1) I G 
■fefiO 
DIGGES (Thomas), foil of the preceding, and an 
inheritor of his father’s attachment to fcientific purfuits, 
after a preparatory education, went and kudied for fome 
time at Oxford. By the improvement which he made 
there, and the fubfequent inkruCtions of his father, he 
became one of the greatek mathematicians of his time. 
Upon queen Elizabeth’s fending her forces to aifid the 
inhabitants of the Netherlands in fhaking off the Spanith 
yoke, he was appointed to the office of muker-maker- 
general, in which fituation he had the opportunity of ap¬ 
plying liis mathematical knowledge to practice, and of 
becoming (killed in military tactics. He died in 1595, 
but at what age i-s unknown. Befides editing and cor¬ 
recting fevcral of his father’s pieces, he wrote and pub- 
lifned 1. Ala five Seala mathematica, i. e. Mathematical 
Wings or Ladders, 1573, 4to. containing feveral demon- 
krations for finding the parallax of any comet, or other 
celefiial body, with the corrections of the errors in the 
ufe of th e radius afronomiev.s. 2. An arithmetical Trea- 
tife, containing fo much of arithmetic as is neceffary to¬ 
wards Military Difcipline, 1579, 4to. 3. A geometrical 
Treatife, named Stratioticos, requifite for the Perfection 
of Soldiers, 1579, 4to. begun by his father, but finiihed 
by himfelf, and reprinted in 1590, with feveral amend¬ 
ments and additions, under the title of An arithmetical 
warlike Treatife, named Stratioticos, compendioufiy teach¬ 
ing the Science of Numbers, See. together with the mo- 
derne militarie Difcipline, Offices, Lawes, and Orders, in 
every well-governed Campe and Armie inviolably to be 
obferved, &c. 4. Perfect Defcription of tlie Celekial 
Orbs, according to the mod ancient Doctrine of the Py¬ 
thagoreans, Sec. 1562, 4to. 5. Humble Motives for Af- 
fociations to maintain the Religion efi.iblilhed, 1601, 8vo. 
6. England’s Defence ; a Treatife concerning Invalion ; 
or, a brief Difcourfe of what Orders were belt for repulf- 
ing of Foreign Enemies, if at any Time they (liould in¬ 
vade us by Sea, in Kent, or ell'ewhere ; written in 1599, 
but not publifhed till 1686, fol. and, 7. A Letter printed 
before Dr. John Dee’s Parallatua Commentationis, &c. 1373. 
DIGGES (Dudley), eldeft foil of the preceding, born 
in 1583. He kudied at Univerfity college, Oxford, and 
finifhed his education at one of the inns of court. He 
received the honour of knighthood from king James, 
and then undertook a foreign tour for his improvement. 
In 1618 he was fent ambaffador to the czar of Mufcovy ; 
and in 1-620 was joined in a commillion to Holland for 
obtaining reditution of fome property fpized from the 
Englifh in the Eall Indies. Fie was a member of the 
parliament which met in 1621, and (hewed himfelf Co 
little compliant with the court, that, after its di(folution, 
lie was fent with others, by way of punikiment, upon a 
frivolous commillion to Ireland. He was a member of 
the firft parliament of CJiarles I. in 1626, when he en¬ 
gaged with fo much zeal in the impeachment of Villiers 
duke of Buckingham, thaf, in confequence of a fpeech 
fpoken by him at a conference with the houfe of lords, 
he wascommitied to the Tower. This exertion of power 
was, however, fo ill taken by the commons, that it was 
thought proper to difciiarge him. In the parliament of 
1628, fir Dudley fat as knight of the (hire for Kent; and 
though his oppofition to the court feerned lefs violent 
than before, lie continued to a6t with the patriotic party. 
His influence and abilities rendered it an objeCl to bring 
him over, and lie was tempted by a veVerfionary grant of 
the office of mailer of the rolls, which he received in 
1630. But he was (hatched away by death in 1639, after 
enjoying the office only three years. Sir Dudley Digges 
publifhed, in 1615, A Defence of Trade: in a Letter to 
Sir Thomas Smith, Governprof the Ead.India Company. 
After his death was publilhed in his name, A Difcourfe 
.concerning the Rights and Privileges of the SubjeCf. 
