Chapter XVI: Part 16

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.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] For the "drone," the male of the honey bee, see BEE. The musical
sense, both for the noise made and for the instrument, comes from the
buzzing of the bee.

[2] British Museum, Add. MS. 12,228 (Italian work), _Roman du Roy
Meliadus_, 14th century, fol. 221 b., and Add. MS. 18,851, end 15th
century (Spanish work illustrated by Flemish artists), fol. 13.

[3] _Syntagma musicum. Theatrum instrumentorum_, pl. xi. No. 6.

[4] _L'Harmonie universelle_ (Paris, 1636-1637), t. ii. bk. 5, pp.
282-287 and p. 305.

[5] Plato, _Crito_, 54; Aristophanes, _Acharnians_, 865, where some
musicians are in derision dubbed "bumblebee pipers." See BAGPIPE;
also Kathleen Schlesinger, "Researches into the Origin of the Organs
of the Ancients," _Intern. mus. Ges._ vol. ii. (1901), Sammelband ii.
pp. 188-202.

DRONFIELD, an urban district in the north-eastern parliamentary division of Derbyshire, England, 6 m. S. of Sheffield, on the Midland railway. Pop. (1901) 3809. It lies on the small river Drone, a tributary of the Rother, in a busy industrial district in which are numerous coal-mines, and there are iron foundries and manufactures of tools and other iron and steel goods. The church of St John the Baptist, with a lofty spire, is a good example of Decorated work, with Perpendicular additions.

DROPSY (contracted from the old word _hydropisy_, derived from the Gr. [Greek: udrops]; [Greek: udor], water, and [Greek: ops], appearance), the name given to a collection of simple serous fluid in all or any of the cavities of the body, or in the meshes of its tissues. Dropsy of the subcutaneous connective tissue is termed _oedema_ when it is localized and limited in extent; when more diffuse it is termed _anasarca_; the term _oedema_ is also applied to dropsies of some of the internal organs, notably to that of the lungs. _Hydrocephalus_ signifies an accumulation of fluid within the ventricles of the brain or in the arachnoid cavity; _hydrothorax_, a collection of fluid in one or both pleural cavities; _hydropericardium_, in the pericardium; _ascites_, in the peritoneum; and, when _anasarca_ is conjoined with the accumulation of fluid in one or more of the serous cavities, the dropsy is said to be general (see also PATHOLOGY).

Dropsy (excluding "epidemic dropsy," for which see below) is essentially a symptom and not a specific disease, and is merely an exaggeration of a certain state of health. Fluid, known as lymph, is continually passing through the capillary walls into the tissues, and in health this is removed as fast as it is exuded, in one or more of three ways: part of it is used in the nutrition of the tissues, part is returned to the general circulation by the veins, and part by the lymphatics. Any accumulation constitutes dropsy and is a sign of disease, though not a disease in itself. The serous effusions due to inflammation are not included under the term dropsy. A dropsical fluid varies considerably in composition according to its position in the body, but varies only slightly according to the disease which has given rise to it. Its specific gravity ranges between 1008 and 1018; the mineral salts present are the same and in about the same proportion as those of blood, nor do they vary with the position of the exudation. The quantity of albumin, however, depends much on the position of the fluid, and slightly on the underlying disease. In oedema the fluid contains only traces, whereas a pleural or peritoneal effusion is always highly albuminous. Also an effusion due to heart disease contains more albumin than one due to kidney disease. In appearance it may be colourless, greenish or reddish from the presence of blood pigment, or yellowish from the presence of bile pigment; transparent or opalescent or milky from the presence of fatty matter derived from the chyle. The membrane from which the dropsical fluid escapes is healthy, or at least not inflamed, and only somewhat sodden by long contact with the fluid--the morbid condition on which the transudation depends lying elsewhere.

The simplest cause of dropsy is purely mechanical, blood pressure being raised beyond a certain point owing to venous obstruction. This may be due to thrombosis of a vein as in phlegmasia dolens (white leg), retardation of venous circulation as in varicose veins, or obstruction of a vein due to the pressure of an aneurism or tumour. Cardiac and renal dropsy are more complicated in origin, but cardiac dropsy is probably due to diminished absorption, and renal dropsy, when unassociated with heart failure, to increased exudation. But the starting point of acute renal dropsy, of the dropsy sometimes occurring in diabetes, and that of chlorosis is the toxic condition of the blood. For accounts of the various local dropsies see HYDROCEPHALUS; ASCITES; LIVER, &c.; general dropsy, or dropsy which depends on causes acting on the system at large, is due chiefly to diseases of the heart, kidneys or lungs, occasionally on lardaceous disease, more rarely still on diabetes or one of the anaemias.

