Thomas Otway was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for Venice Preserv'd, or A Plot Discover'd . Wikipedia
“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.
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.
Venice Preserv'd (1682), Act i. Sc. 1.
“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.
