O R A 
ton. But Milton, ae Mr. Todd juftly fays, did not in¬ 
troduce this word into the language.— Hence fo many 
corruptions of divine text, becaufe men endeavour to 
make it fpeak their own fenfe ; ufe it as their pleader, not 
counfellor 5 if it will fpeak for us, none fo ready to fee it, 
as it were, with the refignation of our reafons or will ; 
but, if it oracle contrary to our intereft or humour, we 
will create an amphiboly, a double meaning, where there 
is none ; and make it fpeak our meaning, or conclude it 
defective. Whitlock's Manners of the Engl. 1654. 
No more lhalt thou by oracling abufe 
The Gentiles. Milton s P. R. 1667. 
ORAC'ULAR, or Orac'ulous, adj. Utteringoracles ; 
refembling oracles.—They have fomething venerable and 
oracular, in that unadorned gravity and fliortnefs in the 
expreflion. Pope. 
The oraculous feer frequents the Pharian coaft ; 
Proteus, a name tremendous o’er the main. Pope. 
Pofitive; authoritative; magifterial; dogmatical.—Though 
their general acknowledgments of the weaknefs of hu¬ 
man underftanding look like cold and fceptical difcou- 
ragements; yet the particular expreffions of their fenti- 
ments are as oraculous as if they were omnifcient. Glan- 
ViNe's Scep/is. —Obfcure ; ambiguous ; like the anfwers 
of ancient oracles. — As for equivocations, or oraculous 
fpeeches, they cannot hold out long. Bacon's Eff. 6. 
He fpoke oraculous and fly, 
He’d neither grant the queftion, nor deny. King. 
ORAC'ULARLY, or Orac'ulously, adj. In man¬ 
ner of an oracle..—The teftimonies of antiquity, andfuch 
as pafs oruculoufty amongft us, were not always fo exa£t 
as to examine the doftrine they delivered. Brown's Vulg. 
Eitovs. 
Hence rife the branching beech and vocal oak, 
Where Jove of old oraculoujly fpoke. Dnjden. 
Authoritatively; pofitively.—An awful judge delivering 
oracularly the law. Burke's Sp. on the Powers of Juries in 
Libels. 
ORAC'ULOUSNESS, f. The Hate of being oracular. 
ORADOU'R, a town of France, in the department of 
the Cantal : ten miles fouth-fouth-weft of St. Fleur, and 
twenty-one eaft of Aurillac. 
ORADOUR FANOI'S, a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Charente: fix miles north of Confolens. 
ORADOU'R sur VA'VRE, a town of France, in the 
department of the Upper Vienne: eighteen miles fouth- 
weft of Limoges. 
ORZE'A, in ancient geography, a fmall country of the 
Peloponnefus, mentioned by Paufanias. 
ORZE'A, f. Solemn lacrifices of fruits offered in the 
four feafons of the year, to obtain mild and temperate 
weather. They were offered to the goddefles who pre- 
fided over the feafons, who attended upon the fun, and 
who received divine won'll ip at Athens. 
ORAHOVIT'ZKA, a town of Sclavonia: fixteen 
miles weft of Valpo. 
ORAI'SON,/. [Fr. from oratio, Lat.] Prayer; verbal 
fupplication ; oral worlhip. See Orison. —They were 
commonly called the judgments of God, and performed 
with folemn oraifons and other ceremonies. Temple's Hijl. 
of Eng. 1695. 
Here, at dead of night. 
The pilgrim oft, ’mid his oraifon, hears 
Aghaft the voice of time, difparting towers. 
Tumbling all precipitate down dafli’d. Dyer. 
ORAI'SON, a_ town of France, in the department of 
the Lower Alps, on the Durance : eighteen miles fouth- 
weft of Digne. 
O'RAL, adj. [Fr. from os, oris, Lat.] Delivered by 
•mouth 5 not written,'—St. John was appealed to as the 
jiving oracle of the church j and, as his oral teftimony 
© R *A 679 
lafted the firft century, many have obferved, that by a 
particular providence feveral of our Saviour’s difciples, 
and of the early converts, lived to a very great age, that 
they might perfonally convey the truth of the Gofpel to 
thofe times which were very remote. Addifon. 
