736 



DRUPE DRUSUS. 



literature. A dangerous illness fostered a serious and 

 devout turn of mind, which was evinced by his first 

 productions. The Cypress drove, in prose, containing 

 reflections upon death, and Flowers of Sion, or Spirit- 

 ual Poems. The death of a young lady, to whom he 

 was about to be married, rendered home insupporU 

 able, and drove him again abroad. He remained on 

 tin- continent cinlit year* In his forty-fifth year, he 

 ras married, and again took up his residence at Haw- 

 thomden. He tiled in December, 1649, in his sixty- 

 fourth year. As a historian, Drummond is chiefly 

 remarkable for an ornate style, and a strong attach- 

 ment to the high-church principles of the Jacobites. 

 1 1 is I li-tory of the Reigns of the Five Jameses was 

 published several years after his death. He is now 

 remembered only as a poet. There is much sweetness 

 and melody in his verse, and although tinged with the 

 conceits of the Italian school, there is much genuine 

 imagery and truth of feeling in all his poetry, but par- 

 ticularly in his sonnets, which are replete with ten- 

 derness and delicacy. Various editions of his poems 

 have been published, the most recent of which is 

 that, with his 'Life by Peter Cunningham, London, 

 1833, 12mo. An edition of his whole works was pub- 

 lished at Edinburgh, 1711, folio, under the superin- 

 tendence of Ruddiman. 



DRUPE ; in botany, a simple succulent fruit, con- 

 taining a hard kernel or stone. Peaches, cherries, 

 &c., are drupes. 



DRURY LANE THEATRE, one of the princi- 

 pal theatres in London, was established in the reign 

 of James 1., under the name of the Phoenix. After 

 the restoration, patents for stage performances were 

 issued, and ten of the actors were called king's ser- 

 vant*, which usage still exists. In 1671, it was burnt 

 down, and was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, but 

 again consumed, Feb. 24, 1809, and rebuilt by B. 

 Wyatt, 1811. It was opened with an address com- 

 posed by lord Byron. The interior was entirely re- 

 built in 1822, and is estimated to be capable of con- 

 taining 3611 persons. 



DRUSES ; a people of Syria, inhabiting a tract of 

 (Country about 1165 miles square, in the mountains 

 Libanus and Anti-Libanus. They are about 160,000 

 in number, 40,000 of whom are able to bear arms. 

 Their pretended descent from the Franks, who came 

 to this region in the time of the crusades, is a fable. 

 Their' name is derived from one of their religious 

 teachers. At the end of the sixteenth century, this 

 people began to excite attention in Europe, par- 

 ticularly on account of their religion, concerning 

 which they maintain the utmost secrecy. The sa- 

 cred books of the Druses, which were concealed in 

 the earth, contain doctrines which prove the selfish 

 policy of their authors, and are a disgrace to hu- 

 manity. The layman who should accidentally be- 

 come acquainted with the contents of these books, 

 was punished with death. The doctrines of the 

 Druses are a mixture of those of the Sadducees, the 

 Samaritans, and the Mohammedans. The Druses 

 were formerly governed by many sheiks or lords, 

 but one by the name of Ibrahim contrived to make 

 himself master of the whole nation, and thereby 

 became formidable to the Turks. In the beginning 

 of the seventeenth century, the Druses, under the 

 renowned emir Fakreddin (usually called Fakardiri), 

 reached the summit of their power ; but this leader 

 was, in 1631, strangled at Constantinople ; and, al- 

 though other princes were placed over them, they 

 never recovered their former reputation. They en- 

 deavoured, indeed, by the assistance of the Russians, 

 in 1773, to regain their freedom ; but they were soon 

 , obliged to become again dependent on the Turks. 

 They are now governed by emirs (princes), who, hi 

 their turn, are subject to a grand emir : they are tri- 



butaries of the Porte, but are abnost entirely inde- 

 pendent, cultivating the soil, and producing wine and 

 silk. Their religion divides the people into wise men 

 [akales, learned or initiated) and secular persons 

 [djabel, or laymen, ignorant, uninitiated). They luive 

 no public worship, but they frequent Christian and 

 Mohammedan churches : they have, nevertheless, 

 some symbols and persons devoted to religious woi- 

 sliip. 



DRUSUS. There were several distinguished Ro- 

 mans of this name : 



1. MARCUS Livius (B. C. 123) was tribune of the 

 people with Caius Gracchus. He was also the lather 

 of Livia, the wife of M. Cato and the mother of Cato 

 of Utica. He opposed the projects of the popular 

 favourite, Caius Gracchus, so strenuously, that the 

 patricians called him thepatronus senatus. By his vic- 

 tories in Thrace, he made the Danube the boundary 

 of the republic, was honoured with a trhunph, and 

 died in the office of censor, B. C. 110. 



2. His son, Marcus Livius (grandfather of Livia, 

 wife of Augustus), was distinguished for his talents, 

 energy, and eloquence ; but liis zeal often led him to 

 neglect the regular forms of proceeding in the repub- 

 lic, while his extravagant munificence and high 

 opinion of himself sometimes caused him to commit 

 imprudent actions. Rome was then divided by the 

 disputes of the senate and the equestrian order. The 

 power of the latter, which, since the time of the 

 Gracchi, had risen to its utmost height, excited the 

 jealousy of the senate, who struggled zealously for 

 their old but now almost lost authority. Drusus en- 

 deavoured to gain over the people to the party of the 

 senate, by the division of lands, to which the senate 

 agreed with the utmost reluctance, and to gain the 

 Roman alb'es by the promise of citizenship. He came 

 forward, relying on this assistance, as a mediator be- 

 tween the hostile parties. He proposed to supply the 

 vacant seats of the senators with knights, and to al- 

 low the new magistrates the judicial authority, which, 

 from the time of the Gracchi, had belonged to the 

 knights alone, but before that time, to the senators. 

 He succeeded in this plan, notwitlistanding the most 

 violent opposition from both parties. But the jealousy 

 with which each party guarded its rights, and the 

 rash and violent manner in which Drusus had effected 

 the union, rendered him unpopular with both parties. 

 When, therefore, he proposed to grant the right of 

 citizenship to the<allies, for their services to the se- 

 nate, that body rejected the proposition decidedly, so 

 that Drusus could effect nothing. On his return to 

 his house from an assembly of the people, accom- 

 panied by a number of the Latins, he was stabbed at 

 his door, by an unknown hand. He died a few hours 

 after, with these words " When will the republic 

 again possess such a citizen as I have been?" His 

 death (B. C. 93) was the signal for the beginning of 

 the social war, which had been so long threatening. 



3. CLAUDIUS NERO, son of Tiberius Nero and of 

 Livia (afterwards wife of the emperor Augustus), and 

 brother of Tiberius, who was afterwards emperor, 

 was sent as questor, with his brother, against the 

 Rhaetians, whom he subdued. He then suppressed 

 an insurrection in Gaul, defeated the Germans who 

 dwelt beyond the Rhine, passed the river, and van- 

 quished the Sicambri and Bructeri, and made the 

 Frisians tributary to the Romans. He was the first 

 Roman general who ventured upon the Northern 

 ocean. After these campaigns, he became pretor 

 (il B. C.), but returned in the next spring to Ger- 

 many, subdued many tribes as far as the W eser, and 

 commenced the erection of fortresses. On this 

 account, he was honoured with an ovation at Rome, 

 and was appointed proconsul ; the army saluted liim 

 M'ith the title ofimperator, which was not, however, 



