=Œa´grian Harpist= (_The_), Orpheus, son of Œa´gros and Cal´liōpê.
... can no lesse
Tame the fierce walkers of the wilderness,
Than that Œagrian harpist, for whose lay
Tigers with hunger pined and left their prey.
Wm. Browne, _Brittania’s Pastorals_, v. (1613).
=Œ´dipos= (in Latin _Œdipus_), son of Laïus and Jocasta. The most mournful
tale of classic story.
⁂ This tale has furnished the subject matter of several tragedies. In
Greek we have _Œdipus Tyrannus_ and _Œdipus at Colōnus_, by
Sopho´oclês.[TN-45] In French, _Œdipe_, by Corneille (1659); _Œdipe_, by
Voltaire (1718); _Œdipe chez Admète_, by J. F. Ducis (1778); _Œdipe
Roi_ and _Œdipe à Colone_, by Chénier; etc. In English, _Œdipus_, by
Dryden and Lee.
=Œno´ne= (3 _syl._), a nymph of Mount Ida, who had the gift of prophecy,
and told her husband, Paris, that his voyage to Greece would involve him
and his country (Troy) in ruin. When the dead body of old Priam’s son
was laid at her feet, she stabbed herself.
Hither came at noon
Mournful Œnōnê, wandering forlorn
Of Paris, once her playmate on the hills [_Ida_]
Tennyson, _Œnone_.
⁂ Kalkbrenner, in 1804, made this the subject of an opera.
=Œno´pian=, father of Mer´opê, to whom the giant Orīon made advances.
Œnopian, unwilling to give his daughter to him, put out the giant’s eyes
in a drunken fit.
Orion ...
Reeled as of yore beside the sea,
When blinded by Œnopian.
Longfellow, _The Occultation of Orion_.
=Œte´an Knight= (_The_). Her´culês is so called, because he burnt himself
to death on Mount Œta or Œtæa, in Thessaly.
So also did that great Œtean knight
For his love’s sake his lion’s skin undight.
Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. 8 (1596).
=Offa=, king of Mercia, was the son of Thingferth, and the eleventh in
descent from Woden. Thus: Woden (1) his son Wihtlæg, (2) his son
Wærmund, (3) Offa I., (4) Angeltheow, (5) Eomær, (6) Icel, (7) Pybba,
(8) Osmod, (9) Enwulf, (10) Thingferth, (11) Offa, whose son was Egfert,
who died within a year of his father. His daughter, Eadburga, married
Bertric, king of the West Saxons; and after the death of her husband,
she went to the court of King Charlemagne. Offa reigned thirty-nine
years (755-794).
=O’Flaherty= (_Dennis_), called “Major O’Flaherty.” A soldier, says he, is
“no livery for a knave,” and Ireland is “not the country of dishonor.”
The major pays court to old Lady Rusport, but when he detects her
dishonest purposes in bribing her lawyer to make away with Sir Oliver’s
will, and cheating Charles Dudley of his fortune, he not only abandons
his suit, but exposes her dishonesty.--Cumberland, _The West Indian_
(1771).
=Og=, king of Basan. Thus saith the rabbis:
The height of his stature was 23,033 cubits [_nearly six miles_].
He used to drink water from the clouds, and toast fish by holding
them before the orb of the sun. He asked Noah to take him into the
ark, but Noah would not. When the flood was at its deepest, it did
not reach to the knees of this giant. Og lived 3000 years, and then
he was slain by the hand of Moses.
Moses was himself ten cubits in stature [_fifteen feet_], and he
took a spear ten cubits long, and threw it ten cubits high, and yet
it only reached the heel of Og.... When dead, his body reached as
far as the river Nile, in Egypt.
Og’s mother was Enac, a daughter of Adam. Her fingers were two
cubits long [_one yard_], and on each finger she had two sharp
nails. She was devoured by wild beasts.--Maracci.
