DAVID 



1710 



DAVIS 



David next gave his attention to strength- 

 ening the laws and the religious life of the 

 people. He brought the Ark to Jerusalem, 

 and made that city the religious as well as the 

 civil capital of the nation. He is supposed to 

 have written the Twenty-fourth Psalm at the 

 time 6f bringing up the Ark. He asked of God 

 the privilege of building a temple for His 

 worship, but because he had been a man of 

 war this was denied him. He was, however, 

 permitted to make the plans and collect much 

 of the material, which his son and successor, 

 Solomon, wrought into the magnificent Temple 

 of Jehovah (see TEMPLE). 



The Psalms. David was said to have com- 

 posed at least seventy-three of the Psalms, 

 which are still read and sung wherever the 

 Bible is known, and their influence upon the 

 Christian world is beyond estimate. He ar- 

 ranged the praise service for the sanctuary and 

 is said to have been the originator of the 

 orchestra. 



Estimate of His Character. David was the 

 greatest king of his time, and by many author- 

 ities is considered to have been the greatest 

 king the world has ever known. He was not 

 a perfect man, for, like other men, he sinned, 

 and suffered for it. But when he was con- 

 vinced of wrong-doing he, was great enough to 

 repent and obtain forgiveness. He reigned 

 forty years and prepared for the accession of 

 Solomon to the throne. This great ruler was 

 one of the ancestors of Christ, "Great David's 

 Greater Son." His farewell words to Solomon 

 embody the chief characteristics of his own 

 life "Be thou therefore strong and show thy- 

 self a man." W.F.R. 



DAVID, JACQUES Louis (1748-1825), a French 

 painter, known as the- father "of the modern 

 French school of painting. Among the cele- 

 brated paintings that he completed while 

 studying in Rome were the Death of Socrates 

 and the Oath of the Horatii. During the 

 French Revolution he was the artistic decorator 

 of the national fetes which were founded on 

 classic customs. In 1789 he completed the 

 painting of Brutus condemning his sons to 

 death, and in 1799 executed The Rape of the 

 Sabines, receiving, it is said, 100,000 francs 

 from its exhibition. He was directed by the 

 emperor in 1804 to execute four commissions, 

 and among the paintings executed in response 

 to this order, Napoleon's Coronation remains 

 distinguished. 'During the Reign of Terror he 

 was a zealous member of the Jacobin party, 

 and at the trial of King Louis XVI, sitting as 



one of the judges, he voted for his death. For 

 this act he was banished to Brussels, where he 

 died in exile in 1825. 



DA VIES, da'veez, SIR Louis HENRY (1845- 

 ), a Canadian barrister, statesman and 

 jurist, puisne judge of the Dominion Supreme 

 Court since 1901. He was born at Charlotte- 

 town, Prince Edward Island, attended the 

 Prince of Wales College in that city and 

 studied law at the Inner Temple, London, 

 England. He was called to the bar of Prince 

 Edward Island in 1867, in 1875 and 1870 was 

 leading counsel for the tenants before the 

 commission which settled the land question 

 in Prince Edward Island, and in the next 

 year was counsel for Great Britain before the 

 International Fisheries Arbitration Commis- 

 sion. Many years later, though better known 

 as a political leader, his legal ability was rec- 

 ognized by appointment to the Joint High 

 Commission which met in 1898 and 1899 for 

 the settlement of all disputes between Canada 

 and the United States. 



Sir Louis's political career began in 1869, 

 when he was for a short time solicitor-general 

 of Prince Edward Island. From 1872 to 1879 

 he was a member of the provincial assembly, 

 part of the time leader of the Liberal oppo- 

 sition, and from 1876 to 1879 was premier and 

 attorney-general. He was elected to the Do- 

 minion House of Commons in 1882, and served 

 without interruption until 1901, when he ac- 

 cepted appointment to the Supreme Court. 

 From 1896 to 1901 he was Minister of Marine 

 and Fisheries in the Laurier Ministry. In this 

 capacity he undertook several diplomatic mis- 

 sions, notably in 1896, when he went to Wash- 

 ington in the interest of reciprocity, and in 

 1897, when he was joint delegate with Sir 

 Wilfrid Laurier for the settlement of the 

 Bering Sea Controversy (which see). He was 

 created a Knight Commander of the Order of ' 

 Saint Michael and Saint George by Queen 

 Victoria in 1897. G.H.L. 



DAVIS, DAVID (1815-1886), an American 

 statesman and Supreme Court justice, the per- 

 sonal friend of Abraham Lincoln, of whose 

 estate he was executor. Davis was born in 

 Maryland. After his graduation from Kenyon 

 College, Gambier, O., he studied law, begin- 

 ning practice at Bloomington, 111. In 1844 he 

 was elected to the Illinois legislature; after 

 1848 he served as judge of the circuit court 

 for three terms, and in 1862 was appointed by 

 President Lincoln to the Supreme Court. 

 Though he usually voted with the Democrats, 



