lished by Curll) scandal. His remarks on Pope's translation of Homer are very complimentary, but the following observations must have stung the sensitive poet to whom they were addressed:—"I dare not say anything of the Essay on Criticism in verse; but if any more curious reader has discovered in it something new which is not in Dryden's prefaces, dedications, and his Essay on Dramatic Poetry, not to mention the French critics, I should be very glad to have the benefit of the discovery." The writer's temerity was punished by those lines in the Dunciad (book ii., line 283), beginning:—
" In naked majesty Oldmixon stands,"
and ending,
" Who but to sink the deeper rose the higher."
Oldmixon's principal work was the "History of England," 3 vols., folio, 1730-35-39, of which hostility to the Stuart family is a notable feature. The author died in 1742.—R. H.
OLDYS, William, an eminent bibliographer, was the illegitimate son of William Oldys, LL.D., of doctors' commons, who, according to Captain Grose, treated both the mother and the son ungenerously. Deprived of both parents early in life, young William lived improvidently and acquired habits of indulgence that he never shook off. He obtained a situation in Lord Oxford's library, of which he afterwards became librarian, and of which he compiled the catalogue published by Osborne in 1743, as "Catalogus Bibliothecæ Harleianæ," 5 vols. 8vo. "Oldys," says Grose, who knew him personally, "seemed to have little classical learning, and knew nothing of the sciences; but for index reading, title-pages, and the knowledge of scarce English books and editions, he had no equal." He wrote a great deal for the booksellers, contributed to the Biographia Britannica several lives distinguished by the signature G., and translated Camden's Britannia. He was the first editor, too, of the collection of tracts known as the Harleian Miscellany, 8 vols. 4to, 1753. His name is best remembered by a useful and accurate work entitled "The British Librarian, exhibiting a compendious review of all unpublished and valuable books," 8vo, 1737. His life of Sir Walter Raleigh, prefixed to the History of the World, 1736, gained him much credit and the patronage of the duke of Norfolk, who appointed him Norroy-king-at-arms in 1756. He was a man of great good-nature, honour, and integrity, but much addicted to low company. His favourite place of resort was the Bell in the Old Bailey, no great distance from the college of Arms, whither he was led before midnight by a watchman whom he kept in his pay. His habits of life kept him very poor. He died on the 15th of April, 1761, and was buried in St. Bennet's church. Grose says he was about seventy-two years old, while other authorities give 1696 as the year of his birth. His method of composing was singular. He had a number of small parchment bags inscribed with the names of the persons whose lives he intended to write; into these bags he put every circumstance and anecdote he could collect, and from thence drew up his history.—(Grose's Olio; Watt's Biblioth.)—R. H.
OLIVAREZ, Gaspar Guzman, Count of, minister of Philip IV. of Spain, was born at Rome in 1587, being descended from one of the most ancient and noble families in Spain. He was educated at Salamanca, and became rector of that university, but on the death of his elder brother, he repaired to court and soon won the favour of Philip III., who sent him as ambassador to Rome, as well as of the infante, afterwards Philip IV. On the accession of the latter he succeeded to all the posts rendered vacant by the disgrace of the duke of Lerma, and taking advantage of the indolent character of the monarch, soon possessed himself of almost absolute power. His first step was to rid himself of all those whom he had reason to fear as rivals—among others, his uncle, Balthazar de Zuñiga. His administration was vigorous, and for a short time popular; useless offices were suppressed, and the lavish grants made to individuals by former monarchs were retrenched. But industry, commerce, and agriculture were suffered to decline. In foreign policy Olivarez had to contend with Cardinal Richelieu, and with the first duke of Buckingham, who accompanied Charles I. when prince of Wales in his romantic expedition to Madrid, as the suitor of the infanta of Spain. During his administration the power of Spain rapidly declined; although the Spanish arms were employed with honour in Italy, Germany, and Holland, the only result was to exhaust the treasury. The insurrection of Catalonia was the first blow to the reputation of Olivarez in Spain, and was quickly followed by the revolt of Portugal, and the proclamation of John IV. An attempted insurrection in Andalusia was promptly crushed, but the unpopularity resulting from all these events compelled the king to dismiss his favourite (1643). It is probable that he might soon have been recalled, had he not published a memoir full of calumnies against the queen, in consequence of which he was banished to Toro. He did not long survive his disgrace, but died 20th July, 1645.—F. M. W.
