married this lady in 1858; she, however, retains her maiden name in public.—G. A. M.
DAVISON, William, one of the principal secretaries of state to Queen Elizabeth, whose memory has been preserved mainly by his connection with the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. He was of Scotch parentage or extraction, but the date of his birth is unknown. He accompanied Sir Henry Killigrew as secretary, when he was sent to Scotland in 1566, to congratulate Mary on the birth of her son. He was afterwards intrusted by Elizabeth with important missions to the Low Countries in 1575, to Ghent and to Holland in 1579. In 1583 he was sent as ambassador to Scotland to counteract the intrigues of the French court, and to keep King James and his ministers firm in their adherence to the English alliance; and shortly after he was despatched to Holland for the purpose of concluding a treaty with the states, and encouraging them in their resolution to defend by force of arms their liberty and independence against the attacks of Spain. On his return from this mission Davison was nominated a member of the privy council, and one of her majesty's principal secretaries of state. It is alleged by Camden and other writers, that the elevation of the unfortunate statesman to this office was part of a plot devised for his ruin. He took a prominent part in the proceedings connected with the trial of the queen of Scots, and his name was inserted in the commission, though it does not appear that he was present during any part of the proceedings. When the question as to the mode in which Mary should be put to death was under consideration, Walsingham, Davison's colleague, pretended sickness, and absented himself from court, so that the drawing of the warrant, and the management of the whole affair, devolved upon Davison. After the execution of Mary, the queen threw the whole odium of the act upon her secretary, pretending that he had acted in opposition to her instructions in sending off the warrant; and in order to obtain a plausible excuse to James for the execution of his mother, Davison was brought to trial before the star chamber, was fined ten thousand merks, and sentenced to be imprisoned during the queen's pleasure. The unfortunate secretary was completely ruined; and though he survived Elizabeth, and the earl of Essex, who stood by him in all his misfortunes, pleaded his cause with the queen, and strongly recommended him to James, it does not appear that he was ever again restored to favour or employed at court. The time of his death is uncertain.—J. T.
DAVOUT (or Davoust, as it is generally written In English), Louis Nicolas, Duke of Auerstadt, Prince of Echmühl, peer and marshal of France, was born on the 10th May, 1770, at Aunoux in the department of the Yonne. He entered early the military school of Auxerre, passed from thence to that of Paris, and became in 1787 sub-lieutenant of cavalry. Though a nobleman, he acquiesced in the Revolution, and placed himself in the ranks of the volunteers who hastened to defend it. Nominated chef de bataillon by the suffrages of his companions in arms, he disciplined those who had chosen him to command them, and greatly distinguished himself in the campaign of Belgium under Dumouriez. In 1793, being deprived of his command on account of his birth, he went to share the prison of his mother; but being set at liberty after the 9th Thermidor, he was nominated general of brigade. In this office he joined the army of the Moselle, took part in the siege of Luxembourg, and formed the daring project of destroying the only windmill that was at the disposal of the inhabitants. He penetrated the advanced works, demolished the building, and filled the besieged with consternation. After the fall of this fortress he was nominated general of division, but did not accept the post. Soon after he was taken prisoner, but was exchanged in the following year. Rejoining the army, he shared the dangers of the defence of Kehl; gained the friendship of Desaix; and at the opening of the campaign of 1797, took part in the brilliant passage of the Rhine, which that general executed. The war being terminated, he went to fight in Egypt under Bonaparte. When Bonaparte returned to France, Kleber took the command of the army. After a series of events which are well known, the evacuation of Egypt was agreed upon in spite of Davoust's most strenuous remonstrances. He came back to France, was sent into Italy, and combated bravely at the passage of the Mincio. The war was now for a short time suspended; but soon the treaty of Amiens was broken, and Davoust, placed at the head of the troops encamped at Ostend, was raised to the dignity of marshal on May 19, 1804, when he was not yet