Part 17

_Olivia_, “the rose of Aragon,” was the daughter of Ruphi´no, a peasant, and bride of Prince Alonzo of Aragon. The king refused to recognize the marriage, and, sending his son to the army, compelled the cortez to pass an act of divorce. This brought to a head a general revolt. The king was dethroned, and Almagro made regent. Almagro tried to make Olivia marry him; ordered her father to the rack, and her brother to death. Meanwhile the prince returned at the head of his army, made himself master of the city, put down the revolt, and had his marriage duly recognized. Almagro took poison and died.--S. Knowles, _The Rose of Aragon_ (1842).

_Olivia_ [PRIMROSE], the elder daughter of the vicar of Wakefield. She was a sort of a Hebê in beauty, open, sprightly, and commanding. Olivia Primrose “wished for many lovers,” and eloped with Squire Thornhill. Her father went in search of her, and on his return homeward, stopped at a roadside inn, called the Harrow, and there found her turned out of the house by the landlady. It was ultimately discovered that she was legally married to the squire.--Goldsmith, _Vicar of Wakefield_ (1765).

_Olivia_, young girl who hearkens to _The Talking Oak_ in Tennyson’s poem of that name (1842).

=Olivia de Zenuga=, daughter of Don Cæsar. She fixed her heart on having Julio de Melessina for her husband, and so behaved to all other suitors as to drive them away. Thus to Don Garcia, she pretended to be a termagant; to Don Vincentio, who was music-mad, she professed to love a Jew’s-harp above every other instrument. At last Julio appeared, and her “bold stroke” obtained as its reward “the husband of her choice.”--Mrs. Cowley, _A Bold Stroke for a Husband_ (1782).

=Olla=, bard of Cairbar. These bards acted as heralds.--Ossian.

=Ol´lapod= (_Cornet_), at the Galen’s Head. An eccentric country apothecary, “a jumble of physic and shooting.” Dr. Ollapod is very fond of “wit,” and when he has said what he thinks a smart thing he calls attention to it, with “He! he! he!” and some such expression as “Do you take, good sir! do you take?” But when another says a smart thing, he titters, and cries, “That’s well! that’s very well! Thank you, good sir, I owe you one!” He is a regular rattle; details all the scandal of the village; boasts of his achievements or misadventures; is very mercenary, and wholly without principle.--G. Colman, _The Poor Gentleman_ (1802).

⁂ This character is evidently a copy of Dibdin’s “Doctor Pother” in _The Farmer’s Wife_ (1780).

=Ol´lomand=, an enchanter, who persuaded Ahu´bal, the rebellious brother of Misnar, sultan of Delhi, to try by bribery to corrupt the troops of the sultan. By an unlimited supply of gold, he soon made himself master of the southern provinces and Misnar marched to give him battle. Ollomand, with 5000 men, went in advance and concealed his company in a forest; but Misnar, apprised thereof by spies, set fire to the forest, and Ollomand was shot by the discharge of his own cannons, fired spontaneously by the flames: “For enchantment has no power except over those who are first deceived by the enchanter.”--Sir C. Morell [J. Ridley], _Tales of the Genii_ (“The Enchanter’s Tale,” vi., 1751).

=Oluf= (_Sir_), a bridegroom who rode late to collect guests to his wedding. On his ride, the daughter of the erl king met him and invited him to dance a measure, but Sir Oluf declined. She then offered him a pair of gold spurs, a silk doublet, and a heap of gold, if he would dance with her: and when he refused to do so, she struck him “with an elf-stroke.” On the morrow, when all the bridal party was assembled, Sir Oluf was found dead in a wood.--_A Danish Legend_ (Herder).

=Olympia=, countess of Holland and wife of Bire´no. Being deserted by Bireno, she was bound naked to a rock by pirates, but was delivered by Orlando, who took her to Ireland, where she married King Oberto (bks. iv., v.),[TN-47]--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

_Olympia_, sister to the grand-duke of Muscovia.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Loyal Subject_ (1618).

