by the river Blyth, and on the east by the German Ocean. It is 7 miles long from east to west, and 4% miles broad from north to south. 4. The third detached portion, the parish of Craike, is near Easingwould, in Yorkshire, and is surrounded by that county: it is 3 miles long from north to south, and about 2% miles broad. The areas of the several portions, as found by taking the areas of the several parishes, are as follows:–
Statute Acres.
Main portion . - - - 621,690 Norhamshire and Islandshire . 45,630 Bedlington parish . - - 8,910 Craike parish . wo. s - 3,300
The area of the whole is about 1097 square miles. The population in 1831 was 253,910, giving 231 to a square mile in size and in absolute and relative population Durham is below the average of the English counties. Durham, the capital of the county, is on the Wear, 235 miles in a straight line north by west of London; 259 miles by the road through Baldock, Stamford, Doncaster, Boroughbridge, and Bishop Auckland; or by that through Boroughbridge, Northallerton, and Darlington; or 263 miles by the road used by the Thurso, Edinburgh, and York mail, through Ware, Huntingdon, Stamford, Doncaster, York, Easingwould, Thirsk, Northallerton, and Darlington. The main portion of the county is comprehended between 54° 27' and 55° 1' N. latitude, and 1' 8' àAd 2° 21' of W. longitude. Coast, Islands, &c.—The coast of the county of Durham is for the most part low, especially in the detached portions of the county, Islandshire has no clists, neither has Bedlingtonshire. From Islandshire sand banks (Fenham flats) run out and connect Holy Island with the main land, so as to render the island accessible at low water to vehicles of all kinds; though the sands are dangerous to persons not acquainted with them. In the main portion of the county there are several ranges of cliffs, as at Suter Point, between the Tyne and the Wear; along the coast from the Wear southward to Hawthorn Dean; again along the coast for three miles south from Horden Point, at the headland on which Hartlepool stands; and again at Seaton Bents. All these cliffs are of magnesian limestone, except those at Seaton Bents, which are formed by rocks of the red marl or new red sandstone formation. Holy Island is of an irregular form, nearly 4 miles long from east by south to west by north, and nearly 2 broad from north to south. It contains 3320 acres, and had in 1831 a population of 836 persons. This island was called by the Britons Inis Medicante, and was afterwards known by the name of Lindisfarne: its name of Holy Island was given to it from its having been the residence of several of the fathers of the Saxon church. It was antiently the seat of a bishoprick, and had a monastery under the government of the bishops, which was subsequently reduced to be a cell of the Benedictine monastery of Durham. The church of the monastery is now in ruins. The soil of the island is rich, but before the inclosure of the common in 1792 there were only forty acres under tillage, and that portion was subject to intercommonage as soon as the crops were reaped. There is a small village or town on the west side, formerly much more extensive: the inhabitants are chiefly engaged in fishing. There is a small harbour and an old castle, which during the last war was occupied by a garrison sent from Berwick. This castle is upon a lofty rock of whinstone, in the south-east corner of the isle. On the north-east side of the island is a projecting tongue of land a mile long, and in some parts only sixty yards broad, occupied by rabbits; on one side of this tongue the tide may be seen ebbing while it is flowing on the other. The Farne Islands lie to the south-east of Holy Island. The group consists of several small islets or rocks, some of which are visible only at low water. They produce kelp, and some of them a little grass. There are two lighthouses on two islets of the group. Surface, Hydrography, Communications.