Part 24

DUCK, the name given to web-footed birds constituting the sub-family Anatinae of the family Anatidae, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are very numerous as species, and are met with all over the world. They are often migratory, going northward in summer to their breeding-places. Their food is partly vegetable, partly animal. The common mallard or wild-duck (_Anas boschas_) is the original of the domestic duck. In its wild state the male is characterized by the deep green of the plumage of the head and neck, by a white collar separating the green from the dark chestnut of the lower part of the neck, and by having the four middle feathers of the tail recurved. The wild-duck is taken in large quantities by decoys and other means. Some tame ducks have nearly the same plumage as the wild ones; others vary greatly, being generally duller or pure white, but all the males have the four recurved tail-feathers. There are several favourite varieties of the domestic duck, those of Normandy and Picardy in France, and the Aylesbury ducks in England, being remarkable for their great size and delicacy of flesh. Other species of the sub-family are: shoveller (_Spatula clypeata_), garganey (_Querquedula circia_), pintail or sea-pheasant (_Dafila acuta_), teal (_Nettion crecca_), widgeon (_Mareca penelope_), gadwall (_Chaulelasmus streperus_), sheldrake (_Tadorna cornuta_), tree-ducks (species of Dendrocygna). In a wider sense the name 'duck' is applied to species of other sub-families of the Anatidae as follows: Merganettinae: blue duck (_Hymenolaemus malacorhynchus_) of New Zealand. Erismaturinae: musk duck (_Biziura lobata_) of Tasmania and Australia. Lake ducks (species of Erismatura). Fuligulinae: eider duck (_Somateria mollissima_), q.v.; scoter or black duck (_Oedemia nigra_); harlequin duck (_Cosmonetta histrionica_); logger-head or steamer duck (_Tachyeres cinereus_) of South America: scaup (_Fuligula marila_); canvas back (_F. vallisneria_), q.v.; pochard (_Nyroca ferina_). Plectopterinae: summer duck (_Aix sponsa_) of N. America and Cuba; mandarin duck (_A. galericulata_) of E. Asia; Muscovy or musk duck (_Cairina moschata_), ranging from Mexico to the Argentine.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nourse, _Turkeys, Ducks, and Geese_; Rankin, _Natural and Artificial Duck Culture_; J. G. Millais, _British Diving Ducks_.

DUCKING-STOOL, a stool or chair in which common scolds were formerly tied and plunged into water. They were of different forms, but that most commonly in use consisted of an upright post and a transverse movable beam on which the seat was fitted or from which it was suspended by a chain. The ducking-stool is mentioned in _Domesday Book_ (Chester): it was extensively in use throughout the country from the fifteenth till the beginning of the eighteenth century, and in one case--at Leominster--was used as late as 1809.

DUCKWEED, the popular name of several species of Lemna, nat. ord. Lemnaceae, plants growing in ditches and shallow water, floating on the surface, and serving as food for ducks and geese. Five species are known in Britain, and others are common in America. They consist of small fronds bearing naked unisexual flowers.

DUCKWORTH, Sir John Thomas, a British admiral, born in 1748, died 1817. He joined the navy when eleven years of age; and was post-captain in 1780. In 1793, on the breaking out of the French war, he was appointed to the command of the _Orion_, 74, forming part of the Channel fleet under Lord Howe, and distinguished himself in 1794 in the great naval victory on 1st June. In 1798 he aided in the capture of Minorca. From 1800 to 1806 he rendered important services on the West India station, in particular gaining a complete victory over a French squadron, for which he received a pension of L1000 a year and the thanks of both Houses of Parliament. In 1807, having been ordered to Constantinople, he forced the passage of the Dardanelles, but suffered severely from the Turkish batteries in returning. From 1810 to 1814 he commanded the Newfoundland fleet, and in 1817 he was appointed to the chief command at Plymouth. In 1813 he was created a baronet.

DUCLOS (d[.u]-kl[=o]), Charles Pinot, a French novelist, writer of memoirs, and grammarian, born in 1704 at Dinant, died at Paris 1772. He became secretary of the French Academy, and on the resignation of Voltaire he was appointed to the office of historiographer of France. His writings are lively and satirical. Among the best are: _Confessions du Comte de * * *_ (1741), _Consid['e]rations sur les Moeurs de ce Si[`e]cle_, _M['e]moires secrets sur les R[`e]gnes de Louis XIV et XV_, and _Remarques sur la Grammaire g['e]n['e]rale de Port-Royal_.

