O S T 
O S T 
battle of Jemappe put this maritime fortrefs into the 
bands of the republicans. The fubfequent reverfes of 
Dumourier reftored it to the Auftrians. Become now a 
fort of military fhuttlecock, it was again placed at the 
difpofal of the French; when the fatal battle of Fleurus 
opened all the Netherlands, and Holland itfelf, to the 
enemy. The Englifh government having at all times ap¬ 
preciated the importance of Oftend, planned an expedi¬ 
tion, in 1800, to furprife the place, or at leaf!: render it ufe- 
lefs to the enemy. About three thoufand men, under 
the command of fir Eyre Coote, difembarked without op- 
pofition near the city, and immediately proceeded tode- 
ftroy the flood-gates, and blow-up the locks which joined 
the inner harbour to the canal of Bruges, and fituated 
about a mile and a half outfide the fortifications. After 
effecting this fervice, the troops attempted to re-embark; 
but, in the mean time, the weather had become ftormy, 
and fo great a furf broke on the beach, that no vefl'el, 
not even a boat, could approach it. The little army was 
therefore obliged to bivouac on the fand-hills ; and the 
next day, the wind blowing (fill frefher, it found itfelf 
furrounded by numerous military corps, called in from all 
the neighbourhood. A partial aftion took place, in 
which the Englifh had about a hundred men killed and 
wounded, the general being among the latter. No way 
of efcape being open, the linall force had the mortifica¬ 
tion to ground their arms and become prifoners, even 
within view of the fleet, which could not poflibly aflift 
it. Napoleon meditated great improvements for Oftend ; 
but the fuperior importance of Antwerp engrafted all 
his care. That city and Oftend were the laft places which 
the French reludftantly evacuated, agreeably to the late 
treaty of Paris. Oftend lies twelve miles weft of Bruges, 
ten miles and a half north-eaft of Nieuport, thirty-one 
miles and a half north-eaft-by-eaft of Dunkirk. It is 
fcarcely twenty marine leagues eaft-by-fouth from Ramf- 
gate. Lat. 51. 30. N. Ion. 3. 3. E. from London. Acker¬ 
man's Repofitory, vol. xiv. 
OSTEN'D, a town of Africa, on the Ivory Coaft : 
thirty miles north-eaft of Cape Palmas. 
OSTENSIBLE, adj. [ojtendo, Lat. to (how.] Such 
as is proper or intended to be fhown.—I take this oppor¬ 
tunity of exprefling my furprife, that this ajlenfible com¬ 
ment of the dumb-fhew fliould not regularly appear in the 
tragedies of Shakfpeare. Wharton's IdiJ't. E. P. —Colour¬ 
able ; plaufible.—He had, as dictator, an ojlenjible right 
to the cuftody and command of this ; and, under pretext 
of this oftenfible, he by force of arms feized it. Pownall 
on Antiq. 
OSTEN'SIO, f. A tax anciently paid by merchants, 
&c. for leave to Jhow, or expofe their goods to fale, in 
markets. 
OSTEN'SIVE, adj. Showing; betokening. 
OSTEN'T, f. [ ojientum , Lat.] Appearance ; air; 
manner; mien : 
Ufe all the obfervance of civility, 
Like one well ftudied in a fad qmnt, 
To pleafe his grandam. Shakfpeare's Merck, of Few. 
Show; token. Thefe fenfes are peculiar to Shakfpeare: 
Be merry, and employ your chiefeft thoughts 
To courtfhip, and fuch fair ojtents of love, 
As Ihali conveniently become you there. Shakfpeare. 
A portent 5 a prodigy ; any thing ominous : 
Latinus, frighted with this dire ojlent, 
For counfel to his father Faunus went. Dryden. 
To OSTEN'TATE, v.a. \ofiento, Lat.] To make an 
ambitious difplay of; to difplay boaftingly.—Who is fo 
open-hearted and Ample, but they either conceal their 
defefls, or oftentate their fufficiencies, ftiort or beyond 
what either of them really are ? Bp. Taylor's Artif. 
Handfom. —So far I muft needs ojlentate my reading, as to 
aflure you, that I have viewed with my own eyes, and 
tranfcribed from all the originals, whatever I have fet 
down. Fleetwood's C/tron. Pretiofum. 
