DIS 
eorps is difbanded, its colours are, in general, pil oteare in 
2 e public arfenal, and the drums,”& = prefe oe 
he ftate in which they are at the time of difban ding ; 
ai need if it be a regiment of the vee in order that the 
w ao ee in rea sage whenever - fame number may be 
e ftre efieBtive regiments. 
ftrength ; a new one 
appear no forthe ei ee for their fervices, the commif- 
fioned officers are placed on half pay, and the non n-commif- 
lioned are ener to fome other regiment. This is literally 
difbanding, and can only take place by order of his maje yi 
it not ue within the autho ther perfon to 
abrogate the king’s commiffion ; 
reign fiations rpeoanes power is velted i 
maiide:s in chie approve, and to carry te effet, the 
fentences of peer ary by thofe officers who tref- 
pafs again& the articles of w may sae eke ae of their 
commiffions, or iaaroal fuller capital pune 
with ja form. 
marched vee under a guard; the arms and the accoutre- 
the ftores, being all delivered oo! 
ive them. The foldiers receive 
ite aes or anne ted difcharges, and are, in fome cafes, 
forwarded to their re{peQive homes at the public expence ; 
the billets are cancelled, and the whole difperfe. This 
{fcene cannot be witnefled without fome emotion: men who 
have fufta:ned their country’s honour, and w e mutu- 
ally indebted to each other’s perfonal prowefs, io eeeus 
in the hour of danger, affociated too for probably 
ma ears, cannot bue fecl, intermingled with ihe joy of 
approaching their long eftranged families, fume reluctance at 
the feparation from each other, and from officers who 
gained their affections by kindnefs, and good example ! 
DisposcaTio, a aa wocd- 
ground into arable or pafture, an affartin ASSART. 
DISBURDENING of Trzgs, in Gardening, the taking off 
leaves and fruits when too numerous, that thofe left may 
grow the larger. 
DISC, or Disk, Difcus, in pea a kind of round 
guoit, or a piece of ftone, o » or wood, about a foot 
over, led y the ancients in their aa 
The difcus of the ancients was flat and oanes refembling 
the apparent figure of the fun. 
The exercife of the difeus was one of thofe practifed in: 
ublic games ; it confilted 1 in pitching, 
or throwing.a ight forward ; 
and he who threw it higheft, or farthett, ae away the 
rize. 
Thofe who pradtifed at this game were called di/cobolt, i. e. 
throwers of the difcus. 
The poets tell us, that Hyacinth, a favourite of Apollo, 
playing at the difcus with that god, was killed.by a blow of 
DIS 
Apolilo’s 8 which his rival ee ae diverted from its 
courfe, and eaft on the boy’s hea 
The difcus was sana ne by soon of a little aaa made of 
hair, as appears from Claudian, lib. ii. in Eutrop. carm. 29. 
ver. 359, et feq. Ovid defcribes this {port, Ae lib. x. 
ver. 175. Romans learnt the game of the difcus of the 
Greeks, and praGtifed it among themfelves. ee 
Paraleip. in Rofins An ntiq. Rom. lib. v. cap Pet 
Faber. Agoniticon hb. i. cap. 1. treat of he cued of 
the difcu 
Disc or Difh' in Hee alae the body or is of the fun, . 
or ; fuc t appears to us. For, though they are 
ely “phere bodies, they are apparently Gea: planes. 
ifc is concei o be divided into twelve equal parts, 
eae digits; by means ieee itis that the oe 
of an ia is laa, or eftimated. See Dicir and 
Ecuip 
Die. peminaed, of the earth, Sve Circre of illumina- 
tion. 
Disc, in Optict, the magnitude of a telefcope glafs; or ~ 
the width of its aperture, whatever its figure be, whether 
plain, convex, menifcus, or the ike. 
Disc, in the Greek Liturgy, i is aa) the fame thing with 
the patena in the Latin. See 
In the Greek church, the confecrated bread is laid ona | 
a ey difcus 
deeper 
the proper Bucs of - 
word difcus among the ancie i: 
te ‘DISCALCEATED, oo. unfhod,) certain 
orders or reformations of friars and nurs, fo ape from their - 
going bare-footed, or ufing ern inftead of fhoes 
DISCANT, in Mufic, from difcantus, . Lat. nding 
wice. nglifh verb, to defeant, .is derived from the 
Er. déchant, which means the fame thing. he - 
the 
that the organ was received in os and convents, 
tal chant, or plain-fong, began to be organ'zed by 
voices, in the manner which was alt non called difcant, . 
and the fad tsacon: ata een of that harmonica] feries 
which conftitutes concert, or mufic in diffcrent 
been au, expr. _ 
was firft fuggetted. 
Hubald, Odo, and Guido, are diaphon 
and difeantus, pean! ecicaup ae, diatffaronare, ae 
motetu and ‘tenore, are all w that 
— the oa emo: As thofe aes finging 
plain fong, extempore ; and contrapun€lum, written . 
The moft ancient authority which Du Cange gives for the 
ufe of the word difcantus, — are, is from Hugotio of 
e firft definer of decretals, . 
oaks by Guido, in his Micrologus, organum, and’ jorgeniaar, 
according to Du Can $ canere in modum organi; and 
among his authorities, he gives the following “defuttion from 
the catholicon, or i sre gy ¢ Janua, written in 12865 
* Organizare organo ¢ 3 gual ou chanter en orgres, 
organifor, to play or fin oo Vike the organ.” 
The fubjeét of the fitth chapter ef Mpeanes! 3 traét inthe - 
Bodleian library, xon, in ailcent, and the agreement of 
different voices. Difcant, in the infancy of what was after- 
wards called Fane oan and, in old Englifh, faburden, 
implied a double chant orm 
There are feve cur. ce caacilen a ree in 
the writings of th brated Gerfon, chancellor of the 
church a Gian ary Paris.at the beginning a the 15th 
enturye - 