=Omawhaws= [_Om´.a.waws_] or =Omahas=, an Indian tribe of Dakota.

O, chief of the mighty Omahaws!

Longfellow, _To the Driving Cloud_.

=Ombre´lia=, the rival of Smilinda, for the love of Sharper; “strong as the footman, as the master sweet.”--Pope, _Eclogues_ (“The Basset Table,” 1715).

=O’Neal= (_Shan_), leader of the Irish insurgents in 1567. Shan O’Neal was notorious for profligacy.

=O’Malley= (_Charles_). Dashing Irishman in Charles James Lever’s novel _Charles O’Malley_.

=O’More= (_Rory_). Hero of a novel of same name and the lover of Katharine O’Bawn, in the popular song, Rory O’More. Novel and song are by Samuel Lover.

=Onei´za= (3 _syl._), daughter of Moath, a well-to-do Bedouin, in love with Thal´aba, “the destroyer” of sorcerers. Thalaba, being raised to the office of vizier, married Oneiza, but she died on the bridal night.--Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, ii., vii. (1797).

=Oneida Warrior= (_The_), Outalissi (_q.v._).--Campbell, _Gertrude of Wyoming_ (1809).

=Only= (_The_), Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, called by the Germans _Der Einzige_, from the unique character of his writings.

⁂ The Italians call Bernardo Accolti, an Italian poet of the sixteenth century, “Aretino the Only,” or _L’Unico Aretino_.

=Open, Ses´ame!= (3 _syl._) the magic words which caused the cave door of the “forty thieves” to open of itself. “Shut Sesamê!” were the words which caused it to shut. Sesame is a grain, and hence Cassim, when he forgot the word, cried, “Open, Wheat!” “Open, Rye!” “Open, Barley!” but the door obeyed no sound but “Open, Sesamê!”--_Arabian Nights_ (“Ali Baba or The Forty Thieves”).

=Ophelia=, the young, beautiful, and pious daughter of Polo´nius, lord chamberlain to the king of Denmark. Hamlet fell in love with her, but her father forbade her holding word or speech with the Prince, and she obeyed so strictly that her treatment of him, with his other wrongs, drove him to upbraid and neglect her. Ophelia was so wrought upon by his conduct that her mind gave way. In her madness, attempting to hang a wreath of flowers on a willow by a brook, a branch broke, and she was drowned.--_Hamlet_ (1596).

Tate Wilkinson, speaking of Mrs. Cibber (Dr. Arne’s daughter, 1710-1766), says: “Her features, figure and singing, made her the best ‘Ophelia’ that ever appeared either before or since.”

=Ophiuchus= [_Of´.i.ū´.kus_], the constellation _Serpentarius_. Ophiuchus is a man who holds a serpent (Greek _Ophis_) in his hands. The constellation is situated to the south of _Herculês_; and the principal star, called “Ras Alhague,” is in the man’s head. (_Ras Alhague_)[TN-48] is from the Arabic, _rás-al-hawwá_, “the serpent-charmer’s head.”)

Satan stood Unterrified, and like a comet burned, That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge, In the Arctic sky.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, ii. 709, etc. (1665).

=Opium-Eater= (_The English_), Thomas de Quincey, who published _Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_ (1845).

=O. P. Q.=, Robert Merry (1755-1798); object of Gifford’s satire in _Baviad_ and _Mæviad_, and of Byron’s in his _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_. He marries Miss Brunton, the actress.

And Merry’s metaphors appear anew, Chained to the signature of O. P. Q.

Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).

=Oracle of the Church= (_The_), St. Bernard (1091-1153).

=Oracle of the Holy Bottle= (_The_), an oracle sought for by Rabelais, to solve the knotty point “whether Panurge (2 _syl._) should marry or not.” The question had been put to sibyl and poet, monk and fool, philosopher and witch, but none could answer it. The oracle was ultimately found in Lantern-land.

