a navigable stream, touches it on the W. The surface is level and the soil generally good. Coal has been found in large quantities. The productions in 1850 were 739,860 bushels of corn, 21,953 of wheat, 81,301 of oats, 3,426,633 lbs. of tobacco, 20,319 of wool, and 14,217 of flax. The county was organized in 1815, and since 1850 has been divided to form McLean county. Named in honor of Col. Joseph H. Daviess, who fell at the battle of Tippecanoe. Capital, Owenborough. II. A S. W. co. of Ind., area 423 sq. m., between the E. and W. forks of White river, which unite at its S. W. angle; pop. in 1850, 10,352. The greater part of the land is level or rolling, and fertile. There are large beds of bituminous coal in the county. In 1850 the productions were 643,685 bushels of corn, 30,200 of wheat, 59,944 of oats, and 3,938 tons of hay. There were 17 churches, and 1,124 pupils attending public schools. Organized in 1817. Capital, Washington. III. A N. W. co. of Mo., intersected by Grand river; area, 576 sq. m.; pop. in 1856, 7,970, of whom 401 were slaves. The surface is moderately uneven and most of the soil fertile. Cattle and swine are raised in considerable numbers. In 1850 the county produced 212,536 bushels of corn, 19,168 of wheat, 45,936 of oats, and 742 tons of hay. It contained 2 churches, and there were 300 pupils in the public schools. Capital, Gallatin.

DAVILA, ENRICO CATTARINO, an Italian historian, born near Padua, Oct. 30, 1576, murdered near Verona in July, 1631. He is the author of the celebrated "History of the French Civil Wars during the Reigns of Francis II., Charles IX., Henry III., and Henry IV." This work is perspicuous and trustworthy, and has been accepted as a standard authority and translated into several languages. Protestant writers have objected to the favorable view taken in this work of Catharine de' Medici. In this opinion Catholics either do not agree, or find excuse in the circumstance that Queen Catharine was the patron of his family and himself. The work is divided into 15 books, containing a record of the events from the death of Henry II. in 1559, till the peace of Vervins, 1598. Davila was the youngest son of Antonio Davila, whose ancestors, for 100 years, had been constables of Cyprus, from which position the elder Davila was driven impoverished, when the island was taken by the Turks. Having sought refuge at the court of France, Catharine de' Medici, as well as her husband King Henry II., took him into favor. He thereon sent for his young son Arrigo, whom he named Enrico Cattarino, in honor of the king and queen, and devoted him to their service. The boy commenced life as the king's page; at 18 entered the army, and distinguished himself at the sieges of Honfleurs and Amiens. Having retired from the French service and returned to Italy, he devoted himself to study, and became a member of the society of the Innominati. A duel with a poet who lampooned him, and whom he run through the body, caused

him to flee to Venice. That republic was then raising troops for one of its frequent wars. Davila offered to enlist 300 men, which he did, and with them joined several expeditions; continuing to rise in the service, until he held commands successively in Friuli, Candia, Dalmatia, and elsewhere. The dedicatory epistle of his history is dated from Brescia, where he was governor. For these services he received a pension, as well as restoration to his hereditary rank of constable of Cyprus. The circumstances of his death were curious. Being appointed governor of Crema, he stopped with his family and attendants at the hamlet of S. Michele, near Verona, to demand a relay of horses. This was refused by the postmaster, who, on being reproved for his insulting conduct, shot Davila dead with an arquebuse. His companions then fell upon the party, killed the chaplain, and wounded several others. Davila's son, Antonio, killed the postmaster on the spot, and his accomplices were all hanged. Lord Bolingbroke calls Davila's history a noble writing, in many respects equal to that of Livy. It was first published by Baglioni, the printer (Venice, 1630). The best editions are those issued from the royal press (Paris, folio, 1644), and by Apostolo Zeno in 2 vols. folio (Venice, 1733), the latter with a biography of Davila.

DAVIS. I. AS. E. co. of Iowa, bordering on Mo.; area, about 480 sq. m.; pop. in 1856, 11,528. Fox river flows through it, and it is drained by the sources of Wyaconda and Fabius rivers. It has an undulating surface and a rich soil, but timber is scarce. In 1856 the productions were 1,056,735 bushels of Indian corn, 95,212 of wheat, 273,226 of oats, 28,236 of potatoes, 13,738 lbs. of butter, and 3,215 tons of hay. The county was named in honor of Garrett Davis, former member of congress from Kentucky. Capital, Bloomfield. II. A N. co. of Utah; area, more than 1,000 sq. m.; pop. in 1850, 1,134. It lies on the E. shore of Great Salt Lake, and is traversed by the Wahsatch mountains. Productions in 1850, 17,675 bushels of wheat and 16,033 lbs. of butter. Capital, Farmington.

