6i8 D A V 
him. According to other authors, his father-in-law, who 
had been bribed by a promife of ten thoufand crowns, 
invited him to a flipper, where he plied him with wine 
until lie was intoxicated, when he cut off his head, and 
lent it to the king. 
DA'VID, or Davides, (Francis), a learned Unita¬ 
rian divine in the fixteenth century, and a native of Hun¬ 
gary. We are not able to point out the place of his 
birth, nor the feminaries in which he received his edu¬ 
cation. His natural abilities and ingenuity were very 
refpeftable, and were fo well improved by a courfe of 
laborious Andy, that he became an able difputant, and 
celebrated for his intimate acquaintance with the facred 
writings. According to Moreri, lie was in early life a 
catholic, and employed his talents in oppoling the pro- 
grefs of Calvinifm in Tranfylvania. Afterwards he be¬ 
came a convert to the Lutheran faith, which he quitted 
for that of the reformed church. By the perfuafions of 
the celebrated phyfician and divine, George Blandrata, 
lie is reported to have renounced the Calviniftic doc¬ 
trines, and to have embraced the principles of the Soci- 
nians. It is at lead certain, that he accompanied Blan¬ 
drata to the court of Sigifmund, prince of Tranfylvania, 
where their united efforts were the means of propagating 
the Unitarian doCtrine throughout a confiderable part of 
the principality. Francis David was chofen fuperin- 
tendant of the different churches' of that fedt that were 
formed in Tranfylvania. But the harmony between thofe 
Unitarian miflionaries was not of long duration. David 
held fome notions, which approach more nearly to Ju- 
daifna than to Chriftianity, and occalioned him and his 
difciples to be called femijudaizers. He was at length 
lufpended from his miniftry, and thrown into prifon, 
where he languifhed for fome years until his death, in 
1579, at a very advanced age. He was the author of, 
1. A Letter to the Churches of Poland, on the fubjefct 
of ChriA’s Reign of a thoufand Years upon earth, 1670. 
2. De Dualitate Traclatus ; and feveral ingenious treatifes, 
theles, replies, &c. in his controverfy with Blandrata 
and Socinus, all written in the Latin language. 
DA'VID’s DAY (St.), the fir ft of March, kept in 
honour of St. David, bifliop of Minevy in Wales, at 
which time the Welth wear leeks in their hats, in com¬ 
memoration of a lingular victory obtained by them, un¬ 
der the conduct of St. David, over the Saxons ; they, by 
his directions, wearing leeks as a mark of diltinCtion. 
DA'VID’s POINT, a cape on the north coaft of the 
ifland of Grenada. Lat. 12. 20. N. Ion. 61.26.W. Green¬ 
wich. 
DA'VID’s TOWN, a town of the American States, 
on the AUanpink river, Hunterdon county, New Jerfey, 
twelve miles from Trenton. Between thefe towns a boat 
navigation has been opened by means of three locks, 
ereCted at a conliderablc expence. 
DA'VIDISTS, Davidici,/. or David Georgians, 
a fedt of heretics, the adherents of David George, 
a native of Delft, who, in 1525, proclaimed himfelf to 
be the true meffiah. He is laid to have denied the ex- 
jfience of angels, good and evil, and to have oppoled the 
dodtrine of a future judgment. He rejected marriage 
with the Adamites; held,.with Manes, that the foul was 
not defiled by lin ; and laughed at felf-denial. He made 
liis efcape from Delft, and retired firft into Frefland, and 
then to Bafil, where he changed his name, affuming that 
of John Brack, and died in 1556. He left fome difciples, 
to whom he promifed that he would rife again at the end 
of three years. Nor was he altogether a falfe prophet; 
for the magiftrates of that city, being informed of what 
he had taught, ordered him to be dug up and burnt, to¬ 
gether with his writings. 
DAVIDO'VA, a lake of Rufiia, in the government of 
Tobol(k : 208 miles north-north-eaft of Turuchanlk. 
DAVIDO'VA, a town of Ruffian Siberia, on the Lena, 
in the government of Irkutfch ; twenty-four miles 1101th- 
iiorth-weff of Vercholenfk. 
a 
D A V 
DAVIDO'VA, a town of Ruffian Siberia, in the go¬ 
vernment of Irkutfch, on the Kirenga : fixty miles fouth 
of Kirenfk. 
