1(5 
DOM 
onfirmed to Great Britain by the peace of Paris, in 1763, 
having been taken from the French in 1739. At the 
commencement of the'American war, this ifland was in a 
flourithing (late. The port of Rofeau, having been declar¬ 
ed a tree port by act of parliament, was retorted to by trad¬ 
ing veil'd s from mo ft parts of the foreign Weft Indies, as well 
as from America. The French and Spaniards purchafed 
great numbers of negroes there for the fupply of their 
iettlements, together with vaft quantities of the merchan¬ 
dize and manufactures of Great Britain ; payment for all 
which was made chiefly in bullion, indigo, and cotton, 
and completed in mules and cattle ; articles of prime ne- 
ceflity to the planter. Thus the ifland, though in itfelf 
certainly not to fertile as fome others of lefs extent in its 
neighbourhood, was becoming very rapidly a colony of 
confiderable importance ; but unfortunately it wanted 
that protection which alone could give its pofteflions (la¬ 
bility and value. On Monday, the 7th of September, 
1778, a French armament, confiding of a forty-gun (hip, 
three frigates, and about thirty fail of armed (loops and 
fchooners, having on-board upwards of 2000 regular 
troops, and a banditti of volunteers, appeared off the 
ifland, under the command of the marquis de Bouille, 
governor of Martinico, and general of the French wind¬ 
ward Weft-Indian itlands. The whole number of the 
militia in the ifland did not exceed 100. The fmall 
force, however, that was collected, behaved with that 
fpirit and gallantry, which give room to lament that 
they were not better fupported. But gallantry was un¬ 
availing againft fuch fuperiority of numbers ; for about 
2000 of the French having fhortly after gained potTeflion 
of the heights above Rofeau, determined the fate of the 
ifland. The bravery of the inhabitants, however, ob¬ 
tained for them very honourable terms of capitulation. 
It was reftored to Great Britain by the peace of 1783. 
The principal towns are Portfmouth, and Rofeau, or 
Charlotte’s Town. The exports of the ifland, from Ja¬ 
nuary 5th, 1787, to January 5th, 1788, were 71,312 cwt. of 
fugar, 63,392 gallons of rum, 16,803 gallons of molaffes, 
1194 cwt. of cocoa, 18,149 cwt. of coffee, 11,250 pounds 
of indigo, 970,816 pounds of cotton, 161 cwt. of ginger, 
with mifcellaneous articles to the value of 11,912!. ios. 
9ft. The whole, according to the current prices in Lon¬ 
don, to the value of 302,987b 15s. Lat. 15.32.N. Ion. 
61. 23. W. Greenwich. 
DOMINI'CA, or O-Heeva-Oa, one of the Marquis 
of Mendoza itlands, in the South Pacific Ocean, moun¬ 
tainous, rocky, and apparently barren : about fixteen 
leagues in circumference. Lat. 9. 41. S. Ion. 139. 8. W. 
Greenwich. 
DOMINI'CA (La), a town of the ifland of Cuba: 
forty-five miles weft of Havanna. 
DOMI'NICAL, adj. \_dominicalis, Lat.] That which 
notes the Lord’s day, or Sunday.—The cycle of the 
moon ferves to (liew the epafts, and that of the fun the 
dominical letter, throughout all their variations. Holder. 
DOMI'NICANS, an order of religious, called in fome 
places jacobins ; and in others, predicants, ox preaching fri¬ 
ars. The Dominicans take their name from their foun-. 
der, Dominic de Guzman, a Spanifh ecclefiaftic, of Old 
Caftile. He was made canon and archdeacon of Ofma ; 
and preached with great zeal and vehemence againft the 
Albigenfes in Languedoc, where he laid the firft founda¬ 
tion of his order. It was approved of in 1215 by Inno¬ 
cent III. and confirmed in 1216 by a bull of Honorius III. 
under the title of St. Angafin ; to which Dominic added 
feveral auftere precepts and obfervances, obliging the 
brethren to take a vow of abfolute poverty, and to aban¬ 
don entirely all their revenues and pofteflions; adopting 
alfo the title of preaching friars, becaufe public inftruc- 
tion was the main object of their inftitution. Their firft 
convent was founded at Thouloufe by the biftiop thereof 
and Simon de Montfort. Two years afterwards they had 
another at Paris, near the bilhop’s houfe; and fome time 
2 
DOM 
a third in the rue St. Jacques, whence the denomination 
of jacobins. Juft before his death, Dominic fent Gilbert 
de Frefney, with twelve of the brethren, into England; 
and they founded a monaftery at Oxford in the year 1221. 
