O’SHAUGHNESSY, ARTHUR WILLIAM EDGAR (1844-1881).—­Poet, b. in London, entered the library of the British Museum, afterwards being transferred to the natural history department, where he became an authority on fishes and reptiles.  He pub. various books of poetry, including Epic of Women (1870), Lays of France (1872), and Music and Moonlight (1874).  Jointly with his wife he wrote Toyland, a book for children.  He was associated with D.G.  Rossetti and the other pre-Raphaelites.  There is a certain remoteness in his poetry which will probably always prevent its being widely popular.  He has a wonderful mastery of metre, and a “haunting music” all his own.

OTWAY, CAESAR (1780-1842).—­Writer of Irish tales.  His writings, which display humour and sympathy with the poorer classes in Ireland, include Sketches in Ireland (1827), and A Tour in Connaught (1839).  He was concerned in the establishment of various journals.

OTWAY, THOMAS (1651 or 1652-1685).—­Dramatist, s. of a clergyman, was b. near Midhurst, Sussex, and ed. at Oxf., which he left without graduating.  His short life, like those of many of his fellows, was marked by poverty and misery, and he appears to have d. practically of starvation.  Having failed as an actor, he took to writing for the stage, and produced various plays, among which Don Carlos, Prince of Spain (1676), was a great success, and brought him some money.  Those by which he is best remembered, however, are The Orphan (1680), and Venice Preserved (1682), both of which have been frequently revived.  O. made many adaptations from the French, and in his tragedy of Caius Marius incorporated large parts of Romeo and Juliet.  He has been called “the most pathetic and tear-drawing of all our dramatists,” and he excelled in delineating the stronger passions.  The grossness of his comedies has banished them from the stage.  Other plays are The Cheats of Scapin, Friendship in Fashion, Soldier’s Fortune (1681), and The Atheist.

OUIDA, (see RAMEE).

OUTRAM, GEORGE (1805-1856).—­Humorous poet, was a Scottish advocate, a friend of Prof.  Wilson, and for some time ed. of the Glasgow Herald.  He printed privately in 1851 Lyrics, Legal and Miscellaneous, which were pub. with a memoir in 1874.  Many of his pieces are highly amusing, the Annuity being the best.

OVERBURY, SIR THOMAS (1581-1613).—­Poet and miscellaneous writer, ed. at Oxf., became the friend of Carr, afterwards Earl of Rochester and Somerset, and fell a victim to a Court intrigue connected with the proposed marriage of Rochester and Lady Essex, being poisoned in the Tower with the connivance of the latter.  He wrote a poem, A Wife, now a Widowe, and Characters (1614), short, witty descriptions of types of men.  Some of those pub. along with his are by other hands.