Part 44 (1/2)

CHARLES II., by _Ods fish_ [G.o.d's Flesh].

LOUIS XI. of France, by _G.o.d's Easter_.

CHARLES VIII. of France, by _G.o.d's Light_.

LOUIS XII., by _The Devil take me (Diable m'emporte)_.

The Chevalier BAYARD by _G.o.d's Holyday_.

FRANCOIS I. used for a.s.severation, _On the word of a gentleman_.

HENRY III. of England, when he confirmed ”Magna Charta,” used the expression, _On the word of a gentleman, a king and a knight_.

Earl of ANGUS (reign of Queen Mary), when incensed, used to say, _By the might of G.o.d_, but at other times his oath was _By St. Bride of Douglas_.--G.o.dscroft, 275.

ST. WINFRED or BONI'FACE used to swear by _St. Peter's tomb_.

In the reign of Charles II. fancy oaths were the fas.h.i.+on. (For specimens, see FOPPINGTON.)

The most common oath of the ancient Romans was _By Hercules_! for men; and _By Castor_! for women; _By Pollux_! for both.

Viri per _Herculem_, mulieres per _Castorem_, utrique per _Pollucem_ jurare soliti.--Gellius, _Noctes Attic_,[TN-44] ii. 6.

=Obad'don=, the angel of death. This is not the same angel as Abbad'ona, one of the fallen angels, and once the friend of Ab'diel (bk. vi.).

My name is Ephod Obaddon or Sevenfold Revenge. I am an angel of destruction. It was I who destroyed the first-born of Egypt. It was I who slew the army of Sennacherib.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, xiii. (1771).

=Obadi'ah=, ”the foolish fat scullion” in Sterne's novel of _Tristram Shandy_ (1759).

_Obadiah_, clerk to Justice Day. A nincomp.o.o.p, fond of drinking, but with just a shade more brains than Abel Day, who is ”a thorough a.s.s”

(act i. 1).--T. Knight, _The Honest Thieves_ (died 1820).

This farce is a mere _rechauffe_ of _The Committee_ (1670), a comedy by the Hon. Sir R. Howard, the names and much of the conversation being identical. Colonel Blunt is called in the farce ”Captain Manly.”

=Obadiah Prim=, a canting, knavish hypocrite; one of the four guardians of Anne Lovely, the heiress. Colonel Feignwell personates Simon Pure, and obtains the Quaker's consent to his marriage with Anne Lovely.--Mrs.

Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ (1717).

=Obermann=, the impersonation of high moral worth without talent, and the tortures endured by the consciousness of this defect.--Etienne Pivert de Sen'ancour, _Obermann_ (1804).

=Oberon=, king of the fairies, quarrelled with his wife, t.i.tania, about a ”changeling” which Oberon wanted for a page, but t.i.tania refused to give up. Oberon, in revenge, anointed her eyes in sleep with the extract of ”Love in Idleness,” the effect of which was to make the sleeper in love with the first object beheld on waking. t.i.tania happened to see a country b.u.mpkin, whom Puck had dressed up with an a.s.s's head. Oberon came upon her while she was fondling the clown, sprinkled on her an antidote, and she was so ashamed of her folly that she readily consented to give up the boy to her spouse for his page.--Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night's Dream_ (1592).