thirty-five years old. Being ordered to join with his forces the camp at Boulogne, in concert with Admiral Werhuell, he was compelled to adopt the difficult manœuvre of doubling Cape Grinez in presence of the English fleet. In this he succeeded, and entered the port of Ambleteuse amidst the acclamations of the troops. While Napoleon was thus menacing the English, the Austrians invaded Bavaria. The French army marched to oppose them, and Marshal Davoust was continued in the command of the corps which he had formed at Ostend. He was victorious in every fight on the Necker and the Inn, till he arrived at Vienna, passed the Danube, and having surprised the flying bridge over that river at Presburg, forced the Hungarians to a convention which neutralized them for the rest of the campaign. At Soblnitz, soon after, he contributed, by the astounding quickness of his movements, to the great victory at Austerlitz. A few months after he took part in the terrible campaign of Jena, and in the pursuit of the Prussians across the defiles of Auerstadt, where he acquired his title; surprised the bridge of Wittemberg; was the first to enter Berlin; and shortly after forced the citadel of Custrin to capitulate. Pursuing his rapid march, he crossed the Bug in presence of the Russian cavalry, and beat that brilliant corps at Czarnowo, at Pultusk, and at Heilsberg. At Eylau, Davoust was in line at six o'clock in the morning with his troops, which only counted fourteen thousand men. Here he sustained the shock of the greater part of the Russian army, and suffered such loss that he received orders to retire. Instead of obeying, he redoubled the vigour of his attack, and thus achieved a terrible victory. After the peace he was appointed to rule the conquered provinces, where he conciliated many by his temperate administration. Another war soon interrupted these peaceful occupations. Two hundred thousand Austrians penetrated into Bavaria and reached Ratisbon. Davoust met them near Taun, and gave them a terrible check before the great fight at Wagram, in which he took a conspicuous part. In 1809 he was made Prince of Eckmühl. On the conclusion of peace he went to Hamburg in command of the forces which occupied the newly-conquered provinces. In the fearful Russian campaign his talents were employed to the uttermost. Our limits do not allow us to detail his adventures during the campaign of Leipzig, and the subsequent breaking up of Napoleon's power. Suffice it to say that he fixed his headquarters at Hamburg, where he sustained a siege. Being exiled from Paris in consequence of the complaints brought against him for his severity by the citizens of Hamburg, he published in justification of his conduct, "Mémoires de M. le Maréchal Davoust, Prince d'Eckmühl; au Roi;" 8vo, Paris, 1814. On the return of Napoleon from Elba he was made minister of war. After the disastrous day of Waterloo, he took the command of the troops at Paris, left without a general by the emperor's abdication; and when the capitulation of that city took place he conducted them to the other side of the Loire. This was his last military exploit. In 1819 he entered the chamber of peers. He expired on the 4th of June, 1823, at the age of fifty-three years. In spite of the severity of his administration in Germany, the prince is respected in France as having been sensible, generous, and patriotic.—T. J.
DAVY, Edmund, was born in Penzance in Cornwall in 1785. In 1804 he went to London and was appointed operator and assistant in the laboratory of the Royal Institution, an office previously filled by his first cousin, Sir Humphrey Davy, who was then the professor. Here Edmund assisted his illustrious relative in many of those discoveries which revolutionized the science of chemistry. Having spent eight years in the institution, filling also the office of superintendent of the mineralogical collection, he was unanimously elected in 1813 professor of chemistry in the Royal Cork Institution, where his lectures were highly attractive, and his services in creating a cabinet of geology and mineralogy were of great value. In 1826 Davy succeeded to the chair of chemistry in the Royal Dublin Society, and shortly after was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, to which he contributed some valuable papers; a member of the Royal Irish Academy; and of the Societé Française de Statisque Universelle. In the duties of this professorship, and that of agricultural chemistry, Davy continued till his death in June, 1857, contributing to scientific literature, and devoting himself with untiring energy, both as a lecturer and an experimentalist, to advance and promulgate a knowledge of chemistry. Davy was one of the last of the great school of
