Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 44

CHARLES II., by _Ods fish_ [G.o.d's Flesh].

LOUIS XI. of France, by _G.o.d's Easter_.

CHARLES VIII. of France, by _G.o.d's Light_.

LOUIS XII., by _The Devil take me (Diable m'emporte)_.

The Chevalier BAYARD by _G.o.d's Holyday_.

FRANCOIS I. used for a.s.severation, _On the word of a gentleman_.

HENRY III. of England, when he confirmed "Magna Charta," used the expression, _On the word of a gentleman, a king and a knight_.

Earl of ANGUS (reign of Queen Mary), when incensed, used to say, _By the might of G.o.d_, but at other times his oath was _By St. Bride of Douglas_.--G.o.dscroft, 275.

ST. WINFRED or BONI'FACE used to swear by _St. Peter's tomb_.

In the reign of Charles II. fancy oaths were the fas.h.i.+on. (For specimens, see FOPPINGTON.)

The most common oath of the ancient Romans was _By Hercules_! for men; and _By Castor_! for women; _By Pollux_! for both.

Viri per _Herculem_, mulieres per _Castorem_, utrique per _Pollucem_ jurare soliti.--Gellius, _Noctes Attic_,[TN-44] ii. 6.

=Obad'don=, the angel of death. This is not the same angel as Abbad'ona, one of the fallen angels, and once the friend of Ab'diel (bk. vi.).

My name is Ephod Obaddon or Sevenfold Revenge. I am an angel of destruction. It was I who destroyed the first-born of Egypt. It was I who slew the army of Sennacherib.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, xiii. (1771).

=Obadi'ah=, "the foolish fat scullion" in Sterne's novel of _Tristram Shandy_ (1759).

_Obadiah_, clerk to Justice Day. A nincomp.o.o.p, fond of drinking, but with just a shade more brains than Abel Day, who is "a thorough a.s.s"

(act i. 1).--T. Knight, _The Honest Thieves_ (died 1820).

This farce is a mere _rechauffe_ of _The Committee_ (1670), a comedy by the Hon. Sir R. Howard, the names and much of the conversation being identical. Colonel Blunt is called in the farce "Captain Manly."

=Obadiah Prim=, a canting, knavish hypocrite; one of the four guardians of Anne Lovely, the heiress. Colonel Feignwell personates Simon Pure, and obtains the Quaker's consent to his marriage with Anne Lovely.--Mrs.

Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ (1717).

=Obermann=, the impersonation of high moral worth without talent, and the tortures endured by the consciousness of this defect.--Etienne Pivert de Sen'ancour, _Obermann_ (1804).

=Oberon=, king of the fairies, quarrelled with his wife, t.i.tania, about a "changeling" which Oberon wanted for a page, but t.i.tania refused to give up. Oberon, in revenge, anointed her eyes in sleep with the extract of "Love in Idleness," the effect of which was to make the sleeper in love with the first object beheld on waking. t.i.tania happened to see a country b.u.mpkin, whom Puck had dressed up with an a.s.s's head. Oberon came upon her while she was fondling the clown, sprinkled on her an antidote, and she was so ashamed of her folly that she readily consented to give up the boy to her spouse for his page.--Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night's Dream_ (1592).

=Oberon, the Fay=, king of Mommur, a humpty dwarf, three feet high, of angelic face. He told Sir Huon that the lady of the Hidden Isle (_Cephalonia_) married Neptanebus, king of Egypt, by whom she had a son named Alexander "the Great." Seven hundred years later she had another son, Oberon, by Julius Caesar, who stopped in Cephalonia on his way to Thessaly. At the birth of Oberon the fairies bestowed their gifts on him. One was insight into men's thoughts, and another was the power of transporting himself instantaneously to any place. At death he made Huon his successor, and was borne to paradise.--_Huon de Bordeaux_ (a romance).

