Character Sketches of Romance Volume Iii Part 51

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 s.h.i.+lly-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 _protege_ 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 Frere._

=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_, f.a.n.n.y Dare sings to little Mary Barre how the good s.h.i.+p _Orient_ was wrecked.

"Woe for the brave s.h.i.+p Orient!

Woe for the old s.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+p, 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 pa.s.sed 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 dore ou est attache une baniere vermeille_). The loose end is cut into three wavy vand.y.k.es, to represent tongues of flame, and a silk ta.s.sel 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 Martano, 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 Lucina.--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 s.e.x, 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 Merope, daughter of king nop'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 nopion, 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 Arctophonus ("the bear-killer") and Ptoophagos ("the glutton of Ptoon," in Botia).

_Orion's Wife_, Side.

_Orion._ After Orion has set in the west, _Auriga_ (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 pa.s.sed 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 Roncesvalles (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 Theroulde. 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 _Bombastes 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 a.s.sailed him at Roncesvalles, he took him in his arms and squeezed him to death, in imitation of Hercules, who squeezed to death the giant Antae'us (3 _syl._).--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. ii. 13 (1615).