DEN 
nidi dominions are very deficient; and thofe difcovered 
in 1768 at Oerdcn, in the Sondmoer, appear to be little 
frequented. 
Though the fouthern parts of the Danifii dominions 
prefent few natural curiofities, yet the northern provinces 
afford many fingular features. Tlie Mofkoeftrom, or 
Malftrom, is a remarkable whirlpool off the diore of 
Norland, \\ Iricla will involve boats, and even fiiips ; nay, 
even the Icviathanic druggies of the whale have not al¬ 
ways fecured him from the danger : the bottom is full of 
craggy fpires, and the noife truly tremendous. On the 
fonth of the Ferro ides, there is another dreadful whirl¬ 
pool. The volcanoes of Iceland may alfo be claffed 
among the granded features of nature. Of fmaller con- 
fequence are feveral pifturefque fcenesin Norway, as the 
hills called the Seven Sillers in Helgoland in the parallel 
of Tornea. In the fame didriit is the rock of Torghat- 
ten, with a perforation of great length and diameter, 
through which the fun may at times be fee 11. At Doi- 
(leen, near Herroe, in Sundmoer, is a cavern of great 
length ; and at Limur, not far from Ourlkoeg, is another 
cavern above a dream, which feems formerly to have 
dowed through this fuperior channel. About twenty 
miles to the north of Bergen, the rocks abound with fin¬ 
gular petrifactions-. The mountains are fometimes fplit 
and engulphed by fubterranean waters, of which Pontop- 
pidan relates dome remarkable indances, now more to be 
credited, becaufe a dmilar event recently happened in 
the fouth of France. The farm of Borre, in the province 
of Chriltiana, was in 1703 fwallowed up with all its 
buildings, and there now remains only a chafm full of 
ruins and fand. .• 
The Danilh monarchy has always found great refources 
in the ides of Zealand, Funen, Laland, Falder, and the 
others of that extenfive groupe. In the ead, the farthed 
ide belonging to Denmark is that of Bornholm, a fmall 
but fertile fpot, conquered by the Swedes in 1645, and 
furrendered to them by the treaty of Rofkild, in 1658 ; 
but the inhabitants revolted the fame year, and redored 
their ide to the Danifii dominion, under which it has fince 
continued. Off the wedern coad of Jutland are the ides 
of Nordfirand, Fora, Sylt, Rom, Fanoe, and others, 
which with Helgeland were known to the Romans; but 
the writers of that nation appear often to have confound¬ 
ed them with fome of the Orkneys, and even with the 
idands in the Baltic. The Danidt ides have fuffered 
greatly by the fury of the ocean. Nordfirand, after re¬ 
peated attacks in the years 1356, 1354, &c. was at length 
almod totally fwallowed up in 1634. Such an inunda¬ 
tion arofe on the nth of October, at ten o’clock in the 
evening, that there perifhed 6048 perfons with 50,000 
cattle; 1332 houfes, thirty windmills, and fix churches, 
were fwept away by the waves. There remained but a 
high part of the ide now called Pelworm. Helgeland, 
which has been fubjedt to the Danes dnee the year 1714, 
has alfo been dfininilhed by repeated affaults of the ocean. 
The Norwegian coad prefents one continued feries of 
fmall and unimportant idands, mod of them, indeed, un¬ 
inhabited. Among a few worthy of mention may be 
named, Karm, Bommel, Sartar, Hitteren, and others, at 
the entrance of the gulf of Drontheim : the Vikten, or 
Viktor, idands, are followed by thofe of Loffoden, the 
mod numerous and extenfive, and noted for the whirl¬ 
pool of Maldrom. Among the dreary ides on the La- 
ppnic Jliore may be named Soroe and Mangeroe, that of 
Wardhus, where there is a garrifon in jhe Ardtic Ocean ; 
and the ide or peninfula of Fifkeroe, part of which be¬ 
longs to Rufiian Lapland. The ides of Vikten, or Vik¬ 
tor, produce oats and barley ; and it was from them that 
the powerful Rollo failed to France. Thofe of Loft'o- 
den have excellent fidieries, and the padurage fufiices 
for numbers of dieep. The ide of Karm is chiefly re¬ 
markable for the high mountain of Augvald. The Nor¬ 
wegian ides are, in general, mountainous or craggy, like 
tlie correfponding coad, with precipitous rocks, and a 
DEN 727 
fea from 100 to 300 fathoms deep, wafiiing their bafes. 
