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venire facias, habeas corpora, and distress infinite. It is also di-vided into grand distress and ordinary distress ; of these the for-mer extends to all the goods and chattels that the party has withinthe county. -A person, of common right, may distrain for rentsand all manner of services; and where a vent is reserved on a giftin tail, lease for life, or years, &c. though there be no clause ofdistress in the grant or lease, so as that he has the reversion : buton a feoffment made in th?, a distress may not be taken, unless itbe expressly reserved in the deed.

DISTRIBUTION of In testate’s Effects, after payment ofthe debts of the deceased, is to be made according to the stat. 22and 23 G. II. c. 10, in manner following : One-third shall go tothe widow of the intestate, and the residue in equal proportions tohis children ; or if dead to their representatives, that is, their linealdescendants: if there are no children or legal representatives, thena moiety shall go to the widow, and a moiety to the next kindredin equal degree, or their representatives; if no widow, the wholeshall go to tiie children ; if neither widow nor child, the whole shallbe distributed amongst the next kindred in equal degree, and theirrepresentatives: but no representatives are admitted among col-laterals, farther than the children of the intestate’s brothers andsisters. The father succeeds to the whole personal effect; of hischildren, if they die intestate, and without issue ; but if the fatherbe dead, and the mother survive, she shall only come in fora shareequally with each of the remaining children.

Distribution, in architecture, the dividing and disposing of theseveral parts and pieces which compose a building, as the plan di-rects. See Architecture.

Distribution, in printing, the taking of a form asunder, separat-ing the types, and disposing them in the cases again, each in itsproper cell. See Printing.

Distribution, in rhetoric, a kind of description, whereby anorderly division and enumeration is made of the principal qualitiesof the subject. Paul supplies us with an example of this kind,when, in the heat of his indignation against sinners, he gives a de-scription of their iniquity. See Rom. hi. 10—18.

DISTRINGAS, in law, a writ commanding the sheriff or otherofficer, that he distrain a person for debt to the king, &c. or forhis appearance at a certain day.

Distringas Juratores, a writ directed to the sheriff, wherebyhe is commanded to distrain upon a jury to appear, and to returnissues on their lands, &c. &c. for non-appearance. This writ issuesfor the sheriff to have their bodies in court, &c. at the return ofthe writ.

DITCH, a common fence in marshes, or other wet lands wherethere are no hedges. They allow these ditches six feet wideagainst high ways thatare broad: and against commons, five feet. Butthe common ditches about inclosures, dug at the bottom of the bankon which the quick is raised, are three feet wide at the top, one atthe bottom, and two feet deep. By this means each side has aslope, which is of great advantage; for where this is neglected, andthe ditches dug perpendicular, the sides are always washing down ;besides, in a narrow bottomed ditch, if cattle get down into it,they cannot stand to turn themselves to crop the quick: but wherethe ditch is four feet wide, it should be two and a half deep; andwhere it is fiv elect wide, it should be three deep; and so in pro-portion.

Ditch, Foss. See Fortification .

DITHYRAMBIC , 1. A song in honour of Bacchus; in whichanciently, and now among the Italians , the distraction of ebrietyis imitated. 2. Any poem written with wildness and enthusi-asm. ' , .

DITII YRAMBl'S, in ancient poetry, a hymn in honour of iBacchus, full of transport and poetical rage. This poetry owes its'birth to Greece , ami to the transports of wine ; and yet art is notquite exploded, but delicately applied to guide and restrain thedthyrambic impetuosity, which is indulged only in pleasingflights.

DITONE, in music, an interval comprehending two tonesThe proportion of the sounds that form the ditone is 4: 5, and thatof the sein'ditone is 5: 6.

DtT'xlGLYH. See Architecture.

DITTANY, White. See Dictamnus.

DITTO, in books of accounts, usually written D°, Signifiesthe aforementioned. The word is corrupted from the Italian ik tto,

| “ the said ;” as in our law-phrase, “ the said premises,” meaningI the same as were before mentioned.

DIVAL, in heraldry, the herb nightshade, used by such asblazon by flowers and herbs, instead of colours and metals, forsable or black.

DIVALIA, in Roman antiquity, a feast held in honour of thegoddess Angerona ; also called Angeroualia.

DIVAN, a court of justice among the eastern nations, particu-larly the 'Turks. The word signifies the same with sofa in theT urkish dialect. There are two sorts of divans; that of the grandsignior, called the council of state, which consists of seven of theprincipal officers of the empire; and that of the grand vizir, com-posed of six other viziers or counsellors of state, the chancellor andsecretaries of state, for the distribution of justice. The word is alsoused for a hall in the private houses of the orientals. T he customof China does not allow visits in the inner parts of the house, hutonly at the entry, in a divan contrived on purpose for ceremonies.Travellers relate wonders of the silence and expedition of thedivans of the East.

Divan Beghi, the supurintendant of justice in Persia , whoseplace is last of the six ministers of the second rank, who are allunder the athemadauler or first minister.

DIVAN DU ROW, the name of seven islands in the Ir.diauocean, three miles N. of the Maldives .

DIVER, in ornithology. See Colymbus.

DIVERGENT, or DIVERGING, Lines, in geometry, arethose which constantly recede from each other. They are op-posed to convergent or converging lines, whose distances con-tinually approach nearer to each other, and become still less andless. Those lines which converge the one way, diverge theother.

Divergent Rays in optics, are those which going from apoint of the visible object, are dispersed and continually departone from another, in proportion as they are removed from theobject: in which sense it is opposed to convergent. See Op-tics.

DIVERGING HYPERBOLA, is one whose legs turn theirconvexities towards one another, and run contrary ways.

DIVERSIFYING, in rhetoric, is an accomplishment essentialto the character of an orator, and may be called the subject of allhis tropes and figures. Vossius lays down six ways of diversifyinga subject. 1. By enlarging on what was briefly mentioned before.

2. By a concise enumeration of what had been insisted on at length.

3. By adding something new to what is repeated. 4. By repeatingonly the principal heads of what had been said. 5. By trans-posing the words and periods. 6. By imitating them.

DIVERSION, in military affairs, is, when an enemy is attackedin one place where they are weak ami unprovided, in order todraw off their forces from another place, where they have made, orintend to make, ail irruption. Thus the Romans had no other wayin their power of driving Hannibal out of Italy , but by making adiversion, in attacking Carthage .

DIVESTING, in law, is used for the act of surrendering or re-linquishing one’s effects. By a contract of donation or sale, thedonor or seller is said to he disseised and divested of his propertyin such a commodity, and the donee or purchaser becomes investedtherewith. See Investiture.

DIVIDEND, in law proceedings, is taken for a dividing offees and perquisites between officers of courts, arising fromwrits, &c.

Dividend, in arithmetic, the number proposed to be dividedinto eoual parts. See Arithmetic.

Dividend of Stocks, is a share of the interest of stocks erectedon public funds, a: the south-sea, tkc. divided among and paid tothe adventurers half-yearly. The term is also applied to "the an-nual interest paid by governnn nt on the public debts.

Dividend, in the university, signifies that part or share whichthe fellows equally divide among themselves of their yearly sti-pend.

DIVINATION, in antiquity, was divided by Plato, Aristotle ,Plutarch, Cicero , and others, into two species, viz. artificial andnatural.

Divination, Artificial, was so called, because it was notobtained, or pretended to be obtained, by immediate inspiration,but proceeded upon certain superstitious experiments and obser-vations