D A M 
having undergone Tome interrogatories at Verfailles, was 
tent to Paris to the tower of Montgommeri, wliere a room 
was prepared for him, above that which Ravaillac h.ad 
formerly occupied. The king charged the court of par¬ 
liament to institute his procefs; but notwithdanding the 
moil cruel tortures, which he fupported with unparal¬ 
leled firmnefs, they could not get from him a (ingle con- 
fefilon which could lead them to fufpedt that he had any 
accomplices. This miferable wretch proteded, that if 
he had been blooded as copioudy as he willied, he would 
never have committed the crime. After being cruelly 
tortured to no purpofe, lie was condemned to die by the 
fame punifhment as Chatel, the infamous af)allin of-Hen¬ 
ry IV. 
On the day of his execution, which was the 28th of 
March 1757, he arrived at tlie Place dc Grevc at a quarter 
pad three, looking with a tearlefs eye and a firm counte¬ 
nance on the place and the indruments of his punifhment. 
Tiiey fil'd burned his right hand, afterwards tore liis fledi 
vvitli red hot pincers, and poured melted lead, wax, and 
pitch, into the wounds. They then proceeded to quarter 
him, the four horfes trying in vain for fifty minutes to 
difmember lais body. At the end of that time, Damiens 
being dill alive, the executioners cut with knives the 
flelli and tendinous joinings of l\is legs and arms ; which 
they had formerly been obliged to do to Ravaillac. 
They began with his legs ; and even after they were cut, 
he continued to breathe till his arms were cut in like 
manner. His punilhmefit, from the time lie was put 
upon the fcad'old to the moment of his death, laded 
about an hour and a half; during the greater part of 
which lie retained his recollection, and railed his head 
feven or eight times to view the horfes, and his mangled 
and burned limbs. In the middle of the mod violent of 
the tortures, he even let fome jokes efcape him. That 
the crime of Damiens was of the deepeft dye, every man, 
but an aflaffin like himfelf, will readily acknowledge; 
but the cruel and lingering punifhment which was in¬ 
flicted on him, would rather degrade, than immortalize, 
the criminal code of any Clvridian country. 
DAMIET'TA, or Damiata, a fea-port of Egypt, 
fird built at the eadern mouth of the Nile, and called 
Th'amiatis under the government of the Lower Empire. 
It daily increafed as Pelufium declined, and was a fecond 
time taken by the emperors of Condantinople about the 
year 238 of the Hegira. But the importance of a mara- 
time town fo favourably fituated, was at length feen; 
and fix years after, the caliph Elmetouakkel (unrounded 
it with drong walls, which, however, did not impede the 
valiant Roger, king of Sicily, from taking it, in the year 
350 of the Hegira. Salah Eddin, who began to reign 
over Egypt about this time, did not let him long enjoy 
his conqued, but drove the Europeans from Damietta, 
who, fifteen years after, returned again to befiege it, but 
their efforts were ineffectual. Again the crufaders at¬ 
tacked it with powerful forces, under the reign of El 
Addel, in the year 615 of the Hegira. After many turns 
of fortune, bloody battles, and a fiege of feventeen 
months, the Chridian princes took Damietta by aflault, 
but did not long enjoy the fruit of all the blood they 
had fpilt, and an armament which hud cod funis fo im- 
menfe. Surrounded near the canal of Achmoun, by the 
waters of the Nile, and the Egyptian army, they bought 
their lives and liberty by reltoring tlleir conqued. Thirty- 
one years after their defeat, Louis IX. took Damietta, 
without driking a blow. The daring valour of a king, 
who threw himfelf armed into the water to march againft 
an enemy entrenched on fliore, and the impetuodty with 
which he attacked them, f'pread terror through their 
army, which, flying, cowardly abandoned a fortrefs amply 
Aored, and capable of long refidance. The Arabs, foon 
after, recovered it, but, weary of defending a place, 
which brought upon them the mod warlike nations of 
Europe, they wholly erafed and rebuilt it higher up the 
country. Damietta is larger and not lefs agreeable than 
D A M 575 
Rofetta ; it forms a femicircle, on the eadern diore of 
the Nile, two leagues and a half from its mouth. It 
contains about eighty thoufand inhabitants, and has fe- 
veral fquares ; bazars filled with merchandize, okals, or 
khans, under the porticos of which are Indian duff?, dlks 
from mount Lebanon, fill ammoniac, and quantities of 
rice, befpeak it a commercial place. The houfes, efpe- 
ciully near the river, are very high ; mod of them have 
pleafant faloons built on the terraces, from which charm¬ 
ing places, open to every wind, there is a view of the 
grand lake lying on the other fide, and of the Nile, which 
traverfes a rich country between them both. Various 
grand mofques, with high minarets, ornament the city. 
