the borders of Wales, 18 m. N.W. from Shrewsbury. Pop. (1901) 9579. It is on a branch from the Chester line of the Great Western railway, and on the Cambrian main line. The situation is pleasant and the neighbouring district well wooded and hilly. The church of St Oswald, originally conventual, is Early English and Decorated, but has been greatly altered by restoration. There is a Roman Catholic chapel with presbytery, convent and school. The grammar school, founded in the reign of Henry IV., occupies modern buildings. The municipal buildings (1893) include a library, and a school of science and art. On a hill W. of the town are the castle grounds, laid out in 1890, but of the castle itself only slight remains are seen. The Cambrian railway engine and carriage works are here; and there are tanneries, malting works, machinery works and iron foundries. Frequent agricultural fairs are held. The town is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 1887 acres.

Old Oswestry, also called Old Fort (Welsh Hên Dinas), is a British earthwork about a mile from the modern town. There are various unsatisfactory accounts of the early history of Oswestry (Blaneminster, or Album Monasterium), as that it was called Trer Cadeirau by the Britons and Osweiling after Cunelda Wledig, prince of North Wales, had granted it to his son Osweil. It derives its present name from Oswald, king of Northumbria, who is said to have been killed here in 642, although it was not definitely known as Oswestry until the 13th century. In the Domesday Survey it is included in the manor of Maesbury, which Rainald, sheriff of Shropshire, held of Roger, earl of Shrewsbury; but Rainald or his predecessor Warin had already raised a fortification at Oswestry called Louvre. The manor passed in the reign of Henry I. to Alan Fitz-Flaad, in whose family it continued until the death of Henry Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, without male issue in 1580. The first charter, of which a copy only is preserved among the corporation records, is one given in 1262 by John Fitzalan granting the burgesses self-government. Richard II. by a charter dated 1398 granted all the privileges which belonged to Shrewsbury, and a similar charter, was obtained from Thomas, earl of Arundel in 1407. The town was incorporated by Elizabeth in 1582 under the government of two bailiffs and a common council of 24 burgesses, and her charter was confirmed by James I. in 1616. A charter granted by Charles II. in 1672 appointed a mayor, 12 aldermen and 15 common councilmen, and remained the governing charter until the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 changed the corporation. In 1228 John Fitzalan obtained the right of holding a market every week on Monday instead of Thursday. The market rights were held by the lord of the manor until 1819, when Earl Powis sold them to the corporation. In the 15th and 16th centuries a weekly market was held at Oswestry for the sale of woollen goods manufactured in North Wales, but in the 17th century the drapers of Shrewsbury determined to get the trade into their own town, and although an Order in the Privy Council was passed to restrain it to Oswestry they agreed in 1621 to buy no more cloth there. The town was walled by the time of Edward I., but was several times burnt during Welsh invasions. In 1642 it was garrisoned for Charles I., but two years later surrendered to the parliamentary forces.

See William Cathrall, The History of Oswestry (1855); William Price, The History of Oswestry from the Earliest Period (1815); Victoria County History, Shropshire.

daughter, Osthryth, became the wife of Ethelred, third son of the same king. Oswio was chiefly responsible for the reconversion of the East Saxons. He is said to have convinced their king Sigeberht of the truth of Christianity by his arguments, and at his request sent Cedd, a brother of Ceadda, on a mission to Essex. In 655 he was attacked by Penda, and, after an unsuccessful attempt to buy him off, defeated and slew the Mercian king at the battle of the Winwaed. He then took possession of part of Mercia, giving the rest to Peada. As a thank-offering he dedicated his daughter Elfled to the Church, and founded the monastery of Whitby. About this time he is thought by many to have obtained some footing in the kingdom of the Picts in succession to their king Talorcan, the son of his brother Eanfrid. In 660 he married his son Ecgfrith to Æthelthryth, daughter of the East Anglian king Anna. In 664 at the synod of Whitby, Oswio accepted the usages of the Roman Church, which led to the departure of Colman and the appointment of Wilfrid as bishop of York. Oswio died in 670 and was succeeded by his son Ecgfrith.

See Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, ii., iii., iv., v., edited by C. Plummer (Oxford, 1896); Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, edited by Earle and Plummer (Oxford, 1899).

