Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/358

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Otway
352
Otway

treatment of this situation seems deserved (‘Du Théâtre Anglais,’ in Œuvres Complètes, 1837, ix. 60). The plot, it should be noted, resembles that of Robert Tailor's ‘Hog that has lost his Pearl’ (1614), and is said to be derived from the Earl of Ossory's ‘English Adventures by a Person of Honour,’ 1676, where Castalio's experiences are assigned, without any historical warrant, to Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk. A similar legend is told of the brothers Edward and Francis Russell, sons of Francis Russell, second earl of Bedford (d 1585) (cf. Pennant, Journey from Chester to London; Walpole, Letters, ed. Cunningham, ed. Cunningham, ix. 355).

Thomson the poet ranked the parts of Monimia and Belvidera with those of Hamlet and Othello, and many of the greatest actresses owed to these rôles the leading triumphs in their careers. As Belvidera, Mrs. Barry was succeeded in turn by Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Seymour, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Siddons, and Miss O'Neill; while Garrick and J. P. Kemble played both Pierre and Jaffier with notable success. Mills, Quin, and Mossop were also popular exponents of Pierre's part, and Macready filled it for many years. As Monimia, Mrs. Oldfield, Mrs. Porter, and Mrs. Cibber all excelled. Miss O'Neill was the last eminent actress to essay the part. Garrick often played Chamont, Monimia's brother. ‘The Orphan’ and ‘Venice Preserved’ both remained stock pieces until the present century. Twenty revivals of ‘Venice Preserved’ are noticed by Genest, the latest at Drury Lane on 6 April 1829, with Young as Pierre and Miss Phillips as Belvidera. Sixteen performances of ‘The Orphan’ are described by Genest between 1707 and 1815, on 2 Dec. of which year it was played at Covent Garden, with Charles Kemble as Chamont and Miss O'Neill as Monimia. Many modifications were introduced into the text of both pieces. J. P. Kemble printed an acting version of ‘Venice Preserved,’ from which the scenes with Antonio were omitted; this was thrice published, in 1795, 1811, and 1814 respectively. A performance of ‘Venice Preserved,’ by the boys of Otway's old school (Winchester), took place in 1755, when a prologue was written by Robert Lowth [q. v.], afterwards Bishop of London.

The earliest collected edition of Otway's plays appeared in 1713, in two volumes; an edition in three volumes is dated 1757; a fuller edition, with some account of Otway's life and writings, was issued in 1768 (3 vols.); a fourth edition was dated 1812 (2 vols.) The best is that edited by W. T. Thornton in 1813 (3 vols.) ‘Don Carlos,’ ‘The Orphan,’ ‘The Soldier's Fortune,’ and ‘Venice Preserved’ were reprinted in the ‘Mermaid Series’ (1891), edited by Roden Noel. Otway's chief plays figure in all the collections of the English drama, and his poems may be found in ‘Works of the most celebrated Minor Poets,’ 1750, vol. iii., and in the collections of Dr. Johnson (1779), of Dr. Anderson (1793, vol. vi.), T. Park (1806, vol. i.), and Alexander Chalmers (1810, vol. viii.)

[Johnson's Lives of the Poets, ed. Cunningham, i. 211 sq.; Langbaine's English Dramatick Poets, 1691, p. 395 (with Oldys's manuscript notes in Brit. Mus. copy, c. 28 g. 1, and Haslewood's notes in Brit. Mus. copy of 1699 edit. c. 45, d. 16); Wood's Athenæ Oxon. iv. 168; Mr. Gosse's Seventeenth-Century Studies; Davies's Dramatic Miscellanies, iii. 176–253; Genest's Hist. Account of the Stage, passim; Alexandre Beljame's Le Public des Hommes de Lettres en Angleterre au Dix-huitième Siècle, 1660–1744, Paris, 1881; Ward's Hist. of English Drama; Joseph Cradock's Works, iv. 381 (poem on Otway); information kindly supplied by the Very Rev. the Dean of Winchester, formerly rector of Woolbeding, and by Mr. C. W. Holgate of The Palace, Salisbury.]

S. L.


OTWAY, THOMAS (1616–1693), bishop of Ossory, is said to have been born in Wiltshire on 1 Nov. 1616, but no trace remains of a family of that name in Wiltshire. It is probable that he was connected with the Otways of Sedbergh, Yorkshire, of whom John was admitted fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, on 24 March 1639-40, was ejected by the Earl of Manchester on 15 March 1643-4 for refusing to take the solemn league and covenant, and after the Restoration was knighted and became chancellor to the Bishop of Durham (Baker, St. John's College, Cambridge, i. 295, 526 ; Walker, Sufferings, p. 149). Thomas was educated probably at Kirkby Lonsdale or Sedbergh school, Yorkshire, and later at Christ's College, Cambridge, to which he bequeathed 500l. to found three exhibitions, with preference first to Kirkby Lonsdale school, and then to Sedbergh school (Cambridge Univ. Calendar); but he graduated D.D. from Trinity College, Dublin. He subsequently became chaplain to Sir Ralph (afterwards lord) Hopton [q. v.], and an active royalist. He was taken prisoner during the war, and banished to the West Indies, where he remained until the Restoration (Singer, Hyde Corr. i. 257). He then became chaplain to John, first baron Berkeley of Stratton [q. v.], who took Otway with him to Ireland when he was made lord-lieutenant in 1670, and procured his promotion to the see of Killaloe by patent dated 16 Nov. He was consecrated in Christ Church, Dub-