influential officer under Attila. After the defeat and death of his father in 463, Odoacer for a time led the life of a bandit chief in Noricum and Pannonia. But by the advice, it is said, of St. Severinus, he afterwards went to Rome and joined the imperial guard. There his courage soon raised him to honourable rank; and in 475, when the foreign mercenaries with which Italy was overrun, dissatisfied with the terms on which Orestes wished to purchase their consent to the succession of his son Augustulus, broke into open rebellion, Odoacer was unanimously chosen to be their leader. A war ensued, the result of which was the defeat and death of Orestes. Augustulus, his son, was banished to Campania, and Odoacer assumed the supremacy of Italy, with the title of king, in 476. He settled at Ravenna, and one of his first acts of government was to bestow a third of the soil of Italy on the followers by means of whom he had been elevated to the throne. The reign of Odoacer was in many respects a prosperous one. His rule was firm, but generally just and prudent. He restored the consulship, which was held in his reign by more than one man of honourable character. Under him Dalmatia was again added to the empire, and the Rugians were reduced to subjection. But in 489 the Goths invaded Italy under the famous Theodoric; and Odoacer, after a brave resistance, was at length completely defeated. After losing battles on the Sontius and the Adige, he met the invaders with better fortune at Ravenna; but the tide of war again turned, and he was defeated on the Adda in 490. After this he held the city of Ravenna for three years; and at the end of that period an agreement was entered into by which Theodoric and he were to reign jointly. But as soon as Odoacer placed himself in the power of the Goth, he was treacherously put to death in 493.—D. M.
O'DONNELL, Leopoldo, a Spanish general and statesman, was born on the 12th January, 1809, at Sta.-Cruz de Tenerife. He was descended from an illustrious Irish family, some notable members of which were driven into exile from their fidelity to the Stuarts. Both in Austria and in Spain the O'Donnells rose to political influence and military renown. Leopoldo's father, the count of Abispal, fought in the war of Independence against Napoleon. The son entered the army at a very early age. In the civil war which raged in Spain from 1833 till 1840, and which ended in the utter annihilation of the Carlists, O'Donnell sided with the adherents of the young queen, though not from political attachment or conviction, but simply from the calculations of the soldier of fortune. He rapidly obtained promotion, alike by his energy, intrepidity, valour, and skill, and by the generous aid, the warm commendations and recommendations of Espartero. He was several times wounded, and once so dangerously that he had to retire from active service for a year. Not long before the conclusion of the war O'Donnell defeated at Lucena the Carlist general, Cabrera. For this victory he was created Count of Lucena. In October, 1841, conspiring against his benefactor Espartero, and in favour of the queen-mother, Christina, O'Donnell seized the citadel, and bombarded with unprovoked ferocity the city of Pampeluna. Two years he now spent at Paris, plotting with other unscrupulous adventurers Espartero's downfall. When this event took place O'Donnell, as the reward for ingratitude and perfidy, was appointed governor-general of Cuba, where his cruelty was only surpassed by his rapacity. Enormously rich, he returned to Spain early in 1848. O'Donnell now engaged in one conspiracy after another, coquetting with all parties, undermining all parties. He had once to hide for many months, to escape the vengeance of the government. An insurrection in 1854, principally planned by O'Donnell, upset the administration; but when O'Donnell expected to be raised to the chief place, the national cry for Espartero arose. Under the premiership of Espartero O'Donnell accepted the office of minister of war. The two generals appeared to act with the completest cordiality; but Espartero, prompt and daring in the battlefield, was irresolute and incapable in the cabinet, and was no match for the intriguing and ambitious O'Donnell. In the summer of 1856 Espartero was again driven from power; and O'Donnell succeeded him, though only for a moment, having in his turn to give way to Narvaez. The latter kept his position till the autumn of 1857, when some transitory ministries followed. O'Donnell's hour of triumph at last arrived. At the end of June, 1858, he formed a ministry more stable than its predecessors. Memorable events marked the ascendancy gained by him—the war with Morocco in 1859 and 1860, in which, as commander-in-chief, he vanquished an enemy brave but ill-disciplined and ill-organized; the expedition to St. Domingo; and the occupation of Mexico by Spanish troops. For his victories in Morocco O'Donnell was made Duke of Tetuan. It cannot be denied that though he was a man whom, on account of his treachery and tergiversation, it is impossible to esteem, he had more of the qualities of the statesman than Espartero, Narvaez, or any other conspicuous Spaniard of that period. Under him the internal resources of Spain were considerably developed; and if his foreign policy had only a show of vigour, little else could be expected of a country politically rotten to the core. It may also be added that O'Donnell was not more unprincipled than Spanish statesmen generally. He died on the 5th November, 1867.—W. M—l.