He alio collected the letters which palled between the 
miniflers and others, concerning the projected marriages 
between queen Elizabeth and the dukes of Anjou and 
Alenjon. Thefe were publifhed in 1655, under the title 
DIG 
of The complete Ambaffador, or two Treaties, &c. fol. 
Dudi.Et, third fon of fir Dudley, was-a zealous loyaliff, 
and wrote a work in 1643, to prove the unlawfulnefs of 
taking-up arms by fubjefts againk their fovereign in all 
cafes whatsoever, which was feveral times reprinted. 
DIG'GING, part. Piercing the ground with a fpade, 
turning the ground with a fpade, railing from the ground 
by removing the earth. 
To DIGHT, v. a. [bihtan, Sax. to prepare, to regu¬ 
late.] To drefs ; to deck ; to bedeck ; to embellifh ; to 
adorn. The participle pafiive is (light, as dighted in Hu- 
di-bras is, perhaps, improper : 
The high enibowed roof, 
With antic pillars, maffy proof; 
And ftoried windows richly dight. 
Caking a dim religious light. Milton . 
Juk fo the proud infulting lafs 
Array’d and dighted Hudibras. Hudibras . 
To put on : 
On his head liis dreadful hat he dight. 
Which maketh him inyilible to fight. Hubbard. 
To prepare ; to make ready.—With which his hideous 
club aloft lie 1 lights. Spenfer. 
DIGH'TON, a pok town of the American States, in 
Brikol county, Maffachufetts, feven miles from Taun¬ 
ton, and twenty from Warren, in Rhode Ifland. 
DI'GIT, f. [digitus, I.at.} In arithmetic, any one of 
the ten characters, o, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 8, 9, by means 
of which all numbers are exprelfcd. In akronomy, it 
is the meafure by which the part of the luminaries in 
eclipfes is ekimated, being the twelfth part of the dia¬ 
meter of tlie luminary. Thus, an eclipfe is faid to be 
of ten digits, when ten parts out of twelve of the dia¬ 
meter are in the eclipfed part; when the whole of the 
luminary is juk all covered, the digits eclipfed are ink 
twelve ; and, when the luminary is more than covered, 
as often happens in lunar eclipfes, then more than twelve 
digits are (kid to be eclipfed. Thus, if the diameter or 
breadth of the earth’s fhadow, where the moon paffes 
through, be equal to one diameter and a half of the 
moon,, then eighteen degrees, or digits, are faid to be 
eclipfed. Wolfius, and fome others, call them digiti 
ccliptici. Digit is alfo a meafure taken from the breadth 
of tlie finger ; being ekimated at three-fourths of an inch, 
and equal to four grains of barley, laid breadth-ways, lo 
as to touch each other. 
DIGl'TAL, adj. Belonging to tlie finger. Scott. 
DIGITA'LIS,/. [fo named from the refemblance of 
the flower to the finger of a glove.'] The Fox-glove ; 
in botany, a genus of tlie clafs didynamia, order angiof- 
permia, natural order luridse, Linn, (fcrophularite, Jujf.) 
The generic characters are—Calyx : perianthium five- 
parted ; divifions rouudilh, (harp, permanent; the fupe- 
rior longer than the reft. Corolla: one-petalled, bell- 
form ; tube large, expanding, bellied downwards; cy- 
lindric and dole at the bafe; border fmall; four-cleft; 
upper divifien more expanding, emarginate ; inferior di- 
vifion larger. Stamina: filaments four, fubulate, inferted 
into the bafe of the corolla, bent downwards, of which 
two are longer; antherae two-parted, acuminate on one 
fide. Pikillum: germ acuminate ; kyle (imple, in the 
fituation of tlie kamens; kigma (harp. Pericarpium; 
capfule ovate, length of the calyx, acuminate, two-cel¬ 
led, two-valved, valves burking in two directions; (par¬ 
tition double from the index edges of the valves, Gart¬ 
ner.) Seeds: very many, fmall, (fubprifmatic, Gartner.) 
— F.Jfaitial Character. Calyx, five-parted ; corolla, bell- 
form, five-cleft, bellying; capfule, ovate, two-celled. 
Species. 1. Digitalis purpurea, or purple fox-glove : 
calycine leaflets ovate, acute; corollas obtufe ; upper- 
lip entire, (very (lightly, notched, With.) Root bien¬ 
nial ; (tern three to (ix feet high, Ample, upright, leafy, 
round, pubefeent; leaves alternate, ovate-acute, ferrate, 
veiny a 