OTHMAN (c. 574-656), in full OTHMAN IBN 'AFFAN, the third of the Mahommedan caliphs, a kinsman and son-in-law of Mahomet and cousin of Abu Sofian, whose son Moawiya became the first of the Omayyad dynasty. He was elected caliph in succession to Omar in 644, but owing to his alternate weakness and cruelty and his preference of the Koreish for all responsible positions irrespective of their capacity, he produced strife throughout the empire which culminated in his assassination by Mahommed, son of Abu Bekr. He was succeeded by Ali (q.v.). See CALIPHATE, A. § 3.

OTHNIEL, in the Bible, a clan settled at Debir or Kirjathsepher in S. Palestine (Judg. i. 12 sqq., Josh. xv. 16 sqq., contrast Josh. x. 38 seq.), described as the "brother of Caleb. The name appears in Judg. iii. 7-11 (see JUDGES), as that of a hero who delivered Israel from a North Syrian king. That a king from the Euphrates who had subjugated Canaan should have been defeated by a clan of the south of Palestine has been doubted. There is no evidence of such a situation, and it has been conjectured that Cushan-Rishathaim (the name suggests "C. of double wickedness "!) of Aram (7) has arisen from some king (cp. Husham, Gen. xxxvi. 34) or clan (cp. Cush, Num. xii. 1; Cushan, Hab. iii. 7) of Edom () to the south or south-east of Palestine. Othniel recurs in 1 Chron. iv. 13.

See A. Klostermann, Gesch. d. Volkes Israel (1896), p. 122; Cheyne, Ency. Bib. col. 969 seq. and references; also the literature to JUDGES. OTHO, MARCUS SALVIUS (32-69), Roman emperor from the 15th of January to the 15th of April A.D. 69, was born on the 28th of April A.D. 32. He belonged to an ancient and noble Etruscan family settled at Ferentinum in Etruria. He appears first as one of the most reckless and extravagant of the young nobles who surrounded Nero. But his friendship with Nero was brought to an abrupt close in 58, when Otho refused to divorce his beautiful wife Poppea Sabina at the bidding of Nero, who at once appointed him governor of the remote province of Lusitania. Here Otho remained ten years, and his administration was marked by a moderation unusual at the time. When in 68 his neighbour Galba, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, rose OSWIO (c. 612-670), king of Northumbria, son of Æthelfrith in revolt against Nero, Otho accompanied him to Rome. and brother of Oswald, whom he succeeded in Bernicia in 642 ment at the treatment he had received from Nero may have after the battle of Maserfeld, was the seventh of the great impelled him to this course, but to this motive was added before English kings enumerated by Bede. He succeeded in making long that of personal ambition. Galba was far advanced in the majority of the Britons, Picts and Scots tributary to him. years, and Otho, encouraged by the predictions of astrologers, At Gilling in 651 he caused the murder of Oswine, a relative aspired to succeed him. But in January 69 his hopes were of Edwin, who had become king of Deira, and a few years dissipated by Galba's formal adoption of L. Calpurnius Piso as the later took possession of that kingdom. He appears to have fittest man to succeed him. Nothing remained for Otho but to consolidated his power by the aid of the Church and by a series strike a bold blow. Desperate as was the state of his finances, of judicious matrimonial alliances. It was probably in 642 that thanks to his previous extravagance, he found money to purchase he married Eanfled, daughter of Edwin, thus uniting the two the services of some three-and-twenty soldiers of the praetorian rival dynasties of Northumbria. His daughter Alhfled he guard. On the morning of January 15, five days only after the married to Peada, son of Penda, king of Mercia, while another | adoption of Piso, Otho attended as usual to pay his respects to

Resent

of a formidable force-the Dalmatian legions had already reached
Aquileia; and the spirit of his soldiers and their officers was un-
broken. But he was resolved to accept the verdict of the battle
which his own impatience had hastened. In a dignified speech
he bade farewell to those about him, and then retiring to rest slept
soundly for some hours. Early in the morning he stabbed him-
self to the heart with a dagger which he had concealed under his
pillow, and died as his attendants entered the tent. His funeral
was celebrated at once, as he had wished, and not a few of his
soldiers followed their master's example by killing themselves
at his pyre. A plain tomb was erected in his honour at Brixellum,
with the simple inscription "Diis Manibus Marci Othonis."
At the time of his death (the 15th of April 69) he was in his
thirty-eighth year, and had reigned just three months. In all his
life nothing became him so well as his manner of leaving it, but
the fortitude he then showed, even if it was not merely the courage
of despair, cannot blind us to the fact that he was little better than
a reckless and vicious spendthrift, who was not the less dangerous
because his fiercer passions were concealed beneath an affectation
of effeminate dandyism.
(H. F. P.)