DAVIS, ANDREW JACKSON, an American clairvoyant, born at Blooming Grove, Orange co., N. Y., Aug. 11, 1826. While yet very young, he was taken into the employment of a neighboring farmer, and up to his 12th year spent most of his time in leading cattle to and from the pasture, and watching them in the fields. In Sept. 1838, he removed, with his father's family, to Poughkeepsie, where, up to the year 1843, he was employed mostly as a shoemaker's apprentice. Early in 1843, Mr. William Levingston of Poughkeepsie succeeded, by mesmeric passes, in throwing him into a state of magnetic somnambulism, and developing in him surprising phenomena of clairvoyance. Owing to the extreme poverty of his parents, he had been left in a state of almost entire ignorance, the whole term of his school tuition not exceeding some 5 or 6 months; and

Ohio, Jan. 22, 1811. He was educated in the Scioto valley, so renowned for the number and magnitude of its ancient earthworks. Residing in the same county, and cognizant of the labors of Atwater and other pioneer explorers in this department of science, his attention was directed at a very early age to the subject of American antiquities. From 1829 to 1833, while a student of Kenyon college, he conduct ed a series of explorations in the mounds of that vicinity, an account of which was given in a paper read before the philomathesian society, afterward (by request of the professors) enlarged, and delivered as a literary performance at the commencement of 1833. In 1833 he had several interviews with the late Daniel Webster, then making a tour of the West. This great statesman, who was deeply interested in western antiquities, was pained to witness their rapid disappearance, and suggested the formation of a society to purchase and preserve some of the most remarkable works of the moundbuilders. The opinion of such a man was well calculated to stimulate the youthful mind of Dr. Davis to continue these researches. For 15 years he diligently studied the subject, and the results of his researches are embodied in the "Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," which forms vol. i. of the "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge." Dr. Davis received his medical degree at Cincinnati in 1837, after which he settled and practised his profession in Chillicothe until 1850, when, on the establishment of the New York medical college, he was called to fill the chair of materia medica and therapeutics, which he still holds. He has been an occasional contributor to some of the scientific and medical journals, beside being for a time one of the conductors of the "American Medical Monthly." During the spring of 1854 he delivered a course of lectures on archæology before the Lowell institute in Boston.

DAVIS, HENRY, an American divine and scholar, born at East Hampton, N. Y., Sept. 15, 1770, died at Clinton, March 7, 1852. He was graduated at Yale college in 1796, then became tutor successively at Williams and at Yale colleges, and in 1806 professor of Greek at Union college. In 1809 he was chosen to the presidency of Middlebury college, Vt., and in 1817 accepted that of Hamilton college, N. Y., having in the year preceding declined the same situation at Yale college, offered him on the death of President Dwight. He continued at the head of Hamilton college until 1833, and was meanwhile active in the establishment of the theological seminary at Auburn, and the American board of commissioners for foreign missions. He possessed considerable merit as an orator, and was the author of various occasional sermons. In 1829 and 1830 no students were graduated at the college because of a long and bitter dispute between the president and trustees upon a case of discipline. After his resignation in 1833 he published a "Narrative of the Embarrassments and Decline of Hamilton College."

DAVIS, JEFFERSON, an American soldier and statesman, born June 3, 1808, in that part of Christian co., Ky., which now forms Todd co. Soon after his birth his father, Samuel Davis, a planter, who served during the revolutionary war in the mounted force of Georgia, removed with his family to Mississippi, and settled near Woodville, Wilkinson co. Young Davis received an academical education, and was sent at the usual age to Transylvania college, Ky., which he left in 1824 to enter the U. S. military academy at West Point, where he was graduated in 1828, and was appointed brevet 2d lieutenant. He remained in the army 7 years, and served as an infantry and staff officer on the N. W. frontier in the Black Hawk war of 1831-32, with such distinction that, March 4, 1833, he was promoted to a 1st lieutenancy of dragoons, in which capacity he was employed in 1834 in various expeditions against the Comanches, Pawnees, and other hostile Indian tribes. He resigned his commission, June 30, 1835, returned to Mississippi, and became a cotton planter, living in retirement till 1843, when he began to take an active part in politics on the democratic side, and in 1844 was chosen one of the presidential electors of Mississippi to vote for Polk and Dallas. In Nov. 1845, he was elected a representative in congress, and took his seat in December of that year. He bore a conspicuous part in the discussions of the session on the tariff, on the Oregon question, on military affairs, and particularly on the preparations for war against Mexico and on the organization of volunteer militia when called into the service of the United States. While in congress, in July, 1846, the 1st regiment of Mississippi volunteers, then enrolled for service in Mexico, elected him their colonel. He promptly left his seat in the house, and overtaking his regiment at New Orleans on its way to the seat of war, led it to reënforce the army of Gen. Taylor on the Rio Grande. He was actively engaged in the attack and storming of Monterey, Sept. 1846; was one of the commissioners for arranging the terms of the capitulation of that city; and highly distinguished himself in the battle of Buena Vista, Feb. 23, 1847, where his regiment, attacked by an immensely superior force, maintained their ground for a long time unsupported, while Col. Davis himself, though severely wounded, remained in the saddle until the close of the action, and was complimented for his coolness and gallantry by the commander-in-chief in his despatch of March 6, 1847. At the expiration of the term of its enlistment, in July, 1847, the Mississippi regiment was ordered home; and Col. Davis while on his return received at New Orleans a commission from President Polk as brigadier-general of volunteers, which he declined accepting on the ground that the constitution reserves to the states respectively the appointment of the officers of the militia, and that consequently their appointment by the federal executive is a violation of the rights of the states. In Aug. 1847, he was appointed by the

