Sir John Davies, the "sweet poet" and "grave lawyer"--rather odd
combinations by the bye,--according to Wood, was "born at Chisgrove, in the
parish of Tysbury in Wiltshire, being the son of a wealthy _tanner_ of that
place!" This statement is repeated in Cooper's _Muses' Library_, p. 331.;
Nichols's _Select Poems_, vol. i., p. 276.; Sir E. Brydges's edition of
Philips's _Theatrum Poetarum_, 1800, p. 272.; Sir Harris Nicolas's edition
of Davison's _Poetical Rhapsody_, vol. i. p. cii., &c. And Headley, in his
_Select Beauties of Poetry_, ed. 1787, vol. i. p. xli., adds, "he was a man
of _low_ extraction!" Wood's assertion concerning Davies's parentage, was
made, I believe, upon the authority of Fuller; but it is undoubtedly an
error, as the books which record the admission of the younger Davies into
the Society of the Middle Temple, say the father was "late of New Inn,
_gentleman_."
Mr. Robert R. Pearce, in a recent work, entitled _A History of the Inns of
Court and Chancery_, 8vo. 1848, p. 293., gives the following sketch of the
leading facts in the life of our "poetical lawyer:"--
"Sir John Davis, the author of _Reports_, and several other legal
works, and a poet of considerable repute, was of this Society [_i.e._
the Middle Temple]. His father was a member of New Inn, and a
practitioner of the law in Wiltshire. At the Middle Temple, young Davis
became rather notorious for his irregularities, and having beaten Mr.
Richard Martin (also a poet, and afterwards Recorder of London) in the
hall, he was expelled the house. Afterwards, through the influence of
Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, he was restored to his position in the
Middle Temple; and, in 1601, was elected a Member of the House of
Commons. In 1603, he was appointed by King James Solicitor-General in
Ireland. In 1606, he was called to the degree of Serjeant-at-Law; and,
in the following year, was knighted by the King at Whitehall. In 1612,
he published a book on the state of Ireland, which is often referred
to; and soon afterwards he was appointed King's Serjeant, and Speaker
of the House of Commons in Ireland. On his return to England he
published his reports of cases adjudged in the King's Court in
Ireland,--the first reports of Irish cases made public. The preface to
these reports is very highly esteemed. It has been said to vie with
Coke in solidity and learning, and equal Blackstone in classical
illustration and elegant language. Sir John Davis died 7th of December,
1626."
It is amusing to see how erroneous statements creep into ordinary
biography. Headley, as we have just seen, calls Davies "a man of _low_
extraction;" and now we find a more recent biographer adding (without the
shadow of an authority), "at the Middle Temple, young Davies became _rather
notorious for his irregularities_!"
Davies's quarrel with Richard Martin is alluded to by Wood. After speaking
of his admission into the Middle Temple, and of his being made a barrister
(July, 1595), that writer adds:--
"But so it was that he [Sir John Davies] being a high-spirited young
man, did, upon some little provocation or punctilio, bastinado Rich.
Martin (afterwards Recorder of London) in the Common Hall of the Middle
Temple, while he was at dinner. For which act being forthwith
[February, 1597-8] expell'd, he retired for a time in private, lived in
Oxon in the condition of a sojourner, and follow'd his studies, tho' he
wore a cloak. However, among his serious thoughts, making reflections
upon his own condition, which sometimes was an affliction to him, he
composed that excellent philosophical and divine poem called _Nosce
Teipsum_."
It is not a little singular that this very Richard Martin, whose
chastisement is thus recorded, had {83} been on terms of strict friendship
with our "high-spirited" young lawyer. In 1596, Davies had published his
poem on dancing, entitled _Orchestra_, the title-page of which is followed
by a dedicatory sonnet "To his very friend, Ma. Richard Martin." This
sonnet is written in extravagant terms of friendship and admiration; and as
it is only to be found in the _rare_ first edition, and in the almost
equally rare _Bibliographical Catalogue of the Ellesmere Collection_, some
of your readers may not be displeased to see it on the present occasion:--
"TO HIS VERY FRIEND MA. RICH. MARTIN.
