782 



DEVONSHIRE 



D'EWES 



Devon adds to singular landscape charms, anti- 

 quarian attractions of a most comprehensive and 

 varied character, prehistoric and medieval. The 

 Romans had little to do with it beyond Exeter, 

 which was an important station ; the Saxons did 

 not conquer it until the reign of Cynewulf ;, the 

 Danes ravaged it in the 9th and 10th centuries, 

 though they were at first repulsed with heavy loss ; 

 it was the scene of the western rebellion for the 

 restoration of Roman Catholicism in 1549 ; Ply- 

 mouth was the headquarters of the fleet which de- 

 feated the Armada in 1588, and the chief mainstay 

 of the parliament in the west of England in the 

 conflict with Charles I. ; Brixham was the landing- 

 place in 1688 of William of Orange. No county 

 save Middlesex has given birth to so many eminent 

 men Raleigh, Drake, Hawkins, Marlborough, 

 Monk, Coleridge, Hooker, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 

 John Davis,. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Richard 

 Grenville, Bishop Jewell, Gay, St Boniface, New- 

 comen, Wolcott, Kirigsley, John Ford, among them. 



Devonshire, DUKE OF. See CAVENDISH. 



Devrient, a family of German actors, of whom 

 the most talented Avas Ludwig Devrient ( 1784-1832 ), 

 distinguished both in comedy and in tragedy, and 

 especially noteworthy as an exponent of Shake- 

 spearian characters. His nephew, Carl August 

 (1797-1872), the eldest of the brothers Devrient, 

 played lovers' parts, and was the husband of the 

 diva, Madame Schroder- Devrient (1805-60). 

 Philipp Eduard (1801-77), the second brother, was 

 a delightful baritone singer in the early part of 

 the century, and afterwards became a painstaking, 

 though not a great actor. He was the author of a 

 number of plays, and of the valuable Geschichte der 

 deutschen Schauspidkunst ( Leip. 5 vols. 1848-74); 

 and with his son Otto ( 1838-94 ) he prepared an 

 edition of Shakespeare. Gustav Emil (1803-72), the 

 youngest and most gifted of the three brothers, was 

 most successful iti tragic and emotional parts, and 

 became identified in Germany with such characters 

 as Hamlet, Tasso, and especially Posa. 



Dew. The question of the origin of dew has 

 been discussed since very early times, and many 

 theories have been advanced on the subject. 

 Among more recent writers, Gersten, followed by 

 Du Fay, held that dew rose from the ground. 

 Others believed that it fell from above, but no 

 really systematic treatment of the subject appeared 

 until the publication of Wells's Essay on Dew in 

 1814. Wells combated the opinion of Du Fay and 

 Gersten, and showed that all the phenomena 

 described by them could be equally well explained 

 by his theory. He asserted that the dew was con- 

 densed out of the air in contact with surfaces below 

 a certain temperature. For every definite pressure 

 and temperature of the atmosphere there is a 

 definite amount of water-vapour per unit-volume 

 which can be held in suspension. Hence, when air 

 containing a certain amount of water-vapour is 

 cooled below a particular temperature, the vapour 

 is condensed. This temperature is called the dew- 

 point of the atmosphere under the given conditions 

 as to pressure and quantity of vapour. At night 

 the earth and objects at its surface are being cooled 

 by radiation. _ If the rate of loss of heat by radia- 

 tion is sufficiently rapid, the temperature' of the 

 earth's surface, and consequently of the air in 

 immediate contact with it, may fall below the dew- 

 point. When this occurs, the moisture condenses 

 on the surface in the form of dew. This is Dr 

 Wells's theory regarding the formation of dew. 

 He considered that the vapour had risen from the 

 ground during the previous day, and that very 

 little dew was formed from vapour which had just 

 risen from the ground, although he admitted that 

 some might be so produced. 



Wells's theory of the formation of dew is un- 

 doubtedly correct, but, in a paper read in 1885 

 before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Mr John 

 Aitken has adduced evidence which shows that the 

 greater part of dew is formed from vapour which 

 has just risen from the ground and been trapped by 

 the grass and other objects. Mr Aitken was led to 

 this conclusion by three independent experimental 

 methods. One of these consists in removing at 

 sunset a portion of turf from the ground, placing it 

 in a shallow metal pan and weighing it. The turf, 

 still contained in the pan, is then replaced in the 

 ground in good heat-communication with it. When 

 reweighed after some time, it is invariably found to 

 have lost weight. If the turf be covered by a metal 

 tray so as to prevent escape of moisture, this loss 

 of weight is largely obviated. Similarly, it is shown 

 that moisture rises always during the night from 

 bare soil, from roads, and from the driest earth. 



Certain atmospheric conditions are necessary for 

 the copious formation of dew. The sky must be 

 clear, otherwise the clouds will radiate back much 

 of the heat given off from the earth, and so Avill 

 prevent the surface objects from cooling below the 

 dew-point. The atmosphere must be calm, or the 

 air in immediate contact with the ground will be 

 carried away before it is completely saturated. 



When the temperature of objects falls below the 

 freezing-point, the dew is deposited in a solid state, 

 and is known as hoar-frost. See EVAPORATION, 

 METEOROLOGY. 



Dewas', a native state of Central India, under 

 British protection, held conjointly by two Rajput 

 chiefs. Area under both chiefs, 290 sq. m. ; pop. 

 152,100. The capital, Dewas, 20 miles NE. of 

 Indore, is a straggling town, with a pop. of about 

 12,000. 



Dewberry ( Rubus ccesius ) is distinguished from 

 the Common Bramble (of which, indeed, many 

 regard it as a mere sub-species) by its weaker 

 and more prostrate glaucous stem, with scattered 

 prickles, but without bristles or glandular hairs, 

 also by the few large drupes, which make up its 

 fruit, and which have a characteristic dew-like 

 bloom, whence the name arises. The fruit is very 

 sweet and agreeable, and makes an excellent wine. 

 The dewberry of North America (jR. procumbens), 

 abundant in the forests of Canada, is a delicious 

 fruit, much superior to the British fruit of the same 

 name, and more tart. The plant is of very humble 

 growth, scarcely rising above the ground. 



D'Ewes, SIR SIMONDS, antiquary, was born in 

 1602 at Coxden, near Chard, of Suffolk and Dorset 

 parentage, and was educated under four masters in 

 those two counties and in London, till in 1618 he 

 entered St John's College, Cambridge. In 1623 he 

 was called to the bar, but three years afterwards 

 threw up his practice, married the rich child-heirese 

 Anne Clopton (1613-41), and received the honour 

 of knighthood. He now devoted himself to his 

 darling pursuits, numismatics and historical manu- 

 scripts, whence in 1640 he was called away to the 

 Long Parliament as member for Sudbury. A 

 Puritan but a moderate, he accepted a baronetcy 

 ( 1641 ), sided with the parliament on the outbreak 

 of the Civil War, was expelled by Pride (1648), 

 and, -withdrawing to Suffolk, died at Stowlang- 

 toft Hall, 8th April 1650. He published little, 

 but his transcripts of manuscripts, which else had 

 perished, possess high value, as also do his Diaries, 

 especially the portions relating to the Long Parlia- 

 ment, which have been utilised by Mr Forster. 

 His monumental Journals of Queen Elizabeth's 

 Parliaments appeared in 1682 ; and his Corre- 

 spondence, with an incomplete Autobiography, 

 was edited in 1845 by Mr Halliwell (Halliwell- 

 Phillipps). 



