DOUGLAS DOVER, 



715 



both its points are rocky and dangerous, and in the 

 middle is a bed of rocks called Connister, which has 

 proved very destructive to shipping in stormy weather. 

 Here is a pier 520 feet long, and from 40 to 50 broad, 

 handsomely paved with freestone. The harbour is 

 esteemed the finest dry one in the English channel. 



DOUGLAS ; a parish, river, and village of Scot- 

 land, in the upper ward of Lanarkshire. The parish 

 is about twelve miles long, and from four to seven 

 broad. It is watered by the river, which rises at the 

 foot of a mountain near its south-west border, and by 

 three smaller streams. The village is situated on the 

 south side of the Douglas water, about seven miles 

 from its conflux with the Clyde ; highways from 

 Glasgow to England, and from Edinburgh to Ayr, 

 pass through it. The cotton manufacture is carried 

 on here, but it is chiefly known for a great annual 

 fair which is held in the churchyard. In the vicinity 

 of the town stands Douglas castle, a comparatively 

 modern edifice, the old one having been destroyed by 

 fire. Population in 1831, 2542. 



DOUGLAS, GAWJN ; an early Scottish poet of 

 eminence. He was the son of Archibald, earl of 

 Angus, and was born at Brechin, in 14745. He 

 received a liberal education, commenced at home, 

 and completed at the university of Paris. On return- 

 ing to Scotland, he took orders in the church, and 

 was made provost of the church of St Giles, at Edin- 

 burgh, afterwards abbot of Aberbrothick, and, at 

 length, bishop of Dunkeld. Political commotions, 

 after a time, obliged him to seek a retreat in Eng- 

 land, where he was liberally treated by Henry VIII. 

 He died of the plague, in London, in 1522, and was 

 interred in the Savoy church. Gawin Douglas trans- 

 lated the poem of Ovid, De Remedio Amoris ; also, 

 the ^Eneid of Virgil, and the supplementary book of 

 Maphseus, in heroic verse. This work, in the Scot- 

 tish language, is executed with great spirit; and, 

 considering the age of the author, with extraordinary 

 elegance of diction, far surpassing, in that respect, 

 the succeeding productions of Phaer, Swyne, and 

 even of lord Surrey. It was written about 1512, and 

 is said to have been completed in sixteen months. To 

 each book is prefixed a highly poetical prologue. It 

 was first published in 1553 (London, 4to) ; and re- 

 printed at Edinburgh (1710, folio). 



DOUGLAS, JOHN, a learned divine and critic, was 

 born in Scotland in 1721. After some education at 

 a grammar-school in his native country, he was sent 

 to the university of Oxford in 1736, and, in 1743, he 

 took. the degree of M. A. Soon after, he was ap- 

 pointed chaplain to the 3d regiment of foot-guards. 

 He was afterwards a travelling tutor to lord Pul- 

 teney, with whom he visited several parts of the con- 

 tinent, but quitted him and returned to England in 

 1749, when his patron, the earl of Bath, presented 

 him with several benefices. His first literary pro- 

 duction was a letter to the earl of Bath, entitled 

 Milton vindicated from the Charge of Plagiarism, 

 brought against him by Mr Lauder (1751, 8vo. See 

 Lauder fF.) In 1754, he published a tract, entitled 

 the Criterion, or a Discourse on Miracles. In 1762, 

 he was made canon of Windsor, which benefice he 

 exchanged with doctor Barrington for a residentiary 

 canonry of St Paul's. His next preferment was the 

 deanery of Windsor. In 1777, he was employed in 

 preparing for the press the journal of captain Cook's 

 second voyage, to which he prefixed a well written 

 introduction, and added nofes. He assisted lord 

 Hardwicke in arranging and publishing his Miscel- 

 laneous Papers, which appeared the following year. 

