Chapter Driver of Europe to Dry-as-Dust of D by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Drury Lane (London), takes its name from the Drury family. Drury House stood on the site of the present Olympic Theatre.

Druses (Return of the). The Druses, a semi-Mohammedan sect of Syria, b eing attacked by Osman, t ake refuge in one of the Sporadês, and place themselves under the protection of the knights of Rhodes. These knights slay their sheiks and oppress the fugitives. In the sheik massac re, Djabal is saved by Maäni, and entertains the idea of revenging his people and leading them back to Syria. To this end he gives out that he is Hakeem, the incarnate god, returned to earth, and soon becomes the leader of the exiled Druses. A plot is formed to murder the prefect of the isle, and to betray the island to Venice, if Venice will supply a convoy for their return. Aneal , a young woman, stabs the prefect, and dies of bitter disappointment when she discovers that Djabal is a mere impostor. Djabal stabs himself when his imposition is made public, but Loys , a Breton count, leads the exiles back to Lebanon.—R. Browning: The Return of the Druses.

N.B.—Historic ally, the Druses, to the number of 160,000 or 200,000, sett led in Syria, between Djebail and Saïde, but their original seat was Egypt. They quitted Egypt from p ersecution, led by Darazi or Durzi, from whom the name Druseis derived. The founder of the sect was the hakêm B’amr-ellah (eleventh century), believed to be incarnate deity, and the last prophet who communicated between God and man. From this founder the head of the sect was called the hakêm, his residence being Deir-el-Kamar. During the thirteenth or fourteenth century the Druses were banished from Syria, and lived in exile in some of the Sporidês, but were led back to Syria early in the fifteenth century by count Loys de Deux, a new convert. Since 1588 they have been tributaries of the sultan.

What say you does this wizard style himself—
Hakeem Biamrallah, the Third Fatimite?
What is this jargon? He the insane prophet,
Dead near three hundred years?
   —R. Browning: The Return of the Druses.

Dryas or Dryad, a wood-nymph, whose life was bound up with that of her tree. (Greek, druaV, druadoV.)

“The quickening power of the soul, like Martha, “is busy about many things,” or like “a Dryas living in a tree.”—Sir J. Davies: Immortality of the Soul, xii.

Dry-as-Dust (The Rev. Doctor), an hypothetical person whom sir W. Scott makes use of to introduce some of his novels by means of prefatory letters. The word is a synonym for a dull, prosy, plodding historian, with great show of learning, but very little attractive grace.