D O W 



62 



D R A 



that it contains 7000 Irish, or 11,340 English acres ; 

 tlut there are 6530 inhabitants, and that the annual 

 birth* are 360. He adds, that this may be taken as a 

 pretty fair average of the county. So that, at this rate, 

 tin- population of the county 'would l>. . tin- 



number of individuals to an acre would be 1.7-! : and 

 the annual births would amount to 1 7,777. This c-timate 

 is so different from the other, in which the number of 

 houses is given on g<x>d aiitluirity, that it cannot be 

 < It-red accurate. Indeed, it is next to impossible 

 to say whether any one parish or small district can be 

 taken as an average, in any one particular, of a whole 

 county sucii as that of Down. In the town of 1'orta- 

 ferry, there are 117 houses, and ~r2~> inhabitants, winch 

 being only 4.5 to a family, makes the population of the 

 county, at the rate of 38,351 houses, to be only 1 "2,579- 

 The return of the inspector-general of hearth money, 

 in 17<)1, bears, that in the county of Down there were 

 38,351 houses, of which :1I,I47 had one hearth, 1974 

 had two, 4X> had three, 2:35 had four, 148 had five, 

 89 had six, 42 had seven, 34 had eight, 13 had nine, 

 25 had ten, 67 had more than ten, and less than forty- 

 four, 1118 were exempted as new, and 2977 as pau- 



IHT-. 



See Beaufort's Memoir of a Map of Ireland; Xewcn- 

 ham's Vitm of the \atiinil, Political, and Commercial 

 circumstances uf Inland; Dubourdieu's Survey of the 

 County of Down ; and Wakeiield's Statistical and Po- 

 litical Account of Ireland, (r) 



DOWN PATRICK, the chief town of the county of 

 Down, in the province of Ulster, Ireland, is situated 

 about six miles wot of Strangford bay, and is encompas- 

 sed by hills on the east and south, which confine the view 

 to a small but pleasing extent. Near the town is a 

 high hill, that commands an extensive prospect of the 

 neighbouring country, and the river Koil, which is 

 here seen advancing towards the town, under the noble 

 hanging wood of Pontallagh. 



It is a post, and borough town, and returns one 

 member to the imperial parliament. It has a good 

 linen market, and commands an extensive trade with 

 the neighbouring country, which receives considerable 

 advantage from its contiguity to the sea, having there- 

 by an opportunity of exporting great quantities of po- 

 tatoes and malt. 



This town has long been celebrated as the burial 

 place of St Patrick, and is reckoned one of the most 

 ancient towns in Ireland, being noted in history before 

 the arrival of St Patrick. Its present name signifies 

 the mount of Patrick, which lias been given to it from 

 the Dun, or Ruth, which stands on the north-west of 

 the town, the conical height of which is 60 feet, and 

 the circumference 2100 feet ; it is surrounded by three 

 great ramparts, one of which is 30 feet high ; and the 

 whole circuit of the works is three quarters of a mile. 

 This mount is supposed by some antiquarians to have 

 been the chief residence of the kings of Ullagli, or 

 Down ; others are of opinion that it was erected by 

 the Danes, who made many predatory excursions to 

 this coast during the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries. In 

 the neighbourhood of the town is the famous St Pa- 

 trick's Well, commonly called Straule, which the ig- 

 norant believe possesses many healing virtues, and at 

 a certain season of the year it is much frequented by 

 Mine of the superstitious Catholic*, who perform their 



penance by going round it a number of time* barefoot- 



ed, or on their knees. The ancient abbey of Canons 

 Regular stands near the town at the ascent of a hill, 

 and was founded, it is said, by St Patrick, whose re- 

 mains, tradition says, were interred here in A. D. *y.'{ ; 

 .ind in the year "llS. r ), the bodies of saints Patrick, 

 Columb, and Briged, were said to be discovered in 

 tliis abbey, with the following epitaph written over 

 them : 



Hi tret in Dmio tumvlo tumnlanttir in HUD, 

 Brigida, Patriciui, atq. Columlm Pius. 



The cathedral stands at a small distance from the 

 abbey, and was made the seat of a bishop by St Pa- 

 trick. Near the abbey stood a round tower, about 70 

 feel high, which was probably used for a belfry ; this 

 tower was taken down some years ago, in order to en- 

 large the west end of the cathedral. The celebrated 

 De Courcey, the first earl of I'lster, took paetMMDcf 

 Downpatrick in the latter end of the l-Jtli, and the 

 Scots, under I'.dward Bruce, destroyed it in the be- 

 ginning of the 14th century. The destruction of the 

 cathedral of Down, in 1538, was one of the articles of 

 impeachment against Leonard, Lord Cray, but it has 

 been lately rebuilt : and it is worthy of remark, that 

 the workmen, while repealing this church in 17*!', dis- 

 covered a stone conin, the inscription of which was 

 obliterated by the consuming hand of time, and found 

 the bones of a skeleton firm, and most of them adher- 

 ing together, in the same posture as when interred. 

 On the legs appeared half boots, and the length of die 

 skeleton was above seven feet. 



The bishop's see is united to Connor, in the county 

 of Antrim, and forms the bishopric of Down and 

 Connor. 



The town is tolerably large, con. ing of four long 

 streets, and many lanes. The number of inhabitants 

 is about 5000. There are four houses of public wor- 

 ship, an established church, a Presbyterian meeting- 

 house, a Roman Catholic Chapel, and a Methodist 

 meeting-house. This being the assize town, it has a 

 good county jail ; there is also a county infirmary, and 

 a small hospital, endowed by the De Clifford family 

 for the support of the indigent, and the education of a 

 few boys and girls. Its other public buildings are re- 

 spectable ; and the many antiquities of which it boast < 

 are well deserving the attention of the curious. It i 

 20 miles south east of Belfast; 24 east north cast of 

 Newry ; and 74 north by east from Dublin. West 

 Long. 5 39', North Lat. 54 28'. ( o) 



DRABA, a genus of plants of the class Tetradynamia, 

 and order Siliculosa. See BOTANY, p. 259. 



DRACAENA, a genus of plants of the class Hex- 

 andria, and order Monogynia. See BOTANY, p. 189. 



DRACHM. Sec MIXKY. 



DRACO. See HKHPETOLOOY. 



DRACOCEPHELUM, a genus of plants of the class 

 Didynamia, and order Gyinnospermia. See BOTANY, 

 p. 24f>. 



I JKACONTIUM a genus of plants of the class Hep- 

 tandria, and order Monogynia. See BOTANY, p. 198. 



DRACOPIIYLLL'M, a genus of plants of die clas 

 Pentandria, and order Monogynia. See Brown's Pro- 

 drome Plant. Nov. Holl. &c. p. 556, and BOTANY, p. 

 175. 



Down- 



