D E S 
DEB 
man, and mud fo continue (if no alienation te made)- 
till fuch eftate (hall become verted in pofleftion ; and, 
confequently it will be abfolutely neeertary to prove, on 
every devolution, a defcent, not from the immediate 
predecert’or who took by defcent (for with him, as inch, 
in this cafe, there is nothing to do) but from the donor, 
purchafor, or original remainder-man. Whoever, there¬ 
fore, can make himfelf heir to fuch donor, &c. will be 
entitled to the inheritance in reverfion or remainder, 
though expectant; but yet, not fo as to be capable of 
tranfmitting it to his own right heirs (as fuch) except by 
granting it over, till it becomes verted in- poftelEon, by 
the determination of the particular eftate which fupport- 
ed it, or whereon it was expectant (when it would ceafe 
to be a reverfion or remainder) in him who (hould be, at 
that time, the right heir of the donor, &c. which perfon 
would then become the ftock of defcent, and him from 
whom the future pedigree muft run on his obtaining an 
a final feifin of it. See Fean's Coining. Rem. 449. Co. Litt. 
11b. 14 a. 15 a. Plowd. 56, 113, 585, 9. 
So alfo with refpeef to contingencies, and executory 
devifes. Thus, on a devife to G." in fee ; but, if he hap¬ 
pened to die under the age of twenty-one years, leaving 
no ilfue, then to P. in fee ; after the deceafe of the tefta- 
tor, P. died in the lile-time of G. who afterwards died 
under the age of twenty-one, and without ilfue ; it was 
held, that the lands verted in P.’s heir at law, upon the 
happening of the contingency (viz. on the death of G. 
under age, and without ilfue), but that the intereft, while 
it was contingent, did not fo attach in G. who was heir at 
law to P. on his deceafe, as to carry it, on his death, to 
his heir at law,, who was not heir at law to P. but that it 
verted in that perfon who was heir at law to P. (the firft 
purchafor) at the time of the contingency happening. 
zWilf.K). Hobart, 33, Plowd. 485, 9. 
Defcent of dignities differs from common inheritances, and 
goes not according to the rules of the common law ; for 
it defeends to the half-blood; and there is no coparce- 
nerfhip in it, but the eldeft takes the whole. The dig- 
nityof peerage is perfonal, annexed to the blood, and fo 
infeparable, that it cannot be transferred to any perfon, 
or furrendered even to the crown ; it can move neither 
forward nor backward, but only downward to pofterity ; 
and nothing but corruption of blood, as if the anceftor 
be attainted of treafon or felony, can hinder the defcent 
to the right heir. 
DES'CHEL, a town of Brabant: thirteen milesfouth 
of Herentals. 
DESCH'KIN, a town of Rurtia, in the government of 
Orel : twenty-four miles north of Orel, and 484 fouth- 
fouth-eaft of Peterlburg. 
DESCH'NAY, a town of Boh emia, in the circle of 
Konigingratz : twenty-one miles eaft-north-eaft of Ko¬ 
nigingratz. 
DESCH'NO, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Bolef- 
law : four miles well of Aycha. 
To DESCRI'BE, v. a. [deferibo, Lat.] To delineate; 
to mark out ; to trace : as a torch, waved about the 
head, deferibes a circle. To mark out any thing by the- 
mention of its properties.—He that writes well in verfe 
will often fend his thoughts in fearcli, through all the 
freafure of words that exprefs any one idea in the fame 
language, that fo he may comport with the meafuresof 
the rhyme, or with his own moft beautiful and vivid fen- 
timents of the thing he deferibes. Watts.—To diftribute 
into proper heads or divifions.—Men parted through 
the land, and clefcribed it by cities into feven parts in a 
book. Jof.ei cviii. 9.—To define, in a lax manner, by the 
promifeuous mention of qualities,general and peculiar. 
DESCRI'BER, f. He that deferibes.—From a planta¬ 
tion and colony, an ifland near Spain, was, by the Greek 
deferibers, named Erythra.. Brown. 
