and is insufferably dull. D'Avenant's dramas, on the other hand, may be read with fair prospect of amusement. For the numerous satires, chiefly good-natured, upon D'Avenant's poem and his physical misfortune, the reader must consult the writings of Suckling, Mennis, and others. Aubrey preserves a record of a frolic in which D'Avenant took part; and the story of the old woman who blessed his eyesight, and, being asked why by the astonished poet, answered because if he had need for spectacles he had no means of supporting them, with other similar tales, has been frequently told. Dryden after D'Avenant's death speaks highly of him. Richard Flecknoe published, 1668, Sir William D'Avenant's ‘Voyage to the Other World,’ with his ‘Adventures in the Poet's Elysium,’ a comic sketch in one sheet, in which on his arrival at Hades D'Avenant is badly received by various poets, especially Shakespeare, to whom he looked as his greatest friend, but who is offended with him ‘for so spoiling and mangling of his plays.’ With his old antagonist Donne he has a scrimmage, and in the end he is appointed jester to Pluto's court, probably in allusion to his intimacy with Charles II.
[The chief authority for the life of Sir William D'Avenant is the manuscript Life by Aubrey, transcribed by Warton for Malone (this was written at the request of Wood and used by him in the Athenæ Oxonienses); the prefatory memoir by Laing and Maidment to the collected dramas of D'Avenant, 5 vols. Edinburgh, 1872–4, and the introduction to the various plays; the reprint of Downes's Roscius Anglicanus, with a preface by the writer of this article, 1886; Malone's Historical Account of the English Stage; Pepys's Diary; Whitelocke's Memorials; Clarendon's History of the Rebellion; Langbaine's Account of the Dramatick Poets, 1691; Genest's Account of the English Stage, 1832; Austin and Ralph's Lives of the Poets Laureate, 1853; Letters written by eminent persons, and Lives of Eminent Men, by John Aubrey, 2 vols. in 3 parts, London, 1813, 8vo; Memoir and Diary of William Oldys (by Thoms), London, 1862, 12mo; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. xi. 183–4, 4th ser. v. 284, ix. 49–50; Gent. Mag. October 1850, p. 367; and other works named or cited above.]
DAVENANT, WILLIAM (d. 1681), translator, was the fourth son of Sir William D'Avenant [q. v.], and younger brother of Charles Davenant [q. v.] He was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he proceeded B.A. 19 July 1677, and M.A. 5 July 1680. He took holy orders on leaving the university, and held a living in Surrey, to which Robert Wymondsold of Putney presented him. He accompanied his patron in the capacity of tutor on a tour in France, and was drowned in the summer of 1681 while swimming in the Seine near Paris. He translated into English from the French of François La Mothe le Vayer ‘Notitia Historicorum Selectorum; or Animadversions upon the famous Greek and Latin Histories,’ Oxford, 1678. Davenant is stated to have added something to his original. He dedicated the book to James, earl of Doncaster, the eldest son of James, duke of Monmouth.
[Wood's Fasti Oxon. (Bliss) ii. 360, 372, where Bliss wrongly identifies this William Davenant with another, who was appointed vicar of Watford 16 June 1661, and died before June 1662; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
DAVENPORT, CHRISTOPHER (1598–1680), Franciscan and controversialist, better known as Franciscus â Clarâ, was born in Coventry in 1598, and educated at the school there. He was the son of John Davenport, alderman of Coventry, by Elizabeth Wolley, his wife. At the age of fifteen Christopher and his elder brother John went to Merton College, Oxford, as pupils to Mr. Samuel Lane. According to Wood, they were ‘only battelers, and took cook's commons.’ Sir H. Savile, the warden of Merton, not approving of this arrangement, required the two brothers to enter as commoners or to leave the college. They elected to do the latter. John, the elder, went to Magdalen Hall, became a noted puritan, and is separately noticed. Christopher was brought under the influence of a Romish priest living near Oxford, and went to Douai (1615). After remaining there a short time, he was transferred to Ypres, and (7 Oct. 1617) entered the Franciscan order of friars. He then returned to Douai, and joined the English Recollects of that order, entering the college of St. Bonaventura. Here he read lectures, and, after a time, went into Spain, and took degrees in divinity at Salamanca. Returning to Douai, he became chief reader in the college. He went to England as a missionary under the name of Franciscus a Sanctâ Clarâ, and was appointed one of the chaplains of the Queen Henrietta Maria. He soon became remarkable for his learning, and for his extremely liberal views as to the distinctive Romish tenets. He held that there was no essential or fundamental difference between the churches of England and Rome, and devoted himself to the attempt of reconciling the church of England to the Roman obedience. In this he had very considerable success. Probably Bishop Montague [q. v.], the author of the ‘Appello Cæsarem,’ was influenced by him, and it is known that Goodman, bishop of Gloucester, was altogether of his
