[1] The verb "to drink" is Common Teut.; cf. Ger. _trinken_, &c.
[2] See PLATE, Plate I.
[3] See PLATE, Plate I.
[4] For two illustrations see PLATE, Plate II.
DRIPSTONE, in architecture, a projecting moulding weathered on the upper
surface and throated underneath so as to form a drip. The term is more
correctly applied to a string course. When carried round an arch its
more correct description would be a hood (q.v.). When employed inside a
building it serves a decorative purpose only.
DRISLER, HENRY (1818-1897), American classical scholar, was born on the
27th of December 1818, on Staten Island, New York. He graduated at
Columbia College in 1839, taught classics in the Columbia grammar school
for four years, and was then appointed tutor in classics in the college.
In 1845 he became adjunct professor of Latin and Greek there, in 1857
was appointed to the new separate chair of Latin language and
literature, and ten years later succeeded Dr Charles Anthon as Jay
professor of Greek language and literature. He was acting president in
1867 and in 1888-1889, and from 1890 to his retirement as professor
emeritus in 1894 was dean of the school of arts. He died in New York
City on the 30th of November 1897. Dr Drisler completed and supplemented
Dr Anthon's labours as an editor of classical texts. His criticisms and
corrections of Liddell and Scott's _Greek-English Lexicon_, of which he
brought out a revised American edition in 1846, won his name a place on
the title-page of the British edition in 1879, and in 1870 he published
a revised and enlarged edition of Yonge's _English-Greek Lexicon_. He
was ardently opposed to slavery, and brilliantly refuted _The Bible View
of Slavery_, written by Bishop J. H. Hopkins of Vermont, in a _Reply_
(1863), which meets the bishop on purely Biblical ground and displays
the wide range of Dr Drisler's scholarship.
DRIVER, SAMUEL ROLLES (1846- ), English divine and Hebrew scholar, was
born at Southampton on the 2nd of October 1846. He was educated at
Winchester and New College, Oxford, where he had a distinguished career,
taking a first class in Literae Humaniores in 1869. He was awarded the
Pusey and Ellerton scholarship in 1866, the Kennicott scholarship in
1870 (both Hebrew), and the Houghton Syriac prize in 1872. From 1870 he
was a fellow, and from 1875 also a tutor, of New College, and in 1883
succeeded Pusey as regius professor of Hebrew and canon of Christ
Church. He was a member of the Old Testament Revision Committee
(1876-1884) and examining chaplain to the bishop of Southwell
(1884-1904); received the honorary degrees of doctor of literature of
Dublin (1892), doctor of divinity of Glasgow (1901), doctor of
literature of Cambridge (1905); and was elected a fellow of the British
Academy in 1902. Dr Driver devoted his life to the study, both textual
and critical, of the Old Testament. Among his numerous works are
commentaries on Joel and Amos (1897); Deuteronomy (1902); Daniel (1901);
Genesis (1909); the Minor Prophets, Nahum to Malachi (1905); Job (1905);
Jeremiah (1906); Leviticus (1894 Hebrew text, 1898 trans. and notes);
Samuel (Hebrew text, 1890). Among his more general works are: _Treatise
on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew_ (1892); _Isaiah, his Life and Times_
(1893); _Introd. to the Literature of the Old Test._ (1897, ed. 1909);
_Sermons on Subjects connected with the Old Testament_ (1892); _The
Parallel Psalter_ (1904); _Heb. and Eng. Lexicon of the O.T._ (in
collaboration, 1906); _Modern Research as illustrating the Bible_
(1909); articles in the _Ency. Brit._, _Ency. Bibl._ and Hastings'
_Dict. of the Bible_.
DRIVING (from "to drive," i.e. generally to propel, force along or in, a
word common in various forms to the Teutonic languages), a word used in
a restricted sense for the art of controlling and directing draught
animals from a coach or other conveyance or movable machine to which
they are harnessed for the purpose of traction. This has been an
occupation practised since domesticated animals were first put to this
use. In various parts of the world a number of different animals have
been, and still are, so employed; of these the horse, ox, mule and ass
are the most common, though their place is taken by the reindeer in
northern latitudes, and by the Eskimo dog in arctic and antarctic
regions. The driving of each of these requires special skill, only to be
acquired by practice combined with knowledge of the characteristics
peculiar to the several animals employed. The most accomplished driver
of spirited horses would probably be in difficulties if called upon to
drive sixteen or twenty dogs in an arctic sledge, or a team of oxen or
mules drawing the guns of a mountain battery; and the adept in either of
these branches of the art might provoke the compassion of a farmer from
Lincolnshire or Texas by his attempts to manage a pair of Clydesdale
horses in the plough or the reaping machine.
Under all these different conditions driving is a work of utility, of
economic value to civilized society. But from very early times driving,
especially of horses, has also been regarded as a sport or pastime. This
probably arose in the first instance from its association with battle.