Broadly speaking, 50% of cases of general dropsy are due to disease of the heart or aorta, and 25% to renal troubles. The natural tendency of all diseases of the heart is to transfer the blood pressure from the arteries to the veins, and, so soon as this has reached a sufficient degree, dropsy in the form of local _oedema_ commences to appear at whatever may be the most depending part of the body--the instep and ankle in the upright position, the lower part of the back or the lungs if the patient be in bed--and this tends gradually to increase till all the cavities of the body are invaded by the serous accumulation. The diseases of the lungs which produce dropsy are those which obstruct the passage of the blood through them, such as emphysema and fibrosis, and thus act precisely like disease of the heart in transferring the blood pressure from the arteries to the veins, inducing dropsy in exactly a similar manner. The dropsy of renal disease is dependent for the most part on an excess of exudation, due largely to an increase of arterial and cardiac tension. This in its turn produces arterial thickening and cardiac hypertrophy, which, if the case be sufficiently prolonged, brings about a natural removal of the fluid. In kidney cases, in the absence of cardiac disease, the dropsy will be found to appear first about the loose cellular tissue surrounding the eyes, where the vessels, turgid with watery blood, have less efficient support. The dropsy of chlorosis is very similar to renal dropsy, a toxic condition of blood being present in both; also other forms of anaemia, as also hydraemia, tend to produce or assist in the production of dropsical effusions.

For the treatment of dropsy the reader is referred to the articles on the several diseases of which it is a symptom. Briefly, however, tapping of the abdomen or puncture of the legs are constantly resorted to in severe cases. Dehydration by diet is very valuable under certain circumstances when the dropsy is other than renal. And there is the routine treatment by drugs, purgative, diaphoretic and diuretic as the symptoms of the case may demand.

It may be well to mention that there are certain affections which may be termed _spurious dropsies_, such as _ovarian dropsy_, which is only a cystic disease of the ovary; _hydrometria_, dropsy of the uterus, due to inflammatory occlusion of the os uteri; _hydronephrosis_, dropsy of the kidney, due to obstruction of the ureter, and subsequent distension of these organs by serous accumulations; other hollow organs may also be similarly affected.

Having no known relation to the preceding is _epidemic dropsy_, the first recorded outbreak of which occurred in Calcutta in the year 1877. It disappeared during the hot weather of the following year, only to recur over a wider area in the cold months of 1878 to 1879, and once again in the cold of 1879 to 1880. Since then only isolated cases have been recorded in the immediate neighbourhood of Calcutta, though epidemics have broken out in other places both by land and sea. At the end of 1902 an outbreak occurred in the Barisal gaol, Bengal, in which nearly one-third of the cases ended fatally. Dropsy was an invariable feature of the disease, and was either the first symptom or occurred early. The lower limbs were first affected, trunk and upper limbs later in severe cases, the face very rarely. It was accompanied by pyrexia, gastro-enteritis, deep-seated pains in limbs and body, and burning and pricking of the skin. Various rashes appeared early in the attack, while eczema, desquamation and even ulceration supervened later. Anaemia was very marked, giving rise in Mauritius to the name of acute anaemic dropsy. The duration of the disease was very variable, the limits being three weeks and three months. Death was often sudden, resulting chiefly from cardiac and respiratory complications. The cause of the disease has remained obscure, but there is reason to suppose that it was originally imported from the Madras famine tracts.

DROPWORT, in botany, the common name for a species of _Spiraea_, _S. filipendula_ (nat. ord. _Rosaceae_), found in dry pastures. It is a perennial herb, with much divided radical leaves and an erect stem 2 to 3 ft. high bearing a loose terminal inflorescence of small white flowers, closely resembling those of the nearly allied species _S. Ulmaria_, or meadowsweet.

Water Dropwort, _Oenanthe crocata_ (nat. ord. _Umbelliferae_), is a tall herbaceous plant growing in marshes and ditches. The stem, which springs from a cluster of thickened roots, is stout, branched, hollow and 2 to 5 ft. high; the leaves are large and pinnately divided, and the flowers are borne in a compound umbel, the long rays bearing dense partial umbels of small white flowers. The plant, which is very poisonous, is often mistaken for celery.

DROSHKY (Russ. _drozhki_, diminutive of _drogi_, a wagon), a light four-wheeled uncovered carriage used in Russia. Properly it consists of two pairs of wheels joined by a board. This forms a seat for the passengers who sit sideways, while the driver sits astride in front. The word _Droschke_, however, is applied especially in Germany to light carriages generally which ply for hire.

