text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/282

Rh was admitted a pensioner to St. John's College, Cambridge, 2 June 1707, and graduated B.A. in 1711, being sixteenth on the tripos list. His other degrees were M.A. 1714, and D.D. 1726. He was elected fellow of Peterhouse on the Park foundation 26 July 1714, and resigned the fellowship on 22 March in the following year. He soon began to climb the ladder of promotion. The Duke of Portland appointed him to the rich living of Hinderwell, Yorkshire, in 1715, and he held it till he became bishop (, Lit. Anecd. v. 405). In 1727, the year of George II's accession, he was already royal chaplain, and he was one of George III's early tutors. On 19 Sept. 1728 he became dean of York, and on 4 Oct. 1747, on the death of Bishop Fleming, was consecrated bishop of Carlisle. His episcopate was not a distinguished one. He is described as ‘a whig in politics, and liberal in his church views; rich, indolent, and chiefly non-resident, leaving his diocese to be administered by his vigorous chancellor, Waugh.’ In 1762, on the death of Bishop Hayter [q. v.], he was translated to the see of London, ‘to nobody's joy that I know of,’ Hurd spitefully remarks (, Life, p. 84), and he was considered by Secker ‘every way unequal to the situation’ (, Life of Dr. S. Johnson, p. 197). As Osbaldeston is stated to have recommended Hurd for preferment (, Lit. Anecd. vi. 478), his depreciatory remark shows little sense of gratitude. He left Carlisle Cathedral and his episcopal residence in the diocese in bad condition. A curious correspondence between him and his successor at Carlisle, Dr. Charles Lyttelton [q. v.], relative to the condition of Rose Castle, from the Lyttelton archives, is printed in ‘Notes and Queries’ (4th ser. iv. 149–52). The steward of the new bishop complained of chimneys unswept for years, ragged beds, decayed furniture, rusty saucepans, and Lyttelton himself complained of claret, ‘paid for as good, growing staile, naught, and as sour as verjuice,’ and port ‘so foul’ that it had to be ‘filtered before it could be drunk.’ The sum allowed for dilapidations was insufficient, and the house had been stripped so bare that even the chaplain's old surplice had been carried off, and the new chaplain had been ‘forced to read prayers without one, in the sight of half the county.’ Osbaldeston's part of the correspondence is not conspicuous for temper or courtesy.

His tenure of the see of London was brief. The one thing recorded of it is Osbaldeston's refusal, characterised by some intemperance of language, to permit the introduction of monumental statuary to relieve the bareness of the interior of St. Paul's. The whole story is amusingly told by Bishop Thomas Newton [q. v.] in his ‘Autobiography.’ Newton, being then a residentiary canon of St. Paul's, was asked, in the absence of the dean, to sanction the erection of a statue to commemorate a former lord mayor. He saw no objection, and Archbishop Secker approved; but when the scheme was proposed to Osbaldeston, he was furious. ‘Sir Christopher Wren had designed no such thing. There had been no monuments in all the time before he was bishop, and his time there should be none.’ So the matter was dropped, and the cathedral had to wait more than thirty years (John Howard's was the first statue erected, in 1796) for monumental sculpture (, Autobiography, ed. 1782, 4to, p. 108). It is to Osbaldeston's credit that he recognised the claims of John Jortin [q. v.], whom he treated liberally. He also recommended Hurd for preferment, and in 1762 nominated César de Missy one of the French chaplains to the king (Illustr. of Lit. iii. 306). He died at Fulham Palace on 15 May 1764, and was buried in the churchyard of the parish church. He was twice married, but left no issue. Archdeacon Moss, in a charge delivered in 1764 after Osbaldeston's death, speaks 'with much respect of his strong sense of responsibility, his love of literature, his talent for business, and his hospitality' (, The Church of England and its Bishops, ii. 69). His only publications were some sermons and charges. His portrait was painted by T. Hudson, and engraved in mezzotint by James MacArdell [q. v.]

OSBALDESTON or OSBOLSTON, WILLIAM (1577–1645), divinity professor at Gresham College, eldest son of Lambert Osbaldeston, haberdasher, of London, and brother of Lambert Osbaldeston [q. v.], was born in 1577, and, after attending Westminster School, was elected from that school to Christ Church, Oxford, whence he matriculated in February 1597-8, graduating B.A. on 24 Oct. 1601, M.A. on 24 July 1604, B.D. on 19 June 1611, and D.D. in May 1617. His name appears in the list of admissions to Gray's Inn on 1 Aug. 1619. He resided at Oxford for some years after taking his batchelor's degree, and contributed to the poems written at Christ Church on the visit of James I to that college in 1605. On 13 Dec. 1610 he succeeded George Montaigne [q. v.]


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/354

Otway volume, which was dedicated to Lord Rochester. A reprint appeared in 1701. Mrs. Barry played in both pieces ; Betterton only in the tragedy, where he took the role of Tit us. The farce kept the stage till the present century. The approval bestowed on his version of ' Scapin encouraged Otway to try his fortune in comedy. His first original comedy, 'Friendship in Fashion' (in prose), was licensed for performance at Dorset Gardens on 31 May 1678. The dedication of the published version (1678) was accepted by the Earl of Dorset and Middlesex, who had already patronised 'Alcibiades.' Betterton played 'Goodvile, the hero, and Mrs. Barry the heroine, Mrs. Goodvile. The tone is frankly indecent, and its interest centres in very flagrant breaches of the marriage tie ; but it was considered at the time to be 'very diverting,' and won 'general applause'. A change in public taste and moral feeling led, however, to its being summarily hissed off the stage when, after an interval of thirty years, it was revived at Drury Lane on 22 Jan. 1749-60, with Mrs. Clive in the part of Lady Squeamish.

Otway had no lack of noble patrons. The king's natural son, Charles FitzCharles, earl of Plymouth, and his old fellow-student, Lord Falkland, were among them, together with the Duke of York, Rochester, and Middlesex, whom he had eulogised in very fulsome dedications. His humbler friends included the small poet Richard Duke [q. v.], with whom he exchanged complimentary verses, and Shadwell, according to Rochester, was Otway's 'dear zany.' But his indulgence in drink threatened his prospects, and his amours caused him frequent embarrassment. For the actress Mrs. Barry, who filled leading Earts in the initial performances of nearly all is plays, he conceived an absorbing passion, which largely contributed to the ruin of his career. The lady became Lord Rochester's mistress, and treated her humbler admirer with coquettish disdain. Rochester, indignant at the presumption of his youthful protege, avenged himself by some insolent lines on Otway in his 'Session of the Poets.' Six passionate letters from Otway to Mrs. Barry appeared in 'Familiar Letters ... by John, late Earl of Rochester,' 1697 (pp. 77 sqq.), and have often been reprinted with Otway's works.

Rendered desperate by the actress's scorn, and kept poor by his excesses, Otway enlisted in the army sent in 1678 to Holland. On 10 Feb. in that year he obtained a commission, through the favour of Lord Plymouth, as ensign in the Duke of Monmouth's regiment of foot. He remained in the Low Countries throughout the year, receiving on 1 Nov. a commission as lieutenant to Captain Baggott, in Monmouth's regiment (, English Army List, i. 208, 222).

Late in 1679 Otway had returned to London. His military excursion had not improved his pecuniary position or his health, and he lost no opportunity in later life of lamenting the hardships which soldiers had to face. But his abstinence from literary effort matured his powers, and in his next tragedy, 'The Orphan,' he proved himself a master of tragic pathos. Here he employed for the first time blank verse, and never abandoned it in his later tragedies. 'The Orphan' was produced in February 1680, at Dorset Gardens, with Betterton as Castalio, Mrs. Barry in the famous part of Monimia, the injured heroine, and Mrs. Bracegirdle, then a girl of six, as Cordelio, a pert page (, i. 279). Castalio remained one of Betterton's favourite parts (, Apology, ed. Lowe, i. 1 16). In the prologue Otway betrayed strong tory sympathies by enthusiastically congratulating the Duke of York on his return from Scotland. The published edition of 1680 was dedicated to the Duchess of York.

Less successful was his 'History and Fall of Caius Marius,' which Betterton produced very soon after 'The Orphan.' Otway, who had apparently written part of it while abroad, acknowledged in the prologue that half was borrowed from Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet.' With his Shakespearean excerpts he combined reminiscences of Plutarch's 'Life of Marius.' Lavinia, who is Otway's adaptation of Juliet, was played by Mrs. Barry ; but such enthusiasm as the performance evoked was due to the acting of Underbill and Nokes in the characters respectively of Sulpitius (an adaptation of Mercutio) and the Nurse. The play, which Otway dedicated to Lord Falkland, was revived 18 Feb. 1707 for Wilks's benefit at the Hay market, when the part of Lavinia was undertaken by Mrs. Bracegirdle (, ii. 365); and two other revivals at Drury Lane in 1715 and 1717 are noted by Genest. Reprints of the published version are dated 1692 and 1696.

In 1681 Otway composed his second comedy, 'The Soldier's Fortune,' in which he incidentally turned to account his disappointing experiences as a soldier in Flanders. It 'took extraordinarily well', but its coarseness exceeded that of the most dissolute productions of the day. Otway, by way of defending his work against the charge of indecency which some ladies (he lamented) raised against it, quoted Mrs. Behn's remark, that 'she wondered at the impudence of any of her sex who would pretend to an

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/355

Otway opinion in such a matter.' Betterton took the part of Beaugard, a reckless gallant, and Mrs. fearry that of Lady Dunce, the wife of a city alderman, who seeks to become Beaugard's mistress. The printed edition was dedicated to Thomas Bentley the publisher. The piece was revived at Drury Lane in 1708 and 1716; ran for six nights at Lincoln's Inn Fields, with Quin as Beaugard, in January 1722 ; and, reduced to two acts, was performed at Covent Garden on 8 March 1748.

In February 1681-2 Otway's supreme effort in tragedy, 'Venice Preserved,' saw the light at the theatre in Dorset Gardens. In prologue and epilogue he scattered contemptuous re- ferences to the popish plot, and sneers at the whigs, and he drew a repulsive portrait of Shaftesbury in the character of Antonio, a lascivious senator. Betterton appeared as Jaffier,and Mrs. Barry as Belvidera; the piece was at once published by Hindmarsh, and was dedicated to the Ducness of Portsmouth (cf. a facsimile reprint by Rowland Strong, Exeter, 1885). When performed anew on 21 April 1682, Dryden, whose relations with Otway had become friendly, contributed a prologue welcoming the Duke of York's return to London; and Otway wrote a special epilogue for the occasion, which was published as a broadside.

Otway's last play was a comedy called 'The Atheist,' a continuation of 'The Soldier's Fortune.' A portion of the confused plot is drawn from the novel of 'The Invisible Mistress,' assigned to Scarron. It was produced at Dorset Gardens in 1684. Betterton appeared as Beaugard, and Mrs. Barry as Porcia. When published it was dedicated to Lord Elande, son of the Marquis of Halifax.