In the earliest historical records, such as the Old Testament and the
Homeric poems, the driver of the chariot fills a place of importance in
the economy of war; and on his skill and efficiency the fate of kings,
and even of kingdoms, must often have depended. The statement in the
Book of Kings that Jehu the son of Nimshi was recognized from a distance
by his style of driving appears to indicate that the warrior himself on
occasion took the place of the professional charioteer; and although it
would be unsafe to infer from the story that the pleasure derived from
the occupation was his motive for doing so, the name of this king of
Israel has become the eponym of drivers. Among the Greeks at an equally
early period driving was a recognized form of sport, to the popularity
of which Horace afterwards made allusion. Racing between teams of horses
harnessed to war-chariots took the place occupied by saddle-horse
racing and American trotting races (see HORSE-RACING) in the sport of
modern times. The element of danger doubtless gave pleasurable
excitement to chariot racing and kept alive its association with
incidents familiar in war; just as at a later period, when the
institution of chivalry had given the armed knight on horseback a
conspicuous place in medieval warfare, the tournament became the most
popular sport of the aristocracy throughout Europe.
This element of danger cannot be said to enter usually into the
enjoyment of driving at the present day. Though accidents occasionally
happen, the pastime is practically unattended by serious risk; and the
source of the pleasure it affords the driver must be sought in the skill
it requires, combined with the love of the horse which is common to
sportsmen, and of exercise of power. The art of driving as practised
to-day for pleasure without profit, and without the excitement of
racing, is of quite modern development. Oliver Cromwell, indeed, met
with a mishap in Hyde Park while driving a team of four horses presented
to him by the count of Oldenburg, which was the subject of more than one
satirical allusion by contemporary royalist writers; but two things were
needed before much enjoyment could be found in driving apart from
utility. These were the invention of carriages on springs, and the
construction of roads with smooth and solid surface. The former did not
come into general use till near the end of the 18th century, and it was
about the same period that the engineering skill of Thomas Telford and
the invention of John London Macadam combined to provide the latter. The
influence on driving of these two developments was soon apparent.
Throughout the 18th century stage-coaches, ponderous unwieldy vehicles
without springs, had toiled slowly over rough and deeply rutted tracks
as a means of communication between different parts of Great Britain;
but those who made use of them did so as a matter of necessity and not
for enjoyment. But by the beginning of the 19th century the improvement
in carriage-building and road-construction alike had greatly diminished
the discomfort of travel; and interest in driving for its own sake grew
so rapidly that in 1807 the first association of amateur coachmen was
formed. This was the Bensington Driving Club, the forerunner of many
aristocratic clubs for gentlemen interested in driving as a pastime.
In modern driving one, two or four horses are usually employed. When a
greater number than four is put in harness, as in the case of the state
equipages of royal personages on occasions of ceremony, the horses are
not driven but are controlled by "postillions" mounted on the near-side
horse of each pair. When two horses are used they may either be placed
side by side, in "double harness," which is the commoner mode of driving
a pair of horses, or one following the other, in a "tandem." Four
horses, or "four-in-hand," are harnessed in two pairs, one following the
other, and called respectively the "leaders" and the "wheelers"--the
same terms being used for the two horses of a tandem.
Though it is a less difficult accomplishment to drive a single horse
than a tandem or four-in-hand, or even a pair, it nevertheless requires
both knowledge and the skill that practice alone confers. The driver
should have some knowledge of equine character, and complete familiarity
with every part of the harness he uses, and with the purpose which each
buckle or strap is intended to serve. The indefinable quality known in
horsemanship as "good hands" is scarcely less desirable on the box-seat
than in the saddle. It is often said to be unattainable by those who do
not possess it by nature; but though this may be true to some extent,
"good hands" are partly at least the result of learning the correct
position for the arm and hand that holds the reins. The reins are held
in the left hand, which should be kept at about the level of the lowest
button of the driver's waistcoat, and near the body though not pressed
against it. The driving hand should never be reached forward more than a
few inches, nor raised as high as the breast. The upper arm should lie
loosely against the side, the forearm horizontal across the front of the
body, forming a right angle or thereabouts at the elbow-joint, the
wrist very slightly bent inwards, and the back of the hand and knuckles
facing outwards towards the horses. In this position the three joints of
the arm form a kind of automatic spring that secures the "give" to the
movement of the horse's mouth which, in conjunction with firmness, is a
large part of what is meant by "good hands." But this result is only
obtained if the reins be also held with the proper degree of bearing on
the bit. What the proper degree may be depends greatly on the character
of the horses and the severity of the bit. Pulling horses must be
restrained by a strong draw on their bits, such as would bring other
animals to a standstill. But under no circumstances, no matter how
sluggish the horses may be, should the reins be allowed to lie slack;
for if this is done the horse receives no support in the event of a
sudden stumble, and no control if he shies unexpectedly. The driver
should therefore always just "feel his horse's mouth" as lightly as
possible; he then has the animal well under control in readiness for
every emergency, while avoiding such a pull on the mouth as would cause
a high-spirited horse to chafe and fret. Well-broken carriage horses
should always be willing to run into their bits, and those that draw
back when lightly held in hand should be kept up to the bit with the
whip.