the emperor, and then hastily excusing himself on the score | Brixellum by the news of the battle. Otho was still in command of private business hurried from the Palatine to meet his accomplices. By them he was escorted to the praetorian camp, where, after a few moments of surprise and indecision, he was saluted imperator. With an imposing force he returned to the Forum, and at the foot of the Capitol encountered Galba, who, alarmed by vague rumours of treachery, was making his way through a dense crowd of wondering citizens towards the barracks of the guard. The cohort on duty at the Palatine, which had accompanied the emperor, instantly deserted him, Galba, Piso and others were brutally murdered by the praetorians. The brief struggle over, Otho returned in triumph to the camp, and on the same day was duly invested by the senators with the name of Augustus, the tribunician power and the other dignities belonging to the principate. Otho had owed his success, not only to the resentment felt by the praetorian guards at Galba's well-meant attempts to curtail their privileges in the interests of discipline, but also largely to the attachment felt in Rome for the memory of Nero; and his first acts as emperor showed that he was not unmindful of the fact. He accepted,or appeared to accept, the cognomen of Nero conferred upon him by the shouts of the populace, whom his comparative youth and the effeminacy of his appearance reminded of their lost favourite. Nero's statues were again set up, his freedmen and household officers reinstalled, and the intended completion of the Golden House announced. At the same time the fears of the more sober and respectable citizens were allayed by Otho's liberal professions of his intention to govern equitably, and by his judicious clemency towards Marius Celsus, consul-designate, a devoted adherent of Galba.

But any further development of Otho's policy was checked by the news which reached Rome shortly after his accession, that the army in Germany had declared for Vitellius, the commander of the legions on the lower Rhine, and was already advancing upon Italy. After in vain attempting to conciliate Vitellius by the offer of a share in the empire, Otho, with unexpected vigour, prepared for war. From the remoter provinces, which had acquiesced in his accession, little help was to be expected; but the legions of Dalmatia, Pannonia and Moesia were eager in his cause, the praetorian cohorts were in themselves a formidable force and an efficient fleet gave him the mastery of the Italian seas. The fleet was at once despatched to secure Liguria, and on the 14th of March Otho, undismayed by omens and prodigies, started northwards at the head of his troops in the hopes of preventing the entry of the Vitellian troops into Italy. But for this he was too late, and all that could be done was to throw troops into Placentia and hold the line of the Po. Otho's advanced guard successfully defended Placentia against Alienus Caecina, and compelled that general to fall back on Cremona. But the arrival of Fabius Valens altered the aspect of affairs. The Vitellian commanders now resolved to bring on a decisive battle, and their designs were assisted by the divided and irresolute counsels which prevailed in Otho's camp. The more experienced officers urged the importance of avoiding a battle, until at least the legions from Dalmatia had arrived. But the rashness of the emperor's brother Titianus and of Proculus, prefect of the praetorian guards, added to Otho's feverish impatience, overruled all opposition, and an immediate advance was decided upon, Otho himself remaining behind with a considerable reserve force at Brixellum, on the southern bank of the Po. When this decision was taken the Othonian forces had already crossed the Po and were encamped at Bedriacum (or Betriacum), a small village on the Via Postumia, and on the route by which the legions from Dalmatia would naturally arrive. Leaving a strong detachment to hold the camp at Bedriacum, the Othonian forces advanced along the Via Postumia in the direction of Cremona. At a short distance from that city they unexpectedly encountered the Vitellian troops. The Othonians, though taken at a disadvantage, fought desperately, but were finally forced to fall back in disorder upon their camp at Bedriacum. Thither on the next day the victorious Vitellians followed them, but only to come to terms at once with their disheartened enemy, and to be welcomed into the camp as friends, More unexpected still was the effect produced at

in Rhein.