—Durham may be characterized as a hilly county. The western part is overspread by the branches of the great Penine Chain, from the eastern slope of which the chief rivers of the county slow, The two principal branches of this chain, which belong to Durham, are separated from each other by Weardale, the valley of the Wear; from the Yorkshire hills by Teesdale, or Teasdale, the valley of the Tees; and from those of Northumberland by the valley in which the Derwent, a feeder of the Tyne, flows. Large portions of the mountain district consist of moor-lands covered with heath, or, as it is here termed, 'ling." The hills north of Weardale have the name of Weardale Forest, and those north of Teasdale are called Teasdale Forest; but they are bare of wood. The principal elevations in the county are Kilhope Law (2.196 ft.), Cross Ridge, Bolts Law, Baron Hope, Collier Law (1678 ft.), and Fatherly Fell, in Weardale Forest; Pike Law, West Pike, Manner Gill Fells, and Eglestone Bank, in Teasdale Forest; Pontop Pike, on Lanchester Common, south-east of the valley of the Derwent (1018 ft.); Down Hill, Lizard, Fulwell Hill, and Boldon Hill, near the sea, between the Tyne and the Wear; Maiden's Paps, Warden Law, or Wordeslow (632 ft.), Low Hills, Hare Hill, and Hartmoor, near the sea, between the Wear and Hartlepool; Wheatley Hill, north-east of Durham; and Brandon Mount, south-west of the same city, but on the north side of the valley of the Wear (875 ft.) The moors are chiefly occupied as pasturage for sheep of the black-faced or heath kind, and for a few young cattle and horses. The best wooded part of the county is the vale of Derwent, which is especially adapted to the growth of oak; but it produces also ash, elm, birch, and alder, and a quantity of underwood, especially hazels. The chief rivers are the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees, with their tributaries. The Tyne drains the northern parts, the Wear the middle, and the Tees the southern. The Tyne [Northumberland] forms the northern boundary of the county for about 18 miles, from the junction of the Stanley Burn at Wylam to the sea, and its navigation extends from above Newcastle to the sea, a distance of about 15 miles. Its Durham affluents are the Derwent and Team rivers and the Stanley and Hedworth Burns. The Derwent rises in Northumberland, and flowing east, reaches, about 3 miles from its source, the border of Durham, along which it flows, first east and then north-east, then south-east, and then north-east again for 16 or 17 miles, receiving on its right (or Durham) bank the Nuckton, Boltshope, Baronhope, Hysop, and Herselop Burns, or Becks (i.e. small streams; the last two unite before entering the Derwent); and on its left (or Northumberland) bank many others. At the junction of the Milk or Milch Burn it leaves the border (which here turns off to the north), and flows through the county for about 9 miles north-east, till it again meets the border, and falls into the Tyne 3 miles above Newcastle. Its whole course is 28 to 30 miles. The river Team rises on the side of Pontop Pike, and flows first east-by-north and then north-by-west about 13 miles into the Tyne, about a mile above Newcastle. The Stanley Burn and the Hedworth Burn are only four or five miles long. The Wear rises near Kilhope Law, and flows east and south-east above 4 miles to Burtree or Bowertree Ford. In this part of its course it is known as the Kilhope Burn, and is joined by the Welhope and Burnhope, and some other burns. From Bowertree Ford the Wear flows east-by-south 18 miles to the junction of the Bedburn river, passing the towns of Stanhope and Wolsingham, and receiving on the right bank the Irshope, Harthope, Dadree, Swinhope, Westenhope, Snowhope, and Bollihope Burns (the last of which receives the Harehope); and on the left bank the Middlehope, Rookhope, Stanhope, Shittlehope, Wescrow, Houslip, and Eals Burns, all of which are small. The Wescrow re. ceives the Tunstall and the Thornhope. The Bedburn river is formed by the junction of the Euden and Sharnberry Becks, and subsequently of the North Grain Beck, and another to which the maps give no name. This upper part of the course of the Wear is through the wild and romantic district of Weardale, bounded on each side by high hills. From the junction of the Bedburn the Wear flows still east-by-south 6 miles to Bishop Auckland. In its way it is joined on the right by the Lin Burn, on the left by the Bitch Burn, and at Bishop Auckland by the Gaunless, which rises on Eglestone Common, and has a course of 15 miles. The Gaunless, near its source, is called the Hyndon Beck: it is joined in its course by the Humber Beck. From Bishop Auckland the Wear turns to the
