OLOCASTLE, SIR JOHN. 



OLDENBURG, HENRY. 



former was Uie first to re -discover it The idea of Kepler and the 

 formula of Bode seemed DOW to be fully confirmed ; but the harmony 

 oooorired to exist in the planetary distances waa alinott immediately, 

 in appearance, deranged ; for on 'the 28th of March 1802, Dr. Gibers, 

 bring engaged in examining the northern part of the constellation 

 Virgo, discovered a star which was not in any of the catalogue* : this 

 waa ascertained to be a new planet, and it received the name of Pallas. 

 IU orbit was soon calculated, and it wsa found to describe a very 

 excentric ellipse about the sun at a mean distance from it which is 

 nearly equal to that of Ceres. The time of its periodical revolution 

 is also nearly the same as that of the last-mentioned planet, but it has 

 a much greater inclination to the plane of the ecliptic. Dr. Olbera 

 waa led, from the fact that these two planets are nearly in the same 

 part of apace when they arrive at the places where the planes of the 

 orbits intersect one another, to imagine that they might b; dispersed 

 fragment* of a Urge planet which revolved at one time about the sun 

 at nearly the same distance from that luminary ; but which, in conse- 

 quence of an internal convulsion or from some other cause, had been 

 broken up. Pursuing this idea, he considered that there might be 

 other fragment", or small planets, in the same region ; and the idea 

 was strengthened when, in September 1804, a third planet of a like 

 kind was discovered by M. Harding of Bremen. This planet, which 

 waa named Juno, has the nodes of its orbit nearly coincident with 

 those of Pallas ; the eccentricities of the two planets are also nearly 

 equal to one another, and both planets revolve about the sun at nearly 

 the same distance. Dr. Gibers now determined to make the discovery 

 of new planets a particular object of research ; and from 1804 to 

 1807 he persevered in examining with the most minute attention, at 

 the times of their opposition to the son, the parts of the heavens 

 which were near the nodes of the three other planets. On the 29th 

 of March, in the latter year, his sagacity and diligence were rewarded 

 by the discovery of a fourth planet. On the 3rd of April he sent 

 intelligence of the event to his friend M. Bode, and he transmitted the 

 series of his observations to M. Gauss. The latter astronomer imme- 

 diately computed the figure of the orbit, and, Gibers having requested 

 him to give a name to the planet, be designated it Vesta. This is 

 the smallest of the four new planet', or asteroids, as they were desig- 

 nated, and the time of its revolution about the sun is the shortest. 

 As ia well known, many other asteroids have been since discovered, 

 affording additional confirmation of the opinion of Olbera. 



In 1815 (March 6th) Dr. Olbers discovered, near the constellation 

 Perseus, a comet which presented the appearance of on attenuated 

 nebulosity without any visible nucleus ; and he continued to observe 

 it till the end of August, when it ceased to be visible : its orbit was 

 calculated by Bessell and Gauss, and it was found to accomplish its 

 revolution about the sun in 73 years. In 1826, he published a disser- 

 tation on the probability that a comet may come in collision with the 

 Earth : a rubject which then engaged the attention of astronomers 

 on account of the near approach of the comet Bicla when in one pnrt 

 of it* orbit. In 1841 he made a proposal for a re-formation of the 

 constellations and a revision of the nomenclature of the stars ; recom- 

 mending, as models, the figures in Flamsteed's Atlas, but better drawn 

 than they are in that work, and also that the representations of 

 persons and machines which have no relation to astronomy should be 

 cancelled. 



Dr. Olbers was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 

 1804, and a Foreign Associate of the Academic des Sciences at Paris 

 in 1829 ; he was also a corresponding member of several other learned 

 societies, a knight of the order of Danebrog and of the Ked-Eagle of 

 Prussia. He died at Bremen on the 2nd of March 1840; and, as a 

 proof of the esteem in which he was held during his life, his fellow- 

 citizens of Bremen placed his bust in the public library of the city. 



OLDCASTLK, S1H JOHN, LORD COBHAM, called 'the good,' the 

 first martyr and the first author among the nobility of England, was 

 born in the 14th century, in the reign of Edward III. He married 

 the heiress of Lord Cobham, by whom he obtained that title, lie 

 gained military distinction in the French wars under Henry IV. 

 and V., and was a domestic and a favoured attendant of the latter 

 sovereign. Lord Cobham was a man of extensive talents, qualified for 

 the cabinet or the field, of ready wit in conversation, and of great 

 learning. He examined the writings of WyclifTe as a philosopher, and 

 in the course of his study became a convert to the doctrines of that 

 reformer. He collected and transcribed the works of Wycliffe, main- 

 tained preachers of that persuasion, and became a leader of the reformers. 

 Lord Cobham being summoned to appear before the archbishop of 

 Canterbury, refused, wss excommunicated, and sent to the Tower, from 

 which b* escaped into Wales. Tho clergy got up a report of a pretended 

 conspiracy of the Lollards, headed by Lord Cobbam, whereon a bill of 

 attainder was passed against him, a price of 1000 marks set upon 

 his head, and exemption from taxes was promised to any person who 

 shonld secure him. At the expiration of four years be was token, and 

 without much form of trial executed in the most barbarous manner ; 

 he was hung in chains on a gallows in St. Giles's Fields, London, and 

 a fir* kindled under him, by which he wss roasted to death, in De- 

 cember, 1417. He wrote 'Twelve Conclusions addressed to the Par- 

 liament of England ; ' he also edited the works of Wycliffo, and was 

 th author of several religious tracts and discourse*. 



