Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/261

DRAYTON DREAM 253 DRAYTON, Michael, an English poet, born in Hartshill, Warwickshire, in 1563, died in 1631. His life is involved in obscurity, and various unauthentic accounts of him are given. He is supposed to have studied at Cambridge. In 1626 he was poet laureate. He found patrons in Sir Walter Aston and the earl of Dorset, but he never became wealthy or powerful, though respected for his virtues and talent. It is not easy to discover the order of his va- rious poems, some of which were published without date. The best known is his "Poly- olbion," a descriptive poem on England, her legends, antiquities, and productions, the first 18 books of which were published in 1613, and the whole 30 in 1622. Among his other works are "The Harmony of the Church, con- taining the spiritual Songs and holy Hymns of godly Men, Patriarchs, and Prophets " (4to, 1591, only one copy of which edition is known to exist,' and 8vo, London, 1843, edited by Dyce); "Idea, the Shepherd's Garland, and Rowland's Sacrifice to the Nine Muses " (4to, 1593), the second of which was reissued under the title of "Pastorals;" " Morthneriados " (4to, 1596), reprinted under the title of "The Barons' Wars ;" " England's Heroical Epistles " (8vo, 1598) ; " The Legend of Great Cromwell" (4to, 1607); "Ballad of Agincourt" (folio, 1627) ; " The Muses' Elysium " (4to, 1630) ; nu- merous legends, sonnets, &c., mostly printed in collections ; and " Nymphidia, the Court of Fairy," edited by Sir E. Brydges (Kent, 1814). The last is one of his most admirable produc- tions. His historical poems are dignified, full of fine descriptions, and rich in true poetic spirit, and his " Poly-olbion " is moreover so accurate as to be quoted as authority by an- tiquaries. Notes to the first portion of it were written by Selden. He was buried in West- minster abbey, where a monument was erected to his memory. An edition of his works, with a historical essay on his life and writings, was published in 1752-'3 (4 vols. 8vo, London). DRAYTON, William Henry, an American states- man, born at Drayton hall, on Ashley river, S. C., in September, 1742, died in Philadelphia in September, 1779. He was educated in Eng- land at Westminster school, and at Balliol col- lege, Oxford. Returning to America in 1764, he became an active writer on political affairs, on the side of the government. In 1771, after revisiting England, he was appointed privy councillor for the province of South Carolina ; but as the revolutionary crisis approached he espoused the popular cause. In 1774 he was appointed judge of the province, and when the continental congress was about to sit he pub- lished a pamphlet under the signature of "A Freeman," which substantially marked out the line of conduct pursued by that body. Sus- pended from his offices under the crown, he was made a member of the popular committee of safety, and was prominent in advising the seizure of the provincial arsenals and British mails. In 1775 he was president of the pro- vincial congress, and in 1776 was elected chief justice of South Carolina. He soon after de- livered a charge to the grand jury on the ques- tion of independence, which was published throughout the colonies and had great influ- ence. He had produced several other political charges and pamphlets, when in 1778 he was elected a delegate to the continental congress, of which he was a prominent member till his death. He left a minute narrative of the pre- liminary and current events of the revolution, which was prepared for the press and published by his son, Gov. John Drayton (2 vols. 8vo, Charleston, 1821). DREAM, the thoughts or series of thoughts which occupy the mind during sleep. Locke expresses the opinion that we do not always think when we sleep ; but most modern philos- ophers, following PJato and the Platonists, are agreed that the mind is never dormant, but that consciousness continues uninterruptedly during sleep. Leibnitz rejects Locke's position, and Kant maintains that we always dream when asleep ; that to cease to dream would be to cease to live, and that those who fancy they have not dreamed have only forgotten their dream. Sir William Hamilton argues that the mind is never wholly inactive, and that we are never entirely unconscious of its activity. He quotes from Joufiroy as follows : " I have never well understood those who admit that in sleep the mind is dormant. When we dream, we are assuredly asleep, and assuredly also our mind is not asleep, because it thinks; it is therefore manifest that the mind frequently wakes when the senses are in slumber. But this does not prove that it never sleeps along with them. To sleep is for the mind not to dream ; and it is impossible to establish the fact that there are in sleep moments in which the mind does not dream. To have no recollection of our dreams does not prove that we have not dreamed ; for it can often be proved that we have dreamed, although the dream has left no trace on our memory." Dreams, no less than our waking thoughts, are dependent on the laws of association, and the senses may be con- sidered as the media through which the spirit within is brought into contact with the exter- nal world. Although in sleep the senses gen- erally are torpid, some of them continue to transmit to the mind imperfect sensations which they receive. Of the five external senses, sight is the least excitable during sleep ; and next in order, in proportion to their degree of excita- bility, come taste, smell, hearing, and touch; the last being the most excitable, and causing or modifying dreams oftener than any of the others. Dr. Gregory, having applied a bottle of hot water to his feet on going to bed, dream- ed that he was making a journey to Mount Etna, and found the heat insufferable. Dr. Reid, having had a blister put upon his head, dreamed that he was scalped by Indians. M. Giron de Buzereingues made a series of ex- periments to test how far he could determine