DUN 



200 



D U R 



Dunfcrm- of Fife. The magistrates also exercise a jurisdiction 

 **"* competent within burgh. Besides a parish church, which 

 is collegiate charge, there are vanous places of public 

 worship, and a great variety of sects : Ralph Erskinc, a 

 leader in the itctstion from the established church of 

 Scotland, in 174O, was one of the ministers of Dunferm- 

 line. There are a chapel of ease, a relief meeting-house, 

 two Burgher and two Antiburghcr houses, two congre- 

 gations of Baptist*, and one of Methodists. There is 

 no parochial school ; but a grammar school, the patron- 

 age of which is in the Marquis of Tweedale, on the re- 

 commendation of the town council, haa long existed in 

 the burgh. Besides the doctor of the grammar school, 

 there is a " master of the song," or precentor, who 

 teaches church music, the English language, and arith- 

 metic, also under the same patronage. But these means 

 of education have been found so extreme! y deficient, that 

 there are several private schools in the town ; and the 

 council, guildry, and most respectable inhabitants, have 

 lately united in subscribing liberally for the purpose of 

 erecting and endowing an academy suitable to the place. 

 A master has been chosen, but the arrangements are 

 not yet completed for settling the establishment. The 

 Lancastrian system of education, in a modified shape, 

 has been introduced with success; and there is one 

 gratis school for the instruction of poor children. There 

 are three subscription and one circulating libraries in 

 Dunfervnline ; two subscription coffee-rooms, and vari- 

 ous institutions of a charitable character, the particular 

 objects of which are partly of a permanent and partly 

 of a casual description. The poor, of whom few beg, 

 are supported by the contributions of the heritors, and 

 the collections at the church doors ; but a great deal is 

 done to prevent the increase of parochial paupers, by 

 means of friendly and other benevolent societies. In 

 1812, the money given by these, chiefly to poor house- 

 holders and distressed families, amounted to about 

 L. 1500. A guildhall has lately been erected, but is not 

 yet finished. It is a liandsome building, with a spire, 

 and will contain rooms for public purposes, an inn, &c. 

 There are eight fairs in the year, and two weekly mar- 

 kets, one for the sale of grain, and another for butter, 

 eggs, &c. There are branches of the bank of Scotland, 

 and the British Linen Company ; and four agencies for 

 insurance companies against fire. Formerly there was 

 a considerable number of breweries, and a distillery ; 

 but there are now only five common brewers, three of 

 whom make strong ale and porter. The town is amply 

 Mipplied with water, brought in pipes about two miles. 

 The streets are well lighted and paved ; and many of 

 the houses comfortable and well built. Coal is abun- 

 dant, good and cheap. There is one good inn, and 

 above 100 of an inferior description. The situation and 

 vicinity of Dunfermline are extremely pleasant. See 

 Statistical Account of Scotland, Sfc. (A. p.) 



DUNG. See AGRICULTURE Index. 



DUNKIRK, or DUNQUERQUK, in Dutch and Flemish 

 Brabant, a considerable sea port of France, in the de- 

 partment of the North, 30 miles north-east of Calais. 

 The name denotes the " church on the Downs, or sand 

 hills," and the place is of great antiquity. It belong- 

 ed for several centuries to the Earls of Flanders, and 

 passed, in the 1 5th century, to the House of Austria. 

 it remained under the Spanish branch of that House a 

 considerable time, but changed masters more than once, 

 in the wars in the Low Countries carried on in the mi- 

 nority of Louis XIV. Cromwell having taken part 

 against Spain, and having assisted the French in ob- 



I)ur:tnta. 



taining possession of Dunkirk, it was put into his Dunkirk 

 hands, and its fortifications considerably extended by 

 him. It remained, however, only four years in our 

 possession, Charles II. selling it, in HKW, to Louis XIV. 

 for the sum of L. 209,000 sterling. That ambitious 

 monarch expended large sums in strengthening its for- 

 tifications, so that Dunkirk afterwards liecame the seat 

 ot very formidable annoyance to the English commerce. 

 It is said, that in the war of the Succession, the prizes 

 carried into Dunkirk exceeded the value of a million 

 sterling : a loss of such importance, that, at the peace 

 of Utrecht, our ministers made a point of stipulating 

 for the destruction of the fortifications, and even of the 

 harbour. This accordingly took place, in a consider- 

 able degree, in the year 1713 ; but though, in the sub- 

 sequent treaties of 1748 and 1763, similar stipulations- 

 were inserted, the French contrived to evade their ex- 

 ecution, and the British ministers have been disposed 

 to consider the insertion of the article as little else than 

 an expedient for acquiring popularity. Since the 

 American war, the French have been at liberty to 

 improve the harbour and fortifications as they thought 

 proper. It is generally thought, that the Duke of 

 York might have succeeded in taking possession of this 

 place in the autumn of 1793, had his operations been 

 properly combined, lleichard taking his account from 

 the Terrier office, (le Bureau de Cadastre,) makes the 

 population of Dunkirk to be 16,832. It may be taken 

 at about 22,000. The houses are built of white brick. 

 The communication between the harbour and the inte- 

 rior of the town is by a quay, which is very long and 

 solid. The rope yard and sailors' magazine are two 

 buildings, each of nearly 600 feet in front. The bar- 

 racks are beautiful. There is here a public school for 

 teaching mathematics and hydrography . The roadstead 

 of Dunkirk is at the distance of a mile and a half north 

 of the town, and lies within a sand bank, which runs 

 parallel to the shore for an extent of nearly five miles 

 in length. Of late years, it has suffered in point of 

 trade in the same way as other towns in France, and 

 its inhabitants have little other occupation than that of 

 privateering, and of a few inland manufactures, such as 

 glass, ropes, leather, delf- ware and starch, itc. In time 

 of peace, it will, in all probability, enjoy a considerable 

 foreign trade, and might be expected to employ nearly 

 200 merchantmen, and 2500 or 3000 seamen. It is 

 the native place of the celebrated Jean Bart. E. Long. 

 2 T, N. Lat 51 y. 



DUODECIMAL of a Tone, in Music, (AT,) is an 

 interval which Aristoxenus, according to Dr Holder, 

 constituted as a degree, or common-measure for inter- 

 vals. It is =8.68y(i+5Z + n, (or 8| + f +$m ;) its 

 common logarithm is .9957372,8980; 3.0144603 in 

 Euler's logs, or decimals of the octave: = .790117 x 

 c= 8. 697507 X> c. Some of the ancient writers on 

 music seem to have assumed, that this interval was 

 the same with T * B th of the minor fourth, but which is 

 = 8.489514 S 4-i, = .9958353,75*5 in common logs ; 

 and others, that it was the same with ,5,-d of the octave, 

 but which is = 8.5228692 + m, =.9958190,2784. These 

 differences, though so small apparently in these small 

 intervals, are nevertheless sufficiently great, when often 

 repeated, in composing or calculating of intervals by their 

 means, as to render them very unfit for their intended 

 purpose. See COMMON-MEASURE of Intervals. ({) 



DURA MATER. See ANATOMY. 



DURANTA, a genus of plants of the class Didyna- 

 mia, and order Angiospermia. See BOTANY, p. 255. 