See Tacitus, Histories, i. 12-50, 71-90, ii. 11-51; Lives by Suetonius and Plutarch; Dio Cassius lxiv.; Merivale, History of the Romans under the Empire, ch. 56; H. Schiller, Geschichte der römischen Mus. Ivii. (1902), W A. Spooner, On the Characters of Galba, Otke, Kaiserzeit (1883); L. Paul, "Kaiser M. Salvius Otho and Vitellius, in Introd. to his edition (1891) of the Histories of Tacitus; B. W. Henderson, Civil War and Rebellion in the Roman Empire, A.D. 69-70 (1908).

OTIS, HARRISON GRAY (1765-1848), American politician, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 8th of October 1765. He was a nephew of James Otis, and the son of Samuel Allyne Otis (1740-1814), who was a member of the Confederation Congress in 1787-1788 and secretary of the United States Senate from its first session in 1789 until his death. Young Otis graduated from Harvard College in 1783, was admitted to the bar in 1786, and soon became prominent as a Federalist in politics. He served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1796-1797, in the National House of Representatives in 1797-1801, as district-attorney for Massachusetts in 1801, as speaker of the state House of Representatives in 18031805, as a member of the state Senate from 1805 to 1811, and as president of that body in 1805-1806 and 1808-1811, as a member of the United States Senate from 1817 to 1822, and as mayor of Boston in 1829-1832. He was strongly opposed to the War of 1812, and was a leader in the movement culminating in the Hartford Convention, which he defended in a series of open letters published in 1824, and in his inaugural address as mayor of Boston. A man of refinement and education, a member of an influential family, a popular social leader and an eloquent speaker-at the age of twenty-three he was chosen by the town authorities of Boston to deliver the Independence Day orationOtis yet lacked conspicuous ability as a statesman. He died in Boston on the 28th of October 1848.

OTIS, JAMES (1725-1783), American patriot, was born at West Barnstable, Massachusetts, on the 5th of February 1725He was the eldest son of James Otis (1702-1778), fourth in descent from John Otis (1581-1657), a native of Barnstaple, Devon, and one of the first settlers (in 1635) of Hingham, Mass. The elder James Otis was elected to the provincial General Court in 1758, was its speaker in 1760-1762, and was chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas from 1764 until 1776; he was a prominent patriot in the colony of Massachusetts. The son graduated at Harvard in 1743; and after studying law in the office of Jeremiah Gridley (1702-1767), a well-known lawyer with Whig sympathies, rose to great distinction at the bar, practising first at Plymouth and after 1750 at Boston. In 1760 he published Rudiments of Latin Prosody, a book of authority in its time. He wrote a similar treatise upon Greek prosody; but this was never published, because, as he said, there was not a font of Greek letters in the country, nor, if there were, a printer who could have set them up. Soon after the accession of George III. to the throne of England in 1760, the British government

the "Halifax Libel" (1765); and Considerations on Behalf of the Colonists in a Letter to a Noble Lord (1765).

The best biography is that by William Tudor (Boston, 1823); there is a shorter one by Francis Bowen (Boston, 1847). The best account of Otis's characteristics and influence as a writer may be found in M. C. Tyler's Literary History of the American Revolution by Horace Gray, Jr., in Quincy's Massachusetts Reports, 1761-1772 (New York, 1897). See also the notes on the Writs of Assistance (Boston, 1865). Otis's speech on the writs, reprinted from rough notes taken by John Adams, appears in Appendix A of vol. ii. of C. F. Adams's edition of the Works of John Adams (Boston, 1850). OTLEY, a market town in the Otley parliamentary division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 13 m. N.W. of Leeds on the Midland and the North-Eastern railways. Pop. of urban district (1901) 9230. It is picturesquely situated on the south bank of the Wharfe, at the foot of the precipitous Chevin Hill, 925 ft. in height. In this neighbourhood excellent building-stone is quarried, which was used for the foundations of the Houses of Parliament in London, and is despatched to all parts of England. The church of All Saints has Norman portions, and a cross and other remains of pre-Norman date were discovered in restoring the building. There are interesting monuments of members of the Fairfax family and others. Worsted spinning and weaving, tanning and leather-dressing, paper-making and the making of printing-machines are the principal industries. The scenery of Wharfedale is very pleasant. In the dale, 7 m. below Otley, are the fine ruins of Harewood Castle, of the 14th century. The neighbouring church contains a noteworthy series of monuments of the 15th century in alabaster.