This, of course, is a satire on the celibacy of the clergy and the withholding of the cup from the laity. Shall the clergy marry or not?--that was the moot point; and the “Bottle of Tent Wine,” or the clergy, who kept the bottle to themselves, alone could solve it. The oracle and priestess of the bottle were both called _Bacbuc_ (Hebrew for “bottle”).--Rabelais, _Pantag´ruel_, iv., v. (1545).

=Oracle= (_Sir_), name used in Merchant of Venice to express conceited, pugnacious man.

... I am Sir Oracle, And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!”[TN-49]

=Orange= (_Prince of_), a title given to the heir-apparent of the king of Holland. “Orange” is a petty principality in the territory of Avignon, in the possession of the Nassau family.

=Orania=, the lady-love of Am´adis of Gaul.--Lobeira, _Amadis of Gaul_ (fourteenth century).

=Orator Henley=, the Rev. John Henley, who for about thirty years delivered lectures on theological, political, and literary subjects (1692-1756).

⁂ Hogarth has introduced him into several of his pictures; and Pope says of him:

Imbround with native bronze, lo! Henley stands, Tuning his voice, and balancing his hands, How fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue! How sweet the periods, neither said nor sung!...

Oh, great restorer of the good old stage, Preacher at once and zany of thy age! Oh, worthy thou of Egypt’s wise abodes; A decent priest where monkeys were the gods!

_The Dunciad_ (1742).

=Orator Hunt=, the great demagogue in the time of the Wellington and Peel administration. Henry Hunt, M.P., used to wear a gray hat, and these hats were for the time a badge of democratic principles, and called “radical hats” (1773-1835).

=Orbaneja=, the painter of Ube´da, who painted so preposterously that he inscribed under his objects what he meant them for.

Orbaneja would paint a cock so wretchedly designed that he was obliged to inscribe under it, “This is a cock.”--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. i. 3 (1615).

=Orbilius=, the schoolmaster who taught Horace. The poet calls him “the flogger” (_plagōsus_).--_Ep._ ii. 71.

⁂ _The Orbilian Stick_ is a birch rod or cane.

=Ordigale=, the otter in the beast-epic of _Reynard the Fox_, i. (1498).

=Ordovi´ces= (4 _syl._), people of Ordovicia, that is, Flintshire, Denbighshire, Merionetshire, Montgomeryshire, Carnarvonshire and Anglesey. (In Latin the _i_ is short: _Ordovĭcês_.)

The Ordovīces now which North Wales people be.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xvi. (1613).

=Or´dovies= (3 _syl._), the inhabitants of North Wales. (In Latin North Wales is called _Ordovic´ia_.)

Beneath his [_Agricola’s_] fatal sword the Ordovies to fall (Inhabiting the west), those people last of all ... withstood.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, viii. (1612).

=Or´ead= (3 _syl._), a mountain-nymph. Tennyson calls “Maud” an _oread_, because her hall and garden were on a hill.

I see my Oreäd coming down.

_Maud_, I. xvi. 1 (1855).

_Oreäd._ Echo is so called.

=Ore´ades= (4 _syl._) or =O´reads= (3 _syl._), mountain-nymphs.

Ye Cambrian [_Welsh_] shepherds then, whom these our mountains please, And ye our fellow-nymphs, ye light Oreädês.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, ix. (1612).

=Orel´io=, the favorite horse of King Roderick, the last of the Goths.

’Twas Orelio On which he rode, Roderick’s own battle-horse, Who from his master’s hand had wont to feed, And with a glad docility obey His voice familiar.

Southey, _Roderick, etc._, xxv. (1814).

=Ores´tes= (3 _syl._), son of Agamemnon, betrothed to Hermi´onê (4 _syl._), daughter of Menela´us (4 _syl._), king of Sparta. At the downfall of Troy Menelāus promised Hermionê in marriage to Pyrrhus, king of Epīrus, but Pyrrhus fell in love with Androm´achê, the widow of Hector, and his captive. An embassy, led by Orestês, was sent to Epirus to demand that the son of Andromachê should be put to death, lest, as he grew up, he might seek to avenge his father’s death. Pyrrhus refused to comply. In this embassage Orestês met Hermionê again, and found her pride and jealousy aroused to fury by the slight offered her. She goaded Orestês to avenge her insults, and the ambassadors fell on Pyrrhus and murdered him. Hermionê, when she saw the dead body of the king borne along, stabbed herself, and Orestês went raving mad.--Ambrose Philips, _The Distressed Mother_ (1712).

