DEAL

deal, a market town, seaport and municipal borough in the st augustine's parliamentary division of kent, england, 8 m. n.e. by n. of dover on the south-eastern & chatham railway. pop. (1901) 10,581. it consists of three divisions--lower deal, on the coast; middle deal; and, about a mile inland, though formerly on the coast, upper deal, which is the oldest part. though frequented as a seaside resort, the town derives its importance mainly from its vicinity to the downs, a fine anchorage, between the shore and the goodwin sands, about 8 m. long and 6 m. wide, in which large fleets of windbound vessels may lie in safety. the trade consequently consists largely in the supply of provisions and naval stores, which are conveyed to the ships in need of them by "hovellers," as the boatmen are called all along the kentish coast; the name is probably a corruption of _hobeler_, anciently applied to light-horsemen from the hobby or small horse which they rode. the deal hovellers and pilots are famous for their skill. boat-building and a few other industries are carried on. among buildings the most remarkable are st leonard's church in upper deal, which dates from the norman period; the baptist chapel in lower deal, founded by captain taverner, governor of deal castle, in 1663; the military and naval hospital; and the barracks, founded in 1795. the site of the old navy yard is occupied by villas; and the esplanade, nearly four miles long, is provided with a promenade pier. the golf-links is well known. at the south end of the town is deal castle, erected by henry viii. in 1539, together with the castles of sandown, walmer and sandgate. they were built alike, and consisted of a central keep surrounded by four lunettes. sandown castle, which stood about a mile to the east of deal castle, was of interest as the prison in which colonel hutchinson, the puritan soldier, was confined, and is said to have died, september 1664. it was removed on becoming endangered by encroachments of the sea. the "captain" of deal castle is appointed by the lord warden of the cinque ports. the town is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. area, 1111 acres. deal is one of the possible sites of the landing-place of julius caesar in britain. later in the period of roman occupation the site was inhabited, but apparently was not a port. in the domesday survey, deal (_dola_, _dale_, _dele_) is mentioned among the possessions of the canons of st martin, dover, as part of the hundreds of bewsborough and cornilo; it seems, however, from early times to have been within the liberty of the cinque ports as a member of sandwich, but was not continuously reckoned as a member until henry vi., on the occasion of a dispute as to its assessment, finally annexed it to their jurisdiction. in the time of henry viii. deal was merely a fishing village standing half-a-mile from the sea, but the growth of the english navy and the increase of trade brought men-of-war and merchant ships in increased numbers to the downs. deal began to grow in importance, and lower or new deal was built along the shore. the prosperity of the town has ever since depended almost entirely on its shipping trade. in 1699 the inhabitants petitioned for incorporation, since previously the town had been under the jurisdiction of sandwich and governed by a deputy appointed by the mayor of that town; william iii. by his charter incorporated the town under the title of mayor, jurats and commonalty of deal, and he also granted a market to be held on tuesday and saturday, and fairs on the 25th and 26th of march, and on the 30th of september and 1st of october, with a court of pie powder. the cinque ports were first represented in the parliament of 1265; the two members returned by sandwich represented sandwich, deal and walmer, until they were disenfranchized by the act of 1885. deal. (1) (a common teutonic word for a part or portion, cf. ger. _teil_, and the eng. variant "dole"), a division or part, obsolete except in such phrases as "a great deal" or "a good deal," where it equals quantity or lot. from the verb "to deal," meaning primarily to divide into parts, come such uses as for the giving out of cards to the players in a game, or for a business transaction. (2) (also a teutonic word, meaning a plank or board, cf. ger. _diele_, dutch _deel_), strictly a term in carpentry and joinery for a sawn plank, usually of pine or fir, 9 in. wide and 2 to 4(1/2) in. thick. (see joinery.) the word is also used more loosely of the timber from which such deals are cut, thus "white deal" is used of the wood of the norway spruce, and "red deal" of the scotch pine. dean (lat. _decanus_, derived from the gr. [greek: deka], ten), the style of a certain functionary, primarily ecclesiastical. whether the term was first used among the secular clergy to signify the priest who had a charge of inspection and superintendence over two parishes, or among the regular clergy to signify the monk