O B F 
362 O B E 
liberated at the end of eleven months; and, returning to 
Straffiurg, refumed his office of jnftrudting, though the 
Undents were now reduced to a fmall number. Under 
the firft confulfhip of Napoleon, he was created member 
of the municipal council of Straffiurg, and prefident of 
its electoral college; and, upon the organization of the 
central fchools, he was made librarian to that of Straffiurg. 
In 1800 he was gratified with afecond vifit to Paris, where 
he was kindly received by many of his old friends and 
pupils. He continued to give editions of the daffies ; and 
in 1801 he publiffied “ Annals of the Life of John Gutem- 
berg,” in which he vindicated the claim of that printer to 
the invention of movable types. When the univerfity of 
Straffiurg was, by an imperial decree in 1803, conllituted 
the place of education for pallors of the Augffiurg con- 
feffion, Oberlin was deputed to pronounce the difeourfe 
on its entering upon its functions, which was afterwards 
printed. Though now in advanced years, he was medi¬ 
tating new learned labours, when he was carried off by a 
paralytic feizure in October 1806, at .the age of feven ty- 
one. 
Oberlin was a man of great fimplicity of charafiler, 
cheerful, benevolent, rationally pious, and virtuous. Un¬ 
wearied induftry, and the fpirit of order, charadlerifed the 
exertions in which his whole life was fpent. He had been 
twice married ; and left a fon, diftinguilhed by his know¬ 
ledge in mathematics and natural philofophy, and who is 
now a profeffor at Straffiurg. The funeral of this valua¬ 
ble man was performed with great folemnity; and his 
high reputation among the learned in Germany was tef- 
tified by a Latin and a German biography of him, belides 
numerous commemorative pieces in prole and verfe. He 
was member of many literary focieties, and a correfpondent 
of the French National Inllitute ; and was one of the 
founders, and long prefident, of the Free Society of Sci¬ 
ences, Arts, and Letters, of Straffiurg, to which he com¬ 
municated feveral memoirs. Gen. Bing-. Suppl. 
OBERMOS'CHEL. See Moschel, vol. xvi. 
OBERNA'I, a town of France, in the department of the 
Lower Rhine, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrifl 
of Barr; containing 4391 inhabitants. 
O'BERNBERG, a town of Bavaria, on the Inn : twelve 
miles fouth-fouth-well of Paflau, and feven fouth-fouth- 
welt of Scherding. 
O'BERNBURG, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
the Lower Rhine: fix miles fouth of Afchaffenburg, and 
fixteen call of Darmftadt. 
O'BERNDORF, a town of Germany, in the county of 
Hohenberg, ontheNeckar: eight miles eall of Schram- 
berg. 
O'BERNDORF, a town of Bavaria, in the biffiopric of 
Bamberg: feven miles north of Bamberg. 
O'BERNDORF, a town of Germany, in the principa¬ 
lity of Culmbach : three miles eall-north-eail of Windf- 
heim. . • 
O'BERNDORF, a town of Germany, in the county of 
Henneberg : eight miles fouth-eall of Meinungen. 
O'BERNDORF, a town of the duchy of Wurzburg, 
in the territory of Schweinfurt: two miles fouth-fouth- 
well of Schweinfurt. 
O'BERNH AU, a town of Saxony, in the circle of Erz- 
gebirg -. fix miles well of Lauterllein. 
O'BERNKIRCHEN, a town of Aullria: eight miles 
well of Freyllatt. 
OBERRA'TION, f. [from oberro, Lat.] The aft of 
wandering about. See Aberration. 
CBERROS'LA, a town of Germany, in the principality 
of Culmbach : thirteen miles fouth of Hof. 
OBERSCHLEM'MA, a town of Saxony, in the circle 
of Erzgebirg: five miles fouth-well of Rinteln. 
O'BERSDORF, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of 
Chrudim : fourteen miles eall-north-eail of Leutmifchl. 
O'BERSDORF, a town of Bavaria: twenty-four miles 
fouth of Kempten, and fixty-two fouth of Augffiurg. 
O'BERSDORF, a town of Saxony, in Thuringia r three 
miles north of Sangerffiaufen. 
