OLDHAM OLEAGINOUS PLANTS. 



day, a dramatic poem ; and Friar Bacon, a pan 

 tomiine, all in 1783. Omai, a pantomime, 1785. 

 Siege of Carzola, a comic opera, 1786. Prisoner 

 at large, a comedy, 1788. The Toy, a comedy, 



1789. The Fugitive, a musical entertainment, 



1790. World in a Village, and London Hermit, 

 comedies, 1793. Wild Oats, a comedy, 1794. 

 Life's Vagaries, a comedy, and Irish Mimic, a musi- 

 cal entertainment, 1795. The Lie of the Day, a 

 comedy, and The Lad of the Hills, a comic opera, 

 1796. Some of these were not printed; but in 

 1798 the following were collected and published in 

 four volumes: Alfred, a drama. The Basket- 

 maker, a musical enter! ainment. The Beggar on 

 Horseback. The Blacksmith of Antwerp. The 

 Doldrum. The Eleventh of June. Little Hunch- 

 back. Modern Antiques. The Positive Man, 

 and Tantararara Rogues All, farces. The Castle 

 of Andalusia. The Czar Peter. The Farmer. 

 Fontainbleau. The Highland Reel. Love in a 

 Camp. The Man Milliner. The Poor Soldier, 

 and Sprigs of Laurel, all denominated comic operas, 

 or musical farces. Le Grenadier, a pantomime ; 

 and The Wicklow Mountains, an opera. In the 

 same year he produced The Nosegay of Weeds, a 

 farce, and She's Eloped, a comedy, which were not 

 printed. The dramatic works of O'Keefe exceed 

 the number of fifty, if to the foregoing be added 

 some manuscript plays. In the year 1800, being 

 reduced by blindness and other misfortunes to a 

 state of great embarrassment, O Keefe obtained a 

 benefit at Covent Garden theatre, when the first 

 piece performed was his " Lie of the Day." At 

 the end of the second act Mr Lewis led the author 

 upon the stage, and he there delivered a poetical 

 address, in which humour and pathos were very 

 happily blended. At a subsequent period, it is 

 stated that his circumstances were so far improved, 

 that he was enabled to return a donation sent to 

 him by the literary fund society, an action which 

 reflects the highest credit upon his honourable 

 feelings. In 1828, his health declining, and ever 

 having had a strong predilection for Devonshire, he 

 removed westward, for the purpose of reaching, by 

 easy stages, Sidmonth, or the neighbourhood of 

 Exeter; but, on arriving at Southampton, it be- 

 came apparent that a journey of eighty miles was 

 a sufficient trial of his strength. Here he took up 

 his abode, and remained until the day of his death. 

 His iii-door amusements consisted of hearing the 

 newspapers, magazines, and other publications, par- 

 ticularly Sir Walter Scott's novels, read to him by 

 his daughter. On the mention of his own Cow- 

 slip, a character in the " Agreeable Surprise," 

 which occurs t wice in the "Tales of my Landlord," 

 he smiled silently and was gratified ; but when 

 spoken of by name in " St Ronan's Well," he 

 looked evidently black and displeased. The words 

 are "from Shakspeare to O'Keefe." "Hal" he 

 said, " the top and the bottom of the ladder ; he 

 might have shoved me a few sticks higher." It 

 may be observed here, however, that Scott, in 

 the expression, refers to the interval of time be- 

 tween the two dramatists, and not to their relative 

 merits. O'Keefe died on the 4th Feb. 1833, aged 

 eighty six. 



OLDHAM; a town in the hundred of Salford, 

 and county of Lancaster, England, situated on the 

 river Medlock, six miles direct distance north-east 

 from Manchester. About the middle of the last 

 century, it consisted only of a few scattered 

 houses, but with the progress of our manufactures, 



it has risen rapidly into importance, owing to its 

 being in the vicinity of extensive coal-mines. 

 Cotton, fustians, woollen and silk goods are manu- 

 factured to a large extent, and the making of hats 

 is also carried on here on a great scale. An ex- 

 tensive inland navigation powerfully promotes the 

 trade of the neighbourhood, both in coal and the 

 multifarious branches of manufacture : commencing 

 at Hollinwood, the Oldham canal communicates 

 with the manufacturing metropolis, Manchester, 

 and the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne and Stock 

 port ; and the Rochdale canal, proceeding through 

 Chadderton, connects a number of important 

 places with this part of the county. Another 

 advantage, of high consideration to this town, is its 

 vicinity to Manchester, the paramount mart for 

 cotton goods, and where so vast a demand for the 

 mineral product of this neighbourhood always 

 exists. The town possesses a good parish church, 

 and a number of dissenting places of worship. It 

 was first constituted a borough by the reform bill, 

 and now returns two members to parliament. Mr 

 Cobbett was one of its first representatives. The 

 limits of the borough, as defined by the boundary 

 Act, comprise the townships of Oldham, Chadder- 

 ton, Crompton and Royton, containing collectively 

 a population exceeding 60,000 residents. Popula- 

 tion of the township in 1841, 42,595. 



OLD RED SANDSTONE. In the geologi- 

 cal series of formations, the position of the old red 

 sandstone is between the grey wacke series and 

 the mountain limestone of the carboniferous series. 

 It is a reddish or grayish sandstone, sometimes close 

 grained and compact, sometimes friable and marly, 

 and frequently of a coarse conglomerated structure. 

 Beds of shale are found alternating with the sand 

 stone, and sometimes grayish flagstones or slates. 

 In general there are few indications of organic re- 

 mains, but occasionally beds are found full of the 

 lemains of fishes interspersed with vegetable im- 

 pressions of fuci and reeds. Of the fishes, the most 

 common genera are dipterous, acanthodes, osteo- 

 lepis, gyrolepis, cephalaspis, a species of ray, and 

 a nondescript animal called coccosteus. The old 

 red sandstone is found succeeding the Silurian, or 

 transition rocks of England ; it is abundant in Scot- 

 land, cropping out along the south and north ridges 

 of the great Grampian range of primary mountains 

 which intersect the northern division of the coun- 

 try. The quarries of Clashbinnie in Perthshire, 

 several localities in Forfarshire, Carrie in Banff- 

 shire, Scaalcraig, Dipple, and the Findhorn in 

 Morayshire, and the Sutors of Cromarty, all afford 

 specimens of the organic remains of this particular 

 formation. 



OLEAGINOUS PLANTS. Among the arti- 

 cles of vegetable food, the oils which are extracted 

 from plants afford one of the most valuable; nor 

 are they of less importance in affording us light by 

 their combustion. They are employed also in a 

 number of manufactures, such as soap, woollens, 

 varnishes, and perfumery. There are two kinds of 

 vegetable oil, distinguished by the name of fixed 

 and volatile. The latter may be extracted from 

 almost every plant; but it is used only as a per- 

 fume or to llavour liqueurs, such as the oil called 

 Attar of Roses. These sweet-scented oils consti- 

 tute the luxury of the sense of smelling, but are 

 frequently prejudicial, from their effect on the 

 nerves; and some few of them are employed medi- 

 cinally. But the essential or volatile oils are not 

 those most deserving our attention ; the fixed oils 



