38 
O S Y 
former!}'denominated Llys-Ogran, or Caer-Ogran; that 
is, Ogran’s Palace, or Strong Hold. It confilts of three 
deep entrenchments, encircling a natural eminence, hav¬ 
ing a fudden afcent on all tides. Beyond this Hand 
the venerable ruins of Whittingham-caftle, which was 
built more than a century before the Conqueft, and after 
that event became-a baronial refidence of the Montgome¬ 
ries, the Peverelis, and the Fitz-guarines. The fituation 
of this caftle is extremely piCturefque; its eaftern walls 
being w a tired by a fine lake, (haded with large old oaks, 
and having a (mall iflet in its centre, covered with tall 
wych-elms and ath-trees. 
Knockin-caftle, about five miles from Ofweftry, was 
built by lord Leftrange or Strange, and continued in the 
poffeffion of his family till the reign of Edward IV. when 
itpaffed into the family of the Stanleys, earls of Derby. 
The village here had formerly a market and fairs, and 
was a place of confiderable importance. 
Chirk-caftle, on the confines of Denbighfhire, Hands on 
the life of a more ancient fortrefs, called Caltell Crogen, 
which was demolifhed in the reign of Edward I. and the 
prefent ftruCture ereCted in its Head by Roger Mortimer. 
In the time of the civil wars between king Charles and 
his parliament, this caltle was the property of fir Thomas 
Middleton, the celebrated parliamentary general, whofe 
defendants, by the female line, dill poflefs it. It is a 
fquare building, (lengthened at the angles by mafiy baf- 
tion-like towers, and having a court in the centre. A 
pidlure-galiery in this edifice contains a large collection 
of portraits. Beauties of England and Wales, vol. xiii. 
Wilkes's Britijh DireElonj, vol. iv. 
OSWIEC'ZIN, a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 
Cracow, on the Viftula: thirty-two miles weft of Cracow. 
OSYMAN'DIAS, an Egyptian king, and the firfl mo¬ 
narch who formed a library. He cauled a coloffal ftatue 
of himfelf to be ereCted, on which was this infcription : 
“ lam Ofymandias, king of kings ; whoever will difpute 
this title with me, let him furpafs my works.” For a 
defcription of fome of thefe, fee the article Egypt, vol. 
vi. p. 292. Thefe works muft indeed give us a (triking af- 
furance of the progrefs which had been made in the arts 
at that time; whether he lived, as fome have thought, 
the immediate fucceffor of the firll Bufiris, which was 
fomewhat later than the period of Semiramis ; or, as 
others have conceived, fubfequent to Sefoftris, which 
would be four hundred years later. Diodorus Siculus, 
who defcribes the llupendous edifices, fays nothing of the 
age in which Ofymandias lived ; every opinion, there¬ 
fore, on that point muft be conjecture. We (hall only 
remark, that there is nothing in the works of art in that 
edifice which (hould appear too much for the earlieft age 
in which that monarch has been placed, when we look 
back to what was done of that kind in a period full as 
early by Semiramis in Aflyria. Bromley's Hi ft. of the Fine 
Arts, vol. i. 
OSY'RIS, f. [oerygts of Diofcorides, which he defcribes 
as “ a fmall (lirub, with numerous dark tough branches 
fo that profeffor Martyn’s conjectural derivation of the 
name from o£o?, a branch, is very probably juft.] In bo¬ 
tany, a genus of the clafs dioecia, order triandria, natural 
order of calyciflorae, (elaeagni, Juft.) Generic characters— 
I. Male. Calyx: perianthium one-leaved, trifid, turbinate ; 
fegments equal, ovate, acute. Corolla : -none, except a 
triple nectariferous rim. Stamina : filaments three, very 
(hort j anthers roundidi, fmall. II. Female. Calyx: pe¬ 
rianthium as in the male, fuperior, permanent, very fmall. 
Corolla: none, as in the male. Piftillum: germ turbi¬ 
nate, inferior; (tyle the length of the ftamens ; ftigma 
three-parted, Spreading, (roundidi, Sift .) Periatythium : 
berry globular, one-celled, umbilicated. Seeds bony, 
globular, filling the pericarp.— Eftential Character. Male. 
Calyx trifidcorolla none. Female. Stigma roundidi; 
drupe one-celled, berry dry, umbilicated. 