=Orfeo and Heuro´dis=, the tale of Orpheus and Eurydĭcê, with the Gothic machinery of elves and fairies.

⁂ Glück has an opera called _Orfeo_; the libretto, by Calzabigi, based on a dramatic piece by Poliziano (1764).

=Orgari´ta=, “the orphan of the Frozen Sea,” heroine of a drama. (See MARTHA.)--Stirling, _The Orphan of the Frozen Sea_ (1856).

=Or´gilus=, the betrothed lover of Penthe´a, by the consent of her father; but, at the death of her father, her brother, Ith´oclês, compelled her to marry Bass´anês, whom she hated. Ithoclês was about to marry the princess of Sparta, but a little before the event was to take place Penthea starved herself to death, and Orgilus was condemned to death for murdering Ithoclês.--John Ford, _The Broken Heart_ (1633).

=Orgoglio= [_Or.gole´.yo_], a hideous giant, as tall as three men, son of Earth and Wind. Finding the Red Cross Knight at the fountain of Idleness he beats him with a club, and makes him his slave. Una informs Arthur of it, and Arthur liberates the knight and slays the giant (_Rev._ xiii. 5, 7, with _Dan._ vii. 21, 22).--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, i. (1590).

⁂ Arthur first cut off Orgoglio’s _left arm_, _i. e._ Bohemia was cut off first from the Church of Rome; then he cut off the giant’s _right leg_, _i. e._ England.

=Orgon=, brother-in-law of Tartuffe (2 _syl._). His credulity and faith in Tartuffe, like that of his mother, can scarcely be shaken even by the evidence of his senses. He hopes against hope, and fights every inch of ground in defence of the religious hypocrite.--Molière, _Tartuffe_ (1664).

=Oria´na=, daughter of Lisuarte, king of England, and spouse of Am´adis of Gaul (bk. ii. 6). The general plot of this series of romances bears on this marriage, and tells of the thousand and one obstacles from rivals, giants, sorcerers and so on, which had to be overcome before the consummation could be effected. It is in this unity of plot that the Amadis series differs from its predecessors--the Arthurian romances, and those of the paladins of Charlemagne, which are detached adventures, each complete in itself, and not bearing to any common focus.--_Amadis de Gaul_ (fourteenth century).

⁂ Queen Elizabeth is called “the peerless Oriana,” especially in the madrigals entitled _The Triumphs of Oriana_ (1601). Ben Jonson applies the name to the queen of James I. (_Oriens Anna_).

_Oriana_, the nursling of a lioness, with whom Esplandian fell in love, and for whom he underwent all his perils and exploits. She was the gentlest, fairest, and most faithful of her sex.--Lobeira, _Amadis de Gaul_ (fourteenth century).

_Orian´a_, the fair, brilliant, and witty “chaser” of the “wild goose” Mirabel, to whom she is betrothed, and whose wife she ultimately becomes.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Wild-Goose Chase_ (1652).

_Oriana_, the ward of old Mirabel, and bound by contract to her guardian’s son whom she loves; but young Mirabel shilly-shallies, till he gets into trouble with Lamorce (3 _syl._), and is in danger of being murdered, when Oriana, dressed as a page, rescues him. He then declared that his “inconstancy has had a lesson,” and he marries the lady.--G. Farquhar, _The Inconstant_ (1702).

_Oriana_, in Tennyson’s ballad so called, “stood on the castle wall,” to see her spouse, a Norland chief, fight. A foeman went between “the chief, and the wall,” and discharged an arrow, which, glancing aside, pierced the lady’s heart and killed her. The ballad is the lamentation of the spouse on the death of his bride (1830).

