OMAR PASHA 



OMICHAND 



603 



was brought up under the great Sunni teacher, 

 Imam Muaffik, and formed a close friendship with 

 two of his fellow-pupils, Nizam-ul-Mulk and 

 Hassan-ihn-Sabbah, of whom the one becnme 

 vizier to the sultan Alp-Arslan, and the other 

 founded the sect of the Assassins. Omar himself 

 had an offer from his old friend of a place at court, 

 but accepted instead a yearly pension of 1200 gold 

 pieces. He, however, obeyed the summons of 

 Malik Shah to Merv, and during his sultanate 

 helped to reform the calendar. The result was the 

 Jaldii era ' a computation of time,' says Gibbon, 

 ' which surpasses the Julian, and approaches the 

 accuracy of the Gregorian style.' To appease the 

 odium tkeoloytcvm that he had roused against him- 

 self he is said to have riiade the pilgrimage to 

 Mi-oca; and he died in 1122 at Nishapur, where 

 the north wind, as he predicted, still scatters roses 

 on his tomb. 



Of some mathematical treatises by him in Arabic, 

 one on algebra has been edited and translated by 

 Woepke ( Paris, 1851 ) ; and it was almost solely 

 as a mathematician that he was known to the 

 western world, until in 1859 Edward FitzGerald 

 (n.v.) published his 'translation' of seventy-five 

 of his Rubdiydt or quatrains. The poet of Agnosti- 

 cism, such was Omar Khayyam, though some in 

 his poetry see nothing save the wine-cup and roses, 

 ami others read into it that Sufi mysticism with 

 which, indeed, it was largely adulterated long 

 after Omar's death. He was a true poet ; yet his 

 fate has been that of the man in the story who 

 lost his shallow, to find it years afterwards grown 

 to a great nobleman, through whom he perished. 

 For FitzGerald's translation is so infinitely finer 

 than the original that the value of the latter is 

 such mainly as attaches to Chaucer's or 'Shake- 

 speare's prototypes. 



There are editions of the Rubdiydt by Nicolas (464 

 quatrain!); Paris, 18C7), Monbir Muhammad Sadik Ali 

 (nearly 800 quatrains; Lucknow. 1878), and E. H. 

 Whinlield (253 quatrains; Lond. 1883), who also trans- 

 lated tin-in into very literal English verse (1882). A 

 prose translation by Justin H. M'Carthy (1889) has 

 little to recommend it. See an article by Professor E. 

 Cowell in the Calcutta Review (January 1858), and voL 

 iii. of Fitzgerald's Letters and Literary Remains ( 1889). 



Omar Pasha, Turkish general, was born at 

 I'laski, in Croatia, in 1806 (according to some 

 authorities, in 1811). His real name was Michael 

 Lattas ; he was educated for the Austrian army 

 at the military school of Tliurn, near Carlstadt. 

 Having by a breach of discipline rendered himself 

 liable tn punishment, he tied to Bosnia, and, 

 embracing Mohammedanism, gained through his 

 beautiful caligraphy the post of writing-master to 

 Ahdul-Mndjid, the heir to the Ottoman throne. On 

 his pupil's accession in 1839 Omar 1'asha was raised 

 to the rank of colonel, and in 1842 ap|H>inted mili- 

 tary governor of the Lebanon. In 1843 he dis- 

 played considerable skill and energy in Hiippn-ss- 

 ing an insurrection in Albania, and in the following 

 years others in Bosnia and Kurdistan. On the 

 invasion of the Danubian Principalities by the 

 Russians in 1853 Omar Pasha collected an army 

 of 60,000 men, and, crossing the Danube in presence 

 of the enemy, intrenched himself at Kalafat, where 

 he successfully withstood the Russians ; after they 

 withdrew from the Principalities Omar Pasha 

 entered Bucharest in triumph in August 1854. 

 On 9th February 18.).) he embarked for the Crimea, 

 and on the 17th of the same month repulsed with 

 great loss 40,000 Russians who attacked him at 

 Eiipatoria. He was soon afterwards (October 3, 

 1855) sent to relieve Kars, but arrived too late. 

