pastorates in New Brunswick, N. J., in 1843-'59, New York city in 1860-'4, and Huntington, L. I., in 1864-'8, removing to Philadelphia in the last-named year. Mr. Davidson was for a quarter of a century a member of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions, was permanent clerk of the general assembly in 1845-'50, and in 1869 was a delegate to the general assembly of the Free church of Scotland, in Edinburgh.
DAVIDSON, Thomas, philosopher, b. in the parish
of Deer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 25 Oct., 1840.
He was graduated at the University of Aberdeen
in 1860, being a first graduate and Greek prizeman.
From 1860 till 1863 he was rector of the grammar-
(Latin-) school of Old Aberdeen, and from 1863 till
1866 master in several English schools, spending
his vacations on the continent. In 1866 he
removed to Canada, to occupy a place in the London
collegiate institute. In the following year he came
to the United States, and, after spending some
months in Boston, removed to St. Louis, where, in
addition to work on the New York "Round Table" and the "Western Educational Monthly," he was
classical master in the St. Louis high-school, and
subsequently principal of one of the branch
high-schools. In 1875 he removed to Cambridge, Mass.
He has travelled extensively in Europe, especially
in Greece and Italy. In the former country he
devoted himself mainly to archæology and modern
Greek, in the latter to the study of the Catholic
church, of scholastic philosophy, of Dante, and of
Rosmini. For studying the Catholic church
unusual opportunities were thrown open to him,
chiefly through the Princess Carolyne of
Sayn-Wittgenstein and Cardinal Hohenlohe, who offered
him an apartment in his episcopal palace at Albano,
and also in the villa D'Este at Tivoli. His interest
in Thomas Aquinas having come to the ears of the
pope through Bishop (now Cardinal) Schiatlino, he
was invited to the Vatican, where the holy father
suggested that he should settle in Rome and aid
his professors in editing the new edition of St.
Thomas. For more than a year he lived at
Domodossola, in Piedmont, where the Institute of charity,
founded by Rosmini, has its novitiate. Here he
produced the work that first brought Rosmini to
the notice of English-speaking students: “The
Philosophical System of Antonio Rosmini-Serbati,
translated, with a Sketch of the Author's Life,
Bibliography, Introduction, and Notes” (London, 1882).
At the same time he wrote essays on classical
subjects, mainly archæological, published under the
title “The Parthenon Frieze and Other Essays”
(London, 1882). He also translated “Rosmini's
Psychology” (3 vols., London, 1884). In 1883 he
occupied a villa in Capri, and there translated
Rosmini's “Anthropology.” Mr. Davidson has been
a frequent contributor to periodicals, and delivered
courses of lectures, before the Lowell institute
in Boston and elsewhere, on modern Greece, on
Greek sculpture, etc. He was mainly instrumental
in founding “The Fellowship of the New Life,”
which has branches in London and New York. He
speaks French, German, Italian, and modern Greek.
Besides the works named, Mr. Davidson has
published “The Fragments of Parmenides,” in English
hexameters, with introduction and notes (St.
Louis, 1869); “On the Origin of Language,” from
the German of W. H. J. Bleek (New York, 1869);
“A Short Account of the Niobe Group” (New York,
1874); “The Place of Art in Education” (Boston,
1886); “Giordano Bruno, and the Relation of his
Philosophy to Free Thought” (Boston. 1886); and a
“Hand-Book to Dante, from the Italian of
Scartazzini, with Notes and Additions” (Boston, 1887).
DAVIDSON, William, soldier, b. in Lancaster
county, Pa., in 1746; killed at the battle of Cowan's
Ford, N. C., 1 Feb., 1781. His father removed
with his family to Rowan county, N. C., in 1750,
and William, the youngest son, was educated at
Queen's museum, afterward Liberty hall, Charlotte.
At the beginning of the Revolution he was
appointed major in one of the first regiments raised
in North Carolina, and was in the engagements at
Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. In
November, 1779, he was detached to re-enforce the
army of Gen. Lincoln in the south, at which time
he commanded his regiment with the rank of
lieutenant-colonel. In an engagement with a party of
loyalists, near Calson's Mill, a ball passed through
his body; but he took the field eight weeks later,
with the rank of brigadier-general conferred on
him by the state of North Carolina, and exerted
himself to interrupt the progress of Cornwallis.
Detached by Gen. Greene on 31 Jan., 1781, to guard
the wagon ford chosen by Cornwallis for his night
passage of the Catawba, Gen. Davidson posted
himself on the bank of the river with 250 men.
The British army forced its way across, reserving
its fire until it had reached the bank, when the
militia fled. Gen. Davidson was the last on the
field, and was pierced by a rifle-ball through the
breast. Congress voted $500 for a monument to
him, but it has never been erected. Davidson
college, N. C., is named in his honor, and his sword
hangs in one of its halls.
DAVIE, William Richardson, soldier, b. in
Egremont, near Whitehaven, England, 20 June,
1756; d. in Camden, S. C, 8 Nov., 1820. He came
to this country with his father in 1763, and was
adopted by his uncle, Rev. William Richardson,
who lived near the Catawba, in South Carolina.
Y"oung Davie was graduated at Princeton, in the
autumn of 1776, after serving with a party of
his fellow-students as a volunteer in the vicin-
ity of New York dui'ing the summer of that
year. He then began to study law in Salisbury,
N. C, but was commissioned lieutenant of a new-
ly organized company of dragoons on 5 April,
1779, and, succeeding to the command of the
troop, joined Pulaski's legion and rose to the
rank of major.
At the battle of
Stono Ferry, 12
June, 1779, he re-
ceived a severe
wound in the
thigh, and on his
recovery returned
to Salisbury, re-
sumed his studies,
and was admitted
to the bar in Sep-
tember, 1779. In
the winter of 1780
he raised a body
of cavalry, spent
in its equipment
the last shilling
of the estate be-
queathed to him
by his uncle, and
with this force
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protected the southwestern part of the state from the attacks of the British in South Carolina. He fought in the battles at Hanging Rock and Rocky Mount, did good service in saving the remnant of the army after Gates's defeat at Camden, and on 5 Sept., 1780, was appointed colonel commanding the cavalry in North Carolina. He surprised the