Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/233

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DOUGLAS 225 as a laborer in the Glasgow botanic garden, where his intelligence attracted the notice of Dr. (afterward Sir William) Hooker, who pro- cured for him an appointment as botanical col- lector to the horticultural society of London. In this capacity he travelled extensively in America; in 1824 explored the Columbia river and California, and in 1827 traversed the con- tinent from Fort Vancouver to Hudson bay, where he met Sir John Franklin, and returned with him to England. He made a second visit to the Columbia in 1829, and went to the Ha- waiian islands. There he fell into a pit made for wild cattle, and was killed and mutilated by an animal previously entrapped. Through his agency 217 new species of plants were intro- duced into England. He collected 800 speci- mens of the California flora. DOUGLAS, Gawin, or Gavin, a Scottish poet, bishop of Dunkeld, third son of Archibald, fifth earl of Angus (called " Bell-the-Cat " ), born in Brechin about 1474, died in London in 1521 or 1522. He was educated for the church, partly in Scotland and partly at Paris, and when 22 years of age was appointed rector of Hawick. While in this office he made a trans- lation of Ovid's " Remedy of Love," which has been lost. In 1501 he addressed to King James IV. the "Palace of Honor," an allegory whose structure so much resembles the "Pilgrim's Progress," that Bunyan has been thought to have borrowed his idea from it. About 1509 he was appointed provost of St. Giles's, Edin- burgh. His translation of the ^Eneid into Scottish verse, made in 1512-' 13, was first printed at London in 1553, with the following title : " The xiii. bukes of Eneados of the fa- mose poet Virgill, translatet out of Latyne verses into Scottish metir, bi the Reuerend Father in God, Mayster Gawin Douglas, Bishop of Dun- kel, & vnkil to the Erie of Angus : euery buke hauing hys perticular prologe." It is praised for its spirit and fidelity. The 13th book was the production of Mapheus Vegius. In Sep- tember, 1513, Douglas accompanied the king to Flodden field, where his two elder brothers, the master of Angus and Sir William Douglas, with 200 gentlemen of their name, were slain. Soon afterward the earl his father died of grief. The chief of the house of Douglas was now the young earl of Angus, nephew of Gawin. This youth married the queen regent, and was the means of Gawin's obtaining the abbacy of Aberbrothwick, and a nomination to the arch- bishopric of St. Andrews, which would have made him head of the church in Scotland. The pope would not assent to this appoint- ment, and as the partisans of the various can- didates appealed to arms, it ended in Gawin's abbacy being taken from him. The queen made him bishop of Dunkeld in 1515, but on attempting to establish himself in his see he found it in armed possession of the earl of Athol's brother, Andrew Stewart. Douglas's friends rallied in force and took the cathedral, after which the contention went on for years ! between the rival families of Angus and Ham- ilton, and in April, 1520, they met in Edin- j burgh to fight it out. Bishop Gawin, foresee- j ing bloodshed, endeavored to prevent the fray. I But his intercessions were of no avail ; the | forces of the rival lords met, and Hamilton was defeated. The next year the regent Albany called the Angus party to account, and the earl, with Gawin and the chief men of his name, were forced to fly to England, where Henry VIII. received them well and allowed Gawin a pension. An allegorical poem of his, entitled "King Hart," was left in manuscript, and published by Pinkerton in his " Ancient Scottish Poems," 1788. DOUGLAS, Sir Howard, an English general, born in Gosport, Hampshire, July 1, 1776, died at Tunbridge Wells in November, 1861. He entered the army at an early age, served in the Walcheren expedition, and in the Spanish and Portuguese campaigns of 1808-' 12. He succeeded his brother as third baronet, May 24, 1809, and was governor of New Bruns- wick from 1823 to 1829, lord high commis- sioner of the Ionian Islands from 1835 to 1840, and member of parliament for Liverpool from 1842 to 1847. In 1851 he was raised to the rank of general. He was the author of several valuable works on military science, among which are an essay " On the Construction of Military Bridges," &c. (1816), "A Treatise on Naval Gunnery" (1819), and one on "Naval Evolutions" (1832). In a fourth edition of his "Naval Gunnery" (1855) he reviewed very severely the operations in the Crimea. DOUGLAS, John, an English prelate, born in Pittenweem, Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1721, died in Salisbury, May 18, 1807. He was chaplain to a regiment of foot guards serving in Flan- ders, was present at the battle of Fontenoy (1745), and was employed by Gen. Campbell in carrying orders. Having held various bene- fices, he was chosen president of Sion college in 1781, made bishop of Carlisle in 1787, and dean of Windsor in 1788 ; and in 1791 he was translated to the see of Salisbury. He wrote " A Vindication of Milton from the charge of Plagiarism," and many religious and political pamphlets; and he superintended in 1762 the publication of the second Lord Clarendon's "Diary and Letters;" in 1777, Lord Hard- wick's "Miscellaneous Papers," and Capt. Cook's second voyage; and in 1781, Capt. Cook's last voyage. His religious writings in- clude anniversary sermons, and " The Crite- rion, or Miracles Examined," in reply to Hume. DOUGLAS, Stephen Arnold, an American states- man, born at Brandon, Vt., April 23, 1813, died in Chicago, June 3, 1861. His father, who was a physician, died when Stephen was about two months old. The widow with her children retired to a farm, on which her son re- sided till he was 15 years old, when he deter- mined to earn his own living, and engaged him- self as an apprentice in cabinet making. After a year and a half his health became impaired