Otway's growing reputation does not seem to have substantially increased his means of subsistence. But the accepted stories of his habitual destitution are apparently exaggerated. For the acting rights of 'The Orphan' and 'Venice Preserved' the theatrical manor paid him 100l. apiece ; and Tonson is said to have paid hrm 15l. for the copyright of the latter. In dedicating his 'Soldier's Fortune' to the publisher Bentley, Otway commended him for duly paying for the copy. At the same time he derived small sums by writing prologues and epilogues for other dramatists productions. In 1682 he contributed the prologue to Mrs. Behn's 'City Heiress,' and in 1684 that to Nathaniel Lee's 'Constantino the Great,' when Dryden wrote the epilogue. Verses by him preface Creech's translation of 'Lucretius,' 1682, and in 1680 he contributed an English rendering of Ovid's 'Epistle of Phoedra to Hippolytus' to the co-operative translation of Ovid's 'Epistles,' in which Dryden took part. A few poems by Otway found a place in Tonson's 'Miscellany Poems,' 1684, and he published in a separate volume an autobiographical meditation in verse, 'The Poet's Complaint of his Muse, or a Satire against Libels, a poem by Thomas Otway,' London, 1680, 4to. But his pecuniary resources fell below his needs, and on 30 June 1683 he borrowed of Tonson 11l., for which the receipt, with Otway's signature, is still extant (Hist. MSS. Comm. 2nd Rep. p. 71). 'Kind Banker Betterton' is also saia to have lent him money on 'the embrio of a play,' and to have repaid himself by appropriating the profits due, according to custom, to the author from the third day's performance (Poems on Affairs of State, 1698, pt. iii. p. 55).

Altnough Mrs. Barry's obduracy was an enduring torment to him, there is some evidence that he sought the good graces of a more notorious personage, Nell Gwynne. On 1 June 1680 he witnessed Nell's signature to a power of attorney which enabled one James Fraizer to receive her pension (Memorial of Nell Gwynne, ed. W. H. Hart, 1868). The strength of his political opinions brought upon him another kind of anxiety. His support of the Duke of York excited the enmity of the whig poetaster, Elkanah Settle, with whom, according to Shad well, he fought a duel.

Otway's harassed life reached its close in April 1686, when he was little more than thirty-three years old. The manner of his death is matter of controversy. The earliest account is supplied by Anthony a Wood, who says that ' he made his last exit in an house in Tower Hill, called the Bull, as I have heard.' According to Oidys, the Bull was a sponging-house ; Giles Jacob describes it as a public-house. Dennis the critic, writing in 1717, asserts (Remarks on Pope's Homer, p. 6) that Otway 'languished in adversity unpitied, and dy'd in an alehouse unlamented.' Dennis is also credited with the statement that Otway had an intimate friend, 'one Blackstone, who was shot. The murderer fled towards Dover, and Otway pursued him. In his return he drank water when violently heated, and so got a fever which was the death of him' (, Anecdotes, p. 44). According to the well-known story which first appeared in the 'Lives of the Poets' assigned to Theophilus Cibber, 1753 (ib. 336), Otway's end was more sensational. Cibber agrees with his predecessors in stating that, to avoid the importunity of creditors, Otway had retired in his last days to a public-house on Tower Hill. But, he adds, 'it is reported 'that, after suffering the


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/356

Otway torments of starvation, the dramatist begged a shilling of a gentleman in a neighbouring coffee-house on 14 April 1685. The gentleman gave him a guinea, whereupon Otway bought a roll, and was choked by the first mouthful. The authenticity of these details may well be questioned ; they rest on no contemporary testimony, and did not find admission into Otway's biography until sixty-eight years after his death. Wood and Langbaine both state that he was writing verse up to the time of his death.

Otway was buried on 16 April 1685 in the churchyard of St. Clement Danes. A mural tablet, with a long Latin inscription, was placed, in the last century, in the church at Trotton, his birthplace, and is still extant there. He is described as 'poetarum tragicorum qui Britannia enotuerunt facile princeps.' 'His person was of the middle size, about 5 ft. 7 in. in height, inclinable to fatness. He had a thoughtful, speaking eye' (, Notes on Langbaine ; Gent. Mag. 1745, p. 99). Dryden wrote of his ' charming' face, and Sir Peter Lely, Mrs. Beale, Ryley, and Knapton all seem to have painted his portrait. Lely's picture was reproduced in mezzotint by William Faithorne, jun. ; Mrs. Beale's picture was engraved in 1741 by Houbraken while it was in the possession of Gilbert West, the poet ; that by Ryley was drawn by J. Thurston and engraved by T. Bragg while it was in the possession of T. H. Prentice. According to Oldys, 'there is an excellent beautiful original picture of Mr. Otway, who was a fine, portly, graceful man, now among the poetical collection of the Lord Chesterfield. I think it was painted by John Ryley, in a full-bottom wig, and nothing like that quakerish figure which Knapton has imposed on the world,'

Two authentic works by Otway were published posthumously. 'Windsor Castle : a Monument to our late Sovereign K. Charles II of ever Blessed Memory,' a poor panegyric, appeared in quarto in the year of Otway's death. Perhaps Wood made a confused allusion to this work when he wrote : 'In his sickness he was composing a congratulatory poem on the inauguration of King James II.' Next appeared an unattractive ?rose translation from the French : 'The listory of the Triumvirates : the first that of Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus ; the second that of Augustus, Anthony, and Lepidus; being a faithful collection from the best historians and other authors concerning that revolution of the Roman government which hapned under their authority. Written originally in French, and made English by Tho. Otway, lately deceased,' London, 8vo. Langbaine, who noted Otway's special affection for punch, says that 'the last thing he made before his death' was 'an excellent song on that liquor.' This may be identical with a drinking-song, not included in Otway's collected work, which Mr. E. F. Rimbault printed from a manuscript source in 'Notes and Queries' in 1852.

Otway left an unfinished tragedy which, according to Langbaine, was 'more excellent than all of them,' but was 'by some malicious or designing persons suppressed, either hereafter to set up a reputation to themselves by owning it, or to procure a profit by selling it for their own' (Dramatic Poets, p. 107). The piece is noticed in an advertisement in the 'London Gazette' 25-9 Nov. 1686, and in L'Estrange's 'Obsenator' of 27 Nov. 1686: 'Whereas Mr. Thomas Otway sometime before his death made four acts of a play, whoever can give notice in whose hands the copy lies either to Mr. Thomas Betterton or to Mr. William Smith at the Theatre Royal shall be well rewarded for his pains.' It does not appear that the missing copy came to light. In 1719 a feebly bombastic tragedy, called 'Heroick Friendship, a tragedy by the late Mr. Otway,' was published in London. The publisher vaguely asserts that it is probably Otway's work ; but it has no intrinsic claim to that distinction.

In his own day all Otway's work was popular. There was a time when Otway charm'd the stage ; Otway, the hope, the sorrow of our age ; When the full pitt with pleas'd attention hung Wrap'd with each accent from Castotio's tongue; With what a laughter was his Soldier read, How mourned they when his Jaffier struck and bled!

('Satyr on the Poets,' in Poems on Affairs of State, 1698, pt. iii. p. 55).

In comedy Otway's efforts were contemptible, and excepting his adaptation of Moliere's 'Scapin,' of which Genest notes nine revivals between 1706 and 1812, none long held the stage. As the author of 'Venice Preserved,' Otway, however, proved himself a tragic dramatist worthy to rank with the greatest of Shakespeare's contemporaries. But he was the disciple of no English predecessor. Well read in the writings of Shakespeare, he paid equal attention to those of Racine, and in 'Venice Preserved' these two influences are visible in equal degrees. The plot was drawn from the Abbé St. Réal's 'Conjuration des Espagnols contre la Venise en 1618,' of which an English translation had appeared in 1675. But Otway modified the story at many


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/357

Otway points by grafting on it Belvidera, a deeply interesting female character ; and, while he accepted the historical names of the conspirators, he subordinated the true leader of the conspiracy, the Spanish envoy in Venice, the Marques de Bedamar, to Jaffier and Pierre, who were historically insignificant. He is thus solely responsible for the dramatic interest imported into the tale. According to his version of it, Priuli, a senator of Venice, has renounced his daughter, Belvidera, because she has married Jafner, a man poor and undistinguished. Pierre, a close friend of Jaffier, persuades him, when smarting under Priuli's taunts, to join a conspiracy which aims at the lives of all the senators. Jaffier is led to confide the secret of the plot to his wife, and her frenzied appeals to him to save her father goad him into betraying the conspiracy to the senate, and sacrificing his dearest friend. The irrelevant scenes, in which Antonio, a caricature of Shaftesbury, is mercilessly ridiculed by Aquilina the courtesan, are a serious blot on what is otherwise a great work of art. M. Taine, alone among critics, detected some humour in these foolish episodes. In the rest of the piece Hazlitt has justly drawn attention to ' the awful suspense of the situations; the conflict of duties and passions; the intimate bonds that unite the characters together and that are violently rent asunder like the parting of soul and body; the solemn march of the tragical events to the fatal catastrophe that winds up and closes over all.' Throughout, the language is as simple and natural as the sentiments depicted. 'I will not defend everything in is "Venice Preserved,"' wrote Dryden in his preface to Fresnoy's 'Art of Painting,' 1695, 'but I must bear this testimony to his memory, that the passions are truly tricked in it, though perhaps there is somewhat to be desired, both in the grounds of them and in the height and elegance of expression ; but nature is there, which is the greatest beauty.' Pope's verdict on Otway, that he 'failed to polish or refine,' is deprived of its sting by the fact that he passes the same censure on Shakespeare. Byron, although professing great admiration for Otway '8 work, declared Belvidera to be utterly detestable (, Works, ed. Moore, iii. 371).

The play was translated into almost every modern language. In France it was imitated by De la Fosse in his tragedy of 'Manlius' (1698). Voltaire preferred the French adaptation to Otway's original, because De la Fosse followed St. Réal's historical narrative less closely than Otway, and gave his dramatis personæ fictitious Roman names instead of the historical names drawn by Otway from St. Réal (, Le Brutus, avec un Discours sur la Tragedie, Paris, 1731, p. ix). A more literal French translation appeared at Paris in 1746 in 'Le Theatre Anglois' (tom. v.), and on 5 Dec. 1746 a third version, prepared by M. de la Place, was performed at the Comeclie Française. A prologue, spoken by 'le sieur Roseli,' dwelt on the refinement attaching to the stage traditions of France as compared with those of England. De la Place's acting edition was published as 'La Venise sauvée,' in 1747. The performance seems to have met with a qualified success. 'Venice Preserved,' like 'Don Carlos' and 'The Orphan,' was introduced in French translations into 'Chefs d'Œuvre des Theatres Etrangers,' Paris, 1822 (tomes ii. and iv.) Subsequently Balzac represents the heroine, in his 'Melmoth Reeoncilié,' as drawing her 'nom de guerre' of Aquilina from the courtesan in 'Venise sauvee.' A Dutch version of 'Venice Preserved ' — 'Het Gered Venetie, Treurspel ' — was made through the French by G. Muyser at Utrecht in 1755 ; and a German translation was published about the same date. In its German dress the piece reached St. Petersburg, where a Russian version, rendered from the German by Ya. Kozelsky, under the title of 'Vozmushchenie,' was published in 1764. A second German and a first Italian translation are each dated 1817.

