O’DONNELL, LEOPOLD, Spanish soldier and politician, born, of Irish descent, at Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe; entered the army, and attached himself to the cause of Queen Isabella, on whose emergence from her minority in 1843 he was made Governor of Cuba; there he enriched himself by trading in slaves, and returning to Spain threw himself into politics; he joined Espartero’s cabinet in 1854, and two years later supplanted him as chief minister; he commanded in the Moorish war of 1858, and was created Duke of Tetuan after the capture of that city; he was again Prime Minister till 1866, and died in exile at Bayonne (1809-1867).

ODYSSEY, an epic poem by Homer relating the ten years’ wanderings of Ulysses (Odysseus) after the fall of Troy, and his return at the end of them to his native kingdom of Ithaca.  See ULYSSES.

OECOLAMPADIUS, JOANNES, one of the leaders of the Reformation, born at Weinsberg, in Wuertemberg; became preacher at Basel, assisted Erasmus in his edition of the New Testament, entered a convent at Augsburg, came under Luther’s influence and adopted the reformed doctrine, of which he became a preacher and professor, embraced in particular the views of Zwingli (1482-1531).

OEDIPUS, a mythological king of Thebes, son of Laius and Jocasta, and fated to kill his father and marry his mother; unwittingly slew his father in a quarrel; for answering the riddle of the SPHINX (q. v.) was made king in his stead, and wedded his widow, by whom he became the father of four children; on discovery of the incest Jocasta hanged herself, and Oedipus went mad and put out his eyes.

OEHLENSCHLAeGER, ADAM GOTTLOB, great Danish poet, born at Copenhagen; his poems first brought him into notice and secured him a travelling pension, which he made use of to form acquaintanceship with such men as Goethe and his literary confreres in Germany, during which time he commenced that series of tragedies on northern subjects on which his fame chiefly rests, which include “Hakon Jarl,” “Correggio,” “Palnatoke,” &c.; his fame, which is greatest in the North, has spread, for he ranks among the Danes as Goethe among the Germans, and his death was felt by the whole nation (1779-1850).

OEHLER, GUSTAV, learned German theologian, professor at Tuebingen, eminent for his studies and writings on the Old Testament (1812-1872).

OEIL-DE-BOEUF, a large reception-room in the palace of Versailles, lighted by a window so called (ox-eye it means), and is the name given in French history to the French Court, particularly during the Revolution period.

OELAND (37), an island off the SE. coast of Sweden, 55 m. long and about 10 m. broad; has good pasture ground, and yields alum; the fisheries good.

OENONE, a nymph of Mount Ida, near Troy, beloved by and married to Paris, but whom he forsook for Helen; is the subject of one of Tennyson’s poems.

OERSTED, HANS CHRISTIAN, a Danish physicist; was professor of Physics in Copenhagen, the discoverer of electro-magnetism, of the compressibility of water, and the metal aluminium; did much to popularise science in a volume entitled “The Soul in Nature” (1777-1851).