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by slaying the Philistine giant, Goliath. Because of his heroic deed, or because of his skill with the harp, Saul took him to his court and gave him a military command. But the king became jealous of him, and he had to flee. In the cave of Adullam, near Gath, he gathered a band of 400 freebooters, which afterward increased to 600, with which he ranged through the country, never attacking the king or his countrymen, but always their enemies. He had difficulty in avoiding the king’s expeditions sent against him, and finally left Judah, becoming vassal of the Philistine king of Gath. After the death of Saul and Jonathan, at Gilboa, David reigned seven and one-half years in Hebron over Judah, and on the death of Ishbosheth he was chosen king of all Israel. He conquered the independent city of Jebus (Jerusalem), and made it the center of his kingdom, building a palace for himself on the highest hill, Zion, and placing the ark of the covenant there under a tent. In the course of a few years the conquest of the Philistines, Moabites, Arameans, Edomites and Ammonites reduced the whole territory from Egypt to the Euphrates. In the last year of his long reign of 32 years in Jerusalem, there were popular troubles and two rebellions under his sons, Absalom and Adonijah. He died between 1018 and 993 B. C. David is by far the greatest of the kings of Israel. He was courageous and skillful in war and prudent and far-seeing in government. He also was the greatest poet of his time, and the founder of the religious lyric poetry of the Hebrews—“the sweet singer of Israel.”
David (dä-vēd′), Jacques Louis, a French painter, was born at Paris, Aug. 31, 1748. Before the Revolution he had produced many celebrated works, among them the Oath of the Horatii and The Death of Socrates. In the Revolution he took a prominent part; voted for the death of the king; was the artistic decorator of the great national fêtes of the Republic, which were founded on classical customs; and narrowly escaped with his life. When the Bourbons were restored, he was banished to Brussels, where he died, Dec. 29, 1825. His masterpiece, probably, is The Rape of the Sabines.
Davis, Cushman Kellogg, late United States senator for Minnesota, was born at Henderson, N. Y., June 16, 1838; and died at St. Paul, Minn., Nov. 27, 1900. Graduating at the University of Michigan, he studied law and practiced in Wisconsin, joining one of its infantry-regiments at the outbreak of the Civil War as lieutenant. In 1867 he was elected to the Minnesota legislature, and in 1868 became United States district-attorney for his state, and then governor (1874–75). In 1887 he took his seat in the United States senate, where he served until his death. He long served as chairman of the senate committee on foreign relations, one of whose acts was to declare war against Spain in 1898; and later was a member of the peace-commission to Paris. He was the author of The Law in Shakespeare.
Davis, David, an American jurist and statesman, was born in Cecil County, Md., March 9, 1815, and died at Bloomington, Ill., June 26, 1886. After graduating from Kenyon College, Ohio, he studied law in the east, and began practice in Bloomington, Ill., where he made his home. In 1844 he was a member of the state legislature, and four years later was appointed to the bench as judge of the eighth judicial district of Illinois. In 1862 President [[../Lincoln, Abraham|Lincoln]], whose executor and intimate friend he had become, appointed him a justice of the United States supreme court. In 1877 he resigned to enter the United States senate, and in 1881 was chosen president of the chamber. Though nominally independent in politics, Judge Davis usually voted with the Democrats. In 1883 he resigned his seat in the senate, and died three years later.
Davis, Henry Winter, American politician, was born at Annapolis, Md., Aug. 16, 1817; and died at Baltimore, Dec. 30, 1865. He practiced law in Virginia, and in 1854 was elected to Congress, where he served almost continuously till his death and was chairman of the committee on foreign affairs. He was a Republican in politics, and in 1860 was offered the nomination for the vice-presidency, but refused the honor. He strenuously advocated the emancipation of the slaves and the extension to them of the rights of suffrage.
Da′vis, Jefferson, was born in Christian (now Todd) County, Ky., June 3, 1808. He received an appointment from President Monroe to West Point, where he graduated in 1828. After serving in the Black Hawk War, he left the army and engaged in cotton-planting near Vicksburg, Miss. In 1845 he was elected to Congress, but resigned his seat the next year to take
Image: JUDGE DAVID DAVIS
Image: JEFFERSON DAVIS
