DAP 
Mercer county, formerly the metropolis of Kentucky, 
pleafantly fituated in a large fertile plain, on the fouth- 
well Ode of Dick’s river, thirty-five miles fouth-fouth- 
wcft of Lexington. From Lecfburg to Danville, the 
country, for the firft twenty miles, is of an inferior rate 
for lands in this country ; but round Lexington, and irom 
Leefburg to Lexington and Boonlbofough, is the richeft 
land in the country. It is forty miles fouth-by-eaft of 
Frankfort, eighty-three from Louifville, 201 front Haw¬ 
kins in Tennelfee, and 830 from Philadelphia. Lat. 37. 
36. N. Ion. 83. 30. W. 
DAN'VILLE, a townfiiip of the American States, in 
Caledonia county, Vermont. It was a wildernefs, with¬ 
out fo much as a fingle family, a few years ago ; but 
contained, in 1795, 574 inhabitants: eight miles north- 
weft of Barnet. 
DANVOU', a town of France, in the department of 
the Calvados, and chief place of a canton, in the diftribt 
of Vire: fix leagues fouth of Bayeux. 
DANYELO'W, a town of Poland, in the palatinate 
of Lemberg : fixty-four miles eaft of Lemberg. 
DA'ON, a town of France, in the department of the 
Mayenne, and chief place of a canton, in the diftridd of 
Chateau Gontier: two leagues fouth of Chateau Gontier. 
To DAP, v.n. [corrupted from clip.'] To let fall gently 
into the water: a word ufed by anglers.-—-I have taught 
him how to catch a chub, by dapping with a grafshopper. 
Walton. 
DAPA'TICAL, adj. [from dapaticus, Lat.] Sump¬ 
tuous in cheer. Bailey. 
DAPK'NE, in fabulous hiftory, a daughter of the ri¬ 
ver Peneus, or of the Ladon, by the goddefs Terra, ot 
whom Apollo became enamoured. This paflton had 
been railed by Cupid, with whom Apollo, proud ot his 
late conqueft over the ferpent Python, had difputed the 
power of his darts. Daphne heard with I101 tor the ad- 
drefles of the god, and endeavoured to remove herfelf 
from his importunities by Sight. Apollo purfued her; 
and D ipline, fearful of being caught, intreated the afiift- 
ance of the gods, who changed her into a laurel. Apollo 
crowned his head with the leaves of the laurel, and for 
ever ordered that that tree fhould be facred to his divi¬ 
nity. Some fay that Daphne was admired by Leucippus, 
fon of CEnomaus king of Pifa, who, to be in her com¬ 
pany, difguifed his fex, and attended her in the woods, 
in the habit of a huntrefs. Leucippus gained Daphne’s 
cfteem and love ; but Apollo, who was his powerful ri¬ 
val, difcovered his fex, and Leucippus was killed by the 
companions of Diana. Ovid. —A daughter of Tirefias, 
prieftefs in the temple of Delphi. She was confecrated 
to the fervice of Apollo by the Epigoni, or, according 
to others, by the goddefs Tellus. She was called Sibyl, 
on account of the wildnefs of her looks and expreflions, 
when (lie delivered oracles. Her oracles were generally 
in verfe; and Homer, according to fome accounts, has 
introduced much of her poetry in his compofitions. 
Paufanias. 
DAPH'NE, in ancient geography, a village of An- 
tiochia, or Seleucis, in Syria, with a grove, watered by 
fprings : in the middle of the grove flood the temple of 
Apollo and Diana. Its extent was eighty ftadia, or ten 
miles; the diftance from the city five miles : a place 
pleafant and agreeable, from the plenty of water, and 
the temperature of the air, and its foft breathing breezes. 
The grove was of bay-trees, intermixed with cyprefs. 
Pompey gave fome land for enlarging the grove. Here 
Antiochus Epiphanes built a temple to Daphnaeus Apol¬ 
lo, which became fo infamous, that people of modefty 
and character avoided reforting thither; fo that Daphnici 
jnores became proverbial. 
