Double-vault, in architecture, one vault built over another so that a space is left between the two. It is used in domes or vaulted roofs when the external and internal arrangements require vaults differing in size or shape, the outer and upper vault being made to harmonize with the exterior of the building, the inner or lower with the interior.
Doubloon´, a gold coin of Spain and of the Spanish American States, originally double the value of the pistole. The doubloon of Spain was subsequently equivalent to about a guinea sterling. The doubloon of Chile was worth about 18s. 9d. sterling; that of Mexico, £3, 4s. 8d.
Doubs (dö), a department of France, having Switzerland on its eastern frontier. Its surface is traversed by four chains of the Jura. The temperature is variable, and the climate somewhat rigorous. About a third of the land is arable, but much the greater part is covered with forests. Maize, potatoes, hemp, flax are the principal crops. Much dairy produce is made into Gruyère cheese. The minerals include iron, lead, and marble. Pop. 284,975.—The River Doubs rises in the department to which it gives its name, flows first north-east, then north-west till it joins the Saône at Verdun-sur-Saône; length, 250 miles.
Douche (dösh), a jet or current of water or vapour directed upon some part of the body; employed in bathing establishments. When water is applied, it is called the liquid douche, and when a current of vapour, the vapour douche.
Douglas (dug´las), a family distinguished in the annals of Scotland. Their origin is unknown. They were already territorial magnates at the time when Bruce and Baliol were competitors for the crown. As their estates lay on the borders they early became guardians of the kingdom against the encroachments of the English, and acquired in this way power, habits, and experience which frequently made them formidable to the Crown. We notice in chronological succession the most distinguished members of the family. James, son of the William Douglas who had been a companion of Wallace, and is commonly known as the Good Sir James, early joined Bruce, and was one of his chief supporters throughout his career, and one of the most distinguished leaders at the battle of Bannockburn. He was called 'Black Douglas' from his swarthy complexion. He fell in battle with the Moors while on his way to the Holy Land with the heart of his master, in 1331.—Archibald, youngest brother of Sir James, succeeded to the regency of Scotland in the infancy of David. He was defeated and killed at Halidon Hill by Edward III in 1333.—William, son of the preceding, was created first earl in 1357. He recovered Douglasdale from the English, and was frequently engaged in wars with them. He fought at the battle of Poitiers and died in 1384.—James, the second earl, who, like his ancestors, was constantly engaged in border warfare, was killed at the battle of Otterburn in 1388. After his death the earldom passed to an illegitimate son of the Good Sir James, Archibald the Grim, Lord of Galloway.—Archibald, son of Archibald the Grim and fourth earl, was the Douglas who was defeated and taken prisoner by Percy (Hotspur) at Homildon 14th Sept., 1402. He was also taken prisoner at Shrewsbury 23rd July, 1403, and did not recover his liberty till 1407. He was killed at the battle of Verneuil, in Normandy, in 1427. Charles VII created him Duke of Touraine, which title descended to his successors. He was surnamed 'The Tyneman', or loser, on account of his many misfortunes in battle.—William, sixth earl, born 1422, together with his only brother David was assassinated by Crichton and Livingstone at a banquet to which
he had been invited in the name of the king, in Edinburgh Castle, on 24th Nov., 1440. Jealousy of the great power which the Douglases had acquired from their possessions in Scotland and France was the cause of this deed.—William, the eighth earl, a descendant of the third earl, restored the power of the Douglases by a marriage with his cousin, heiress of another branch of the family; was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of the kingdom, and defeated the English at Sark. Having entered into treasonous league, he was invited by James II to Stirling and there murdered by the king's own hand, 22nd Feb., 1452.—James, the ninth and last earl, brother of the preceding, took up arms with his allies to avenge his death, but was finally driven to England, where he continued an exile for nearly thirty years. He entered Scotland on a raid in 1484, but was taken prisoner and confined in the abbey of Lindores, where he died in 1488. His estates, which had been forfeited in 1455, were bestowed on the fourth Earl of Angus, the 'Red Douglas', the representative of a younger branch of the Douglas family, which continued long after to flourish. The fifth Earl of Angus, Archibald Douglas, was the celebrated 'Bell-the-Cat', one of whose sons was Gawin Douglas the poet. He died in a monastery in 1514. Archibald, the sixth earl, married Queen Margaret, widow of James IV, attained the dignity of regent of the kingdom, and after various vicissitudes of fortune, having at one time been attainted and forced to flee from the kingdom, died about 1560. He left no son, and the title of Earl of Angus passed to his nephew David. James Douglas, brother of David, married the heiress of the Earl of Morton, which title he received on the death of his father-in-law. His nephew, Archibald, eighth Earl of Angus and Earl of Morton, died childless, and the earldom of Angus then passed to Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie, his cousin, whose son William was raised to the rank of Marquess of Douglas. Archibald, the great-grandson of William, was raised in 1703 to the dignity of Duke of Douglas, but died unmarried in 1761, when the ducal title became extinct, and the marquessate passed to the Duke of Hamilton, the descendant of a younger son of the first marquess. The line of Angus or the Red Douglas is now represented by the Houses of Hamilton and Home, who both claim the title of Earl of Angus.—Bibliography: David Hume of Godscroft, A History of the House of Douglas and Angus; Sir H. Maxwell, A History of the House of Douglas.
Douglas, Gawin, an early Scottish poet of eminence. He was the son of Archibald, fifth Earl of Angus, and was born at Brechin about 1474. He received a liberal education, commenced at home and completed at the University of Paris. On returning to Scotland he took orders in the Church, and ultimately became Bishop of Dunkeld, through the influence of his nephew, the sixth Earl of Angus, who married Queen Margaret, widow of James IV. He died of the plague in 1522 in London, where he had been obliged to take refuge on account of political commotions. He translated Virgil's Æneid into verse with much spirit and elegance, prefixing original prologues to the different books of the original. This was the first poetical translation into English of any classical author. It was written about 1512, and first published in 1553. He also wrote The Palace of Honour and King Hart, both allegorical poems.—Cf. J. H. Millar, Literary History of Scotland.
Douglas, Sir Howard, Baronet, G.C.B., a British general, born in 1776, the son of Admiral Sir Charles Douglas. He served in Spain in the Peninsular War, and acquired much reputation by his writings on military subjects, especially by his Military Bridges and the Passage of Rivers (1816), and Treatise on Naval Gunnery (1819). From 1823 to 1829 he was Governor of New Brunswick, and from 1835 to 1840 Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. He attained the rank of general in 1851, and died in Nov., 1861.
Douglas, Stephen Arnold, American politician, born in Vermont, 1813, died 1861. Having gone to Jacksonville, Illinois, he became an attorney, was appointed Attorney-General for the State, and in 1843 was elected a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 1847 he was elected to the Senate, and by re-election was a member of this body till his death. He was especially prominent in connection with the question as to the extension of slavery into new states and territories, which he maintained was a matter to be settled by the people of the respective states or territories, and not by Congress. He was a presidential candidate in 1860, when Lincoln was elected.
Douglas, Sir William Fettes, painter, born in Edinburgh 1822, died in 1891. He was educated at the High School in that city, spent ten years in a bank before finally deciding (in 1847) upon the artist's profession. In 1851 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, and three years later a full member. In 1877 he became Curator of the National Gallery of Scotland, resigning the post in 1882 on his election as president of the Royal Scottish Academy. Among the finest of his early pictures are: Bibliomania (1852, in the National Gallery), The Ruby Ring (1853), The Alchemist (1855), Hudibras and Ralph visiting the Astrologer (1856), and The Rosicrucian (1856), many of these showing much of the Pre-Raphaelite