D R Y 
D R Y 
of Dry den has been admirably drawn by Dr. John Ton in 
iiis Lives of the Poets : it will here fuffice to (ketch an 
outline. Dryden was a man of various and extenfive, 
rather than of deep and accurate, learning. He had a 
propenlity to difplay all that he pofleffed, whence he 
abounds in allufions derived from every branch of fin¬ 
ance and fcholadic knowledge then cultivated. But his 
copioulnefs of ideas furpalfed his judgment and fenfe of 
propriety in the tile of them; and his erudition is often 
ridiculous from the mouth which is made to utter it. In 
tranflation he is frequently unfaithful to the fenfe of his 
author; and, what is, perhaps, worfe, he fometimes de¬ 
viates widely from his character, and what may be called 
bis coftume. As a dramatic writer, he has wit, force, and 
majedy ; but net much of nature or propriety. He long 
fupported the practice of writing tragedies in rhyme, and 
forming them into what he called Heroic Plays, the model 
of which was undoubtedly falfe and extravagant. Of 
comedy, lie feems to have had'no juft idea, as maybe 
judged by his depreciating every comic writer in compa- 
rifon-of Jonfon. It has already been mentioned that few 
of his plays furvivt; perhaps the Spanifh Friar, Don Se- 
baftian, and All for Love, are the only ones. The lad 
of thele is regarded as his mafter-piece, and he has laid 
that it was the only one which he wrote for himfelf; but 
it has lefs true character than Shakefpeare’s upon the 
lame dory. As a general poet, he dands, perhaps, unri¬ 
valled in point of verdfication ; for though more correft- 
nefs in the formation of rhyme couplet has (i nee been attain¬ 
ed, yet it is generally acknowledged that for fulnefs and 
variety of harmony, for the free flow and reddlefs cur¬ 
rent of numbers, he lias never had an equal. The fenfe 
often overflows to a third line with fine effedt; and tri¬ 
plets and alexandrines contribute to vary the meafure, 
though thefe, perhaps, occur with too much frequency. 
The poetical character of the didtion is not lefs Ariking 
than the harmony of the verfe; and more happinefs of 
expreilion are found in Drydenthan perhaps in any other 
poet. With great fplendour, there is alfo a fpirit and 
familiarity of language, fometimes finking to coarfenefs, 
but often conducing to wonderful drength. There is 
fcarcely any fpecies of poetry in which lie has not ex¬ 
celled. Perhaps he was lead fitted for the pathetic. He 
delights in the grand and fwelling, which fometimes de¬ 
viates into bombad, or lofes itfelf in rhapfody. 
His dyle in piole deferves great praife. It is eafy, 
elegant, and animated, full of variety and energy, and fo 
far idiomatic as to afford perhaps the bed l'pecimen of 
genuine Englidi. He chiefly exercifed it in the critical 
effays prefixed to many of his works. Thefe are perform¬ 
ances of extraordinary vigour and comprehenfion of 
mind, abounding in juft: thoughts beautifully elucidated, 
but written hadiiy, and without the accuracy which would 
now be required in iimilar compodtions. They are rather 
eft'ufions than regular treatifes, but bear as drong a damp 
of his own peculiar genius, as the mod elaborate of his 
poems. They greatly contributed to the progrefs of cri¬ 
tical difeernment and juft fade in this country,.which was 
only then beginning to fpeculate upon fuch topics. His 
panegyrical dedications exhibit many graces of writing, 
but the fulfomenefs of their praife mud difguft every 
reader poffefl'ed of manly fentiments. 
Dryden’s reputation has lod nothing by age, though 
fome of his pieces, once popular, are now perhaps little 
read, on account of the temporary nature of their fub- 
jedts. He is dill one of the heroes of Englidi poetry, 
which prefects fcarcely two or three names of greater 
celebrity. The prefect age pardons him as a man, and 
venerates him as a poet. 
DR Y'DEN, a military townfliip of the American States, 
the date of New York, having Ulyfles weft, and Virgil 
on the ead; and on the foutli the town of Ovvego, in 
Tioga county: eight miles from the foutli end of Cayuga 
lake. 
DRY'ER,yi That which has the quality of abforbing 
Vol. VI. No. 334. 