19 
OSTENTA'TION, f. [Fr. from ofentatio, Lat.] 
Outward (how ; appearance.—March on my fellows ; 
make good this ojlentation. Shuhfpeare’s Coriol. 
You are come 
A market-maid to Rome, and have prevented 
The ojlentation of our love. Shakfpeare. 
Ambitious difplay ; boaft ; vain (how. This is the nfnil 
fenfe .— He knew that good and bountiful minds were 
fometimes inclined to ojlentation, and ready to cover it 
with pretence of inciting others by their example, and 
therefore checks this vanity : Take heed, fays lie, that 
you do not your alms before men, to be feen. Atterbury. 
With all her luftre, now, her lover warms; 
Then out of ojlentation hides her charms. Young. 
A ftiow ; a fpeffacle. Not in ufe. —The king would have 
me prefent the princes with fome delightful ojlentation, 
ftiow, pageant, antic, or firework. Skakfpeare’s Love's 
Lab. Lofl. 
OSTENTA'TIOUS, adj. Boaftful ; vain ; fond of 
ftiow ; fond to expofe to view.—Your modefty is fo far 
from being oftentatious of the good you do, that it blufhes 
even to have it known ; and therefore I muft leave you 
to the fatisfaflion of your own confidence, which, though 
a filent panegyric, is yet the beft. Dryden. 
OSTENTATIOUSLY, adv. Vainly; boaftfully. 
OSTENTA'TIOUSNESS, f. Vanity; boaftfulnefs. 
OSTENTATI'TIOUS, adj. Oftentatious. Cole. 
OSTEN'TATIVE, adj. Apt to boaft; oftentatious. 
Phillips. 
OSTENTA'TOR, ft [Fr. from ofento, Lat.] A 
boafter; a vain fetter to ftiow. Sherwood. 
OSTENTIF'EROUS, adj. [from the Lat. oftentum, a 
prodigy, and fero, to bring.] Producing omens ; bring¬ 
ing prodigies. 
OSTEN'TOUS, adj. Fond of (how; fond to expofe to 
view.—Sometimes we ought to be thankful for an enemy. 
He gives us occafion to fliew the world our parts and 
piety, which elfe, perhaps, in our dark graves would 
lleep and moulder with us quite unknown ; or could not 
otherwife well be feen without the vanity of a light and 
an oflentous mind. Feltham .— Such rude and imperfect 
draughts being far better, in their efteem, than fuch as are 
adorned with more pomp, and ojientatious circumftances. 
Evelyn. 
OSTEOCOL'LA, f. [from the Gr. ofhov, bone, and 
wMaa, to glue together.] A white or afli-coloured 
fparry fubftance, in ihape like a bone, and by fome fup- 
pofed to have the quality of uniting broken bones, on 
which account it is ordered in fome plafters ; a fuppofi- 
tion, we fear, which is not warranted by experience. 
It is found in long, thick, and irregularly-cylindric, 
pieces, which are in general hollow, but are fometimes 
filled up with a marly earth, and fometimes contain 
within them the remains of a flick, round which the of- 
teocolla had been formed ; but, though it is plain from 
thence, that many pieces of ofteocolla have been formed 
by incruftations round flicks, yet the greater number are 
not fo, but are irregularly tubular, and appear to be 
formed of a flat cake, rolled up in a cylindric ftiape. The 
ofteocolla is found of different lizes, from that of a crow- 
quill to the thicknefs of a man’s arm. It is compofed of 
fand and earth, which may be feparated by waffling the 
powdered ofteocolla with water; and is found both in 
digging, and in feveral brooks, in many parts of Ger¬ 
many, and elfewhere. It is called hammojleus in many 
parts of Germany. It has this name in thefe places from 
its always growing in fand, never in clay, or any folid 
foil, nor even in gravel. Where a piece of it any-where 
appears on the furface, they dig down for it, and find the 
branches run ten or twelve feet deep. They ufually run 
ftraight down ; but fometimes they are found fpreading 
into many parts near the furface, as if it were a fubter- 
raneous tree, whofe main ftem began at twelve feet 
depth, and thence grew up in a branched manner till met 
by 
