720 DEN 
piano ; O the objedl vvhofe diftance is required ; at A, at 
C, at E, and at 3, are to be fixed fpeculums-, properly 
framed and fitted, that at 3 having only its lower part 
quickfilvered, the upper part being left tranfparent to 
view the objedl ; the fpeculum. at A being fixed oblique¬ 
ly, fo that a line A 1, drawn perpendicular to its furface, 
may bifedt the angle B A C in equal parts ; that at C be¬ 
ing perpendicular to the line C 2 ; thofe at E and 3 be¬ 
ing perpendicular to the index E 3, and that at E being 
furnifhed with a fight; the arch D C to be divided from 
D in the manner of Hadley’s quadrant ; the movement 
of the index to be meafured as before by a micrometer; 
.and, as the length of the line AE would tend to the per- 
fedtion of the inftrument, it may be conftrudted to fold 
up in the middle, on the line C 2, into lefs compafs when 
not in ufe. The inftrument may be adjufted for ufe by 
holding up a ftaff at a diftance, as before propofed, vvhofe 
length is exadtly equal to the line AE. To make an 
obfervation by this inftrument, it being previoufiy ad¬ 
jufted, the eye is to be applied at the fight in the fpecu- 
lum E, and the face turned towards the objedt; when 
the objedt being received on the fpeculum A, is refledted 
intw that at C, and again into that at E, and that at 3 on 
the index ; the index being then moved till the refledted 
objedt in the fpeculum at 3 exadtly coincides with the 
real objedt in the tranfparent part of the glafs, the divi- 
fions on the arch D 3, fubdivided by the micrometer, 
will determine the angle DE 3=; the angle AOE; from 
which the diftance O may be determined as before. 
DENDROPHO'RI, f. in antiquity, the priefts who 
aflifted at the dendrophoria. 
DENDROPHO'RI A, /! [from a tree ; and £0- 
eia, Gr. to bear.] A religious ceremony, in which the 
branches of trees were carried in folenm proceflion to the 
place of facrifice. 
DE'NEBj-yi An Arab term, fignifying tail; ufed by 
aftronomers as a name to fome of the. fixed ftars, but efpe- 
cially for the bright (tar in the Lion’s tail. 
DENE'E, a towri of France, in the department of the 
Jvlayne and Loire : feven miles fouth of Angers. 
DENEU'VRE, a town of France, in the department 
of the Meurte : ten miles fouth-eaft of Luneville. 
DENE'ZE, a town of France, in the department of the 
Mayne and Loire : eight miles weft of Saumur. 
DENG'LING, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Bavaria, and, archbifhopric of Saltzburg : twenty miles 
north-weft of Saltzburg. 
DEN'GUTN, a town of France, in the department of 
the Lower Pyrenees : one league weft of Lefcar. 
DENEGA'TION, J'. [from the Lat. de, from; and 
nego, to deny,] A denial, a negation. Scott. 
"DE'NELAGE, f [from Dane.'] The laws which the 
Danes enadted while they had the dominion in England. 
