o s w 
tions be made himfelf familiar with the Arabic language, 
together with the French, Italian, Spanifh, and Portu- 
guefe, dialefts. The religious and philofophic opinions 
of this gentleman were extremely fmgular. He adhered 
to the Hindoo fyftem of worfhip, and turned with an ab¬ 
horrence truly braminical from every ipecies of animal 
food. To a gentleman who urged him to alfign his rea- 
fons for an averfion fo lingular, he replied, “ that he 
thought it cruel to deprive of life an innocent animal, 
and filthy to feed upon a corpfe.” He publifhed, in 
nmo. 1789, a volume of poems, under the name of Sil- 
vefter Otway. He wrote, befides, 2. Ranee Comica 
Evangelicantes; or, the Comic Frogs turned Methodifts; 
1786. 3. The Britilh Mercury, a periodical publication ; 
1787. 4. The alarming Prog refs of French Politics ; a 
pamphlet on the fubject of the Commercial Treaty, 1787. 
JBiograp/na Dramatica. 
OS'VVALD’s LAW ; the law by which was eft’efted the 
ejefting married priefts, and introducing monks into 
churches, by Ofwald bifhop of Worcefter, about the 
year 964. 
OS'WALDESLAW, a village in Worcefterftiire, be¬ 
tween Worcefter and. Speechly, the chief place of a 
hundred of its own name, and the place where bifhop Of¬ 
wald ufed to keep his - court, on a riling ground, where the 
hundred-court is held ftill; and not far from it was St. Of- 
wald’s hofpital, built and endowed by him in the year 
960, and pulled down in the reign of queen Elizabeth ; 
but, on the reftoration of king Charles II. a neat hofpi¬ 
tal was erefted in its place for twelve poor men. This 
hundred is exempt from the jurifdiftion of the IherifF, 
and comprehended eight hundred hides of land. 
OS'WALTWISTLE, a townfhip of Lancalliire. In 
1801, the population was 2710, with 951 employed in ma¬ 
nufactures : fix miles north-north-eaft of Blackburn. 
Crutt-u-ell's Gaz. 
OSWAN'SIO, a town of Sweden, in Geftricia: feven- 
teen miles weft-louth-weft of Geffte. 
OSWEG AT'CHIES, Indians of Canada, inhabiting 
the north bank of the St. Lawrence, near Ofwegatchy- 
river. 
OSWEGAT'CHY, a river of United America, which 
runs into the river St. Lawrence in lat. 44. 45. N. Ion. 
75. 28. W. 
OSWEGAT'CHY, a lake of the ftate of New-York. 
Lat. 44. 7. N. Ion. 75. 24. W. 
OSWE'GO, a navigable river of New-York, which 
conveys the waters of Oneida, and a number of fmall 
lakes, into lake Ontario. It is more commonly called 
Onondaga.— Alfo, afortrefs on the eaft fide of the mouth 
of the above river, and on the foutli-eaft fide of lake On¬ 
tario : it is about 150 or 160 miles eaft-by-north of Nia¬ 
gara. Lat. 44. 43. N. Ion. 76. 50. W. 
OSWE'GO CREEK (Great), lies in the county of 
Lincoln, Upper Canada ; and runs into the river Wel¬ 
land, above the Little Ofwego Creek, near the north-weft 
part of the townfhip of Wainfleet. 
