betrayed his associates to her, and assisted her to escape from Holyrood to Dunbar. Owing to these revelations he was deserted and distrusted by his companions in the murder, and soon lost the queen’s favour. In these circumstances he decided to leave Scotland, but a variety of causes prevented his departure; and meanwhile at Craigmillar a band of nobles undertook to free Mary from her husband, who refused to be present at the baptism of his son, James, at Stirling in December 1566. The details of the conspiracy at Craigmillar are not clear, nor is it certain what part, if any, Mary took in these proceedings. The first intention may have been to obtain a divorce for the queen, but it was soon decided that Darnley must be killed. Rumours of the plot came to his ears, and he fled from Stirling to Glasgow, where he fell ill, possibly by poisoning, and where Mary came to visit him. Another reconciliation took place between husband and wife, and Darnley was persuaded to journey with Mary by easy stages to Edinburgh. Apartments were prepared for the pair at Kirk o’ Field, a house just inside the city walls, and here they remained for a few days. On the evening of the 9th of February 1567 Mary took an affectionate farewell of her husband, and went to attend some gaieties in Edinburgh. A few hours later, on the morning of the 10th, Kirk o’ Field was blown up with gunpowder. Darnley’s body was found at some distance from the house, and it is supposed that he was strangled whilst making his escape. The remains were afterwards buried in the chapel at Holyrood.
Much discussion has taken place about this crime, and the guilt or innocence of Mary is still a question of doubt and debate. It seems highly probable, however, that the queen was accessory to the murder, which was organized by her lover and third husband, Bothwell (q.v.). As the father of King James I., Darnley is the direct ancestor of all the sovereigns of England since 1603. Personally he was a very insignificant character and his sole title to fame is his connexion with Mary, queen of Scots.
For further information, and also for a list of the works bearing on his life, see the article Mary, Queen of Scots.
DARRANG, a district of British India, in the province of
Eastern Bengal and Assam. It lies between the Bhutan and
Daphla Hills and the Brahmaputra, including many islands in the
river. The administrative headquarters are at Tezpur. Its area
is 3418 sq. m. It is for the most part a level plain watered by
many tributaries of the Brahmaputra. The two subdivisions of
Tezpur Mangaldai differ greatly in character. Tezpur is part of
Upper Assam and shares in the prosperity which tea cultivation
has brought to that part of the valley. In this portion of the
district there are still large areas of excellent land awaiting
settlement, and the cultivator finds a market for his produce
in the flourishing tea-gardens, to which large quantities of
coolies are imported every year. In Mangaldai, on the other
hand, most of the good rice land was settled about 1880–1890
when the subdivision had a population of 146 to the square mile,
as against 42 for Tezpur; the soil is not favourable for tea, and
the population is stationary or receding. In 1901 the population
of the whole district was 337,313, showing an increase of 10% in
the decade. The principal grain-crop is rice. The principal means
of communication is by river. A steam tramway of 212 ft. gauge
has been opened from Tezpur to Balipara, a distance of 20 m.
Darrang originally formed, according to tradition, part of the dominions of Bana Raja, who was defeated by Krishna in a battle near Tezpur (“the town of blood”). The massive granite ruins found near by prove that the place must have been the seat of powerful and civilized rulers. In the 16th century Darrang was subject to the Koch king of Kamarupa, Nar Narayan, and on the division of his dominions among his heirs passed to an independent line of rajas. Early in the 17th century the raja Bali Narayan invoked the aid of the Ahoms of Upper Assam against the Mussulman invaders; after his defeat and death in 1637 the Ahoms dominated the whole district, and the Darrang rajas sank into petty feudatories. About 1785 they took advantage of the decay of the Ahom kingdom to try and re-establish their independence, but they were defeated by a British expedition in 1792, and in 1826 Darrang, with the rest of Assam, passed under British control.
DARTFORD, a market town in the Dartford parliamentary
division of Kent, England, on the Darent, 17 m. E.S.E. of
London by the South-Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. of
urban district (1891), 11,962; (1901) 18,644. The town lies low,
flanked by two chalky eminences, called East and West Hills.
