, an English gentleman of considerable learning and genius, of the
, an English gentleman of considerable learning and genius, of the seventeenth century, was
a teacher of poetry and rhetoric in the English college at
Doway, in 1618. He was invited thither by Dr. Kellison,
the president, who was then providing professors to teach
such young men as had been drawn from the protestant religion in England, and had hitherto been educated in the
schools of the Jesuits. Drury was for some time a prisoner
in England, on account of his religion, but about 1616 was
released at the intercession of count Gondemar, the Spanish
ambassador in England, to whom he dedicated his Latin
plays. These plays, three in number, entitled “Aluredus
sive Alfretius,
” a tragi-comedy “Mors,
” a comedy;
and “Reparatus sive depositum,
” a tragi-comedy, were
printed together at Doway, in 1628, 12mo, and often reprinted. There is a copy of his “Aluredus
” in the British
Museum, printed separately, of the date 1620, 16mo.
These plays, Dodd informs us, were exhibited with great
applause, first privately, in the refectory of the college of
Doway, and afterwards in the open court or quadrangle in
the presence of the principal persons of the town and university.