621 



DAVIS, JOHN; 



DAVY, SIR HUMPHRY. 



622 



upon the same ground as De Thou in his ' Historia sui Temporis.' 

 Some critics have noticed that Davila evinces a partiality for the 

 French court, and especially for Catharine de Medici, who had been 

 his father's benefactress. The facts however stated by Davila are 

 acknowledged to be true, and he was well acquainted with them 

 through his own and his father's connection with France. He was 

 familiar with the politics of his age, and with the leading contempo- 

 rary characters. He was also well acquainted with the topography 

 of the places in which most of the events which he narrates occurred. 

 His style is graphic and animated, especially when he describes a 

 popular insurrection, a combat, or the storming of a town. His 

 account of the massacre of St. Bartholomew may be quoted as a 

 specimen. Apostolo Zeno, comparing Davila with Guicciardini, 

 observes, that whilst the prolixity of Guicoiardini in dwelling 

 minutely upon minor matters becomes wearisome to the reader, the 

 course of Davila's narrative runs on uninterrupted, adverting briefly to 

 circumstances of subordinate importance, and dwelling chiefly upon 

 those which have materially affected the interests either of religion 

 or the state. By common consent Davila is numbered among the 

 best historical writers of Italy. His work has gone through many 

 edition*, and has been translated into several languages. Apostolo 

 Zeno published a splendid edition of it in 2 vols. fol., Venice, 1733, 

 to which he has prefixed a life of tbe author. 



(Tiraboschi, Gloria delta LttUratv.ro. Italiana ; Corniani, / Secoli 

 ddlti Lflteratura Italiana.) 



DAVIS, JOHN, a celebrated navigator of the IGth century, was 

 born at Sandridge, near Dartmouth, in Devonshire, and distinguished 

 himself by three voyages for the discovery of a North-Wet Passage, 

 which he undertook between 1585 and 1587. He discovered the strait 

 which bears bis name, and sailed along the coast of Greenland as far 

 a 72' N. lat., but was not able to approach the opposite coast, on 

 account of the numerous icebergs which lined it north of the Polar 

 Circle. He afterwards made five voyages to the East Indies, and was 

 killed in the last (1605) in the Strait of Malacca, by some Japanese, 

 as it is reported. He published an account of his second voyage to 

 the north-west, and of one to the East Indies. He also wrote ' The 

 World's Hydrographical Description; wherein is proved that the 

 World, in all its Zones, Climates, and Places, is Habitable and 

 Inhabited, and the Seas likewise universally Navigable ; whereby it 

 appears that there is a short and speedy passage into the South Seas 

 to China, &c., by Northerly Navigation, to the renown, honour, and 

 benefit of her Majesty's Commonality,' 8vo, Lond., 1595; and 'The 

 Seaman's Secrets, divided into two parts; wherein is taught the three 

 kinds of Sailing, Horizontal, Paradoxal, and Sailing upon a Great 

 Circle,' Svo, Lond., 1595. 



* DAVIS, SIR JOHN FRANCIS, BART., was born in London in 

 1795. His father was a director of the East India Company; and 

 when Lord Amherst was sent ambassador to China in 1816 Mr. Davis 

 accompanied him. He subsequently succeeded Lord Napier as chief 

 superintendent at Canton. On his return to England, after a residence 

 in rhina of more than twenty years, he published, in 1836, 'The 

 Chinese : a General Description of China and its Inhabitants,' in 

 2 vols. This is undoubtedly the most valuable systematic work on 

 China that had been produced in this country. In 1841 he also 

 published ' Sketches in China,' with notices and observations on the 

 war between that country and Great Britain then proceeding. In 

 1841 Mr. Davis was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of 

 the colony of Hong-Kong, which office he held until 1847. He was 

 created a baronet in 1845, and received the civil order of Knight 

 Grand Cross of the Bath in 1854. Sir Francis Davis resides in 

 Gloucestershire, of which county he is a deputy-lieutenant. 



DAVOUT (and not DAVOUST as it is usually written), LOUIS 

 NICHOLAS, was born at Annoux in the department of the Yonne 

 (part of the former Burgundy) in the year 1770. His family was 

 noble, and he was sent to the military academy at Brienne, where 

 he was a fellow-student with Bonaparte. In 1785 he waa appointed 

 sub-lieutenant in the Royal Champagne cavalry regiment, and in 

 1790 colonel of a regiment of Yonne volunteers. He had already 

 taken the revolutionary side, and under Dumouriez at the battle of 

 Jemappe, on the 8th of November 1792, he distinguished himself 

 by his activity and boldness. After the check which Dumouriez 

 received at Neerwindcn in the following March, he began to enter into 

 negociations with the Prince of Coburg for the surrender of his army ; 

 this was suspected, and Davout formed a project for seizing him in 

 the midst of the army, which had nearly succeeded. In June 1793 

 he was nominated a general, but in consequence of the decree 

 incapacitating the nobility from active service, he was forced to resign. 