It possesses a town hall, a grammar school (1576), and a Martyr’s
Memorial Hall. The most noteworthy building, however, is the
parish church, restored in 1863, which contains a curious old
fresco and several interesting brasses, and has a Norman tower.
The prosperity of the town depends on the important works in its
vicinity, including powder works, paper mills, and engineering,
iron, chemical and cement works. One of the first attempts at
the manufacture of paper in England was made here by Sir John
Spielman (d. 1607), jeweller to Queen Elizabeth. Dartford was
the scene, in 1235, of the marriage, celebrated by proxy, between
Isabella, sister of Henry III., and the Emperor Frederick II.;
and in 1331 a famous tournament was held in the place by
Edward III. The same monarch established an Augustinian
nunnery on West Hill in 1355, of which, however, few remains
exist. After the Dissolution it was used as a private residence
by Henry VIII., Anne of Cleves and Elizabeth. The chantry of
St Edmund the Martyr which stood on the opposite side of the
town was a part of Edward III.’s endowment to the priory, and
became so famous as a place of pilgrimage, especially for those
on their way to Canterbury, that the part of Watling Street which
crossed there towards London was sometimes called “St
Edmund’s Way.” It was here also that Wat Tyler’s insurrection
began in 1377, and the house in which he resided is shown. On
Dartford Heath is a lunatic asylum of the London County Council,
and, at Long Reach, the infectious diseases hospital of the
Metropolitan Asylums Board. Stone church, 2 m. E. of Dartford,
mainly late Early English (1251–1274), and carefully restored by
G. E. Street in 1860, is remarkable; the richness of the work
within increases from west to east, culminating in a choir arcade
decorated with work among the finest of its period extant;
the period is that of the choir of Westminster Abbey, and from a
comparison of building materials, choir arcades and sculpture
of foliage, a common architect has been suggested. Greenhithe,
on the banks of the Thames, has large chalk quarries in its
neighbourhood, from which lime and cement are manufactured.
DARTMOOR, a high plateau in the south-west of Devonshire,
England. Its length is about 23 m. from N. to S. and its extreme
breadth 20 m., the mean altitude being about 1500 ft. The area
exceeding 1000 ft. in elevation is about 200 sq. m. It is the
highest and easternmost in a broken chain of granitic elevations
which extends through Cornwall to the Scilly Isles. The higher
parts are open, bleak and wild, strongly contrasting with the
more gentle scenery of the well-wooded lowlands surrounding it.
Sloping heights rise from the main tableland in all directions,
crested with broken masses of granite, locally named tors, and
often singularly fantastic in outline. The highest of these are
Yes Tor and High Willhays in the north-west, reaching altitudes
of 2028 and 2039 ft. Large parts of the moor, especially in the
centre, are covered with morasses; and head-waters of all the
principal streams of Devonshire (q.v.) are found here. Two main
roads cross the moor, one between Exeter and Plymouth, and
the other between Ashburton and Tavistock, intersecting at Two
Bridges. Both avoid the higher part of the moor, which, for the
rest, is traversed only in part by a few rough tracks. The central
part of Dartmoor was a royal forest from a date unknown, but
apparently anterior to the Conquest. Its woods were formerly
more extensive than now, but a few small tracts in which dwarf
oaks are characteristic remain in the lower parts. Previous to
1337, the forest had been granted to Richard, earl of Cornwall,
by Henry III., and from that time onward it has belonged to the
duchy of Cornwall. The districts immediately surrounding the
moor are called the Venville or Fenfield districts. The origin of
this name is not clear. The holders of land by Venville tenure
under the duchy have rights of pasture, fishing, &c. in the forest,
and their main duty is to “drive” the moor at certain times
in order to ascertain what head of cattle are pastured thereon,
and to prevent trespassing. The antiquarian remains of Dartmoor
are considered among those of Devonshire.
Dartmoor convict prison, near Princetown, was adapted to its present purpose in 1850; but the original buildings were erected