'The Orphan,' the only other piece by Otway which reached a high level of art, contains numerous passages of great tenderness and beauty. The sufferings of the heroine, Monimia, excite all the pity inseparable from great tragedy, and justify William Collins's well-known reference, in his 'Ode to Pity,' to 'gentlest Otway,' who 'sung the female heart.' Mrs. Barry, who originally filled the heroine's part, is said to have invariably burst into genuine tears in the course of the performance, and critics are unanimous in the opinion that no person of ordinary sensibility can read it without weeping as copiously as 'Arabian trees' drop 'their medicinal gums' (Hazlitt). Sir Walter Scott wrote : 'The canons of Otway in his scenes of passionate affection rival at least, and sometimes excel, those of Shakespeare. More tears have been shed, probably, for the sorrows of Belvidera and Monimia than for those of Juliet and Desdemona' (Miscellaneous Prose Works, vi. 356). But the catastrophe of 'The Orphan' turns on Monimia's mistaking Polydore for his brother Castelio on the night of her secret marriage to the latter. The improbabilities which characterise the incident diminish the reader's sympathy, and Voltaire's condemnation of 'le tendre et élegant Otway' for his


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/358

Otway treatment of this situation seems deserved (‘Du Théâtre Anglais,’ in Œuvres Complètes, 1837, ix. 60). The plot, it should be noted, resembles that of Robert Tailor's ‘Hog that has lost his Pearl’ (1614), and is said to be derived from the Earl of Ossory's ‘English Adventures by a Person of Honour,’ 1676, where Castalio's experiences are assigned, without any historical warrant, to Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk. A similar legend is told of the brothers Edward and Francis Russell, sons of Francis Russell, second earl of Bedford (d 1585) (cf., Journey from Chester to London; , Letters, ed. Cunningham, ed. Cunningham, ix. 355).

Thomson the poet ranked the parts of Monimia and Belvidera with those of Hamlet and Othello, and many of the greatest actresses owed to these rôles the leading triumphs in their careers. As Belvidera, Mrs. Barry was succeeded in turn by Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Seymour, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Siddons, and Miss O'Neill; while Garrick and J. P. Kemble played both Pierre and Jaffier with notable success. Mills, Quin, and Mossop were also popular exponents of Pierre's part, and Macready filled it for many years. As Monimia, Mrs. Oldfield, Mrs. Porter, and Mrs. Cibber all excelled. Miss O'Neill was the last eminent actress to essay the part. Garrick often played Chamont, Monimia's brother. ‘The Orphan’ and ‘Venice Preserved’ both remained stock pieces until the present century. Twenty revivals of ‘Venice Preserved’ are noticed by Genest, the latest at Drury Lane on 6 April 1829, with Young as Pierre and Miss Phillips as Belvidera. Sixteen performances of ‘The Orphan’ are described by Genest between 1707 and 1815, on 2 Dec. of which year it was played at Covent Garden, with Charles Kemble as Chamont and Miss O'Neill as Monimia. Many modifications were introduced into the text of both pieces. J. P. Kemble printed an acting version of ‘Venice Preserved,’ from which the scenes with Antonio were omitted; this was thrice published, in 1795, 1811, and 1814 respectively. A performance of ‘Venice Preserved,’ by the boys of Otway's old school (Winchester), took place in 1755, when a prologue was written by Robert Lowth [q. v.], afterwards Bishop of London.

The earliest collected edition of Otway's plays appeared in 1713, in two volumes; an edition in three volumes is dated 1757; a fuller edition, with some account of Otway's life and writings, was issued in 1768 (3 vols.); a fourth edition was dated 1812 (2 vols.) The best is that edited by W. T. Thornton in 1813 (3 vols.) ‘Don Carlos,’ ‘The Orphan,’ ‘The Soldier's Fortune,’ and ‘Venice Preserved’ were reprinted in the ‘Mermaid Series’ (1891), edited by Roden Noel. Otway's chief plays figure in all the collections of the English drama, and his poems may be found in ‘Works of the most celebrated Minor Poets,’ 1750, vol. iii., and in the collections of Dr. Johnson (1779), of Dr. Anderson (1793, vol. vi.), T. Park (1806, vol. i.), and Alexander Chalmers (1810, vol. viii.)

 OTWAY, THOMAS (1616–1693), bishop of Ossory, is said to have been born in Wiltshire on 1 Nov. 1616, but no trace remains of a family of that name in Wiltshire. It is probable that he was connected with the Otways of Sedbergh, Yorkshire, of whom John was admitted fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, on 24 March 1639-40, was ejected by the Earl of Manchester on 15 March 1643-4 for refusing to take the solemn league and covenant, and after the Restoration was knighted and became chancellor to the Bishop of Durham (, St. John's College, Cambridge, i. 295, 526 ;, Sufferings, p. 149). Thomas was educated probably at Kirkby Lonsdale or Sedbergh school, Yorkshire, and later at Christ's College, Cambridge, to which he bequeathed 500l. to found three exhibitions, with preference first to Kirkby Lonsdale school, and then to Sedbergh school (Cambridge Univ. Calendar); but he graduated D.D. from Trinity College, Dublin. He subsequently became chaplain to Sir Ralph (afterwards lord) Hopton [q. v.], and an active royalist. He was taken prisoner during the war, and banished to the West Indies, where he remained until the Restoration (, Hyde Corr. i. 257). He then became chaplain to John, first baron Berkeley of Stratton [q. v.], who took Otway with him to Ireland when he was made lord-lieutenant in 1670, and procured his promotion to the see of Killaloe by patent dated 16 Nov. He was consecrated in Christ Church,


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/359

Otway , on 29 Jan. 1670–1. He was translated to the see of Ossory by patent dated 7 Feb. 1679–80, in spite of the objections raised against him because he had executed a tory in his own house without legal warrant (Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. App. p. 726;, Ireland from the Restoration to the Revolution, pp. 83–4). He received in commendam the archdeaconry of Armagh and a rectory attached to it. In February 1685–6 the Earl of Clarendon advocated his promotion to the see of Cashel (, Hyde Corr. i. 252-3); but his advice was not acted upon.

At the revolution of 1688 Otway adhered to James II, and sat in the House of Lords summoned by that king in 1689. He studiously refrained from praying for William and Mary in his cathedral, and, on complaint being made, directed the clergy of his diocese to act as they thought best. Accordingly, after the battle of the Boyne, William ordered his suspension (21 July 1690). Otway, however, succeeded in laying the blame on the dean and chapter, and the suspension was never enforced; but shortly afterwards he declared that he had seen no sufficient justification for the late revolution, that James II was still lawful king, and no power of pope or people could dethrone him, and, recalling the persecutions he had suffered under Cromwell, professed his readiness, in spite of his advanced age, to undergo the same again. In 1692, however, he sat in William's House of Lords, and was still in possession of his see when he died unmarried on 6 March 1692–3. He was buried in his cathedral church of St. Canice, Kilkenny, near the west door, and over his grave was erected a marble stone with an inscription to his memory.

By his will, dated 8 Dec. 1692, besides his legacy to Christ's College, Cambridge, and numerous other benefactions, he bequeathed 200l. to Trinity College, Dublin, and a like sum to build a library in the churchyard of St. Canice, Kilkenny, of which his own books were to form the nucleus. The library was incorporated during Anne's reign (Addit. MS. 28948, f. 118).

 OUDART, NICHOLAS (d. 1681), Latin secretary to Charles II, was born at Mechlin in Brabant. It is conjectured by Wood (Fasti, i. 492) that he was the son or nephew of Nicholas Oudart of Brussels, an official of Mechlin who died in 1608. He was brought to England by Sir Henry Wotton, 'who afterwards trusted him with his domestic affairs' (, loc. cit.) He was created M.A. at Oxford on 13 Aug. 1636, and was incorporated at Cambridge in 1638. He afterwards studied medicine and was created M.B. at Oxford on 31 Jan. 1642 (, Fasti, ii. 34). In 1640 he was at the Hague as secretary to Sir William Boswell, ambassador to the States (cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1640–1, p. 93). In 1641 he became assistant secretary to Sir Edward Nicholas [q. v.], secretary of state. In August 1647 he was acting as amanuensis to Charles I (Nicholas Corresp. in Diary, ed. Bray, iv. 183); he attended the king in the conferences with the parliamentary commissioners at Newport, Isle of Wight (, Memoires, i. 322, ed. 1703), and wrote the king's despatch to Prince Charles (ib. p. 325). A copy of the Εἰκὼν Βασιλική was said to be in the handwriting of Oudart (cf., Lit. Anecdotes, i. 525, and see under ).

Oudart appears to have remained in Nicholas's service (cf. Nicholas Correspondence, op. cit. iv. 194) till about 1651, when he became secretary to Princess Mary of Orange (Cal. Clarendon Papers, ii. 152, 451, &c.) He held this office till the princess's death in 1661 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1661–2, pp. 84, 312), and was executor under her will, in which she bears testimony to his abilities and fidelity. Sir Edward Nicholas declared (about 1655) that Oudart's preferments made him 'more conceited than ever,' and that he was 'little esteemed' abroad (ib. 1655, p. 384). After his return to England, Oudart was admitted gentleman of the privy chamber on 18 Nov. 1662 (ib. 1665–6, p. 303), and on 13 July 1666 became Latin secretary to Charles II (ib. p. 530), in succession to Sir Richard Fanshawe, with a salary of 80l. He held this office till his death. From about January 1662–3 he was connected with the wine license office, Westminster (ib. 1663-4, p. 23}, and in 1665 (?) petitioned for a grant of 600l. a year for eight years on account of a loss of 8,000l. incurred through that office (ib. 1665–6, p. 159). In February 1666 a warrant was


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/360

Oudney ordered for the payment to Sir George Downing and his secretary Oudart of their expenses during their imprisonment in Holland (ib. pp. 244-64). Oudart was a friend of John Evelyn (Diary, 2 Sept. 1064).

Oudart died in Little Dean's Yard, Westminster, and was buried in the west cloister of Westminster Abbey on 21 Dec. 1681. His will, dated 5 March 1671–2, was proved on 13 July 1682 by his widow Eva, daughter of John François Tortarolis. She was a rich and handsome gentlewoman of Leyden whom Oudart married about 1655 (ib. 1655, pp. 375, 384). Three daughters were the issue of the marriage, viz. Barbara, married at the Temple Church, London, on 29 Oct. 1677, to William Foster; Amelia Isabella, married in 1689 to Bartholomew Van Sittert; and Dorothy.

 OUDNEY, WALTER, M.D. (1790–1824), surgeon royal navy and African traveller, was born in December 1790, of humble parents, in Edinburgh, where he picked up sufficient knowledge of medicine to become a surgeon's mate on board a man-of-war. He was appointed an assistant surgeon in 1810, was stationed in the East Indies (Navy List, 1814), and on 24 May of that year was promoted surgeon. At the peace he returned, on half-pay, to Edinburgh, where his mother and sisters were living, attended classes at the university, graduated M.D. 1 Aug. 1817, and set up in private practice. He had the friendship of Dr. John Abercrombie [q. v.], who inserted two or three of Oudney's 'cases' in the 'Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal.' Oudney became a member of the Wernerian Society, applied himself to the study of chemistry and natural history, and had hopes of becoming university lecturer on botany. His views were changed by his association with Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton [q. v.] and Major Dixon Denham [q. v.] in an expedition for the discovery of the source of the Niger. Oudney and Clapperton arrived at their starting-point (Tripoli) in October 1821, whither they were followed by Denham. On 7 April 1822 they reached Murzuk in Fezzan, where they spent the rest of 1822, making excursions in the neighbourhood. In March 1823 they reached Kouka, on Lake Tchad, the capital of the kingdom of Bornou, where they remained some months. On 14 Dec. 1823 Oudney and Clapperton set out for the western extremity of the Bornou. The party was exposed to intense cold, and Oudney, who had been in poor health since his arrival at Kouka, was attacked by pneumonia. He seemed to mend a little on the return journey, but died at Katagum, in the Soudan, on 12 Jan. 1824, and was buried there.

