eyfus, 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).

DROUET, JEAN BAPTISTE, notable king-taker, a violent Jacobin and
member of the Council of the Five Hundred; had been a dragoon soldier;
was postmaster at St. Menehould when Louis XVI., attempting flight,
passed through the place, and by whisper of surmise had the progress of
Louis and his party arrested at Varennes, June 21, 1791, for which
service he received honourable me