



I'l'SOKR. 







put of the county which i contained in the parish of I.lmi y M - 

 entered Denbighshire by the hills on the south ride of the valley of 

 theCeiriop, passed DearChirk CaUe and Ruabon, and oo into Flintshire. 

 Although insufficient as a military work to keep off invaders, it was 

 the trcognised boundary of England and \\nlr* ; and hoary penalties 

 were denounced against all Welshmen who should be found in arms 

 on the English side. A dyke, called Wat's, or Watt's Dyke, equal to 

 that of Offa in depth, though not in extent, runs parallel to it through 

 this county. It enter* Denbighshire 2 or 8 miles to the east of OftVs 

 Dyke, crones the Ceirlog and the Dee, and runs through Wynnstay 

 (0000 called WatteUy ) Park, past Wrexham, and across the Alyn into 

 Flintshire. 



About the year 828, Denbighshire was overrun by Egbert, king of 

 Wessex, who had acquired for that kingdom the permanent supremacy 

 of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The Britons however seem to have 

 recovered the territory appropriated by Ofla, which included part of 

 Denbighshire. The country thus restored to its original masters was 



in Powys or Powysland, one of the subdivisions of Wales. 

 The consolidation of the power of England under the Norman princes 



llyn, the last prince 

 struggle with the ambitious and politic king of England. In the sub- 

 sequent revolt of the Welsh prince and his brother David in 1282, it 

 reverted to ita native masters, but the death of Llewellyn and the 

 execution of David as a traitor, again and finally placed it under the 

 English dominion. 



In the insurrection of Owen Glyndwr, in the civil war of the Roses, 

 and again in the great civil war of the 17th century, Denbighshire 

 became the scene of contest. In 1645 a considerable body of Welsh 

 and Irish royalists under the command of Sir William Vaughun, 

 marching to the relief of Chester, were attacked and defeated near 

 Denbigh by a detachment of the parliamentary army under General 

 Mytton. In February 1645-6, the castles of Ruthin and Holt were 

 simultaneously attacked by Mytton, and surrendered after a siege of 

 two months. The conqueror then marched to Denbigh, the castle of 

 which he besieged in July : it held out till November, when it surren- 

 dered on honourable terms. In the year 1659, Sir Thomas Myddleton 

 and Sir George Booth made a premature attempt to restore the 

 Stuarts. Denbighshire has not been the scene of any public event of 

 interest since that time. 



In 1851 the county possessed three savings banks at Denbigh, 

 Ruthin, and Wrexham. The total amount owing to depositors on 

 the 20th of November, 1851, was 56,598i 11. "id. 

 I'KXDER. fFLAStDEBs, EAST; HAINAI'I.T.] 



liKMiKKAH, the Tentyra of the Greeks and Romans, a ruined 

 town of Upper Egypt, near the left or went bank of the Nile, and 

 nearly opposite Keneh, is celebrated for its temple, which is the best 

 preserved and one of the most splendid in all Egypt. Its remains 

 occupy a vast extent of ground, and consist of various buildings and 

 propyla, besides the temple itself. They are inclosed, with the 

 exception of one propylon, within a square wall, the side of which 

 is 1000 feet, and built of sun-dried brick. The wall is in some parts 

 35 feet high and 15 feet thick. The handsome portico in front is 

 formed of 24 columns ranged in four rows, with quadrangular capitals, 

 having a colosMl head of Isia, or as some say of Athor on each Bide, 

 surmounted by another quadrangular member, each face of whirli 

 contains a temple doorway with two winged globes above, and other 

 decorations. The shafts of the columns are perfectly cylindrical ami 

 of equal diameter all through, and the whole height, including the 

 base, the quadrangular capital, and d<5 above that, is 46'10 English 

 feet. The front is adorned with a beautiful cornice and a frieze 

 covered with figures and hieroglyphics, over the centre of whicli the 

 winged globe is predominant On all the walls, columns, archi- 

 traves, and ceiling there is nowhere a space of two feet that Is not 

 covered with some figures in basso-rilievo of human beings, auimals, 

 plants, emblems of agriculture, or of religious ceremonies. Tho 

 interior chambers of the temple are likewise covered with sculpt m. s 

 among which the figure of Iis is repeated in numberless instances, 

 as she appears to have been the presiding deity of the place. Tin- 

 light in the chambers comes in through small holes in the wall ; the 

 sanctuary iUelf is quite dark. The ceiling of the portico is o. 

 by a number of mythological figures, among which the French savans 

 thought they recognised the signs of the zodiac ; but as the Crab is 

 wanting, recent travellers and archwologlsU are of opinion that it ia 

 no zoduw, but a collection of mythological emblems, without any 

 reference to astronomy. On the east side of the temple there are 

 some apartments, both on the ground floor and upper story. On the 

 ceiling of one of the Utter, under the roof of the temple, there was 

 another assemblage of mythological figures resembling those on the 

 ceiling of the portico, though fewer in number and differently arranged. 

 This was called a planisphere or lodiac, because in the middle of it 

 figures similar to the signs usually adopted to> represent the twelve 

 cotwtelUtions wen observed. These figures however probably 

 represent merely god* and goddesses and religious procession 

 0-calltd zodiacs of Dcnderah have given rise to a warm discussion 

 connected with the truth of the Mosaic history of the world. It is 

 now generally believed that the temple of Deuderah, with iU zodiacs, 



is not older than the period of the Ptolemies. The circular zodiac 

 n the upper chamber of the temple <>f Denderah, which wa* 

 Miilptured on * kind of sandstone, wan cut out of the ceiling by a 

 frenchman, with the permission of Mehemet Ali, and shipped fur 

 France in 1821, when it was purchased by the French government, 

 and is now in the Museum at Paris. 



