Bibliography.—J. Geddes, History of the Administration of John de Witt, (vol. i. only, London, 1879); A. Lefèvre-Pontalis, Jean de Witt, grand pensionnaire de Hollande (2 vols., Paris, 1884); P. Simons, Johan de Witt en zijn tijd (3 vols., Amsterdam, 1832-1842); W. C. Knottenbelt, Geschiedenis der Staatkunde van J. de Witt (Amsterdam, 1862); J. de Witt, Brieven ... gewisselt tusschen den Heer Johan de Witt ... ende de gevolgmaghtigden v. d. staedt d. Vereen. Nederlanden so in Vranckryck, Engelandt, Sweden, Denemarken, Poolen, enz. 1652-69 (6 vols., The Hague, 1723-1725); Brieven ... 1650-1657 (1658) eerste deel bewerkt den R. Fruin uitgegeven d., C. W. Kernkamp (Amsterdam, 1906).
DEWLAP (from the O.E. læppa, a lappet, or hanging fold; the first syllable is of doubtful origin and the popular explanation that the word means "the fold which brushes the dew" is not borne out, according to the New English Dictionary, by the equivalent words such as the Danish doglaeb, in Scandinavian languages), the loose fold of skin hanging from the neck of cattle, also applied to similar folds in the necks of other animals and fowls, as the dog, turkey, &c. The American practice of branding cattle by making a cut in the neck is known as a "dewlap brand." The skin of the neck in human beings often becomes pendulous with age, and is sometimes referred to humorously by the same name.
DEWSBURY, a market town and municipal and parliamentary borough in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, on the river Calder, 8 m. S.S.W. of Leeds, on the Great Northern, London & North-Western, and Lancashire & Yorkshire railways. Pop. (1901) 28,060. The parish church of All Saints was for the most part rebuilt in the latter half of the 18th century; the portions still preserved of the original structure are mainly Early English. The chief industries are the making of blankets, carpets, druggets and worsted yarn; and there are iron foundries and machinery works. Coal is worked in the neighbourhood. The parliamentary borough includes the adjacent municipal borough of Batley, and returns one member. The municipal borough, incorporated in 1862, is under a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 1471 acres. Paulinus, first archbishop of York, about the year 627 preached in the district of Dewsbury, where Edwin, king of Northumbria, whom he converted to Christianity, had a royal mansion. At Kirklees, in the parish, are remains of a Cistercian convent of the 12th century, in an extensive park, where tradition relates that Robin Hood died and was buried.
DEXIPPUS, PUBLIUS HERENNIUS (c. A.D. 210-273), Greek historian, statesman and general, was an hereditary priest of the Eleusinian family of the Kerykes, and held the offices of archon basileus and eponymus in Athens. When the Heruli overran Greece and captured Athens (269), Dexippus showed great personal courage and revived the spirit of patriotism among his degenerate fellow-countrymen. A statue was set up in his honour, the base of which, with an inscription recording his services, has been preserved (Corpus Inscrr. Atticarum, iii. No. 716). It is remarkable that the inscription is silent as to his military achievements. Photius (cod. 82) mentions three historical works by Dexippus, of which considerable fragments remain: (1) Τὰ μετ᾽ Ἀλέξανδρον, an epitome of a similarly named work by Arrian; (2) Σκυθικά, a history of the wars of Rome with the Goths (or Scythians) in the 3rd century; (3) Χρονικὴ ἱστορία, a chronological history from the earliest times to the emperor Claudius Gothicus (270), frequently referred to by the writers of the Augustan history. The work was continued by Eunapius of Sardis down to 404. Photius speaks very highly of the style of Dexippus, whom he places on a level with Thucydides, an opinion by no means confirmed by the fragments (C. W. Müller, F.H.G. iii. 666-687).
DEXTER, HENRY MARTYN (1821-1890), American clergyman and author, was born in Plympton, Massachusetts, on the 13th of August 1821. He graduated at Yale in 1840 and at the Andover Theological Seminary in 1844; was pastor of a Congregational church in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1844-1849, and of the Berkeley Street Congregational church, Boston, in 1849-1867; was an editor of the Congregationalist in 1851-1866, of the Congregational Quarterly in 1859-1866, and of the Congregationalist, with which the Recorder was merged, from 1867 until his death in New Bedford, Mass., on the 13th of November 1890. He was an authority on the history of Congregationalism and was lecturer on that subject at the Andover Theological Seminary in 1877-1879; he left his fine library on the Puritans in America to Yale University. Among his works are: Congregationalism, What it is, Whence it is, How it works, Why it is better than any other Form of Church Government, and its consequent Demands (1865), The Church Polity of the Puritans the Polity of the New Testament (1870), As to Roger Williams and His "Banishment" from the Massachusetts Colony (1876), Congregationalism of the Last Three Hundred Years, as seen in its Literature (1880), his most important work, A Handbook of Congregationalism (1880), The True Story of John Smyth, the "Se-Baptist" (1881), Common Sense as to Woman Suffrage (1885), and many reprints of pamphlets bearing on early church history in New England, especially Baptist controversies. His The England and Holland of the Pilgrims was completed by his son, Morton Dexter (b. 1846), and published in 1905.