Q'RALLY, adv. By mouth, without writing.—Oral 
tradition were incompetent, without written monuments, 
to derive to 11s the original laws of a kingdom, becaufe 
they are complex, not orally traducible to fo great a dif- 
tance of ages. Hale's Common Laiv. —In the mouth._The 
P 1- ieft did facrifice, and orally devour it whole. Bp. Hall's 
Epijl. —That which is externally delivered in the fa era- 
ment, and orally received by the communicant. Abp. 
Ijher's Anfw. to■ the Jefuit Malone. 
ORAMA'NE, a river of Canada, which runs into the 
gulf of St. Laurence in lat. 50. 7. N. Ion. 61. W. 
ORAM'TCHI-HO'TUN, a town of Thibet: fifty-eight 
miles weft-north-weft of Tourfan. Lat. 44. 2. N. Ion. 88. 
17. E. 
O'RAN, or War'ran, a town of Algiers, in the pro¬ 
vince of Tremecen, or TlemTan. It is built on the de¬ 
clivity, and near the foot, of a high mountain which over- 
looks.it from the north and north-weft; and upon 
the ridge of this mountain there are two caftles that 
command the city on the one fide, and the Mers al 
Kebeer on the other. To thefouth and fouth-eaft there 
are two other caftles, erefied upon the fame level with 
the lower part of the city, but feparated from it by a deep 
winding valley, which ferves it as a natural trench on the 
fouth fide;, where like wife, at- a little diftance, there is a 
very plentiful fpring of excellent water. The rivulet 
formed by this fountain conforms its courfe to the feveral 
windings of the valley ; and, palling afterwards under the 
walls of the city, liberally fupplies it with water. In the 
year 1509, it was taken by theSpaniards, under the com¬ 
mand of cardinal Ximenes, then prime minifter; and 
remained in their pofleffion till the difturbances brought 
into Spain by the fucceffion-war in 1708, when the Alge r 
rines made their advantage of the occafion, and retook 
it; neither did they fpare any colt or pains to preferve it; 
being always furnifhed with a large garrifon, and a num¬ 
ber of other choice troops. Neverthclefs, in theyear 1732, 
it was recovered by the Spaniards, in whofe pofleffion it 
has ftill continued. The Spaniards, when they were firft 
mafters of the place, built feveral beautiful'churches, and 
other edifices, in the manner and ftyle of the Roman ar- 
ch-itefture, though of lefs ftrength and folidity. They 
have imitated the Romans further, in carving upon the 
friezes, and other convenient places of them, feveral in- 
feriptions in large characters,' and in their own language. 
Dr. Shaw met with no Roman antiquities at Oran. In 
the year 1790, this place was almoft deftroyed by an earth¬ 
quake, little belides the outer walls remaining. The 
number ofperfons who perilhed was eftimated^at upwards 
of 2000, including 22 officers, and 304 private foldiers 
belonging to the garrifon. 
At prefent Oran has a pari/h-church, three monafteries, 
and an hofpital; and the number of inhabitants, accor¬ 
ding to the account given of it by theSpaniards, amounts 
to 12,000. A confiderable number of Mahometans take 
refuge in Gran; they occupy a diftinft part of the city, 
receive pay. from the court of Spain, and render fignal 
fervices againft the Moors. The greateft part of the in¬ 
habitants of Oran confifts of fuch as have been banifhed 
from Spain ; and the fame may be alfo faid, in a great 
meafure, of the foldiers who compofe the garrifon. Five 
regiments are commonly ftationed here; but, on account 
of continual defection, their ftrength fcarcely equals that 
of four complete regiments. One of them wholly con¬ 
fifts of malefaftors, who have been condemned to remain 
here for life; the reft are fuch as have been tranfported 
for one or more years. Here is likewife a military fchool. 
Around the city are pleafant gardens; but it is very 
dangerous to cultivate them, on account of the Moors 
and Arabs, who frequently lie in ambulh thereabouts. 
S Tbe 