DESCRI'ER,/. A difeoverer ; adetedter: 
The glad deferier fir >11 not mifs 
To tafte the nectar of a kifs. Crafhaw. 
Vql, V. No. 31,2. 
757 
DESCRIPTION, f. [deferiptio, Lat.] The act of^de¬ 
lineating or exprefling any perfon or thing by perceptible 
properties. The fentence or partage in which any thing 
is deferibed.-—A poet muft refufe all tedious and unne- 
ceftliry deferiptions: a robe which is too heavy, is lefs an 
ornament than a burthen. Dryden. 
Sometimes, mifguided by the tuneful throng, 
I look for ftreams immortaliz’d in fong, 
That, loft in lilence, and oblivion lie. 
Dumb are their fountains, and their channels dry, 
That run for ever by the mufe’S (kill, 
And in the fmooth defeription murmur (till. Aidifon. 
A lax definition.—The fort of definition, which is made 
up of a mere collection of the moft remarkable parts or 
properties, is called an imperfeft definition or a deferip¬ 
tion-, whereas the definition is called perfect, when it is 
compofed of the ertential difference, added to the gene¬ 
ral nature or genus. VPatts .—The qualities exprelfed in- 
a defeription : 
I’ll pay fix thoufand, and deface the bond, 
Before a friend of this defeription 
Shall lofe a hair. Shakefpeare. 
To DESCRI'VE, v. a. [for defcribc.] To delineates 
How (hall'frail pen deferive her heav’nly face, 
For feare, through want of (kill, her beautie to difgrace 5 
Spenfer. 
To DESCRY', v. a. [ deferier , Fr.] To give notice of 
any thing fuddenly difeovered : as, the fcout deferied the 
enemy, or gave notice of their approach.—This fenfe is 
now obfolete, but gave occafion to thofe which are in 
ufe. To fpy out; to examine at a diftance.—And thd 
houfe of Jofeph fent to defery Bethel. Judges, i. 23.—To 
detedl; to find out any thing concealed.—Of the king 
they got a fight after dinner in a gallery, and of the 
queen mother at her own table ; in neither place deferied, 
no, not by Cadinet, who had been lately ambalTkdor in 
England. Wotton. —To difeover ; to perceive by the eye ; 
to fee any thing diftant or obfeure.—Although the mo¬ 
tion of light be not deferied, no argument can be made 
from thence to prove that light is not a body. Digby. 
Once more, at leaft, look back, faid I ; 
Thyfelf in that large glafs defery. Prior. 
DESCRY', f Difcovery ; thing difeovered : 
How near’s the other army ? 
—Near, and on fpeedy foot, the main defery 
Stands in the hourly thought. Shakefpeare, 
DESCU'REA,/. in botany. See Sisymbrium. 
DESEA'DA, or Desirada, or Desiderada, the firft! 
of the Caribbee iflands, difeovered by Columbus in the 
year 1494 ; about ten miles long, and hardly five broad. 
The foil is in fome places black and good, in others landy- 
and unproductive : four leagues eaft: of Guadaloupe. 
Lat. 16. 38. N. Ion. 61,15. W. Greenwich. 
DESEA'DEN, a town of Perfia, in the province of 
Segeftan : thirty miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Kin. 
To DE'SECRATE, v. a. [ defacro , Lat.] To divert 
from the purpofe to which any thing is confecrated.— 
The founders of monafteries imprecated evil on thofe 
who fhould defecrate their donations. Salmon. 
DESECRATION,/. The abolition of confeeration, 
DE'SENIK, a town of Hungary : ten miles fouth of 
Levens. 
DESENZA'NO, or Dissenzano, a town of Italy, in 
the Breflan ; celebrated for its wines : fifteen miles eaft; 
of Brefcia. It was taken by the French, under Bona¬ 
parte, in 1796; and is now the capital of the department 
of the Benaco, in the Italian republic. 
DESE'RICIUS, or Deseritz (Jofeph Innocent), a 
learned Hungarian ecclefiaftic, of a noble family, born at 
Nitra in 1702. He applied, at an early age, to the fliidy 
of the fciences, fo that in the courfe of a few years he 
9 G was 
