1871 to 601,374, of whom 285,248 were males, and 316,126 females. There were, at the last census, on an average 0.36 persons to an acre, or 2.75 acres to each person. The number of inhabited houses was 105,200. There were 480 parishes and 33 hundreds. The population of the county in 1801 was 340,308 persons ; so that the increase since that time has been at the rate of 77 for every hundred. Of the 52 counties in England and Wales, Devonshire is now the ninth in point of population. The comparative density of the population is considerably below the average. In England generally there are 389 persons to every square mile ; in Devonshire the number is not more than 232.
Bibliography.—The best general history of the county is still that which forms part of Lysons's Magna Britannia (1822). Polwhele's Hist. of Devon (1793–98) was never completed, and is inaccurate. Westcote's Survey of Devon, written about 1630, and first printed in 1845, is curious and important.[1] Prince's Worthies of Devon, a very valuable book, was first published in 1701, and was reprinted in 1810. Oliver's Monasticon Diœcesis Exoniensis (1845) is valuable for the history of the monastic foundations in both Devon and Cornwall. There are very good histories of Plymouth (1871) and of Devonport (1872) by R. N. Worth. Mrs Bray's Borders of the Tamar and Tavy, 3 vols., 1836, is full and interesting, and contains much information relating to Dartmoor. Rowe's Perambulation of the Forest of Dartmoor (1848, and later editions) is still the most complete book on that district ; but a great amount of important matter relating to Dartmoor and to the county in general will be found in the annual volumes of the Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Promotion of Literature, Science, and Art, beginning in 1862. The notes to Carrington's poem of Dartmoor should also be mentioned.
For the geology of the county reference should be made to the very valuable papers of Mr Pengelly in the Transactions of the Devonshire Association, and in the Journal of the Geological Society. The papers of Mr Ormerod and of Mr Vicary in the same Journals are also of great importance. The fullest general notice is, however, to be found in the Report on the Geology of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset, by Sir H. J. De la Beche, 1839. Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Devon and Cornwall (8th ed., 1872) must also be mentioned as full of useful information.
(R. J. K.)
DEVONSHIRE, WILLIAM CAVENDISH, FOURTH EARL
and FIRST DUKE OF (1640-1707), distinguished as a
statesman and patriot, born in 1640, was the eldest son of
the third earl. After completing his education he made
the tour of Europe according to the custom of young men
of his rank, being accompanied on his travels by Dr
Killigrew. On his return he obtained, in 1661, a seat in
Parliament for the county of Derby, and soon became con
spicuous as one of the most determined and daring
opponents of the general policy of the court. In 1678 he
was one of the committee appointed to draw up articles of
impeachment against the lord-treasurer Danby. In 1679
he was re-elected for Derby, and made a privy councillor
by Charles II. ; but he soon withdrew from the board with
his friend Lord Russell, when he found that the Romish
interest uniformly prevailed. He carried up to the House
of Lords the articles of impeachment against Lord Chief-
Justice Bcroggs, for his arbitrary and illegal proceedings in
the Court of King s Bench ; and when the king declared
his resolution not to sign the bill for excluding the duke
of York, afterwards James II., he moved in the House of
Commons that a bill might be brought in for the association
of all his majesty s Protestant subjects. He also openly
denounced the king s counsellors, and voted for an address
to remove them. He appeared in defence of Lord Russell
at his trial, at a time when it was scarcely more criminal
to be an accomplice than a witness. After the condemna
tion he gave the utmost possible proof of his attachment by
offering to exchange clothes with Lord Russell in the
prison, remain in his place, and so allow him to effect his
escape. In November 1684 he succeeded to the earldom
on the death of his father. He opposed arbitrary govern
ment under James II. with the same consistency and high
spirit as during the previous reign. He was withdrawn
from public life for a time, however, in consequence of a
hasty and imprudent act of which his enemies knew how
to avail themselves. Fancying that he had received an
insulting look in the presence chamber from Colonel
Colepepper, a swaggerer whose attendance at court the
king encouraged, he immediately avenged the affront by
challenging the colonel, and, on the challenge being refused,
striking him with his cane. This offence was punished by
a fine of 30,000, which was an enormous sum even to
one of the earl s princely fortune. Not being able to pay
he was imprisoned in the King s Bench, from which he was
released only on signing a bond for the whole amount.
This was afterwards cancelled by King William. After
his discharge the earl went for a time to Chatsworth, where
he occupied himself with architectural improvements on his
mansion. The Revolution again brought him into pro
minence. He was one of the seven who signed the
original paper inviting the Prince of Orange from Holland,
and was the first nobleman who appeared in arms to receive
him at his landing. He received the Order of the Garter
on the occasion of the coronation, and was made lord high
stewarfc of the new court. In 1691 he accompanied King
William on his visit to Holland. He was created marquis
of Hartington and duke of Devonshire in 1694 by William
and Mary, on the same day on which the head of the house
of Russell was created duke of Bedford. Thus, to
quote Macaulay, " the two great houses of Russell and
Cavendish, which had long been closely connected by
friendship and by marriage, by common opinions, common
sufferings, and common triumphs, received on the same
day the highest honour which it is in the power of the
Crown to confer." His last public service was assisting
to conclude the union with Scotland, for negotiating which
he and his son, the marquis of Hartington, had been
appointed among the commissioners by Queen Anne. He
died on the 18th August 1707, and ordered the following
inscription to be put on his monument :
Willielmus Dux Devon,
Bonomm Principum Fidelis Subditus,
Inimicus et Invisus Tyrannis.
DEW. See Meteorology.
DEWBERRY, Rubus ccesius, a deciduous trailing planf,
allied to the bramble, of the natural order JRosacece. It is
common in woods, hedges, and the borders of fields in
England and other countries of Europe. The leaves are
trifoliate, hairy beneath, and of a dusky green ; tha
flowers, which appear in June and July, are white, or pala
rose-coloured. The fruit is large, and closely embraced by
the calyx, and consists of few grains, which are black, with
a glaucous bloom ; it has an agreeable acid taste, and is
used for making a kind of wine.
D'EWES, SIR SIMONDS (1602-1650), antiquarian,
chronicler, and collector of historical records, was born at
Coxden, in the parish of Chardstock, in Dorsetshire, on the
18th December 1602. His father, one of the six clerks of
Chancery, possessed a large official income, and gave him
a liberal education at the grammar-school of Bury St
Edmxmds, and at St John s College, Cambridge. Called to
the bar in 1623, he did not enter upon practice, being
possessed of independent means, and having already
resolved to devote himself to historical research. His in
tention seems to have been to compile a history of Britain
from original documents, and in endeavouring to carry it
out he spent much of his time in examining historical
records, which he describes as " the most ravishing and
satisfying part of human knowledge," in the Tower of
London and elsewhere. The chief results of this labour
were his valuable collection of records originals and tran
scripts which now form part of the Harleian collection in
the British Museum, and his Journals of all the Parliaments
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, which, though completed in
- ↑ Sic. Actually, the work described is Thomas Westcote's A View of Devonshire in mdcxxx, with a Pedigree of Most of its Gentry, whereas the Survey of Devon was a separate work by Tristram Risdon written in 1632 and published in 1811.—Ed.
