O L I 
predion of feature rarely found in portraits ; but their 
aitions are void of grace, and exhibit the general want 
of tafte in art at that period. He died in 1617', aged 61. 
OL'IVER (Peter), the fon and difciple of the prece¬ 
ding, was born in 1601, and, fucceeding his father in the 
profeflion of miniature-painting, was confeiTedly even more 
fuccefsful than him, or any of their contemporaries. His 
pictures, like his father’s, are fpread among the houfes 
of the nobility and gentry, and are alike juftly efteemed. 
The works which he executed upon a larger fcale are 
much" more valuable than thofe of his father, and are 
alfo more numerous, though not very frequently to be 
met with. Walpole mentions that there were thirteen 
works of Peter Oliver in the colleition of Charles I. and 
of James II. and that (even of them are preferved in 
queen Caroline's clofet at Kenfington ; and he alfo (peaks 
of a portrait of Mrs. Oliver, by her hufband, in pofleflion 
of the duchefs of Portland, as being of uncommon qua¬ 
lity. He died in 1660. 
An Isaac Oliver, who was a good glafs-painter, and 
by whole hand there is a window in Chrift-.church, Ox¬ 
ford, was probably a grandfon of the firft Ifaac. Walpule's 
Anted, of Painting;. 
OLIVE'RI, a river of Sicily, .which runs into the fea 
between Patti and Milazzo. 
OLIVE'RIAN, adj. [from Oliver.) Belonging to the 
party which oppofed king Charles the Firft. 
OLIVE'RIAN, f. One of the parti fans of Oliver 
Cromwell, who oppofed the proceedings of king Charles 
the Firft. 
OLIVE'RIAN’s BRA'NCH, a river of New Hamp- 
(hire, which runs into the Conneificut in lat. 44. 4. N. Ion. 
72. 2. W. 
OL'IVES (Mount of). See Mount, vol. xvi. pi 132. 
OL'iVET, a town of France, in the department of the 
Loiret, fmiated on the fouth fide of the Loire; three 
miles fouth of Orleans. 
OL'IVET (Jofeph Thoullier d’), an eftimable man of 
letters, was born in 1682 at Salins in Franche-Comte. 
Lie was educated by his father, who was afterwards a 
counfellor in the parliament of Befantjon ; and at an early 
age he entered among the Jefuits, in which fociety he 
had an uncle diftinguilhed for his learning. During his 
continuance among the Jefuits he frequently vifited Soi¬ 
leau at his retreat at Auteuii; and his admiration of this 
celebrated poetcaufed him to imbibe his principles of lite¬ 
rature in all their vigour. The example of Boileau led 
him to make trial of his powers in French verfe ; but-in 
the maturity of his judgment he committed to the flames 
all his attempts in this walk. He alfo exercifed himfelf 
in compofitions for the pulpit; and, in order to form his 
tafte for oratory on the belt models, he became a very 
afliduous (Indent of the works of Cicero. The atten¬ 
tion he paid to this great writer rendered him at length 
an enthufiaft in his favour; and, to the end of his life, 
admiration of the Roman orator might be laid to be his 
ruling paflion. Whilft he continued with the Jefuits, his 
literary reputation procured him an invitation to Spain, 
to undertake the tuition of the prince of Afturias. But, 
flattering as fuch an offer might be, he was too well 
aware of the reftraint and refponAbility which muft at¬ 
tend an office of that nature, to (acrifice the eafe and free¬ 
dom of a private ftation to a brilliant fervitude. It w\as 
probably this love of liberty that induced him, at the age 
of thirty-three, to quit the fociety of Jefuits, juft at the 
period when its members become engaged in it by irrevo¬ 
cable vows. He left it, however, without ill-will, and 
ever preferved that filial regard towards it which has fel- 
dom failed to diftinguifli thofe who pafled their early years 
in its bofom. 
