Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/244

236 of the nursery, but continued a course of self-education which gave him a broad general culture. At the age of 20 he determined to become a rural architect, and began to visit the neighboring estates on the Hudson, to enlarge his experience and confirm his theories of landscape gardening. Three years later he erected on his estate an elegant mansion, which afforded the first practical illustration of the builder's conception of an American rural home. His career as an author properly begins with the publication in 1841 of his “Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening.” As a pioneer of its class in this country, it attracted attention, and the author's extensive information, correct taste, and appreciation of the conditions of rural architecture, gave it immediate popularity and a position as a standard authority, both in America and England. “Cottage Residences” (1842) was received with equal favor; and until his death Downing continued to be the chief American authority in rural art. In 1845 appeared simultaneously in London and New York his “Fruits and Fruit Trees of America;” and in 1846 he became editor of the “Horticulturist,” published in Albany, for which he wrote an essay every month until the close of his life. In 1849 he wrote “Additional Notes and Hints to persons about building in this country,” for an American reprint of Wightwick's “Hints to Young Architects,” and in 1850 published his “Architecture for Country Houses.” His remaining work was an edition of Mrs. Loudon's “Gardening for Ladies.” The summer of 1850 he passed in England, chiefly among the great country seats, of which he wrote descriptions. On his return to America he received many private commissions, and was intrusted in 1851 with the laying out of the public grounds in the city of Washington, in the vicinity of the capitol, the president's house, and the Smithsonian institution. In the midst of these labors he took passage at Newburgh on July 28, 1852, in the steamboat Henry Clay, for New York. Near Yonkers the boat took fire, and he was drowned in endeavoring to reach the shore. A memoir of him by George W. Curtis, and a “Letter to his Friends,” by Miss Bremer, who had been his guest during her visit to America, were prefixed to a collection of his contributions to the “Horticulturist,” published in 1854, under the title of “Rural Essays.”  DOWNPATRICK, a maritime town and parliamentary borough of Ireland, capital of county Down, situated a short distance from the mouth of the Quoyle in Lough Strangford, 21 m. S. S. E. of Belfast, with which it is connected by rail; pop. in 1871, 4,154. It is divided into English, Irish, and Scotch quarters, has a cathedral and the diocesan school of the Anglican diocese of Down, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, and Methodist places of worship, a county court house, prison, infirmary, and fever hospital. Near the town is a new lunatic asylum. A small export trade is carried on by means of vessels of 100 tons from Lough Strangford. It has manufactures of leather, linen, soap, and beer. The four holy wells of St. Patrick, to which pilgrims resort from all parts of Ireland, are near the town. Downpatrick is said to be the oldest city of Ireland, and was the chief residence of St. Patrick.  DOWSE, Thomas, an American book collector, born in Charlestown, Mass., Dec. 28, 1772, died in Cambridgeport, Nov. 4, 1856. He has sometimes been called “the literary leather dresser.” His father, Eleazer Dowse, was a leather dresser, and was driven with his family from Charlestown on June 17, 1775, his house being one of those burned. He settled at Sherborn, Middlesex co., where Thomas spent his boyhood and youth. He had no other education than that of the town school. On attaining his majority he entered the service of a leather dresser at Roxbury, Mass., and remained in this employ ten years. He once informed a friend that at the age of 28 his highest income was $25 a month; that he had never paid $5 for conveyance from one place to another, never owned a pair of boots, and then possessed several hundred volumes of good books well bound. In 1803 he set up in business at Cambridgeport as a leather dresser, and pursued the occupation successfully till he was far advanced in life. From the earliest period he devoted a large part of his income to the purchase of books. By diligent search, great knowledge of bibliography, shrewdness, and strict economy in his purchases, he amassed a very remarkable library. It consisted of about 5,000 miscellaneous volumes, generally in good, often in elegant bindings, and of the best editions. It was mostly English, though containing translations of the principal authors in the ancient languages and the cultivated languages of modern Europe. It is estimated to have cost $40,000. He bequeathed it to the Massachusetts historical society, who deposited it in a special room of their building in Boston. He also left $10,000 as a permanent fund for the conservation and care of the library. A collection of admirable engravings and watercolors, which he drew in a lottery about 1820, was given to the Boston Athenaeum.  DOXOLOGY (Gr., glory, and , to ascribe), in general, an ascription celebrating the grandeur and majesty of God. In the Roman Catholic church it is applied particularly to the angelic hymn or canticle of praise which is sung in celebrating the mass, and is otherwise called the Gloria in excelsis. This is also styled the greater doxology, to distinguish it from the lesser, or Gloria Patri, which is usually sung after the chanting or recitation of a psalm. Both doxologies are traced to the earliest periods of the church, and, though slightly and temporarily modified during the prevalence of some heresies, have not been permanently changed. They both have a place in