In the satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, by Dryden and Tate, Thomas
Shadwell, who was a very large man, is called “Og.”
=O´gier, the Dane=, one of the paladins of the Charlemagne epoch. When 100
years old, Morgue, the fay, took him to the island of Av´alon, “hard by
the terrestrial paradise;” gave him a ring which restored him to ripe
manhood, a crown which made him forget his past life, and introduced him
to King Arthur. Two hundred years afterwards, she sent him to defend
France from the paynims, who had invaded it; and having routed the
invaders, he returned to Avalon again.--_Ogier, le Danois_ (a romance).
In a pack of French cards, Ogier, the Dane, is knave of spades. His
exploits are related in the _Chansons de Geste_; he is introduced by
Ariosto in _Orlando Furioso_, and by Morris in his _Earthly Paradise_
(“August”).
_Ogier’s Swords_, Curtāna (“the cutter”) and Sauvagine.
_Ogier’s Horse_, Papillon.
=Ogle= (_Miss_), friend of Mrs. Racket; she is very jealous of young
girls, and even of Mrs. Racket, because she was some six years her
junior.--Mrs. Cowley, _The Belle’s Stratagem_ (1780).
=O´gleby= (_Lord_), an old fop, vain to excess, but good-natured withal,
and quite the slave of the fair sex, were they but young and fair. At
the age of 70, his lordship fancied himself an Adonis, notwithstanding
his qualms and his rheumatism. He required a great deal of “brushing,
oiling, screwing, and winding up before he appeared in public,” but
when fully made up, was game for the part of “lover, rake, or fine
gentleman.” Lord Ogleby made his bow to Fanny Sterling, and promised to
make her a countess; but the young lady had been privately married to
Lovewell for four months.--Colman and Garrick, _The Clandestine
Marriage_ (1766).
=O´gri=, giants who fed on human flesh.
=O’Groat= (_John_), with his two brothers, Malcolm and Gavin, settled in
Caithness in the reign of James IV. The families lived together in
harmony for a time, and met once a year at John’s house. On one occasion
a dispute arose about precedency--who was to take the head of the table,
and who was to go out first. The old man said he would settle the
question at the next annual muster; accordingly he made as many doors to
his house as there were families, and placed his guests at a round
table.
=Oig M’Combich= (_Robin_), or M’Gregor, a Highland drover, who quarrels
with Harry Wakefield, an English drover, about a pasture-field, and
stabs him. Being tried at Carlisle for murder, Robin is condemned to
death.--Sir W. Scott, _The Two Drovers_ (time, George III.).
=Oina-Morul=, daughter of Mal-Orchol, king of Fuärfed (a Scandinavian
Island). Ton-Thormod asked her in marriage, and being refused by the
father, made war upon him. Fingal sent his son Ossian to the aid of
Mal-Orchol, and he took Ton-Thormod prisoner. The king now offered
Ossian his daughter to wife, but the warrior-bard discovered that the
lady had given her heart to Ton-Thormod; whereupon he resigned his
claim, and brought about a happy reconciliation.--Ossian, _Oina-Morul_.
=Oith´ona=, daughter of Nuäth, betrothed to Gaul, son of Morni, and the
day of their marriage was fixed; but before the time arrived, Fingal
sent for Gaul to aid him in an expedition against the Britons. Gaul
promised Oithona, if he survived, to return by a certain day. Lathmon,
the brother of Oithona, was called away from home at the same time, to
attend his father on an expedition; so the damsel was left alone in
Dunlathmon. It was now that Dunrommath, lord of Uthal (one of the
Orkneys) came and carried her off by force to Trom´athon, a desert
island, where he concealed her in a cave. Gaul returned on the day
appointed, heard of the rape, sailed for Trom´athon, and found the lady,
who told him her tale of woe; but scarcely had she ended when Dunrommath
entered the cave with his followers. Gaul instantly fell on him, and
slew him. While the battle was raging, Oithona, arrayed as a warrior,
rushed into the thickest of the fight, and was slain. When Gaul had cut
off the head of Dunrommath, he saw what he thought a youth dying of a
wound, and taking off the helmet, perceived it was Oithona. She died,
and Gaul returned disconsolate to Dunlathmon.--Ossian, _Oithona_.