These principles are common to all branches of the art of driving,
whether of one, two or four horses. When they are observed no great
difficulty confronts the coachman who is content with single or double
harness, provided he has acquired the eye for pace and distance, and the
instinctive realization of the length of the carriage behind him,
without which he may suffer collision with other vehicles, or allow
insufficient room in turning a corner or entering a gateway. For before
he can have had the practice by which alone this knowledge is to be
gained, the beginner will have learnt such elementary facts as that his
horses must be held well in hand going down hill and given their heads
on an ascent, and that on no account should the horse's mouth be
"jobbed" by the driver jerking the reins; he will also have learnt a
good deal about the character and temperament of the horse, on which so
much of the art of driving depends, and which can best be studied on the
box-seat and not at all in the library. If he has pursued this study
with any degree of insight, he will have learnt further to be sparing in
the use of the hand-brake with which most modern carriages are provided.
This apparatus is most useful in case of emergency, or for taking weight
off the carriage on a really steep descent; but the habit which too many
coachmen fall into of using the brake on every trifling decline should
be avoided. Its effect is that the horses are continually doing
collar-work, and are thus deprived of the relief which ought to be given
them by occasional light pole or shaft work instead.
Tandem and four-in-hand.
When the ambition of the amateur coachman leads him to attempt a tandem
or four-in-hand he enters on a much more complex department of the art
of driving. In the first place he has now four reins instead of two to
manipulate, and the increase of weight on his hand, especially when four
horses are being driven, requires considerable strength of wrist to
support it without tiring. It is of the first importance, moreover, that
he should know instinctively the position in his hand of each of the
reins, and be able automatically and instantaneously to lay a finger on
any one of them. The driver who has to look at his reins to find the
off-side leader's rein, or who touches the near-side wheeler's in
mistake for it, is in peril of a catastrophe. It is therefore essential
that the reins should be correctly disposed between the fingers of the
left hand, and that the driver should as quickly as possible accustom
himself to handle them automatically. This is somewhat more difficult in
driving tandem than in driving four-in-hand, because in the latter case
there is greater spread of the reins in front of the hand than with
tandem, where the reins lie much more nearly parallel one above the
other. The actual holding of the reins is the same in both cases. The
coachman should be careful to take the reins in his hand before mounting
to the box-seat, as otherwise his team may make a start without his
having the means to control them. It is customary to hitch the reins,
ready for him to take them, on the outside terret (the ring on the pad
through which the rein runs) of the wheeler--the off-side wheeler in
four-in-hand. Standing on the ground beside the off-side wheel of his
carriage, ready to mount to the box-seat, the coachman, after drawing up
his reins till he almost feels the horses' mouths, must then let out
about a foot of slack in his off-side reins, in order that when on his
seat he may find all the reins as nearly as possible equal in length in
his hand. He mounts with them disposed in his right hand precisely as
they will be in his left when ready to start. The leaders' reins should
be separated by the forefinger, and the wheelers' by the middle finger.
The near-leader's rein will then be uppermost of the four, between the
forefinger and thumb; then between the forefinger and middle finger are
two reins together--the off-leader's and the near-wheeler's in the order
named; while at the bottom, between the middle and third fingers, is the
off-wheeler's rein. It will be found that held thus the reins spread
immediately in front of the hand in such a way that each several rein,
and each pair of reins--two near-side, two off-side, two wheelers' or
two leaders'--can be conveniently manipulated; and the proficient driver
can instinctively and instantaneously grasp any of them he chooses with
his right hand without having to turn his eyes from the road before him
to the reins in his hand. Having seated himself on the box and
transferred the reins, thus disposed, from the right to the left hand,
the coachman should shorten them till he just feels his wheelers' mouths
and holds back his leaders sufficiently to prevent them quite tightening
their traces; then, when he has taken the whip from its socket in his
right hand, he is ready to start. This is an operation requiring careful
management, to secure that leaders and wheelers start simultaneously;
for if the leaders start first they will be drawn up sharp by their
bits, or, what is worse, if their reins have not been sufficiently
shortened they will jump into their collars and possibly break a
swinging bar, and in either case they will be fretted and disconcerted
and will possibly in consequence either kick or rear; if the wheelers
start before the leaders they will ram the swinging bars under the tails
of the latter, with results equally unfortunate. The worst possible
method of starting is suddenly to give the horses their heads and use
the whip. But no positive rule can be laid down, for it is just one of
those points which depend largely on familiarity with the horses forming
the team. Horses even moderately accustomed to the work will generally
start best in obedience to the voice, and their attention may
simultaneously be aroused by gently feeling their mouths. When once
started the driver should at once see that his team is going straight.
If the leaders and wheelers are not exactly on the same line, this or
that rein must be shortened or lengthened as the case may require; and
it is to be noticed that as the near-wheeler's and off-leader's reins
lie together between the same fingers, a simultaneous shortening or
lengthening of these two reins will usually produce the desired result.