DAPH'NE, in ancient geography, a fmall diftridd on 
the lake Samachonitis, in the Higher Galilee, pleafant, 
and plentifully watered with fprings, which feed the 
Lelfer J ordan; whence its name feems to arife, probably 
D A P 595 
in imitation of that near Antioch of Syria, on the river 
Orontes: 
DAPH'NE, f. [from the nymph Daphne, whofe fabled 
metamorphofis is well known.] In botany, Mezereon, 
or Spurge Laurel; a genus of the clafs odlandria, 
order monogynia, natural order vepreculae. The generic 
characters are—Calyx: none. Corolla: one-petalied, 
funnel-form, withering, including the ftamens ; tube cy- 
lindric, imperforate, longer than the border; border four- 
cleft; divifions ovate, acute, flat, fpreadtng. Stamina: 
filaments eight, (hort, inferted into the tube ; the alter¬ 
nate ones lower; antherae roundifh, eredf, two-celled. 
Piftillum : germ ovate; ftyle-very fhort ; ftigma headed, 
deprelfed, flat. Pericarpium : berry roundifh, one-celled. 
Seed: fingle, roundiih, flefhy. Some of the fpecies are 
dioecous.— EJfcntial Chara&er. Calyx, none ; corolla, 
four-cleft, corollaceous,withering, including the ftamens; 
berry, one-feeaed. 
Species. I. Flowers lateral. 1. Daphne mezereum, 
or mezereon : flowers feflile, in threes on the (tern ; leaves 
lanceolate, deciduous. This genus is very nearly allied 
to pafferina, and they are fcarcely diftinguifliable from 
the flower; only the ftyle is filiform, and as long as the 
tube of the corolla in the pafferina, whereas in the daphne 
there is little or no ftyle. The mezereon is a ftirub, 
growing, in gardens, to the height of five or fix feet, with 
a ftrong woody (talk, putting out many woody branches 
on every fide, fo as to form a regular head. The flowers 
come out very early in the fpring, before the leaves, in 
clufters all round the (hoots of the former year. The 
leaves are fmooth, about two inches long, and three 
quarters of an inch broad in the middle, placed without 
order. This ftirub is feldom more than three or four 
feet high, even in gardens ; but in its wild date it is only 
from one to two feet in height: the branches then arc 
not numerous ; they are very flexible ; the leaves are 
entire, and of a pale green. The fruit is a fuperior ber¬ 
ried drupe, firft green, then red, of an ovate-globular 
form ; with a thin, fucculent, pulp, and a cruftaceous, 
thin, brittle, black, (liining (hell. It is however com¬ 
monly called a berry. Native of Lapland, Sweden, 
Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, France, Carniola, Sa¬ 
voy, Piedmont, and Great Britain. Mr. Miller is the 
firft who mentions that it is a native of our ifland, namely, 
near Andover in Hampfliire. Since that, it has been 
found by Mr. Woodward at Laxfield, in Suffolk; by 
Mr. White in Selborne-hanger, Hants; and it has been 
frequently obferved in the beech woods of Buckingham- 
(hire. As it has efcaped all our old herbarifts, and even 
the indefatigable Ray and his immediate fucceffors ; and 
birds are remarkably fond of the berries; I (hould fuf- 
pedt that they may have diffeminated this beautiful 
ftirub : unlefs we may fuppofe that it remained unnoticed 
on account of its early flowering, before herbarifts ral¬ 
lied forth on their vernal excurlions. Gerarde lays that 
he had plenty thereof for his garden from Elbing in Po¬ 
land. Fie calls it Germaine olive-fpurge or fpurge-olive, 
fpurge-ftax, and dwarf bay, and fays that the Dutch call 
it mezereon. Parkinfon calls it dwarf bay, or flowering 
fpurge. In German it is called kellerhals, kellerbere, heller- 
kraut, See. in Dutch, peperboompje ; in Danilh, kielderkals ; 
in Swedifh, Aicellerkals ; in French, laurcole gentille or fe- 
melle, bois gentil, bcisjoli; in I talian, laureola femina, daf- 
noide, camelea, calmolca, biondclia ; in Spanifli, laureola hem- 
bra-, in Portuguefe, loireolea Jemea, or mezereo major ; in 
Ruffian, woltjchje luko. - The branches make a good yel¬ 
low dye. 
The whole of this vegetable is extremely acrid, efpe- 
cially when freflt; and, if retained in the mouth, excites 
great heat and inflammation, particularly of the throat 
and fauces. The berries when ('wallowed prove a power¬ 
ful poifon, not only to man, but to many quadrupeds. 
Both the bark and the berries of mezereon, in different 
forms, have been long ufed externally in cafes of obftu 
nate 
