710 



DONATUS DONNER. 



by the adoption of Uie Novatian principle of excom- 

 municating apostates, or gross offenders, and declar- 

 ing the most perfect blameiessness of life and doctrine 

 essential to the members of the true church a prin- 

 ciple afterwards adopted by the Catholics. The 

 Donatists mat It- themselves formidable, when swarms 

 of fanatical peasants, inflamed by their doctrines, in 

 348, under the name of ( 'ircamccllionea, attacked the 

 imperial army, sent to convert them by force, and, in 

 Mauritania and Numidia, for thirteen years after, de- 

 solated the land with pillage and murder. .Martyr- 

 dom was eagerly sought by them, and they voluntarily 

 gave themselves up to the Catholics, to be executed. 

 '1 hi- sect, which flourished in the fourth and fifth cen- 

 turies, was finally extinguished when the country was 

 conquered by the Saracens. 



DONATUS, ^Euos; a Roman grammarian and 

 commentator (e. g., on Terence), who lived in the 

 fourth century. He wrote an elementary work on 

 the Latin language (Deoclo Partibus Orationis), which 

 served as a guide to the learning of Latin in the mid- 

 dle ages. It was not till a recent period that it was 

 superseded by more judicious grammars. It was one 

 of the first books printed by G uttenberg. 



DONAU. See Danube. 



DOXCASTER, a handsome town of England, in 

 the West Riding of Yorkshire, situated 158 miles 

 from London, on the river Don, which divides into 

 two branches, and is crossed by two bridges. It is 

 noted for its magnificent church, a fine specimen of 

 the style of building in the reign of Edward III., for 

 the wealth of its corporation, which commands a re- 

 venue of about 7000 annually, and for the races 

 which are annually held here. 



The races were established about 1703, and have 

 progressively acquired much distinction in the annals 

 of the turf. In 1776 were founded the famous St 

 Leger stakes ; and the following year the race course 

 was greatly improved ; in 1803, his majesty's plate 

 for 100 guineas was transferred hither from Burford ; 

 and in 1826, a sumptuous edifice was erected for the 

 accommodation of the frequenters of the races, which 

 are held annually in September. 



Attempts have been made, but with indifferent suc- 

 cess, to introduce the clothing manufacture at Don- 

 caster; and a small part of the labouring population 

 finds employment in spinning wool and cotton, and 

 in knitting gloves and stockings. The principal com- 

 merce of the town arises from its situation as a great 

 thoroughfare in the midst of a populous and opulent 

 neighbourhood. The weekly market is one of the 

 principal corn markets in the north of England ; and 

 in the months of June, July, and August, great sales 

 of wool take place. The river Don, here navigable, 

 supplies the means of communication with several 

 towns in the south of Yorkshire, and the northern 

 part of Lincolnshire. Population in 1831, 10,800. 



DONEGAL, the most north-western county in the 

 province of Ulster, Ireland, is bounded on the west 

 and north by the sea, on the east by the counties of 

 Londonderry and Tyrone, and on the south by that 

 of Fermanagh and the bay of Donegal. It is about 

 seventy miles in length, and from twelve to tlurty-5ve 

 in breadth. The superficial area is 1820 miles. The 

 chief rivers are the Fin, the Dale, the Erne, the Gui- 

 barra, and the Swilly ; besides which it has a number 

 of lakes. Great part of the surface is waste ; moun- 

 tains or bogs occupy about 6 or 700,000 acres. It con- 

 tains lead, iron, coal, manganese,garnets, marble, chal- 

 cedony, limestone, and a silicious sand used in the 

 manufacture of glass in Belfast. Wool is manufac- 

 tured, but the staple manufactures are yarn and linen. 