97 
moidure.—The ill effedts of drinking are relieved by this 
plant, which is a great dryer and opener, efpecially by 
perfpiration. Temple. 
DRY'EYED, adj. Without tears; without weeping ; 
Sight fo deform’d what heart of rock could long 
Dryr.yed behold? Adam could not, but wept. Milton, 
DRY'ING, part. adj. Making dry. 
DRY'ING,;/. [from the part.'] The adt of making dry, 
DRYLY, Without moifture. Coldly ; frigidly ; 
without affedtion : 
Wouldd thou to honour and preferments climb, 
Be bold in mifehief, dare fome mighty crime, 
Which dungeons, death, or bnnifliment deferves; 
For virtue is but dryly prais’d, and darves. Drydcn. 
Jejunely; barrenly ; without ornament or embellidiment: 
Some dryly plain, without invention’s aid, 
Write dull receipts how poems may be made. Pope. 
DRY'NESS,/. Want of moidure; fccity.—The mar¬ 
row fuppliesan oil for the inundtion of the bones and li¬ 
gaments in the articulations, and particularly of tiie liga¬ 
ments, preferving them from drynefs and rigidity, and 
keeping them fupple and flexible. Ray. 
Such was the difeord which did firft difperfe 
Form, order, beauty, through the univerfe ; 
While drynefs moidure, coldnefs heat redds, 
All that we have, and that we are, fubflfts. Denham .. 
Want of fucculence.—The difference of mufcular fleflv 
depends upon the hardnefs, tendernefs, moifture, or dry¬ 
nefs, of the fibres. Arbuthiwt .—Want of embellidiment; 
want of pathos; jejunenefs; barrennefs. — Be faithful 
where the author excels, and paraphrafe where penury 
of fancy or drynefs of exprefiion afk it. Garth. —Want of 
fenfibility in devotion ; want of ardour; aridity.—It may 
be, that by this drynefs of fpirit, God intends to make us 
the more fervent and refigned in our diredt and folemu 
devotions, by the perceiving of our weaknefs. Tayl r. 
DRY'NURSE,/! A woman who brings up and feeds a 
child without the bread. One who takes care of another: 
with fome contempt of the perfon taken care of.—Mrs. 
Qmckly is his nurfe, or his drynurfe, or his cook, or his: 
laundry, his waflier, and his wringer. Skakefpeare. 
To DRY'NURSE, v. a. To feed without the bread: 
As Romulus a wolf did rear, 
So he was drynurs'd by a bear. Iiudibras. 
DRYOPE'IA, an anniverfary day obferved at Afine in 
Argolis, in honour of Dryops, the fon of Apollo. 
DRY'OPES, a people of Greece, near Mount CEta. 
They afterwards pafled into the Peloponneftts, where 
they inhabited the towns of Afine and Hermione in Ar¬ 
golis. When they were driven from Afine by the people 
of Argos, they fettled among the Meffenians, and called 
a town by the name of their ancient habitation Afine. 
Some of their defeendants went to make a fettlement in 
Afia Minor, together with the Ionians. Herodotus. 
DRY'OPIS, or Dryopida, in ancient geography, a 
fmall country at the foot of Mount CEta in Theffaly. Its 
true fituation is not well afeertained. According to Pliny, 
it bordered on Epirus. It was for fome time in the pof- 
felfion of the Hellenes, after they were driven from Hif- 
tiaeotis by the Cadmeans. Herodotus. 
D R Y OP'T E RIS, f. in botany. See Asplenium and 
Poly podium. 
DRY'PIS, f \_cctto rov tyvirrew, Gr. from its prickly 
tearing quality. ] In botany, a genus of the clafs pentan- 
dria, order trigynia, natural order caryophyllei. The ge¬ 
neric characters arc—Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, tu¬ 
bular, half five-cleft, permanent. Corolla: petals five ; 
claws length of the calyx, narrow ; border flat; plates 
two-parted; divilioiis, linear, obtufe; throat crowned 
with the two toothlets of each petal. Stamina: fila¬ 
ments five, length of the corolla; antherte Ample, ob¬ 
long, incumbent. Piftillum : germ obovate, compreffed; 
C c ltyles 