when, having been elected governor of Massachusetts, he resigned his seat. In March, 1835, having been elected to the U. S. senate, he resigned the office of governor, but reassumed it in 1841, and continued to discharge its duties till Jan. 1843. In March, 1845, he was again elected to the U. S. senate, and remained there until March, 1853, when he declined a reëlection, and retired to private life. In the early part of his professional career Mr. Davis was identified with the federal party; but, beyond writing occasionally for the local journals, had little to do with politics. His practice was extensive. His reputation as a man of sound learning, of practical sagacity, and of sterling integrity, made him essential to one or the other litigant in every important cause in his county. This left him little leisure for public affairs. His first entrance on public life was on the floor of congress. Coming from a quarter of the country already interested in manufactures, and from a district noted for the mechanical skill and industry of its population, he naturally became an advocate for protection to American industry. The tariff of 1824 had not given satisfaction to the manufacturing interests, and the people from all parts of the northern and middle states were petitioning congress to interpose legislative aid to protect the wool growers and manufacturers. Mr. Davis was a protectionist in advance of public opinion in New England. He thought that government should so lay the import duties which were ne cessary for revenue, that the industry of the country should be expanded, and its labor made more productive and more profitable. He advocated these views on the floor of congress with zeal and power. The speeches delivered by him in the sessions of 1828, 1830, and 1832, in reply to Mr. McDuffie, Mr. Cambreleng, and others, were regarded by the protectionists as the best statements and defences of their theories. During his first term in the senate, that body was mainly occupied with the controversy with Gen. Jackson's administration, of which he was a consistent opponent. He took a prominent part in the opposition to the expunging resolutions, and, it is understood, drafted a part, if not the whole, of the famous protest against them. He also acted with the whig party in opposing the administration of Mr. Van Buren, and contributed, in a short speech against the sub-treasury in 1840, the most efficient electioneering pamphlet for the canvass of that year. It was computed that more than one million copies of this speech were circulated among the voters. Before this time, the long public service and incorruptible integrity of Mr. Davis had gained for him the popular appellation of "Honest John Davis," a title which clung to him through life. During his second term as governor, the so-called Dorr rebellion took place in Rhode Island. He was urged by each side to render it aid, but refused to abandon the neutrality which he said Massachusetts ought to observe. For this, and for an imprudent act of one of his military staff, he failed of a reelection by the people, and the VOL. VI.-19

legislature after a protracted struggle supplanted him by a democrat. During his absence from the senate, the protective tariff of 1842 had gone into operation, and upon his return he found a democratic administration about to substitute for it the revenue scale of 1846. In the discussion of this measure he resumed in the senate the place in the protectionist ranks which he had formerly held in the house. Mr. Davis opposed the Mexican war from the beginning. He was one of the two senators who voted that the war did not exist by the act of the republic of Mexico. He supported the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in opposition to his colleague and other whig senators. In the great controversy which followed, as to the disposition to be made of the territories of the United States, he was decided and earnest in favor of excluding slavery from them. He supported what is known as the Wilmot proviso during the administration of Mr. Polk, and he was one of the most decided opponents of what were known as the compromise acts during the administration of Gen. Taylor and Mr. Fillmore. He had no fear of a dissolution of the union. He retired from public life just as the passage of the compromise acts had completed the dissolution of the whig party, with which he had acted during his whole career. For a brief period, surrounded by friends whom he loved and respected, his favorite agricultural pursuits afforded occupation for his leisure hours. But his constitution was undermined, and a short but painful illness soon terminated his life.

DAVIS, JOHN A. G., professor of law in the university of Virginia, born in that state in 1801, died Nov. 14, 1840. He was educated at William and Mary college, and commenced the practice of law in the county of Albemarle. He was also for a time editor of a journal published at Charlottesville. In 1830 he was appointed to the law professorship in the university, and performed its duties with great promise and success. He was for some time chairman of the faculty. Hearing one night the report of a pistol before his door, he went out to ascertain the cause, and found there a student masked, who slowly retreated before him, and deliberately discharged a pistol at him. He died in consequence. published a volume on criminal law for the use of justices of the peace, the copyright of which was purchased by the legislature from his family for $12,000.

He

DAVIS, MATTHEW L., an American writer, born in 1766, died at Manhattanville, N. Y., June 21, 1850. He was originally a printer by trade, and acquired in the course of that business a desultory education and considerable skill as a writer. He early attached himself in politics to the fortunes of Aaron Burr, and was an advocate of his elevation to the presidency, at the time when the balance hung so long undecided between him and Jefferson. For many years he was the correspondent at Washington of the "New York Courier and Enquirer," under the signature of "The Spy in Washington." For the "London