Between them are numerous narrow creeks, o.verdiaded 
by vad heights like thofe of the diore, ard guarded, as 
it were, by fmaller ides, and defert rocks, haunted by 
innumerable fea-fowl. For many years the Norwegians 
held the ides of Orkney and Shetland, which lad was 
dyled by them the Land of Hialt, from an adventurer fo 
called, whence the corrupt names of Zetland, Yetland, 
and Shetland. The Ferro ides remain an appanage of 
the Danilh crown : they are feventeen in number, arid 
not unfertile, producing fome barley, and abundant paf- 
turage for dieep. Beautiful calcedonies and zeolites are 
found in the Ferro illes; but there feems no reafon to 
believe that they ever were volcanic. In the idand of 
Iceland, the government was an aridocratic republic for 
387 years, till, in 1621, it fubmitted to Norway, and thus 
became fubjeft to the crown of Denmark. 
Denmark and Norway have long e'eafed to be objefts 
of terror to the fouthern powers, and centuries have 
elapfed fince any of the mpnarchs has been diftinguidicd 
in war, while the Swedes on the contrary have main¬ 
tained their martial fpirit. Chridian IV. whole long- 
reign extended from 1588 to 164S, was the lad of the 
warlike monarchs ; and fince that pefiod the Danes have 
been vanquiflied in every contefi, either in Sweden or 
Germany. The refources of the monarchy have alfo 
been weakened by its defpotifm ; and Denmark is little 
regarded by the European powers. This fa< 5 t was glo- 
rioudy edablilhed by the Britifii navy under fir Hyde 
Parker and lord Nellon, in April 1801, by the eafe and 
facility with which they broke the links of the cele¬ 
brated northern confederacy in the late war. See the 
article Copenhagen, p. 177, of this volume. 
DENN, a town of Arabia, in the country of Yemen : 
forty miles ead of Zebid, Lat. 14. 15. N. Ion. 43. 43. E. 
Greenwich. 
DEN'NIS, [a contraction of Dionyfius.] A proper 
name of men. 
DEN'NIS'a part of Yarmouth, in Barndaple county, 
Maffachufetts, belonging to the American States, incor¬ 
porated into a townlhip in 1793. 
DEN'NIS (John), a dramatic writer and critic, tlie 
fon of a fadler and citizen of London, where he was born 
in 1657. He received a literary education, fird at Har¬ 
row fchool, and afterwards at Caius college, Cambridge. 
He remained feven years at the univerlity, and, quitting 
it with the degree of mader of arts, made the tour of 
France and Italy. On his return, lie was admitted to 
the acquaintance of the mod didinguilhcd poets and men 
of letters of the time, by whom he was regarded as a 
perfon of knowledge and talents. He fird made himfelf 
known as a poet and a dramatic writer, in both which 
capacities he exerted himfelf with confiderable adiduity, 
though with very moderate fuccefs. His topics are chief¬ 
ly the political events of the time ; and the perfeverance 
of his panegyric may be edimated, by a piece of five 
books, with a large apparatus of machinery, upon the 
battle of Ramilies. For the dage he wrote both comedy 
and tragedy. He appears to have had fome knowledge 
of the mechanifm of the drama, and his comedies are 
faid not to be deficient in wit; but little of nature or fil¬ 
tered could be expected from a writer of his peculiar 
cad; and his performances were in general valued by 
the public at a much lower rate than he himfelf put 
upon them. Several anecdotes are related which cu- 
rioudy difplay the felf-importance that made fo confpi- 
cnous a part of his character. His tragedy inti tied Li¬ 
berty Aliened, which became popular on account of 
the virulent abufe of the French nation with which it 
abounded, was of fucli political confequence in his own 
eyes, that he imagined Louis XIV. would make a point, 
at the peace, of having him delivered up to his refent- 
merit. Under this apprehenfion, he actually applied to 
the duke of Marlborough for his good offices when the 
treaty of Utrecht was in agitation. The duke gravely 
