Thomas Otway

thumb|Thomas Otway Thomas Otway (March 3, 1652 – April 14, 1685) was an English dramatist of the Restoration period. Quotes O woman! lovely woman! Nature made theeTo temper man: we had been brutes without you.Angels are painted fair, to look like you:There ’s in you all that we believe of heaven,—Amazing brightness, purity, and truth,Eternal joy, and everlasting love. Venice Preserv'd (1682), Act i. Sc. 1. Give but an Englishman his whore and ease,Beef and a sea-coal fire, he's yours forever. Venice Preserv'd (1682), Act ii. Sc. 3. Quoted by Lord Byron in a letter to Francis Hodgson (22 August 1822): If you should feel a disposition to come here, you will find 'beef and a sea-coal fire', and not ungenerous wine. Whether Otway's two other requisites for an Englishman or not, I cannot tell, but probably one of them. Dear as the vital warmth that feeds my life;Dear as these eyes, that weep in fondness o’er thee. Venice Preserv'd (1682), Act v. Sc. 1. Compare: "Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes; Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart", Thomas Gray, The Bard, part i. stanza 3. And die with decency. Venice Preserv'd (1682), Act v. Sc. 3. What mighty ills have not been done by woman!Who was ’t betrayed the Capitol?—A woman!Who lost Mark Antony the world?—A woman!Who was the cause of a long ten years’ war,And laid at last old Troy in ashes?—Woman!Destructive, damnable, deceitful woman! The Orphan (1680), Act iii. Sc. 1. Compare: "O woman, woman! when to ill thy mind/ Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend", Alexander Pope, Homer’s Odyssey, book xi., line 531. Let us embrace, and from this very moment vow an eternal misery together. The Orphan (1680), Act iv. Sc. 2. Compare: "Let us swear an eternal friendship", John Hookham Frere, The Rovers, act i. sc. 1. External links Author:Thomas Otway Category:Playwrights from England Category:1652 births Category:1685 deaths