063IAN. 



OTHMUT. 



-... 



College at Calcutta, and chemical examiner to the government. His 

 position led him to investigate the merits of the electric telegraph ai a 

 nvans of oommuniontion between dittant places, and readily perceiving 

 the immeoee services that such an invention would render to the oivil 

 and military admiuiitrttion of a country like India, cut up into presi- 

 dsnrsii, and with no single central government, he published in 1889 

 a work upon the subject, which however attracted leas attention at the 

 time than it deserved. The then governor-general of India, the late Earl 

 of Auckland, was not inclined to forward any extensive innovation ; 

 and liia successors, Lords EUenborongh and Hardiuge, were too much 

 taken up with warlike operation* to be able to devote their energies 

 to the improvement of the internal resources of India. The quick 

 eye of Lord Dalhouaie however readily noted the vast importance of 

 such an undertaking, and he accordingly engaged Dr. O'Shaughnessy 

 to lay down an experimental line of electric telegraph, and to report 

 on its working. The result was that in 1852 the Court of East India 

 Director! sanctioned the immediate construction of telegraphic lines 

 between Calcutta, Agra, Bombay, Peahawur, and Madras. Dr. 

 O'Shaughnessy was despatched to England to procure the requisite 

 men and materials for carrying out the plan ; and returning to India, 

 commenced laying down the line in November of the following year, 

 1853. Such was the energy of Dr. O'Shaughnesey that in March 1854 

 the line was in full working between Calcutta and Agra, a distance of 

 800 miles; and in February 1855 it bad reached the extent in nil of 

 3050 miles, connecting forty-one stations, thus placing Calcutta in 

 instantaneous communication not only with Agra but with Bombay 

 and Madras. In his latest report (February 1856), .Dr. O'Shaughnessy 

 was able to report that the entire extent of the electric telegraph laid 

 down in India had reached 4000 miles. It is impossible to overrate 

 the difficulties encountered by Dr. O'Shaughnessy in the construction 

 of these gigantic lines, as they have no parallel in the civilised and 

 cultivated countries of modern Europe. There is no metallic road, 

 few bridges, and no police to protect the wires when erected. Theee 

 too have been carried across seventy large rivers, some by cables and 

 some by wires ; one of these rivers is 15,840 feet, and another two 

 miles, in breadth ; and through dense jungles, which it is fatal to cross 

 for six months in every year. The total cost has not on the average 

 exceeded 50t a mile, yet no necessary expense has been spared in the 

 work of construction : for instance, for 174 miles the telegraphic wires 

 are carried on stone-masonry pillars capped with granite; and for 

 332 miles they are sustained on single slabs of granite, each rising 

 sixteen feet above the ground. The chief difficulty however with 

 which Dr. O'Shaughneasy had to contend, to use his own words, lay 

 in the sudden and simultaneous training of 300 persons to be employed 

 in the different offices connected with the working department. As 

 a proof of the military advantages to be derived from the work acoom- 

 pli.-hed by Dr. O'Shaughnessy, it is recorded by Lord Dalhousie that 

 by its means the Indian government was enabled, in the winter of 

 1854-55, to reinforce the British forces in the Crimea with two troops 

 of cavalry of 1300 sabres, with a promptitude which would have been 

 quite impracticable in the previous year. In the autumn of 1856 Dr. 

 O'Sbaughnesey arrived in England, when be was made a Knight 

 Commander of the Bath in acknowledgment of his services, the 

 remits of which may challenge comparison with any public enterprise 

 which has been carried iuto execution in modern times either in 

 Europe or America. 



ObSIAN. [MACTHERSOK, JAMES.] 



OSSOLI, MARCHIONESS. IKuLLin, SARAH MARGARET.] 



O8TADE, AblUAN VAN, was born in 1610, in the city of Lubeck ; 

 but though a German by birth, he is always considered to belong to 

 the Dutch school of painting, having formed his style in Holland, 

 where be studied under Frank Hals, and U said to have received tome 

 instruction from Rembrandt. In the school of Frank Hals he formed 

 an acquaintance with Brouwer, who became his intimate friend and 

 adviser. Like Brouwer, he chose his subjects from low life, such as 

 farm-nouses, stables, and the interior of ale-bouses; the figures are 

 generally occupied in drinking, smoking, and the like; rural sports, 

 village weddings, and countrywomen engaged in their domestic 

 employments, were the scenes and the characters with which he was 

 familiar. But though in the choice of his subjects he had no regard 

 to elegance, and though he took what he had before him without 

 endeavouring to improve it, his composition!) are so spirited, there is 

 such truth, nature, and lift- in his little pictures, there is such delicacy 

 in his pencil, such warmth, transparency, and brilliancy iu his colouring, 

 and such a profound knowledge of the chiaroscuro, that it is impossible 

 not to admire hi- genius sod execution. Oitede's figures were so much 

 admired that he was frequently solicited by the most eminent con- 

 temporary artiits to paint the figures in their landscapes. His best 

 works are extremely scarce, and .ell at very high prices. His works 

 are to be found in every private collection of any importance in 

 England. There U no picture by him in the National Gallery, but the 

 Dulwich Gallery contains several of bis works. Ostade died in 1685, 

 at the age of venty-6ve. 



OSTAUB, ISAAC VAN, born at Liibeck in 1617, was the brother 

 of Adrian, from whom be learned the art of painting, and whose 

 manner he imitated so closely that some of his copies after Adrian 

 have been frequently ascribed to the latter. He died young, which 

 hindered him from acquiring the excellence that be would probably 



have attained. He is generally characterised as much inferior to his 

 brother; but Dr. Waagen, after carefully examining bis pictures in 

 the collections in England, says of him : "Qreat injustice it done to 

 Isaac van Ostade by the poor pictures of country life which are fre- 

 quently ascribed to him in the galleries in Germany. In Holland, in 

 Paris, and above all in England, we may be convinced that in his 

 village-scenes and in bis winter-pieces he is a wholly original master, 

 and by no means inferior to hU brother." Some of his finest works 

 are in England, in the royal collection and tho collections of Sir Robert 

 Peel and Lord Ashburton. Isaac van Ostade died in 1671. 



