DUT 
become, in very wann regions, perennial 
and shnibby. 
DURESSE, in law, is wliere a person is 
wrongfully imprisoned, or restrained of bis 
liberty, contrary to law ; or is threatened 
to be killed, wounded, or beaten, till he 
executes a bond, or other writing. Any 
bond, deed, or other obligation, obtained 
by duresse, will be void in law ; and in an 
action brought on the execution of any such 
deed, the party may plead that it was 
brought by duresse. A deed must be 
avoided by special pleading, in these cases ; 
for the party cannot plead to it, non est 
factum, because it is his deed. 
DURIO, in botany, a genus of the Po- 
lyadelphia Polyandria class and order. Na- 
tural order of Putamineae, Capparides, 
Jussieu. Essential character: calyx five- 
cleft, pitcher shaped, inferior; corolla five- 
petaled, small ; style one ; stamina in five 
bodies ; pome five-celled. Tliere is only 
one species, viz. D. Zibethinus, a lofty tree 
with flowers below the leaves, which are al- 
ternate. The leaves resemble those of the 
cherry, but not dented at the edges, the 
flowers are borne in loose heads ; they are 
large, and of a pale yellow white. The 
fruit is very large, the fleshy part of which, 
is of a creamy substance and delicate taste, 
but of an unpleasant smell. Native of the 
East Indies. 
DUROIA, in botany, a genus of the 
Hexandria Monogynia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Rnbiacem, Jussieu. Essen- 
tial character : calyx cylindric, truncate ; 
corolla six parted ; filaments none ; ponte 
hispid. There is but one species, viz. D. 
eriopila, a tree, with thick unequal branches, 
hirsute at the end ; leaves terminating, op- 
posite, approximating ; petioles very short ; 
flowers at the ends of the branches, sessile, 
many, several of them abortive ; corollas 
white, fruit larger than a turkey’s egg, sphe- 
rical, covered very thick with erect brown 
hairs ; umbilicate, with the liollow calyx ; 
it is well flavoured, and much esteemed at 
Surinam, where it is a native. 
DUTCHY court, a court of the dutchy- 
chamber of Lancaster, held at Westmin- 
ster, before the chancellor of the same, for 
matters concerning the lands and franchises 
of that dutchy. The proceedings in this 
court are by English bill, as in chancery. 
Gwyn says, that this court grew out of the 
grant of king Edw. III. who gave the dutchy 
to John of Gaunt, and endowed it with 
royal rights and privileges ; sevei’al others 
of our ancient kings likewise separated this 
DYE 
dutchy from the crown, and settled it in the 
natural persons of themselves and their 
heirs ; though, in succeeding times, it was 
united to the crown again. 
DUTY, in general, denotes any thing that 
one is obliged to perform. 
Duty, in polity and commerce, signifies 
the impost laid on merchandizes, at impor- 
tation or exportation, commonly called the 
duties of customs ; also the taxes of excise, 
stamp duties, &c. See Customs, Excise, 
&c. 
DWARF, in general, an appellation 
given to things greatly inferior in size to that 
which is usual in their several kinds ; thus 
there are dwarfs of the human species, 
dwarf-dogs, dwarf-trees, &c. 
Dw'arf fruit-trees are propagated by 
grafting them on a quince-stock, about six 
inches above the ground ; and when the 
bud is shot so far as to have four eyes, it 
must be stopped, to give rise for lateral 
branches, for which purpose the upper- 
most eye should always be left outwards. 
Apple, pear, plum, and cherry-trees are 
thus formed into dwarfs, but Ihe summer 
and autumn pears are found to succeed best. 
As to the planting of dwarf-trees, they 
should be set at twenty-five feet square 
distance, and the ground between sown or 
planted for kitchen use while the trees are 
young, only keeping at some distance from 
their roots ; stakes also should be fixed all 
round them, to which the branches may be 
nailed with list, and thereby trimmed in an 
horizontal direction, and prevented from 
crossing one another. 
DYE, any square body, as the trunk, or 
notched part of a pedestal; or it is the 
middle of the pedestal, or that part in- 
cluded between the base and the corniche, 
so called because it is often made in the 
form of a cube or dye. See Architec- 
ture. 
DYEING, as the word is commonly used, 
is the art of communicating colour of some 
considerable degree of permanence to arti- 
cles used in clothing; the processes for 
colouring other substances will be found 
under the articles of staining wood, bone, 
leather, and marble. 
Tills art is probably of great antiquity, 
as we find accounts of coloured garments 
in the earliest records of history. The an- 
cient Egyptians must have carried it to 
great perfection, as the method of pro- 
ducing very brilliant colours of extreme 
durability was well known to them, nume- 
rous specimens of such colours on various 
