Venice Preserv'd is an English Restoration play written by Thomas Otway, and the most significant tragedy of the English stage in the 1680s. It was first staged in 1682, with Thomas Betterton as Jaffeir and Elizabeth Barry as Belvidera. The play was soon printed and enjoyed many revivals through to the 1830s. In 2019, the Royal Shakespeare Company staged a modern adaptation, Venice Preserved, at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.
“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.
Venice Preserv'd (1682), Act i. Sc. 1.