The abbe d’Olivet thenceforth devoted himfelf to the 
life of a man of letters at Paris ; and in 1723, while ab- 
fent in paying the laft duties to his father, he was elefted 
into the French Academy. We have mentioned his ad¬ 
miration of Cicero. The firft work which he committed 
. Vol. XVII. No. 1190. 
o L I 401 
to the prefs was a tranflation of that author’s treatife 
“ De Natura Deorum which w'as followed by his tranf¬ 
lation, in conjunftion with the prefident Bouhier, of the 
Tufeulan Queftions, and the Orations againft Catiline: 
and, at a fubfequent period, he colledted from the works 
of Cicero all thofe paflages which he thought beft calcu¬ 
lated, as well to form the literary tafte of young perfons, 
as to infpire them with ufeful moral principles, and pub- 
li(lied them in a tranflation, underthe title of “ Penfees de 
Ciceron, pour fervir a l’Education de la Jeunefte.” A 
complete edition of the w-orks of his favourite author was 
an objedt that long and deeply engaged his attention ; 
which he at length brought out at Paris, under the 
patronage of the government, in nine volumes 4to. 
An edition of this work was publiihed at Geneva in 
1758, which is in the higheft eftimation, is very rare, 
and fetches a very high price. To each volume are 
attached Tables, particularly an ufeful one, containing 
all the various readings colledled from the principal edi¬ 
tions ot Vidlorius, Mauritius, Lambinus, and Gruterus 
together with thofe propoled by Olivet in his Commen¬ 
taries. Of the edition by this editor, the General Bio¬ 
graphy fays, “it is the charadler that it performs more 
than it promifes. Befides a very corredt text, it contains 
a very judicious colled!ion of notes by the beft commen¬ 
tators, with a learned and well-written preface of his own.” 
In the Geneva edition, the errors that had efcaped M. 
Olivet are carefully corredled. 
Olivet was a diligent (Indent of the grammar of his 
own language; and publiihed a treatife on “French Pro- 
(ody,” in which he attempted to prove that almoft all 
French fyllables have a determinate meafure, and are as 
fufceptible of quantity as thofe of Greek and Latin. 
This was fucceeded by “Remarques de Grammaire fur 
Racine.” _ His attachment to the French Academy led 
him to write the Hiftory of that body, in continuation of 
that of Peliflon. This work, which comes down to the 
commencement of the iSth century, is valuable for the 
accuracy of its refearches, and the interefting anecdotes 
preferved in it. He publiihed “ Opufcules fur la Lanouie 
Franqoife,” to which he added the Abbe de Choffi’s 
Journal of Difcuflions on Points of Grammar, at the Sit¬ 
tings of the Academy. He w\as a molt regular attendant 
on the meetings of the French Academy ; and, on his re¬ 
turn from one of them, in Odtober 1768, he was attacked 
with a fit of apoplexy, which terminated his life at the 
age of 86. 
As a tranflator, Olivet is faithful and elegant: to his 
verfion of the treatife De Natura Deorum, he annexed a 
trait of his own relative to ancient philofophy, which he 
entitled “ Theologie des Philofiophes to wdiich theo¬ 
logy, according to d’Alembert, his philofophical know¬ 
ledge was in a great meafure limited. The abbe d’Olivet 
was ever ready to perform good offices for his literary 
brethren; and through his means many fcholars obtained 
eligible and refpedtable fituations in life. He had fami¬ 
liar accefs to cardinal Fleury, the prime minifter, and the 
biftrop of Mirepoix, the diftributor of ecclefiaftical bene¬ 
fices, who could not but admire the intereft which he 
took in obtaining favours for others, while he afked no¬ 
thing for himfelf. He preferved to the end of his life 
the intimate friendlhip of feveral perfons of eminence • 
and, though fparing in his approbation of modern pro- 
duftions, he appears to have been free from envy and 
jealoufy. In his mode of living he was moderate and 
economical; and he facrificed the greateft part of his pa¬ 
trimony to the advantageous fettling of his nephews. 
Gen. Biog. 
OL1VETAN' (Robert), the firft perfon who publiihed 
a verfion of the Scriptures in the French language, from 
the original Hebrew and Greek, for the uie of the inha¬ 
bitants of the Valais. Of his hiftory nothing is known 
except that he was a relation of John Calvin. His trani- 
lation was printed at Neufchatel in 1535; and was the 
foundation of the Geneva verfion in common ufe, after 
6 B it 
