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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:davies:46b66b3acd5d",
    "title": "DAVIES",
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    "verified_text": "davies, sir john (1569-1626), english philosophical poet, was baptized on the 16th of april 1569, at tisbury, wiltshire, where his parents lived at the manor-house of chicksgrove. he was educated at winchester college, and became a commoner of queen's college, oxford, in 1585. in 1588 he entered the middle temple, and was called to the bar in 1595. in his general onslaught on literature in 1599 the archbishop of canterbury ordered to be burnt the notorious and now excessively rare volume, _all ovid's elegies, 3 bookes, by c. m. epigrams by j. d._ (middleburgh, 1598?), which contained posthumous work by marlowe. the epigrams by davies, although not devoid of wit, were coarse enough to deserve their fate. it is probable that they were earlier in date of composition than the charming fragment entitled _orchestra_ (1596), written in praise of dancing. the poet, in the person of antinous, tries to induce penelope to dance by arguing that all harmonious natural processes partake of the nature of a conscious and well-ordered dance. he closes his argument by foreshadowing in a magic mirror the revels of the court of cynthia (elizabeth). _orchestra_ was dedicated to the author's \"very friend, master richard martin,\" but in the next year the friends quarrelled, and davies was expelled from the society for having struck martin with a cudgel in the hall of the middle temple. he spent the year after his expulsion at oxford in the composition of his philosophical poem on the nature of the soul and its immortality--_nosce teipsum_ (1599). the style of the work was entirely novel; and the stanza in which it was written--the decasyllabic quatrain with alternate rhymes--had never been so effectively handled. its force, eloquence and ingenuity, the orderly and lucid arrangement of its matter, place it among the finest of english didactic poems. in 1599 he also published a volume of twenty-six graceful acrostics on the words _elisabetha regina_, entitled _hymns to astraea_. he produced no more poetry except his contributions to francis davison's _poetical rhapsody_ (1608). these were two dialogues which had been written as entertainments for the queen, and \"yet other twelve wonders of the world,\" satirical epigrams on the courtier, the divine, the maid, &c., and \"a hymn in praise of music.\" ten sonnets to philomel are signed j. d., and are assigned to davies (_poetical rhapsody_, ed. a. h. bullen, 1890). in 1601 davies was restored to his position at the bar, after making his apologies to martin, and in the same year he sat for corfe castle in parliament. james i. received the author of _nosce teipsum_ with great favour, and sent him (1603) to ireland as solicitor-general, conferring the honour of knighthood upon him in the same year. in 1606 he was promoted to be attorney-general for ireland, and created serjeant-at-arms. of the difficulties in the way of the prosecution of his work, and his untiring industry in overcoming them, there is abundant evidence in his letters to cecil preserved in the _state papers on ireland_. one of his chief aims was to establish the protestant religion firmly in ireland, and he took strict measures to enforce the law for attendance at church. with the same end in view he took an active part in the \"plantation\" of ulster. in 1612 he published his prose _discoverie of the true causes why ireland was never entirely subdued untill the beginning of his majestie's happie raigne_.[1] in the same year he entered the irish parliament as member for fermanagh, and was elected speaker after a scene of disorder in which the catholic nominee, sir john everard, who had been installed, was forcibly ejected. in the capacity of speaker he delivered an excellent address reviewing previous irish parliaments. he resigned his irish offices in 1619, and sat in the english parliament of 1621 for newcastle-under-lyme. with sir robert cotton he was one of the founders of the society of antiquaries. he was appointed lord chief justice in 1626, but died suddenly (december 8th) before he could enter on the office. he had married (1609) eleanor touchet, daughter of george, baron audley. she developed eccentricity, verging on madness, and wrote several fanatical books on prophecy. in 1615 davies published at dublin _le primer discours des cases et matters in ley resolues et adjudges en les courts del roy en cest realme_ (reprinted 1628). he issued an edition of his poems in 1622. his prose publications were mainly posthumous. _the question concerning impositions, tonnage, poundage ..._ was printed in 1656, and four of the tracts relating to ireland, with an account of davies and his services to that country, were edited by g. chalmers in 1786. his works were edited by dr a. b. grosart (3 vols. 1869-1876), with a full biography, for the fuller worthies library. he is not to be confounded with another poet, john davies of hereford (1565?-1618), among whose numerous volumes of verse may be mentioned _mirum in modum_ (1602), _microcosmus_ (1603), _the holy roode_ (1609), _wittes pilgrimage_ (c. 1610), _the scourge of folly_ (c. 1611), _the muses sacrifice_ (1612) and _wittes bedlam_ (1607); his _scourge of folly_ contains verses addressed to many of his contemporaries, to shakespeare among others; he also wrote _a select second husband for sir thomas overbury's wife_ (1616), and _the writing schoolmaster_ (earliest known edition, 1633); his works were collected by dr a. b. grosart (2 vols., 1873) for the chertsey worthies library. footnote: [1] edited by henry morley in his _ireland under elizabeth and james i._ (1890). davies (davisius), john (1679-1732), english classical scholar and critic, was born in london on the 22nd of april 1679. he was educated at charterhouse and queens' college, cambridge, of which society he was elected fellow (july 7th, 1701). he subsequently became rector of fen ditton, prebendary of ely, and president of his college. he died on the 7th of march 1731-1732, and was buried in the college chapel. davies was considered one of the best commentators on cicero, his attention being chiefly devoted to the philosophical works of that author. amongst these he edited the _tusculanae disputationes_ (1709), _de natura deorum_ (1718), _de divinatione_ and _de fato_ (1725), _academica_ (1725), _de legibus_ (1727), _de finibus_ (1728). his nearly finished notes on the _de officiis_ he bequeathed to dr richard mead, with a view to their publication. mead, finding himself unable to carry out the undertaking, transferred the notes to thomas bentley (nephew of the famous richard bentley), by whose carelessness they were burnt. davies's editions, which were intended to supplement those of graevius, show great learning and an extensive knowledge of the history and systems of philosophy, but he allows himself too much licence in the matter of emendation. he also edited maximus of tyre's _dissertationes_ (1703); the works of caesar (1706); the _octavius_ of minucius felix (1707); the _epitome divinarum institutionum_ of lactantius (1718). although on intimate terms with richard bentley, he found himself unable to agree with the great scholar in regard to his dispute with trinity college.",
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