=O´riande= (3 _syl._), a fay who lived at Rosefleur, and was brought up by Maugis d’Aygremont. When her _protégé_ grew up, she loved him, “d’un si grand amour, qu’elle doute fort qu’il ne se departe d’avecques elle.”--_Romance de Maujis d’Aygremont et de Vivian son Frère._

=O´riel=, a fairy, whose empire lay along the banks of the Thames, when King Oberon held his court in Kensington Gardens.--Tickell, _Kensington Gardens_ (1686-1740).

=Orient= (_The_). In _The New Priest of Conception Bay_, Fanny Dare sings to little Mary Barré how the good ship _Orient_ was wrecked.

“Woe for the brave ship Orient! Woe for the old ship Orient! For in the broad, broad light With the land in sight,-- Where the waters bubbled white,-- One great, sharp shriek!--one shudder of affright! And---- down went the brave old ship, the Orient!”

Robert Lowell, _The New Priest of Conception Bay_ (1858).

=Oriflamme=, the banner of St. Denis. When the counts of Vexin became possessed of the abbey, the banner passed into their hands, and when, in 1082, Philippe I. united Vexin to the crown, the oriflamme or sacred banner belonged to the king. In 1119 it was first used as a national banner. It consists of a crimson silk flag, mounted on a gilt staff (_un glaive tout doré où est attaché une banière vermeille_). The loose end is cut into three wavy vandykes, to represent tongues of flame, and a silk tassel is hung at each cleft. In war the display of this standard indicates that no quarter will be given. The English standard of no quarter was the “burning dragon.”

Raoul de Presle says it was used in the time of Charlemagne, being the gift of the patriarch of Jerusalem. We are told that all infidels were blinded who looked upon it. Froissart says it was displayed at the battle of Rosbecq, in the reign of Charles VI., and “no sooner was it unfurled than the fog cleared away, and the sun shone on the French alone.”

I have not reared the Oriflamme of death. ... me it behooves To spare the fallen foe.

Southey, _Joan of Arc_, viii. 621, etc. (1837).

=Origilla=, the lady-love of Gryphon, brother of Aquilant; but the faithless fair one took up with Martāno, a most impudent boaster and a coward. Being at Damascus during a tournament in which Gryphon was the victor, Martano stole the armor of Gryphon, arrayed himself in it, took the prizes, and then decamped with the lady. Aquilant happened to see them, bound them, and took them back to Damascus, where Martano was hanged, and the lady kept in bondage for the judgment of Lucīna.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Orillo=, a magician and robber, who lived at the mouth of the Nile. He was the son of an imp and fairy. When any one of his limbs was lopped off, he had the power of restoring it; and when his head was cut off, he could take it up and replace it. When Astolpho encountered this magician, he was informed that his life lay in one particular hair; so instead of seeking to maim his adversary, Astolpho cut off the magic hair, and the magician fell lifeless at his feet.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Orinda=, “the incomparable,” Mrs. Katherine Philipps, who lived in the reign of Charles II., and died of small-pox.

⁂ Her praises were sung by Cowley, Dryden, and others.

We allowed you beauty, and we did submit ... Ah, cruel sex, will you depose us too in wit? Orinda does in that too reign.

Cowley, _On Orinda’s Poems_ (1647).

=Ori´on=, a giant of great beauty, and a famous hunter, who cleared the island of Chios of wild beasts. While in the island, Orion fell in love with Merŏpê, daughter of king Œnop´ion; but one day, in a drunken fit, having offered her violence, the king put out the giant’s eyes, and drove him from the island. Orion was told if he would travel eastward, and expose his sockets to the rising sun, he would recover his sight. Guided by the sound of a Cyclop’s hammer, he reached Lemnos, where Vulcan gave him a guide to the abode of the sun. In due time, his sight returned to him, and at death he was made a constellation. The lion’s skin was an emblem of the wild beasts which he slew in Chios, and the club was the instrument he employed for the purpose.