decided upon a rigid enforcement of the navigation acts, which | his Letter to a Rhode Island Friend-a letter known at the time as had long been disregarded by the colonists and had been almost wholly evaded during the French and Indian War. The Writs of Assistance issued in 1755 were about to expire, and it was decided to issue new ones, which would empower custom house officers to search any house for smuggled goods, though neither the house nor the goods had to be specifically mentioned in the writs. Much opposition was aroused in Massachusetts, the legality of the writs was questioned, and the Superior Court consented to hear argument. Otis held the office of advocate-general at the time, and it was his duty to appear on behalf of the government. He refused, resigned his office, and appeared for the people against the issue of the writs, Gridley appearing on the opposite side. The case was argued in the Old Town House of Boston in February 1761, and the chief speech was made by Otis. His plea was fervid in its eloquence and fearless in its assertion of the rights of the colonists. Going beyond the question at issue, he dealt with the more fundamental question of the relation between the English in America and the home government, and argued that even if authorized by act of parliament such writs were null and void. The young orator was elected in May of the same year a representative from Boston to the Massachusetts General Court. To that position he was re-elected nearly every year of the remaining active years of his life, serving there with his father. In 1766 he was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives, but the choice was negatived. In September 1762 the younger Otis published A Vindication of the Conduct of the House of Representatives of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in defence of the action of that body in sending to the governor a message (drafted by Otis) rebuking him for asking the assembly to pay for ships he had (with authorization of the Council and not of the representatives) sent to protect New England fisheries against French privateers; according to this message "it would be of little consequence to the people whether they were subject to George or Louis, the king of Great Britain or the French king, if both were as arbitrary as both would be if both could levy taxes without parliament." He also wrote various state papers addressed to the colonies to enlist them in the common cause, or sent to the government in England to uphold the rights or set forth the grievances of the colonists. His influence at home in controlling and directing the movement of events which led to the War of Independence was universally felt and acknowledged; and abroad no American was so frequently quoted, denounced, or applauded in parliament and the English press before 1769 as the recognized head and chief of the rebellious spirit of the New England colonists. In 1765 Massachusetts sent him as one of her representatives to the Stamp Act Congress at New York, which had been called by a Committee of the Massachusetts General Court, of which he was a member; and here he was a conspicuous figure, serving on the committee which prepared the address sent by that body to the British House of Commons. In 1769 he denounced in the Boston Gazelle certain customs commissioners who had charged him with treason. Thereupon he became involved in an altercation in a public-house with Robinson, one of the commissioners; the altercation grew into an affray, and Otis received a sword cut on the head, which is considered to have caused his subsequent insanity. Robinson was mulcted in £2000 damages, but in view of his having made a written apology, Otis declined to take this sum from him. From 1769 almost continuously until his death Otis was harmlessly insane, though he had occasional lucid intervals, serving as a volunteer in the battle of Bunker Hill in 1775 and arguing a case in 1778. He was killed by lightning (it is said that he had often expressed a wish that he might die in this way) at Andover, Mass., on the 23rd of May 1783.

Otis's political writings were chiefly controversial and exercised an enormous influence, his pamphlets being among the most effective presentations of the arguments of the colonists against the arbitrary measures of the British ministry. His more important pamphlets were A Vindication of the Conduct of the House of Representatives of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (1762); The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1764); A Vindication of the British Colonies against the Aspersions of the Halifax Gentleman in

OTRANTO, a seaport and archiepiscopal see of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Lecce, from which it is 29 m. S.E. by rail, 49 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) 2295. It is beautifully situated on the east coast of the peninsula of the ancient Calabria (q.v.). The castle was erected by Alphonso of Aragon; the cathedral, consecrated in 1088, has a rose window and side portal of 1481. The interior, a basilica with nave and two aisles, contains columns said to come from a temple of Minerva and a fine mosaic pavement of 1166, with interesting representations of the months, Old Testament subjects, &c. It has a crypt supported by forty-two marble columns. The church of S. Pietro has Byzantine frescoes. Two submarine cables start from Otranto, one for Valona, the other for Corfu. The harbour is small and has little trade.

Otranto occupies the site of the ancient Hydrus or Hydruntum, a town of Greek origin. In Roman times it was less important than Brundusium as a point of embarkation for the East, though the distance to Apollonia was less than from Brundusium. It remained in the hands of the Byzantine emperors until it was taken by Robert Guiscard in 1068. In 1480 it was utterly destroyed by the Turkish fleet, and has never since recovered its importance. About 30 m. S.E. lies the promontory of S. Maria di Leuca (so called since ancient times from its white cliffs), the S.E. extremity of Italy, the ancient Promontorium Iapygium or Sallentinum. The district between this promontory and Otranto is thickly populated, and very fertile. (T. As.)