With rare exceptions, reins should be shortened or lengthened by pushing
them back or drawing them forward with the right hand from in front of
the driving hand, and not from behind it. As soon as the team is in
motion the leaders may be let out till they draw their traces taut; but
draught should be taken off them on falling ground or while rounding a
corner. Good drivers touch the reins as little as possible with the
whip-hand, and nothing is less workmanlike than for a coachman to act as
if he were an angler continually letting out or reeling in his line. In
rounding a corner a loop of an inch or two of the leaders' rein on the
side to which the turn is to be made is taken up by the right hand and
placed under the left thumb. This "points the leaders," who accordingly
make the required turn, while at the same time the right hand bears
lightly on the wheelers' rein of the opposite side, to prevent them
making the turn too sharply for safety to the coach behind them. As soon
as the turn is made--and all this applies equally to the passing of
other vehicles or obstacles on the road--the driver's left thumb
releases the loop, which runs out of itself, and the team returns to the
straight formation. A circumstance useful to bear in mind is that the
swinging bars are wider than the maximum width of the coach;
consequently the driver knows that wherever the swinging bars can pass
through with safety--and as they are before his eyes the calculation is
easy--the coach will safely follow.
The use of the whip.
A necessary part of driving four horses or tandem is the proper use of
the whip. The novice, before beginning to drive, should acquire the
knack--which can only be learnt by practical instruction and
experiment--of catching up the thong of the whip on to the stick by a
flick of the wrist. With practice this is done almost automatically and
without looking at the whip. It is not merely an ornamental
accomplishment, but a necessary one; for in no other way can the whip be
kept in constant readiness for use either on wheelers or leaders as the
need of the moment may dictate. The point of the thong is confined in
the whip-hand when striking the wheelers (which should be done in front
of the pad), and is released for reaching the leaders. Considerable
dexterity is required in using the whip on the leaders without at the
same time touching, or at all events alarming or fretting, the wheelers.
The thong of the whip should reach the leaders from beneath the swinging
bar; and proficient "whips" can unerringly strike even the near leader
from under the off-side bar without disturbing the equanimity of any
other member of the team. This demands great skill and accuracy; but no
coachman is competent to drive four horses until he is able to touch
with the whip any particular horse that may require it, and no other.
Essential as is proficiency in the use of the whip when driving four
horses, it is even more imperative for the driver of tandem. For in
four-in-hand the leaders act in some measure as a restraint upon each
other's freedom of action, whereas the leader in tandem is entirely
independent and therefore more difficult to control. If he takes it into
his head to turn completely round and face the driver, there is no
effectual means of preventing him. It is here that a prompt and accurate
use of the whip is important. A sharp cut with the thong of the whip on
the side to which he is turning will often drive the leader back into
his place. But it must be done instantaneously, and the driver who has
got his thong coiled round the stick of his whip, or who cannot make
certain of striking the horse on precisely the desired spot, will miss
the opportunity and may find his team in a sad mess, possibly with
disastrous results. If the leader, in spite of a stroke from the whip at
the right moment and on the right spot, still persists in turning, the
only thing to be done is to turn the wheeler also; and then when the
tandem has been straightened, to turn the horses back once more to their
original direction. For this reason it is never safe to harness a tandem
to a four-wheeled vehicle; because if it should be necessary to turn the
wheeler sharply round, the fore-carriage would probably lock and the
trap be overturned. Of comparatively recent years a great improvement
has been effected in the harnessing of a tandem by the introduction of
swinging bars similar to those used in four-in-hand. Formerly the
leading traces in tandem drew direct from tugs on the wheeler's hames,
or less frequently from the stops on the shafts. This left a
considerable length of trace which, when draught was taken off the
leader, hung slack between the two horses; with the result that either
of them might get a leg over the leading trace, with dangerous
consequences. In the more modern arrangement short traces attached to
the wheeler's tugs hold a bar, which is kept in place by a few inches of
chain from the kidney-link on the wheeler's collar. This bar is
connected by short traces or chains with a second bar to which the
leader's true traces are hooked in the usual way, allowing him a
comfortable distance clear of the bar precisely as in four-in-hand. The
leader thus draws as before from the wheeler's tugs; but the length of
trace is broken up by the two swinging bars, and as these are prevented
from falling low by their attachment to the wheeler's collar, the danger
from a too slack leading trace is reduced to a minimum; though care is
needed when the leader is not pulling to prevent the bar falling on his
hocks.
Expert tandem driving, owing to the greater freedom of the leader from
control, is a more difficult art than the driving of four horses, in
spite of the fact that the weight on the hand is much less severe; but
the general principles of the two are the same. In Great Britain,
however, the coach-and-four is the more popular. It is more showy than
tandem; it keeps alive the romantic associations of the days when the
stagecoach was the ordinary means of locomotion; and a coach, or "drag,"
accommodates a larger party of passengers to a race-meeting or other
expedition for pleasure than a dogcart. But for those whose means do not
permit the more costly luxury of a four-horse team, a tandem will be
found to make all the demand on skill and nerve which, in combination
with the taste for horses, makes the art of driving a source of
enjoyment.
