DRELINCOURT, a French Protestant divine, born at Sedan; author of “Consolations against the Fear of Death” (1595-1669).

DRENTHE (137), a province of Holland lying between Hanover and the Zuyder Zee; the soil is poor, and the population sparse.

DRESDEN (250), the capital of Saxony, on the Elbe, 116 m.  SE. of Berlin; a fine city, with a museum rich in all kinds of works of art, and called in consequence the “Florence of Germany”; here the Allies were defeated by Napoleon in 1813, when he entered the city, leaving behind him 30,000 men, who were besieged by the Russians and compelled to surrender as prisoners of war the same year.

DREYFUS, L’AFFAIRE.  On 23rd December 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, an Alsatian Jew, captain of French Artillery; was by court-martial found guilty of revealing to a foreign power secrets of national defence, and sentenced to degradation and perpetual imprisonment; he constantly maintained his innocence, and, in time, the belief that he had been unjustly condemned became prevalent, and a revision of the trial being at length ordered, principally through the exertions of Colonel Picquart and Zola, the well-known author, Dreyfus was brought back from Cayenne, where he had been kept a close prisoner and cruelly treated, and a fresh trial at Rennes began on 6th August 1899, and lasted till 9th September; the proceedings, marked by scandalous “scenes,” and by an attempt to assassinate one of prisoner’s counsel—­disclosed an alarmingly corrupt condition of affairs in some lines of French public life under the Republic of the time, and terminated in a majority verdict of “guilty”; M. Dreyfus was set at liberty on 20th September, the sentence of ten years’ imprisonment being remitted; b. 1860.

DREYSE, NICHOLAUS VON, inventor of the needle-gun, born at Soemmerda, near Erfurt, the son of a locksmith, and bred to his father’s craft; established a large factory at Soemmerda for a manufactory of firearms; was ennobled 1864 (1787-1867).

DROGHEDA (11), a seaport in co.  Louth, near the mouth of the Boyne, 32 m.  N. of Dublin, with manufactures and a considerable export trade; was stormed by Cromwell in 1649 “after a stout resistance,” and the garrison put to the sword; surrendered to William III. after the battle of the Boyne in 1690.

DROMORE, a cathedral town in co.  Down, Ireland, 17 m.  SW. of Belfast, of which Jeremy Taylor was bishop.

DROOGS, steep rocks which dot the surface of Mysore, in India, and resemble hay-ricks, some of these 1500 ft. high, some with springs on the top, and scalable only by steps cut in them.

DROSTE-HUeLSHOFF, FRAULEIN VON, a German poetess, born near Muenster; was of delicate constitution; wrote tales as well as lyrics in record of deep and tender experiences (1797-1848).