=Oberthal= (_Count_), lord of Dordrecht, near the Meuse. When Bertha, one of his va.s.sals, asked permission to marry John of Leyden, the count withheld his consent, as he designed to make Bertha his mistress. This drove John into rebellion, and he joined the anabaptists. The count was taken prisoner by Gio'na, a discarded servant, but was liberated by John. When John was crowned prophet-king the count entered the banquet-hall to arrest him, and perished with him in the flames of the burning palace.--Meyerbeer, _Le Prophete_ (opera, 1849).

=Obi.= Among the negroes of the West Indies "Obi" is the name of a magical power, supposed to affect men with all the curses of an "evil eye."

=Obi-Woman= (_An_), an African sorceress, a wors.h.i.+pper of Mumbo Jumbo.

=Obi'dah=, a young man who meets with various adventures and misfortunes allegorical of human life.--Dr. Johnson, _The Rambler_ (1750-2).

=Obid'icut=, the fiend of l.u.s.t, and one of the five which possessed "poor Tom."--Shakespeare, _King Lear_, act iv. sc. 1 (1605).

=O'Brallaghan= (_Sir Callaghan_), "a wild Irish soldier in the Prussian army. His military humor makes one fancy he was not only born in a siege, but that Bellona had been his nurse, Mars his schoolmaster and the Furies his playfellows." He is the successful suitor of Charlotte Goodchild.--Macklin, _Love-a-la-mode_ (1759).

=O'Brien=, the Irish lieutenant under Captain Savage.--Captain Marryat, _Peter Simple_ (1833).

=Observant Friars=, those friars who observe the rule of St. Francis; to abjure books, land, house and chapel, to live on alms, dress in rags, feed on sc.r.a.ps and sleep anywhere.

=Obstinate=, an inhabitant of the City of Destruction, who advised Christian to return to his family, and not run on a wild-goose chase.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim's Progress_, i. (1678).

=Occasion=, the mother of Furor; an ugly, wrinkled old hag, lame of one foot. Her head was bald behind, but in front she had a few h.o.a.ry locks.

Sir Guyon seized her, gagged her and bound her.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, ii. 4 (1590).

=Ochiltree= (_Old Edie_), a king's bedesman or blue-gown. Edie is a garrulous, kind-hearted, wandering beggar, who a.s.sures Mr. Lovel that the supposed ruin of a Roman camp is no such thing. The old bedesman delighted "to daunder down the burnsides and green shaws." He is a well-drawn character.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Ocnus= (_The Rope of_), profitless labor. Ocnus is represented as twisting with unwearied diligence a rope, which an a.s.s eats as fast as it is made. The allegory signifies that Ocnus worked hard to earn money, which his wife spent by her extravagance.

=Octave= (2 _syl._), the son of Argante (2 _syl._). During the absence of his father, Octave fell in love with Hyacinthe, daughter of Geronte, and married her, supposing her to be the daughter of Signor Pandolphe, of Tarentum. His father wanted him to marry the daughter of his friend Geronte, but Octave would not listen to it. It turned out, however, that the daughter of Pandolphe and the daughter of Geronte were one and the same person, for Geronte had a.s.sumed the name of Pandolphe while he lived in Tarentum, and his wife and daughter stayed behind after the father went to live at Naples.--Moliere, _Les Fourberies de Scapin_ (1671).

? In the English version, called _The Cheats of Scapin_, by Thomas Otway, Octave is called "Octavian," Argante is called "Thrifty,"

Hyacinthe is called "Clara," and Geronte is "Gripe."

=Octavian=, the lover of Floranthe. He goes mad because he imagines Floranthe loves another; but Roque, a blunt, kind-hearted old man, a.s.sures him that Dona Floranthe is true to him, and induces him to return home.--Colman, the younger, _The Mountaineers_ (1793).

_Octavian_, the English form of "Octave" (2 _syl._), in Otway's _Cheats of Scapin_. (See OCTAVE.)

=Octa'vio=, the supposed husband of Jacintha. This Jacintha was at one time contracted to Don Henrique, but Violante (4 _syl._), pa.s.sed for Don Henrique's wife.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Spanish Curate_ (1622).