 In 1778, he was elected a fellow of the royal and 

 antiquarian societies; and, in 1781, he edited the 

 account of captain Cook's third voyage. In 1787, he 

 was raised to the see of Carlisle, and, in 1792, was 



made bishop of Salisbury. He died May 18, 

 1807. 



DOUSA, or VAN DER DOES, a Dutch statesman, 

 philologist, historian, and poet, was born in 1545, at 

 Noordwyk, in Holland. He studied at Delft and Lou- 

 vain, resided some time at Paris, and then lived in 

 domestic retirement, devoted to literary pursuits, till 

 1572, when he went ambassador to England to obtain 

 the support of queen Elizabeth for the cause of the 

 Dutch. As chief commander, during the siege of 

 Leydenby the Spaniards, he conducted with prudence 

 and unshaken courage, in the midst of the horrors of 

 famine, plague, and civil dissensions. He kept up an 

 intercourse with the expected deliverers by means of 

 trained pigeons ; and to these faithful messengers he 

 has expressed his gratitude in some of his poems. 

 The stadtholder, William I., compensated the city for 

 its sufferings, by the establishment of the university, of 

 which Dousa was the first curator. H is extensive con- 

 nexions with the literary men of other countriesenabled 

 him to procure for the new institution that most distin- 

 guished instructor, Joseph Scaliger. After the assas- 

 sination of William I., Dousa secretly visited London 

 to seek the protection of queen Elizabeth, for the free- 

 dom of his country, of which he was always the faith- 

 ful defender ; and during the period when the govern- 

 ment of the earl of Leicester proved oppressive to the 

 Dutch nation (see Dudley), he conducted with pru- 

 dence and moderation. Domestic misfortunes, par- 

 ticularly the death of his eldest son, Janus Dousa, a 

 youth of great promise, afflicted the last years of his 

 life, and he died 1604. The many works which he 

 left show how true he was to his motto Dulces ante 

 omnia MUSOE. His best known work is Batavia 

 HollandicEqe Annales, extending to 1606, which 

 had been commenced by his sou. It was published 

 both hi verse and in prose. 



DOUW, Gerard. See Dow. 



DOVE. See Turtle Dove, and Pigeon. 



DOVER ; a seaport of England, in the county of 

 Kent, situated on a small stream which falls into the 

 harbour, seventy-one miles E. S. E. from London. It 

 consists chiefly of three long streets, converging to 

 one point. Dover is defended by a strong and spa- 

 cious castle, and all the neighbouring heights are 

 fortified. The castle occupies a lofty eminence, steep 

 and rugged towards the town and harbour, and pre- 

 sents a precipitous cliff, 320 feet higher than the sea. 

 Subterraneous works and casemates have been added, 

 since the alarm of French invasion, capable of ac- 

 commodating 2000 men. Dover is one of the 

 Cinque ports, and a borough returning two members 

 to parliament. The harbour can receive vessels of 

 400 or 500 tons, and is defended by strong batteries. 

 It is the principal place of embarkation to France, 

 and steam-packets ply daily to Calais and Boulogne. 

 Population in 1831, 11,930. 



DOVER, STRAITS OF ; the narrow channel be- 

 tween Dover and Calais, which separates Great Bri- 

 tain from the French coast. Britain is supposed by 

 many to have been once a peninsula, the present 

 straits occupying the site of the isthmus, which joined 

 it to Gaul. " The correspondency of strata," says 

 Mr Pennant, in his Arct. Zoology, " on part of the 

 opposite shores of Britain and France, leaves no room 

 to doubt that they were once united. The ckalky 

 cliffs of Blaiicnez, between Calais and Boulogne, and 

 those to the westward of Dover, exactly tally : the 

 last are vast and continued, the former short, and the 

 termination of the immense bed. Between Boulogne 

 and Folkstone (about six miles from the latter) is 

 another memorial of the junction of the two coun- 

 tries a narrow submarine hill, called the Rip-raps, 

 about a quarter of a mile broad, and ten miles long, 

 extending eastward, towards the Goodwin sands. Its 