OLIVECRANTZ, John Paulin, considered by the Swedes one of their best Latin poets, son of the archbishop of Upsal, was born at Strengues in 1633. Appointed secretary of legation to Frankfort in 1658, he was afterwards sent ambassador to Nimeguen to assist in negotiations for peace, and in 1680 he was made governor of Revel and supreme judge of Gothland. Queen Christina, of whose council he was a member and by whom he was appointed governor of the royal domains, corresponded with him after her abdication, and endeavoured to persuade him to follow her to Rome. He died in 1707.
OLIVER, Isaac, a distinguished miniature painter, was born in England of a French family, probably in 1555-56, and was the pupil of Hilliard and of Zucchero; he died in London in 1617. Oliver painted most of the royal personages and high nobility of his time in England; but his miniatures are nevertheless scarce. Mr. Robert Holford possesses some of the finest e xamples. Some of his works are executed in oil colours.—His son, Peter Oliver, was equally excellent in the same art; he was born about 1594, and died about 1654. He was his father's assistant, and several miniatures are their joint productions. Miss Burdett Coutts possesses a beautiful small copy of Vandyck's portrait of Sir Kenelm Digby, his wife, and two sons, by Peter, which she purchased at the Strawberry Hill sale in 1842 for two hundred and thirty guineas. See Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Wornum, 1849, vol. i., where are lists and prices of the works of these painters, with portraits of both—Oliver, after himself; Peter, after Vandyck.—R. N. W.
OLIVER of Malmesbury was, according to Bale, a monk of Malmesbury, and a contemporary of Gerland, the earliest known writer in England on mathematical science after the Norman conquest, and who is said to have observed an eclipse of the sun in 1086. According to the same authority, Oliver of Malmesbury was so profound a mathematician that his contemporaries regarded him as a magician; and he was the author of three works, "Astrologorum Dogmata," "De Planetarum Signis," and "De Geomantia." "There are at present," says the sceptical Mr. Thomas Wright (Biographia Britannica Literaria), "no traces of such works having ever existed."—F. E.
OLIVET, Joseph Thoulier d', a French litterateur, was born of respectable parentage at Salins, 1st April, 1682, and was educated by the jesuits. Mingling in Parisian literary society, he took an active part in the controversy then raging with respect to the relative merits of ancient and modern literature, warmly advocating the claims of the former. He left the Society of the Jesuits about 1714, and in 1723 was elected a member of the Academy. He attained the great age of eighty-six, and died 8th October, 1768. His chief work was his edition of Cicero in nine volumes, Paris, 1740-42. His translations of Cicero are amongst the best in the French language, though wanting in closeness and precision. Olivet wrote a continuation of Pelisson's History of the French Academy.—W. J. P.
OLIVETAN, Pierre Robert, author of the first French protestant version of the Bible, was born at Noyon, the birthplace of Calvin, to whom he was related. Little is known of the incidents of his life. In 1533 he appears at Geneva as a tutor in the family of a rich citizen, and a zealous supporter of the Reformation. Banished as such by the magistrates, he repaired to Neufchâtel, where, at the request of the Waldenses, he occupied himself with executing a translation of the scriptures into French. The Waldenses paid the cost of the work; after the completion of which he visited the Waldensian valleys, from whence he proceeded to Ferrara, where he died in 1538. In the execution of his version he used the aid of the translation published at Antwerp by Lefevre d'Etaple. Calvin also, it is probable, assisted him in the work; he at least accompanied it with an epistle addressed to the princes and peoples of Christendom. The first edition appeared at Neufchâtel in 1535 in folio. After being improved by Calvin, this translation, which was in the first instance designed for the Waldensians alone, was accepted by the protestants of France.—P. L.