1. Ofyris alba, poet’s cafia, orgarderobe : leaves linear. 
This is a very low (hrub, Seldom rifing above two feet 
OTA 
high, having woody branches. Leaves long, narrow, of 
a bright colour. Flowers of a yellowifh colour; fuc- 
ceeded by berries, which atfirft are green, and afterwards 
turn to a bright-red colour, like thofe of afparagus. Sco- 
poli obferved rudiments of ftyles and a germ in the male 
plant; and afks why it has the epithet o i alba, or white, 
when the calyxes, and almoft the whole plant, are yellow. 
Linnasus remarks, that the female fnouid rather be called 
an hermaphrodite, fince it has Itamens, although it is 
barren without the male. Native of France, Spain, Italy, 
Carniola, and Mount Libanus. Cultivated in 1739 by 
Mr. Miller. 
2. Ofyris Japonica, or Japnnefe ofyris: leaves ovate, 
floriferous. Stem (hrubby, tubercled, a fathom high. 
Branches alternate, upright, finooth. Leaves alternate, 
frequent at the ends of the branches, fmooth on both 
fides, unequal, an inch long and more. Petioles one- 
third of the length of the leaves. Flowers from the mid¬ 
rib of the upper furface of the leaves in umbels, maieand 
female on diftinCt fhrubs ; umbels fimple, with about 
eight flowers without an involucre. Perhaps this may form 
a new genus ; but, the female flowers being yet unknown, 
it cannot be fettled fatisfaCtorily. The leaves are Did to 
be eaten in Japan, where it is a native. 
Propagation and Culture. This plant grows by the fide 
of roads, asalfo between rocks, and is with great difficulty 
tra-nSplanted into gardens ; nor does it thrive after being- 
removed ; fo that the only method to obtain this plant 
is, to fovv the berries where they are to remain. Thefe 
berries commonly remain a year in the ground before the 
plants appear, and fometimes they will lie two or three 
years ; fo that the ground flioukl not be difturbed under 
three years, if the plants do not come up Sooner. Thefe 
feeds muft be procured from the places where the plants 
naturally grow, for thofe which have been brought into 
gardens never produce any, and it is with great difficulty 
they are preferved alive. See Antirrhinum, Chenopo- 
dium, Chrysocoma, Kippophae, and Nitraria. 
OSY'RIS, in mythology. See Osiris,, p. 1. 
OSZ'MIANA, or Oschmiana, a town of Lithuania, 
in the palatinate of Wilna, the principal place of a dif- 
triCl, where provincial diets and juftice-courts are held : 
twenty-eight miles fouth-eaft of Wilna. 
OTABA'LO, a jurifdi&ion of South America, in 
the province of Quito, connected on the Couth with 
that of San Miguel de Ibarra. The lands are laid out in 
plantations, and produce great quantities of lugar. The 
Indians in the villages, and alfo thofe who are indepen¬ 
dent, manufacture great variety of cottons ; viz. carpets, 
pavilions for beds, quilts in damafk-work, either white, 
blue, or variegated with different colours ; all which are 
highly valued in the provinces of Quito and Peru, where 
they are difpofed of to great advantage. The wheat and 
barley are fown here, like Indian corn, in little holes,- a 
foot diftant from each other, into each of which are 
dropped five or fix grains ; and they generally reap above 
a hundred-fold. This jurifdi&ion abounds with horfes 
and black cattle ; and from the milk of the latter large 
quantities of cheefe are made. The fertility of the coun¬ 
try is very much promoted by a great number of rivulets. 
Its flocks of flieep are alfo numerous, though they feem 
to be negleCted by the inhabitants.-—The principal place 
in this jurifdiCtion is Otabalo, which is fo large and 
populous, that it is faid to contain 18,000 or 20,000 per¬ 
sons. It is thirty mile? north of Quito. Lat. o. 15. N. 
Ion. 77. 56. W. 
OTACOU'STIC, adj. [from the Gn tor a, ears, and 
cty.nio, to hear.] Belonging to the fenfe of hearing. 
OTACOU'STIC, or Otacousticon, ft An in- 
ftrument to facilitate hearing.—Not vouchsafing to fee 
or hear any thing but by perfpeCtives and otacouftics. 
Hammond. —In a hare, which is very quick of hearing, it 
is fupplied with a bony tube ; which, as a natural ota- 
cotiftic, is fo directed backward as to receive the fmalleft 
and molt diftant found that comes behind her. Grew's 
Cofmol: 