OBERSE'E, a lake of Bavaria, in the provollffiip of 
Berchtefgaden ; one mile fouth of Konigfee. 
OBERSE'E, a lake of the duchy of Carinthia : one 
mile well of Welach. 
O'BERSTADT, a town of Germany, in the county 
of Henneberg: feven miles eall-north-eail of Meinungen. 
O'BERSTEIN, a town of France, in the department 
of the Sarre: feven miles fouth-well of Kim, and eigh¬ 
teen fouth-fouth-eall of Traarbach. 
OBERSTEN'FELD, a town of Wurtemberg: nine 
miles fouth-eall of Heilbronn. 
O'BERWALD, a town of Swifferland, in the Valais : 
fifty miles call of Sion. 
O'BERWEIDEN, a town of Aullria : four miles eafl- 
fouth-eall of Weikendorf. 
O'BERWEISS, a town of Aullria: three miles north 
of Gmunden. 
O'BERWELS, or Oberwoltz, a town of the duchy 
of Stiria: twenty-four miles well of Judenburg, and 116 
fouth-well of Vienna. Lat. 47. 13. N. Ion. 14. E. 
OBERWE'SEL. See Wesel. 
OBES'E, adj. '[obej'us, Lat.] Fat; loaden with fleffi.-— 
The author’s counfel runs upon his corpulency, juft as 
one faid of an over -obefe priell, that he was an Arminian. 
Grant, quoth a fe'cond, that he be an Arminian; I’ll fwear 
he is the greateft that ever I law. Gaytan on D. Quiz. 1654. 
OBES'ITY, J'. Morbid fatnefs; incumbrance of fleffi.—* 
On thefe many difeafes depend; as on the llraitnefs of the 
cheft, a phthifis; on the largenefs of the veins, an atro¬ 
phy ; on their fmallnefs, obejity. Grew. 
To OBEY', v. a. [ obeir , Fr. obedio, Lat.] To pay fub- 
miffion to ; to comply with, from reverence to authority. 
—Let not fin reign in your mortal body, that ye lhould 
obey it in the lulls thereof. Rom. vi. 12. 
The will of Heaven 
Be done in this and all things! I obey. Shahefpeare. 
I am affiam’d, that women are fo Ample 
To feek for rule, fupremacy, and fvvay. 
When they are bound to lerve, love, and obey. Shahefpeare. 
It had formerly fometimes to before the perfon obeyed, 
which Addifon has mentioned as one of Milton’s lati- 
nifms ; but it is frequent in old writers ; when we bor¬ 
rowed the French word, we borrowed the fyntax, obeir 
an roi. —He commanded the trumpets to found; to which 
the two brave knights obeying, they performed their 
courfes, breaking their Haves. Sidney.- —His fervants ye 
are, to whom ye obey. Rom. vi. 16. 
The flit bark, obeying to her mind, 
Forth launched quickly, as me did defire. SpenJer. 
Nor did they not perceive the evil plight 
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel, 
Yet to their general’s voice they foon obey'd. Milton. 
OBEY', a river of America, which riles in the Ten- 
nefiee government, and runs into the Cumberland in lat, 
36. 22. N. Ion. 85. 26. W. 
OBEY'ER, J\ One who obeys.—He approved himfelf 
to be a religious hearer, judicious obferver, and obfequi- 
ous obeyer, of the word of his Maker. Price's Sermon on 
Prince Henry's Death, 1613. 
To OBFIR'MATE, v. a. [ obfirmo, Lat.] To refolve ; 
to harden in determination. Not in uJe.—T hey do obfir- 
mate and make obftinate their minds for the conftant fufi¬ 
fed ng of death. Sheldon's Miracles of Antichriji, 1616. 
To OBFUS'CATE, v. a. [ obfufquer, Fr. of oba.ndfv.fco, 
Lat.] To darken. See To Offuscate. The Scotch ufe 
obfujk. —If paffion and prejudice do not olfufeate his rea- 
fon and judgment. Waterhous's Apol.for Learning. 
OBFUS'CATE, part. adj. Darkened.—Which, with the 
mixture of a terreftrial fubftance, is obfujcatcj or made 
dark. 