Oudney is described as of middle stature and slight build, with a pale, grave face, pleasing manners, and possessed of much enterprise and perseverance. As an explorer he appears to have been very successful in his intercourse with the natives. Only two of Oudney's papers came into the hands of Colonel Denham, viz. 'An Itinerary from Murzuk to Bornu,' the mineralogical notes in which alone appear in Denham's narrative; and 'An Account of an Expedition to the Westward of Murzuk' (country of the Tuaricks), printed at the end of Denham's introductory chapter.

 OUDOCEUS (fl. 630?), bishop of Llandaff, is generally regarded as having succeeded Teilo in that see. There is a life of him in the 'Liber Landavensis' (ed. Evans, pp. 130–9), abridged by Capgrave (Nova Legenda Angliæ, p. 258) and by the compilers of 'Acta Sanctorum' (2 July, i. 318). According to this, he was the son of Budic, son of Cybrdan of Cornugallia (Cornouaille in Brittany), and Anauued, daughter of Ensic of Dyfed (West Wales). Budic is known to have been king of the Bretons about 500 (L'Art de verifier les Dates, vol. xiii.), and Ensic was Teilo's father. Oudoceus was trained, it is further said, by Teilo, and on his death was elected his successor, receiving consecration at Canterbury. As bishop he was contemporary with Cadwgan of Dyfed (fl. about 670) and Meurig of Glamorgan (fl. about 600). It was during his time the English seized the region between the Wye, the Dore, and the Worm (Herefordshire). At the close of his life he resigned his bishopric, and withdrew to the solitude of Lann Enniaun, or Lann Oudocui (Llandogo, Monmouthshire), where he died on 2 July.

The chronological inconsistencies of this life deprive it of nearly all value. It appears to have been written in part in Brittany, but the reference to Canterbury shows that it


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/274

Rh been killed, Ensign Orr was transferred to that corps to fill the vacancy. After the close of the siege he served for some time as brigade-major to a detachment under Colonel Hopkins. Towards the end of 1780 he was appointed by Lord Macartney governor and commander-in-chief, with the approval of Sir Eyre Coote, to command a flying column composed of one troop of cavalry, two companies of infantry, three hundred Poligars, and two galloper-guns. The task of this corps was to escort treasure, stores, and ammunition coming up to Sir Eyre Coote's army or the different forts, many of which were blockaded. The duty was very trying, for, as it was impossible to carry tents, there was much exposure as well as fatigue, and Orr suffered considerably in health. He was constantly engaged, and on one occasion was repeatedly charged by between two and three thousand of the enemy's cavalry. He was ten miles distant from the army, and for several hours was in continual danger of being cut off. He, however, succeeded in extricating himself eventually. At the close of the war in 1784 the corps was broken up. Orr, who had received high commendation from his superiors for his services during the war, was rewarded by being transferred to the cavalry, and appointed to the command of the governor's bodyguard. This appointment he held till 1787, when the state of his health compelled him to take sick-leave to England, having become lieutenant 12 Aug. 1781, and captain 20 May 1785. Returning to India in 1789, and joining the 1st native cavalry as second in command, he took an active part in the second Mysore war of 1790–2. His regiment in March 1791 formed part of the force which, under Colonel Floyd, when close to Bangalore, was lured by the enemy into an unfavourable position. A sudden attack by a superior force of the three arms followed, and nearly resulted in their destruction. Eventually Floyd was disengaged by a supporting brigade of native infantry which came up to his support and made good his retreat. His command consisted of the 19th light dragoons and five corps of native cavalry, and the loss in killed, wounded, and missing was 71 men, and 271 horses lost, Floyd himself being among the wounded. In April 1791 he became major, and at the head of the 1st native cavalry took part in Colonel Floyd's charge on the Mysore army when retreating, on the occasion of the battle before Seringapatam, in May 1791. In this charge Major Orr captured two standards with his own hand. In July of the same year Major Orr was transferred to the 5th native cavalry. In November 1798 he became lieutenant-colonel, and in January 1799 proceeded to England on leave. In April 1802 he became full colonel, and in December 1802, being still in England, was transferred to the command of the 7th native cavalry. In 1805 he obtained his regiment—i.e. received colonel's allowances or off-reckonings—became major-general in October 1809, lieutenant-general in June 1814, and died in London on 26 Nov. 1835.

ORR, WILLIAM (1766–1797), United Irishman, born at Farranshane, co. Antrim, in 1766, was of respectable presbyterian family, and owned a good deal of land and a bleachgreen. He is erroneously described by Froude as ‘a Belfast tradesman’ (English in Ireland, iii. 176). He joined the United Irishmen at an early stage, but was moderate and cautious, and at a meeting near Carrickfergus in 1796 strongly supported a resolution, which was passed, threatening the expulsion of any member who counselled assassination. He became popular, and was one of the first arrested by the government during 1796. The specific charge against him was that he had administered a treasonable oath to two soldiers, Hugh Wheatley and one Lindsay. Such an act was at the time a capital offence, and both soldiers swore to Orr's identity with the man who had given them the oath. James Hope, however, informed Dr. Madden that a man named William McKeever administered it (, United Irishmen, ii. 254). Orr denied the charge, and Hugh Wheatley, whose character was bad, afterwards admitted having given false evidence. But he received at the time some secret-service money and a commission as lieutenant in the Edinburghshire militia (, Secret Service under Pitt, p. 390). Orr was kept in prison for about a year previous to his trial, which took place at Carrickfergus, to the intense indignation of the inhabitants, who left the town during the proceedings as a protest. Yelverton, lord Avonmore, was the presiding judge, and Arthur Wolfe, afterwards Lord Kilwarden, was prosecuting counsel. They were both humane men, but both concurred in the verdict of guilty pronounced, after some delay, by the jury. Orr was recommended to mercy. Two days later, when the sentence was to be pronounced, Curran endeavoured to serve his client, and spoke with moving eloquence. He quoted the affidavits of three jurymen, two of whom declared they had been rendered incapable by drink, the other testifying that he had been in-


text:
Page:First Voyage Round the World.djvu/36

Fernan Gomez de Lemos.

Nuno Vaz de Castello Branco.

∗Jorge da Silveira.

Ruy de Brito.

Luis Coutinho, brother of

Vasco Fernandes.

Simāo d'Andrade, brother of

Fernan Peres.

Gonzalo d'Almeida.

Simāo Martins Henriques.

Payo Rodrigues de Sousa.

Diogo Pires de Miranda.

Duarte de Mello.

Alvaro Paçanha.

Luis Preto.

Pero d'Afonsequa.

Antonio de Matos.

Antonio Diniz.

The supposition may be hazarded that it was this opinion which Magellan gave at the Council of War in opposition to Alfonso d'Albuquerque, which set D. Manuel against him. Such opposition was enough to have made Albuquerque write unfavourably of Magellan to D. Manuel; and the ill-will of D. Manuel to Magellan, and his refusal to grant him a due recognition of his services is not otherwise sufficiently accounted for. On the other hand, Gaspar Correa, who was Albuquerque's secretary at one time, does not indicate this; but Correa is the most friendly to Magellan of all the Portuguese historians, and does not appear, like the others, to have taxed Magellan with treason.

After this, Magellan appears to have left India, and to have been stationed at Azamor in Morocco, where, in a skirmish with the Arabs, he was wounded in the leg by a javelin, which left him somewhat lame. After that, some disputes arose as to the distribution amongst the townsmen of some cattle that had been captured from the Arabs. When João Soarez, Captain of Azamor, left that place, and was succeeded by D. Pedro de Sousa, Magellan left Azamor without leave from D. Pedro de Sousa, and came to Portugal;


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/361

Oughton  its present form from a British hand, probably not long before 1150. Doubtless Oudoceus was a Breton, for in several of the Welsh catalogues of saints he is said to have come over with Cadfan (Iolo MSS. ff. 103, 112, 134; Myvyrian Archaioloyy, 2nd edit. p. 423), but the parentage of the life can hardly be accepted. In the 'Liber Landavensis' (pp. 140-60) is recorded a number of grants of land said to have been made to Oudoceus during his episcopate by various princes of South-east Wales. These documents, although they may not perhaps be authoritative as to the claims they were put forward to support, nevertheless appear to embody historical facts, and from them it would seem that Oudoceus was the contemporary of Meurig ap Tewdrig, king of Glamorgan, and his grandson Morgan Mwynfawr [q. v.], who flourished in the early part and the middle of the seventh century. This date, which is favoured by Haddan and Stubbs (Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, i. 160), is consistent with the statement in the life that it was during the episcopate of Oudoceus that the 'English conquered the region south-west of Hereford, for the advance in this direction is generally supposed to have been made under Penda.

Oudoceus is the latinised form of old Welsh Oudocui, which in modern Welsh would be Euddogwy. In the catalogues of saints the name appears as Docheu, Dochwy, and Dochdwy (Myvyrian Archaiology, 2nd edit. p. 423; Iolo MSS. 103, 112, 134). The church of Llandogo, near Tintern, is dedicated to Oudoceus.

 OUGHTON, Sir JAMES ADOLPHUS DICKENSON, (1720–1780), lieutenant-general, commander-in-chief in Scotland (North Britain), born in 1720, was a natural son of Sir Adolphus Oughton, bart., of Tachbrook, Warwickshire. The elder Oughton, who was appointed a captain and lieutenant-colonel in the 1st footguards in 1706, was aide-de-camp to John Churchill, duke of Marlborough, during his retirement on the continent in 1712 (see Marlborough Desp., v. 679-80), and in 1718 was regimental lieutenant-colonel of the Coldstream guards. When the Prince of Wales (afterwards George II) was made a K.G., Adolphus Oughton acted as his proxy, for which he was created a baronet. He was long M.P. for Coventry. A brigadier-general, colonel of the 8th dragoons (now 8th hussars), and married, but with no issue by the marriage, he died 4 Sept. 1736, when the Tachbrook baronetcy became extinct. By his will he left a sum of 1,500l. to be invested for the benefit of 'my natural son James Adolphus Dickenson,' on his attaining the age of twenty-one.

On 29 Oct. 1741 the son was appointed lieutenant in St. George's (late Oughton's) dragoons (the present 8th hussars) under the names of James Adolphus Dickenson Oughton (Home Office Military Entry Book, vol. 17, i. 161). He was appointed captain in Ponsonby's regiment (37th foot) 13 May 1742 (ib. vol. 18, f. 219). He served with that regiment at Culloden and in the Flanders campaigns of 1747-8, and became lieutenant-colonel of the regiment 7 Aug. 1749. He was appointed colonel 65th foot on 20 July 1759. He was many years lieutenant-governor of Antigua. He became a major-general on 15 Aug. 1761, was transferred to the colonelcy 31st foot in 1762, and was appointed lieutenant-general on 30 April 1770. In 1768 he appears to have been commanding in Scotland, in the absence of Lord Lorne, afterwards fifth Duke of Argyll (see Home Office Papers — Scottish, under date). He was soon after made K.B., and appointed commander-in-chief in North Britain, a post he held up to his death, which took place at Bath on 2 May 1780, in his sixty-first year. A memorial tablet was placed in Westminster Abbey.

In his will Oughton mentions his wife, Dame Mary Oughton; his brother-in-law, Captain John Ross; and, among many bequests, leaves to 'my son-in-law and aide-de-camp, Capt. Hans Dalrymple, the silver-plated pistols presented to my father, Sir Adolphus Oughton, by John, duke of Marlborough.'

