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It was—Dryden tells us, and we must believe him—"originally Shakspeare's; a poet for whom Sir William D'Avenant had particularly a high veneration, and whom he first taught me to admire."
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 by Various
The story of Shakespeare’s parental relation to D’Avenant was long current in Oxford, and was at times complacently accepted by the reputed son.
From A Life of William Shakespeare with portraits and facsimiles by Lee, Sidney, Sir
D'Avenant coached him in the parts both of Hamlet and of Henry the Eighth, in the light of the instruction which he had derived through the medium of Taylor and Lowin from Shakespeare's own lips.
From Shakespeare and the Modern Stage with Other Essays by Lee, Sidney, Sir
The warehouse had been erected on the site of the Duke’s Theatre, which was built by D’Avenant in 1660.
From A Life of William Shakespeare with portraits and facsimiles by Lee, Sidney, Sir
The latter was baptised at Oxford on March 3, 1605, as the son of John D’Avenant, the landlord of the Crown Inn, where Shakespeare lodged in his journeys to and from Stratford.
From A Life of William Shakespeare with portraits and facsimiles by Lee, Sidney, Sir
Instead, this “Macbeth” is a painstakingly assembled revival of a version that’s about 350 years old, adapted by William Davenant as London’s theaters reopened after being shut down for 18 years during England’s Civil War.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 5, 2018
Sir William Davenant, John and Jane's son - who later became poet laureate - reportedly implied Shakespeare was both his godfather and biological father.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2016
All theatre had been banned by a Puritan ordinance of 1647, but in 1660 two performing companies, one run by William Davenant and another by Thomas Killigrew, were granted licences.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 9, 2016
Stirling says that Davenant was the son of Shakespeare and Jane Davenant, a married tavern mistress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2016
Oh, Davenant," said his wife, "do let the boy alone.
From The Suprising Adventures of Sir Toady Lion With Those of General Napoleon Smith by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
