DEVONPORT DEW. 



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DEVONPORT , a market-town of England, a 

 tlie confluence of the Tamar with the sea in Plymouth 

 sound. It is the seat of the naval and military go- 

 vernment of the port, and contains the dock-yard anc 

 naval arsenal. Hence it was. until lately, callec 

 Plymouth dock, and viewed only as an appendage t 

 the town of Plymouth. In the year 1824, it receive! 

 the name of Devonport, which it has since borne 

 The dock-yard is well worthy of notice. It extend 

 on the eastern bank of the Tamar, in a circula 

 sweep along the shore, 3500 feet in length, with z 

 width at the middle, where it is greatest, of 1600 

 feet, and at each extremity 1000, thus including an 

 area of ninety-six acres. The harbour of Hamoaze 

 which bounds the dock-yard on the western side, is a 

 commodious basin, formed by the estuary of the 

 Tamar, half a mile wide, and extending four miles 

 in length. Population 44,456. See Plymouth. 



DEVONSHIRE, the largest county in England, 

 with the exception of Yorkshire, being about seventy 

 miles in length, and from fifty to sixty-four in 

 breadth. It is bounded on the north and north-wesl 

 by the Bristol Channel, on the south and south-east 

 by the British Channel, on the east by the counties 

 of Somerset and Dorset, and on the west by that oi 

 Cornwall and the river Tamar. 



Before the Roman invasion, this part of Britain was 

 inhabited by a powerful tribe called Damnonii, who 

 carried on a commercial intercourse on the southern 

 coast with the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Gauls ; 

 and under the Romans it was included in the pro- 

 vince of Britannia Prima. Subsequently it became 

 the theatre of severe contests between the ancient 

 inhabitants and the invading Saxons ; and in 614 

 the former were defeated near Bampton, by Cynegisl, 

 king of Wessex, who added the Damnonian ter- 

 ritory to his dominions. Two hundred years later, 

 the Anglo-Saxons maintained a defensive war 

 against their enemies the Danes, who made repeated 

 descents on the coasts of this county ; where they 

 gained a temporary ascendancy in the reign of Al- 

 fred the Great, until their career was stopped by 

 Oddune, Earl of Devonshire, whose victory over 

 them in 878, shortly preceded the famous battle of 

 Ethandune, which secured the independence of the 

 kingdom. At the Norman conquest this county con- 

 tinued to be the scene of warfare after the general 

 submission to the founder of a new dynasty ; and 

 Exeter, the capital, stood a regular siege before it 

 submitted to the Conqueror. During the war be- 

 tween Charles I. and the Parliament, several military 

 transactions occurred in Devonshire, which was one 

 of the counties most devoted to the cause of mon- 

 archy, and one of the last retreats of its partisans. 

 The latest event of national importance which can 

 be here noticed, was the landing of William, Prince 

 of Orange, at Torbay, on the southern coast, Novem- 

 ber 5, 1688, preparatory to the revolution which 

 placed him on the throne, on the abdication of his 

 misguided relative James II. 



The soil and aspect of this county are extremely 

 diversified. It is watered by a number of rivers, 

 some of which fell into the Bristol Channel, and 

 some into the English Channel. Among the former 

 are the Torridge, and the Taw. The principal river 

 which enters the English Channel is the Exe, which 

 rises in Exmoor, and passing Exeter and Topsham 

 becomes navigable to the sea. Westward of this 

 is the Teign, which empties itself into the sea at 

 Teignmouth ; the Dart, which forms at its estuary 

 the harbour of Dartmouth ; and the Tamar, which 

 forms a boundary between Devonshire and Cornwall. 

 Other rivers are the Axe, the Otter, the Aven, the 

 Erme, the Yealme, the Plym, and the Tavy. 

 From the eastern border of the county, the south 



ern district, as far as Exeter, is fertile and pleasant, 



and the climate is so mild that the myrtle and other 



tender plants grow unsheltered near the sea side. 



