Notes and Queries, Number 66, February 1, 1851 | Page 2

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Notes.
SIR JOHN DAVIES AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS.
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