=Okba=, one of the sorcerers in the caves of Dom-Daniel “under the roots
of the ocean.” It was decreed by fate that one of the race of Hodei´rah
(3 _syl._), would be fatal to the sorcerers; so Okba was sent forth to
kill the whole race, both root and branch. He succeeded in cutting off
eight of them, but Thal´aba contrived to escape. Abdaldar was sent to
hunt down the survivor, but was himself killed by a simoom.
“Curse on thee, Okba!” Khawla cried....
“Okba, wert thou weak of heart?
Okba, wert thou blind of eye?
Thy fate and ours were on the lot ...
Thou hast let slip the reins of Destiny.
Curse thee, curse thee, Okba!”
Southey, _Thalaba, the Destroyer_, ii. 7 (1797).
=O’Kean= (_Lieutenant_), a quondam admirer of Mrs. Margaret Bertram, of
Singleside.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
=Olave=, brother of Norma, and grandfather of Minna and Brenda Troil.--Sir
W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).
=Old Bags.= John Scott, Lord Eldon; so called because he carried home with
him in sundry bags the cases pending his judgment (1751-1838).
=Old Bona Fide= (2 _syl._), Louis XIV. (1638, 1643-1715).
=Old Curiosity Shop= (_The_), a tale by C. Dickens (1840). An old man,
having run through his fortune, opened a curiosity shop in order to earn
a living, and brought up a granddaughter, named Nell [Trent], 14 years
of age. The child was the darling of the old man, but, deluding himself
with the hope of making a fortune by gaming, he lost everything, and
went forth, with the child, a beggar. Their wanderings and adventures
are recounted till they reach a quiet country village, where the old
clergyman gives them a cottage to live in. Here Nell soon dies, and the
grandfather is found dead upon her grave. The main character, next to
Nell, is that of a lad named Kit [Nubbles], employed in the curiosity
shop, who adored Nell as “an angel.” This boy gets in the service of
Mr. Garland, a genial, benevolent, well-to-do man in the suburbs of
London; but Quilp hates the lad, and induces Brass, a solicitor of Bevis
Marks, to put a £5 bank-note in the boy’s hat, and then accuse him of
theft. Kit is tried, and condemned to transportation, but the villainy
being exposed by a girl-of-all-work, nicknamed “The Marchioness,” Kit is
liberated and restored to his place, and Quilp drowns himself.
=Old Cutty Soames= (1 _syl._), the fairy of the mine.
=Old Fox= (_The_), Marshal Soult; so called from his strategic abilities
and never-failing resources (1769-1851).
=Old Glory=, Sir Francis Burdett; so called by the radicals, because at
one time he was their leader. In his later years Sir Francis joined the
tories (1770-1844).
=Old Grog=, Admiral Edward Vernon; so called from his wearing a grogram
coat in foul weather (1684-1757).
=Old Harry=, the devil. The Hebrew _seirim_ (“hairy ones”) is translated
“devils” in _Lev._ xvii. 7, probably meaning “he-goats.”
=Old Hickory.= General Andrew Jackson was so called in 1813. He was first
called “Tough,” then “Tough as Hickory,” then “Hickory,” and lastly “Old
Hickory.”
=Old Humphrey=, the pseudonym of George Mogridge, of London (died 1854).