OLDENBURG, HOUSE OF. From the house of Oldenburg, which 



boasts itself one of the oldest and most illustrious in Europe, th < 

 emperor of Russia, the kings of Denmark, the late royal family of 

 Sweden, and the grand-dukes of Oldenburg, are descended. Christian I. 

 founded the town of Oldenburg in 1 1 65, and assumed the title of count. 

 A Urge addition to the family possessions and dignity was made by 

 one of his descendants, Dietrich the Fortunate, who obtained with his 

 first wife the county of Delmenhorst, and with bis second the duchies 

 of Schleswig and Holstein. After Dietrich's death in 1440, his eldest 

 son, who had for his share Schleswig and Holstein. became in 1448 

 king of Denmark, with the title of Christian II., in 1450 king of 

 Norway, and in 1458 king of Sweden. He left two sons John, who 

 succeeded him in the northern kingdoms ; and Frederick I , who had 

 Schleswig and Holstein, and who, after the deposition of his nephew 

 Christian II., the son of John, was made king of Denmark aud Norway. 

 His eldest son Christian Id. inherited in 1513 the two kingdoms, and 

 Adolphus, the younger, founded the house of Holttein Gottorp, which 

 bos given sovereigns to Sweden, Russia, and Oldenburg. Dietrich's 

 younger son, Gerard the Warlike, inherited Oldenburg and Delmen- 

 horst ; but the male line of this branch becoming extinct in 1667, the 

 counties fell to the Danish crown, or to the bouse of Holstein, 

 descended from Dietrich's eldest son. In 1773 the Grand-Duke Paul 

 of Russia, who was descended from the elder branch of the house of 

 Holstein Gottorp, made a convention with Denmark respecting his 

 share of Holstein, by which he surrendered all Holstein to Denmark, 

 and received in exchange Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, which he 

 immediately transferred to his cousin Frederic Augustus of the 

 younger branch of Holstein Gottorp. This convention WHS sanctioned 

 by the Emperor Joseph II., who gave to the two counties the rank of 

 a duchy; and as the house of Holstein Gottorp had since 1647 given 

 bishops to the see of Liibock, he assigned it to that family as an 

 hereditary principality. Frederic, the tirst duke, was succeeded in 

 1785 by his son, Peter Frederick William ; but he being afllicted with 

 mental imbecility, the government was assumed by his cousin, Peter 

 Frederick Ludwig, the bishop of Lubeck, in whoso family it has con- 

 tinued the present grand-duke being his grandson with the exception 

 of the period from the 14th of December 1810, when it was incorpo- 

 rated with the French empire, to the fall of Napoleon I., when the duke 

 not only recovered his own dominions, but received from the Congress 

 of Vienna and from Russia a considerable addition of territory. 



OLDENBURG, HENRY, was born about 1626, in the duchy of ' 

 Bremen. In 1653, or before, he came to London in the capacity of 

 consul from the town of Bremen, but he does not appear to have held 

 that office more than two years. In 165ti be became tutor to Lord 

 Henry G'Bryan, a young Irish nobleman, whom be accompanied to 

 the university of Oxford, and at the same time entered himself as a 

 student, chiefly, it is supposed, in order to obtain access to the 

 Bodleian library. He was afterwards tutor to Lord William Caven- 

 dish. While resident at Oxford he became acquainted with several 

 of the more eminent literary and scientific men of the time, among 

 whom were Dr. Wullis, Ward, aud the others originators of tho present 

 Royal Society. His acquaintance wilh Milton commenced somewhat 

 earlier, as appears by Milton's letters to Oldenburg, between the years 

 1654-59, pu bUi-hed in hii 'Epistolm Familiares.' In 1662, the Royal 

 Society having obtained a charter of incorporation, Dr. Wilkins and 

 Mr. Oldenburg were appointed secretaries to the society. Accord- 

 ing to most biographers the nominal appointment of Oldenburg was 

 that of assistant secretary to Dr. Wilkius, but in the list of member* 

 who attended the first council held by the society after its incorpo- 

 ration (Thomson's ' Hist, of Royal Society '), we observe only one 

 secretary specified, namely Oldenburg, and it is certain that those 

 duties which demanded the greatest zeal and assiduity devolved 

 exclusively upon him. Dr. Martin Lister, in his 'Journey to Paris,' 

 8vo, Lend., 1699, speaking of Oldenburg, remarks, " I heard him say 

 that be held correspondence with seventy odd persons in all parts of 

 the world : I aakt him what method ho used to answer so great 

 variety of subjects, acd such a quantity of letters as he must receive 

 weekly, for 1 knew he never failed, because I had the honour of 

 bis correspondence for ten or twelve years. He told me he made 

 one letter answer another, and that to be always fresh, he never read 

 a letter before he had pen, ink, and paper ready, to answer it forth- 

 with, so that the multitude of his letters cloy'd him not, or ever lay 

 upon bis hands." In the 'General Dictionary,' Loud., 1739, fol. art., 

 ' Oldenburg,' there will be found several of his letters to Mr. Robert 

 Boyle, who was one of his regular correspondents, and with whom 

 he was always on the most friendly terms. The following extract 

 from one of those letters, dated 17 December 1667, shows that up to 

 that time he had received no salary from the Society, and that his 

 only emoluments were derived from the publication of their Transac- 

 tions. " I have some grounds to believe," he remarks, " that there are 

 persons who think the ' Transactions' bring me in a sufficient revenue; 

 but I will make it out to any man that 1 never received more than 

 40/. a year upon this account (and that is little more than my house 

 rent), and now by a new agreement I have been obliged to make, I 

 shall not bring it to above 361. a year at most How i-.traugely 

 therefore I must needs shift for my subsistence, and with what distrac- 

 tion I must perform my tedious work, let any sober man judge." 

 The following year Dr. Word, then bishop of Salisbury, suggested to 

 the council of the society the propriety of making some allowance to 



