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 244 DRAKE elector John Frederick, in Jena (1858) ; one of Prince Malte-Putbus, in Rtigen (1859) ; one of Melanchthon, in Wittenberg ; the colossal eques- trian statue of Frederick William III., in Co- logne (1864); and the statue of Schinkel, in Berlin (1869). DRAKE, Joseph Rodman, an American poet, born in New York, Aug. 7, 1795, died there, Sept. 21, 1820. He lost his father in early life, and with three sisters struggled against adversity. He studied medicine, and shortly after taking his degree in 1816 married a daughter of Henry Eckford, the eminent ship builder, which placed him in affluence. James Fenimore Cooper and Fitz-Greene Halleck were among his most intimate associates, and a conversation between them as to the poeti- cal uses of American rivers, in the absence of historical associations such as belong to the streams of the old world, was the occasion of Drake's longest and most imaginative poem, "The Culprit Fay," written in August, 1816. He travelled in Europe in 1818, and during his tour addressed several witty poetical epistles to his friend Halleck. In 1819 Drake and Halleck formed a literary partnership, and contributed, under the various signatures of " Croaker," " Croaker, Jr.," and " Croaker & Co.," many effective and amusing verses to the New York " Evening Post." The " Croakers " were collected and included in an edition of Halleck's poems published in 1869. Drake's health failing, he passed the winter of 1819-'20 in New Orleans. But the progress of con- sumption could not be arrested, and a few months after his return to New York he died at his residence in Park row, and was buried at Hunt's Point in Westchester county. His death called forth a beautiful poetical tribute from Fitz-Greene Halleck. In 1835 a volume of Drake's poetry, including his most popular poem, "The American Flag," was published in New York by his only daughter, Mrs. Janet Halleck De Kay. No American poet, with the exception of Bryant, has attained an equally early maturity of poetic genius. Almost all of his poems, including " The Culprit Fay," were written before he was 21, while several were produced at the age of 16. DRAKE, Nathan, an English physician and miscellaneous writer, born in York in 1Y66, died at Hadleigh, Suffolk, June 7, 1836. He was educated at the university of Edinburgh, and practised his profession in Hadleigh from 1792 till his death, during which time he was a frequent contributor to literary and medical periodicals. His works are numerous; they include "Shakespeare and his Times" (2 vols. 4to, London, 1817), and many volumes of es- says, criticisms, and illustrations of the writings of the age of Queen Anne. DRAKE, Samuel Gardner, an American author, born at Pittsfield, N. H., Oct. 11, 1798. He was educated at the common schools of the neigh- borhood, and between the ages of 20 and 27 was a district school teacher. He removed to Bos- DRAMA ton, and in 1828 established an antiquarian book store, the first of its class in the United States. In 1825 his literary and antiquarian labors commenced with the republication with notes of Church's "Entertaining History of King Philip's War," of which several editions have since appeared. In 1833 he reprinted five old tracts, which, with the preceding work, com- prise in his opinion all that can be recovered in relation to King Philip's war. In 1832 ap- peared his "Indian Biography," and in 1833 the "Book of the Indians, or History and Bi- ography of the Indians of North America," a work of high authority for facts, and of which the llth edition, much enlarged, appeared in 1851. His remaining publications on Indian history are "Old Indian Chronicles" (1836), " Indian Captivities " (1839), " Tragedies of the Wilderness" (1841), " Introduction and Notes to Hubbard's Indian Wars" (2 vols., 1865), "The old Indian Chronicle " (a new series, 1867), and " History of the Five Years' French and Indian War" (1870). Among his important contribu- tions to American history are a "Memoir of Sir Walter Raleigh" (1862), "Introduction and Notes to Mather's Relation" (1862), and "Annals of Witchcraft in the United States" (1869). Mr. Drake was one of the founders of the New England historical and genealogical society, its president in 1858, and for many years editor of its quarterly "Register." In 1858-'60 he resided in London. His son, FRANCIS S. DEAKE, published in 1872 a "Dic- tionary of American Biography " (1 vol. 8vo, Boston; new ed., 1874). DRAMA (Gr. dpa/m, from <5p?v, to do or act), a story represented by action. The principle of imitation is inherent in human nature ; paint- ing, sculpture, and the drama must be coeval with society, and have been practised in some form by almost every nation. Among the South sea islanders a rude kind of drama was discovered. In China the drama dates from remote ages. The war dance of the Indian and the African, intermingled with pantomi- mic descriptions of the preparations for battle, the stealthy advance upon the foe, the combat, and the death of the enemy, is essentially a dramatic exhibition. But that form of the drama which is accepted and followed in Eu- rope, divided chiefly into tragedy and comedy, was the creation of the ancient Greeks. The religious festivals of Bacchus were believed to have been introduced into Greece by Melarn- pus. In the Bacchic ritual an ode in honor of the god was recited ; and to produce the best ode, which should be selected by the priests to be inserted into their ceremony, be- came a favorite contest among the poets. A goat was either the principal sacrifice at the al- tar, or the prize awarded to the successful com- petitor; thus from the two words rpayof, goat, and <(?#, song, came the Greek Tpayvdia, tragedy (literally, goat song). In like manner, at the rus- tic festivals or harvest homes of the Greeks, semi-religious ceremonies, composed of odes