Chapter Dragon Slayers to Drawback of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Dragon Slayers to Drawback

Dragon Slayers
   (1) St. Philip the Apostle is said to have destroyed a huge dragon at Hierapolis, in Phrygia.
   (2) St. Martha killed the terrible dragon called Tarasque at Aix (la Chapelle).
   (3) St. Florent killed a dragon which haunted the Loire.
   (4) St. Cado, St. Maudet, and St. Paul did similar feats in Brittany.
   (5) St. Keyne of Cornwall slew a dragon.
   (6) St. Michael, St. George, St. Margaret, Pope Sylvester, St. Samson (Archbishop of Dol), Donatus (fourth century), St. Clement of Metz, and many others, killed dragons.
   (7) St. Romain of Rouen destroyed the huge dragon called La Gargouille, which ravaged the Seine.

Dragon of Wantley (i.e. Warncliff, in Yorkshire). A monster slain by More, of More Hall, who procured a suit of armour studded with spikes; and, proceeding to the well where the dragon had his lair, kicked it in the mouth, where alone it was vulnerable. Dr. Percy says this dragon was an overgrown, rascally attorney, who cheated some children of their estate, but was made to disgorge by a gentleman named More, who went against him, "armed with the spikes of the law," after which the dragon attorney died of vexation. (Reliques.)

Dragon's Hill (Berkshire) is where the legend says St. George killed the dragon. A bare place is shown on the hill, where nothing will grow, and there the blood of the dragon ran out.
   In Saxon annals we are told that Cedric, founder of the West Saxon kingdom, slew there Naud, the pendragon, with 5,000 men. This Naud is called Natan-leod, a corruption of Naudan ludh (Naud, the people's refuge).

Dragon's Teeth Subjects of civil strife; whatever rouses citizens to rise in arms. The allusion is to the dragon that guarded the well of A'res. Cadmus slew it, and sowed some of the teeth, from which sprang up the men called Spartans, who all killed each other except five, who were the ancestors of the Thebans. Those teeth which Cadmus did not sow came to the possession of Æe'tes, King of Colchis; and one of the tasks he enjoined Jason was to sow these teeth and slay the armed warriors that rose therefrom.

"Citizens rising from the soil, richly sown with dragon's teeth, for the rights of their several states." - The Times.

   To sow dragons' teeth. To foment contentions; to stir up strife or war. The reference is to the classical story of Jason or that of Cadmus, both of whom sowed the teeth of a dragon which he had slain, and from these teeth sprang up armies of fighting men, who attacked each other in fierce fight. Of course, the figure means that quarrels often arise out of a contention supposed to have been allayed (or slain). The Philistines sowed dragons' teeth when they took Samson, bound him, and put out his eyes. The ancient Britons sowed dragons' teeth when they massacred the Danes on St. Bryce's Day.

Dragonades (3 syl.). A series of religious persecutions by Louis XIV., which drove many thousand Protestants out of France. Their object was to root out "heresy;" and a bishop, with certain ecclesiastics, was sent to see if the heretics would recant; if not, they were left to the tender mercies of the dragoons who followed these "ministers of peace and goodwill to man."

"France was drifting toward the fatal atrocities of the dragonade." - F. Parkman: The Old Regime, chap. ix. p.167.

Dragoons So called because they used to be armed with dragons, i.e. short muskets, which spouted out fire like the fabulous beast so named. The head of a dragon was wrought on the muzzle of these muskets.

Drake means the "duck-king." The old English word end means a duck, and end-ric becomes 'dric, drake. Similarly the German tauber-rich is a male dove, and ganse-rich, a male goose, or gander.

Drama Father of the French drama. Etienne Jodelle (1532-1573).
   Father of the Greek drama. Thespis (sixth century B.C.)
   Father of the Spanish drama. Lopë de Vega (1562-1635).

Drama of Exile (A). A poem by Elizabeth Barret Browning (1844). The exile is Eve, driven out of Paradise into the wilderness. Lucifer, Gabriel, and Christ are introduced into the poem, as well as Adam and Eve.

Dramatic Unities (The three). One catastrophe, one locality, one day. These are Aristotle's rules for tragedy, and the French plays strictly follow them.
   The French have added a fourth, one style. Hence