He [_Orion_] Reeled as of yore beside the sea, When, blinded by Œnopion, He sought the blacksmith at his forge, And, climbing up the mountain gorge, Fixed his blank eyes upon the sun.

Longfellow, _The Occultation of Orion_.

_Orion and the Blacksmith._ The reference is to the blacksmith mentioned in the preceding article, whom Orion took on his back to act as guide to the place where the rising sun might be best seen.

_Orion’s Dogs_ were Arctophŏnus (“the bear-killer”) and Ptoophăgos (“the glutton of Ptoon,” in Bœōtia).

_Orion’s Wife_, Sidê.

_Orion._ After Orion has set in the west, _Aurīga_ (the Charioteer) and _Gem´ini_ (Castor and Pollux) are still visible. Hence Tennyson says:

... the Charioteer And starry Gemini hang like glorious crowns Over Orion’s grave low down in the west.

_Maud_, III. vi. 1 (1855).

_Orion_, a seraph, the guardian angel of Simon Peter.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, iii. (1748).

=Orith´yia= or =Orith´ya=, daughter of Erectheus, carried off by Boreas to Thrace.

Such, dalliance as alone the North wind hath with her, Orithya not enjoyed, from Thrace when he her took, And in his saily plumes the trembling virgin shook.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, x. (1612).

Phineas Fletcher calls the word “Orithy´a.”

None knew mild zephyr’s from cold Eurus’ mouth, Nor Orithya’s lover’s violence [_North wind_].

_Purple Island_, i. (1633).

=Orlando=, the younger son of Sir Rowland de Bois [_Bwor_]. At the death of his father, he was left under the care of his elder brother, Oliver, who was charged to treat him well; but Oliver hated him, wholly neglected his education, and even tried by many indirect means to kill him. At length, Orlando fled to the forest of Arden´, where he met Rosalind and Celia in disguise. They had met before at a wrestling match, when Orlando and Rosalind fell in love with each other. The acquaintance was renewed in the forest, and ere many days had passed the two ladies resumed their proper characters, and both were married, Rosalind to Orlando, and Celia to Oliver, the elder brother.--Shakespeare, _As You Like It_ (1598).

_Orlando_ (in French ROLAND, _q.v._), one of the paladins of Charlemagne, whose nephew he was. Orlando was confiding and loyal, of great stature, and possessed unusual strength. He accompanied his uncle into Spain, but on his return was waylaid in the valley of Roncesvallês (in the Pyrenees) by the traitor Ganelon, and perished with all his army, A.D. 778. His adventures are related in Turpin’s _Chronique;_ in the _Chanson de Roland_, attributed to Théroulde. He is the hero of Bojardo’s epic, _Orlando Innamorato_; and of Ariosto’s continuation called _Orlando Furioso_ (“Orlando mad”). Robert Greene, in 1594, produced a drama which he called _The History of Orlando_. Rhode’s farce of _Bombastês Furioso_ (1790) is a burlesque of Ariosto’s _Orlando Furioso_.

_Orlando’s Ivory Horn_, Olifant, once the property of Alexander the Great. Its bray could be heard for twenty miles.

_Orlando’s Horse_, Brigliadoro (“golden bridal”).

_Orlando’s Sword_, Durinda´na or Durandana, which once belonged to Hector, is “preserved at Rocamadour, in France; and his spear is still shown in the cathedral of Pa´via, in Italy.”

Orlando was of middling stature, broad-shouldered, crooked-legged, brown-visaged, red-bearded, and had much hair on his body. He talked but little, and had a very surly aspect, although he was perfectly good-humored.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. i. 1 (1615).

_Orlando’s Vulnerable Part._ Orlando was invulnerable except in the sole of his foot, and even there nothing could wound him but the point of a large pin; so that when Bernardo del Carpio assailed him at Roncesvallês, he took him in his arms and squeezed him to death, in imitation of Herculês, who squeezed to death the giant Antæ´us (3 _syl._).--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. ii. 13 (1615).