|
|
DAVIDSON, Lueretia Maria, poet, b. in Plattsburg, N. Y., 27 Sept., 1808; d. there, 27 Aug., 1825. Her father, Oliver Davidson, was a physician, and her mother, Margaret Miller, was an author. A volume of selections from Mrs. Davidson's writings was published, with a preface by Miss C. M. Sedgwick, in 1844, after the poems of her daughter had made them famous. Lucretia, when four years old, was sent to Plattsburg academy, where she learned to read and to form the Roman letters in sand. Soon afterward her mother observed that her writing-paper was disappearing strangely, and finally discovered a pile of little blank-books, containing artfully sketched pictures, with descriptions in poetry, all printed in Roman letters, turned and twisted in curious fashion. The child was so mortified at the discovery of what she had been doing that she burned all her work. She learned to write in her seventh year, and developed a great fondness for reading. Before she was twelve she had read much history, and the dramatic works of Shakespeare, Goldsmith, and Kotzebue, with many popular novels and romances. She continued to write poetry, and, when nine years old, composed an “Epitaph on a Robin,” which is the earliest remaining specimen of her verse. She wrote poetry rapidly, when in the mood, but preferred to be alone while composing, often burning an unfinished piece that had been seen by others. She was fond of childish sports, but would often stop in the midst of them to write, when struck with an idea for a poem. When about fourteen years old she was allowed to attend a ball in Plattsburg, but, in the midst of her preparations, was found sitting in a corner writing verses on “What the World Calls Pleasure.” Her mother's friends advised that pen and ink be kept from her, and, hearing of this, she voluntarily gave up her favorite pursuit for several months, till her mother, seeing that she grew melancholy, advised her to resume it. In October, 1824, a gentleman visiting Plattsburg saw some of her verses, and offered to give her a better education than her parents could afford. She was accordingly sent to Mrs. Willard's school in Troy, N. Y., but her studies undermined her health, and she returned home. After her recovery she was sent to Miss Gilbert's school in Albany, but remained there only about three months before she was taken home to die. Miss Davidson was a small, delicately formed brunette. “She had all the elements of personal beauty,” wrote Mrs. Willard, “yet she was so shy that many a girl less perfectly endowed in that respect would be sooner noticed by a stranger.” Her poetical writings include, beside the numbers of pieces destroyed by her, 278 poems of various lengths. Among these are five pieces, of several cantos each. The poet Southey said of her: “In our own language, except in the cases of Chatterton and Kirke White, we can call to mind no instance of so early, so ardent, and so fatal a pursuit of intellectual advancement.” Her poems were collected and published, with a sketch by S. F. B. Morse, under the title “Amir Khan, and Other Poems” (New York, 1829; new ed., edited by her brother, M. O. Davidson, with illustrations by Darley, 1871). See a biography by Catharine M. Sedgwick in Sparks's “American Biographies,” vol. vii. — Her sister, Margaret Miller, b. in Plattsburg, N. Y., 26 March, 1823; d. in Saratoga, N. Y., 25 Nov., 1838, had the same sensibility and precocity, and began to write at six years of age. At ten, while visiting in New York, she wrote, in two days, a drama entitled the “Tragedy of Alethia,” and acted in it with some young friends, taking the principal part. Notwithstanding her sister's fate, her intellectual activity was not restrained. Her poems were introduced to the world by Washington Irving, and the works of the two sisters were afterward published together (New York, 1850). — Their brother, Levi P., b. in 1817; d. in Saratoga, N. Y., 27 June, 1842, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1837, assigned to the 1st dragoons, and after serving on frontier duty at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and Fort Wayne, Indian Territory, was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1840. He wrote verses with elegance and ease.
DAVIDSON, Robert, educator, b. in Elkton,
Md., in 1750; d. 13 Dec., 1812. He was graduated
at the University of Pennsylvania in 1771,
appointed instructor there in 1773, and in 1774 was
given the chair of history and belles-lettres. In the
latter year he was also licensed to preach, and a
year later was ordained by the second Philadelphia
presbytery, becoming Dr. Ewing's assistant in the
first church. In 1775 he composed a metrical
dialogue, which was recited at commencement before
the Continental congress, and in July of the same
year, one month after the battle of Bunker Hill,
delivered before several military companies a sermon
from the text “For there fell down many
slain, because the war was of God.” In 1777 the
occupation of Philadelphia by the British compelled
him to retire to Delaware. In 1784 he was appointed
vice-president of the newly organized Dickinson
college, Carlisle, Pa., and given the chair of
history and belles-lettres there, also acting as pastor
of the Presbyterian church in Carlisle. He
held this last office till his death, and succeeded
by his tact in harmonizing the discordant elements
in his congregation. In 1794 he preached twice
before troops on their way to suppress the whiskey
insurrection, and in 1799 delivered a eulogy of
Washington. After Dr. Nisbet's death in 1804, Dr.
Davidson discharged the duties of president of the
college till 1809, when he resigned. He had a high
reputation as a scholar, but was especially fond
of astronomy, and invented an ingenious cosmosphere
or compound globe. He was also a skilful
draughtsman, and was the composer of several
pieces of sacred music. Besides numerous sermons,
he published an “Epitome of Geography, in Verse,”
for the use of schools (1784); “The Christian's A,
B, C,” or the 119th psalm in metre, each stanza
beginning with a different letter (1811); and a
“New Metrical Version of the Psalms,” with an-
notations (1812). — His son, Robert, clergyman, b.
in Carlisle, Pa., 23 Feb., 1808; d. in Philadelphia,
Pa., 6 April, 1876, was graduated at Dickinson college
in 1828, and at Princeton theological seminary
in 1831. He was pastor of the second Presbyterian
church in Lexington, Ky., in 1832-'40, and in the
latter year became president of Transylvania
university there. After his resignation in 1842 he held
