DEE, a river in England, draining parts of the shires of 3ferioneth, Denbigh, Flint, and Salop, in Wales, and the w. of Cheshire. Near Trevor, it is dossed by Denbigh, Elles mere canal, on an aqueduct 1007 ft. long and 120 high; and also by the stone viaduct of the Chester and Shrewsbury railway, of 19 arches, each 00 ft. span, and 130 ft. high. Below Trevor, the D. winds first s.e., and then n.e., and u. to Chester, which city it nearly encircles. At Chester, it is 100 yards broad, and runs alongside marshes in, an artificial tidal canal 9 tn. long, and admitting ships of 600 tons. It ends in the Irish sea, in a tidal estuary 9 m. long and 3 to 6 m.. broad, and formino. at high-water a noble arm of the sea; but at low-water a dreary waste of sand and ooze, with the river flowing through it in a narrow stream. Its whole course is SO m. long, and its chief tributaries are the Treveryn, Alwen, Ceirog, Clyweddog, and Alyn. Its upper basin chiefly consists of Silurian strata, and its lower of new red sandstone. Canals connect the D. with the rivers of central England. The ancient Britons held its waters sacred.
DEE, Joux, a celebrated astrologer and mathematician, was the son of Rowland Dee, "gentleman-sewer" to Henry VIII., b. in London, 13th July, 1527, and edu cated at SL John's College, Cambridge. After residing for some time at the uni versity of Louvain, he went in 1550 to Paris, where, at the college of Rheims, lie read lectures on the Elements of Euclid with very great success. In 1551, lie returned to England, was presented by Cecil to Edward VI., and pensioned; but during the reign of the " BloodyMary" he nearly lost his life. He again set out for the continent in 1564, ostensibly for the purpose of presenting to the emperor Maximilian a book which he had previously dedicated to him. Lilly, however, in his _dimwits (p. 224), affirms
that he acted as queen Elizabeth's " intelligencer" or spy, and this theory is probably the true one. Lilly says that he was "a ready-witted man, quick of apprehension . . . and excellent in all kinds of learning;" while the professional mask which he wore, the pretensions he made of being able to raise and converse with spirits, served to prevent all suspicion.
The impression that Dee had dealings with the devil, seems to have become moro prevalent the longer he lived. In 1576, a mob assembled around Mortlake, his country residence, and, attacking the house, broke his 'instruments, and destroyed his library, which was large and costly, Dee and his family escaping with difficulty.
In the year 1581, having taken into his service an apothecary of the name of Kelly as assistant, Dee visited various continental courts, pretending to be able to raise spirits. Whether he took to this strange profession through a sincere belief in what he professed, or adopted it merely as a blind, a pretext for visiting foreign courts at which he had more serious business to transact, it is impossible to say. In 1595, he was appointed warden of Manchester college, where he resided nine years, and whence he returned to Mortlake. His death took place in 1608, in the 81st year of his age. He died very poor. Dee's writings are very numerous; they are chiefly scientific treatises, and many of them are still in manuscript in the Cottonian and other collections. In 1842, the Cambridge society published the Private Diary of Dr. John Dee, with a catalogue of his library of scientific MSS. made by himself.