Editing Venice Preserv'd (section)

==Success of the play==
Otway was the toast of London after ''Venice Preserv'd,'' and yet the financial situation of the theatre meant that he did not grow wealthy from his work. In 1692, [[Robert Gould (poet)|Robert Gould]] (''To Julian, Secretary of the Muses'') wrote, "Otway, though very fat, starves." While ''Venice Preserv'd'' has not survived to the twenty-first century as a byword for tragedy, it was one of the best-known and most important of English tragedies for over 100 years.

On 10 April 1865, [[John Wilkes Booth]] told [[Louis J. Weichmann]] that he was done with the stage and that the only play he wanted to present henceforth was ''Venice Preserv'd''.  Although Weichmann did not understand the reference at the time, it was later assumed to be a veiled allusion to the plot to [[Abraham Lincoln assassination|assassinate Abraham Lincoln]].<ref>Kauffman, Michael W. ''American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies''. Random House, 2004, p. 207</ref>