DROSTE-HULSHOFF, ANNETTE ELISABETH, FREIIN VON (1797-1848), German poet, was born at the family seat of Hulshoff near Munster in Westphalia on the 10th of January 1797. Her early mental training was largely influenced by her cousin, Clemens August, Freiherr von Droste zu Vischering, who, as archbishop of Cologne, became notorious for his extreme ultramontane views (see below); and she received a more liberal education than in those days ordinarily fell to a woman's lot. After prolonged visits among the intellectual circles at Coblenz, Bonn and Cologne, she retired to the estate of Ruschhaus near Munster, belonging to her mother's family. In 1841, owing to delicate health, she went to reside in the house of her brother-in-law, the well-known scholar, Joseph, Freiherr von Lassberg (1770-1855), at Schloss Meersburg on the Lake of Constance, where she met Levin Schucking (q.v.); and there she died on the 24th of May 1848. Annette von Droste-Hulshoff is, beyond doubt, the most gifted and original of German women poets. Her verse is strong and vigorous, but often unmusical even to harshness; one looks in vain for a touch of sentimentality or melting sweetness in it. As a lyric poet, she is at her best when she is able to attune her thoughts to the sober landscape of the Westphalian moorlands of her home. Her narrative poetry, and especially _Das Hospiz auf dem Grossen St Bernard_ and _Die Schlacht im Loener Bruch_ (both 1838), belongs to the best German poetry of its kind. She was a strict Roman Catholic, and her religious poems, published in 1852, after her death, under the title _Das geistliche Jahr, nebst einem Anhang religiuser Gedichte_, enjoyed great popularity.

Annette von Droste-Hulshoff's _Gedichte_ were first published in 1844
during her lifetime, and a number of her poems were translated into
English by Thomas Medwin. The most complete edition of her works is
that in 4 vols. edited by E. von Droste-Hulshoff (Munster, 1886). The
_Ausgewahlte Gedichte_ were edited by W. von Scholz (Leipzig, 1901).
See Levin Schucking, _Annette von Droste-Hulshoff, ein Lebensbild_
(2nd ed., Hanover, 1871)--her letters to L. Schucking were published
at Leipzig in 1893; also H. Hueffer, _Annette von Droste-Hulshoff und
ihre Werke_ (Gotha, 1887), and W. Kreiten, _Annette von
Droste-Hulshoff_ (2nd ed., Paderborn, 1900).

DROSTE-VISCHERING, CLEMENS AUGUST, BARON VON (1773-1845), German Roman Catholic divine, was born at Munster on the 21st of January 1773. He was educated in his native town and entered the priesthood in 1798; in 1807 the local chapter elected him vicar-general. This office he resigned in 1813 through his opposition to Napoleon, but assumed it again after the battle of Waterloo (1815) until a disagreement with the Prussian government in 1820 led to his abdication. He remained in private life until 1835, when he was appointed archbishop of Cologne. Here again his zeal for the supremacy of the church led him to break the agreement between the state and the Catholic bishops which he had signed at his installation, and he was arrested by the Prussian government in November 1837. A battle of pamphlets raged for some time; Droste was not re-installed but was obliged to accept a coadjutor. His chief works were: _Uber die Religionsfreiheit der Katholiken_ (1817), and _Uber den Frieden unter der Kirche und den Staaten_ (1843).

See Carl Mirbt's article in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyk. fur prot. Theol._
v. 23.

DROUAIS, JEAN GERMAIN (1763-1788), French historical painter, was born at Paris on the 25th of November 1763. His father, Francois Hubert Drouais, and his grandfather, Hubert Drouais, were well-known portrait painters; and it was from his father that he received his first artistic instruction. He was afterwards entrusted to the care of Brenet, an excellent teacher, though his own pictures did not take high rank. In 1780 David, who had just returned from Rome, opened a school of painting in Paris, and Drouais was one of his earliest and most promising pupils. He adopted the classical style of his master, and gave his whole time to study--painting during the day, and spending a great part of every night in designing. For weeks together it is said that he never left his studio. In 1783 he was admitted to compete for the great prize of painting offered by the Academy, the subject being the "Widow of Nain." After inspecting the works of his fellow-competitors, however, he lost hope and destroyed his own canvas, but was consoled by the assurance of his master David that had he not done so he would have won the prize. Next year he was triumphantly successful, the "Woman of Canaan at the Feet of Christ," with which he gained the prize, being compared by competent critics with the works of Poussin. He was carried shoulder high by his fellow-students through the streets to his mother's house, and a place was afterwards found for his picture in the Louvre. His success making him only the more eager to perfect himself in his art, he accompanied David to Rome, where he worked even more assiduously than in Paris. He was most strongly influenced by the remains of ancient art and by the works of Raphael. Goethe, who was at Rome at the time it was finished, has recorded the deep impression made by his "Marius at Minturno," which he characterizes as in some respects superior to the work of David, his master. The last picture which he completed was his "Philoctetus on the Island of Lemnos." He died on the 15th of July 1788. A monument to his memory was erected by his fellow-students in the church of Santa Maria in the Via Lata.