DA'VIDSON, a county of the American States, in 
Mero diflriCt in Tenneffee, bounded north by the Hate of 
Kentucky, eafl: by Sumner, and fouth by the Indian ter¬ 
ritory. Its chief town Nalhville, lies on the great bend 
of Cumberland river. 
DA'VIES (John), a learned Welfli divine, well verfed 
in the hiltory and language of his country, was a native 
of Denbighfhire, and educated by Wiliiam Morgan, after¬ 
wards bilhop of St. A'faph. In 1589, lie was entered a 
Undent in Jefus college, Oxford, where he took his firft 
degree in arts in 1593. He afterwards retired into the 
country to ftudy divinity, and, being admitted into or¬ 
ders, was inducted into the reCtory of Malloyd, or Main- 
lloyd, in Merionethlhire. In 160S, he became a member 
of Lincoln college, Oxford; and, in 1616, took the de¬ 
gree of doCtor in divinity. His character was held in 
high eftimation among the academicians, for the profi¬ 
ciency which he made in the Greek and Hebrew lan¬ 
guages, the exaCtnefs of his critical talents, and the in¬ 
timacy of his acquaintance with ancient writings, and 
curious and rare authors. His works are: 1. Antiques 
Lingua Britannica nunc communiter diBa Cambro-Britannica , 
a fuis Cymraca, vel Cambrica, ab aliis Wallica rudimenta , C 3 c. 
1621, 8vo. 2. DiBionarium Britannico-Latinum, 1632, folio; 
with which is printed, 3. DiBionarium Lat.ino-Britannicum t 
left in an unfiiiiflied ftate by Dr. Thomas Williams, a 
phyfician, in 1600, and completed by Dr. Davies. 4. 
Adagia Britannica, and, 5. Aut'iorum Britannicorum Nomina 
& quando floruerunt, 1632, both printed at the end of the 
dictionary above-mentioned ; and, 6. Adagiorum Britanni~ 
corum Specimen, which is preferved among the manufcripts 
of the Bodleian library. He alfo affilted William Mor¬ 
gan and Richard Parry, fucceliive bifhops of LandafF, in 
making that veriion of the Welfli Bible which was pub- 
liflied in 1620. 
DA'VIES, (fir John), an eminent poet, lawyer, and 
political writer, born in 1570, at Chifgrove, in Wiltfliire. 
He received his education at Queen’s college, Oxford, 
whence he removed to the Middle Temple for the pur- 
fuit of legal ftudies. His abilities, which were early 
confpicuous, were attended with a turbulence of difpo- 
fitiOn, which rendered him the fubjeCt of fines and other 
cenfures. Pie was, however, called to the bar in 1395 > 
but, upon a violence he offered in the public hall to 
Richard Martin, afterwards recorder of London, who 
had given him fome offence, he was expelled from the 
fociety of the Middle Temple. He retired to Oxford, 
and there, in the condition of a fojourner, devoted his 
time to the mufes, and ftudied to correct the faults of 
his temper. Affliction lent her aid to his reformation ; 
and he thus, in his poem intitled Ntfce Teipfum , acknow¬ 
ledges her favour: 
This miflrefs lately, pluck’d me by the ear, 
And many a golden lelfon hath me taught; 
Hath made my fenfes quick, and reafon clear; 
Reform’d my will, and reCtify’d my thought. 
He endeavoured to ingratiate himfelf with the court, 
by writing, under the title of Hymns of Aflraea, twenty- 
fix acroltics in honour of queen Elizabeth, very adula¬ 
tory, but in poetry much fuperior to the generality of 
thofe-compofitions. Thefe pieces excited fome notice; 
and, in 1599, he completely efiablilhed his reputation, 
not only as a poet, but as a folid ferious thinker, by his 
Nofce TeipJ'um ; or, Poem on the Immortality of the Soul. 
This piece, written in elegiac ftanzas, merits a confpi¬ 
cuous place in the poetry of that age. Its language and 
verfification are fuch as may almolt fatisfy a modern ear. 
In the argumentative parts it is remarkably clear, as well 
as flrong and concife ; and though, from the didaCtic na¬ 
ture of the fubjeCt, it is not diflinguiflied by the higher 
flights of poetry, it is^ however, confiderably adorned 
with 
