D E P 



666 



D E R 



Dcnys Charlemagne, and Charles the Bald. The church, which 

 I! was completed A. D. 1 181, is a fine Gothic building, of 



Oeptford. the finest f reestone> an( { CO vered with lead, and is great- 

 ~ m ~ v ™~ ly admired for the lightness of its architecture. Its 

 treasury was, under the dynasty of the Bourbons, con- 

 sidered the richest in Christendom. This abbey has 

 been the burying-place of the kings of France and of 

 the royal family ; and it contained, before the revolu- 

 tion, many splendid monuments; among which was 

 that of Charles V. and his Queen, Charles VIII. Louis 

 XII. and his Queen, Francis I. and his family, Henry 

 II. with his wife and children; Bertrand du Gues- 

 celin, constable of France ; and the Marshal Turenne, 

 whose ashes Louis XIV. wished to be mixed with 

 those of kings. These splendid monuments, however, 

 were in a great measure destroyed and carried away du- 

 ring the anti-regal fanaticism which prevailed during the 

 French revolution. The ashes and bones of the kings 

 were impiously scattered in the air ; and a few frag- 

 ments of" the monuments which covered them, were 

 preserved by the antiquarian zeal of M. le Noir, and 

 are now in the National Museum. The monastery is a 

 very fine modern edifice. 



Since the Emperor Napoleon ascended the French 

 throne, he has endeavoured to expiate the sins of the 

 revolutionists, by repairing and embellishing the church. 

 Two of the windows have been ornamented with the 

 finest painted glass. Between two expiatory altars in 

 the nave, one for the Merovingian, and another for the 

 Carlovingian race, is a column which is to be hung 

 with the portraits of the six French menarchs who were 

 emperors. Ah expiatory altar for the third dynasty 

 of the Capets is placed on the left side of the nave. 

 The principal altar is placed in the -centre ; and the 

 stair cases which lead to the choirs are of marble. Na- 

 poleon has also restored the vaults which contained the 

 royal monuments, and has defended it with a massy 

 gate of gilt brass. 



A number of curiosities, both sacred and profane, are 

 preserved, in this town ; but particularly the vase of 

 Oriental agate, which represents a feast celebrated in 

 honour of Bacchus, and which is reckoned one of the 

 finest, as well as one of the most valuable articles of the 

 kind. Several manufactures are carried on in St Denys, 

 particularly refining of sugar, and a manufactory of 

 Indian stuffs. Not far from the town, on the road to 

 Epinay, is an extensive bleaching establishment. Po- 

 pulation 4425. Distance north of Paris, 6 miles. See 

 Reichard's Guide ties Voyageurs en France, Weimar, 

 3 810; and Coup d' oeil Historique sur la ville et I'eglise 

 de St Denis avec le Plan, Paris 1802. (w) 



DEPTFORD, a large and populous town of Eng- 

 land, in the neighbourhood of London, and in the coun- 

 ty of Kent. It is situated on the banks of the Thames, 

 at the mouth of the small river Ravensbourne, which is 

 here navigable for lighters and small craft, and which 

 is crossed by a good stone bridge. The town, which 

 is divided into the Upper and the Lower town, is very 

 irregularly built, but contains many good modern hou- 

 ses and shops. The principal edifices in the town are 

 the two churches and the naval buildings, to which it 

 owes all its importance. The church of St Nicholas 

 consists of a nave, chancel, and aisles, and has an em- 

 battled tower of stone and flint, much older than the bo- 

 dy of the church itself. The old church had been en- 

 larged about the year 1630, and the body of the pre- 

 sent fabric was rebuilt in 1 697. It contains numerous 

 monuments, the principal of which are those of Cap- 

 tain Fenton, Henry Roger Boyle, George Shelvocke, 



3 



Derby. 



Esq. Sir Richard Browne, Mr John Benbow, &c. The Deptford 

 church of St Paul is a handsome stone building, which 

 was erected before the year 1730. It has a good spire 

 at the west end, and consists of a nave, chancel, and 

 aisles. The roof is sustained by Corinthian columns, 

 and the inside is neatly fitted up. The principal mo- 

 numents are erected to Admiral Sayer, and Matthew 

 Finch, Esq. The rectory house is a handsome build- 

 ing. The Old Hospital, which was rebuilt in 1788, 

 contains 25 apartments. The Trinity Hospital, which 

 was erected in 1672, forms a spacious quadrangle, 

 containing fifty-six apartments. A statue of Captain 

 Richard Maples, who, in 1680, bequeathed L. 1300 to 

 the hospital, stands in the centre of the quadrangle. 

 The pensioners in both these hospitals, are old sai- 

 lors and masters of ships, and their widows. There are 

 also in Deptford several valuable establishments for 

 the education of the poor. 



The principal naval buildings are, the royal dock or 

 king's yard, the victualling office, and the private docks. 

 The king's yard includes about thirty-one acres, which 

 are covered with various buildings, and it contains a 

 double and a single wet dock, three slips for men of war, 

 a basin, two mast-ponds, a model loft, mast houses, a 

 smith's shop, with nearly 20 forges for the manufacture 

 -of anchors. The old store-house is a quadrangular pile 

 of building. The range on the north side bears the date 

 of 1513, and those on the other sides have been built at 

 different times, a double front having been added to- 

 wards the north in 1 72 1 . Some years ago another store- 

 house was built parallel to the old one, and a range of 

 smaller store-houses were erected in 1780. The vic- 

 tualling office, or red house, has been erected at dif- 

 ferent times since the year 1749, and consists of houses 

 for the principal and inferior offices, granaries, bake- 

 houses, slaughtering-houses, houses for curing beef, 

 brew-house, and a wind-mill for grinding corn. A 

 kind of earthen ware, called Deptford ware, is manu- 

 factured here to a great extent. 



The following is an abstract of the population return 

 for 1811 for the town of Deptford. 



Number of inhabited houses 3,463 



Number of families that occupy them ...... 5,010 



Number of houses building 97 



Number of houses uninhabited 59 



Families employed in agriculture 208 



Families employed in trade and manufactures . 3,413 



Families not included in these classes 1,389 



Males 9,526 



Females 10,307 



Total population in 1811 19,833 



Total population in 1801 17,548 



Increase since 1801 2,285 



See Hasted's History of Kent; andBrayley's Beauties 

 of England and Wales, vol. vii. p. 456 — 469. (t) 



DERBENT, Derbund, or Derbend, a city of Per- 

 sia, in the province of Daghestan, of which we have al- 

 ready given afullaccount under the article Daghestan. 



DERBY, a town of England, and capital of the 

 county of the same name, is situated in a valley, extend- 

 ing and opening as it advances southward, into a fine 

 and well cultivated plain. It stands on the western 

 banks of the river Derwent, on ground a little elevated 

 above the level of the surrounding vale ; its situation is, 

 therefore, very pleasant ; and the scenery in its environs 

 extremely beautiful. 



Antiquarians do not agree in the derivation of the 