From Exeter to the confines of Cornwall extends the 

 wide and barren tract called Dartmoor. Besides 

 moorstone, or granite, the mountainous parts of 



Devonshire afford the ores of tin, lead, iron, and 

 manganese ; and silver, gold, copper, bismuth, anti- 

 mony, and cobalt, have been found here, but in small 

 quantities. Tin was anciently procured in abundance 

 from the mines in this county ; but the trade is now 

 almost wholly confined to Cornwall. The north-east- 

 ern part of the county, bordering on Exmoor in 

 Somersetshire, is a mountainous, dry, heathy district, 

 including copper and lead mines. The rocks on tho 

 southern coasts, furnish a close-grained limestone, 

 capable of being polished as marble ; and in the vale 

 of King's Teignton, clay used by pipemakers and pot- 

 ters is procured in large quantities. The vale of 

 Exeter is distinguished for the beauty of its scenery. 

 Wheat, barley, pulse, and a little flax, constitute the 

 chief products of the arable land; while the pasture 

 is appropriated to the use of the dairy, or for breed- 

 ing cattle and sheep. That part called the South 

 Hams, is so productive, as to have obtained the ap- 

 pellation of *the Garden of Devonshire ; and here the 

 higher grounds are under tillage, and the lower 

 consist principally of meadows. 



The only city in the county is Exeter: the borough 

 towns are Ashburtpn, Barnstable, Beer-Alston, Dart- 

 mouth, Honiton, Oakhampton, Plymouth, Plympton, 

 Tavistock, Tiverton, and Totness ; and the market 

 towns, Appledore, Ashburton, Axminster, Bampton, 

 Barnstaple, Bideford, South Brent, Brixham, Chag- 

 ford, Chudleigh, Chumleigh, Collumpton, Colyton, 

 Crediton, Culmstock, Dartmouth, Devonport, Ha- 

 therleigh, Holsworthy, Honiton, Ilfracombe, Kings- 

 bridge, Modbury, South Molton, Moreton Hamp- 

 stead, Newton Abbot, Oakhampton, Ottery St Mary, 

 Plymouth, Plympton, Sidmouth, Stonehouse, Tavi- 

 stock, East Teignmouth, Tiverton, Topsham, Tor- 

 rington, Totness, and Uffenlone. The more import- 

 ant of these places are noticed under their proper 

 heads. Population in 1831, 494,168. 



DEVONSHIRE; 1. GEORGIANA CAVENDISH, 

 duchess of ; famous for her beauty and poetical tal- 

 jnts, and the patriotic friend of Fox. She was born 

 n London, 1757, and died in 1806. Her poem on the 

 aassage of St Gothard is celebrated by Coleridge. 

 it was also translated into French by Delille, and 

 jublished with the original, at Paris, in 1802. 



2. ELIZABETH HERVEY, duchess of Devonshire, 

 ived, from 1815, in Rome, where she died, March 30, 

 1824. In Rome, she was surrounded by distinguished 

 men, especially artists. She was the friend of car- 

 dinal Gonsalvi, Canova, Camuccini, Thonvaldsen and 

 others. She published Virgil's poems, in the trans- 

 ation of Hannibal Caro, with engravings, from the 

 designs of the first painters of Rome. This edition 

 :onsisted of only 150 copies, which the duchess dis 

 ributed to the European sovereigns, the principal 

 ibraries, and her particular friends. She caused an 

 clition of the fifth satire of Horace to be published on 

 he same plan, and was about to undertake an edi- 

 ion of Dante, when she died. Her house in Rome 

 vas the resort of the most cultivated society. 



DEVONSHIRE, duke of. See Cavendish. 



DEW is a deposition of water from the atmos- 

 phere upon the surface of the earth. The condi- 

 ions under which the phenomena of dew take place 

 ire the following : The most plentiful deposit oc- 

 curs when the weather is clear and serene; very 

 ittle is ever deposited under opposite circumstances, 

 t is never seen on nights both cloudy and windy, 

 t is well known, likewise, that a reduction in the 

 2r2 



