D I L 
appeared in 1724, and befides his own improvements, 
contained additions from Dr. Richardfon, Mr. James 
Sherrard, and other Englifh botanifts". He himfelf de- 
figned all the figures, and engraved fome of tliem. His 
time was much fpent at the houfeof Mr. James Sherrard, 
at Elrham in Kent, where he began to make preparations 
for his great work, the Hortus Elthamenfis. He alfo made 
fome botanical excurlions, and in 1726 examined the 
mountains of Wales, and paid a vifit to the I(le of Man. 
In the mean time elforts were made for his efiablifhment 
at Oxford ; and on the death, in 1728, of Dr. Sherrard, 
who left by will a large benefaction for a faiary to a pro- 
fefl’or of botany in that univerfity, upon condition that 
Dillenius fliottld firft occupy the chair, his election'”im¬ 
mediately took place. In 1732 he brought to the prels 
his elaborate work Hortus Elthamenfis , feu Plantarum vario¬ 
rum quas in horto fuo Elthami in Cantio coluit vir ornatijjimus 
& prcejlantijjimus Jacobus Sherrard, M.D. &c. &c. auttore 
Jacobo Dillenio, M.D. folio. In this work are defcribed 
and figured 417 plants, moftly exotics, with a few of the 
more rare Englifh and Welfti. All the figures were 
drawn and etched with the author's own hand. Of the 
merit of this work, it may fuffice to adduce the compen¬ 
dious teftimony of Linnaeus, EJl opus botanicum quo abj'olu- 
tius mundum non vidit: “A more perfeft botanical work 
lias not feen the world.” So limited, however, was at that 
time the attention to natural hiftory in England, that he 
could difpofe of but a fmall proportion of the copies, 
and actually cut up many for papers for his Hortus Siccus. 
The illuftrious Swedifh naturalift, then a young man, 
paid a vifit to Dillenius, at Oxford, in j 736 ; and, though 
he could not make the profeffor a convert to his fexual 
fyftem of arrangement, he returned highly impreffed with 
his merit. Dillenius was the only perfon in England, 
lie faid, who underltood or regarded generical diftinc- 
tions. They became correfpondents after this time ; 
and Linnaeus dedicated to Dillenius his Critica Botanica. 
In 1741, the work appeared which has principally ferved 
to place his name among thole of the great improvers of 
botanical feience. This is his HJloria Mufcorum, in qua 
circiter J'excenta Species veteres & nova, ad Jua genera relala, 
deferibuntur, £? Iconibus genui/jis illufrantur ; cum Appendice, 
& Indice Synonymorum, 440. This work comprehends the 
plants under the name of mufei and alga, in the clafs cryp- 
togamia , except the fucufes, fome of the ulva, conferva, 
and a few others. All tire figures are drawn and en¬ 
graved by himfelf. It is an extraordinary monument of 
patient induftry and minute inveftigation; and, notwith- 
ltanding later additions and difeoveries, is likely long to 
remain the bafis of knowledge in this curious department 
of botany. The original number of imprelfions was only 
two hundred and fifty, and the price of a copy one guinea; 
fo that, in a pecuniary view, the author muft have been 
extremely ill compenlated for his time and labour: but 
it is vain to expeCt any other adequate reward for fcience 
but that arifing from the difinterefted love of it! Copies 
of this work are now valued at ten guineas. A corpu¬ 
lent habit of body, and clofenefs of application to his 
fludies, Ihortened his life, which was terminated by an 
apoplexy in 1747, in his fixtieth year. Dillenius was of a 
inodeft and placid difpofition, temperate, ftudious, and 
retired. His life was exercifed by various trials and 
misfortunes, which lie feerns to have borne with great 
equanimity. He left all his papers and colleftions to 
his executor, Dr. Seidel, who parted with them to pro- 
feffor Sibthorpe. 
DILLI'GROUT, f. Pottage formerly made for the 
king’s table, on his coronation day ; and there was a te¬ 
nure in lerjeanty, by which lands were held of the king, 
by the fervice of finding this pottage at that folemnity. 
39 Hen. III. 
DIL'LING,./. [q. d. dallying. ] A child born when 
the parents.are old. 