In 1276, the mayor and aldermen of London gave them 
two whole ftreets, by the ri verThames, where they erect¬ 
ed a very commodious convent, whence that place is ftill 
called Black Friars, then the name by which the Domi¬ 
nicans were called in England. 
DOMIN'ICIDE, f [from the Lat. dominvs, matter, 
and credo, to kill.] The ad: of killing one’s lord or maf- 
ter ; one that kills his matter or lord. 
DOMIN'ICUM, f. [Lat.] The facrament of the 
Lord’s (upper; the place where the Lord’s fupper is 
adminiftered, a church. Mede. —In law, a demefne, lands 
occupied by the lord of a manor. 
DOMI'NION, J. \_dominium, Lat.] Sovereign autho¬ 
rity-, unlimited power: 
He gave us only over bead, fith, fowl, 
Dominion abfolute ; that right we hold 
By his donation : but man over man 
He made not lord. Milton. 
Power; right of pofteffion or life, without being account¬ 
able.— He could not have private dwninion over that, 
which was under the private dominion of another. Locke. 
■—Territory ; region ; diftridt: confidered as fubjeft.—• 
The donations of biflioprics the kings of England did 
ever retain in all their dominions, when the popes ufurped 
authority was at the higheft. Davies. —Predominance; 
afeendant.—Objedls placed foremoft ought to be more 
finithed than tliofe caft behind, and to have domuiion over 
things confuted and tranfient. Dryden. —An order of an¬ 
gels.—By him were all things created, vifible and invi- 
fible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principali¬ 
ties or powers. Col. i. 16. 
DO'MINIS (Marc Antony de), a learned Italian pre¬ 
late in the fix tee nth and beginning of the feventeenth 
century, defeended from a family of rank at Arba, a 
town in what was formerly Venetian Dalmatia. After 
being educated in the Illyrian college at Loretto, he 
went to the univerfity of Padua, where he made diftin- 
guifhed proficiency in the different branches of learning 
and fcience. When young he entered into the fociety 
ofjefuits; but he grew weary of the confinement and 
fubordination which their regulations required. That 
he might quit their connection with honour, however, 
he obtained from the emperor Rodolph, a nomination 
to the bithopric of Segni in Dalmatia. Finding, after 
fome time, his (ituation in that fee rendered unpleafant 
by fome quarrels with the clergy of his diocefe, he foli- 
cited the fenate of Venice to be appointed to the vacant 
archbifbopric of Spalato, the capital of Dalmatia, and 
fucceeded in his application. Some of his earlieft la¬ 
bours in this new (ituation were confecrated to the fer- 
vice of his benefactors, whom, with much learning, in¬ 
genuity, and boldnefs, he defended in their difputewith 
pope Paul V. who had iffued an interdict againft the re¬ 
public. His writings on this fubject were cenfured by 
the inquifition ; but he was fafe from their power, and 
replied to their centimes by a fpirited kind of manifefto, 
written in the Latin language. The difguft which on 
this occafion he felt at the proceedings of the court of 
Rome, led him to break off his communion with the 
catholics, and to declare himfelf a proteftant. He came 
to England with fir Henry Wotton, ambaffador to the 
republic of Venice, in the year 1616, and was received 
with great refpedt: by all ranks ; and he preached and 
wrote againft the church of Rome with all the zeal of a 
new convert. Soon after his arrival he publilhed an ad- 
drefs to all the bifhops of the Chriftian church, explain¬ 
ing the reafons which had compelled him to quit his 
diocefe ; which went through feveral editions, and was 
tranftated into different languages. But the principal 
work 
