J> E M 
DEME'AN,y; [from demener, Fr. ] A mien; prefence; 
carriage; demeanour; deportment. 
To DEME'AN, v. a. [from demener, Fr.] To behave 5 
to carry one’s felf.—Thofe plain and legible lines of duty 
requiring us to demean ourfelves to God humbly and de¬ 
voutly, to our governors obediently, and to our neigh¬ 
bours juftly, and to ourfelves foberly and temperately. 
South. 
Strephon had long perplex’d his brains, 
How with fo high a nymph he might 
Demean himfelf the wedding-night. Swift. 
To leffen ; to debafe ; to undervalue : 
Now, out of doubt, Antipholis is mad; 
Elfe he would never fo demean himfelf. Shakcfpeare. 
To treat: 
The whiles that mighty man did her demean 
With all the evil termes, and cruel mean 
That he could make. Spenfer. 
DEMEAN'OUR, f. [demcner, Fr.] Carriage; beha¬ 
viour.—Angels belt like us, when we are mod like unto 
them in all parts of decent demeanour. Hooker. 
His geftures fierce 
He mark’d, and mad demeanour, then alone, 
As he fuppos’d, all unobferv’d, unfeen. Milton. 
DEMEI'NE, Demain, Demesne, f. [ demaine, Fr.] 
Demefnes, in law, are the lord’s chief manor place, with 
the lands thereto belonging ; terra dominicalcs, which he 
and his anceftors have from time to time kept in their 
own manual occupation, for the maintenance of them- 
felves and their families : and all the parts of a manor, 
except what is in the hands of freeholders, are faid to 
be domains. Copyhold lands have been accounted de- 
mains, becaufe they that are the tenants hereof are judged 
in law to have no other eftate but at the will of the lord ; 
fo that it is dill reputed to be, in a manner, in the lord’s 
hands : but this word is oftentimes ufed for a diftintlion 
between thofe lands that the lord of the manor hath ih 
his own hands, or in the hands of his leffee demifed at a 
rack-rent, and fuch other land appertaining to the ma¬ 
nor, which belongeth to free or copyholders. BraEl. 
lib. 4. Fleta , lib. 5. c. 5. As demains are lands in the lord’s 
hands manually occupied, fome have thought this word 
derived from de manu; bnt it is from the French demaine, 
which is ufed for an inheritance, and that comes from 
dominium, becaufe a man has a more abfolute dominion 
over that which he keeps in his hands, than of that which 
he lets to his tenants. Blount. 
Demain is fometimes taken in a fpecial fignification, as 
oppofite to frank-fee ; for example: thofe lands which 
were in the polfdlion of king Edward the ConfelTor are 
called ancient demains, or ancient demefne, and all others 
frank-free ; arid the tenants which hold any of thofe lands 
are called tenants in ancient demain, or ancient demefne, 
and the others tenants in frank-fee, &c. 
DEMEMBRE'E, adj. in heraldry, difmembered. 
To DEMEN'TATE, v. n. [demento , Lat.] To make 
mad. 
DEMENTA'TIONjjf. [ dementatio , Lat.] Making mad, 
or frantic. 
DE'MER, a river which rifes in the bifhopric of 
Liege, and palling by Halfelt, Dielt, Arfchot, &c. runs 
into the Scheldt, between Antwerp and Dendermond. 
DEMERA'RA, a river, in Dutch Guiana, in.South 
America, about two miles wide at its. mouth, oppofite 
the fort on the eaft bank, and about forty-five miles dif- 
tant from Abary-creek. It is fcarcely a mile wide, twelve 
miles above the fort; and its courfe is from fouth to 
north. It is navigable upwards of two hundred miles for 
velfels which can pafs the bar at its mputh, which is a 
mud bank, not having above twenty-four feet at the 
liigheft tides. The difference between high and low wa- 
DEM 693 
ter marie, is from ten to twelve feet. The fort, if pro¬ 
perly fupplied with men and ammunition, is able effec¬ 
tually to guard its entrance. Staebroeck, the feat of 
government, Hands on the calf fide of the river, one mile 
and a half above the fort. 
