DANIEL, the fourth of the greater prophets, was born in Judea, of the tribe of Judah, about the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Josiah. He was led captive to Babylon, with other young Hebrew lords, after the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, who received them into his service. That prince gave them masters to instruct them in the language and science of the Chaldeans, and ordered them to be fed with the most delicate viands; but fearing lest they should eat meat forbidden by the law of Moses, they desired the king’s officers to allow them only pulse. The wisdom and conduct of Daniel having pleased Nebuchadnezzar, that prince conferred on him several posts of honour. It is commonly believed that this prophet, when but twelve years of age, made known the innocence of the chaste Susannah; but the learned are not agreed that the young Daniel who confounded the old men was the same with this prophet. However, he explained Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the mysterious statue, which foretold the four great monarchies; on which account he was made prefect of the province of Babylon. In the reign of Darius, the king of the Medes, he refused to adore the golden statue of the king, and was cast into the lions’ den, when those beasts, though pinched with hunger, did him no manner of hurt; and he explained the characters written on the wall of the room in which Belshazzar was feasting. It is believed that Daniel died in Chaldea, and that he did not take advantage of the permission granted by Cyrus to the Jews to return to their own country. St Epiphanius says he died at Babylon; and in this he is followed by the generality of historians.

Daniel, Samuel, a respectable poet and historian, was born near Taunton, in Somersetshire, in the year 1562, and educated at Oxford; but leaving that university without a degree, he applied himself to English history and poetry under the patronage of the Earl of Pembroke’s iamily. He was afterwards tutor to the Lady Anne Clifford; and, [7:7:617] upon the death of Spenser, he was created poet-laureat to Queen Elizabeth. In King James’s reign he was appointed gentleman extraordinary, and afterwards one of the grooms of the privy chamber to the queen consort, who took great delight in his conversation and writings. He died in October 1619. His works, which are numerous, consist mostly of dramatic pieces and poems, the principal of which are, 1. The Complaint of Rosalind, London, 1594, 4to; 2. Sonnets; 3. Tragedy of Cleopatra, London, 1598, 4to; 4. Of the Civil Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster; 5. The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses, London, 1604, 8vo; 6. Epistles; 7. Musophilus, containing a General Defence of Learning; 8. Tragedy of Philotas, London, 1611, 4to; 9. First part of the History of England, in three books, London, 1613, 4to; 10. The Queen’s Arcadia, a pastoral tragi-comedy, London, 1605, 4to; and, 11. Funeral Poem on the death of the Earl of Devon, London, 1623, 4to. The character of Daniel’s genius seems to have been propriety rather than elegance; his language is generally pure, and his reflections just; but his thoughts are too abstract, and appeal to the understanding rather than to the imagination or the heart.

Daniel, Gabriel, an ingenious and learned Frenchman, was born at Rouen in 1649. He taught polite literature, philosophy, and divinity among the Jesuits, and was the superior of their house at Paris, where he died in 1728. There are a great number of his works published in French, of which the principal are, 1. The History of France, Paris, 1713, 3 vols. folio, of which he published, in 1722, an edition, revised, corrected, augmented, and enriched with several authentic medals, in 7 vols. 4to; 2. Dialogue between Cleander and Eudoxus, being an answer to the Provincial Letters of Pascal; 3. A Defence of St Augustin; 4. A Theological Tract on the Efficacy of Grace, in 2 vols.; 5. Histoire de la Milice Françoise, 2 vols. 4to. The best edition of his history is that of 1757, in 17 vols. 4to.