one of the merchant ports of Paris, and has two harbours, its maritime trade employing about 5000 vessels with a tonnage of 270,000. The docks occupy about 100 acres. It possesses sugar refineries, starch manufactories, distilleries, foundries, and large ship-building yards. The fisheries of the coast are valuable and extensive. The public build ings most worthy of notice are the church of St Eloi, recon structed about 1560 in the Gothic style, with a Corinthian peristyle built in 1783; the lighthouse, 170 feet high; the Beffroi, 300 feet high, surmounted with signals for vessels in distress, and containing a celebrated peal of bells ; the exchange, the second story of which is a gallery for pictures, statuary, medals, and curiosities ; and the theatre. The principal square contains the statue of Jean Bart by David
of Angers.
Dunkirk is said to have originated in a chapel founded by St Eloi t in the 7th century, round which a small village speedily sprung up. In the 10th century Baldwin III., count of Flanders, raised it to the rank of a town. In 1388 it was burned by the English, and in the 16th century Charles V. built a tower for its defence, of which no traces now remain. In 1558 the English, who had for some time held the town, were expelled from it by the French, who in the ensuing year surrendered it to the Spaniards. In 1646 it once more passed into the hands of the French, who, after a few years occupation of it, again restored it to Spain. In 1658 it was retaken by the French and made over to the English. After the Restoration, Charles II., being in money difficulties, sold it to the French king Louis XIV., who fortified it. In 1793 it was attacked by the English under the duke of York, who, however, were compelled to retire from its walls with severe loss. The popu lation in 1872 was 34,342.
DUNKIRK, a lake-port town of the United States, in Chautauqua county, New York, situated on a small bay in Lake Erie, 40 miles south-west of Buffalo. It is an im portant station on the Lake railroad, and forms the western terminus of the Erie line ; and by means of the Carrolton railroad it has connection with the Pennsylvania coal-fields. The town occupies an elevated and agreeable position on the lake, and its harbour is free of ice earlier in the spring than the neighbouring port of Buffalo. The industries of the place comprise oil-refining, and the manufacture of glue, flour, and iron-work. Population (1870), 5231.
DUNMOW, Great, a market-town of England, in Essex, situated on a via militaris, some remains of which still exist. It consists of two good streets, built on an acclivity near the right bank of the Chelmer, 40 miles north-east of London by rail. Its public buildings include a town hall and a literary institute, besides the parish church of St Mary the Virgin, recently restored. Population in 1871, 2983. Two miles to the east is the village of Little Dun- mow (population, 359), formerly the seat of a priory re markable for the custom of presenting a flitch of bacon to any couple who could satisfy a jury of six bachelors and six maidens that they had spent the first year of married life in perfect harmony, and had never at any moment wished they had tarried. The institution of this strange matri monial prize which had its parallel at Whichanoure (or Winchnor) in Staffordshire, a.t St Meleine in Brittany, and apparently also at Vienna appears to date from the reign of John ; and the only instances recorded of its award occurred in 1445, 1467, 1701, 1751, and 1763. A revival of the custom was effected in 1855 by Mr Harrison Ains- worth, but the scene of the ceremony was transferred to the town-hall of Great Dunmcrw. For details see Chambers s Book of Days, vol. ii. p. 748-751 ; and W. Andrews, History of the Dunmoiv Flitch of Bacon Customs, 1877.
DUNNING, John, Baron Ashburton (1731-1783), an eminent English lawyer, the second son of John Dunning of Ashburton, Devonshire, an attorney, was born at Ashburton, October 18, 1731, and was educated at the free grammar-school of his native place, where he distinguished himself in classics and mathematics. On leaving school he was taken into his father s office, where he remained until the age of nineteen, when he was sent to the Temple. Called to the bar in 1756, he came very slowly into practice. He went the Western Circuit for several years without receiving a single brief. In 1762 he was employed to draw up A Defence of the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies, and their Servants, particularly those at Bengal, against the Complaints of the, Dutch East India Company to his Majesty on that subject ; and the masterly style which characterized the document procured him at once reputation and emolument. In 1763 he distinguished himself as counsel on the side of Wilkes, whose cause he conducted throughout. His powerful argu ment against the validity of general warrants (18th June 1763) established his reputation, and his professional busi ness from that period gradually increased to such an extent that in 1776 he is said to have been in the receipt of nearly 10,000 per annum. In 1766 he was chosen recorder of Bristol, and in December 1767 he was appointed solicitor- general. The latter appointment he held till May 1770, when he retired, along with his friend Lord Shelburne. In 1771 he was presented with the freedom of the city of London. From this period he was considered as a regular member of the Opposition, and distinguished himself by many able speeches in Parliament. He was first chosen member for Calne in 1768, and continued to represent that burgh until he was promoted to the peerage. In 1780 he brought forward a motion that the " influence of the crown had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished," which he carried by a majority of eighteen. He strongly opposed the system of sinecure offices and pensions ; but his probity was not strong enough to prevent his taking advan tage of it for himself. In 1782, when the marquis of Rockingham became prime minister, Dunning was appointed chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, a rich sinecure ; and about the same time he was advanced to the peerage, by the title of Lord Ashburton. Under Lord Shelburne s adminis tration he accepted a pension of 4000 a year. He died while on a visit to Exmouth, August 18, 1783. Though possessed of an insignificant person, an awkward manner, and a provincial accent, Lord Ashburton was one of the most fluent and persuasive orators of his time. Sir William Jones speaks in the highest terms of his eloquence and wit, and Bentham commended the closeness of his reasoning.
Besides the answer to the Dutch memorial, Lord Ashburton is supposed to have assisted in writing a pamphlet on the law of libel, and to have been the author of A Letter to the Proprietors of East India Stock, on the subject of Lord dive s Jaghire, occasioned by his Lordship s Letter on that Subject, 1764, 8vo. He was at one time suspected of being the author of the celebrated Letters of Junius.
Longueville, commonly called the " Bastard of Orleans," a celebrated French warrior and grand-chamberlain of France, was the natural son of the duke of Orleans (brother of Charles VI.) and Mariette d Enghien, Madame de Cany, and was born at Paris the 23d November 1402. He was brought up in the house of the duke, and in the company of his legitimate sons. His earliest feat of arms was the sur prise and rout in 1427 of the English, who were besieging Montargis, the first successful blow against the English power in France following a long series of French defeats. In 1428 he threw himself into Orleans, and was the principal means of enabling the garrison to hold out until the arrival of Joan of Arc, when he shared with her the honour of defeating the enemy there in 1429. He then accompanied Joan to Rheims, and shared in the victory of Patay. After her death he raised the siege of Chartres and of Lagny, and drove the English from Paris, which he entered in triumph on the 13th April 1436. The English retreated gradually into the Isle of France, and thence into Normandy ; and Dunois, having in 1449 been raised to the rank of
lieutenant-general, soon conquered from them the whole