DAVENPORT. 808 DAVID. Overreach, with the elder Booth as Sir Giles. Davenport made rapid progress, and was soon recognized as a leading artist in tragedy, com- edy, and melodrama. He supported ilrs. Mow- att (Ritchie) in a wide range of characters, and accomiJanied her, about 1847, to England, where he also played with jMacready and other stars. There, too, in 1849, he married iliss Fanny Vin- ing, an actress, whom he later introduced to tlie American stage. She died in 1891. Returning in 18.54, he traveled over the United States, play- ing in the principal cities, chiefly in .Shakespear- ean characters and those drawn from Dickens's novels. At different times he was manager of the Howard Athemeum, in Boston, and other theatres. Among his latest conspicuous repre- sentations were such widely divergent characters as Brutus in Julius Ccesnr and Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist. His renderings of the part of Sir Giles and of Hamlet were also especially ad- mired. Davenport was highly esteemed for his genial and opcn-liearted manners. He died at his summer liomc in Canton, Pa. Consiilt Ed- wards, in Jlattliews and Hutton, Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States, vol. iv. (New York, 1886). DAVENPORT, Faxnt Lilt Gipsy ( 18.30-98). A well-known American actress, the daughter of Edward Looniis Davenport. She was born in London, England, but was brought to America when a child, and was educated in the Boston public schools. When seven years old she ap- peared at the Howard Athena>ura, in Boston, as the child of Jletamora, but her real debut was at Niblo's Garden in February, 1862, as King of Spain in Faint Heart Xerer Won Fair Lady. This was followed by a season in soubrette parts in the South. Wliile playing at the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, under the management of Mrs. .John Drew, she attracted the attention of .^ugustin Daly, who promptly gave her a place in his Fifth Avenue Theatre in 1869. Afterwards she visited the principal towns and cities of the United States as a star in a wide variety of roles in both comedy and tragedy. Among her great- est successes were those won in Sardou's Fedora (188.3), La Tosca (1888), and Cleopatra (1890). In 1897 she produced The t<oldier of France, a play with .Jeanne d'Are as the heroine. It was a failure, and the chagrin of that is thought to have ha.stened her final illness. She appeared on the stage for the last time at the Grand Opera House. Chicago, ilarch 2.5, 1898. Her death occurred at Duxbury, ^lass. She was the wife of Mr. Willet itelhourne !MacDowell, her second husband, whom she married in 1SS9. Consult Benton, in McKay and Wingate, Famous Ameri- can Actors of To-day (New York, 1896). DAVENPORT, .John (1597-1670). An emi- nent Piiritan clergyman, one of the founders of the New Haven Colony in Connecticut. He Avas born in Coventry, England; studied at Oxford University from 161.3 to 161.5; acted for about a year as chaplain at Hilton Castle, near Durham ; and from 1616 to 1633 was a preacher in London, "where." says Cotton blather, "his notable ac- complishments for a minister and his courageous residence with and visiting of his flock, in a dreadful plague-time (162.5). caused much no- tice to be quickly taken of him." In 1625 he passed the examinations at Oxford for the de- grees of B.D. and M.A. He came into conflict with the ecclesiastical officers, especially with Archbishop Laud on account of his non-conform- ing tendencies, and in 1033 withdrew from the Establislied Church and removed to Amsterdam, Holland, whence he returned, however, in 1636, after engaging in a controversy with the Dutch classis on the subject of indiscriminate or pro- miscuous baptism of infants. In 1637, eluding tiie authorities, he embarked for Massachusetts, whose charter he had assisted in obtaining in 1629, and in June arrived at Boston, where lie remained for nine months, during which time he took a prominent part in the famous Ecclesias- tical Synod at Cambridge. He cooperated with Theophilus Eaton (q.v. ) in founding the colony of New Haven in April, 1038, and here, as min- ister and as one of the 'seven pillars' of the civil government, he exercised a powerful influence over both civil and ecclesiastical affairs. In 1661 he concealed the regicides Goffe and Whalley (qq.v. ) for more than a montli in his own house. He strongly opposed the union of the New Haven and Connecticut colonies, which was efl'ected in 1605, and three years later accepted a call to succeed .John Wilson, the original pastor, as pastor of the First Church in Boston, his election to the position causing the secession of part of the congregation, who opposed his views on the 'half-way covenant,' and who, after withdrawing, organized the famous Old South Church. He was one of the editors of the works of the celebrated Dr. Jolin Preston, the leader for some time of the Puritan party in England, and published a number of volumes dealing for the most part with theological subjects, and including: Dis- course .ihout Civil Government in a New Plan- tation, Whose Desifjn is Religion (1663); The Knowledge of Christ Lndispensably Required of All Men that Would Be Saved (1653); The Power of ('ongref/ational Churches Asserted and Mndicatcd (1672); The Saints' Anchor-Bold (1601); and (with William Hooke) A Cate- ehisme Containing the Chief Heads of Christian Religion ( 1659). "Consult: "A Sketch of the Life and Writings of John Davenport," by Dexter, in the Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, vol. ii. (New Haven. 1877) ; and a chap- ter in Mather, Magnalia (London, 1702). DAVENPORT BROTHERS, The. The name of two .mericans professing to be spirit- ualistic mediums who flourished between 1845 and 1865. They performed a number of remark- able feats which gained them many followers, but were finally exposed as impostors. See SpiK- ITUALISM. DA'VID (Heb., beloved). A king of Israel, the youngest son of .Jesse, a Judean, dwelling in Bethlehem. His family was one of the principal ones in tlie town. The number of Jesse's sons is given by later tradition as seven (I. Chron. ii. 13-15). but as eiglit in .Sam. xvii. 12. The chro- nology- of D.avid's reign is veiy doubtful, but it is certain that the traditional date. B.C. 1055-15. is too early and must be reduced by thirty-five to forty years. The duration of his reign is fixed at forty years ( I. Kings ii. 11); but this number, being a round one, is open to suspicion, so that all that can be stated is that his career falls between the last quarter of the eleventh and the first quarter of the tenth century B.C. The biblical account of David is found in (1) I. Sam. xvi.- I. Kings ii. and (2) in I. Chron. ii., iii., and