 In Septemlier 1861 he was charged to pacify Bosnia 

 and Herzegovina, which were again in insurrec- 

 tion. This being accomplished, he attacked the 



Montenegrins, captured Cetinje, and overran the 

 country in 1862. He died 18th April 1871. 



Ombre (through the Fr. from Span, hombre, 

 ' man ' ), a game of cards borrowed from the 

 Spaniards, and usually played by three persons, 

 though sometimes by two and by five. The game 

 is played with 40 cards ( the eights, nines, and tens 

 having been removed ), and each player receives nine 

 cards, three by three. 



Oindurman. See KHARTOUM, MAHDI. 



O'ltlcara, BARRY EDWARD, physician to 

 Napoleon on St Helena, was born in Ireland in 

 1786. He first served as surgeon in the army, but 

 was dismissed the service in 1808 for a discreditable 

 share in a duel at Messina. Later he entered the 

 naval department, and was on board the Bellero- 

 phon when Napoleon surrendered to Captain Mait- 

 land. He pleased the great exile, and accompanied 

 him as his private physician to St Helena, He 

 took part with Napoleon in his squabbles with the 

 governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, and was imprisoned 

 and compelled to resign his post in 1818. On his 

 return to England he asserted in a letter to the 

 Admiralty that Sir Hudson Lowe had dark designs 

 against his captive's life, and had attempted insidi- 

 ously to corrupt himself. For this monstrous charge 

 he was at once dismissed the service. His Napoleon 

 in Exile ( 1822) made a great sensation, and is still 

 valuable if read with caution. He died obscure in 

 London, 3d June 1836. 



Omelet (Fr. Omelette), an exquisite dish when 

 exquisitely prepared, and like most good things 

 perfectly simple. Break fresh eggs ( not less than 

 two or more than five) in a basin with a pinch of 

 salt and pepper, lieat for two seconds, pour into an 

 omelet-pan in which butter (1 to 2 oz. ) is boiling. 

 Stir till the mixture sets, fry till one side is 

 brown, double over in half and serve immediately. 

 Savoury omelets are made by adding to the eggs 

 finely-minced herbs, ham, bacon, fish, or game. 

 For "sweet omelets use a little sugar instead of 

 pepper in the mixture, and place a spoonful of 

 preserved fruit on the omelet before folding over. 

 The word is said, by Littre and by Skeat, to be 

 derived from the Old French Alemclle (a thin flat 

 plate), first corrupted to Amelette, then Omelette. 



Omen (perhaps originally osmen, for nusmen ; 

 root, audio, 'I hear'); also PRODIGY (Lat. pro- 

 diyium for prodiciitm, from jirodico), names given 

 by the Romans to signs by which approaching 

 good or bad fortune was supposed to be indi- 

 cated. The former applied particularly to signs 

 received by the ear ana spoken words ; the latter, 

 to phenomena and occurrences, such as monstrous 

 births, the appearance of snakes, the striking of 

 the foot against a stone, the breaking of a shoe- 

 tie, sneezing, and the like. It was supposed that 

 evil indicated as approaching might be averted by 

 various means, as by sacrifices, or by the utterance 

 of certain magic formulas; or by an extempore 

 felicity of interpretation, as when Ctesar, having 

 fallen upon the ground on landing in Africa, ex- 

 claimed : ' I take possession of thee, Africa.' Occa- 

 sionally we read of a reckless disregard of omens ; 

 as, for example, when P. Claudius in the first 

 Punic war caused the sacred chickens, which 

 refused to leave their cage, to be pitched into the 

 sea, saying: 'If they won't eat, let them drink.' 

 The belief in omens in one form or other 1ms 

 existed in all ages and countries, and traces of it 

 linger in the folklore of all countries. And, indeed, 

 there is no little philosophy in the Scotch pro- 

 verb : ' Them that follow freits, freits follow. ' See 

 AUOURIES, DIVINATION, and FOLKLORE. 

 OHM nl urn. See PERITONEUM. 

 Omichand. See CLIVE (ROBERT). 