Boswell, writing in Edinburgh in 1773, says that Oughton was a student of Erse, and a believer in the authenticity of Ossian's poems. Johnson met him at Boswell's house in August 1773, and Boswell feared a dispute might arise on the subject; but Ougnton adroitly changed the subject to Lord Monboddo's notion of men having tails, and made Johnson laugh by calling him a judge a posteriori. He had 'a very sweet temper,' and was one of the 'most universal scholars' Boswell ever knew. When Oughton's attainments were mentioned in the course of conversation at Fort George, Johnson observed: 'Sir, you will find few men in any profession who knew more. Sir Adolphus is a very extraordinary man; a man of boundless curiosity and unusual diligence,' [Burke's Extinct Baronetage, under 'Oughton of Tachbrook;' 'Successions of Colonels' in Cannon's Historical Records of the British Army, 8th hussars and 31st foot; Oughton wills in


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/362

Oughtred Somerset House; memorial tablet in Westminster Abbey; Boswell's Life of Johnson, ed. George Birkbeck Hill, D.C.L., v. 45, 124, 142.]  OUGHTRED, WILLIAM (1575–1660), mathematician, son of the Rev. Benjamin Oughtred, and descended from an ancient family of the same name in the north of England, was born at Eton on 5 March 1574-5, and educated at the college. On 1 Sept. 1592 he entered at King's College, Cambridge, and while still an undergraduate devoted his attention to mathematics and composed his 'Easy Method of Geometrical Dialling,' This work, on being circulated in manuscript, attracted the notice of some eminent mathematicians : and Sir Christopher Wren in 1647, when a fellow-commoner of Wadham College, Oxford, translated it into Latin ; but his translation was not published until 1648. In 1595 Oughtred was admitted a fellow of his college. About 1600 he conceived the invention of a projected horizontal instrument for delineating dials upon any kind of plane, and for working most questions which could be performed by the globe. An account of this invention was translated into English and published in 1633, together with his ' Circles of Proportion,' by William Foster, who had been one of his pupils (, Gresham, Professors, p. 88).

About 1603 he was ordained priest, and in 1605, on being presented to the living of Shalford in Surrey, quitted the university. Five years later he was presented to the rectory of Albury, near Guildford, in the same county, and here he appears to have been for the most part resident until his death. He occasionally visited London, although, according to his own statement, not oftener than once a year. 'As oft,' he says, 'as I was toiled with the labours of my own profession, I have allayed that tediousness by walking in the pleasant and more than Elysian fields of the diverse and various parts of human learning, and not of the mathematics only.' He also took pupils, and, according to Lloyd (Memoires, ed. 1668, p. 608), 'his house was full of young gentlemen that came from all parts to be instructed by him ; 'among these he names a son of Sir William Backhouse, Mr. Stokes, Dr. William Lloyd, and Mr. Arthur Haughton. For a time, too, he seems to have resided in the family of the Earl of Arundel as tutor to his second son, Henry Frederick Howard, afterwards third earl of Arundel [q. v.] During the first fourteen years of his incumbency the parish registers, with the entries in his beautiful clear hand, seem to have been regularly kept; but after that time only an occasional entry presents itself. About 1632 he seems to have been seeking pecuniary aid, and to have suffered from a consciousness of neglect (, i. 16). According to Lloyd, he was frequently invited to reside in Italy, France, and Holland, and the list of his correspondents includes the names of the most eminent mathematicians of the time, by whom he was equally respected for his sobriety of judgment and modesty of disposition. The living was a good one; and Oughtred's known sympathy with the royalist party marked him out as an object of suspicion to the committee of sequestrations in 1645. Lilly says : 'Several inconsiderable articles were deposed and sworn against him, material enough to have sequestered him, but that, on his day of leaving, I applied myself to Sir Bulstrod Whitlock, and all my old friends, who in such numbers appeared in his behalf that, though the chairman and many other Presbyterian members were stiff against him, yet he was cleared by the major number' (Life and Times, ed. 1822, p. 136). It is probably in connection with this persecution that, writing in the same year, he describes himself as 'daunted and broken with these disastrous times' (, i. 66). But, generally speaking, his life appears to have been spent peacefully in the conscientious discharge of the duties of his office, relieved by congenial studies and a not inconsiderable correspondence with learned friends. In 1618 he writes : ' I, being in London, went to see my honoured friend, Master Henry Briggs, who then brought me acquainted with Master Gunter [q.v.], with whom, falling into speech about his quadrant, I shewed him my horizontall instrument' ('Apologet. Epist.' in Lives, p. 78). In 1630 he was attacked by Richard Delamaine the elder [q. v.], and replied in a pamphlet entitled 'To the English gentrie. . . the just Apologie of W. Oughtred against the slanderous insinuations of Richard Delamain, in a pamphlet called "Grammelogia," ' 4to. The merits of the controversy may be gathered from the expressions of W. Robinson, who 'cannot but wonder at the indiscretion of R. D., who, being conscious to himself that he is but the pickpurse of another man's wit, would thus inconsiderably provoke and awake a sleeping lion' (, i. 11). In 1631 appeared the 'Clavis Mathematics,' which Oughtred compiled while residing with the family of the Earl of Arundel. He was encouraged to publish the work by his friend, Sir Charles Cavendish, a younger brother of the Duke


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/363

Oughtred of Newcastle, and, like himself, an eminent mathematician. The 'Clavis' was a good systematic text-book on algebra and arithmetic, embodying practically all that was then known on the subject. Oughtred here introduced the symbols x for multiplication, and :: in proportion. The work grew steadily in favour and attained a wide popularity. Wallis, writing to Collins in 1667, speaks of it as a 'lasting book' and Oughtred himself as a 'classic author.' In 1632 was published his treatise on navigation, under the title of 'Circles of Proportion.' In a letter to Keylway, written in 1645, he states as effectively, perhaps, as any modern writer the mathematical argument which demonstrates the futility of the endeavour to prove the equality of any given square and circle. Notwithstanding the deep concern with which he regarded the puritan despotism, Lloyd describes him as enjoying a green old age, 'handling his cube and other instruments at eighty as steadily as others did at thirty,' a fact which he himself attributed to 'temperance and archery.' The statement that he died of joy on hearing of the vote of Convention for the restoration of Charles II is somewhat discredited by the fact that his death did not take place until 30 June 1660.

He was married; and Seth Ward, writing in 1652, presents his 'hearty service to Mrs. Oughtred and your children,' but nothing would seem to be known of his descendants. Aubrey, describing his person, says: 'He was a little man, had black hair and black eyes, with a great deal of spirit. His wit was always working. His eldest son, Benjamin, told me that his father did use to lye a bed till eleven or twelve o'clock, with his doublet on, ever since he can remember. Studied late at night. . . had his tinderbox by him; and on the top of his bed-staffe he had his ink-horn fixt. He slept but little. Sometimes he went not to bed in two or three nights, and would not come down to meals till he had found out the quaesitum.' An engraving of Oughtred by W. Faithorne is prefixed to his 'Trigonometria,' 1657, and another by Hollar to his 'Clavis Mathematicæ.'

His library and manuscripts passed into the possession of William Jones [q. v.] the mathematician, who in turn bequeathed them to Lord Macclesfield. The letters in the collection by that nobleman have for the most part been printed in Rigaud, but a considerable quantity of mathematical papers still remain unprinted. The miscellaneous tracts in No. 11 in the subjoined list were collected and published by Sir Charles Scarborough the physician, the common friend of Oughtred and Christopher Wren.

Notwithstanding Oughtred's undoubted originality, he was not unindebted to earlier writers; and Gilbert Clerk, in his 'Oughtredus Explicatus' (pp. 121, 159), points out his obligations to Vieta. But his labours obtained the warmest commendation from men of science in his own and the subsequent age. Robert Boyle, writing to Harthb in 1647, speaks of 'Englishing' the 'Clavis,' which, he adds, 'does much content me, I having formerly spent much study on the original of that algebra, which I have long since esteemed a much more instructive way of logic than that of Aristotle' (Life, ed. 1744, p. 81). Newton speaks of him as 'that very good and judicious man, whose judgement (if any man's) may be safely relyed upon' (Cotes Corr. p. 291). Twysden, in his preface to the 'Miscellanies' of Samuel Foster [q. v.], written the year before Oughtred's death, assigns him a first place among the mathematicians of the age, and declares that he 'exceeds all praise we can bestow upon him.' 'The best Algebra yet extant is Oughtred's' (Life of Locke, ed. King, i. 227). De Morgan assigns to him the credit of the valuable invention of trigonometrical abbreviations (Budget of Paradoxes, p. 457).

The following is a list of his principal works: 1. 'Arithmeticæ in numeris et speciebus Institutio: quæ tum logisticæ, tum analyticæ, atque adeo totius Mathematicæ, quasi Clavis Mathematicæ est,' London, 1631, 8vo. 2. 'Clavis Mathematicæ, cum Tract. de resolutione æquationum in numeris, et declaratione x. xiii. xiv. Elementi Euclidis,' London, 1648, 8vo; a translation, entitled 'Key of the Mathematicks,' was made by Edmund Halley, and published at London in 4to in 1694. 3. 'Clavis Mathematicæ denuo limata, sive potius fabricata, cum variis aliis Tractt.,' Oxford, 1652 and 1667, 8vo. 4. 'Circles of Proportion, and the Horizonal Instrument,' translated by W. Foster, London, 1632, 4to. 5. 'Description and Use of the Double Horizontal Dial,' London, 1636 and 1652, 8vo. 6. 'A most Easy Way for the Delineation of plain Sundials, only by Geometry,' &c. 1647, 8vo. 7. 'Description and Use of the general Horological Ring and the Double Horizontal Dial,' London, 1653, 8vo. 8. 'Solution of all Spherical Triangles,' Oxford, 1657, 8vo. 9. 'Trigonometria,' London, 1657, 4to. 10. 'Canones Sinuum, Tangentium, Secantium et Logarithmorum pro Sinibus et Tangentibus,' London, 1657, 4to. 11. 'Opuscula Mathematica hactenus inedita: viz.


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/364

 Institutiones Mechanicæ, et alia varia,' Oxford, 1677, 8vo.

 OULD, FIELDING (1710–1789), man-midwife, was son of a captain in the army, and was born at Galway in 1710. His mother was a Miss Shawe of Galway. He studied medicine in Paris (Preface to Midwifery, v. xvi), and about 1736 began practice in Golden Lane, Dublin, as a man-midwife. His practice became large, and in 1742 he published in Dublin 'A Treatise on Midwifery in three parts,' dedicated to the Dublin College of Physicians. The first part is on normal labour, the second on difficult labour of various kinds, and the third on obstetric operations. The book shows careful observation on a few points, but demonstrates that the author had not received a thorough medical education. It was attacked by Dr. Thomas Southwell in 'Remarks on some of the Errors, both in Anatomy and Practice, contained in a late Treatise on Midwifery,' Dublin, 1742, but was read by students of midwifery for many years, and gave a more exact account of the position of the child in natural labour than any work that had been published before. It added to Ould's reputation, and in 1759 he was appointed master of the lying-in hospital in Dublin. He was knighted by the lord-lieutenant, the Duke of Bedford, in the same year, and received the degree of M.B. from the university of Dublin. The College of Physicians in Dublin at first refused to grant him its license, as he was only a man-midwife, but afterwards yielded. He died in his house in Frederick Street, Dublin, 29 Nov. 1789, and was buried in St. Anne's Church.