OSTERVALD, JEAN FREDERIC, was born at Neufchatel, in 

 Switzerland, in the year 1668. Having studied at Saumur, Orleans, 

 and Paris, he returned to his native country, and in 1699 was appointed 

 pastor of the reformed church of the town of Neufchatel, where he 

 became noted for his zeal in instructing his flock, as well as for hi* 

 theological learning. He published an edition of the Bible iu French, 

 with arguments or explanatory heads to the books and chapter*, which 

 became very popular among the French Protestants under the name 

 of ' Ostervald's Bible,' and of which there have been several reprints. 

 He published also 1, 'Abrege 1 de 1'Hittoire de la Bible;' 2, 'Troitd 

 des Sources de la Corruption qui regne aujourd'hui parmi les 

 Chretiens;' 3, ' Traits' contra I'lmpurete';' 4, a Catechism, which in 

 much used in the French Protestant churches, and is known by the 

 name of ' Catcchisme d'Ostervald ; ' 5, ' Ethica Christiana;' and other 

 religious works. Ostervald die 1 at NeufrhiUel, in 1747, much regretted. 

 He and his two friends, J. A. Turetin of Geneva and Samuel Werenfels 

 of Basel did much toward the revival of religion in Switzerland : they 

 were styled the ' Triumvirate of Swiss Divines.' 



OTHMA'N (IBS ArrAN), the third kalif of the Moslems after 

 Mohammed, was a direct descendant from Abd-al-menaf, one of the 

 ancestors of the prophet. Having early adopted Islam by the per- 

 suasion of Mohammed, he became one of his most zealous 'asli.ib' 

 (companions), followed him in his flight from Mecca to Medina, and 

 was made, on his return, one of his most confidential friends and 

 secretaries. [MOHAMMED.] Othmitn was one of tho six individuals to 

 whom the Kalif Omar had by his will entrusted the deiignation of a 

 successor. After mature deliberation the majority chose Othmiin, on 

 condition that be would govern the people according to the rules of 

 the Konln. Othmitn solemnly promised to do this, and he was 

 accordingly invested with the supreme power towards the end of 

 DM-1-hajjah A.H. 23 (Nov. or Dec. A.D. 644), three days after the death 

 of Omar. His first public act was to send a body of troops under 

 Al-mugheyrah Ibn Sbaabah to complete the reduction of the province 

 of Hamadan (A.D. 645), while another army expelled Jezdegerd from 

 Persia (A.D. 646). [OMAR.] Another body of Arabs (A.D. 647) reduced 

 all that pnrt of Khorasaiin which had escaped former invasions. In 

 the meanwhile Abdullah Ibn Said invaded Eastern Africa, and after 

 defeating and killing at Yakubiyyah the patrician Gregorius, who 

 commanded in the Grecian emperor's name, subdued its principal 

 cities. Four years afterwards (A.D. 651) the same commander mad 

 an incursion into Nubia, and obliged the Christian soverrign of that 

 country to sue for peace and pay him tribute. The islands of Cyprus 

 anil Rhodes were attacked aud plundered by Muawiy&h Ibn Abi 

 Sufyan (A.D. 648) : these two maritime expeditions being the first 

 which the Arabs ever made. 



While the Mohammedan empire was thus extending on all sides, 

 Othmiin was r.i; i.lly lo.-ing the affections of his subjects by the weak- 

 ness of his internal administration and his partiality towards the 

 members of his family. Abu-1-feda, the Arabian historiographer, say*, 

 that some one having suggested to Oumr on his death-bed to appoint 

 < ithinitn his successor, he exclaimed, "God forbid that I should; 

 Othmiin is too much inclined to favour his own friends and relatives." 

 In this judgment Omar was not mistaken. Othmiin began by 

 removing the celebrated Amru Ibn Al-ass from the government of 

 Egypt a country which ho had conquered and appointing in his 

 place his own foster-brother, AbdulUu Ibn Said. This meuure was 

 as disagreeable to the Arabs as to the Egyptians. The people of 

 Alexandria, who bore impatiently the Mohammedan yoke, and were 

 only kept in obedience by the mildness and the justice of their 

 governor, seeing a favourable opportunity, entered into a corre- 

 spondence with the Greek emperor, and surrendered to him the city ; 

 and although Othmitn immediately reinstated Amru, who recovered 

 Alexandria and demolished its fortifications, this was not accom- 

 plished without great difficulty and considerable bloodshed (A.D. 646). 

 ttaad Ibn Abi Wakkaas and Abu Musa Al asbaari, two of Mohammed's 

 companions, were also deprived by him of their command. Othmiin 

 rendered himself further obnoxious by occupying on the ' minbsr ' 

 (pulpit), and while at prayers in the mosque, the same place which 

 the prophet had used, instead of placing himself, as his predecessors 

 Omar and Abu Bekr had done, a few steps lower down. He had also 

 lost from off his finger a silver signet ring which had once belonged 

 to tho prophet, and with which the kalifs his predecessors had sealed 

 their despatches an ominous circumstance, which was regarded by 

 all zealous Moslems ss the greatest blow that could be inflicted on 

 their rining empire; and he had recalled from his exile llakeni Ibn 

 Aass, whom the prophet himself had banished from Mecca. Othmiia 

 was further accused of excessive prodigality towards his favourites. 

 These and other complaints against Othmitn increasing the public dis- 