O'DONOVAN, John, LL.D., M.R.I.A., the greatest Celtic scholar of his age, was born in the county of Kilkenny in Ireland, on the 26th July, 1809. His father, who was a respectable farmer, having died in 1817, the education and care of John devolved upon his paternal uncle Patrick, a man of some scholarship, who had travelled in foreign countries. He was first intended for the priesthood, but abandoned the idea; and, going to Dublin in 1826, he applied himself to the study of history and philology, commencing in 1828 a grammatical work on the Irish language, and in the same year he was employed in the Irish Record Commission. Shortly after this he was brought under the notice of Lieutenant (now Sir Thomas) Larcom, then one of the chief conductors of the great ordnance survey of Ireland. O'Donovan's great abilities and profound knowledge of Irish language and history were at once appreciated, and, on the death of Edmund O'Reilly in 1830, he was engaged under Dr. Petrie in the topographical department of the survey. He now devoted himself to those labours which have conferred such lasting benefits on the student of the history, language, and topography of Ireland. Besides completing a translation of the chronology and topography contained in "The Annals of the Four Masters," he from time to time gave to the public various articles on Irish literature, history, and antiquities, visiting almost every portion of the country, and acquiring an amount of knowledge of traditions, dialects, and localities never equalled by any other person. Besides many valuable publications for the Archæological and Celtic Societies, O'Donovan published in 1845 his "Grammar of the Irish Language," the first scientific and really valuable work that has appeared on the subject. In 1848 appeared the three first volumes, 4to, of his great work "The Annals of the Four Masters," which was completed in 1851 by two volumes more. The scholarship and industry of O'Donovan were now fully recognized throughout Europe. Trinity college, Dublin, conferred on him an honorary degree of doctor of laws; the Royal Irish Academy conferred their gold medal upon him; while the Royal Academy of Science at Berlin elected him an honorary member. The British government subsequently granted him a pension of £50 per annum. He was also elected professor of Celtic languages in the Queen's college, Belfast; and was engaged under "the Brehore Law" commission up to the time of his death, which took place in Dublin on the 9th December, 1861. The labours of O'Donovan are as extensive as they are important, and he has contributed more than any man to obtain for native Irish learning a recognized and important position in the literature of the world. "Amongst the great scholars of the world," observes a writer to whom we are much indebted for our information, "there never was one more disinterestedly attached to learning for its own sake than O'Donovan. His vast accumulated philological, topographical, and archæological knowledge was always cheerfully placed at the disposal of inquirers, and his gratuitous contributions to journals specially devoted to these subjects were numerous and invaluable." We are proud to reckon the name of Dr. O'Donovan among those of the contributors to the Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography.—J. F. W.
ODORICO da Pordenone (Oderico di Portenan), beatified in the Roman calendar, missionary and author, born at Pordenone, Friuli, about 1286; died in his convent at Udine, 14th January, 1331. Having entered the order of Minors, and zealously followed after perfection, his spirit was stirred within him to preach the gospel to the heathen. For sixteen years, as is believed, he journeyed in Asia, passing through Armenia and Persia, reaching Malabar, entering China, visiting the dominions of Prester John, finally penetrating into Thibet. In 1330 he returned to Italy, and subsequently, by order of his superiors, dictated a narrative of his travels, which has come down to us