 Fish are plentiful ; at Ballyshannon is an eel fishery, 

 and the largest salmon fishery in Ireland. The pea- 

 santry on the coast are considered the genuine native 



Irish, and are mostly ignorant of the English lan- 

 guage. Donegal is divided into forty-two parishes, 

 and has a number of small towns and villages. The 

 county town is Lifford ; but Ballyshannon is the priiu 

 cipal one. The ruins of numerous monasteries and 

 castles are still seen. The number of inhabitants, in 

 1831, is estimated at 298,194, the greater part of 

 whom are Catholics. A variety of little islands stud 

 the coast of Donegal. 



DONEGAL, a town of Ireland, in the preceding- 

 county, on a bay of the same name, at the mouth of 

 Uie river Esk. It is in a decayed state. The ruins 

 of a monastery are in the vicinity. Nine miles N. N. 

 E. of Ballyshannon, and 111 N. W. of Dublin. 



DON GRATUIT ; a free gift, bestowed by the 

 subject on the sovereign, in extraordinary cases. . - 

 pecially in countries where the prince can levy no 

 new tax without the consent of the estates. For ex- 

 ample, the ancient French provinces, in which the 

 representation of the estates existed, viz. Burgundy, 

 Provence, Languedoc, Brittany, Artois, and the king- 

 dom of Navarre, granted the king a tax as a don gra- 

 tuit. This used to be the case, formerly, in the Aus- 

 trian Netherlands, and in the German ecclesiastical 

 principalities having similar representative govern- 

 ments. 



DONJON, in fortification, signifies a strong tower 

 or redoubt, in old fortresses, whither the garrison 

 could retreat in case of necessity. 



DONNE, JOHN, D. D., a celebrated poet and di- 

 vine, was the son of a merchant of London, in which 

 city he was born in 1573. He studied both at Ox- 

 ford and Cambridge, and was then entered at Lin- 

 coln's Inn. His parents were Catholics ; but, in his 

 nineteenth year, he abjured the Catholic religion, and 

 became secretary to the lord Chancellor Ellesmere. 

 He continued in that capacity five years ; but finally 

 lost his office by a clandestine marriage with his pa- 

 tron's niece. The young couple were, in consequence, 

 reduced to great distress. At length, his father-in- 

 law relented so far as to give his daughter a moderate 

 portion ; and they were lodged in the house of Sir 

 Robert Drury, in London, whom Donne accompanied 

 in his embassy to Paris. On his return he complied 

 with James's wish, by taking orders, and was soon 

 after made one of his chaplains. He immediately 

 received fourteen offers of benefices from persons 

 of rank, but preferred settling in London, and 

 was made preacher of Lincoln's Inn. In 1619, he 

 accompanied the earl of Doncaster in his embassy to 

 the German princes. He was chosen prolocutor to 

 the convocation in 1623 4 ; and, in consequence of 

 a dangerous illness, soon after wrote a religious work, 

 entitled Devotions upon emergent Occasions. He 

 died in March, 1631, and was interred in St Paul's. 

 As a poet, and the precursor of Cowley, Donne may 

 be deemed the founder of what doctor Johnson calls 

 the metaphysical class of poets ; abounding in thought, 

 this school generally neglected versification, and that 

 of doctor Donne was peculiarly harsh and unmusical. 

 He wrote Latin verse with much elegance, of which 

 a collection was published in 1633. Of his prose 

 works, one of the most remarkable is that entitled 

 Biathanatos, to prove that suicide is not necessarily 

 sinful, which he never published himself, but which 

 found its way to the press after his death. His style 

 is quaint and pedantic ; but he displays sound learn- 

 ing, deep thinking, and originality of manner. Be- 

 sides the works already mentioned, he wrote the 

 Pseudo Martyr (4to, 1610), Letters, Sermons, Essays 

 on Divinity, and other pieces. 



DONNER, GEORGE RAPHAEL ; a sculptor, born in 

 Lower Austria, 1 680. He was at first a goldsmith. 

 He received his earliest instructions in art from John 

 Giuliani, a sculptor of the neighbourhood, and, from 