DUCTIL'ITY, the property of solid bodies, particularly metals, which renders them capable of being extended by drawing, while their thickness or diameter is diminished, without any actual fracture or separation of their parts. The following is nearly the order of ductility of the metals which possess the property in the highest degree, that of the first mentioned being the greatest: gold, silver, platinum, iron, copper, nickel, palladium, cadmium, zinc, tin, lead. Dr. Wollaston succeeded in obtaining a wire of platinum only 1/30000th of an inch in diameter. The ductility of glass at high temperatures seems to be unlimited, while its flexibility increases in proportion to the fineness to which its threads are drawn.

DUDDON, an English river which flows 20 miles along the boundaries of Cumberland and Lancashire to the Irish Sea, and is the subject of a series of sonnets by Wordsworth, written in 1820.

DU DEFFAND, Madame. See _Deffand_.

DUDERSTADT (d[:o]'d[.e]r-st[.a]t), an old German town, province of Hanover, 10 miles east of G[:o]ttingen, formerly a member of the Hanseatic League and a place of some importance. Pop. 5380.

DUDEVANT, Madame. See _Sand, George_.

DUD'LEY, Sir Edmund, born 1462, executed 1510, noted in English history as an instrument of Henry VII in the arbitrary acts of extortion by the revival of obsolete statutes and other unjust measures practised during the latter years of his reign. On the accession of Henry VIII he was arrested for high treason, and perished on the scaffold with his associate Sir Richard Empson.

DUDLEY, Lord Guildford, son of John, Duke of Northumberland, was married in 1553 to Lady Jane Grey, whose claim to the throne the duke intended to assert on the death of Edward VI. On the failure of the plot Lord Guildford was condemned to death, but the sentence was not carried into effect till the insurrection of Wyatt induced Mary to order his immediate execution (1554).

DUDLEY, John, Duke of Northumberland, son of Sir Edmund Dudley, minister of Henry VII, was born in 1502, beheaded 1553. He was left by Henry VIII one of the executors named in his will, as a kind of joint-regent during the minority of Edward VI. Under that prince he manifested the most insatiable ambition, and obtained vast accessions of honours, power, and emoluments. The illness of the king, over whom he had gained complete ascendency, aroused his fears, and he endeavoured to strengthen his interest by marrying his son Lord Guildford Dudley to Lady Jane Grey, descended from the younger sister of Henry VIII, and persuaded Edward to settle the crown on his kinswoman by will, to the exclusion of his two sisters, the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. The attempt to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne failed, and many of the conspirators were executed.

DUDLEY, Robert, Earl of Leicester. See _Leicester_.

DUDLEY, a town and parliamentary borough of England, in an isolated part of Worcestershire enclosed by Staffordshire, 8 miles west by north of Birmingham. It is situated in the midst of the 'black country', and has extensive coal-mines, iron-mines, ironworks, and limestone quarries. It produces nails, chain-cables, anchors, vices, boilers, fire-irons, and has also glassworks, brickworks, and brass-foundries. There are the remains of a castle, said to have been founded in the eighth century by a Saxon prince called Dud, who has given the town its name. Dudley returns one member to Parliament. Pop. of municipal borough, 51,079.

DUDLEY LIMESTONE, a highly fossiliferous limestone belonging to the Silurian system, occurring near Dudley, and equivalent to the Wenlock limestone. It abounds in beautiful masses of coral, shells, and trilobites.