 OULTON, WALLEY CHAMBERLAIN (1770?–1820?), a native of Dublin, was educated there in a private school. While a schoolboy he achieved some reputation as a writer of farces and musical extravaganzas, and many of his dramatic essays were performed at the Dublin theatres in Smock Alley, Crow Street, Capel Street, and Fishamble Street. Most of these pieces were published. In 1784 there appeared the 'Haunted Castle,' the 'Happy Disguise, and the 'New Wonder;' in 1785 the 'Madhouse,' 'New Way to keep a Wife at Home,' 'Poor Maria,' the 'Recruiting Manager,' and 'Curiosity.' The 'Haunted Castle' and the 'Madhouse' are said to have held the stage for some years. About 1786 Oulton left Dublin while still a youth, to try his fortunes in London. Palmer, the lessee of the Royalty Theatre in Welldose Square, accepted the offer of his services, and in 1787 he produced Oulton's 'Hobson's Choice, or Thespis in Distress,' a satire on contemporary theatrical enterprise. Its boldness excited the resentment of the managers of the patent-houses, who were engaged in a fierce struggle with Palmer. But Oulton induced a lady of his acquaintance to offer in her name his next piece, 'As it should be,' to George Colman the younger of the Haymarket, where it was produced on 3 June 1789. The piece was published anonymously, but Colman soon discovered its author, and gave Oulton much encouragement. On 7 July 1792 he produced a trifle by Oulton, called ' All in Good Humour' (London, 1792, 8vo); there followed at the same house 'Irish Tar,' a musical piece, 24 Aug. 1797; 'The Sixty-third Letter,' a musical farce, 28 July 1802; 'The Sleep-walker, or which is the Lady P' 15 June 1812; and 'My Land-lady's Gown,' 10 Aug. 1816. Meanwhile, at Covent Garden, Oulton secured the production of two similar pieces, 'Perseverance,' 2 June 1789, and ' Botheration,' on 2 May 1798. Baker credits him with the choruses in Sheridan's 'Pizarro,' which was produced in 1799. Oulton was well acquainted with the work of Kotzebue on which Sheridan's play is based, and produced in 1800 a volume called 'The Beauties of Kotzebue.' In 1798 he provided two pantomimes, 'Pyramus and Thisbe' and the 'Two Apprentices,' for the Birmingham theatre. His latest connection with the stage was on 27 Feb. 1817, when his farce 'Frighten'd to Death' was produced at Drury Lane.

Oulton devoted much attention to other departments of literature. Between 2 Jan. and 26 Feb. 1787 he produced a tri-weekly sheet, called 'The Busybody,' on the model of 'The Spectator;' but at the twenty-fifth number the venture ceased. The whole was issued in two volumes in 1789 as 'The Busybody: a Collection of Periodical Essays, Moral, Whimsical, Comic, and Sentimental, by Mr. Oulton, Author of several Fugitive Pieces,' London, 12mo. In 1795 he published, under the pseudonym of 'George Home, D.D.,' two tracts attaching the pretensions of Richard


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/270

Rh parish left him much leisure for literary work. In 1872 the university of Durham conferred on him the honorary degree of M.A., and on 29 May 1873 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. In 1879 he was preferred to a prebendal stall at York. He died at Fishlake on 17 April 1886. By his marriage in 1843 to Anne (d. 1872), daughter of John Wilson, J.P. and D.L., of The Hill, Brigham, Cumberland, he had two sons and two daughters.

Ornsby was a model parish priest and an accurate, painstaking antiquary. He was the lifelong friend of James Raine [q. v.], the historian of North Durham. In 1846 he published an excellent little topographical work called ‘Sketches of Durham.’ For the Surtees Society he edited Dean Granville's ‘Remains,’ in two volumes, 1861 and 1865; Bishop Cosin's ‘Correspondence,’ 2 vols. 1869–1872; and ‘Selections from the Household Books of Lord William Howard of Naworth,’ 1878. He likewise undertook for the same society an edition of Dean Comber's ‘Correspondence,’ but never finished it. In 1877 he supplied the historical introduction to the volume of sermons preached at the reopening of Durham Cathedral, and in 1882 appeared his admirable ‘Diocesan History of York.’

ORNSBY, ROBERT (1820–1889), classical scholar and biographer, born in 1820, was the third son of George Ornsby of Lanchester, Durham. George Ornsby [q. v.] was his eldest brother. He matriculated from Lincoln College, Oxford, on 8 Dec. 1836, and obtained one of Lord Crewe's exhibitions. He graduated B.A. on 3 Dec. 1840, after gaining a first class in literæ humaniores. In 1843 he was elected to a fellowship at Trinity College, and graduated M.A. Subsequently he held the college office of lecturer in rhetoric and the university office of master of the schools, and for four or five years he was actively engaged in private tuition. For a time he was curate of St. Olave's, Chichester, but he seceded from the church of England, and was received into the Roman catholic communion in May 1847 (, Tractarian Movement, 1861, pp. 145, 151).

For some years subsequently he assisted Frederick Lucas [q. v.] in conducting the ‘Tablet’ newspaper, while it was published in Dublin. When Newman undertook the task of founding a catholic university for Ireland in 1854, Ornsby accepted his invitation to become professor of Greek and Latin literature in the new institution. Later on he became private tutor to the present Duke of Norfolk and his brother, whom he accompanied on a short tour through southern and eastern Europe. He was subsequently for a short time librarian at Arundel Castle, but he returned to his old post at the catholic university in 1874, at the request of the Irish bishops. In 1882, when the senate of the Royal University of Ireland were forming their first staff of examiners, Ornsby was elected a fellow of the university and an examiner in Greek. He died in Dublin on 21 April 1889. His publications, which display erudition and scholarship, are: 1. ‘The Life of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Prince of Geneva,’ London, 1856, 8vo. 2. ‘Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη. The Greek Testament, from Cardinal Mai's edition of the Vatican Bible, with Notes, chiefly philological and exegetical; a Harmony of the Gospels, Chronological Tables, &c.,’ Dublin, 1860, 8vo. 3. ‘Memoirs of James Robert Hope-Scott, Q.C., with Selections from his Correspondence,’ 2 vols., London, 1884, 8vo.

ORONSAY,. [See and, 1793–1874.]

O'ROURKE, BRIAN-NA-MURTHA (d. 1591), Irish chieftain, was a younger son of Brian Ballagh O'Rourke, by his wife Grainne (d. 28 April 1551), daughter of Manus O'Cahan or Manus O'Donnell [q. v.] (cf. Annals of Four Masters, s. a. 1551 and s. a. 1566). His grandfather, Owen O'Rourke, who was ‘chief of his name,’ was slain at Dromore in 1532, his son Brian Ballagh, ‘the speckled or freckled,’ being declared the O'Rourke in 1536. Brian Ballagh spent a life of constant fighting against his kinsmen and the English, and died in consequence of a fall in 1562; he ‘had the best collection of poems, and of all his tribe had bestowed the greatest number of presents for poetical eulogies;’ he was ‘senior of Sil-Feargna and of the race of Aedh-Finn’ (i.e. the O'Rourkes, O'Reillys, and their correlatives in the counties of Leitrim and Cavan), and his ‘supporters, fosterers, adherents and tributaries extended from Caladh [i.e. Callow, in the parish of Kilconnell, co. Galway], in the territory of the Hy-Many, to the fertile salmon-full Drowes, the boundary of the province of the far-famed province of Ulster; and from Granard in Teffia to the strand of


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/365

  [q. v.], the prophet, and of his disciple, [q. v.] The first was entitled 'Sound Argument, dictated by Common-sense' (Oxford, 1795, 8vo); the second, 'Occasional Remarks addressed to N. B. Halhed, Esq.' (London, 1796, 8vo). But Oulton showed less judgment in vindicating the authenticity of 'Vortigern,' the tragedy which Samuel Ireland [q. v.] claimed in 1796 to have rescued from overlooked manuscripts by Shakespeare. He issued an anonymous pamphlet, 'Vortigern under Consideration' (1796), in Ireland's behalf. More useful work was a series of compilations dealing with recent theatrical history. The earliest was 'The History of the Theatres of London from 1771 to 1795,' which appeared in 1796 in two volumes, in continuation of Victor's 'History.' For R. Barker, the theatrical publisher, he prepared in 1802, mainly ' from the manuscripts of Mr. Henderson,' 'Barker's Continuation of Egerton's Theatrical Remembrancer … from 1787 to 1801.' Finally he produced 'A History of the Theatres of London from 1795 to 1817,' London, 3 vols. 1818. The strictly chronological arrangement of the pieces described under the headings of the various London playhouses and the absence of any general index impair the value of Oulton's labours for purposes of reference.

Others of Oulton's publications were: After the last date Oulton disappears.
 * 1) 'Shakespeare's Poems,' with a memoir, 1804.
 * 2) 'The Traveller's Guide, or an English Itinerary,' a gazetteer with sixty-six maps or views, London, 1805, 2 vols.
 * 3) 'S. Gessner's Death of Abel,' a translation, London, 1811.
 * 4) 'The Beauties of Anne Seward,' 1813.
 * 5) 'Authentic and Impartial Memoirs of her late Majesty Charlotte, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland … assisted by eminent literary Characters,' 1819.
 * 6) 'Picture of Margate and its Vicinity, with a Map and Twenty Views,' 1820.

 OUSELEY, FREDERICK ARTHUR GORE (1825–1889), musician and composer, horn in Grosvenor Square, London, on 12 Aug. 1825, was the only surviving son of Sir  [q. v.], first baronet, of Hall Barn Park, Buckinghamshire, and Harriet Georgina, daughter of John Whitelocke. He was christened at Hertingfordbury in May 1826, when his god-parents were the Duke of York and the Duke of Wellington. Educated privately and at Christ Church, Oxford, he succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1844, graduating B.A. in 1846, and M.A. in 1849; he took holy orders, and was curate of St. Barnabas, Pimlico, and St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, 1849-51. In 1850 he proceeded to the degree of Mus. Bac. at Oxford and in 1854 to that of Mus. Doc, being incorporated in the latter degree at Durham in 1856, at Cambridge in 1862, and at Dublin in 1888. From 1861 to 1856 he resided at Lorchill House, Langley-Marish, Buckinghamshire, and in 1856 was appointed precentor of Hereford Cathedral. He succeeded Sir Henry Rowley Bishop as professor of music in the university of Oxford in the same year, and was made LL.D. of Cambridge in 1883, and of Edinburgh in 1884. He was appointed a canon residentiary of Hereford Cathedral in 1886, and died suddenly of epilepsy on Saturday, 6 April 1889, at Hereford He was buried at St. Michael's, Tenbury. He was unmarried, and the baronetcy became extinct at his death.

