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Diner, DURER, ALBERT, a celebrated German painter and 

 ^1^"*"^ engraver, was born at Nuremberg, A. D. 14-71. In the 



'^ rm shop of his father, who was a goldsmith, he made his 

 first essays with the pencil ; but was taught by an in- 

 ferior artist named Martin Hupse, to menage colours, 

 and engrave upon copper. When v ? was about 26 

 years of age, he began to exhibit some of his works to 

 the public ; and soon acquired great celebrity by his 

 engravings. He was one of the first improvers of that 

 art, which he carried to a high degree of perfection ; 

 and, excepting his contemporary Michael Angelo Buo- 

 naroti, he had no equal during his life. He possessed 

 an inexhaustible fund of designs ; and, in order to ex- 

 ecute them more expeditiously, he engraved many upon 

 wood. His prints are, of consequence, extremely nu- 

 merous, and were rapidly bought up as soon as they 

 were thrown off. Besides the excellence of the execu- 

 tion and design, they possess a recommendation, which 

 was not common among the productions of those times, 

 namely, that they are entirely free from obscene re- 

 presentations. One of his best engravings is that of St 

 Eustachius kneeling before a stag, which lias a crucifix 

 between its horns ; and the principal merit of this piece 

 is supposed to consist in the beauty and Variety of at- 

 titude imparted to the dogs. He did not produce many 

 paintings ; and few of them are now to be seen, except 

 in the more rare collections, or in the palaces of princes. 

 One of the most aine*>t of these is his painting of 

 Adam and Eve in the palace of Prague, which Caspar 

 V'elius has celebrated in the following couplet : 



An%elu kog cemeiu, miratui dixit, ab horto 

 ffm itaformoioi vo* ego depute ram. 



He was well skilled also in statuary, architecture, 

 optics, and geometry ; and wrote several treatises upon 

 these subjects, which were published after his death, 

 after having been translated from the original German 

 into the Latin language. He enjoyed the patronage 

 and esteem of the Emperor Maximilian, who bestowed 

 npon him a handsome jxni.sion, with letters of nobility; 

 and he continued to experience the liberality of Charles 

 V. and of his brother Ferdinand, king of Hungary. 

 He was for many years the chief magistrate of his na- 

 tive city ; and, being in easy circumstances, practiced 

 his art more as an amusement than a profession. He 

 lived, however, in a very frugal style, and with all the 

 appearance of poverty rather than of wealth ; but was 

 a man of cheerful dispositions, and highly agreeable in 

 conversation. Distinguished, in short, by the mild vir- 

 tue of his character, as well as by the extent of his 

 genius, he was highly respected during his life ; and 

 died at Nureml>erg in 1 528, where his friend and pa- 

 tron Pirckheimer, has honoured his memory with a suit- 

 able sepulchral inscription. See Melchior Adam in vi- 

 ti* Philos. German ; Vasari vile de Pittori ; Sandrart, 

 Pilkington, &c. (q) 



DURHAM, is a maritime county in the north of 

 England. Its form is nearly that of an equilateral tri- 

 angle ; the eastern side, from its southern extremity at 

 Sockburn to the mouth of the Tyne, measuring rather 

 less than the distance of those two points from its wes- 

 tern extremity, where it joins the counties of Cumber- 

 Situation land and Westmoreland. It is situated between the la- 

 d eucni. titudes of 54. 29' and 55" 3'; on the north it is separa- 

 ted from Northumberland by the rivers Tyne and Drr- 

 went ; on the west from Cumberland and Westmore- 

 land, by the Crookburn and the Tees, and by barren 

 hills and moors ; on the south and south-east, from 



VOL. VIII. PART I. 



Yorkshire by the Tees ; and oh the east it is bounded Durliam. 

 by the German Ocean. The greatest extent of the coun- s ~^V~ i ~' 

 ty, from Shields in the north to Sockburn in the 

 south, is rather more than 36 miles ; and its greatest 

 breadth, from the peninsula of Hartlepool on the east 

 to the mouth of the Crookburn on the west, where the 

 three counties of Durham, Cumberland, and Westmore- 

 land unite, scarcely reaches 45 miles. Its circumfe- 

 rence is about 180 miles, and it contains about 582,400 

 acres. It is divided into four wards : Chester ward, Division' 

 which contains three divisions ; Darlington ward, which 

 contains the same number of divisions ; and Easington 

 and Stockton wards, each of which contain two divi- 

 sions. But besides these, part of the county of Dur- 

 ham lies at the north-eastern extremity of England, se- 

 parated from the main body of it by the whole length 

 of Northumberland. This detached portion is divided 

 into two parts, Islandshire (so called from its compre- 

 hending Holy Island, ) which commences a little to the 

 north of Bamborough, and runs along the sea coast, and 

 for seven or eight miles inland, as far as Berwick upon 

 Tweed; and Norhamshire, which lies to the west of 

 Islandshire, and runs up Tweedside, nearly as far as 

 where the Till falls into that river. These two detached 

 portions of Durham contain about 72 square miles of 

 good hind, well cultivated. This county pays three 

 parts of the land tax, and provides 400 men for the mi- 

 litia. The natural districts of Durham are not very dis- 

 tinctly marked ; nevertheless the sea coast may be dis- 

 tinguished by a flatness and lameness of surface, when 

 compared with the centre parts of the county ; the 

 banks of the Tees by lowness of situation, and produc- 

 tiveness of soil ; the moorlands, which occupy the 

 western parts of the county, on the contrary, are cha- 

 racterized by elevation and barrenness ; and the inte- 

 rior is marked by the irregularity of its surface, and 

 the diversity of its soils, comparatively with the rest of 

 the county. The principal vale land consists of the 

 Vale of Stockton, which is well defended by the rotund, 

 prominent hills, which rise about nine miles northward 

 of the Tees ; the flat vale land spreading seven or eight 

 miles from that river. The central district is the lar- 

 gest of the natural districts, commencing at the foot of 

 Gateshead-fell, and extending southward as far as the 

 vale of Stockton : the sea coast district bounds it on the 

 east ; and the moorlands, with the valley of Walsing- 

 hara, on the west. The general appearance of the 

 moorlands of Durham is similar to that of the moor- 

 lands of Yorkshire and Northumberland. It is crossed 

 by that ridge of hills, which have been not unaptly cal- 

 led the Apennines of England, though none rise very 

 high in this county. From this description of the face 

 of this district, it will be seen that the general aspect of 

 the county is hilly and naked. As it extends from the 

 sea coast nearly to the top of Crossfell, which is 3400 



feet above the level of the sea, the climate of Durham . 



. , , , , , , Climate. 



must vary very considerably. In favourable seasons, 



and early situations, the harvest commences about the 

 middle of August; but when the seasons are cold and 

 wet, little corn is cut, even in the low and sheltered 

 parts of the county, before September ; and not un- 

 frequently, in the western parts, it is protracted till the 

 beginning or middle of November. In the spring, cold 

 north and easterly winds prevail ; these sometimes con- 

 tinue till the beginning of June, and are succeeded by 

 south and westerly winds, bringing much rain ; but 

 the heaviest falls of rain and snow are from the south. 



eat. 



8c 



