DRIFFIELD (or GREAT DRIFFIELD, to distinguish it from the neighbouring hamlet of Little Driffield), a, market-town of England, in. the east riding of Yorkshire, 28 miles to the east of York, and 196 miles from London by road. The town - consisting of one principal street, from which some smaller ones diverge - is agreeably situated at the foot of the Wolds, and is connected with the port of Hull by a navigable canal. It stands in the centre of a fertile agricultural district. An important corn and cattle market is held in the town every Thursday, and there are four large stock-fairs annually at Little Driffield. -Besides the parish church, a fine old edifice in different styles, the principal public buildings in Great Driffield are the places of worship for Independents, -Methodists, and Baptists, the corn exchange, the dispensary, the mechanics' institute, and the station of the Hull and Scarborough railway. Carpets, cotton, and chemical manure are manufactured in the town ; and in the neighbourhood are numerous flour-mills and mills for bone-crushing. Population in 1871, 8364.

DROGHEDA, a seaport, market-town, and municipal and parliamentary borough of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, about 4 miles from the mouth of the 13oyne, and 31i miles north of Dublin by rail. Though situated on the borders of Louth and Meath, it belongs to neither, as the town and surrounding district constitute a county- of a city. with an area, of 9 square miles, or 15780 acres. It occupies both banks of the river ; but the northern division is the larger of the two, and has received greater attention in modern times. The ancient fortifications, still extant in the beginning of the century, have almost completely dis-appeared ; but of the four gateways, one named after St Lawrence retnains comparatively perfect, and there are con-siderable ruins of another. Great improvements have been effected in the town since 1840, under the encouragement bestowed by Benjamin Whitworth, M.P., who built a, town-hall at his own expense in 1865, and furnished half the funds necessary for the construction of the water-works which now supply 800,000 gals. daily. Among the public buildings are a inansion-house or mayoralty, with a suite of assembly rooms attached ; the " Tholsel," a square building with. a cupola; a corn-market, the old linen-hall, an infirmary, a workhouse, and a prison ; five Protestant churches, five Roman Catholic chapels, three friaries, and four nunneries. St Peter's Chapel formerly served as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic archbishopric of Armagh ; and in the abbey of the Dominican nuns there is still preserved the head of Oliver Plunkett, the archbishop who was executed at Tyburn in 1681 on an unfounded charge of treason. There was at one time an archiepiscopal palace in the town, built by Arch-bishop Hampton about 1620 ; and the Dominicans, the Fran-ciscans, the Augustinians, the Carmelites, and the knights of St John had monastic establishments. Of the Dominican buildings there still exists the stately Magdalen tower ; the Franciscan friary is a striking ruin ; and there are traces more or less distinct of the Augustinian priory, the priory of St Lawrence, and the hospital of St Mary. At the head of the educational institutions is a classical school endowed by Erasmus Smith ; and among the public charities are an ahnshouse for twenty-four aged widows, and a foundation providing houses and annuities for thirty-six clergymen's widows. There is also a blue-coat school, founded about by a bridge for ordinary traffic, and by a splendid railway viaduct. Assizes, quarter sessions, and petty sessions are held in the town ; the parliamentary borough returns one member to Parliament ; and the municipal borough is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors. The of about 1100, are Roman Catholics. The inhabitants of the parliamentary burgh, which has an area of 5 785 acres, numbers 16,16 5.

In the earliest notices the town of Drogheda is called Inver-Colpa or the l'ort of Colpa ; the present name signifies " The Bridge over the Ford." In 1152 the place is mentioned as the seat of a synod convened by the papal legate, Cardinal Paparo ; in 1224 it was chosen by Lucas de Netterville, archbishop of Armagh, for the foundation of a Dominican friary ; and in 1228 the two divisions of the town received separate incorporation from Henry III. But there grew up a strong feeling of hostility between Drogheda versus Uriel, and Drogheda versus Mitliam, in consepence of trading vessels landing their cargoes in the latter or southern town, to avoid the pontage duty levied in the former or northern town. At length, after much blood had been shed in the dispute, Philip Bennett, a monk residinw in the town, succeeded by his eloquence, on t'ne festival of Corpus'Christi, 1412, in persuading the authoritios of the two corporations to send to Helm, IV. for a new charter sane tioninw their combination.

Dr oghedsa has always been considered by the English a place of much importance. In the reign of Edward. III. it was classed along with Dublin, Wo.terford, and Kilkenny, as one of the four staple towns of Ireland. Richard received in its Dominican monastery the subinissions of O'Neal, O'Donnell, and other chieftains of Ulster and 'Allister. The right of coining money was bestowed on the town, and parliaments were several times held within its walls. In the reign of Edward IV. the mayor received a sword of state, an d an annuity of i:20, in recognition of the services rendered by the inhabitants Malpus Bridge against O'Reilly ; the still gr eater honour of having a university with the same privilewes as that of Oxford remained a mere paper distinction, owing tt'o the poverty of the town and the unsettled state of the country ; and an attempt made by the corporation in modern times to resuscitate their rights proved. unsuccessful: In 1495 Poyninw's laws were enacted by a parliament held in the town. In the civil wars of 1641 the place was besieged by' O'Neal and the Northern Irish forces ; but it was gallantly defended by Sir Henry Tichbourne, and after a long blockade was relieved by the Marquis of Ormond. The same nobleman relieved it a second time, when it was invested by the Parliamentary army under Colonel Jones. In 1649 it was raptured by Cromwell, after a short though spirited defence ; and nearly every individual within its walls, without distinction of age or sex, was put to the sword. Thirty only escaped, who were afterwards transported as slaves to Barbados. In 1690 it was garrisoned by King James's army ; but after the decisive battle of the Boyne, - the site of which, about 2 miles to the west, is marked by an obelisk 150 high, - it surrendered to the conqueror without a struggle, in consequence of a threat that quarter would not be granted if the town were taken by storm. Its subsequent history is purely of local interest.