See Donald Walker, _British Manly Exercises: in which Riding, Driving,
Racing are now first described_ (London, 1834); Fuller, _Essay on
Wheel Carriages_ (London, 1828); William Bridges Adams, _English
Pleasure Carriages: their Origin, History, Materials, Construction_
(London, 1837); _The Equestrian: A Handbook of Horsemanship,
containing Plain Rules for Riding, Driving and the Management of the
Horse_ (London, 1854); a Cavalry Officer, _The Handy Horse Book; or
Practical Instruction in Driving and the Management of the Horse_
(London, 1865-1867, 1871-1881); H. J. Helm, _American Roadsters and
Trotting Horses_ (Chicago, 1878); E. M. Stratton, _The World on
Wheels_ (New York, 1878); J. H. Walsh ("Stonehenge"), _Riding and
Driving_ (London, 1863); James A. Garland, _The Private Stable_ (2nd
ed., Boston, 1902); the Duke of Beaufort, _Driving_ (The Badminton
Library, London, 1889), containing a bibliography; F. H. Huth, _Works
on Horses and Equitation: A Bibliographical Record of Hippology_
(London, 1887). (R. J. M.)
DROGHEDA, a municipal borough, seaport and market town, on the southern
border of Co. Louth, Ireland, in the south parliamentary division, on
the river Boyne, about 4 m. from its mouth in Drogheda Bay, and 31-1/2
m. N. by W. from Dublin on the Great Northern main line. Pop. (1901)
12,760. It occupies both banks of the river; but the northern division
is the larger of the two, and has received greater attention in modern
times. The ancient fortifications, still extant in the beginning of the
19th century, have disappeared almost entirely, but of the four gateways
one named after St Lawrence remains nearly perfect, consisting of two
loopholed circular towers; and there are considerable ruins of another,
the West or Butler Gate. Among the public buildings are a mansion-house
or mayoralty, with a suite of assembly rooms attached; and the Tholsel,
a square building with a cupola. St Peter's chapel formerly served as
the cathedral of the Roman Catholic archbishopric of Armagh; and in the
abbey of the Dominican nuns there is still preserved the head of Oliver
Plunkett, the archbishop who was executed at Tyburn in 1681 on an
unfounded charge of treason. There was formerly an archiepiscopal palace
in the town, built by Archbishop Hampton about 1620; and the Dominicans,
the Franciscans, the Augustinians, the Carmelites and the knights of St
John have monastic establishments. Of the Dominican monastery (1224)
there still exists the stately Magdalen tower; while of the Augustinian
abbey of St Mary d'Urso (1206) there are the tower and a fine pointed
arch. At the head of the educational institutions there is a classical
school endowed by Erasmus Smith. There is also a blue-coat school,
founded about 1727 for the education of freemen's sons. The present
building was erected in 1870. Benjamin Whitworth, M.P., was a generous
benefactor to the town, who built the Whitworth Hall, furnished half the
funds for the construction of waterworks, established a cotton factory,
and is commemorated by a statue in the Mall. The industrial
establishments comprise cotton, flax and flour mills, sawmills,
tanneries, salt and soap works, breweries, chemical manure and
engineering works. The town is the headquarters of the valuable Boyne
salmon-fishery. A brisk trade is carried on mainly in agricultural
produce, especially with Liverpool (which is distant 135 m. due E.) and
with Glasgow. Many works of improvement have been effected from time to
time in the harbour, the quays of which occupy both sides of the river,
the principal, 1000 yds. in length, being on the north side. Here is a
depth of 21 ft. at the highest and 14 ft. at the lowest tides. The tide
reaches 2-1/2 m. above the town to Oldbridge; and barges of 50 tons
burden can proceed 19 m. inland to Navan. The river is crossed by a
bridge for ordinary traffic, and by a fine railway viaduct. The town is
governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors.
In the earliest notices the town of Drogheda is called Inver-Colpa or
the Port of Colpa; the present name signifies "The Bridge over the
Ford." In 1152 the place is mentioned as the seat of a synod convened by
the papal legate, Cardinal Paparo; in 1224 it was chosen by Lucas de
Netterville, archbishop of Armagh, for the foundation of the Dominican
friary of which there are still remains; and in 1228 the two divisions
of the town received separate incorporation from Henry III. But there
grew up a strong feeling of hostility between Drogheda _versus Uriel_
and Drogheda _versus Midiam_, in consequence of trading vessels lading
their cargoes in the latter or southern town, to avoid the pontage duty
levied in the former or northern town. At length, after much blood had
been shed in the dispute, Philip Bennett, a monk residing in the town,
succeeded by his eloquence, on the festival of Corpus Christi, 1412, in
persuading the authorities of the two corporations to send to Henry IV.
for a new charter sanctioning their combination, and this was granted on
the 1st of November. Drogheda was always considered by the English a
place of much importance. In the reign of Edward III. it was classed
along with Dublin, Waterford and Kilkenny as one of the four staple
towns of Ireland. Richard II. received in its Dominican monastery the
submissions of O'Neal, O'Donnell and other chieftains of Ulster and
Leinster. The right of coining money was bestowed on the town, and
parliaments were several times held within its walls. In the reign of
Edward IV. the mayor received a sword of state and an annuity of L20, in
recognition of the services rendered by the inhabitants at Malpus Bridge
against O'Reilly; the still greater honour of having a university with
the same privileges as that of Oxford remained a mere paper distinction,
owing to the poverty of the town and the unsettled state of the country;
and an attempt made by the corporation in modern times to resuscitate
their rights proved unsuccessful. In 1495 Poyning's laws were enacted by
a parliament held in the town. In the civil wars of 1641 the place was
besieged by O'Neal and the Northern Irish forces; but it was gallantly
defended by Sir Henry Tichbourne, and after a long blockade was relieved
by the Marquess of Ormond. The same nobleman relieved it a second time,
when it was invested by the Parliamentary army under Colonel Jones. In
1649 it was captured by Cromwell, after a short though spirited defence;
and nearly every individual within its walls, without distinction of age
or sex, was put to the sword. Thirty only escaped, who were afterwards
transported as slaves to Barbados. In 1690 it was garrisoned by King
James's army; but after the decisive battle of the Boyne (q.v.) it
surrendered to the conqueror without a struggle, in consequence of a
threat that quarter would not be granted if the town were taken by
storm.