DUEL (Lat. _duellum_, from _duo_, two), a premeditated and prearranged combat between two persons with deadly weapons, for the purpose of deciding some private difference or quarrel. The combat generally takes place in the presence of witnesses called seconds, who make arrangements as to the mode of fighting, place the weapons in the hands of the combatants, and see that the laws they have laid down are carried out. The origin of the practice of duelling is referred to the trial by 'wager of battle' which obtained in early ages. This form of duel arose among the Germanic peoples, and a judicial combat of the kind was authorized by Gundebald, King of the Burgundians, as early as A.D. 501. When the judicial combat declined, the modern duel arose, being probably to some extent an independent outcome of the spirit and institutions of chivalry. France was the country in which it arose, the sixteenth century being the time at which it first became common, especially after the challenge of Francis I to Charles V in 1528. Upon every insult or injury which seemed to touch his honour, a gentleman thought himself entitled to draw his sword, and to call on his adversary to give him satisfaction, and it is calculated that 6000 persons fell in duels during ten years of the reign of Henri IV. His minister, Sully, remonstrated against the practice; but the king connived at it, supposing that it tended to maintain a military spirit among his people. In 1602, however, he issued a decree against it, and declared it to be punishable with death. Many subsequent prohibitions were issued, but they were all powerless to stop the practice. During the minority of Louis XIV, more than 4000 nobles are said to have lost their lives in duels. The practice of duelling was introduced into England from France in the reign of James I; but it was never so common as in the latter country. Cromwell was an enemy of the duel, and during the Protectorate there was a cessation of the practice. It came again into vogue, however, after the Restoration, thanks chiefly to the French ideas that then inundated the court. As society became more polished duels became more frequent, and they were never more numerous than in the reign of George III. Among the principals in the chief duels of this period were Charles James Fox, Sheridan, Pitt, Canning, Castlereagh, the Duke of York, the Duke of Richmond, and Lord Camelford. The last mentioned was the most notorious duellist of his time, and was himself killed in a duel in 1804. A duel was fought between the Duke of Wellington and Lord Winchelsea in 1829, but the practice was dying out. It lasted longest in the army. By English law fatal duelling is considered murder, no matter how fair the combat may have been, and the seconds are liable to the same penalty as the principals. In 1813 the principal and seconds in a fatal duel were sentenced to death, though afterwards pardoned. An officer in the army having anything to do with a duel renders himself liable to be cashiered. In France duelling still prevails to a certain extent; but the combats are usually very bloodless and ridiculous affairs. In the German army until 1918 it was common, and was recognized by law. The duels of German students, so often spoken of, seldom cause serious bloodshed.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Millingen, _History of Duelling_; Steinmetz, _Romance of Duelling_; G. Letainturier-Fradin, _Le duel [`a] travers les [^a]ges_; C. A. Thimm, _Bibliography of Fencing and Duelling_; A. Hutton, _The Sword and the Centuries_.

DUEN'NA, the chief lady-in-waiting on the Queen of Spain. In a more general sense, an elderly woman holding a middle station between a governess and companion, appointed to take charge of the young daughters of Spanish and Portuguese families.

DUFAURE (d[.u]-f[=o]r), Jules Armand Stanislas, French orator and statesman, born 1798, died 1881. He practised law at Bordeaux; entered the Chamber of Deputies in 1834, and became an influential leader of the Liberal party. Under the Republic he was Minister of the Interior, but was driven from the public service by the _coup d'['e]tat_ of 1851, and for the next twenty years devoted himself closely to his Bar practice and pamphlet writing. Under the Government of Thiers he acted as Minister of Justice; and in 1876, and again from 1877 to 1879, he was head of the Cabinet.

DUFF, Alexander, Scottish missionary, born 1806, died 1878. Educated at St. Andrews University, in 1829 he set out for India as the first Church of Scotland missionary to that country, and reached Calcutta after being twice shipwrecked. He opened a school in which he taught successfully the doctrines of Christianity, as well as general knowledge, but on his secession (along with the other missionaries of the Church) from the Church of Scotland in 1843, he had to give up the school and begin again. In 1849 he visited Scotland, where he remained until 1856. He assisted in founding the University of Calcutta, and, having been obliged to return home for reasons of health, he raised L10,000 to endow a missionary chair in the New College, Edinburgh, becoming himself its first occupant. His chief writings are: _The Church of Scotland's India Mission_ (1835); _Vindication of the Church of Scotland's India Mission_ (1837); _India and India Missions_ (1840); _The Jesuits_ (1845); and _The Indian Mutiny: its Causes and Results_ (a series of letters published in 1858).

DUFF, Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant, writer on political and other subjects, born in Aberdeenshire in 1829, died in 1906. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy, The Grange, Bishop Wearmouth, and Balliol College, Oxford, was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1854, and in 1857 entered the House of Commons as Liberal member for the Elgin Burghs, which constituency he continued to represent until 1881. He was Under-Secretary for India in W. E. Gladstone's ministry from 1868 to 1874, and Under-Secretary for the Colonies from 1880 to 1881, in which latter year he was appointed Governor of Madras. His Indian administration was most successful, and on his retirement in 1886 he was made a G.C.S.I. He was president of the Royal Geographical Society from 1889 to 1893, and of the Royal Historical Society from 1892 to 1899, and was also a trustee of the British Museum. His published works include: _Studies in European Politics_ (1866); _A Political Survey_ (1868); _Elgin Speeches_ (1871); _Notes of an Indian Journey_ (1876); _Miscellanies, Political and Literary_ (1879); _Memoir of Sir H. S. Maine_ (1892); _Ernest Renan_ (1893); and _Notes from a Diary_ (7 vols., 1897-1905).

