"1st. This is all the estate that William Davison hath left his children; and if they should be detained from it, they are all utterly undone. "2nd. William Davison's creditors, (which are many, and which, by his will, he desireth should be satisfied) by the course which George Byng holdeth (denying the trust) be all defrauded, when Christopher Davison will pay them all, according as his father hath appointed by his will. A bill connected with this petition was read on the 14th March, 1610, and again on the 27th of the same month; and on the 10th July following, a motion was made for counsel to be heard upon it; but nothing more on the subject has been discovered, nor does the slightest notice of Christopher Davison occur after this period. Though, like his brothers Francis and Walter, Christopher Davison was a poet, it does not appear that any of his productions are inserted in the RHAPSODY; and his only literary efforts which are known to be extant, are translations of some Psalms, which will be found in this work, and which are not without merit. Lansdowne MSS. 91, f. 56. + Journals of the House of Commons, vol. i. p. 448. Christopher Davison was secretars of soon after the Fire 1 massacre of the Spring of 1822. At the taking of the Census of 1624, his wife, Alice Davison, had be a widow more than is year. WALTER DAVISON. IT is to the Preface to the POETICAL RHAPSODY alone that we are indebted for the little information we possess of WALTER DAVISON. A letter is however extant, dated London, 23rd December, 1581, from his father, Secretary Davison, to Lady Mason,* Walter's great grandmother, stating that he had "a young son" born on the Monday preceding, and that he wished her to join with his honour her husband, Mr. Vicechamberlain, and her good nephew, Sir Thomas Shirley, in standing for him, though it was contrary to the usual custom to wish a wife and husband to act as sponsors upon the same occasion. The "young son" alluded to was, there is little doubt, the subject of this notice; and we may therefore conclude that he was born in London on Monday, 17th December, 1581, and which agrees perfectly with his brother Francis saying, in 1602, that he was not eighteen when the poetical effusions by him, which are introduced into the RHAPSODY, were written. About the year 1602, Francis Davison also informs us that Walter was in the Low Country wars; after which time no account of him has been See the gengagi table in a former page. " " found. He is not mentioned in his father's will, and Walter Davison's poems must, at least, be thought Sir John Smith was there about the who was wounded and made prisoner at the bottle of "Rottenton"," of which he writes: At the dismal battle of Rottenton;" where, in chefence of Christ and his "Gospel, were slain many valiant Eu"glismen; ~ amongst them, Baskerville, Hard wiek, Milner, Moly:" mung, Davison, and one Johna. Scat." If this was Walter Davison, he was 22 ar 23 iseers old, having born in 1581. He was certain by death in !! when his Father died. L SIR PHILIP SYDNEY. OF SIR PHILIP SYDNEY, the Phoenix of his own, and the admiration of succeeding times, scarcely any thing can be related which will possess a claim to novelty; for who is there unacquainted with every trait in a character which affords the most gratifying objects for contemplation, which can be found in British biography? Magnanimity, Heroism, Poetry, and Virtue, appear to have erected their thrones in his breast; and he whom sovereigns and their subjects equally loved, honoured, and mourned, must have been possessed of no ordinary merit. The idol of his own family; the friend of the best and wisest of his contemporaries ; the patron of learning; and, at once, the ornament and the votary of every thing chivalrous and good. Such is the picture presented to us of this illustrious individual by those who, from being the companions of his childhood, as well as of his maturer years, were undoubtedly competent to form a correct judgment of his merits. The historian, the biographer, the poet, and the painter, have combined to perpetuate the glory of his actions; and it must be confessed that they have rather derived celebrity from, than conferred it upon their subject. Sydney's splendid career, though short, was terminated in a manner highly consistent with his life. He died on the bed of honour; and, as if nothing should be left for imagination to supply in the character of a Hero, the brightest and most magnanimous of all his deeds was that which arose from his fatal wound; and familiar as the circumstance is, from the painting of a distinguished artist, it is not possible to resist relating it. When carried from the field of battle, exhausted from pain and loss of blood, he eagerly demanded some water; but at the moment it was brought, his eyes fell on a dying soldier, and, turning the vessel from him just as it had approached his lips, he desired that it might be given to the object of his compassion, observing, "This man's necessity is still greater than mine." Notwithstanding all which has been written on Sir Philip Sydney, a chronological abstract of the principal events in his life, may prove acceptable. 1554. Nov. 29 Sir Philip Sydney was born. 1569. 1572. May 1574. 1575. May 1576. Admitted a Member of Christ Church, Oxford. Proposals made for his marriage with Mildred, daughter of Lord Burleigh. Left England to travel on the Continent. Formed an intimacy with the celebrated Hu bert Languet. Arrived at Venice. Became acquainted with Tasso and Ursinus. Appointed Ambassador to the Court of Vienna. • From Zouch's Life of Sydney. |