, the eldest son of sir William Davenant, was born in 1656, and was
, the eldest son of sir William
Davenant, was born in 1656, and was initiated in grammar-learning at Cheame in Surrey. Though he had the
misfortune to lose his father when scarce twelve years of
age, yet care was taken to send him to Oxford to finish
his education, where he became a commoner of Baliol college in 1671. He took no degree, but went to London,
where, at the age of nineteen, he distinguished himself
by a dramatic performance, the only one he published,
entitled, “Circe, a tragedy, acted at his royal highness
the duke of York’s theatre with great applause.
” This
play was not printed till two years after it was acted; upon
which occasion Dryden wrote a prologue, and the earl of
Rochester an epilogue. In the former, there was an apology for the author’s youth and inexperience. He had a
considerable share in the theatre in right of his father,
which probably induced him to turn his thoughts so early
to the stage; however, he was not long detained there
either by that, or the success of his play, but applied himself to the civil law, in which, it is said, he had the degree
of doctor conferred upon him by the university of Cambridge. He was elected to represent the borough of St.
Ives in Cornwall, in the first parliament of James II. which
was summoned to meet in May 1685; and, about the same
time, jointly empowered, with the master of the revels, to
inspect all plays, and to preserve the decorum of the stage.
He was also appointed a commissioner of the excise, and
continued in that employment for near six years, that is,
from 1683 to 1689: however, he does not seem to have
been advanced to this rank before he had gone through
some lesser employments. In 1698 he was elected for the
borough of Great Bedwin, as he was again in 1700. He
was afterwards appointed inspector-general of the exports
and imports; and this employment he held to the time of
his death, which happened Nov. 6, 1714. Dr. Davenant’s
thorough acquaintance with the laws and constitution of
the kingdom, joined to his great skill in figures, and his
happiness in applying that skill according to the principles
advanced by sir William Petty in his Political Arithmetic,
enabled him to enter deeply into the management of affairs, and procured him great success as a writer in politics; and it is remarkable, that though he was advanced
and preferred under the reigns of Charles II. and James II.
yet in all his pieces he reasons entirely upon revolution
principles, and compliments in the highest manner the virtues and abilities of the prince then upon the throne.