From his cradle Ouseley evinced an unusual love of music. When he was only three years old some of his compositions were sent to an accomplished musical amateur, the Duchess of Hamilton, who wrote: 'I am equally astonished and enchanted with the child's talent. I hope and trust I shall one day have the happiness of hearing this second Mozart,' His extraordinary talent for extemporising music was remarked as early as his fifth year, and it is recorded that at that early age 'he sang many beautiful and impassioned melodies, which he accompanied with both hands in the fullest and most varied harmony,' When eight years of age he composed an opera to words by Metastasio which was highly praised by eminent musicians and critics. He was an industrious writer during the whole of his life; for twenty-five years he daily composed at least one canon as a contrapuntal exercise. His music for the church includes many services, about one hundred anthems, a large number of chants, hymn-tunes, and carols, nearly all published by Messrs. Novello and Messrs. Cocks; a sacred cantata, two oratorios, 'The Martyrdom of St. Poly carp' (published in 1855) and 'Hagar' (published in 1873), and numerous organ solos. He also composed secular music, overtures, solos, glees, and quartets, the greater number of which still remain in manuscript. His musical library, of about five thousand volumes, contained unique manuscripts and printed works, and was bequeathed by him to the college of


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/400

Owain him the fresh wrath of the church. He was ultimately excommunicated by Thomas, and died in November 1169, without being free from the ban (ib. i. 364-74; cf. Mat. Hist. Becket, 229-39, Rolls Ser.) But the Welsh ecclesiastics cared little for the sentences of Canterbury. Owain duly received the last sacraments of the church (Bruty Tywysogion, p. 206), and was buried in consecrated ground. His tomb was placed beside that of his brother Cadwaladr, in the presbytery of Bangor Cathedral, before the high altar, but on Archbishop Baldwin's visit to Bangor during his crusading tour in 1188, the Bishop of Bangor was directed by the primate to remove the body of the excommunicated king from the sacred precincts of the church ( Opera, vi. 133).

Giraldus Cambrensis describes Owain as a man of great moderation and wisdom, and combines him with his nephew Maredudd ab Gruffydd and Owain Cyveiliog [q. v.] as the only three men celebrated in the Wales of his time for justice, prudence, and moderation in their rule (ib. vi. 144-6). The 'Brut y Tywysogion' (p. 206, cf. p. 158) speaks of him as 'a man of the most extraordinary sagacity, nobleness, fortitude, and bravery, invincible from his youth, who never denied any one the request he made,' The bard Gwalchmai, in an ode commemorating one of Owain's victories, also extols his generosity, describing him as a prince who will 'neither cringe nor hoard up wealth' (translations of this poem are in Lit. of the Kymry, pp. 18-19; Archæologia Cambrensis, 1st ser. lii. 75-76; and the Cambro-Briton, i. 229-33; Gray's well-known 'Triumphs of Owen 'is a free rendering of this ode). Owain was much celebrated by the bards. Five of Gwalchmai's poems are addressed to him (Myvyrian Archæology of Wales, pp. 142-146, Denbigh reprint). Cynddelw also wrote his praises and those of his family (ib. pp. 149-61, 163), while Daniel ab Llosgwrn Mew and Seisyll wrote elegies upon him (ib. pp. 193, 236). Owain's merit was that he continued the successful resistance to marcher encroachment which his father had begun in the reign of Stephen. It required no small pertinacity on Owain's part to make so great a king as Henry II give up in despair his efforts to reduce Gwynedd to satisfaction. Owain seems, however, to have been more bloodthirsty than most men of his time and nation; and the chroniclers record many instances of murders and mutilations, especially of kinsfolk, effected at his command. Yet his career made it possible to preserve a strong Welsh state against the Normans; and but for his strenuous acts the successes of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth in the next generation would hardly have been possible.

Owain's matrimonial relations were of the irregular type common to his age and country, and few of his numerous children were regarded by the stricter churchmen as legitimate. Before the old king died the fierce strife between his sons for his succession had already broken out. He is said to have had seventeen sons (, p. 26; cf. also Cynddelw's 'Marwnad teilu Ywein Gwynet' in Myvyrian Archæology, pp. 163-4); and the following children of Owain are mentioned in the Welsh chronicles. The name of the mother is also given when known: (1) Howel (d. 1171 ?), whose mother, Pyvog, was an Irish lady, and who was very famous both as a bard and as a warrior [see ]; (2) Davydd, Owain's ultimate successor [see ], who was his son by his cousin Crisiant, and therefore looked upon with special disfavour by the stricter churchmen as the son of an incestuous union ( vi. 134); (3) Rhodri (d. after 1194), also a son of Crisiant (Brut y Tywysogion, p. 224; cf. Myvyrian Archaiology, pp. 201-3); (4) Iorwerth, the father of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth [q. v.], the only one of Owain's surviving sons regarded by the church as legitimate; (6) Llywelyn (d. 1166), much eulogised by the chroniclers (ib. p. 202); (6) Cynan (d. 1174), Howel's companion in his earlier exploits; (7) Maelgwn (d. after 1174); (8) Cynvrig (d. 1139); (9) Rhun (d. 1147), 'the most praiseworthy young man of the British nation' (Brut y Tywysogion, p. 170, which minutely describes his personal appearance). He was presumably a son of Pyvog (Gwentian Brut, p. 132); (10) Morgan, killed in 1168; (11) another Cynvrig, who, with (12) Cadwallon, was blinded by Henry II in 1165 (Brut y Tywysogion, p. 202; Gwentian Brut calls them Rhys and Cadwallon); (13) one daughter, Angharad, is mentioned, who was a full sister of Iorwerth, and therefore legitimate (Brut y Tywysogion, p. 212), and who married Morgan ab Seisyll; (14) another daughter, whose name is not given, was betrothed early in Owain's reign to her cousin Anarawd ap Rhys ap Gruflrdd of South Wales. For the reputed son or Owain who is fabled to have discovered America, see Madog ap Owain Gwynedd. [The fullest details come from Brut y Tywysogion (Rolls. Ser.), or with a better text in Evans's Oxford edition; but the faulty chronology of that chronicle can be in some measure corrected by the more accurate but scantier Latin Annales Cambriæ (Rolls Ser.). The Gwentian Brut (Cambrian Archæological Association) gives hardly


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/401

Owain any fresh particulars. See also Materials for the History of Archbishop Thomas Becket, especially vol. v.; Giraldus Cambrensis, Opera, Ralph de Diceto, Benedictus Abbas, Gervase of Canterbury; Chronicles of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, ed. Howlett (all in Rolls Ser.); Haddan and Stubbs's Councils, i. 364–74; Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales (Denbigh reprint); Stephens's Literature of the Kymry.]  OWAIN BROGYNTYN (fl. 1180), Welsh chieftain, was a natural son of Madog ap Maredudd [q. v.] His mother is said to have been a daughter of the 'Black Reeve' of Rug in Edeyrnion. He took his name from the fortress of Porkington, near Oswestry, which was in Madog's hands during the troubles of the reign of Stephen, and was then known to the Welsh as Brogyntyn. The nature of his connection with the place is uncertain ; if at any time he held it, he did not transmit it to his descendants. Owain succeeded to two of the districts ruled over by his father — viz. Dinmael and Edeyrnion. From a manuscript in the Sebright collection, quoted in the 'Archæologia Cambrensis' (1st ser. i. 105), he appears to have borne rule for a time in Penllyn also. The 'Wenhewm' which he gave to the monks of Basingwerk (see David's confirmation of the grant, dated 1240, in, Monast. Angl. v. 263) may have been Gwern hefin, near Bala. Owain married : 1. Sioned, daughter of Hywel ap Madog ap Idnerth, by whom he had no issue; 2. Marred, daughter of Einion ab Seisyll of Mathafarn, by whom he had three sons, Gruffydd, Bleddyn (for whom see, Fœdera, i. 76, ed. 1839), and Iorwerth. His posterity long had rights of lordship in Dinmael and Edeyrnion.  OWAIN CYVEILIOG or (d. 1197), prince of Powys, was the son of Gruffydd ap Maredudd, brother of Madog ap Maredudd [q. v.], prince of Powys. He was, it is said, the offspring of an irregular union of his father with Gwervyl, daughter of Urgen ab Howel. In 1159 Owain and his brother Meurig received from their uncle Madog, then ruling over Powys, the district of Cyveiliog, a region including most of the middle valley of the Dovey, and corresponding to the western portions of the modern Montgomeryshire. Owain remained so closely connected with Cyveiliog that he derived from it his ordinary descriptive name, which effectually distinguished him from his rival, Owain ab Gruffydd, called Owain Gwynedd [q. v.] Madog died in 1160, and his son Llywelyn being slain immediately afterwards, Owain succeeded to the lordship of all Powys. In the first years of his reipi Owain continued his uncle's general policy of alliance with the English against his dangerous neighbour and rival, Owain Gwynedd. But the growing pressure of the Norman marchers, backed up by Henry I, seems to have caused Owain to alter his policy; and in 1165 he joined Owain Gwynedd and the Lord Rhys of South Wales [see ] in their resistance to Henry II's invasion during that summer. Most of the fighting took place in Powys, and Henry II withdrew, beaten by the elements and want of food as much as by the enemy, and never ventured on another Welsh campaign. The alliance between the two Owains was continued for some time. In 1166 they drove out their former ally, Iorwerth Goch, from his territory in Mochnant, and divided that district between them. But in 1167 the allies quarrelled, and Owain Gwynedd joined with Rhys of South Wales against Owain Cyveiliog, though the prince of Powys had married Rhys's daughter. Their joint forces invaded Powys, took possession of Caereineon and Talawern, and put Owain to flight. The lord of Powys now fell back on his old friends the marchers. He soon reappeared in company with a 'French' army, won back the lands he had lost, and destroyed the new castle which his foes had built in Caereineon. War continued between Owain Cyveiliog and Rhys. In 1171 Rhys again invaded Powys, and forced Owain to surrender seven hostages for his good behaviour. But a quieter time now followed in Wales. Davydd, prince of Gwynedd [see ], Owain Gwynedd's son and successor, was Henry II's son-in-law. The Lord Rhys had become the king's 'justice in South Wales.' Henry found it wisest to leave the Welsh princes pretty much to themselves, and they on their part found it prudent to recognise his supremacy. Power in Wales was, moreover, so divided that no single Welsh prince had much chance of winning great triumphs over his neighbours. Owain accordingly continued in his dependence on Henry II. Constant intercourse between Owain and his overlord led to a good deal of personal friendliness between them; and Giraldus Cambrensis tells a story how, when dining with the king at Shrewsbury, Owain found means of covertly rebuking his overlord for his habit of keeping benefices long vacant in order to enjoy the custody of their temporalities (Opera, vi. 144-5). In May 1177 he attended the great council at Oxford, at which


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/402

Owain Henry II made his son John lord of Ireland. All the other Welsh chieftains were there, and all of them took oaths of fealty to Henry as their overlord (, i. 162; cf. ii. 134). As Owain grew older his sons Gwenwynwyn [q. v.] and Cadwallon took his place in the plundering forays and other wild enterprises of a Welsh chieftain. The Welsh chronicles make these youths responsible for the treacherous murder of their cousin, Owain ab Madog, in 1186 (Brut y Tywysogion, p. 232); but Giraldus Cambrensis (vi. 142-3) makes their father directly responsible for this crime. In 1188 Owain alone of the princes of Wales did not go out with his people to meet Archbishop Baldwin when that prelate, in the course of his crusading tour, approached his dominions. For this negligence he was excommunicated ( vi. 144). Owain busied his declining years with the foundation of the Cistercian monastery of Strata Marcella (Ystrad Marchell). There he ultimately took the monastic habit, and there he died in 1197 at a good old age. Gwenwynwyn, who succeeded to his father's dominions, completed the endowment of Owain's foundation of Strata Marcella (Arch. Cambr. 3rd ser. xiii. 117).

