DAVID DAVIDSON. 



603 



but little hope of escaping alive, he composed the 

 third book or Gondibert. In October, 1650, he was 

 removed to London for trial before the high commis- 

 sion court. His life is said to have been preserved 

 by the interposition of Milton. There is a corre- 

 sponding tradition, that Davenant repaid the good of- 

 lices of Milton, by protecting the republican poet 

 after the restoration. After two years' imprisonment, 

 Sir William was set at liberty, when, with the con- 

 nivance of those in power, he set on foot, in the me- 

 tropolis, a species of dramatic entertainments. On 

 the return of Charles II. to England, the stage was 

 re-established with renewed splendour, and Davenant 

 became patentee of a theatre in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. 

 He continued to employ his pen and his talents as a 

 til eatrical writer and manager till his death, wliich 

 took place April 17, 1668. Gondibert, the principal 

 production of this writer, was never finished. It con- 

 tains some truly poetical passages, but is, upon the 

 whole, possessed of too little interest to require any 

 particular notice. 



DAVID, king of Israel, the youngest son of Jesse, 

 an inhabitant oi Bethlehem, of the tribe of Judah, 

 distinguished himself by his prudence, courage, and 

 exploits, particularly by liis combat with Goliath, the 

 gigantic Philistine ; so that Samuel, the high priest, 

 anointed and consecrated him, as king, during the 

 life of Saul. At home, he tended his father's flocks, 

 and was instructed in the knowledge of that period, 

 and in music. Saul, who regarded him as his enemy, 

 persecuted him ; and thus arose a civil war, which 

 continued till the death of Saul. David then ascended 

 the throne of Judah, but the remaining tribes had 

 chosen Saul's son Ishbosheth for their king, after 

 whose death David came into possession of the whole 

 kingdom, which he governed from 1055 till 1015 

 years B. C. -His first expedition was against the 

 Jebusites, who dwelt in the centre of Palestine. He 

 conquered the citadel Zion, and made Jerusalem 

 his residence, and the citadel the abode of the Most 

 High. He then reduced the Philistines, Amalekites, 

 Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, aud especially the 

 Syrians. His kingdom now extended from the Eu- 

 phrates to the Mediterranean, and from Phoenicia to 

 the Arabian gulf, and contained more than 5,000,000 

 inhabitants. He promoted navigation and commerce, 

 and endeavoured to refine his people by the cultiva- 

 tion of the arts, especially that of architecture. He 

 built at Jerusalem a palace for himself, and made the 

 worship of God more splendid, by the appointment of 

 sacred poets and singers. The magnificent temple 

 which he Jiad projected was completed by his son and 

 successor. He himself carried lyric poetry to the 

 highest perfection, which it had ever reached among 

 the Israelites, by his Psalms (q. v.). He also improved 

 the military, judicial, and financial systems. The ar- 

 dour of his temperament led him, however, to the 

 commission of several cruelties, for which his repent- 

 ance was not able to atone ; and jealousy among 

 his sons by different mothers, at length gave rise to 

 rebellion in his own family. His son Absalom sought 

 to dethrone him, and made war upon him with this 

 design, but unsuccessfully. He left the flourishing 

 kingdom of Israel to his son Solomon. The crimes 

 of David the Scriptures do not extenuate, but they 

 represent him as having endeavoured to atone for 

 them by repentance. His advice to his son, on his 

 death-bed, seems to leave a dark stain upon his 

 memory, though commentators have endeavoured to 

 put a favourable construction upon it. 



DAVID, JACQUES Louis, the founder and greatest 

 painter of the modern French school, which he 

 brought back to the study of nature. David was 

 born at Paris in 1750, and went, in 1774, to Rome, 

 where he devoted himself particularly to historical 



painting. His talents for this species of painting soon 

 displayed themselves. He visited Rome a second 

 time in 1784, and finished his masterpiece, the Oath 

 of the Horatii, which Louis XVI. had commissioned 

 him to design from a scene in the Horaces of Cor- 

 neille. Connoisseurs declared that this piece was un- 

 equalled, and breathed the spirit of a Raphael. In 

 the same year, he painted his Belisarius; in 1787, the 

 Death of Socrates ; and, in 1788, Paris and Helen. 

 His reputation was now very great in Paris, and hav- 

 ing begun to be distinguished as a portrait painter 

 also, he might have enjoyed a tranquil and brilliant 

 career, if he had not taken an active part in the revo- 

 lution. Seized with an ardent zeal for liberty, he 

 finished, in 1789, a large painting, representing Bru- 

 tus condemning his sons to death. He also furnished 

 the designs of the numerous monuments and repub- 

 lican festivals of that time. In 1792, he was chosen 

 an elector in Paris ; afterwards a deputy in the na- 

 tional convention ; and, during the reign of terror, 

 he was one of the most zealous Jacobins, and wholly 

 devoted to Robespierre. He proposed to erect a 

 colossal monument of the nation, on the Pont-Neuf, 

 from the materials of the king's statue. At the trial 

 of Louis XVI., he voted for his death. In January, 

 1794, he presided in the convention. After the fail 

 of Robespierre, he was in great danger, and his re- 

 putation as a painter alone preserved him from the 

 guillotine. Among the scenes of the revolution 

 which David strove to immortalize by his pencil 

 are the murders of Marat and Lepelletier, and par- 

 ticularly the oath in the tennis court, and the entrance 

 of Louis into the national assembly, February 4, 

 which, in 1790, he presented to the legislative assem- 

 bly. In 1799, he executed the Rape of the Sabine 

 Women (the masterpiece of his genius), from the 

 exhibition of which he received, as it is said, 100,000 

 francs. In 1804, the emperor appointed him his 

 first painter, and directed him to execute four pieces, 

 among which the Coronation of Napoleon was parti- 

 cularly distinguished. Among his finest works of 

 this period were many representations of the em- 

 peror ; particularly tliat in which the first consul was 

 represented on horseback, on mount Bernard, point- 

 ing out to his troops the path to glory. This piece 

 is now in Berlin. In 1814. David painted Leoni- 

 das, his last painting in Paris. When Napoleon 

 returned from Elba, he appointed David a comman- 

 der of the legion of honour. After the second 

 restoration of Louis XVIII., he was included in the 

 decree which banished all regicides from France. He 

 then established himself at Brussels ; and, upon the 

 new organization of the institute, he was excluded 

 from this body, in April, 1816. In Brussels, he 

 painted Cupid leaving the arms of Psyche. The 

 latest of his productions Venus, Cupid, and the 

 Graces, disarming Mars which he finished at Brus- 

 sels in 1824, was much admired at Paris. David 

 died in exile, at Brussels, Dec. 29, 1825. The 

 opinions of the merits of this artist are various ; but 

 the praise of correct delineation and happy colour- 

 ing is universally conceded to him. He found, in 

 the history of his time, in the commotions of which 

 he took an active part, the materials of his represen- 

 tations. The engraver Moreau has immortalized 

 the best of his works, by his excellent engravings. 

 The most celebrated of his paintings, as the Oath ot 

 the Horatii and the Rape of the Sabine Women, 

 have been purchased by the French government, 

 and placed in the gallery of the Luxembourg. 



DAVIDSON, LUCRETIA MARIA ; a remarkable 

 instance of early genius, was' born at Plattsburg, on 

 lake Champlain, Sept. 27, 1808. When she was 

 only four years old, a number of her little books 

 were found filled with rude drawings, and accompa- 



