DEMP

EMPSTER, John, an American clergyman, born in Florida, Fulton co., N. Y., Jan. 2, 1794, died at Evanston, Ill., Nov. 28, 1863. His father, the Rev. James Dempster, though educated at the university of Edinburgh and bred a Presbyterian, was a colaborer with John Wesley, and was sent by him as a missionary to America, and died while his son was a child. Becoming a peddler of tinware, young Dempster manifested no marked characteristics till his conversion in his 18th year, when he set about repairing the defects of his earlier education by most persistent study. In 1816 he was admitted into the Methodist general conference, and till 1825 was stationed at various places in Canada and New York. In 1835 he was sent as missionary to Buenos Ayres. Returning in 1842, for three years he had charge of churches in New York city. Meanwhile he had decided on Newbury, Vt., as a favorable site for a theological seminary, which soon after was removed to Concord, N. H. Here in 1847 was inaugurated the Biblical institute, which now constitutes the school of theology of Boston university. After seven years' labor in this institute, Dr. Dempster departed for the west, to seek a favorable location for the second in the chain of theological seminaries that he proposed to establish between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. A property for the adequate endowment of a Biblical institute in or near Chicago was obtained, and he was appointed senior professor in 1856. The steps he had taken for planting like institutions at Omaha, and next in California, failed, chiefly from the financial revulsion which the entire country suffered in 1857. Preparatory to a contemplated journey to the Pacific coast to further his favorite plan, he submitted to a surgical operation that proved fatal. He left very extensive manuscripts, only one volume of which has been published, "Lectures and Addresses " (Cincinnati, 1864).

DEMPSTER, Thomas, a Scottish professor and author, born at Muiresk, Aberdeenshire, Aug.* 23, 1579, died near Bologna, Sept. 6, 1625. He was the 24th in a family of 29 children by the same mother, and at the age of three mastered the alphabet in one hour. He went in his 10th year to the university of Cambridge, and studied for some time at Pembroke hall, whence he passed over to France. For several years he wandered from one university to another, and in 1596 he received the degree of D. C. L., and was appointed regent of the college of Navarre in Paris. His violent and quarrelsome temper often involved him in serious broils with his fellow students and professors. He was subsequently engaged as professor for brief periods at Toulouse and Nîmes, and early in the 17th century went to Scotland to recover a portion of the paternal property. Returning to Paris, he was for seven years connected with various colleges of the university, and while acting as temporary principal of the collége de Beauvais he preserved the most rigid discipline in that institution. He afterward went to England, and was appointed by James I. historiographer royal. In 1615 he received from the king a handsome present in money, but his hopes of preferment being defeated by the opposition of the clergy on account of his being a Roman Catholic, he betook himself in 1616 to Pisa, where for several years he lectured on the civil law. A personal difficulty induced him to go to Bologna, where, after engaging in a number of disputes, he rose to eminence as professor of humanity, was knighted and pensioned by the pope, and loaded with distinctions. In the midst of this prosperity his wife eloped with a student, and the mental and physical suffering which he experienced in an attempt to overtake the fugitives put an end to his life. Dempster's works are exceedingly numerous, and embrace a variety of subjects. He wrote

and spoke Greek and Latin with great facility, and was thoroughly versed in philosophy, civil law, and history. His elaborate works, Antiquitatum Romanarum Corpus Absolutissimum and De Etruria Regali, evince remarkable industry and erudition. His Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum is a biographical dictionary of Scottish worthies, in which fable and fact are mingled. Many names of authors who never were in Scotland are claimed as Scottish, and the history of many others who never existed is given with minute particularity. He was as remarkable for personal courage and skill in the use of weapons as for scholarship.

DEMURRAGE (Lat. demoror, to delay), in maritime law, the detention of a vessel beyond the time allowed by the charter party (or by custom if there is no special contract) for loading or unloading or sailing; also the compensation paid or damages claimed for such detention. It is usually stipulated in the contract between the owner of the ship and the freighter that the ship shall not be detained beyond a certain time for the loading or delivery of goods, or for sailing. If there is no such stipulation, the time is fixed by usage, and called lay days. The claim for demurrage is reciprocal, by the owner against the freighter, and by the freighter against the owner; the latter case being, however, only for delay in sailing. Demurrage is allowed only for voluntary detention, and not for any accidental delay; as, if a vessel is detained for a cargo over the stipulated time, and after sailing is driven back by a storm, which would have been avoided if she had started at the time appointed, no damages are allowed for the incidental delay. Yet it would perhaps be otherwise if by the detention a further delay is caused by any thing which could be foreseen, as a periodical wind, or the freezing up of a harbor, or the like. In inland transportation, where the latter cause of delay most frequently occurs, as upon rivers or canals, the rule is that the carrier is not responsible for the delay when there has been no fault on his part, but is entitled to deliver the cargo after the breaking up of winter, and earn the entire freight; or if the freighter elect to take the goods at the place of detention, he must pay pro rata itineris. But if there has been voluntary delay by either party, in consequence of which the vessel is frozen up by the coming on of winter, he is responsible for damages; but the measure of such damages would not be according to the rule of demurrage in respect to sea vessels.

DEMURRER, in law, an exception by a party to a suit to the sufficiency of the pleading of the opposite party. In the common law courts a demurrer may be general or special; the former specifying no particular ground of objection, and therefore raising only the question of the sufficiency in substance of the pleading demurred to; the latter being a specification of certain objections to the form of the plead

ing. It may be interposed by either party to the last pleading of his opponent, but on the argument the sufficiency of any prior pleading may be inquired into, and judgment will be given against the party committing the first substantial error. In equity the demurrer is only applicable to the complainant's bill. A demurrer always raises a question of law to be determined by the court; but if the pleading demurred to is held bad, liberty to amend is usually given, unless the case is such that amendment can be of no avail.

DENAIN, a town of France, in the department of Le Nord, on the left bank of the Scheldt, which is here navigable, and on the Northern railway, 6 m. W. S. W. of Valenciennes, and 14 m. E. S. E. of Douai. Owing to the successful working of the neighboring coal and iron mines, the population increased from 900 in 1826 to 11,022 in 1866. The town has manufactories of iron and of beet sugar. Denain was the scene of a brilliant victory achieved in 1712 by the French under Villars over an army of the allies commanded by the earl of Albemarle.

DENARIUS, a Roman silver coin, containing at first 10, and afterward 16 ases, first coined in 269 B. C. The average weight of a large number of denarii shows them to have con

Roman Denarius (exact size).

tained about as much silver as three half dimes of our currency. The denarius aureus was a gold coin, the average value and weight of which it is difficult to determine. The specimens in the British museum differ much in these respects. The gold denarius does not seem to have been in common use in Rome.

DENBIGH, a municipal and parliamentary borough, market and county town of Denbighshire, North Wales, built on an eminence near the centre of the vale of Clwyd, 22 m. W. of Chester, and 180 m. N. W. of London; pop. of the borough in 1871, 6,322. The principal edifices are three Anglican churches, one Catholic and four dissenting chapels, a town hall, grammar school, lunatic asylum, and a spacious market hall. The shoe and leather trade is the main support of the town, but Denbigh is best known as a pleasant spot for retirement. Denbigh castle, a magnificent edifice, parts of which are well preserved, is supposed to have been built by Henry Lacy, earl of Lincoln, who received the lordship of this place from Edward I. Edward IV. was besieged in it by the army of Henry VI., and Charles I. took refuge here after the battle of Rowton Heath in 1645. At the close of the civil war it was garrisoned by royalists, but after a siege of two months