Drogheda ceased to be a parliamentary borough in 1885, and a county of a
town in 1898. Before 1885 it returned one member, and before the Union
in 1800 it returned four members to the Irish parliament.
From the close of the 12th century, certainly long before the
Reformation and for some time after it, the primates of Ireland lived in
Drogheda. Being mostly Englishmen, they preferred to reside in the
portion of their diocese within the gate, and Drogheda, being a walled
town, was less liable to attack from the natives. From 1417 onwards
Drogheda was their chief place of residence and of burial. Its proximity
to Dublin, the seat of government and of the Irish parliament, in which
the primates were such prominent figures, induced them to prefer it to
_Ardmacha inter Hibernicos_. Archbishop O'Scanlain, who did much in the
building of the cathedral at Armagh, preferred to live at Drogheda, and
there he was buried in 1270. Near Drogheda in later times was the
primates' castle and summer palace at Termonfeckin, some ruins of which
remain. In Drogheda itself there is now not a vestige of the palace,
except the name "Palace Street." It stood at the corner of the main
street near St Lawrence's gate, and its grounds extended back to St
Peter's church. The primates of the 15th century were buried in or near
Drogheda. After the Reformation five in succession lived in Drogheda and
there were buried, though there is now nothing to fix the spot where any
of them lies. The last of these--Christopher Hampton--who was
consecrated to the primacy in 1613, repaired the ruined cathedral of
Armagh. He built a new and handsome palace at Drogheda, and he repaired
the old disused palace at Armagh and bestowed on it a demesne of 300
acres.
DROIT (Fr. for "right," from Lat. _directus_, straight), a legal title,
claim or due; a term used in English law in the phrase _droits of
admiralty_, certain customary rights or perquisites formerly belonging
to the lord high admiral, but now to the crown for public purposes and
paid into the exchequer. These _droits_ (see also WRECK) consisted of
flotsam, jetsam, ligan, treasure, deodand, derelict, within the
admiral's jurisdiction; all fines, forfeitures, ransoms, recognizances
and pecuniary punishments; all sturgeons, whales, porpoises, dolphins,
grampuses and such large fishes; all ships and goods of the enemy coming
into any creek, road or port, by durance or mistake; all ships seized at
sea, salvage, &c., with the share of prizes--such shares being
afterwards called "tenths," in imitation of the French, who gave their
admiral a _droit de dixieme_. The _droits of admiralty_ were definitely
surrendered for the benefit of the public by Prince George of Denmark,
when lord high admiral of England in 1702. American law does not
recognize any such _droits_, and the disposition of captured property is
regulated by various acts of Congress.
The term _droit_ is also used in various legal connexions (for _French
law_, see FRANCE: _law_), such as the _droit_ of angary (q.v.), the
_droit d'achat_ (right of pre-emption) in the case of contraband (q.v.),
the feudal _droit de bris_ (see WRECK), the _droit de regale_ or ancient
royal privilege of claiming the revenues and patronage of a vacant
bishopric, and the feudal droits of seignory generally.
DROITWICH, a market town and municipal borough in the Droitwich
parliamentary division of Worcestershire, England, 5-1/2 m. N.N.E. of
Worcester, and 126 m. N.W. by W. from London by the Great Western
railway. Pop. (1901) 4201. It is served by the Bristol-Birmingham line
of the Midland railway, and by the Worcester-Shrewsbury line of the
Great Western. It stands on the river Salwarpe, an eastern tributary of
the Severn. There is connexion with the Severn by canal. There are three
parish churches, St Andrew, St Peter and St Michael, of which the two
first are fine old buildings in mixed styles, while St Michael's is
modern. The principal occupation is the manufacture of the salt obtained
from the brine springs or _wyches_, to which the town probably owes both
its name and its origin. The springs also give Droitwich a considerable
reputation as a health resort. There are Royal Brine baths, supplied
with water of extreme saltness, St Andrew's baths, and a private bath
hospital. The water is used in cases of gout, rheumatism and kindred
diseases. Owing to the pumping of the brine for the salt-works there is
a continual subsidence of the ground, detrimental to the buildings, and
new houses are mostly built in the suburbs. In the pleasant well-wooded
district surrounding Droitwich the most noteworthy points are Hindlip
Hall, 3 m. S., where (in a former mansion) some of the conspirators in
the Gunpowder Plot defied search for eight days (1605); and Westwood, a
fine hall of Elizabethan and Carolean date on the site of a Benedictine
nunnery, a mile west of Droitwich, which offered a retreat to many
Royalist cavaliers and churchmen during the Commonwealth. Droitwich is
governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 1856 acres.
