The Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets/Thomas Otway
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Thomas Otway.
The Place of Mr. Otway’s Birth I know not; but he was of a good Family, and has a Nephew a Captain in the present Service. He was bred at Christ-Church, in Oxford, and thence remov’d to London, not going on with the Design of being of the Clergy. Tho’ at first he met with but little Encouragement here, but what a small Allowance and Sallery from the Play-house afforded (for he was first a Player) but after he had writ Don Carlos, he began to have a Name, having in that Play discovered some Touches of a Tallent, very few of our English Poets have been Master of, in moving the Passions, that are, and ought to be the Aim of all Tragick Poets. Terror and Pity; and in which none equal’d him, in his two following Tragedies of The Orphan, and Venice Preserv’d. He was a Jovial Companion, and a great Lover of the Bottle, and Particularly of Punch; the last thing he made before his Death, being an excellent Song on that Liquor. We have in Print of his, ten Plays; another more excellent than all of them, is, by some malicious or designing Person suppress’d, either hereafter to set up a Reputation to themselves, by owning it, or to procure a Profit by selling it for their own.
Alcibiades, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1675. acted at the Duke’s Theatre. The Dedication is to the Right Honourable, Charles, Earl of Middlesex. This was the first Product of our Author. The Plot from Corn. Nepos, and Plutarch, both in the Life of Alcibiades; but he has varied from the Story, making Alcibiades a more scrupulous Man than the Historians do, who accuse him of Adultery with the Queen of Agis, &c.
The Atheist; or the second Part of The Soldier’s Fortune, a Comedy, 4 to. 1684. The Dedication is to the Lord Eland, Eldest Son to the Marquess of Hallifax. Plot, in Part, taken from The Invisible Mistress, in Scarron’s Novels.
The Cheats of Scapin, a Farce, 4 to. 1667. acted at the Duke’s Theatre: It is printed with Titus and Berenice, a Tragedy after mentioned, writ by the same Author. ’Tis translated from Molliere, which, originally is Terrences Phormio.
Caius Marius, his History and Fall, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1680, acted at the Duke’s Theatre; and its Dedication to the Lord Viscount Faulkland. Part of it stollen from Shakespear’s Romeo and Juliet. Plot from Plutarch, in his Life of Caius Marius, and Lucan’s Pharsalia, Book 2.
Don Carlos, Prince of Spain, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1679. The Dedication is to his Royal Highness, the Duke. This is the second Play our Author ever writ, and gain’d him great Reputation. Plot from the Novel so called, 12 mo. you may also consult the Spanish Chronicles in the Life of Philip the Second.
Friendship in Fashion, a Comedy, 4 to. 1678. acted at the Duke’s Theatre, with good Applause. Its Dedication is to the Right Honourable, Charles, Earl of Dorset and Middlesex.
The Orphan; or, The Unhappy Marriage, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1680. acted at the Duke’s Theatre. Its Dedication to her Royal Highness, the Dutchess. This is acccounted an excellent Play, and often acted of late Days. Plot from the History of Brandon, p. 17. and The English Adventures, a Novel.
The Soldiers Fortune, a Comedy, 4 to. 1681. acted by their Royal Highnesses Servants, at the Duke’s Theatre. The Lady Dunce, making her Husband Agent, is from Moliere Escole de Maris, &c. See also Boccace’s Novels, Day 3. Nov. 3, and Scarron’s Comical Romance, p. 227.
Titus and Berenice, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1677. to which is joined The Cheats of Scapin, acted at the Duke’s Theatre; and dedicated to the Right Honourable, John, Earl of Rochester. Translated from Monsieur Racine; it wants two Acts of the usual Number. The Story of Titus and Berenice you may find in Suetonius, Dionisius, Josephus, &c.
Venice Preserv’d; or, A Plot discovered; a Tragedy, 4 to. 1688. acted at the Duke’s Theatre; dedicated to the Dutchess of Portsmouth. This is an incomparable Play, and often acted of late Days. The Plot is taken from a little Book, printed, 8 vo. being an Account of the Conspiracy of the Spaniards against Venice.
This Author writ a small Piece, called, The Poet’s Complaint to his Muse, 4 to. 1680, also a Pastoral on King Charles the Second, which is publish’d in Mrs. Behn’s Lycidas, 8 vo. p. 81. and since his Death, is printed a Translation of his from the French, called, The History of the Triumvirates, 8 vo. 1686.