=Old Maid= (_The_), a farce by Murphy (1761). Miss Harlow is the “old
maid,” aged 45, living with her brother and his bride, a beautiful
young woman of 23. A young man of fortune, having seen them at Ranelagh,
falls in love with the younger lady; and, inquiring their names, is told
they are “Mrs. and Miss Harlow.” He takes it for granted that the elder
lady is the mother, and the younger the daughter, so asks permission to
pay his addresses to “Miss Harlow.” The request is granted, but it turns
out that the young man meant Mrs. Harlow; and the worst of the matter is
that the elder spinster was engaged to be married to Captain Cape, but
turned him off for the younger man; and, when the mistake was
discovered, was left like the last rose of summer to “pine on the stem,”
for neither felt inclined to pluck and wear the flower.
=Old Maids=, a comedy by S. Knowles (1841). The “old maids” are Lady
Blanche and Lady Anne, two young ladies who resolved to die old maids.
Their resolutions, however, are but ropes of sand, for Lady Blanche
falls in love with Colonel Blount, and Lady Anne with Sir Philip
Brilliant.
=Old Man= (_An_), Sir Francis Bond Head, Bart., who published his _Bubbles
from the Brunnen of Nassau_ under this signature.
=Old Man Eloquent= (_The_), Isoc´ratês, the orator. The defeat of the
Athenians at Cheronæ´a had such an effect on his spirits that he
languished and died within four days, in the 99th year of his age.
... that dishonest victory
At Cheronæa, fatal to liberty,
Killed with report that Old Man Eloquent.
Milton, _Sonnet_, ix.
The same _sobriquet_ was freely applied to John Quincy Adams.
=Old Man of the Mountains=, Hussan-ben-Sabah, sheik al Jebal; also called
subah of Nishapour, the founder of the band (1090). Two letters are
inserted in Rymer’s _Fœdera_ by Dr. Adam Clarke, the editor, said to be
written by this sheik.
Aloaddin, “prince of the Assassins” (thirteenth century).
=Old Man of the Sea= (_The_), a monster which contrived to get on the back
of Sindbad the sailor, and refused to dismount. Sindbad at length made
him drunk, and then shook him off.--_Arabian Nights_ (“Sindbad the
Sailor,” fifth voyage).
_Old Man of the Sea_ (_The_), Phorcus. He had three daughters, with only
one eye and one tooth between ’em.--_Greek Mythology._
=Old Manor-House= (_The_), a novel by Charlotte Smith. Mrs. Rayland is the
lady of the manor (1793).
=Old Moll=, the beautiful daughter of John Overie or Audery (contracted
into Overs) a miserly ferryman. “Old Moll” is a standing toast with the
parish officers of St. Mary Overs’.
=Old Mortality=, the best of Scott’s historical novels (1716). Morton is
the best of his young heroes, and serves as an excellent foil to the
fanatical and gloomy Burley. The two classes of actors, viz., the brave
and dissolute cavaliers, and the resolute, oppressed covenanters, are
drawn in bold relief. The most striking incidents are the terrible
encounter with Burley in his rocky fastness; the dejection and anxiety
of Morton on his return from Holland; and the rural comfort of Cuddie
Headrigg’s cottage on the banks of the Clyde, with its thin blue smoke
among the trees, “showing that the evening meal was being made ready.”
_Old Mortality_ always appeared to me the “Marmion” of Scott’s
novels.--Chambers, _English Literature_, ii. 587.
_Old Mortality_, an itinerant antiquary, whose craze is to clean the
moss from gravestones, and keep their letters and effigies in good
condition.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).
⁂ The prototype of “Old Mortality” was Robert Patterson.
=Old Noll=, Oliver Cromwell (1590-1658).
_Old Noll’s Fiddler_, Sir Roger Lestrange, who played the base-viol at
the musical parties held at John Hingston’s house, where Oliver Cromwell
was a constant guest.
=Old Rowley=, Charles II., so called from his favorite race-horse (1630,
1660-1685).
=Old Stone.= Henry Stone, statuary and painter (died 1653).
=Oldboy= (_Colonel_), a manly retired officer, fond of his glass, and not
averse to a little spice of the Lothario spirit.