A Roman villa, with various relics, has been discovered here, but it is
doubtful how far the Romans made use of the brine springs. Droitwich
(_Wic_, _Salturic_, _Wich_) probably owed its origin to the springs,
which are mentioned in several charters before the Conquest. At the time
of the Domesday Survey all the salt springs belonged to the king, who
received from them a yearly farm of L65, but the manor was divided
between several churches and tenants-in-chief. The burgesses of
Droitwich are mentioned in the Domesday Survey, but they probably only
had certain franchises in connexion with the salt trade. The town is
first called a borough in the pipe roll of 2 Henry II., when an aid of
20s. was paid, but the burgesses did not receive their first charter
until 1215, when King John granted them freedom from toll throughout the
kingdom and the privilege of holding the town at a fee-farm of L100. The
burgesses appear to have had much difficulty in paying this large farm;
in 1227 the king pardoned twenty-eight marks of the thirty-two due as
tallage, while in 1237 they were L23 in arrears for the farm. They
continued, however, to pay the farm until the payment gradually lapsed
in the 18th century. In medieval times Droitwich was governed by two
bailiffs and twelve jurats, the former being elected every year by the
burgesses; Queen Mary granted the incorporation charter in 1554 under
the name of the bailiffs and burgesses. James I. in 1625 granted another
and fuller charter, which remained the governing charter until the
Municipal Reform Act. King John's charter granted the burgesses a fair
on the feast of SS. Andrew and Nicholas lasting for eight days, but
Edward III. in 1330 granted instead two fairs on the vigil and day of St
Thomas the Martyr and the vigil and day of SS. Simon and Jude. Queen
Mary granted three new fairs, and James I. changed the market day from
Monday to Friday.
DROME, a department in the south-east of France, formed of parts of
Dauphine and Provence, and bounded W. by the Rhone, which separates it
from Ardeche, N. and N.E. by Isere, E. by Hautes-Alpes, S.E. by
Basses-Alpes, and S. by Vaucluse; area 2533 sq. m.; pop. (1906) 297,270.
Drome is traversed from east to west by numerous rivers of the Rhone
basin, chief among which are the Isere in the north, the Drome in the
centre and the Aygues in the south. The left bank of the Rhone is
bordered by alluvial plains and low hills, but to the east of this zone
the department is covered to the extent of two-thirds of its surface by
spurs of the Alps, sloping down towards the west. To the north of the
Drome lie the Vercors and the Royans, a region of forest-clad ridges
running uniformly north and south. South of that river the mountain
system is broken, irregular and intersected everywhere by torrents. The
most easterly portion of the department, where it touches the mountains
of the Devoluy, contains its culminating summit (7890 ft.). North of the
Isere stretches a district of low hills terminating on the limits of the
department in the Valloire, its most productive portion. The climate,
except in the valleys bordering the Rhone, is cold, and winds blow
incessantly. Snow is visible on the mountain-tops during the greater
part of the year.
The agriculture of the department is moderately prosperous. The main
crops are wheat, which is grown chiefly on the banks of the Isere and
Rhone, oats and potatoes. Large flocks of sheep feed on the pastures in
the south; cattle-raising is carried on principally in the north-east.
Good wines, among which the famous Hermitage growth ranks first, are
grown on the hills and plains near the Rhone and Drome. Fruit culture is
much practised. Olives and figs are grown in the south; the cultivation
of mulberries and walnuts is more widely spread. In the rearing of
silkworms Drome ranks high in importance among French departments. The
Montelimar district is noted for its truffles, which are also found
elsewhere in the department. The mineral products of Drome include
lignite, blende, galena, calamine, freestone, lime, cement, potter's
clay and kaolin. Brick and tile works, potteries and porcelain
manufactories exist in several localities. The industries comprise
flour-milling, distilling, wood-sawing, turnery and dyeing. The chief
textile industry is the preparation and weaving of silk, which is
carried on in a number of towns. Woollen and cotton goods are also
manufactured. Leather working and boot-making, which are carried on on a
large scale at Romans, are important, and the manufacture of machinery,
hats, confectionery and paper employs much labour. Drome exports fruit,
oil, cheese, wine, wool, live stock and its manufactured articles; the
chief import is coal. It is served by the Paris-Lyon railway, and the
Rhone and Isere furnish over 100 m. of navigable waterway. The canal de
la Bourne, the only one in the department, is used for purposes of
irrigation only. Drome is divided into the arrondissements of Valence,
Die, Montelimar and Nyons, comprising 29 cantons and 379 communes. The
capital is Valence, which is the seat of a bishopric of the province of
Avignon. The department forms part of the academie (educational
division) of Grenoble, where its court of appeal is also located, and of
the region of the XIV. army corps.