"To whom shall I this dauncing Poeme send,
This suddaine, rash, halfe-capreol of my wit?
To you, first mover and sole cause of it,
Mine-owne-selves better halve, my deerest frend.
O, would you yet my Muse some Honny lend
From your mellifluous tongue, whereon doth sit
Suada in majestie, that I may fit
These harsh beginnings with a sweeter end.
You know the modest sunne full fifteene times
Blushing did rise, and blushing did descend,
While I in making of these ill made rimes,
My golden bowers unthriftily did spend.
Yet, if in friendship you these numbers prayse,
I will mispend another fifteene dayes."
The cause of quarrel between the two young lawyers is not known, but the
"offence," whatever it was, was not slight. In the year 1622, when Davies
reprinted his poetical works, we find that his feelings of resentment
against his once "very friend" had not abated, for in place of the
dedicatory sonnet to Richard Martin, is substituted a sonnet addressed to
Prince Charles; and at the conclusion of the poem, he left a _hiatus_ after
the one hundred and twenty-sixth stanza, on account of the same quarrel.
Sir John Davies's celebrated poem, _Nosce Teipsum_ (mentioned by Wood in
the previous extract), is said to have gained the author the favour of
James I., even before he came to the crown. Wood gives the precise period
of its composition, and, I think, with every appearance of truth, although
it does not accord with the statement of modern biographers, that it was
written at twenty-five years of age. (See Campbell's _Essay on Poetry_,
&c., ed. 1848, p. 184.) The first edition of this poem was printed in 4to.
in the year 1599, and has for its title the following:--
"_Nosce Teipsum_. This Oracle expounded in Two Elegies. 1. Of Humane
Knowledge. 2. Of the Soule of Man, and the Immortalitie thereof.
London, Printed by Richard Field, for John Standish. 43 leaves."
As I am deeply interested in all that relates to the subject of this note,
I have compiled a list of editions of the above poem, which shows its
popularity for more than a century and a half:--
1. 1599. _London_, 4to. First edition.
2. 1602. _ib._ 4to. Second ed.
3. 1608. _ib._ 4to. Third ed.
4. 1619. _ib._ 8vo. Fourth ed.
5. 1622. _ib._ 8vo. The last edition printed during the
Author's lifetime.
6. 1653. _ib._ 4to. Published by T. Jenner with curious plates,
and prose paraphrase.
7. 1688. _ib._ folio. With prose dissertation.
8. 1697. _Dublin,_ 8vo. With Life of the Author, by Nahum Tate.
9. 1714. _ib._ 12mo. Second edition by Tate.
10. 1733. _ib._ 8vo. With Essay by Dr. Sheridan.
11. 1749. _London,_ 12mo.
12. 1759. _Glasgow,_ 12mo. With Life of the Author.
13. 1760. _London,_ 8vo. In Capel's _Prolusions._
14. 1773. _ib._ 12mo. In Davies's _Poetical Works_, edited by
Thompson.
Sir John Davies left behind him a large number of MSS. upon various
subjects, none of which have since been printed. It would be very desirable
that a list, as far as can now be made out, should be put on record.
Anthony Wood says, several of Davies's MSS. were formerly in the library of
Sir James Ware of Ireland and since that in the possession of Edward, Earl
of Clarendon. The most interesting of these MSS. were a Collection of
Epigrams, and a Metaphrase of David's Psalms. The Harleian MSS., Nos. 1578.
and 4261., contain two law treatises of this learned writer, and in
Thorpe's _Catalogue_ for 1823, I find _A Treatise of Tenures touchinge his
Majesties Prerogative Royal_, by John Davies, folio, MS.
Granger does not record any engraved portrait of this writer, and all my
enquiries have failed in discovering one. In Mr. Soame Jenyn's Hall, at
Botesham, in Cambridgeshire (in 1770), was a full-length portrait of an
elderly gentleman in a gown, with a book in one hand, on which is written
"_Nosce Teipsum_." If this is a genuine portrait of Sir John Davies, it
ought to be engraved to accompany a new edition of his poetical works; a
publication which the lovers of our old poetry would deem an acceptable
offering.