mahogany came into general use, they were frequently inlaid with that wood; holly and box were also used for inlaying, most frequently in the shape of plain bands or lines. A peculiarly effective combination of oak and mahogany is found in the dressers, as in other “farmhouse furniture,” made on the borders of Staffordshire and Shropshire. The excellence of the work of this kind in that district and in the country lying west of it may perhaps explain the expression “Welsh dresser,” which is now no more than a trade term, not necessarily suggestive of the place of origin, and applied to all dressers of this type. They are most frequently found in the houses of small yeomen and substantial farmers, into which fashion penetrated slowly. The dresser is now most familiar as necessary plenishing of the kitchen, in which it is invariably a fixture. In form it is essentially identical with the movable variety, but it is usually much larger, is made of deal or other soft wood, and the superstructure has no back.
DREUX, a town of north-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Eure-et-Loir, 27 m. N.N.W. of Chartres by rail. Pop. (1906) 8209. It is situated on the Blaise, which at this point divides into several arms. It is overlooked from the north by an eminence on which stands a ruined medieval castle; within the enclosure of this building is a gorgeous chapel, begun in 1816 by the dowager duchess of Orleans, and completed and adorned at great cost by Louis Philippe. It contains the tombs of the Orleans family, chief among them that of Louis Philippe, whose remains were removed from England to Dreux in 1876. The sculptures on the tombs and the stained glass of the chapel windows are masterpieces of modern art. The older of the two hôtels-de-ville of Dreux was built in the early 16th century, chiefly by Clément Métezau, the founder of a famous family of architects, natives of the town. It is notable both for the graceful carvings of the façade and for the fine staircase and architectural details of the interior. The church of St Pierre, which is Gothic in style, contains good stained glass and other works of art. The town has a statue of the poet Jean de Rotrou, born there in 1609. Dreux is the seat of a subprefect. Among the public institutions are tribunals of first instance and of commerce, and a communal college. The manufacture of boots and shoes, metal-founding and tanning, are carried on, and there is trade in wheat and other agricultural products and poultry.
Dreux was the capital of the Gallic tribe of the Durocasses. In 1188 it was taken and burnt by the English; and in 1562 Gaspard de Coligny, and Louis I., prince of Condé, were defeated in its vicinity by Anne de Montmorency and Francis, duke of Guise. In 1593 Henry IV. captured the town after a fortnight’s siege. It was occupied by the Germans on the 9th of October 1870, was subsequently evacuated, and was again taken, on the 17th of November, by General Von Tresckow. In the 10th century Dreux was the chief town of a countship, which Odo, count of Chartres, ceded to king Robert, and Louis VI. gave to his son Robert, whose grandson Peter of Dreux, younger brother of Count Robert III., became duke of Brittany by his marriage with Alix, daughter of Constance of Brittany by her second husband Guy of Thouars. By the marriage of the countess Jeanne II. with Louis, viscount of Thouars (d. 1370), the Capetian countship of Dreux passed into the Thouars family. In 1377 and 1378, however, two of the three co-heiresses of Jeanne, Perronelle and Marguerite, sold their shares of the countship to King Charles V. Charles VI. gave it to Arnaud Amanien d’Albret, but took it back in order to give it to his brother Louis of Orleans (1407); later he gave it back to the lords of Albret. Francis of Cleves laid claim to it in the 16th century as heir of the d’Albrets of Orval, but the parlement of Paris declared the countship to be crown property. It was given to Catherine de’ Medici (1539), then to Francis, duke of Alençon (1569); it was pledged to Charles de Bourbon, count of Soissons, and through him passed to the houses of Orleans, Vendôme and Condé.
DREW, the name of a family of American actors. John Drew (1827–1862) was born in Dublin and made his first New York appearance in 1846. He played Irish and light comedy parts with success in all the American cities, and was manager of the Arch Street theatre in Philadelphia. He visited England in 1855, and Australia in 1859, and died in Philadelphia. His wife, Louise Lane Drew (1820–1897), was the daughter of a London actor, and in 1827 went to America, appearing as the Duke of York to the elder Booth’s Richard III., and as Albert to Edwin Forrest’s William Tell. After this she starred as a child actress, and then as leading lady. She had been twice married before she became Mrs Drew in 1850. From 1861 to 1892 she had the management of the Arch Street theatre in Philadelphia. In 1880 she toured with Joseph Jefferson in his elaborate revival of The Rivals, playing Mrs Malaprop to perfection. She had three children, John, Sidney and Georgiana, wife of Maurice Barrymore (1847–1905), and mother of Lionel and Ethel Barrymore, all actors. The eldest son, John Drew (b. 1853), began his stage career under his mother’s management in Philadelphia as Plumper in Cool as a Cucumber, on the 22nd of March 1873; and after playing with Edwin Booth and others, became leading man in Augustin Daly’s company in 1879. His association with this company, and with Ada Rehan as the leading lady, constituted a brilliant period in recent stage history, his Petruchio being only one, though perhaps the most striking, of a series of famous impersonations. In 1892 he left Daly’s company, and began a career as a “star.”
DREW, SAMUEL (1765–1833), English theologian, was born in the parish of St Austell, in Cornwall, on the 6th of March 1765. His father was a poor farm labourer, and could not afford to send him to school long enough even to learn to read and write. At ten he was apprenticed to a shoemaker, and at twenty he settled in the town of St Austell, first as manager for a shoemaker, and in 1787 began business on his own account. He had already gained a reputation in his narrow circle as a keen debater and a jovial companion, and it is said that he had several smuggling adventures. He was first aroused to serious thought in 1785 by a funeral sermon preached over his elder brother by Adam Clarke. He joined the Methodists, was soon employed as a class leader and local preacher, and continued to preach till a few months before his death. His opportunities of gaining knowledge were very scanty, but he strenuously set himself to make the most of them. It is stated that an accidental introduction to Locke’s great essay determined the ultimate direction of his studies. In 1798 the first part of Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason was put into his hands; and in the following year he made his first appearance as an author by publishing his Remarks on that work. The book was favourably received, and was republished in 1820. Drew had begun to meditate a greater attempt before he wrote his Remarks on Paine; and, encouraged by the antiquary John Whitaker, he published his Essay on the Immateriality and Immortality of the Soul in 1802. This work made the “Cornish metaphysician,” as he was called, widely known, and for some time it held a high place in the judgment of the religious world as a conclusive argument on its subject. A fifth edition appeared in 1831. Drew continued to work at his trade till 1805, when he entered into an engagement with Dr Thomas Coke, a prominent Wesleyan official, which enabled him to devote himself entirely to literature. In 1809 he published his Essay on the Identity and General Resurrection of the Human Body, perhaps the most original of his works, which reached a second edition in 1822. In 1814 he completed a history of Cornwall begun by F. Hitchins. In 1819 he removed to Liverpool, being appointed editor of the Imperial Magazine, then newly established, and in 1821 to London, the business being then transferred to the capital. Here he filled the post of editor till his death, and had also the supervision of all works issued from the Caxton Press. He was an unsuccessful competitor for the Burnett prize offered in 1811 for an essay on the existence and attributes of God. The work which he then wrote, and which in his own judgment was his best, was published in 1820, under the title of An Attempt to demonstrate from Reason and Revelation the Necessary Existence, Essential Perfections, and Superintending Providence of an Eternal Being, who is the Creator, the Supporter, and the Governor of all Things (2 vols. 8 vo). This procured him the degree of M.A. from the university of Aberdeen.
