(C. H. Rd.)
1The verb “to drink” is Common Teut.; cf. Ger.trinken, &c.2SeePlate, Plate I.3SeePlate, Plate I.4For two illustrations seePlate, Plate II.
1The verb “to drink” is Common Teut.; cf. Ger.trinken, &c.
2SeePlate, Plate I.
3SeePlate, Plate I.
4For two illustrations seePlate, 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’sGreek-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’sEnglish-Greek Lexicon. He was ardently opposed to slavery, and brilliantly refutedThe Bible View of Slavery, written by BishopJ. H. Hopkins of Vermont, in aReply(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 theEncy. 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 (seeHorse-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 orthereabouts 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.
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 toTandem and four-in-hand.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 circumstanceuseful 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.
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 catchingThe use of the whip.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).
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 31½ 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 2½ 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 afine 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 Droghedaversus Urieland Droghedaversus 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 £20, 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 toArdmacha 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 phrasedroits 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. Thesedroits(see alsoWreck) 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 adroit de dixième. Thedroits of admiraltywere 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 suchdroits, and the disposition of captured property is regulated by various acts of Congress.
The termdroitis also used in various legal connexions (forFrench law, seeFrance:Law), such as thedroitof angary (q.v.), thedroit d’achat(right of pre-emption) in the case of contraband (q.v.), the feudaldroit de bris(seeWreck), thedroit de régaleor 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, 5½ 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 orwyches, 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 £65, 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. Thetown 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 £100. 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 £23 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.
DRÔME,a department in the south-east of France, formed of parts of Dauphiné and Provence, and bounded W. by the Rhone, which separates it from Ardèche, N. and N.E. by Isère, E. by Hautes-Alpes, S.E. by Basses-Alpes, and S. by Vaucluse; area 2533 sq. m.; pop. (1906) 297,270. Drôme is traversed from east to west by numerous rivers of the Rhone basin, chief among which are the Isère in the north, the Drôme 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 Drôme 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 Dévoluy, contains its culminating summit (7890 ft.). North of the Isère 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 Isère 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 Drôme. 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 Drôme ranks high in importance among French departments. The Montélimar district is noted for its truffles, which are also found elsewhere in the department. The mineral products of Drôme 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. Drôme 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 Isère 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. Drôme is divided into the arrondissements of Valence, Die, Montélimar 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 académie (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, Montélimar, 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 château 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 Léoncel, St Restitut and La Garde-Adhémar, all of Romanesque architecture, are also of antiquarian interest. St Paul-Trois-Châteaux, an old Roman town, once the seat of a bishopric, has a Romanesque cathedral. At Grignan there are remains of the Renaissance château where Madame de Sévigné died. At Tain there is a sacrificial altar ofa.d.184.
DROMEDARY(from the Gr.δρομάς, δρομάδος, running,δραμεῖν, to run), a word applied to swift riding camels of either the Arabian or the Bactrian species. (SeeCamel.)
DROMORE,a market town of Co. Down, Ireland, in the west parliamentary division, on the upper Lagan, 17½ 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 music1(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,2and M. Praetorius3gives a drawing of a bagpipe, which he callsGrosser 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 orsqueaker, 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 abovewould, 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 Frenchcornemuseplayed in concert with thehautbois de Poitou(seeBagpipe), and differing from the shepherd’scornemuseorchalémie, 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 Englishregulatorsand in Frenchlayettes), 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.4There 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