o s c 
on returning from Crete, forgot to hang out the white 
fail by which his father was to be apprifed of his fuccefs. 
This negleft proved fatal to Vigens, for he threw hitrs- 
felf into the fea, and peri (lied. Thefeus no fooner reached 
the land, than he fent a herald to inform his father of his 
lafc return, and in the mean time he began to make the 
la orifices which he had vowed when he firfl fet fail from 
Crete. The herald, on his entrance into the city, found 
the people in great agitation. Some lamented the king’s 
death ; while others, elated at the fudden news of the vic¬ 
tory of Thefeus, crowned the herald with garlands, in 
token of their joy. The herald carried back the garlands 
on his ftafF to the fea-fhore ; and, after waiting till The¬ 
feus had finilhed his facrifice, he related the melancholy 
account of the king’s death. Upon this the people ran 
in crowds to the city, (bowing their grief by cries and la¬ 
mentations. From tips circumftance, therefore, at the 
feaffc of Ofchophoria, not the herald, but his Staff, was 
crowned with garlands ; and the people prefent exclaimed 
sAtAst’, is is, the firlt of which expreffes hafte, and the laft 
a conlternation or depreffion of fpirits. 
OSCIL'LA, J'. In antiquity, Traall images of wax or 
clay made in the lhape of men or women, and confe- 
crated to Saturn, to render him propitious. The word is 
fometimes ufed to fignify a kind of malk (cooped from 
the bark of a tree, and worn by the performers of comedy 
in the ruder ages of Rome. In this fenfe we find it in 
Virg. Geo. ii. 386. It alfo fignifies little heads or images 
of Bacchus, which the countrymen of old hung upon 
trees, that the face might turn every way, out of a no¬ 
tion that the countenance of this god gave felicity to 
themfelves, and fertility to their vineyards. An allufion 
to this opinion and cultom is alft\ found in Virgil, Geo. 
ii. 388. 
To OS'CILLATE, v. n. [ ofcil/o , Lat.] To move back¬ 
ward and forward.—The axis of ofcillation fs a right line, 
parallel to theapparenthorizontalone,and paffingthrough 
the centre; about which the pendulum ofciUates. Chambers. 
OSCILL A'TION, The aft of moving backward and 
forward like a pendulum.—Whcfe mind is agitated by 
painful ofcillations of the nervous fyftem, and whole 
nerves are mutually affefted by the irregular paflions of 
his mind. Bp. Berkeley's Sins. 
OSCIL'LATORY, adj. Moving backwards and for¬ 
wards like a penduium.—The aftions upon the folids are 
ftireulating or increaling their vibrations, or ofeillatory 
morions. Arbuthnot. 
OS'CINES, f. Among the Romans^an appellation given 
to luch birds, from whofe chattering,• or notes, omens 
and predictions were drawn. Chambers. 
QS'CITANCY, f. [ ofiitantia , Lat.] The aft of yawn¬ 
ing; unufual fleepinefs ; careleifnefs.—If perfons of cir- 
cumfpeft piety have been overtaken, what feeurity can 
there be for our wrecklefs ofcitancy? Governmerit of the 
Tongue— It might proceed from the ofcitancy of trans¬ 
cribers, who, to difpatch their work the fooner, ufed to 
write all numbers in cyphers. Addifon. 
OS'CI FANT, adj. [ofeitans, Lat.] Yawning; un- 
ufuaily fleepy. Sleepy ; fluggifh.—His legal jultice cannot 
be io fickle and fo variable, fometimes like a devouring 
fire, and by-and-by connivent in the embers, or, if I may 
fo lay, ofeitant and lupine. Milton's Dod. and Difc. of Div. 
QS'CITANTLY, adv. Carelefsly.— Which thofedrowfy 
rodders over the letter of the Scripture have very oj’ci- 
iantly collected. More's Cmj. Cahb. 
OSCITA'TION, J'. The aft of yawning.—I (hall defer 
confidering this fubjeft at large, till I come to my treatife 
of ofeitation, laughter, and ridicule. Tatler , N° 63. 
QSCOPHO'RIA. See Oschophoria. 
OSCULA'TORY, f. In church-hiftory, a tablet, or 
board, with the pifture of Chrift, or the Bleffed Virgin, 
or fome other of the faints, which, after the conlecration 
of the elements in the eucharift, the prieft firlt killed him- 
felf, and then delivered to the people for the fame purpofe. 