who in a monastery had authority over ten other monks, appears doubtful. "decurius" may be found in early writers used to signify the same thing as "decanus," which shows that the word and the idea signified by it were originally borrowed from the old roman military system. the earliest mention which occurs of an "archipresbyter" seems to be in the fourth epistle of st jerome to rusticus, in which he says that a cathedral church should possess one bishop, one archipresbyter and one archdeacon. liberatus also (_breviar._ c. xiv.) speaks of the office of archipresbyter in a manner which, as j. bingham says, enables one to understand what the nature of his duties and position was. and he thinks that those are right who hold that the archipresbyters were the same as the deans of english cathedral churches. e. stillingfleet (_irenic._ part ii. c. 7) says of the archipresbyters that "the memory of them is preserved still in cathedral churches, in the chapters there, where the dean was nothing else but the archipresbyter; and both dean and prebendaries were to be assistant to the bishop in the regulating the church affairs belonging to the city, while the churches were contained therein." bingham, however, following liberatus, describes the office of the archipresbyter to have been next to that of the bishop, the head of the presbyteral college, and the functions to have consisted in administering all matters pertaining to the church in the absence of the bishop. but this does not describe accurately the office of dean in an english cathedral church. the dean is indeed second to the bishop in rank and dignity, and he is the head of the presbyteral college or chapter; but his functions in no wise consist in administering any affairs in the absence of the bishop. there may be some matters connected with the ordering of the internal arrangements of cathedral churches, respecting which it may be considered a doubtful point whether the authority of the bishop or that of the dean is supreme. but the consideration of any such question leads at once to the due theoretical distinction between the two. with regard to matters spiritual, properly and strictly so called, the bishop is supreme in the cathedral as far as--and no further than--he is supreme in his diocese generally. with regard to matters material and temporal, as concerning the fabric of the cathedral, the arrangement and conduct of the services, and the management of the property of the chapter, &c., the dean (not excluding the due authority of the other members of the chapter, but speaking with reference to the bishop) is supreme. and the cases in which a doubt might arise are those in which the material arrangements of the fabric or of the services may be thought to involve doctrinal considerations. the roman catholic writers on the subject say that there are two sorts of deans in the church--the deans of cathedral churches, and the rural deans--as has continued to be the case in the english church. and the probability would seem to be that the former were the successors and representatives of the monastic decurions, the latter of the inspectors of "ten" parishes in the primitive secular church. it is thought by some that the rural dean is the lineal successor of the _chorepiscopus_, who in the early church was the assistant of the bishop, discharging most, if not all, episcopal functions in the rural districts of the diocese. but upon the whole the probability is otherwise. w. beveridge, w. cave, bingham and basnage all hold that the _chorepiscopi_ were true bishops, though romanist theologians for the most part have maintained that they were simple priests. but if the _chorepiscopus_ has any representative in the church of the present day, it seems more likely that the archdeacon is such rather than the dean. the ordinary use of the term dean, as regards secular bodies of persons, would lead to the belief that the oldest member of a chapter had, as a matter of right, or at least of usage, become the dean thereof. but bingham (lib. ii. chap. 18) very conclusively shows that such was at no time the case; as is also further indicated by the maxim to the effect that the dean must be selected from the body of the chapter--"_unus de gremio tantum potest eligi et promoveri ad decanatus dignitatem_." the duties of the dean in a roman catholic cathedral are to preside over the chapter, to declare the decisions to which the chapter may have in its debates arrived by plurality of voices, to exercise inspection over the choir, over the conduct of the capitular body, and over the discipline and regulations of the church; and to celebrate divine service on occasion of the greater festivals of the church in the absence or inability of the bishop. with the exception of the last clause the same statement may be made as to the duties and functions of the deans of church of england cathedral churches. deans had also a place in the judicial system of the lombard kings