Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 55

=Overs= (_John_), a ferryman who used to ferry pa.s.sengers from Southwark to the City, and acc.u.mulated a considerable h.o.a.rd of money by his savings. On one occasion, to save the expenses of board, he simulated death, expecting his servants would fast till he was buried; but they broke into his larder and cellar and held riot. When the old miser could bear it no longer he started up and belabored his servants right and left; but one of them struck the old man with an oar and killed him.

_Mary Overs_, the beautiful daughter of the ferryman. Her lover, hastening to town, was thrown from his horse, and died. She then became a nun, and founded the church of St. Mary Overs on the site of her father's house.

=Overton= (_Colonel_), one of Cromwell's officers.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

=Ovid= (_The French_), Du Bellay; also called "The Father of Grace and Elegance" (1524-1560).

=Ovid and Corinna.= Ovid disguises, under the name of Corinna, the daughter of Augustus, named Julia, noted for her beauty, talent and licentiousness. Some say that Corinna was Livia, the wife of Augustus.--_Amor._, i. 5.

So was her heavenly body comely raised On two faire columnes; those that Ovid praised In Julia's borrowed name.

=O'wain= (_Sir_), the Irish knight of King Stephen's court, who pa.s.sed through St. Patrick's purgatory by way of penance.--Henry of Saltrey, _The Descent of Owain_ (1153).

=O'weenee=, the youngest of ten sisters, all of surpa.s.sing beauty. She married Osseo, who was "old, poor, and ugly," but "most beautiful within." (See OSSEO.)--Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, xii. (1855).

=Owen= (_Sam_), groom of Darsie Latimer, _i.e._ Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

_Owen_, confidential clerk of Mr. Osbaldistone, senior.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

_Owen_ (_Sir_), pa.s.sed in dream through St. Patrick's purgatory. He pa.s.sed the convent gate, and the warden placed him in a coffin. When the priests had sung over him the service of the dead, they placed the coffin in a cave, and Sir Owen made his descent. He came first to an ice desert, and received three warnings to retreat, but the warnings were not heeded, and a mountain of ice fell on him. "Lord, Thou canst save!"

he cried, as the ice fell, and the solid mountain became like dust, and did Sir Owen no harm. He next came to a lake of fire, and a demon pushed him in. "Lord, Thou canst save!" he cried, and angels carried him to paradise. He woke with ecstacy, and found himself lying before the cavern's mouth.--R. Southey, _St. Patrick's Purgatory_ (from the _Fabliaux_ of M. le Grand.[TN-56]

=Owen Meredith=, Robert Bulwer Lytton, afterwards Lord Lytton, son of the poet and novelist (1831-1892).

=Owl= (_The_), sacred to Minerva, was the emblem of Athens.

Owls hoot in B? and G?, or in F? and A?.--Rev. G. White, _Natural History of Selborne_, xlv. (1789).

=Owl a Baker's Daughter= (_The_). Our Lord once went into a baker's shop to ask for bread. The mistress instantly put a cake in the oven for Him, but the daughter, thinking it to be too large, reduced it to half the size. The dough, howover,[TN-57] swelled to an enormous bulk, and the daughter cried out, "Heugh! heugh! heugh!" and was transformed into an owl.

Well, G.o.d 'ield you! They say the owl was a baker's daughter.--Shakespeare, _Hamlet_ (1596).

=Ox= (_The Dumb_), St. Thomas Aqui'nas; so named by his fellow-students on account of his taciturnity (1224-1274).

An ox once spoke as learned men deliver.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_, iii. 1 (1640).

_Ox._ _The black ox hath trod on his foot_, he has married and is hen-pecked; calamity has befallen him. The black ox was sacrificed to the infernals, and was consequently held accursed. When Tusser says the best way to thrive is to get married, the objector says:

Why, then, do folk this proverb put, "The black ox near trod on thy foot,"

If that way were to thrive?

_Wiving and Thriving_, lvii. (1557).

The black oxe had not trode on his or her foote; But ere his branch of blesse could reach any roote, The flowers so faded that in fifteen weekes A man might copy the change in the cheekes Both of the poore wretch and his wife.

Heywood (1646).

=Oxford= (_John, earl of_), an exiled Lancastrian. He appears with his son Arthur as a travelling merchant, under the name of Philipson.

? _The son of the merchant Philipson_ is Sir Arthur de Vere.

_The countess of Oxford_, wife of the earl.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

_Oxford_ (_The young earl of_), in the court of Queen Elizabeth.--Sir W.

Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Ozair= (2 _syl._), a prophet. One day, riding on an a.s.s by the ruins of Jerusalem, after its destruction by the Chaldeans, he doubted in his mind whether G.o.d could raise the city up again. Whereupon G.o.d caused him to die, and he remained dead a hundred years, but was then restored to life. He found the basket of figs and cruse of wine as fresh as when he died, but his a.s.s was a ma.s.s of bones. While he still looked, the dry bones came together, received life, and the resuscitated a.s.s began to bray. The prophet no longer doubted the power of G.o.d to raise up Jerusalem from its ruins.--_Al Koran_, ii. (Sale's notes).

? This legend is based on _Neh._ ii. 12-20.

=P= Placenticus, the Dominican, wrote a poem of 253 Latin hexameters, called _Pugna Porcorum_, every word of which begins with the letter _p_ (died 1548). It begins thus:

Plaudite, Porcelli, porcorum pigra propago Progreditur ... etc.

There was one composed in honor of Charles le Chauve, every word of which began with _c_.

The best known alliterative poem in English is the following:--

An Austrian army, awfully arrayed, Boldly by battery besieged Belgrade.

Cossack commanders, cannonading, come, Dealing destruction's devastating doom; Every endeavor engineers essay For fame, for fortune, forming furious fray.

Gaunt gunners grapple, giving gashes good; Heaves high his head heroic hardihood.

Ibraham, Islam, Ismael, imps in ill, Jostle John, Jarovlitz, Jem, Joe, Jack, Jill; Kick kindling Kutusoff, kings' kinsmen kill; Labor low levels loftiest, longest lines; Men march 'mid moles, 'mid mounds, 'mid murderous mines.

Now nightfall's nigh, now needful nature nods, Opposed, opposing, overcoming odds.

Poor peasants, partly purchased, partly pressed, Quite quaking, "Quarter! Quarter!" quickly quest.

Reason returns, recalls redundant rage, Saves sinking soldiers, softens signiors sage.

Truce, Turkey, truce! truce, treacherous Tartar train!

Unwise, unjust, unmerciful Ukraine!

Vanish, vile vengeance! vanish, victory vain!

Wisdom walls war--wails warring words. What were Xerxes, Xantippe, Ximenes, Xavier?

Yet Ya.s.sy's youth, ye yield your youthful yest Zealously, zanies, zealously, zeal's zest.

From H. Southgate, _Many Thoughts on Many Things_.