DRUPE 430 DRYDEN DRUPE, fruit composed of a single monospermous carpel, and of which the carpellary leaf becomes fleshy at its ex- ternal division, and ligneous in its in- ternal division, as in the peach, cherry, plum, etc. The stone which incloses the kernel is the endocarp ; the pulpy, or suc- culent part, the mesocarp. DRURY'S BLUFF, an eminence on the James river, near Fort Darling, 8 miles S. of Richmond, Va. It was the scene of a battle, May 16, 1864, in which the Confederates under Beauregard de- feated the Union troops under Butler, with a loss to the Confederates of 2,500 and to the Union army of 3,012. DRUSE, DRUZE, DERUZ, or DOROUZ, a politico-religious sect of Mohammedan origin, but deemed by orthodox Moslems heretical. El-Hakim Biamr-Allah, the sixth Fatimite Caliph of Egypt, a cruel and fanatical man, who lived in the 11th century, proclaimed himself an incarnation of God, and estab- lished a secret society. When walking in the vicinity of Cairo, his capital, he disappeared from his subjects' view, the most natural explanation being that he was assassinated and his body hidden somewhere. His followers believed in his return to this earth to reign over it, and propagated their faith in the adjacent lands. Two of the most notable mission- aries were the Persian messengers, Ham- zah and Mohammed ben Ismail ed Derazi. The latter proclaimed the Druse tenets with such zeal in Lebanon that the con- verts to belief in El-Hakim were called not Hakimites but Druses. The Druses believe in the unity of God, who they think was manifest in the person of sev- eral individuals, the last of them Hakim. They believe in the constant existence of five superior spiritual ministers, the greatest of them being Hamzah and Jesus, and hold the transmigration of souls. They are divided into the 'Okkal or Initiated, and the Juhhal, or Ignorant. Their day of worship is Thursday. Ethnologically they are Arabs who came from the E. parts of Syria and settled in Lebanon and Antilebanon in the 11th century. Their territory on the Lebanon is S. of the Maronites. They extend thence to the Hauran and to Damascus. In 1860 they attacked the Maronites, about 12,000 of whom they cruelly mas- sacred, not sparing even women or male children in their fury. The arrival of Turkish and French troops, in August and September, 1860, and the execution of 167 Druses, restored at least the semblance of tranquillity. DRUSUS, the name of several distin- guished Romans, among whom were: Marcus Livius, orator and politician; became tribune of the people in 122 B. c. He opposed the policy of Caius Gracchus, and became popular by plant- ing colonies. Marcus Livius, son of the above, was early a strong champion of the senate or artistocratic party, but showed great skill in manipulating the mob. He rose to be tribune of the people, and was assassinated 91 b. c. Nero Claudius, brother of the Emperor Tiberius, born 38 B. C. By a series of brilliant campaigns he extended the Ro- man empire to the German Ocean and the river Elbe, and was hence called Germanicus. By his wife Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony, he had a daughter, Livia, and two sons, Ger- manicus and Claudius, the latter of whom afterward became emperor. He died in 9 b. c. DRYAS, a famous Spartan, slain by Diana in the Theban war. DRYDEN, JOHN, an English poet; descended from an ancient family, his grandfather being Sir Erasmus Dryden of Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire; he was born near Aldwinkle, Northampton- shire, in 1631, and was admitted a king's scholar at Westminster, whence he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, being here elected to a scholarship. After leaving the university he went to London, where he acted as secretary to his cousin. Sir Gilbert Pickering, a favorite of Cromwell; and on the death of the Protector he wrote his heroic stanzas on that event. At the Restoration, how- ever, he hailed the return of Charles II. in "Astrsea Redux," and from that time his devotion to the Stuarts knew no de- cay. In 1661 he produced his first play. "The Duke of Guise"; but the first that was performed was "The Wild Gallant," which appeared in 1663 and was not a success. This was followed by "The Rival Ladies," and "The Indian Queen," a tragedy on Montezuma in heroic verse, written in collaboration with Sir Robert Howard, whose sister, Lady Elizabeth Howard, Dryden married in 1663. He followed up "The Indian Queen" with "The Indian Emperor," which at once raised Dryden to the highest pitch of public estimation. The great fire of London put a stop for some time to theatrical exhibitions. In the interval Dryden published the "Annus Mirabilis," a historical account of the events of the year 1666. In 1668 he also published his celebrated "Essay on Dramatic Poesy" — the first attempt to regulate dramatic vn"iting. In 1668 the "Maiden Queen," a tragi-comedy, was represented. This was followed in 1670 by the "Tempest," an alteration from Shakespeare, in which he was as-