DE'NHAM (Sir John), one of our Englifh poets, 
born at Dublin in 1615. His father, fir John Denham, 
of Little Horfely in Eflex, was at that time chief baron 
of the exchequer in Ireland. He returned to England 
when his fon was two years of age, and had him edu¬ 
cated at a grammar-fehool in London. At the age of 
fixteen he was entered gentleman-commoner in Trinity 
college, Oxford. His eharadter at the univerfity was 
that of a flow youth, more addidted to gaming than to 
ihidy ; he, however, palled his examination for a bache¬ 
lor’s degree, with which he removed to Lincoln’s-inn 
for the Ihidy of the law. But the paffion for gaming ftill 
poHelled him; he loft his money ; and though he wrote 
a little Effay againft Gaming, to appeafe his father, yet 
after his father’s death, in 1638, he lquandered many 
thoufand pounds of his fortune in the fame manner. He 
appears to have been unknown as a literary charadter, 
when in 1641 he brought out a tragedy called i he Sophy, 
which was adted with great applaufe, and was equally 
admired in the clofet. The plot is taken from the life 
©f Shah Abbas in Herbert’s travels. On this occafion, 
Waller faid that “ Denham broke out like the Irilli re- 
2 
DEN 
hellion, threefcore thoufand ftrong, when nobody fuf- 
pedted it.” At the commencement of the civil tumults 
he was made governor of Farnham caftle for the king; 
but a military employment was not to his tafte, wherefore 
he refigned his port, and went to his majefty’s court at 
Oxford. There, in 1643, he publiftied the firft edition 
of his mod celebrated poem, Cooper’s Hill, which had 
feveral fuccelTive impreffions with additions. He was en- 
tmfted in 1647 with a melfage from the queen to the king, 
and for fome time afterwards managed a fecret corre- 
fpondence between him and his confidents. In 1648 he 
is faid, by Wood, to have been appointed to convey the 
duke of York to his mother in France ; though lord 
Clarendon affierts that another perfon was the duke’s foie 
conductor on this occafion. He was afterwards fent with 
lord Crofts to Poland, for the purpofe of decimating (as 
it was called) the Scottifh refidents in that country, and 
they brought back io,oool. from their expedition. This 
commiflion is made the topic of one of his ballads. He 
returned to England in 1652, and was for fome time en¬ 
tertained by the earl of Pembroke ; but how he employ¬ 
ed or fupported himfelf till the reftoration, does not ap¬ 
pear. After that event he obtained the office of furveyor 
of the king’s buildings, in the place of Inigo Jones, the 
celebrated architect, and was alfo created a knight of the 
Bath, and a member of the then newly formed royal 
fociety. A fecond marriage which he contracted was a 
fource of difquiet to him, which terminated in a tempo¬ 
rary derangement of mind; but he recovered from it, 
and retained the efteem of the lettered and courtly till 
his death, in March, 168S. His remains were aepofited 
among thofe of his brother poets in Weftminfter-abbey. 
Denham owes his poetical fame almoft folely to his 
Cooper’s Hill, which was one of the earlieft examples of 
local defeription united with hiftorica) and fentimental 
matter. It is by no means a corredt or finiihed perform¬ 
ance ; and a modern reader, not previoufiy apprifed of 
its author’s reputation, would be apt to pafs it over with 
little notice. The defeription of tire river Thames, is, 
perhaps, the only part in it which Hands prominent upon 
the canvas; and of this, a Angle couplet only is quoted 
as peculiarly excellent : 
Though deep, yet clear; tho’ gentle, yet not dull; 
Strong, without rage ; without o’erflowing, full. 
Of thefe the great merit appears to be that comprefiion 
and plenitude of fenfe which marks the happy lines- of 
Denham, and gives him a title to be reckoned one of the 
improvers of Englifh verfe, though tire examples of fuch 
excellence in his poems is of rare occurrence. A fimi- 
lar inftance may be given from his piece to Fanfhawe, on 
his tranflation of Paftor Fido ; where, after contrafting 
his manner of tranflating with that of the herd of fervile 
writers of that clafs, he fays : 
They but preferve the allies, thou the flame; 
True to his fenfe, but truer to his fame. 
Such lines gave him fome rightful claim to Pope’s epi¬ 
thet of “ majejlic Denham ;” and doubtlefs prepared the 
way for the fimilar but fuperior excellence of Pope him¬ 
felf. 
DE'NIA, a feaport of Spain, in the province of Va¬ 
lencia ; faid to have been founded by the Marfeillois, 
before the Chriftian era. The entrance into the harbour 
is difficult and dangerous. The chief trade is in raifins 
and almonds. During the war of fucceflion, Denia was 
taken by the duke of Marlborough, in 1706 ; but retaken 
in 1708 : thirty-eight- miles north-north-eaft of Alicant. 
Lat. 38. 50. N. Ion. 16. 40. E. Peak of Teneriffe. . 
DENI'ABLE, adj. That which may be denied ; that 
to which one may refufe belief.—The negative authority 
is alfo deniable by reafon. Brown. 
DENTAL, f. Negation ; the contrary to affirmation,-, 
Negation ; the contrary to confeffion.-—No man more-im¬ 
pudent to deny, where proofs were not manifeft ; no man 
more 
