DOR 
Bavaria; 7. all the czars and emperors of Ruffia. He 
cut in agate, at the time of the jubilee in 1723, all the 
profeffors of Altdorf, exceedingly like. Dorfch followed 
the antique ftile fo clofely, that the public were fre¬ 
quently deceived by his works, which were purchafed at 
a high price as real antiques. Some of them which he 
had fold, were offered to him as antiques in Italy. Among 
thofe who teftified their high effeem for him by letters 
was Peter the Great, who, by large offers, endeavoured 
to induce him to come to Peterfburgh, and to enter into 
his-fervice. He died on the 17th of Odtober, 1732, at 
the age of fifty-fix years. 
DOR'SEL, or Dorser,/! [from dorfum, the back.] 
A pannier ; a bafket or bag, one of which hangs on either 
fide a beaft of burthen, for the reception of things of fmall 
bulk. It is corruptly fpoken, and perhaps written, doffel. 
DOR'SET, a townfliip of the American States, in Ben¬ 
nington county, Vermont, having Rupert weft, Manchef- 
ter louth, and Danby north: twenty-feven miles north by 
eaft of Bennington. 
DORSETSHIRE, [from the Cambro-Britifti Daro- 
triges, and this from dzur, water, and drig, an inhabitant, 
q. d. a people on the fea-coaft.] A maritime county of 
England ; bounded on the north by Somerfetfhire and 
Wiltfhire, on the eaft: by Hampfhire, on the fouth by the 
Britifti channel, and on the weft by Devbnfhire and So- 
merfetfhire. It gives the title of duke and earl to the 
family of Sackville; and, during the Saxon heptarchy, 
belonged to the kingdom of the Weft Saxons. It is now 
in the province of Canterbury, diocefe of Briftol, and is 
included in the weftern circuit. It is fifty-eight miles 
long, thirty-fix broad, and 200 in circumference; con¬ 
taining i25o.fquare miles, or 800,000 fquare acres; con¬ 
taining five diftrifls, fub-divided into fixty liberties or 
hundreds, having 250 parifhes, fixty-eight vicarages, 1006 
villages, and twenty-two market towns. It is every where 
irregular in form ; its long northern fide having a great 
angular projection in the middle, and its fea-coaft run¬ 
ning out into points and head-lands. On the coaft are 
Chefil Bank, Portland Road and Ifle, Weymouth and 
Ringftead Bays, St. Alban’s Head, Durlfton Head, and 
Swanage Bay, Handfaft Point, and Studland Bay, Pool 
Harbour, Furze, Green, and Round, Ifles, with Brankfea, 
Sandsfoot, and Portland, Caftles. From the mildnefs of 
its air, and fertility of its foil, Dorfetfhire has been term¬ 
ed the garden of England. The mod remarkable inland 
places are the Vale of Whitehart; Marlhwood Vale; 
Whitehart, Gillingham, and Holt, Forefts; Cranborne 
Chace; Black Moor; Luckford Lake; and Fordington 
Moor. The northern parts of the country are generally 
level, and were formerly covered with wood ; but now 
are chiefly converted into rich arable and pafture. Acrofs 
the middle runs a ridge of lofty chalk hills, upon which, 
and the beautiful downs declining with a fouthern afpeft 
towards the fea, feed innumerable flocks of ftieep, whole 
fine fleeces are the ftaple of the country. The number 
of ftieep kept in this county is eftimated at upwards of 
800,000, of which 150,000 are annually fold, and lent out 
of the county. Great advantages are derived from the 
Bleep, not only from the fleece and carcafe, but iikewife 
from the manure. In one particular inftance the fheep- 
owners excel all other parts of the kingdom, which is, 
in providing ewes to yean at a remarkably early feafon, 
in the midland counties, which fupply the metropolis 
with fat lambs. The wool produced in this county is 
fhort and fine, of a clofe texture, and the quality of it is 
highly efteemed in the manufacture of broad-cloth. From 
a due obfervation of the quality and number of fheep bred 
and kept in the county, it may be fuppofed, with fome 
degree of accuracy, that the produce of wool annually is 
90,000 weys, or tods, of thirty-one pounds each. Among 
various articles of great import tu the community in the 
county of Dorfet, may be reckoned the cultivation of 
hemp and flax, and their manufacture. In the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Bridport and Beminfter alone, all forts of 
Von. VI. Mo. 328. 