DEMERA'RA, a diflrift in Dutch Guiana, which, 
with Elfequebo, form one government, and have the fame 
court of police, but each has a feparate court of juftice. 
The two diltricts contain about 3000 whites and 40,000 
ilaves. Demerara river, which gives name to the dif- 
tricl, paffes through it’, and is ufually villted by forty or 
fifty large fiiips from Holland, which often make two 
voyages in a-year, befides upwards of 250 fmaller velfels, 
under the Dutch and other flags. The plantations are 
regularly laid out along the fea-lhore, and are called 
facades, about a quarter of a mile wide, and extending 
three quarters of a mile back into the country. Each 
facade contains about 250 acres, and, when fully culti¬ 
vated, the proprietor may obtain a fimilar trad! at the 
back of the fir It, and fo on in progrellion. Each facade 
will contain 120,000 cotton-trees, averaging ufually half 
a pound a tree. The fiiores of the rivers and creeks are 
chiefly planted with colfee, to the diftance of aboiit thirty 
miles from the fea ; thence thirty miles further up, the 
foil becomes clayey, and more fit for fugar-canes. Be¬ 
yond this, the fineft kinds of wood, for building, furni¬ 
ture, &c. are cut. This fettlement was taken by tire 
Englilh during the American war* who loll it to the 
French foon after; at the peace of 1783 it was reltored 
to the Dutch, and again taken by the Englilh, in April 
1796. Lat. 6.40. N. Ion. 57.45. W. Greenwich. 
DEME'RIT. f. [dime rite , Fr. from demeritus, of de- 
mereor, Lat.] The oppofite to merit; ill deferving; what 
makes one worthy of blame or punilhment.—Whatever 
they acquire by their indultry or ingenuity, fhould be 
fecure, unlel’s forfeited by any demerit or offence. Temple „ 
Thou liv’lt by me, to me thy breath refign; 
Mine is the merit, the demerit thine. Dryden . 
Anciently the fame with merit; defert: . 
I fetch my life and being 
From men of royal fiege ; and my demerits 
May fpeak, unbonnetting, to as proud a fortune 
As this that I have reach’d. Shakefpearc. 
To DEME'RIT, v.a. [ demeriter , Fr.] To deferver 
blame or punilhment. 
DEMER'SED, adj. [from demerfus, of demergo, Lat.] 
Plunged; drowned. 
DEMER'SION, f. [, demerjio , Lat.] A drowning; a 
plunging in any liquid. 
DEME'SNE. See Demeine. 
DEMET'ALIZE, v. a. [from the Lat. de, from, and 
metallum, metal.] To deprive of a metallic quality. Scott. 
DEMET'ALIZED, part. Deprived of a metallic qua¬ 
lity. Not ufed. 
DEMET'ALIZING, part. adj. Depriving of a me¬ 
tallic quality. Not ufed. 
DEME'TRIAjy. A fellival in honour of Ceres, called 
by the Greeks It was cultomary for the vota-- 
ries of the goddefs to lalh themfelves with whips made 
with the bark of trees. The Athenians had a folemnity. 
of the fame name in honour of Demetrius Poliorcetes. 
DEME'TRIUS, furnamed Poliorcetes, king of Mace- 
don, a prince remarkable for the fplendor of his charac¬ 
ter, and the variety-of his fortune, was the fon of Anti- 
gonus, one of the captains of Alexander the Great, born 
about 340 years before Chrift. From youth he polfelfed 
extraordinary grace and beauty of perfon, fo that no 11a- 
tuary or painter could give his exadt refemblance. His 
manner was equally dignified and attractive ; and he was 
at the fame time a mod agreeable companion, and a prince 
of great vigour and activity in public affairs. The cor¬ 
dial friendfltip which always prevailed between him and 
