DAVIES DEAD SEA. 



437 



basins abundantly testify. At Drewsteignton, there 

 is a very remarkable logan, or rocking stone, in the 

 rocky channel of the Teign river, but its oscillating 

 powers have nearly ceased. The base or under- 

 stone of this vast mass of granite is deeply set in a 

 bed of rocks, of which, indeed, it forms a part. 

 The logan stone is of irregular shape, its height, or 

 thickness, varying from six or seven to ten feet ; 

 its length is about eighteen feet; the top flattish. 

 When rocked, it is said to have emitted an audible 

 murmur of a peculiarly awful nature. The scenery 

 around this monument of a remote age, is of un- 

 common grandeur. There are one or two other 

 logan stones in the same neighbourhood, but of less 

 dimensions. The only cromlech on the moor, is 

 at Shilston, near Drewsteignton, which bears the 

 name of the Spinster's Rock, from an absurd tra- 

 dition that three spinsters, or unmarried damsels, 

 constructed it one morning for their amusement 

 before breakfast. 



Prince Town, a small place containing about 

 thirty houses, is worthy of notice, as being the site 

 of Dartmoor prison, where, during the last war, a 

 great number of prisoners were confined. From 

 May 29, 1809, to April 22, 1814, no less than 

 12,679 unhappy victims were incarcerated there ; 

 about 1117 deaths occurred during that period, of 

 which 1095 were French, and twenty-two Ameri- 

 cans. This immense and remarkable structure is 

 exceedingly well adapted for the object designed. 

 Elevated at least 1400 feet above the sea, it com- 

 prises within its walls a circumference of thirty 

 acres, enclosed on its eastern, northern, and south- 

 ern directions, by a lofty wall, and on the western 

 part, or front, which being straight, blunts the cir- 

 cumference, by two handsome residences appropri- 

 ated to the agent and surgeon, and having between 

 them a Cyclopean gateway, surmounted with the 

 motto, " Parcere subjectis." The first stone was 

 ./aid in March, 1806. The edifice is principally 

 composed of the granite so plentiful on the moor, 

 and was completed at a cost of about 127,000. 



A railway between Prince Town and Sutton 

 Pool, near Plymouth, a distance of more than 

 twenty-five miles, was opened for public use in 

 September, 1823, at a cost of 39,983, raised prin- 

 cipally by the influence of Sir Thomas Tyrwitt, 

 who subscribed upwards of 3000 towards the 

 undertaking. Several attempts have been made 

 at various periods to plant and improve Dartmoor, 

 and it is probable that it will be ultimately en- 

 closed. 



DAVIES, CECILIA, formerly a celebrated 

 songstress on the Italian and German as well as the 

 English stages. She first appeared at the Opera 

 in London in 1773, and was considered as second 

 to Billington only among English female vocalists. 

 She had previously performed for some time in 

 Italy, where she was known by the name of 1'Ing- 

 lesina, and even the Italians allowed that her 

 powers were surpassed by those of Gabrielli alone. 

 Subsequently she returned to the continent with 

 her sister, who was an excellent performer on the 

 harmonica; and became prima donna at the princi- 

 pal Italian and German theatres, and a great fa- 

 vourite of the empress Maria Theresa at Vienna, 

 where she had operas written expressly for her by 

 Metastagio, and composed by Hassee. She also 

 taught the arch-duchesses (afterwards queens of 

 France, Spain, and Naples) to sing and act in the 

 dramas which were performed at court on the em- 

 press's birth-day. In her last and very advanced 



years she was in much poverty. Through the re- 

 commendation of lord Mount Edgecumbe, George 

 IV. gave her a handsome present, which enabled 

 her to pay debts which she had contracted. From 

 the national benevolent institution, she obtained 

 a pension of 25 per annum, which was all she 

 had latterly to depend on, with an occasional don- 

 ation from the royal society of musicians, or a 

 trifling present from a few old friends who knew 

 her in better times. She died in July 1836, aged 

 ninety-four. 



DAVIES, ROBERT, a bard of Wales, who gained 

 at different Eisteddfodau the following silver me- 

 dals and premiums : At Caerwys, Flintshire, May 

 29, 1798, the Gwyneddigion medal, for the best 

 Welsh poem on " the Love of our Country ;" at 

 Wrexham, Sept. 13, 1820, a splendid silver medal 

 (the chain medal) and premium of 8 for the best 

 Welsh elegy on "the Death of His Most Gracious 

 Majesty king George III. ;" at Brecon, Sept. 25, 

 1822, the Gwyneddigion medal for the best Welsh 

 ode on " the old Customs and Manners of the An- 

 cient Britons;" at Ruthin, March 1, 1825, a silver 

 medal and premium for the best Welsh translation 

 of the celebrated speech of his royal highness the 

 duke of York in the house of Lords against the 

 Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill ; at Denbigh, 

 Sept. 16, 1828, a silver medal and premium of 

 three guineas for the best englyn on " the Air Bal- 

 loon ;" at Beaumaris, August 28, 1832, a splendid 

 silver medal and premium of 15, the gift of Sir 

 Edward Mostyn, hart., of Talacre, Flintshire, for 

 the best Welsh poem on " David playing the Harp 

 before Saul." For his celebrated ode on " the 

 Courage of Caractacus against the Romans," he 

 received a medal and premium ; with several other 

 distinguished rewards too numerous to detail. Mr 

 Davies published an excellent Welsh Grammar, 

 and also Diliau Bardas, &c. He died at Nantglyn, 

 near Denbigh, Jan. 1, 1836, aged sixty-six. 



DAWLISH ; a town in Devonshire, beautifully 

 situated in a valley open to the sea on one side, 

 and on the other sheltered by richly cultivated 

 rising grounds. The beauty of its environs and the 

 mildness and salubrity of its air, make it a desir- 

 able resort for invalids, and it has now become 

 fashionable as a watering place. The parish of 

 Dawlish includes the townships of Cockwood, and 

 Higher and Lower Holecomb, and the hamlets of 

 East Town, Middlewood, Shattern, Westwood, 

 and Lithe well. Population in 1841, 3132. 



DEAD SEA, (a.) Most of the mysterious attri- 

 butes of the Dead Sea have vanished before the 

 light of modern science. It was believed that it 

 was impossible for a body to sink in it, that fishes 

 could not live in its waters, that birds were unable 

 to fly across it, and that if they attempted to do 

 so, they fell down instantly dead. The poisonous 

 nature of its waters, or of the vapours which arise 

 from its surface, have been fully disproved. The 

 water is very strongly impregnated with salt, and 

 consequently extremely buoyant. A traveller to 

 the Holy Land, speaking of its effects on a com- 

 panion who bathed in it, says he described the sen- 

 sation as extraordinary, and more like lying on a 

 feather-bed than floating on water. On the other 

 hand, he found the greatest resistance in attempt- 

 ing to move through it ; it caused his eyes to smart 

 immensely. A piece of stick put into it required a 

 good deal of pressure to make it sink, and when let 

 go, bounded out again like a blown bladder. The 

 water was clear, and of ;i yellowish tinge, which 