1) O R 29 
twine, firing, packthread, netting, cordage, and ropes, 
are made ; from the fineft thread, ufed by fadlers in lieu 
of filk, to the cable, which holds the firft-rate man of 
war. The nets made for the fiftiery at Newfoundland, 
as well as for home ufe, and the fails for (hipping of 
every kind, are manufactured of the belt quality, as well 
as lacking for lrammocs, &c. and all kinds of bags and 
tarpaulins; and, in addition to the great quantity of flax 
and hemp ufed here, not more than one-third of it is al¬ 
lowed by the manufacturers to be of Britifti growth; the 
remaining two-thirds being imported from Ruffia and 
America, as raw materials. The manufacture carried on 
at Beminfter employs upwards of 2000 people. At Brid¬ 
port there are a great number of manufactures, and about 
1800 people are laid to be employed in this town; and 
in its environs, as far as feven or eight miles round, up¬ 
wards of 7000 people are in conftant work. No ores of 
any kind have been found in this county, nor mines of 
coals ; but quarries of excellent (tone are found in the 
iftand of Purbeck, near the fea, where upwards of 403 
people are employed in digging and tooling the ftone. 
The ftone obtained at Purbeck is ufed for walling, floors, 
fteps, foot-pavements, &cc. About 50,000 tons are an¬ 
nually fhipped at Swannage. The whole iftand of Port¬ 
land feems to be one entire mafs of the molt beautiful 
free-ftone, of a calcareous nature, chiefly ufed in the me¬ 
tropolis, and elfewhere, for the moft fuperb buildings, 
and is univerfally admired for its whitenefs, clofe tex¬ 
ture, and durability. To the noith of the ifle is a fafe 
road for Ihips; but its fouthern point, called the Race of 
Portland , is one of the moft dangerous places in the Eng- 
lifli channel. About a mile diftant from Corf Caftle, are 
found large quantities of pipe clay, which is in great efti- 
mation, and abfolutely neceffary for the ufe of the pot¬ 
ters in Staffbrdfliire and other places : about eleven thou- 
fand tons are annually fent from this place for that pur- 
pofe, and about one hundred men are conftantly employed 
in digging it. Some of the pits are not more than ten or 
twelve feet deep. The towns are Dorchefter, Lyme, 
Shaftefbury, Pool, Bridport,Warehant, Corf-Caftle,Wey¬ 
mouth, Melcomb-Regis, Sherborn, Blandford, Cranborn, 
Beminfter, Abbotfbury, Bere, Everfliot, Frampton, Mil- 
ton-Abby, Stalbridge, Sturminfter, Cerne, and Winburn ; 
of which the firft nine are borough towns, and fend two 
members each to the Britifti parliament; making, with 
two for the county, twenty members in the whole. The 
number of inhabitants is eftimated at eighty-nine thoufand. 
The principal rivers are the Stour, the Frome, and the 
Piddle. This was the county where the Saxons made 
their firft fettlement; and in it upwards of thirty Roman 
and Saxon camps are to be traced. 
DORSI'FEROUS, or Dorsiparous, adj. \_dorfum and 
fero, or pario, Lat.] Having the property of bearing or 
bringing forth on the back. It is ufed of plants that 
have their feeds on the back of their leaves, as fern ; and 
may be properly ufed of the American frog, which brings 
forth young from her back. 
DOR'SO, C. Fabius, a Roman, who, when Rome was 
in the pofleflion of the Gauls, ilfued from the capitol, 
which was then befieged, to go and offer a facrifice, which 
was to be offered on mount Qujrinjlis. He drefled him- 
felf in facerdotal robes, and carrying on his ftioulders the 
ftatues of hisrountry gods, palled through the guards of 
the enemy, without betraying the leaft ligns of fear. 
When he had finifhed his lacrifice, he returned to the ca¬ 
pitol unmolefted by the enemy, who were aftoniflied at his 
boldnefs, and did not obftrubt his paffage or molefl his 
facrifice. Livy. 
DOR'STEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of the 
Lower Rhine, and county of Recklinghaufen, on the 
Lippe. 1 1 is ftrong, though it was feveral times taken and 
retaken by the Swedes and Heflians during the long war 
of Germany: thirty miles north of Dutreldorp, and thir¬ 
ty-one fouth-weft of Munfter. 
DORSTE'NIA, f. [fo named by Plunder, from Theo m 
1 do {m s 