The public baths, faced with marble, are fimilar to thofe 
of Grand Cairo. Multitudes of boats and fmail velfels 
incelfantly fill the port of Damietta. Some, named Jlicrm, 
ferve to load and unload the (hips that anchor in the 
road ; others are coading pilot boats. There is a great 
trade between this city and Syria, Cyprus, and Mar- 
feilles. The rice mezelaoui, the fined of Egypt, is cul¬ 
tivated in the neighbouring plains, and its annual expor¬ 
tation amounts to between 2 and 300,000 pounds. There 
are like wife cloths, fill ammoniac, wheat, See. Laws, 
ruinous to the country, prohibit the exportation of the 
latter; but they are evaded, and it is paffed as rice. 
The Chridians of Aleppo and Damafcus, for many'ages 
edabliihed here, carry on the principal trade ; they are 
fullered to grow rich by Turkilh indolence, which con¬ 
tents itfelf with occalional extortions. Exportation of 
rice is forbidden, but by arrangements advantageous to 
the receiver of the cudoms, the people of Provence an¬ 
nually load feveral diips. The tiling mod difadvan- 
tageous to the trade of Damietta is ils defective harbour, 
the road where velfels lie being totally expofed, every 
gale that riles the captains are obliged to flip their cables, 
and take refuge at Cyprus, or keep the open fea. By 
cutting a canal of half a league only, it would be eafy to 
give (hips free entrance into the Nile, which is deep, 
and this (mall expence would render Damietta a fine har¬ 
bour, and thereby enlarge its commerce : but delpotifin, 
inlenfible to the good of nations, always marches towards 
dedrudtion, and has neither will nor power to create. 
The (lip of land where Damietta is built, Unit in on one 
fide by the river, and on the other by the lake Menzala, 
is only from two to fix miles wide ead and wed. Rivu¬ 
lets interfedt it in every direction, and render it the mod 
fruitful part of Egypt. The rice in common yields 
eighty budiels for one, and other produdfs are in the 
fame proportion. Eighty-four miles north-north-ead of 
Cairo. Lat.31.22.N- ion.49. 35. E. Ferro. 
D A'MIN S, a town of Swilferland, in the Grey League ; 
ten miles north-north-ead of Ilantz. 
DAMIS'CHE-SEA, a large lake of Germany, or ra¬ 
ther an expanfion of the Oder, in the circle of Upper 
Saxony, northward of the town of Damme, eight miles 
long, and about one and a half wide. 
DAMM, a town of Germany, in the circle of Upper 
Saxony, and duchy of Pomerania, fituated on the Plone, 
wliere it runs into the Damilche Sea. The inhabitants 
are employed chiefly in manufacturing deel : five miles 
ead of Stettin. Lat.53.2i-N. Ion. 32. 25. E. Ferro. 
DAMMARI'E, a town of France, in the department 
of the Eure and Loire, and chief place of a-canton, in 
the didridt of Chartres : two leagues fouth of Chartres. 
DAM'MARTIN, a town of'France, in' the depart¬ 
ment of the Seine and Marne, and chief place of a can¬ 
ton, in the didridt of Meaux: ten miles north-welt of 
Meaux, and feventeen north-ead of Paris. 
DAM'MARTIN, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Seine and Oife, and chief place of a canton, 
in the didridt of Montfort-l’Amaury : three leagues and 
a half north-wed of Montfort. 
DAM'ME, a town of Germany, in the circle of Wed- 
phalia, and bilhopric of Munder ; twelve miles fouth of 
Vechta. 
DAM'ME 