_Lady Mary Oldboy_, daughter of Lord Jessamy, and wife of the colonel. A
sickly nonentity, “ever complaining, ever having something the matter
with her head, back, or legs.” Afraid of the slightest breath of wind,
jarred by a loud voice, and incapable of the least exertion.
_Diana Oldboy_, daughter of the colonel. She marries Harman.
_Jessamy_, son of the colonel and Lady Mary. An insufferable
prig.--Bickerstaff, _Lionel and Clarissa_.
=Oldbuck= (_Jonathan_), the antiquary, devoted to the study and
accumulation of old coins and medals, etc. He is sarcastic, irritable,
and a woman-hater; but kind-hearted, faithful to his friends, and a
humorist.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).
An excellent temper, with a slight degree of subacid humor;
learning, wit, and drollery, the more poignant that they were a
little marked by the peculiarities of an old bachelor; a soundness
of thought, rendered more forcible by an occasional quaintness of
expression--these were the qualities in which the creature of my
imagintion[TN-46] resembled my benevolent and excellent friend.--Sir
W. Scott.
The merit of _The Antiquary_ as a novel rests on the inimitable
delineation of Oldbuck, that model of black-letter and Roman-camp
antiquaries, whose oddities and conversation are rich and racy as
any of the old crusted port that John of the Girnel might have held
in his monastic cellars.--Chambers, _English Literature_, ii. 586.
=Oldcastle= (_Sir John_), a drama by Anthony Munday (1600). This play
appeared with the name of Shakespeare on the title-page.
=Old Sledge.= Game of cards that, played at the “Settlemint”--(a group of
log huts) among the Tennessee mountains, has a fatal fascination for
Josiah Tait, who loses to a former suitor of the woman he has married
everything he owns. The property is restored through the unexpected
magnanimity of the winner, and the playing of Old Sledge becomes a lost
art at the “Settlemint.”--Charles Egbert Craddock, _In the Tennessee
Mountains_ (1884).
=Oldworth=, of Oldworth Oaks, a wealthy squire, liberally educated, very
hospitable, benevolent, humorous, and whimsical. He brings up Maria,
“the maid of the Oaks” as his ward, but she is his daughter and
heiress.--J Burgoyne, _The Maid of the Oaks_ (1779).
=Ole ’Stracted=, a superannuated negro, formerly a slave, whose fancy is
to wait in a hut on the old plantation for his master’s return. He was
“sold South” forty years before, and his young master promised to go
down next summer and buy him back. The poor fellow has saved in these
years twelve hundred dollars to pay for his freedom. Unknown to himself
or to them, his son and daughter-in-law minister to him in his last
moments. He has put on his clean shirt, sure that “young marster” will
come to-day. Rising to his feet he cries out:
“Heah de one you lookin’ for, Marster! Mymy--heah’s Little Ephrum!”
And with a smile on his face he sank back into his son’s arms.--Thomas
Nelson Page, _In Ole Virginia_ (1887).
=Olifant=, the horn of Roland or Orlando. This horn and the sword
“Durinda´na” were buried with the hero. Turpin tells us in his
_Chronicle_ that Charlemagne heard the blare of this horn at a distance
of eight miles.
_Olifant_ (_Basil_), a kinsman of Lady Margaret Bellenden, of the Tower
of Tillietudlem.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).
=Olifaunt= (_Lord Nigel_), of Glenvarloch. On going to court to present a
petition to James I. he aroused the dislike of the duke of Buckingham.
Lord Dalgarno gave him the cut direct, and Nigel struck him, but was
obliged to seek refuge in Alsatia. After various adventures he married
Margaret Ramsay, the watch-maker’s daughter, and obtained the
title-deeds of his estates.--Sir W. Scott, _The Fortunes of Nigel_
(time, James I.).
