Chapter Davenport to De Rigueur of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Davenport to De Rigueur

Davenport (The Brothers), from America. Two impostors, who professed that spirits would untie them when bound with cords, and even that spirits played all sorts of instruments in a dark cabinet. The imposition was exposed in 1865.

David in Dryden's satire called Absalom and Achitophel, represents Charles II.; Absalom, his beautiful but rebellious son, represents the Duke of Monmouth; Achitophel, the traitorous counsellor, is the Earl of Shaftesbury; Barzillaï, the faithful old man who provided the kind sustenance, was the Duke of Ormond; Hushaï, who defeated the counsel of Achitophel, was Hyde, Duke of Rochester; Zadok the priest was Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury; Shimeï, who cursed the king in his flight, was Bethel, the lord mayor; etc. etc. (2 Sam. xvii.-xix.)

"Once more the godlike David was restored,
And willing nations knew their lawful lord."
Dryden: Absatom and Achitophel, part i.

   David (St.) or Dewid, was son of Xantus, Prince of Cereticu, now called Cardiganshire; he was brought up a priest, became an ascetic in the Isle of Wight, preached to the Britons, confuted Pelagius, and was preferred to the see of Caerleon, since called St. David's. He died 544. (See Taffy.)
   St. David's (Wales) was originally called Menevia (i.e. main aw, narrow water or frith). Here St. David received his early education, and when Dyvrig, Archbishop of Caerleon, resigned to him his see, St. David removed the archiepiscopal residence to Menevia, which was henceforth called by his name.

David and Jonathan Inseparable friends. Similar examples of friendship were Pylades and Orestes (q.v.); Damon and Pythias (q.v.); etc.

"I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant hast thou been to me. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." - 2 Sam. i. 26.

Davideis An epic poem in four books, describing the troubles of King David. (Abraham Cowley [1618-1667].)
There is another sacred poem so called, by Thomas Elwood (1712).

Davus Davus sum, non Œdipus (I am a plain, simple fellow, and no solver of riddles, like Œdipus). The words are from Terence's Andria, i. 2, 23.
   Non te credas Davum ludere. Don't imagine you are deluding Davus. "Do you see any white in my eye?" I am not such a fool as you think me to be.

Davy I'll take my davy of it. I'll take my "affidavit" it is true.

Davy (Snuffy). David Wilson. (See Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary, chap. iii. and note.)

Davy Jones's Locker He's gone to Davy Jones's locker, i.e. he is dead. Jones is a corruption of Jonah, the prophet, who was thrown into the sea. Locker, in seaman's phrase, means any receptacle for private stores; and duffy is a ghost or spirit among the West Indian negroes. So the whole phrase is, "He is gone to the place of safe keeping, where duffy Jonah was sent to."

"This same Davy Jones, according to the mythology of sailors, is the fiend that presides over all the evil spirits of the deep, and is seen in various shapes ... warning the devoted wretch of death and woe." - Smollett: Peregrine Pickle, xiii.

Davy's Sow Drunk as Davy's sow. Grose says: One David Lloyd, a Welshman, who kept an ale-house at Hereford, had a sow with six legs, which was an object of great curiosity. One day David's wife, having indulged too freely, lay down in the sty to sleep, and a company coming to see the sow, David led them to the sty, saying, as usual, "There is a sow for you! Did you ever see the like?" One of the visitors replied, "Well, it is the drunkenest sow I ever beheld." Whence the woman was ever after called "Davy's sow." (Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.)

Dawson (Bully). A noted London sharper, who swaggered and led a most abandoned life about Blackfriars, in the reign of Charles II. (See Jemmy Dawson.)

"Bully Dawson kicked by half the town, and half the town kicked by Bully Dawson." - Charles Lamb.

Day When it begins. (1) With sun-set: The Jews in their "sacred year," and the Church - hence the eve of feast-days; the ancient Britons "non dierum numerum, ut nos, sed noctium computant, " says Tacitus -