north-east, and flows in a very winding course about 35 or 37 miles past Durham and Chester-le-Street into the Ger: man Ocean at Sunderland. Between Bishop Auckland and Durham it receives the Croxdale Beck and the Shinkly river on the right bank, and the Stockley Beck and the Browney river on the left. The Browney river is the largest of these; it rises on Satley Common, and flows first east and then south-by-east 17 miles, receiving the Pan, the Smallhope, and the Derness (which is joined by the Hedley) Becks. Below Durham the Wear receives the Stanley Burn, united with the Cock Burn on the left bank, and the Lumley Burn on the right bank, all at or near Chester-le-Street. The whole course of the Wear may be estimated at about 65 miles, for about 18 or 20 of which, viz. up to the city of Durham, it is navigable. It is crossed at Sunderland, near its mouth, by an iron bridge of one arch, of 236 feet span and 100 feet above high water-mark. The importance of its navigation arises from the export of coals from the neighbouring mines, for the produce of which it furnishes an outlet. London and many towns upon the Thames and on the eastern coast receive a considerable portion of their supply of coals from the Wear. The Tees rises in Cumberland, on the slope of Cross Fell (2901 feet high), and for the first few miles of its course forms the boundary between Cumberland and Westmoreland. It is joined by the Trout and Crook Becks, and upon its junction with the latter forms the boundary of the county of Durham, separating it for a very few miles from Westmoreland, and throughout the remainder of its course from Yorkshire. The general direction of the Tees till it reaches Sockburn, nearly 55 miles from its source, is east-southeast; from thence it flows nearly 30 miles north-east into the German ocean, its total course being between 80 and 90 miles. The first part of the course of the Tees to Barnard Castle is pretty direct; it flows through a narrow valley in a hilly country, and is swelled on the right or Westmoreland and Yorkshire bank by several becks, or small rivers, of which the chief are the Maize or Marys, the Lune, and the Balder or Baulder: on the left or Durham bank it receives the Harwood joined with the Langdon Beck, the Ettersgill, the Bowles, the Hadshope or Hudshope, the Eglestone, and one or two others. The valleys watered by these several affluents of the Tees open laterally into the valley of the Tees, and are many of them remarkable for picturesque beauty. A ridge of trap rocks across which the river flows at Caldron Snout, at the junction of the Maize or Mary's Beck, forms a series of falls in a distance of 596 yards which offer a fine contrast to the still water of The Wheel, a pool or lake into which the river expands just above. At High Force, or Mickle Force, a few miles lower down, another ridge of coarse-grained grey columnar basalt crosses the river, and causes another fall of 56 feet. A few miles below this fall and three above the village of Middleton in Teasdale, basaltic rocks form the bank of the river, and serve to support Winch Bridge, which consists of a plank two feet wide, with low handrails, suspended by iron chains across the river, here 63 feet wide, at an elevation of 56 feet above the water. Below Barnard Castle the course of the river is still tolerably direct till it reaches the neighbourhood of Darlington. It receives in this part of its course, on the right bank, the Greta from Yorkshire, and on its left bank, the Grand River, or Staindrop Beck, 10 or 12 miles long, which flows through Raby Park and ast the town of Staindrop, receiving the Forth or Sut eck. From the neighbourhood of Darlington the channel winds very much. At Croft near Darlington it receives a considerable stream on its right bank, and on the left the river Skerne, which, rising between Durham and Hartlepool, has a very winding course to the south-south-west, of more than 25 miles, receiving several streams by the way, and passing the town of Darlington just before its junction with the Tees. The Tees does not receive any considerable affluent after the Skerne, except the Leven from Yorkshire. It passes the town of Stockton, below which it receives the Hartburn and Billingham Becks, and at Greatham Fleet, near its mouth, the Elmeldon Beck united with another from Greatham. The wide aestuary of the Tees is navigable for colliers and other large vessels up to Stockton, and for small craft several miles higher up, above Yarm in Yorkshire: the navigation has been shortened by a cut, by which a considerable bend in the river is avoided. There are several small streams which flow into the sea between the Wear and the Tees. They are called Deans,