=Olim´pia=, the wife of Bireno, uncompromising in love, and relentless in
hate.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
_Olimpia_, a proud Roman lady of high rank. When Rome was sacked by
Bourbon, she flew for refuge to the high altar of St. Peter’s, where she
clung to a golden cross. On the advance of certain soldiers in the army
of Bourbon to seize her, she cast the huge cross from its stand, and as
it fell it crushed to death the foremost soldier. Others then attempted
to seize her, when Arnold dispersed them and rescued the lady; but the
proud beauty would not allow the foe of her country to touch her, and
flung herself from the high altar on the pavement. Apparently lifeless,
she was borne off; but whether she recovered or not we are not informed,
as the drama was never finished.--Byron, _The Deformed Transformed_
(1821).
=Olindo=, the lover of Sophronia. Aladine, king of Jerusalem, at the
advice of his magicians, stole an image of the Virgin, and set it up as
a palladium in the chief mosque. During the night it was carried off,
and the king, unable to discover the thief, ordered all his Christian
subjects to be put to death. To prevent this massacre, Sophronia
delivered up herself as the perpetrator of the deed, and Olindo, hearing
thereof, went to the king and declared Sophronia innocent, as he himself
had stolen the image. The king commanded both to be put to death, but,
by the intercession of Clorinda, they were both set free.--Tasso,
_Jerusalem Delivered_, ii. (1575).
=Oliphant= or =Ollyphant=, the twin-brother of Argan´tê, the giantess.
Their father was Typhæus, and their mother Earth.--Spenser, _Faëry
Queen_, iii. 7, 11 (1590).
=Olive Litchfield=, young woman married to an elderly man, whose fatherly
kindness wins her grateful esteem. With her knowledge and sanction he
leaves the bulk of his property to charitable objects, thereby
disappointing her rapacious relatives. She is quite willing, as a widow,
to marry the man her mother dismissed in order to wed her to a
millionaire, but James Merion, the cured suitor, prefers a fresh
love.--Ellen Olney Kirk, _A Daughter of Eve_.
=Olive Tree= (_The_), emblem of Athens, in memory of the famous dispute
between Minerva (the patron goddess of Athens) and Neptune. Both deities
wished to found a city on the same spot; and, referring the matter to
Jove, the king of gods and men decreed that the privilege should be
granted to whichever would bestow the most useful gift on the future
inhabitants. Neptune struck the earth with his trident, and forth came a
war-horse; Minerva produced an olive tree, emblem of peace; and Jove
gave the verdict in favor of Minerva.
=Olive Carraze=, beautiful quadroon, virtuous and accomplished, whose
mother, _Madame Delphine_, swears Olive is not her child, that she may
secure the girl’s legal marriage with a white man who loves her
honorably. On the afternoon of the marriage-day, when the wedded pair
have taken their departure, Madame Delphine seeks her confessor, owns
the perjury, receives absolution, and falls dead in the
confessional.--George W. Cable, _Madame Delphine_ (1879).
=Oliver=, the elder son of Sir Rowland de Bois [_Bwor_], left in charge of
his younger brother, Orlando, whom he hated and tried indirectly to
murder. Orlando, finding it impossible to live in his brother’s house,
fled to the forest of Arden, where he joined the society of the banished
duke. One morning he saw a man sleeping, and a serpent and lioness bent
on making him their prey. He slew both the serpent and lioness, and then
found that the sleeper was his brother Oliver. Oliver’s disposition from
this moment underwent a complete change, and he loved his brother as
much as he had before hated him. In the forest the two brothers met
Rosalind and Celia. The former, who was the daughter of the banished
duke, married Orlando; and the latter, who was the daughter of the
usurping duke, married Oliver.--Shakespeare, _As You Like It_ (1598).
=Oliver and Rowland=, the two chief paladins of Charlemagne. Shakespeare
makes the duke of Alençon say:
Froissart, a countryman of ours, records,
England all Olivers and Rowlands bred
During the time Edward the Third did reign.