thorough knowledge of public affairs, Mr. Davis never held
any prominent office. He did not seem to be an ambitious man. He was
once wealthy, and became poor, but he never seemed elated by prosperity
nor humbled by adversity. He was not a fortunate politician, and he
seemed to love the smoke of the battle more than the plunder of the
field. He was quite often on the unlucky side--for Crawford in '24--for
Adams in '28--for Clay in '32,--and so on. His side was taken from
impulse and personal liking, not from selfish calculation. He had known
almost every man who figures in the history of our country since the
Revolutionary era, and, while his faculties remained, his conversation
was remarkably instructive and entertaining. In early life Mr. Davis was
engaged in trade, and was moderately successful, but he gave up business
to devote himself more entirely to politics, He reentered commercial
life before the last war with England, and his house (Davis & Strong)
was fortunate in South American speculations, of the profits of which he
himself received some $50,000, which, however, was soon lost. For half a
century he was an industrious writer. He produced several very clever
pamphlets upon men and affairs, and was for many years known as "The Spy
in Washington" for the _Courier and Enquirer_, and "The Genevese
Traveler" for the _London Times_. Burr bequeathed to him all his papers,
and from these and his memoranda and recollections he prepared and
published, in 1838, "Memoirs of Aaron Burr, with Miscellaneous
Selections from his Correspondence," in 2 vols. 8vo., and "The Private
Journal of Aaron Burr during his Residence of Four Years in Europe, with
Selections from his Correspondence," 2 vols. 8vo.

* * * * *

REV. JOSEPH SAMUEL C. F. FREY, a well-known Baptist clergyman, died at
Pontiac, Michigan, in the 79th year of his age, on the 5th of June. He
was born of Jewish parents, in Germany, and was for several years reader
in a Synagogue. When about twenty-five years old, he became a Christian,
and soon after a student of divinity at Berlin. He was subsequently
engaged nearly all the time in efforts to convert the Jews. It was at
his suggestion that the London Missionary Society for Promoting
Christianity among the Jews, was founded, in 1808. In 1816 he came to
the United States, and was for a time pastor of a Presbyterian Church in
this city, but changing his views upon the subject of baptism, h