OSWE'GO TE'A. See Monarda, 
OS'WESTRY, a borough, market-town, and parifti, in 
the hundred of Ofweftry, and county of Salop, is fituated 
on the great road from London to Holyhead, at the dif- 
tance of eighteen miles from Shrewfbury, and 1795 from 
the metropolis. The town ftands upon higher ground 
than any other in Shropfliire, and the country around is 
delightfully varied with hills, vales, wood, and water, 
and exhibits fome.very rich and pifturefque feenery. It 
is a borough by prefeription, and is governed by a mayor, 
recorder, high-fteward, town-cWk, murenger, coroner, 
and other inferior officers; but fends no member to par¬ 
liament. The body corporate confifts of the mayor, 
twelve aldermen, and fifteen common-councilmen, who 
eleft the mayor, recorder, and murenger; but the high- 
fteward and town-clerk are nominated by the lord of the 
manor, earl Powis; and the office of coroner is always 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1222, 
O S W 37 
held by the chief magiftrate of the preceding year. The 
petty feffions for the hundred are holden here, befides 
the courts connected with the borough. Wednefdayand 
Saturday of every week are the market-days in this 
town ; and there are fix fairs in the year, viz. March 15, 
May 12, Wednefday before Midfummer, Auguft 15, 
Wednefday before Michaelmas-day, and December 10, 
for horfes, cattle, fheep, flannel, &c. See. Here is an ex¬ 
cellent free grammar-fehool, of recent erection. The 
church is a very fpacious building, with a plain well- 
proportioned tower at one end. Ofweftry has been much 
improved within the laft ten years, in confequence of an 
aft obtained, in 1810, for widening, paving, and light¬ 
ing, the ftreets, and of the fpirit of building which has 
relulted from that meafure. According to the parliament- 
returns of 1811, the houfes in the town were 788, and 
the inhabitants 3479 in number. 
Ofweftry is a town of great antiquity. The Saxons 
called it Mdcferfield, or Macerfelth, fignifying the Acorn- 
field ; and the Britons Tre-evefun-gludddiu in Urbern, 
Tre-Kadari, or the Town of Great Oaks. Its prefent 
appellation was derived from the name of St. Ofwald 
king of Northumberland, who was defeated and flain 
here by Penda king of Mercia, one of the moft cruel and 
bloody tyrants that ever difgraced a throne. It was the 
praftice of St. Ofwald to ereft a crofs on the field of 
battle, as a ftandard, at the foot of which he and his 
army, the moment before the trumpets founded the 
charge, praftifed the pious devotion of kneeling, appeal¬ 
ing to heaven for the juftice of his caufe, and imploring 
its affiftance to confound the infolence of his enemies. 
And hence the place was called by the Welfh Crocs Of¬ 
wald, Ofwald’s Crofs; but, by the Englifh, Ofwald's Tree, 
now OfweJlrij. Subfequently, when the great Offa con- 
ftrufted the barrier, ftill known by his name, Ofweftry 
flood between it and Watt’s Dyke, which ran parallel to 
the former, at the diftance of two miles. It was thus 
rendered a border-town, and hence was frequently the 
feene of conteft, firft between the Saxons and the Britons, 
and afterwards between the latter and the Normans. In 
1212 king John burnt both the town and caftle, which were 
then in the poffeffion of the Fitz-Alans, and plundered a 
part of Wales, on account of the refufal of Hewellin to 
join his ftandard in oppolition to Louis, the dauphin of 
France, who had been invited to England by the rebelli¬ 
ous barons. Ofweftry was likewife deftroyed by the Welfh 
prince called Llewellin the Great, in 1233. During this 
period it was encircled by a ftrong wall, which had four 
gates fronting the four cardinal points. Some traces of 
the wall ftill remain;-but the gates were entirely de- 
molifhed about the year 1769. Of the caftle, which flood 
on a high artificial mount at the weft fide of the town, 
only a few fragments now exift. Thefe, however, are 
fufficient to indicate its former prodigious ftrength, and 
confequent importance as a place of defence. 
In 1794, a large and handfome building was erefted 
within three quarters of a mile of the town, by virtue of 
an aft of parliament, for the relief and employment of 
the poor of that and eleven other neighbouring parifhes 
united therewith. They are reprefented at a weekly 
court, held every Monday at the houfe, by fixteen direc¬ 
tors, who are chofen out of, and elefted by, the guar¬ 
dians or houfeholders, of whom Ofweftry fends five, and 
each of the others one. The good effefts of the inftitu- 
tion are known from the reduction of the poor’s-rates, 
and the comfort which the aged poor find of cleanlinefs 
and plenty in this afylum. The youth of both fexes, 
and other paupers able to work, are ftimulated to in- 
duftry, by having allowed them for their own ufe one-fixth 
part of their earnings; fome being employed as tailors, 
ffioemakers, &c. See. and others in the woollen and other 
manufaftories. 
About a quarter of a mile nortli-eaft from Ofweftry is 
an ancient fortification called Old-Fort, which the Welfn 
L _ formerly 
