OTWAY, THOMAS (1652-85). An English dramatist, author of The Orphan and 1 enice Preserved, two plays long famous on the British stage. Ile was horn March 3, 1652, at 'frot ton, near Midhurst, Sussex. Leaving Oxford without a degree, he went to London to seek his fortune in 1671. He appeared on the stage, hut made a signal failure; next he applied himself to dramatic composition. In 1675 ..4/eibindes. his first tragedy, was printed; and in the following year he produced Don Carlos, a play which was extremely popular. His first comedy, Friendship in. Fashion, appeared in 1678. and met with general appreciation. After a time spent with the army in Holland, he produced the tragedy of Callas Marius in 1680. In the same year The Orphan met with an extraordinary, and, in some respects, a deserved success. In 1681 The Soldier of Fortune. and in 1682 the finest of all his plays, Venice Preserved. were produced. From this time till his death. the poet had much to endure from poverty and neglect. Debts ac cumulating upon him, he retired to an obscure pnblic-house on Tower Hill. for the purpose of
avoiding his creditors, and here, at the early age of thirty-three, he died, April 14. 1685. Otway's power lay chiefly in depicting the pathos of affec tion, and he may have been inspired by his own unhappy infatuation for Mrs. Barry, the actress. Otherwise, although he achieved a brilliant repu tation during his lifetime, and though he is de scribed by Dryden as having a power of moving the passions which he himself did not possess, Otway's plots are artificial, and his work is of inferior artistic valve. Consult: Johnson, Lives' of the Poets (new ed., London, 1896) ; The of Thomas Oticay, with by Thomas Thornton (ib., 1813) ; Ward. History of English Dramatic Literature (ib.. 1899) ; :os.e. seren teentli Cott ary Studies 18ti3) ; Noel, Best Plays of Thomas Otirag (lb., 1855) ; Dc Grist', Etude stir Thomas °Drag I Paris, 1868) : Mosen, Thomas Otways Leben and lirrke (Jena, 1875) ; L?iwenberg, Filar Ottcays and Sehillers "Don Carlos" (Lippstadt, 1886).