DUFF'ERIN AND AVA, Frederick Temple Hamilton-Blackwood, Marquess of, British statesman and author, son of the fourth Baron Dufferin and a granddaughter of R. B. Sheridan, born at Florence 1826, died in 1902. He began his public services in 1855, when he was attached to Earl Russell's mission to Vienna. Subsequently he was sent as Commissioner to Syria in connection with the massacre of the Christians (1860); was Under-Secretary of State for India (1864-6); Under-Secretary for War (1866); Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1868-72); Governor-General of Canada (1872-78); Ambassador at St. Petersburg (1879-81); at Constantinople (1882); sent to Cairo to settle the affairs of the country after Arabi Pasha's rebellion (1882-3); Viceroy of India (1884-8); Ambassador to Italy (1889-91); to France (1891-96). He was elected president of the Royal Geographical Society in 1878, and Lord Rector of Glasgow University in 1891. Besides being a noted diplomatist, he was also a popular author. In 1847 he published _Narrative of a Journey from Oxford to Skibbereen during the year of the Irish Famine_; in 1860, _Letters from High Latitudes_; also various pamphlets on Irish questions. In 1888 he was made Marquess of Dufferin and Ava.--Cf. Sir A. Lyall, _Life of the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava_.

DUFR['E]NOY (d[.u]-fr[.e]-nw[:a]) Pierre Armand, French geologist and mineralogist, born in 1792, died in 1857. He became director of the school of mines, and published a great variety of papers on geology and mineralogy. In 1841 he published, in collaboration with ['E]lie de Beaumont, a great geological map of France with three volumes of text, and this was followed by his _Trait['e] de Min['e]ralogie_. He introduced a new classification of minerals, based on crystallography.

DUFRESNY (d[.u]-fr[=a]-n[=e]), Charles Rivi[`e]re, a French comic poet, born in 1648, died in 1724. He was clever and versatile, and had great skill as a landscape-gardener and an architectural designer. Among his dramatic pieces may be mentioned _L'Esprit de Contradiction_, _Le Mariage Fait et Rompu_, and _Le Double Veuvage_. He also wrote _Amusements s['e]rieux et comiques d'un Siamois_, which suggested to Montesquieu his _Lettres Persanes_.

DUG'DALE, Sir William, an English antiquary, born in 1605 of a good family in Warwickshire, died 1686. He was made Chester herald in 1644; accompanied Charles I through the civil war; and after the Restoration received knighthood, and was appointed garter king-at-arms. In concert with Roger Dodsworth he produced an important work on English monasteries entitled _Monasticon Anglicanum_. Among his other works are: _Antiquities of Warwickshire_; _The Baronage or Peerage of England_; _Origines Judiciales, or Historical Memoirs of the English Law, Courts of Justice, &c._; a _History of St. Paul's Cathedral_; and various minor writings. He also completed and published the second volume of Spelman's _Concilia_.

[Illustration: Dugong (_Halic[)o]r[=e] dugong_)]

DU'GONG, a herbivorous mammal, the _Halic[)o]r[=e] dugong_, belonging to the ord. Sirenia, which also includes the manatees. It is a native of the Indian and Australian seas; possesses a tapering body ending in a crescent-shaped fin, and is said sometimes to attain a length of 20 feet, though generally it is about 7 or 8 feet in length. The fore-limbs are in the form of flippers; hind-limbs are absent. The skin is thick and smooth, with a few scattered bristles; the colour bluish above and white beneath. Its food consists of marine plants; it yields little or no oil, but is hunted by the Malays for its flesh, which resembles veal, and is tender and palatable. It has been suggested that the appearance of this animal has given rise to the legends of mermaids and mermen.

DUGUAY-TROUIN (d[:u]-g[=a]-tr[:o]-an), Ren['e], a distinguished French seaman, born at St. Malo in 1673, died at Paris 1736. As commander of a privateer he took many prizes from the British between 1690 and 1697. He then entered the royal marine as a captain, and signalized himself so much in the Spanish War that the king granted him letters of nobility, in which it was stated that he had captured more than 300 merchant ships and twenty ships of war. By the capture of Rio de Janeiro (1711) he brought the Crown more than 25,000,000 francs. Under Louis XV he rendered important services in the Levant and the Mediterranean.

