DOWN DRACHM. 



717 



tains a superficial area of 955 square miles, or 

 611,404 acres, of which 502,677 are cultivable. Down 

 is copiously watered by a spacious inlet from the sea 

 on the east, by numerous small lakes, and by the 

 rivers Bann, Lagan, and Newry. A navigable canal 

 connects the Bann and Newry, which opens a com- 

 munication with Lough Neagh, for vessels of fifty or 

 sixty tons burden. There are many chalybeate 

 springs in this county, and several impregnated with 

 other minerals. The surface is very irregular, and 

 a considerable part mountainous. Slieve Donard, 

 the second mountain in Ireland, rises here 2800 feet 

 above the level of the sea. This county contains 

 copper, lead, black marble, susceptible of a high 

 polish, coal, slate, freestone, and crystals. Marine 

 exuviae are also found in the hills at a great distance 

 from the sea. Plantations are scarce, but natural 

 woods are seen in several places, and orchards are 

 common, a small one being attached to almost every 

 cottage in the bleaching districts of the low grounds. 

 Little wheat is cultivated, but oats are abundant, 

 and potatoes universal. The native breed of sheep 

 is prized for the delicacy of the mutton, and some of 

 the wool is of a very fine texture. Horses and goats 

 are numerous. The principal manufactures are 

 linen and muslin, various hi quality, and in great 

 quantity. Bleaching is conducted on a large scale 

 on the banks of the rivers. Paper is made at Lam- 

 beg, and hammered iron at Newry. The coast 

 abounds with fish. The presbyterian form of worship 

 predominates in this county, especially in the towns, 

 of which the principal are Down-Patrick, Newry, and 

 Hillsborough. Down is represented by four mem- 

 bers, two for the county, one for Down-Patrick, and 

 one for Newry. Population in 1831, 352,571. 



DOWN or DOWN-PATRICK, a borough town 

 in the above county, is beautifully situated in a valley 

 nearly surrounded by hills, at a distance of seventy- 

 four miles N.E. of Dublin, and twenty-six S.E. of 

 Belfast. It has a small hospital for the support of 

 the indigent and the education of a few children, 

 and also a diocesan school ; besides which, the other 

 public buildings are a market house, a court house, 

 and a jail. This town has a considerable trade in 

 linen, potatoes, and malt ; and is celebrated as the 

 supposed place of St Patrick's interment. A well in 

 the vicinity, dedicated to that saint, is held in high 

 veneration. Population 4779. 



DOWNING STREET, Westminster, London; 

 a street from which many important state papers are 

 dated, because here are the offices of the ministers 

 of the foreign and home departments. Business 

 with foreign ministers is generally transacted in 

 Downing street. The two offices are not far from 

 Westminster abbey, and the old houses of parliament, 

 which were recently destroyed by fire. 



DOWNS ; banks or elevations of sand, which the 

 sea gathers and forms along its shores, and which 

 serve it as a barrier. The term is also applied to 

 large tracts of naked, poor land, on which sheep 

 usually graze. 



DOWNS, THE ; a celebrated road for ships, 

 extending six miles along the east coast of Kent, in 

 England, between North and South Foreland, where 

 both the outward and homeward bound ships frequent- 

 ly make some stay, and squadrons of men-of-war 

 rendezvous in time of war. It affords excellent 

 anchorage, and is defended by the castles of Deal, 

 Dover, and Sandwich, as well as by Goodwin sands. 



DOXOLOGY (from'$a%a, praise, glory, and xy,', 

 the word) . This name is given to hymns in praise 

 of the Almighty, distinguished by the title of greater 

 and lesser. Both the doxologies have a place in the 

 church of England, the former being repeated after 

 every psalm, and the latter used in the communion 



service. Doxology the greater, or the angelic hymn, 

 was of great note in the ancient church. It began 

 with the words which the angels sang at our Sav- 

 iour's birth, " Glory be to God on high," &c. It was 

 chiefly used in the communion service, and in private 

 devotions. Doxology the lesser was anciently only 

 a single sentence, without response, in these words 

 " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to 

 the Holy Ghost, world without end ; amen." Part 

 of the latter clause, " as it was in the beginning, 

 is now, and ever shall be," was inserted some time 

 after the first composition. Some read this ancient 

 hymn, " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, 

 with the Holy Ghost ;" others, " Glory be to the Fa- 

 ther, in or by the Son, and by the Holy Ghost." This 

 difference of expression occasioned no disputes in the 

 church, till the followers of Arius began to make 

 use of the latter as a distinguishing characteristic 

 of their party, when it was entirely laid aside by 

 the Catholics, and the use of it was sufficient to 

 bring any one under suspicion of heterodoxy. The 

 doxology was used at the close of every solemn of- 

 fice. The Western church repeated it at the end of 

 every psalm. Many of the prayers were also con- 

 cluded with it, particularly the solemn thanksgiving 

 or consecration prayer, at the celebration of the 

 eucharist. It was also the ordinary conclusion of the 

 sermons. 



DOYEN, GABRIEL FRANSOIS, a French painter, 

 was born at Paris, in 1726, and became a pupil of 

 the painter Vanloo. At the age of twenty, he gained 

 the first prize for painting. He went to Rome, in 

 1748, where the works of those painters, who were 

 distinguished for boldness of design and strength of 

 expression, as Annibal Carracci, Pietro di Cortona, 

 Giulio Romano, Polidore, and Michael Angelo, were 

 the particular objects of his study and enthusiastic 

 emulation. After his return to Paris, he remained 

 a long time without employment, occupied solely 

 with his art. He spent two years in the execution 

 of his Virginia, which procured him admission into 

 the academy of painting, hi 1758. The picture La 

 Peste des Ardents, for the church of St Roch, in- 

 creased his reputation. To give his works more 

 truth, he visited the hospitals, and studied the expres- 

 sion and appearances of the sick and dying. He 

 executed several works for the court. In the begin- 

 ning of the revolution, Catharine II. invited him to 

 Russia, gave him a pension of 1200 rubles, with a 

 residence in one of the palaces, and appointed him 

 professor in the academy of painting at Petersburg. 

 After the death of the empress, Paul II. continued to 

 treat him with equal favour. He painted much for 

 the imperial palaces, and died at Petersburg, June 

 5, 1806. 



DRACHM faux?*), the unit of weight and of 

 money among the ancient Greeks, both as a weight 

 and a coin, contained six oboli (IfaKo!), and was itself 

 the 100th part of a mina (^v), and the 6000th part 

 of a talent (rXaT). 



1. According to the calculations of Wurm (De 

 Pond. Nummorumque rat., Stuttgard, 1821), the 

 weight of the Attic drachm is 67.383 grains English 

 Troy weight, and the Attic talent 70 Ibs. 6 oz. The 

 calculation of M. Letronne differs slightly from 

 this. There were several other kinds of drachm and 

 talent in use : those of ^Egina were the heaviest, the 

 ^Eginetic talent being equal to 10,000 Attic drachms; 

 the Euboic talent was nearly the same as the Attic ; 

 the Rhodian and Egyptian talents were each about 

 one-third of the Attic. Whenever no particular 

 kind is designated, the Attic talent is meant. 



2. The principal Grecian coin was the drachm : it 

 was of silver : it was divided, like the weight into six 

 oboli (silver). The tetradrachm (of four drachms) 