(BeUoni ; Richardson ; Hamilton ; Chm|>ollion ; Visconti ; Halma, 

 Rramtn da /<x/in</n. rl ; Lctronne, Obitnatvmt mr 



bjfl da Rrpreienttitiuiu Zodiacale*, d-r. ; Eyy/ilion Anti</iiitia.) 



DENDEItMoXDK. .., TKHMOXHK, a fortified town in East 

 Flanders, is built at the confluence of the Dender and the Schelde, 

 about 18 miles by railway K. from Ghent, 16 miles W. from Malines, 

 and contains 8000 inhabitants. There are four churches, five chapels, 

 a town-house, an hospital, a lunatic asylum, an orphan house, two 

 convents, several schools, and a college in the town. In the church 

 of Notre Dame, which is a very old structure, surmounted by an 

 octagonal tower, there are two pictures by Vainly k, and an m 

 sculptured font. Tho house in which Teniers lived is still shown. 

 The town, which ia fortified and defended by a citadel built in 1584 

 by the Duke of Parma, is said to have been founded in the 8th 

 century. It was besieged by Louis XIV. in 1667 with 50,000 men, 

 who were obliged to retire by the opening of the sluices on the part 

 of the besieged, whereby the surrounding country was laid undi-r 

 water. In 1706 it was besieged and taken by Morlborough, an event 

 more than once alluded to by ' My Uncle Toby ' in Sterne's ' Tri 

 Shandy.' In 1745 it fell into the hands of the French. Dendertnonde 

 is the seat of many branches of manufacture, the most important of 

 which are woollen cloths, cotton-yarn, lace, hats, soap, cordage, and 

 pottery. The surrounding country ie fertile and well cultivate ! 

 considerable business is transacted at the weekly market in grain, 

 linseed, hemp, and oil. Many Roman antiquities have been dug up 

 in the neighbourhood. (Dicttoanaire CKograpKique de la Province at 

 la Flandrt Orientate.) 



DENIS, ST., an ancient well-built town in the department of Seine, 

 in France, stands at the distance of 5 miles from Paris on th. 

 and Boulogne railroad, in 48 56' N. lat, 2 21' E. long., and has 

 12,213 inhabitants, including only the commune. It is traversed by 

 the Croud and the Rouillon, small streams that enter the Seine on 

 the right bauk at a short distance from the town, and by a canal which 

 connects the Seine with the canal of the Ourcq. The town was 

 formerly fortified, but the ramparts are now converted into handsome 

 promenades. It lies within the line of detached forts which form 

 the outworks of the new fortifications of Paris ; one of these forU 

 is built across the road which enters the town from the north. 



St.-Denis dates its .rise from the foundation of a chapel erected 

 A.D. 240, over the tomb of St. Dionysius, or Denis. The chapel was 

 afterwards replaced by an oratory, and in the beginning of the 7th 

 century by a magnificent church erected by Dagoburt I., who also 

 founded the abbey of St.-Deuis, and was buried in the ubl.ry rhmvh 

 in A.D. 633. Succeeding kings added to the wealth and decorations 

 of the abbey which was to receive their ashes. The church, com- 

 menced on a larger scale by Pepin le Bref, was finished by Charlemagne. 

 The present abbey church dates from 1130, when Abbot Suger, regent 

 under Louis le Jeuiu-, built the portal, towers, vestibule, apsis, and 

 the crypt, which contains the royal tombs. The nave was completed 

 in 1281 by Abbot Odon. The western front is divided by buttresses 

 into three compartments, which are crowned by a range of battle- 

 ments. In each comportment is a wide semicircular arched doorway, 

 the ascent to which, is by a Right of steps running along the win. It- 

 front. The upper part of the centre compartment is occupied by the 

 clock. The doors are covered with grotesque but well-executed bronze 

 figures in bas-relief. This church formerly contained the tombs of 

 most of the kings of France and of several other emim nt individualx. 

 By a decree of the National Convention, dated July 31, IT 1 .'-, tin- 

 monuments were ordered to be demolished. In three days 51 tombs 

 were destroyed and 51 royal graves brutally desecrated, the bones 

 f'inihl in them being thrown pell-mell into two ditches opened on tin- 

 north side of the church. Under the Directory the lead was stripped 

 off the roof, the stained-glass windows removed, and it was evrn in 

 agitation to dcmolUh the structure altogether. I 'ml. -r the Consulate 

 anil the Empire the restorations commenced ; these were con- 

 through many subsequent years, and were compKud in thu i-i-ign of 

 Louis Philippe, so that the church of St.-Deuis presents now an 

 appearance of greater splendour than it presented ln-furo the rude 

 hands of republican violence assailt -.1 it Tin- ma.-s .if royal n mains 

 were removed by order of Louis XVIII. fn.iu tin .hi. h- into which 

 thi-y had been cast, and placed, together with those of Louis X \ I. 

 and Mario Antoinette, in the central vaults below the high altar. 

 The crypt, which is entered by a descent of stops on either side of 

 the choir, contains statues of the kings of France arranged i ' 

 logically from Clovis to Louis XVI. 



The abbey of St.-Douis was suppressed in 1792. The abbey 

 I. -ill. lings, a huge structure, are now occupied by the institution f<u- 

 the Orpnans of Members of the Legion of Honour. Among '-th.-r 

 remarkable buildings at St. I 'mi are the former convent and church 

 of the Carmelites, and the infantry barracks to the north of the 

 town. 



Tho trade of St-Denis is considerable. Printed calicoes and other 