DIL'LINGEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Swabia, and bilhopric of Auglburg, fituated near the 
I) I L £ <27 
Danube ; where the bifiiop of Auglburg ufinally refides. 
It contains a chapter and three convents; and was for¬ 
merly a county, the princes of which were powerful : 
twenty-five miles north-we.fi: of Auglburg, and twenty- 
four north-eaft of Ulm. On the 12th of July, 1796, the 
nominal king of France, Louis XVIII. was fiiot in the 
forehead near this town, by fome perfon unknown ; but 
the wound was not dangerous. 
DIL'LON (Wentworth, ear! of Rofcommon), a noble¬ 
man who ranks among the Britilh poets, was the fon of 
James Dillon, earl of Rofcommon, by a filter of the great 
earl ot Strafford. He was born in Ireland about the year 
1633, and received his firfi education at lord Strafford's 
feat inYorkfhire. Thence lie was removed to the pro- 
teftant univerfity of Caen, in Normandy, where his ftu- 
dies were directed by the learned Bochart. He after¬ 
wards travelled into Italy, the language of which country 
he made familiar to him, as he before had that of France. 
He returned to England foon after the reftoration, and 
was made captain of the band of penlioners. He was 
afterwards made mafier of the horfe to the duchefs of 
York, and engaged in matrimony with the daughter of 
the earl of Burlington. He cultivated letters, and, by 
.means of the advantages of rank, was readily admitted 
to a difiinguifhed plrice among the wits and poets of the 
time. A defign which lie formed for the infiitution of a 
kind of academy for improving the Englifh language, and 
fixing its ftandard, is juftly mentioned to his honour, 
though it was not brought to effect. He does not ap¬ 
pear to have taken any leading p'art in politics. At the 
accefiion of James II. it is faid, that a forefight of the 
difturbances likely to arife on account of. religion, in- 
fpired him with an intention of taking up his refidence 
in Rome; but an attack of the gout, which, from the 
treatment of a French empiric, was thrown upon his 
bowels, put an end to his life in 1684. The productions 
by which he obtained celebrity in his age, and which 
(till form a part of the body of Englifh poets, are few in 
number. The principal of them is, An Elfay on Trans¬ 
lated Verfe, which is a didactic piece, laying down, with 
good fenfe, and elegant verfification, the rules proper to 
be followed in poetical tranflations. It is evident that 
fuch a fubjeft is not accommodated to the higher ft rains 
of poetry, nor could the writer’s genius'have fupported 
him in a lofty flight; but he has given it many of the 
graces proper to didaftic compofitions, and fome of the 
precepts are fo happily expreffed, that they have become 
in a manner proverbial. His other pieces are : Tranfla¬ 
tions of Horace’s Art of Poetry, and two of his Odes ; of 
Virgil’s fixth Eclogue ; of the Dies Ira, or Laft J udgment; 
of a feene in Pajlor Fido ; of a Pfalm, See. with a few oc- 
cafional remarks. The beft encomium given him by Dr. 
Johnfon is, “ that he is, perhaps, tire only correft writer 
in Englifh verfe before Addifon.” 
DILLS'BERG, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
the Lower Rhine, and palatinate of the Rhine : fix miles 
eaft of Heidelberg. 
To DILO'RICATE, v. a. [from the Lat. dilorici 7 .J To 
rip open, to rip through a feam. Not much ifed. 
DILU'C.ID, adj. [dilucidus, Lat.] Clear; not opaque: 
plain ; not obfeure. 
To DILU'CIDATE, v. a. [from dilucidare, Lat.] To 
make clear or plain ; to explain ; to free from obfeurity. 
—I (hall not extenuate, but explain and dilucidatc , ac¬ 
cording to the cuftom of the ancients. Brown. 
DILUCIDA'TION, J [from dilucidatio, Lat.] The 
aft of making clear ; explanation; expofition. 
DI'LUENT, adj. [ diluens , Lat.] Having the power to 
thin and attenuate other matter. 
DI'LUENT, f. That which thins other matter.— 
There is no real diluent but water : every fluid is diluent, 
as it contains water in it. Arbutknot. 
To DILU'TE, v. a. [diluo, Lat.] To make thin; to 
attenuate by the admixture of other parts.—The aliment 
ought to be thin to dilute, demulcent to temper, or acid 
to 