There is another story, that Strata Marcella was founded by Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor [q. v.] in about 1200. But this seems to be a confusion between Strata Marcella and Valle Crucis in Yale. The 'charter of foundation ' printed in Dugdale's 'Monasticon' (v. 636) seems really to refer to the latter rather than the former foundation.

Giraldus Cambrensis includes Owain Cyveiliog with Owain Gwynedd and Maredudd ab Gruflydd ab Rhys of South Wales as the three Welshmen who in his days were conspicuous for their justice, prudence, and moderation as rulers (Opera, vi. 146). His lavish hospitality — 'There was drinking without regret, without refusal, And without any kind of want' — is celebrated by Cynddelw. Owain Cy veiliog was also specially distinguished for the readiness of his tongue (ib. vi. 144). He was also a poet of some merit, his best-known productions being some verses on Y Gylchau Cymru (the circuit through Wales), and a longer song on the Hirlas horn. Tnese are printed in the 'Myvyrian Archæology of Wales,' pp. 190-2. There are also printed in the same collection two poems of Cynddelw (pp. 161, 170) celebrating the praises of Owain.  OWAIN, GUTYN (fl. 1480), Welsh bard, was more formally designated Gruflydd ap Huw ab Owain. He was a native of Maelor Saesneg, the detached portion of Flintshire, and there learnt his art from Dafydd ab Edmwnt of Hanmer, whom he is said to have accompanied as a servitor to the great Eisteddfod held in Carmarthen about 1451. Later in life he lived at Ifton, near Oswestry, and was also closely connected with the monastery of Basingwerk, Flintshire. Fifteen of his poems are printed in 'Gorchestion Beirdd Cymru,' but many more exist in manuscript. Gutyn Owain was not only a poet, but carried on the old bardic functions of chronicler and genealogist. Powel says (Historie of Cambria, ed. 1811, p. 288) that Henry VII, not long after his accession, directed three commis- sioners to inquire into the pedigree of his ancestor, Owen Tudor, and mentions Gutyn Owain as one of the heralds consulted by them. In the return made by the commissioners, and printed as the first appendix to Wynne's edition of the 'Historie,' the bard's name prominently appears. He also wrote with his own hand most of 'Llyfr Du Basing,' or 'The Book of Basingwerk,' a manuscript of 'Brut y Brenhinoedd,' and the ' Brenhinedd y Saeson' type of 'Brut y Tywysogion,' now in the possession of Rev. T. L. Griffith, rector of Deal (, Introduction to 'Brut y Tywysogion,' extra vol. of Archæologia Cambrensis, 1863).  OWAIN MYVYR (1741-1814), Welsh antiquary. [See .]  OWEN. [See also .]  OWEN (d. 1378), soldier in the French service, claimed to be the rightful heir of the princes of Wales, and, according to the statement attributed to him by Froissart (viii. 48-9, ed. Luce), was son of Aymon or Edmund, a Welsh prince, who had been wrongfully put to death by the English king. Many years afterwards Owen Glendower excused his petition for French help on the ground that he was the right heir by consanguinity of Owen of Wales, who had died in the service of France (Chron. des Re-


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/403

Owen ligieux de S. Denys, iii. 164, Collection des Documents Inédits). It would therefore seem that Owen's pretensions were not altogether groundless. Lettenhove thinks that he belonged to the family from which the house of Tudor sprang.

Owen went to France as a boy after his father's death, and was kindly received by Philip of Valois, who made him one of his pages. He continued in the service of John II, and fought under him at Poitiers on 19 Sept. 1356, but had the good fortune to escape from the battle. After the peace of Bretigny in 1360 he went to Lombardy, and there won much distinction as a soldier (, ix. 77, ed. Raynaud). On the renewal of the war with England Owen returned to France, and in 1369 Charles V conceived the idea of creating a diversion by a rebellion in Wales. With this purpose an armament was collected at Harfleur under the direction of Owen and a Welsh squire, whom Owen had won over, named John Win or Wynn. On putting to sea in December, they returned on account of bad weather (, lxxxiv, n. 1, xcv, n. 2;, Grandes Chroniques, vi. 320, 322). Two years afterwards, on 8 May 1372, the French king gave directions for the preparation of a fleet at Harfleur, and two days later Owen issued a proclamation, in which he asserted his hereditary rights as prince of Wales, and acknowledged his indebtedness to the French king for three hundred thousand francs for the cost of the expedition (, Mandements de Charles V, p. 457; Lettenhove's Notes to, viii. 435–6). It was intended that the French armament should co-operate with a fleet from Spain; but the non-arrival of the latter force caused a diversion of the expedition against the Channel Islands. The Guernsey legends fix the date of Owen's invasion on 5 Jan., and say that he landed on a Tuesday; but it is clear that it took place in the early summer, and perhaps Tuesday, 15 June, was the true date. Owen landed his troops at Vazon Bay, on the west coast of Guernsey, and, taking the natives by surprise, marched across the island, while his ships sailed round and landed another force near St. Peter Port. A fierce fight took place on the high ground above the port, at a spot now covered by the modern town. Despite the timely arrival of an English reinforcement from St. Sauveur le Vicomte, the men of Guernsey were routed with great loss, and forced to take refuge in Castle Cornet. Owen laid siege to the castle without success; but, according to the Guernsey legend, was, through the treachery of Bregard, a French monk of Vale Abbey, more successful at St. Sampson's and Vale Castle. One version of Froissart (viii. 301, ed. Luce) alleges that Owen also made a descent on Jersey. While Owen was still before Castle Cornet he was recalled by a message from the French king. On 23 June John Hastings, second earl of Pembroke [q. v.], had been defeated and taken prisoner by a French and Spanish fleet, and Owen was now ordered to go to Santander and arrange for a joint attack on La Rochelle.

After refitting at Harfleur, Owen sailed for Spain, and reached Santander on the morning of the very day when the Spanish fleet, under Don Ruy Diaz de Rojas, arrived with Pembroke and the other prisoners. (This was not later than 19 July; see Luce's notes ap., vol. viii. p. xxx.) The news of their arrival was brought to Owen at his hostelry. As he came out he met Pembroke, whom he recognised and reproached with the robbery of his Welsh lands. One of the earl's squires promptly challenged Owen, who, however, refused to fight with a prisoner. Owen was favourably received by Henry of Trastamare, and Ruy Diaz de Rojas was ordered to join in an attack on La Rochelle (, viii. 64, ed. Luce); another account represents Owen as seeking aid for his Welsh expedition, and makes the Spaniards declare that they would go beyond the Straits of Morocco, or anywhere but Wales (Chron. des Quatre premiers Valois, p. 235; perhaps this incident really belongs to some other occasion). The combined fleet under Owen and Ruy Diaz de Rojas appeared before La Rochelle early in August 1372. While they were there engaged, Jean de Grailly, the Captal de Buch, surprised and defeated a French force at Soubise. Owen had disembarked, and now in his turn surprised the Captal de Buch as he lay before Soubise, and took him and Sir Thomas Percy [q. v.] prisoners. According to Froissart, Percy's captor was Owen's Welsh chaplain, David House; the man was a Welshman, but his true name was Honvel Flinc (Luce's notes to, viii. p. xxxviii). Next day (23 Aug.) Owen made an attack on the castle of Soubise, which was promptly surrendered by its defenders in return for a safe-conduct. Owen then went back to La Rochelle, where he was already in treaty with the townsmen, who on 8 Sept. rose against the English garrison and delivered the city to Owen. After an interval Owen went with his prisoner, the Captal de Buch, to Paris, where he arrived on 11 Dec. In the following spring (1373) he was serving under Bertrand du Guesclin, and was present at the battle of Chizé on 23 March. On 9 June he was retained with a hundred


text:
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/404

Owen men under the Duke of Burgundy (, Mandements de Charles V, p.965), and on 22 July occurs as captain of La Tour de Broue. It seems hardly likely that during this time Owen should have taken part in a descent on the English coast, as stated by Froissart (viii. pp. lxix, 122). On 28 Jan. 1374 he was engaged in Saintonge with a hundred men at arms, and in the autumn was serving in the fleet under Jean de Vienne at the siege of St. Sauveur le Vicomte, which fortress surrendered on 3 July 1375. In the autumn Owen took part in the expedition of Enguerrand de Coucy to Alsace against the latter's cousin Leopold of Austria (, ed. Luce, viii. p. cxxxvi, n. 1 ; cf. Chron. Angliæ, 1328–88, p. 135, Rolls Ser.)

In August 1377 Owen was serving under Louis of Anjou at the siege of Bergerac. In the following month he defeated an English detachment, and, after the capture of Duras in October, was ordered to undertake the siege of Mortagne in Poitou. After recruiting for a time at Saintes he marched against Mortagne about the end of 1377 (, ii. 314–16 ;, ix. 4, 19, 25–7). He was still engaged on the siege when in July 1378 there came to him a squire from the Welsh marches named John Lambe, who, by giving out that he was on his way to take service with his countryman, had made his way unharmed through Brittany. Lambe assured Owen that all Wales was eager for his coming, and, by thus working on his credulity, was taken into his service and confidence. He then waited for a favourable opportunity, and one morning, when Owen had gone out unarmed to view the castle with no other companion, treacherously slew him. Owen was buried at the church of St. Leger, about four miles from Mortagne. His assassin took refuge in Mortagne, where, according to Froissart, he was somewhat coldly received. However, on 18 Sept., when John de Neville, fifth Baron Neville of Raby [q. v.], raised the siege, Lambe and two companions were rewarded for accomplishing Owen's death. The murder of Owen is alleged to have been done in revenge for his treatment of the Captal de Buch (ib. ix. 74–9, p. Ii. ; Kervyn's notes to, ix. 508, xxii. 25–6).

Owen's invasion of Guernsey fills a large place in the island legend, and a ballad in the Guernsey patois has survived under various forms. According to this ballad, Owen had married, at La Greville in France, a Princess Eleanor, with whom he obtained great wealth, and who had come with him to Guernsey. In its fullest form the ballad relates that after his attack on the island Owen was taken prisoner by an English ship off the coast of Brittany, and carried to Southampton. There he was put to death, and his wife was consigned to beggary. This, of course, is pure fiction ; but it looks like a hazy recollection of the capture of Eleanor de Montfort [q. v.], the intended wife of Llywelyn ab Gruffydd q. v.], in 1275. In the Guernsey account Owen's soldiers are called Sarragousies, which may mean Aragonese ; but the whole narrative is mixed up with legends, and perhaps confused with other invasions. The Guernsey legend says that Owen landed in the early morning, and that the alarm was given by a peasant called Jean Letocq ; so to be 'stirring early like Jean Letocq' has become proverbial in the island.  OWEN GLENDOWER (1359?–1416?), Welsh rebel. [See [[Glendower, Owen (DNB00).]  OWEN, ALICE (d. 1613), philanthropist, and wife of Thomas Owen (d. 1598) [q. v.], the judge, was daughter of Thomas Wilkes, a landowner, of Islington, near London. His name occurs in a deed, dated 3 Nov. 1556, as tenant or occupier of a field within the manor of Barnsbury (, Perambulation of Islington, p. 148 n.;, Monumenta Westmonasteriensia, 1683, p. 197). In her childhood, when in the fields at Islington, ‘sporting with other children,’ she had a narrow escape of being killed by an arrow, shot by some unskilful archer, which ‘pierced quite thorow the hat on her head.’ For this providential escape she recorded her gratitude in later life by the erection of a school and