in the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries. but the office indicated by that term, so used, seems to have been a very subordinate one; and the name was in all probability adopted with immediate reference to the etymological meaning of the word,--a person having authority over ten (in this case apparently) families. l. a. muratori, in his _italian antiquities_, speaks of the resemblance between the _saltarii_ or _sylvani_ and the _decani_, and shows that the former had authority in the rural districts, and the latter in towns, or at least in places where the population was sufficiently close for them to have authority over ten families. nevertheless, a document cited by muratori from the archives of the canons of modena, and dated in the year 813, recites the names of several "deaneries" (_decania_), and thus shows that the authority of the dean extended over a certain circumscription of territory. in the case of the "dean of the sacred college," the connexion between the application of the term and the etymology of it is not so evident as in the foregoing instances of its use; nor is it by any means clear how and when the idea of seniority was first attached to the word. this office is held by the oldest cardinal--i.e. he who has been longest in the enjoyment of the purple, not he who is oldest in years,--who is usually, but not necessarily or always, the bishop of ostia and velletri. perhaps the use of the word "dean," as signifying simply the eldest member of any corporation or body of men, may have been first adopted from its application to that high dignitary. the dean of the sacred college is in the ecclesiastical hierarchy second to the pope alone. his privileges and special functions are very many; a compendious account of the principal of them may be found in the work of g. moroni, vol. xix. p. 168. there are four sorts of deans of whom the law of england takes notice. (1) the dean and chapter are a council subordinate to the bishop, assistant to him in matters spiritual relating to religion, and in matters temporal relating to the temporalities of the bishopric. the dean and chapter are a corporation, and the dean himself is a corporation sole. deans are said to be either of the old or of the new foundation--the latter being those created and regulated after the dissolution of the monasteries by henry viii. the deans of the old foundation before the ecclesiastical commissioners act 1841 were elected by the chapter on the king's _conge d'elire_; and the deans of the new foundation (and, since the act, of the old foundation also) are appointed by the king's letters patent. it was at one time held that a layman might be dean; but since 1662 priest's orders are a necessary qualification. deaneries are sinecures in the old sense, i.e. they are without cure of souls. the chapter formerly consisted of canons and prebendaries, the dean being the head and an integral part of the corporation. by the ecclesiastical commissioners act 1841, it is enacted that "all the members of the chapter except the dean, in every collegiate and cathedral church in england, and in the cathedral churches of st david and llandaff, shall be styled canons." by the same act the dean is required to be in residence eight months, and the canons three months, in every year. the bishop is visitor of the dean and chapter. (2) a dean of peculiars is the chief of certain peculiar churches or chapels. he "hath no chapter, yet is presentative, and hath cure of souls; he hath a _peculiar_, and is not subject to the visitation of the bishop of the diocese." the only instances of such deaneries are battle (sussex), bocking (essex) and stamford (rutland). the deans of jersey and guernsey have similar status. (3) the third dean "hath no cure of souls, but hath a court and a _peculiar_, in which he holdeth plea and jurisdiction of all such ecclesiastical matters as come within his peculiar. such is the dean of the arches, who is the judge of the court of the arches, the chief court and consistory of the archbishop of canterbury, so called of bow church, where this court was ever wont to be held." (see arches, court of.) the parish of bow and twelve others were within the peculiar jurisdiction of the archbishop in spiritual causes, and exempted out of the bishop of london's jurisdiction. they were in 1845 made part of the diocese of london. (4) rural deans are clergymen whose duty is described as being "to execute the bishop's processes and to inspect the lives and manners of the clergy and people within their jurisdiction." (see phillimore's _ecclesiastical law_.) in the colleges of the english universities one of the fellows usually holds the office of "dean," and is specially charged with the discipline, as distinguished from the teaching functions of the tutors. in some universities the head of a faculty is called "dean," and in each of these cases the word is used in a non-ecclesiastical and purely titular sense.