DAVIDSON, SAMUEL, biblical scholar and exegete, born near Ballymena; wrote Introductions to the Old and the New Testaments; was pioneer in the higher criticism (1807-1898).

DAVIES, BEN, a popular tenor vocalist, born near Swansea in 1858.

DAVIES, SIR JOHN, poet and statesman, born in Wiltshire; wrote two philosophic poems, “The Orchestra,” a poem in which the world is exhibited as a dance, and “Nosce Teipsum” (Know Thyself), a poem on human learning and the immortality of the soul; became a favourite with James I., and was sent Attorney-General to Ireland (1569-1626).

DAVILA, a celebrated historian, born near Padua, brought up in France; served in the French army under Henry IV.; did military and other service in Venice; was assassinated; his great work “The History of the Civil War in France” (1576-1631).

DAVIS, JEFFERSON, President of the Confederate States, born in Kentucky; entered the army; fought against the Indians; turned cotton-planter; entered Congress as a Democrat; distinguished himself in the Mexican war; defended slave-holding and the interests of slave-holding States; was chosen President of the Confederate States; headed the conflict with the North; fled on defeat, which he was the last to admit; was arrested and imprisoned; released after two years; retired into private life, and wrote a “History of the Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government” (1808-1889).

DAVIS, JOHN, an English navigator, born near Dartmouth; took early to the sea; conducted (1585-1587) three expeditions to the Arctic Seas in quest of a NW. passage to India and China, as far N. as 73 deg.; discovered the strait which bears his name; sailed as pilot in two South Sea expeditions, and was killed by Japanese pirates near Malacca; wrote the “Seaman’s Secret” (1550-1605).

DAVIS, THOMAS, an Irish patriot, born at Mallow; educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and called to the Irish bar; took to journalism in the interest of Irish nationality; founded the Nation newspaper, and by his contributions to it did much to wake up the intelligence of the country to national interests; died young; was the author of “Songs of Ireland” and “Essays on Irish Songs” (1814-1845).

DAVIS STRAIT, strait connecting Baffin’s Bay with the Atlantic, discovered by JOHN DAVIS (q. v.).

DAVITT, MICHAEL, a noted Irish patriot, born in co.  Mayo, son of a peasant, who, being evicted, settled in Lancashire; joined the Fenian movement, and was sentenced to 15 years’ penal servitude; released on ticket-of-leave after seven years; founded the Land League; was for over a year imprisoned again for breaking his ticket-of-leave; published in 1885 “Leaves from a Prison Diary”; entered Parliament in 1895 for co.  Mayo; b. 1846.

DAVOS-PLATZ, a village 5105 ft. above the sea-level, in a valley of the East Grisons; a place frequented in winter by invalids suffering from chest disease, the dry air and sunshine that prevail being favourable for patients of that class.