Besides Valence, the chief towns of the department are Die, Montelimar,
Crest and Romans (qq.v.). Nyons is a small industrial town with a
medieval bridge and remains of ramparts. Suze-la-Rousse is dominated by
a fine chateau with fortifications of the 12th and 14th centuries; in
the interior the buildings are in the Renaissance style. At St Donat
there are remains of the palace of the kings of Cisjuran Burgundy;
though but little of the building is of an earlier date than the 12th
century, it is the oldest example of civil architecture in France. The
churches of Leoncel, St Restitut and La Garde-Adhemar, all of Romanesque
architecture, are also of antiquarian interest. St Paul-Trois-Chateaux,
an old Roman town, once the seat of a bishopric, has a Romanesque
cathedral. At Grignan there are remains of the Renaissance chateau where
Madame de Sevigne died. At Tain there is a sacrificial altar of A.D.
184.
DROMEDARY (from the Gr. [Greek: dromas, dromados], running, [Greek:
dramein], to run), a word applied to swift riding camels of either the
Arabian or the Bactrian species. (See CAMEL.)
DROMORE, a market town of Co. Down, Ireland, in the west parliamentary
division, on the upper Lagan, 17-1/2 m. S.W. of Belfast by a branch of
the Great Northern railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 2307. It is in
the linen manufacturing district. The town is of high antiquity, and was
the seat of a bishopric, which grew out of an abbey of Canons Regular
attributed to St Colman in the 6th century, and was united in 1842 to
Down and Connor. The town and cathedral were wholly destroyed during the
insurrection of 1641, and the present church was built by Bishop Jeremy
Taylor in 1661, who is buried here, as also is Thomas Percy, another
famous bishop of the diocese, who laid out the fine grounds of the
palace. Remains of a castle and earthworks are to be seen, together with
a large rath or encampment known as the Great Fort. The town gives its
name to a Roman Catholic diocese.
DROMOS (Gr. for running-place), in architecture, the name of the
entrance passage leading down to the beehive tombs in Greece, open to
the air and enclosed between stone walls.
DRONE, in music[1] (corresponding to Fr. _bourdon_; Ger. _Summer_,
_Stimmer_, _Hummel_; Ital. _bordone_), the bass pipe or pipes of the
bagpipe, having no lateral holes and therefore giving out the same note
without intermission as long as there is wind in the bag, thus forming a
continuous pedal, or drone bass. The drone consists of a jointed pipe
having a cylindrical bore and usually terminating in a bell. During the
middle ages bagpipes are represented in miniatures with conical
drones,[2] and M. Praetorius[3] gives a drawing of a bagpipe, which he
calls _Grosser Bock_, having two drones ending in a curved ram's horn.
The drone pipe has, instead of a mouthpiece, a socket fitted with a
reed, and inserted into a stock or short pipe immovably fixed in an
aperture of the bag. The reed is of the kind known as beating reed or
_squeaker_, prepared by making a cut in the direction of the
circumference of the pipe and splitting back the reed from the cut
towards a joint or knot, thus leaving a flap or tongue which vibrates or
beats, alternately opening and closing the aperture. The sound is
produced by the stream of air forced from the bag by the pressure of the
performer's arm causing the reed tongue to vibrate over the aperture,
thus setting the whole column of air in vibration. Like all cylindrical
pipes with reed mouthpiece, the drone pipe has the acoustic properties
of the closed pipe and produces a note of the same pitch as that of an
open pipe twice its length. The conical drones mentioned above would,
therefore, speak an octave higher than a cylindrical drone of the same
length. The drones are tuned by means of sliding tubes at the joints.
The drones of the old French _cornemuse_ played in concert with the
_hautbois de Poitou_ (see BAGPIPE), and differing from the shepherd's
_cornemuse_ or _chalemie_, formed an exception to this method of
construction, being furnished with double reeds like that of the oboe.
The drones of the musette and of the union pipes of Ireland are also
constructed on an altogether different plan. Instead of having long
cumbersome pipes, pointing over the shoulder, the musette drones consist
of a short barrel containing lengths of tubing necessary for four or
five drones, reduced to the most compact form and resembling the rackett
(q.v.). The narrow bores are pierced longitudinally through the
thickness of the barrel in parallel channels communicating with each
other in twos or threes, and so arranged as to provide the requisite
length for each drone. The reeds are double reeds all set in the wooden
stock within the bag. By means of regulating slides (called in English
_regulators_ and in French _layettes_), which may be pushed up and down
in longitudinal grooves round the circumference of the barrel, the
length of each drone tube can be so regulated that a simple harmonic
bass consisting of the common chord is obtainable. In the union pipes
the drones are separate pipes having keys played by the elbow, which
correspond to the sliders in the musette drone and produce the same kind
of harmonic bass. The modern Egyptian arghool consists of a kind of
clarinet with a drone attached to it by means of waxed thread; in this
case the beating reed of the drone is set in vibration directly by the
breath of the performer, who takes both mouthpieces into his mouth,
without the medium of a wind reservoir. Mersenne gave very clear
descriptions of the construction of cornemuse and musette, with clear
illustrations of the reeds and stock.[4] There are allusions in the
Greek classics which point to the existence of a pipe with a drone,
either of the arghool or the bagpipe type.[5] (K. S.)