DU GUESCLIN (d[:u]-g[=a]-klan), Bertrand, Constable of France, born about 1314, died 1380. Mainly to him must be attributed the expulsion of the English from Normandy, Guienne, and Poitou. He was captured by Chandos at the battle of Auray in 1364, and ransomed for 100,000 francs. While serving in Spain against Peter the Cruel, he was made prisoner by the English Black Prince, but was soon liberated. For his services in Spain he was made Constable of Castile, Count of Trastamare, and Duke of Molinas; and in 1370 he was made Constable of France.

DUIKERBOK, species of Cephalophus, small South African antelopes with short horns (none in the female), and a tuft of stiff hairs between them.

DUISBURG (d[:o]'is-b[u:]r_h_), a flourishing town in Rhenish Prussia, 13 miles north of D[:u]sseldorf. It is an ancient place, believed to be of Roman origin. It early rose to be a free town, and became a member of the Hanseatic League. It possesses a beautiful church of the fifteenth century, and has iron manufactories, engineering works, chemical works, and cotton and woollen mills; and a large trade greatly facilitated by a canal communicating with the Rhine, which is about 2 miles distant. Pop. 229,483.

DUJARDIN (d[.u]-zh[.a]r-da[n.]), Karel, a Dutch artist, who excelled in painting landscapes, animals, and scenes in low life, born in 1640 at Amsterdam, died at Venice 1678. His paintings are rare, and command high prices. His masterpiece, _The Charlatans_ (1657), is in the Louvre.

DUKE (Fr. _duc_, Sp. _duque_, It. _duca_, all from Lat. _dux_, leader, commander), a title belonging originally to a military leader. In Britain it is the highest rank in the peerage. Royal dukes have a special status and precedence. The first hereditary duke in England was the Black Prince, created by his father, Edward III, in 1336. The duchy of Cornwall was bestowed upon him, and was thenceforward attached to the eldest son of the king, who is considered a duke by birth. The duchy of Lancaster was soon after conferred on Edward's third son, John of Gaunt, and hence arose the special privileges which these two duchies still in part retain. A duke in the British peerage, not of royal rank, is styled 'your grace', or 'my Lord Duke'; his wife is a duchess. (See _Address, Forms of_.) The coronet consists of a richly-chased gold circle, having on its upper edge eight golden leaves of a conventional type called strawberry leaves; the cap of crimson velvet is closed at the top with a gold tassel, lined with sarsenet, and turned up with ermine. (See _Coronet_.) At various periods and in different continental countries the title duke (_Herzog_ in Germany) was given to the actual sovereigns of small states. The titles 'grand-duke' and 'grand-duchess', 'archduke' and 'archduchess', were in use also on the European continent, especially in Russia and Austria until 1918. In the Bible the word _dukes_ is used (_Gen._ xxxvi) for the _duces_ of the _Vulgate_.

DUKHOBORZI (d[u:]_h_-o-bor'ts[=e]), a Russian sect of religious mystics which arose in the eighteenth century. The name means 'spirit-fighters', as the sect was accused by the orthodox priests of fighting against the spirit of God. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity, of the deity of Christ, hold property in common, and refuse oaths and military service, thus resembling Quakers. In 1899 a body of several thousands emigrated to Canada, where they received territory in Assiniboia and Saskatchewan.

DUKINFIELD, or DUCKINFIELD, a municipal borough, England, county Cheshire, separated by the Tame from Ashton-under-Lyne, and mostly within Stalybridge parliamentary borough. Collieries, cotton-factories, brickworks, and tileworks give employment to the population. Pop. (municipal borough), 19,426.

DULCE (d[u:]l's[=a]), a lake of Guatemala, on the east coast, communicating with the Gulf of Honduras by the lakelet el Golfete. It is about 30 miles long by 12 broad, and affords profitable turtle hunting.

DULCIGNO (d[u:]l-ch[=e]n'y[=o]), a small seaport town, formerly in Albania, now in Montenegro, on the Adriatic, the seat of a Roman Catholic Bishop. It was captured by the Austrians in 1916, and retaken by Italian troops in 1918. Pop. 5000.

[Illustration: Italian Dulcimer]

DUL'CIMER, one of the most ancient musical instruments, used in almost all parts of the world. The modern instrument consists of a shallow trapezium-shaped box without a top, across which runs a series of wires, tuned by pegs at the sides, and played on by being struck by two cork-headed hammers. It is in much less common use in Europe now than it was a century or two ago, and is interesting chiefly as being the prototype of the piano. It is still, however, occasionally to be met with on the Continent at fairs in the country, and in England in the hands of street musicians. It was known in Persia and Arabia under the name of _santir_, and was introduced into Europe by the Crusaders. The Hebrew psaltery is supposed to have been a variety of the dulcimer.