OSCULUM PA'CIS, the Kifs of Peace. Anciently it 
Vol. XVII. No. 1218. 
O S I 
805 
was a cu(lorn in the church, that, in the celebration of 
mafs, after the prieft had confecrated the wafer, and fpo- 
ken the words P/ax Domini uobifeum , the people killed each 
other; which was called ofculum pads. When this cuf- 
tom was abrogated, another arofe; and, while the priefts 
fpoke the words, a deacon or fubdeacon offered the people 
an image to.kifs, which they called pacem. 
OSE, a river of Germany, which riles in the county of 
Mark, and runs into the Bever two miles South of Men- 
gen, in the duchy of Weltphalia. 
OSEM ANPOU'R, a town of Bengal : twenty miles eaft 
of Burdwan. Lat. 23.11. N. Ion. 88. 20. E. 
O'SEN, a town of Norway, in the diocefe of Drontheim, 
fifty-fix miles north of Drontheim. 
OSENO'Krt, a river of RulTia, which runs into the 
Kolima in lat. 64. 15. N. Ion. 148. 14. E. 
O'SER, a river of Ruflia, which runs into the Oka 
twenty miles north-north-weft: of Riazan. 
OS'ERO, an ifland in the Adriatic, near the coaft of 
Dalmatia, feparated by a narrow ftrait from the fouth-weft 
end of the ifland of Cherfo, about fifteen miles in length, 
and from two to five in breadth. It contains a town of 
the fame name, tbefee of a bifhop, fuffragan of Zara. The 
air of this ifland is peftilential in the heat of Summer, 
which is owing to pools of brackifh water, that ftagnate 
for want of an outlet, and become putrid. The city, 
which is well’fituated in the ifland, and which was for¬ 
merly populous, is nearly ruined, and become almoft un¬ 
inhabitable, by an exifting evil, which, if the inhabitants 
had not been botli indolent and poor, might have been 
eafily removed. Several good benefices are annexed to 
the church of Ofero, which have been lharnefully mifiip- 
plied, inftead of being employed for the relief of the in¬ 
habitants, and the improvement of the place. The ca¬ 
thedral, in this depopulated city, is a folid fabric, with 
a magnificent fteeple of no mean architecture. The Sara¬ 
cens deftroyed and burnt this place about the year 840, 
and it has never lince been able to recover itfelf. The 
coafts of the ifland abound with Sardines and mackarel. 
Lat. 44. 56. N. Ion. 14. 35. E. 
OS'FAN, or Asfan, a town of Arabia, in the pro¬ 
vince of Hedsjas : thirty-five miles north-north-weft of 
Mecca. 
OSIAN'DER (Andrew), a learned and celebrated 
German Lutheran divine, vernacularly known by the 
family-name of Hof man, was born at Guntzenhaufen in 
Bavaria in the year 1498. Poflefling excellent natural 
abilities, and an inclination for learning , he was fent 
from the elementary fchools to the univerlity of Wittem- 
berg, where, by rnoft intenfe ftudy, he foon excelled in 
the knowledge of languages, the belles-lettres, and the 
mathematics. Afterwards he applied with equal dili¬ 
gence and fuccefs to the ftudy of divinity. From Wit- 
temberg he went to Nuremberg, and made himfelf mafter 
of the Hebrew language in the Auguftine convent at that 
city ; and in this place, by his Itudious induftry and ac¬ 
quirements, he gained the efteem of the moil eminent 
learned men who refided there ; and, as Ire was alfo dif- 
tinguifhed by his powers of eloquence, the magiftrates of 
the city appointed him preacher at the church of Sr. Law¬ 
rence, where he delivered his firlt Sermon in February 
1522, When Luther declared againft the doftrineof in¬ 
dulgences, Ofiander joined his party, and frequently 
difputed, with great applaufc and fuccefs, againft that 
Scandalous corruption of the papal fyftem.- Nor did he 
ftop here, but zealoufly Supported that bold reformer in 
his attacks on the power and jurifdiftion of the Roman 
pontiff', and in his glorious effort for eftablifhing a lyltem 
of dodtrine and difeipline more confonant with the prin¬ 
ciples and precepts of the Goi'pel than that of Rome. 
From this time he had a confiderable (hare in the contro¬ 
versies and conferences which were held on the fubjeft of 
religion. He a (lifts d at the conference of Marpurg, in 
1529, between Luther and the Swifs divines ; on which 
occ'alion he fpoke after Luther upon the fubjeft of juftift- 
9 T cation. 
