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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 66. 



No. 270. Strand ; or, carriage free, to tlie "Direcio?-s 

 of tlie same," care of JMr. FKEOERiii JNIuller, 

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With a fervent wisli that in siicli a manner, 

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 Mr. Editor, 



Your respectful servants, 

 TuE Directors of "De Naa^orscher." 

 Amsterdam, the IGth of December, 1850. 



When by the publication of " Notes ano Queries" 

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 AVe do so most gladly, for we owe them much. From 

 them it w.ts that Caxton learned the art, but for which 

 "Notes and Queries" would never have existed; 

 and of which tlie unconstrained ])ractice has, under 

 Providence, served to create our literature, to maintain 

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Heartily, therefore, do we bid God speed to " De 

 Navorscher;" and earnestly will we do all we can 

 to realise the kindly wish of our Amsterdam brethren, 

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SIR JOHN DAVIES AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS. 



Sir John Davics, the " sweet poet" and "grave 

 lawyer". — rather odd combinations by the bye, — 

 according to "Wood, was " born at Chi.^grove, in 

 the parish of Tysbury in Wiltshire, being the son 

 of a wealthy tanner of that place ! " This state- 

 ment is repeated in Cooper's Muses' Libra?-)/, p. 331 . ; 

 Nichols's Select Poems, vol. i., p. 276. ; Sir E. 

 Brydge.s's edition of Philips's T/ieatnnn Poctarum 

 1800, p. 272. ; Sir Harris Nicolas's edition of 

 Davison's Poetical Pliapsodi/, vol. i. p. cii., &e. 

 And Headley, in liis Select Beatifies of Poetry, ed. 

 1787, vol. i. p. xli., adds, "he was a man of low 

 extraction !" AVood's assertion concerningDavics's 

 parentage, was made, I believe, tipon the autho- 

 rity of Fuller; but it is undoubtedly an error, as 

 the books which i-ecord the admission of the 



younger Davies into the Society of the Middle 

 Temple, say the father was "late of New Inn, 

 genlleman." 



Mr. Robert R. Pearce, in a recent work, en- 

 titled A History of the Inns of Court and Chancery, 

 8vo. 1848, 1^.293., gives the following sketch of 

 the leading facts in the life of our " poetical law- 

 yer:"- 



" Sir John Davis, the author of Reports, and several 

 other legal works, and a poet of considerable repute, 

 was of this Society [/. e. the Middle Temple]. His 

 father was a member of New Inn, and a practi- 

 tioner of the law in Wiltshire At the Middle Temple, 

 young Davis became rather notorious for his irregu- 

 larities, and having beaten IMr. Richard Martin (also 

 a poet, and afterwards Recorder of London) in the 

 hall, he was expelled tlie house. Afterwards, through 

 the influence of Lord Cliaiic -llor Ellesmere, be was 

 restored to his position in the Middle Temple: and, in 

 ICOl, was elected a Member of the House of Com- 

 mons. In 1G03, be was appointed by King James 

 Solicitor-General in Ireland. In 1606, he was called 

 to the degree of Serjeant-at-Law ; and, in the following 

 year, was knighted by the King at Whitehall. In 

 1612, be published a book on the state of Ireland, 

 whicli is often referred to ; and soon at'terwards he was 

 appuinted King's Serjeant, and Speaker of the House 

 of Commons in Ireland. On his return to England 

 he published his reports of cases adjudged in the King's 

 Court in Ireland,- — the first reports of Irish cases made 

 public. The preface to these reports is very highly 

 esteemed. It has been said to vie with Coke in solidity 

 and learning, and equal Blackstone in classical illustra- 

 tion and elegant language. Sir John Davis died 7tb 

 of December, 1626." 



It is amusing to see how erroneous statements 

 creep into ordinary biography. Ileadley, as we 

 have just seen, calls Davies " a man of low ex- 

 traction ;" and now we find a more recent biogra- 

 pher aihling (without the shadow of an autliority), 

 " at the Middle Temple, young Davies became 

 rather notorious for his ii-regidarities ! " 



Davies's rpiarrel with Richard ]\lartin is alluded 

 to by Wood. After speaking of his admission into 

 the Middle Temple, and of his being made a 

 barrister (July, 1595), that writer adds:- — 



" But so it was tliat be [Sir Jolin Davies] being a 

 high-spirited young man, did, upon some little pro- 

 vocation or punctilio, bastinado Rich. INIartin (after- 

 wards Recorder of London) in the Common Hall of 

 the IMiddle Temiile, while he was at dinner. For 

 which act being forthwith [February, 1597-8] expell'd, 

 he retired for a time in private, lived in Oxon in the 

 condition of a sojourner, and foUow'd his studies, tho' 

 he wore a cloak. However, among his serious thoughts, 

 making reflections upon his own condition, which 

 sometimes was an affliction to him, be composed that 

 excellent philosophical and divine poem called Nosce 

 Teipsuin." 



It is not a little singular that this very Richard 

 Martin, whose chastisement is thus recorded, had 