 The downfall and death of Robespierre on the 9th Thermidor (July 

 27) 1794, removed the impediment and restored Davout to his rank 

 in the army. He distinguished himself in the army of the Moselle at 

 tbe fliegt of Luxembourg, and afterwards in the army of the Rhine 

 under Pichegru ; but when Pichegru was defeated at Heidelberg in 

 1795, he evacuated Manheim, and Davout was there taken prisoner ; 

 he however soon recovered his liberty by being exchanged. In 1797 

 his prudent generalship in the passage of the Rhine, as) well as his 

 personal valour, was greatly admired, and in the campaign in Italy 

 his zt-al and activity procured him the friendship and support of 

 Bonaparte, under whom he then served. He accompanied that general 



DIV. VOL. II. 



to Egypt, where his bravery was displayed in attacking and taking 

 the village of Aboukir after the action at that place had been fought 

 against the Turks. After the convention of El-Arish, he embarked at 

 Alexandria to return to France. The vessel was captured by an 

 English frigate, and he was carried as a prisoner of war to Leghorn ; 

 but an order was sent for his release within a month. On his return 

 Bonaparte created him general of division and commander-in-chief of 

 the cavalry in the army of Italy, in which capacity he contributed to 

 the victory of Marengo. When Napoleon was declared emperor, 

 Davout was promoted to be a marshal of France, and received the 

 grand cross of the Legion of Honour with the colonelcy of the 

 Imperial Grenadier Guards. He justified these favours by his conduct 

 in the campaign of 1805, especially at the battle of Austerlitz, where he 

 commanded the right wing of the army. After the treaty of Presburg, 

 by which Austria surrendered large portions of her territory, Davout 

 remained with his division in Germany ; Prussia demanded that the 

 French troops should recross the Rhine, but instead of complying 

 with this demand, Napoleon commenced an attack on Prussia, and, 

 on October 14th, 1806, utterly routed the Prussian army at Jena, 

 while Davout on the same day defeated, by his masterly manosuvres, 

 the Duke of Brunswick at Auerstadt, though the duke's army was 

 greatly superior in numbers. For this exploit he was created Duke 

 of Auerstadt. On the breaking out of the new war withAustriaiul809, 

 he was called on to take an active part. His march through the 

 Upper Palatinate to the Danube and the taking of Ratisbon, was a 

 perilous but a successful enterprise. He was engaged at Eokmuhl, 

 and for his services there was afterwards created Prince of Eckmiihl. 

 At Aspern only one of his four divisions could engage, but at Wagram 

 he commanded the right wing, by whose movements the retreat of 

 the Austrians was mainly necessitated. After the battle he was made 

 commander in Poland. In the expedition to Russia in 1812 Davout 

 commanded one of the eleven corps of which the army was composed. 

 He was at the battle of Borodino, where he was wounded and had 

 several horses killed under him. After the disastrous retreat from 

 Moscow he fixed his head-quarters at Hamburg, which was imme- 

 diately attacked by the allies, but which he held with a tenacity and 

 defended with an ability that rendered vain all their efforts. It waa 

 not till April 1814, after the conclusion of peace, that he consented 

 to surrender the place, not to the allied generals, but to General 

 Gdrard, the bearer of orders from Louis XVIII. Davout then retired 

 to his estate at Savigny-sur-Orge. On the return of Bonaparte from 

 Elba he became minister of war, and in three months, in concert with 

 the emperor, had restored the French army to the same strength it 

 had before the events of 1814, and provided it with immense quantities 

 of military stores. After the defeat at Waterloo he received the 

 command of the army assembled under the walls of Paris, and 

 would have fought, had he not received the order of the provisional 

 government to treat with the enemy, and having signed the con- 

 vention of Paris he retired with the army beyond the Loire. He 

 made his submission to the Bourbon government on July 14, 1815, 

 and within a few days gave up the command to M arshal Macdonald. 

 When the ordonnance of July 24th waa issued proscribing Generals 

 Gilly, Grouchy, Exceluians, Clauset, &c., he wrote to Marshal Gouvion 

 de St. Cyr, then minister of war, demanding that his name should oe 

 substituted for theirs, as they had only acted by his orders ; and he 

 opposed the proceedings against Ney with much determination. For 

 a while he lived in retirement, but re-entered the chamber of peers 

 in 1819. He died on June 1, 1S23. 



Davout was unquestionably possessed of great military talents ; ho 

 was a brave soldier and a skilful general ; but his severity and firmness 

 too often became cruelty ; his rapacity was insatiable ; and the 

 extortions he exercised on those he was appointed to govern was 

 such that even Bonaparte censured him for his conduct while in 

 Poland, and his treatment of Hamburg will not speedily be forgotten. 



DAVY, SIB HUMPHRY, was born at Penzance, in Cornwall, on 

 the 17th of December 1778. His ancestors had long possessed a small 

 estate at Varfell, in the parish of Ludgvan. His father was a carver 

 in wood. At the time of his father's death Humphry was sixteen years 

 old, but his mother lived to witness the rapid progress made by her 

 son in the various departments of chemical science. In his early youth 

 he appears to have had a vivid and fertile imagination, and his brother 

 has preserved several favourable specimens of his poetic talent ; other- 

 wise he showed no great precocity of talent. Under Dr. Cardew, 

 whose school he quitted in 1793, he appears to have made considerable 

 progress in learning, but certainly not such as gave any indication of 

 his future eminence. In the beginning of 1795 he was apprenticed 

 to Mr. Borlase, a" surgeon and apothecary of Penzance, where he 

 appears to have laid down an extensive plan of study, not merely of 

 the sciences which related to his profession, but the learned languages, 

 mathematics, history, &c. Dr. Davy states that he is not able to give 

 a precise account of the nature and extent of his medical studies ; but 

 in the fourth year after ho had commenced them he was considered 

 competent by Dr. Bcddoes to take charge of an establishment which 

 he had founded at Bristol under the name of the Pneumatic Institution ; 

 this was in 1798, when he was scarcely twenty years old. In the fol- 

 lowing year Dr. Beddoes published a work, entitled ' Contributions to 

 Physical and Medical Knowledge, principally from the West of England. 

 Among these were contained ' Essays ou Heat, Light, and the Combma- 



2 M 



