OMBROMETER OMPIIALE. . 



303 



(>arth was his seat. As the capitulation of Jerusalem 

 was the model upon which the Mussulmans dictated 

 many others, we will mention some of the chief 

 articles. " The inhabitants shall retain their lives, 

 their property, and their churches; but they shall 

 build no new churches, nor place crosses upon those 

 which they already have ; they shall not ring the 

 bells, but they are allowed to toll them. When a 

 Mussulman travels through the city, they shall offer 

 him hospitality for three days. They shall convert 

 no one from Mohammedanism, nor shall they prevent 

 their relations from embracing it. They shall use 

 neither the language, nor the dress, nor the name of 

 Mohammedans. They shall neither bear arms, nor 

 sell wine ; shall remain faithful to the caliph, and 

 regularly pay their taxes." Omar's generals invaded 

 Persia, defeated the army of Yezdegerd, and con- 

 quered the capital and kingdom. Amru, one of his 

 generals, defeated the troops of. the emperor Herac- 

 lius, near Antioch, in 638; Memphis and Alexandria 

 surrendered ; all Egypt and a part of Libya were 

 conquered from the Romans. The story that the 

 royal library at A lexandria was burned by order of 

 Omar, has been of late questioned, but the probabili- 

 ties seem to be in favour of its truth. The Mussul- 

 mans pursued their conquests far into Africa, but 

 Omar did not live long to enjoy his glory. In the 

 year 643, at the age of sixty-three, he was mortally 

 wounded, with a knife, by a Persian slave. The 

 nobles asked him to appoint a successor; but he 

 refused, and especially rejected, with earnestness, 

 the proposition of naming his son. " It is enough," 

 said he, li that one out of my family has been forced 

 to bear this burden." The caliphate thus became 

 elective. (See Caliph.) Mohammedanism has never 

 had a more virtuous and zealous apostle ; he observed, 

 strictly, all the precepts of the Koran, and was cele- 

 brated for his justice and clemency. He founded the 

 city of Cairo, conquered 36,000 cities or castles, 

 destroyed 4000 temples and churches, and built 1400 

 mosques. Omar is distinguished for having estab- 

 lished the era of the Hegira. (q. v.) Mohammed 

 had the highest esteem for Omar. He said that if 

 God had wished to give another prophet to the world, 

 his choice would have fallen upon Omar. He made 

 nine times the pilgrimage to Mecca. 



OMBROMETER. See Rain-Gauge. 



OMEGA (Greek, signifying great o) ; the name 

 for the Greek long o. It was the last letter in the 

 Greek alphabet, as alpha was the first ; and from the 

 expression in Revelation (c. i. v. 8), "I am Alpha 

 and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the 

 Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, 

 the Almighty," the signs of alpha and omega, (that 

 is, A n) became with the Christians symbolical 

 hieroglyphics. Inscriptions (for instance, on tomb- 

 stones, public documents, &c.) very often began with 

 these two letters, meaning, "-In the name of God ;" 

 as we find, to this day, treaties between Christian 

 powers on the European continent beginning with 

 the words " In the name of the Holy and Indivisible 

 Trinity ;" and we have seen, in the interior of Ger- 

 many, bills of lading beginning with the words " In 

 the name of God." The two Greek letters, as 

 might be supposed, were believed to have great 

 magical powers, and it was probably owing to usages 

 that prevailed in the times of alchemy, that German 

 physicians were accustomed to begin their prescrip- 

 tions with A n. 



OMENS ; certain accidental circumstances, which 

 were once thought to predict good or evil. They 

 were, I. some bodily affection or emotion of the 

 mind ; 2. they came from outward objects ; 3. 

 they consisted in certain significant words. Among 

 the first class of omens were spots upon the lx)dy, suu- 



1 den restlessness and fear, especially an involuntary 

 tremour in body and mind, palpitation of the heart, 

 trembling of the eyes, or any other nervous affec- 

 tion, sneezing, &c. Among outward signs, a sudden 

 light diffused through the house, or appearing in any 

 place, was a good omen, for it was thought to indicate 

 the presence of a deity. On the other hand, it was 

 a bad omen if any thing strange happened to the 

 images of the gods. Ominous words were lucky or 

 unlucky, according to their signification and acciden- 

 tal relation. Such an omen was effectual only when 

 it made an impression on the hearer. To avert an 

 ill omen, a stone was sometimes thrown at whatever 

 portended evil, or the ominous animal was killed, that 

 the prediction of evil might be turned upon him. 

 Words of ill omen were thrown back on the person 

 who spoke them, by the expression, " On thine own 

 head." There were also peculiar magic ceremonies 

 to avert portended evil. A piece of thorny or bar- 

 ren wood was burned to ashes, and thrown into a 

 brook, or into the sea, upon the occurrence of a bad 

 omen. It was the general custom for people, when 

 evil omens occurred, to leave the occupation in 

 which they were engaged, to be resumed at a more 

 favourable opportunity. 



OMER, St ; a city in the northern part of France, 

 department Pas-de Calais, strongly fortified, and con- 

 taining 20,000 inhabitants, almost all Flemish. The 

 cathedral is a fine Gothic building, in which are seen 

 a descent from the cross by Rubens, and the tomb of 

 St Omer. The English college, formerly celebrated 

 as the place of education for the English and Irish 

 Catholics, is now occupied as a military hospital. 

 Lat. 50 44' N. ; Ion. 2 15' E. 



OMMEGANCK ; born in 1755 ; one of the most 

 celebrated Dutch landscape painters, whose works 

 are distinguished for good taste, and for freshness 

 and warmth of colouring. He died at Antwerp, 

 January 18, 1826. 



OMMIADES. See Caliph. 



OMNIBUS ; a word first used in France for long 

 carriages, which ply between different parts of the 

 city. The term is derived from the dative plural of 

 the Latin adjective, Omnes , all; i. e. for all; the 

 carriages being adapted for general convenience, 

 without distinction of seats. Omnibuses are now 

 common in every large town in Britain. 



OMNIUM ; a term in use among stockbrokers 

 and speculators in the funds, to express the whole of 

 the articles which the subscribers to a loan receive 

 from government. Thus, if the subscribers, accord- 

 ing to their agreement with government, are to 

 have, for every hundred pounds advanced, a certain 

 sum in 3 per cent, consols, a further sum in 4 per 

 cents., and a proportion of the long annuities, the 

 blank receipts which they receive for making the in- 

 stalments on the several articles, are, when disposed 

 of independently of each other, as the 3 per cent, 

 consols only, called scrip (a contraction of su6scrip~ 

 tions) when the receipts are sold together as ori- 

 ginally received, they are usually called omnium. 

 As the omnium of every loan is the subject of ex- 

 tensive speculations, it generally is liable to con- 

 siderable variations with respect to its current price, 

 sometimes selling at a high premium, at other times 

 at a discount, according to the circumstances which 

 take place between the agreement for the loan and 

 the day fixed for paying the last instalment. 



OMPHALE; daughter of the Lydian king Jar- 

 danus, and wife of Tmolus, after whose death she 

 administered the government. Hercules was sold to 

 her for a slave by Mercury, and performed some re- 

 markable exploits in her service. Omphale reward- 

 ed him by submitting to his embraces, and bore him 

 a son. Hercules was so enamoured of her, thatf to 



