(In regard to Dragon Hill, according to Saxon annals, it was here that Cedric (founder of the West Saxons) slew Naud the pendragon, with 5,000 men.)

DRAGON’S TEETH.  The tale of Jason and AEetes is a repetition of that of Cadmus.

In the tale of CADMUS, we are told the fountain of Arei’a (3 syl.) was guarded by a fierce dragon.  Cadmus killed the dragon, and sowed its teeth in the earth.  From these teeth sprang up armed men called “Sparti,” among whom he flung stones, and the armed men fell foul of each other, till all were slain excepting five.

In the tale of JASON, we are told that having slain the dragon, which kept watch over the golden fleece, he sowed its teeth in the ground, and armed men sprang up.  Jason cast a stone into the midst of them, whereupon the men attacked each other, and were all slain.

DRAGONS.

AHBIMAN, the dragon slain by Mithra.—­Persian Mythology.

DAHAK, the three-headed dragon slain by Thraetana-Yacna.—­Persian.

FAFNIB, the dragon slain by Sigurd.

GRENDEL, the dragon slain by Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon hero.

LA GAGOUILLE, the dragon which ravaged the Seine, slain by St. Romain of Rouen.

PYTHON, the dragon slain by Apollo.—­Greek Mythology.

TAKASQUE (2 syl.), the dragon slain at Aix-la-Chapelle by St.
Martha.

ZOHAK, the dragon slain by Feridun (Shahndmeh).

[Illustration] Numerous dragons have no special name.  Many are denoted Red, White, Black, Great, etc..

DRAKE (Joseph Rodman), author of The Culprit Fay and The American Flag, died at the early age of twenty-five.  His elegy was written by Fitz-Green Halleck and is known as far as the English tongue is spoken.

“Green be the turf above thee, Friend of my better days!  None knew thee but to love thee, None named thee but to praise.” (1820).

DRAMA.  The earliest European drama since the fall of the Western empire appeared in the middle of the fifteenth century.  It is called La Celestina, and is divided into twenty-one acts.  The first act, which runs through fifty pages, was composed by Rodridgo Cota; the other twenty are ascribed to Ferdinando de Rojas.  The whole was published in 1510.

The earliest English drama is entitled Ralph Roister Doister, a comedy by Nicholas Udal (before 1551, because mentioned by T. Wilson, in his Rule of Reason, which appeared in 1551).

The second English drama was Gammer Gurton’s Needle, by Mr. S. Master of Arts.  Warton, in his History of English Poetry (iv. 32), gives 1551 as the date of this comedy; and Wright, in his Historia Histrionica, says it appeared in the reign of Edward VI., who died 1553.  It is generally ascribed to Bishop Still, but he was only eight years old in 1551.

Drama (Father of the French), Etienne, Jodell (1532-1573).