OTTAKAR I, (d. 1230), king of Bohemia, was a younger son of King Vladislav II. (d. 1174) and a member of the Premyslide family, hence he is often referred to as Premysl Ottakar I. His early years were passed amid the anarchy which prevailed everywhere in his native land; after several struggles, in which he took part, he was recognized as ruler of Bohemia by the emperor Henry VI. in 1192. He was, however, soon overthrown, but renewing the fight in 1196 he forced his brother, King Vladislav III., to abandon Bohemia to him and to content himself with Moravia. Although confirmed in the possession of his kingdom by the German king, Philip, duke of Swabia, Ottakar soon deserted Philip, who thereupon declared him deposed. He then joined the rival German king, Otto of Brunswick, afterwards the emperor Otto IV., being recognized as king of Bohemia both by Otto and by his ally, Pope Innocent III. Philip's consequent invasion of Bohemia was a great success. Ottakar, having been compelled to pay a fine, again ranged himself among Philip's partisans and still later was

rima than is commonly asserted, and it is quite incorrect to say
that the author of the Fairy Queen adopted oltava rima and added
a ninth line to prevent the sound from being monotonously
iterative. A portion of Browne's Britannia's Pastorals is
composed in pure oltava rima, but this is the only important
specimen in original Elizabethan literature. Two centuries
later a very successful attempt was made to introduce in English
poetry the flexibility and gaiety of oltava rima by John Hookham
Frere, who had studied Pulci and Casti, and had caught the
very movement of their diverting measure. His Whistlecraft
appeared in 1817. This is a specimen of the oltava rima of
Frere:-
But chiefly, when the shadowy moon had shed
O'er woods and waters her mysterious hute,
Their passive hearts and vacant fancies fed

With thoughts and aspirations strange and new,
Till their brute souls with inward working bred
Dark hints that in the depths of instinct grew
Subjection-not from Locke's associations,

among the supporters of the young king, Frederick II. He | by Spenser and by the Fletchers have less real relation to oftare united Moravia with Bohemia in 1222, and when he died in December 1230 he left to his son, Wenceslaus I., a kingdom united and comparatively peaceable. OTTAKAR II., or PREMYSL OTTAKAR II. (c. 1230-1278), king of Bohemia, was a son of King Wenceslaus I., and through his mother, Kunigunde, was related to the Hohenstaufen family, being a grandson of the German king, Philip, duke of Swabia. During his father's lifetime he ruled Moravia, but when in 1248 some discontented Bohemian nobles acknowledged him as their sovereign, trouble arose between him and his father, and for a short time Ottakar was imprisoned. However, in 1251 the young prince secured his election as duke of Austria, where he strengthened his position by marrying Margaret (d. 1267), sister of Duke Frederick II., the last of the Babenberg rulers of the duchy and widow of the German king, Henry VII. Some years later he repudiated this lady and married a Hungarian princess. Both before and after he became king of Bohemia in succession to his father in September 1253 Ottakar was involved in a dispute with Bela IV., king of Hungary, over the possession of Styria, which duchy had formerly been united with Austria. By an arrangement made in 1254 he surrendered part of it to Bela, but when the dispute was renewed he defeated the Hungarians in July 1260 and secured the whole of Styria for himself, owing his formal investiture with Austria and Styria to the German king, Richard, earl of Cornwall. The Bohemian king also led two expeditions against the Prussians. In 1269 he inherited, Carinthia and part of Carniola; and having made good his claim, contested by the Hungarians, on the field of battle, he was the most powerful prince in Germany when an election for the German throne took place in 1273. But Ottakar was not the successful candidate. He refused to acknowledge his victorious rival, Rudolph of Habsburg, and urged the pope to adopt a similar attitude, while the new king claimed the Austrian duchies. Matters reached a climax in 1276. Placing Ottakar under the ban of the empire, Rudolph besieged Vienna and compelled Ottakar in November 1276 to sign a treaty by which he gave up Austria and the neighbouring duchies, retaining for himself only Bohemia and Moravia. Two years later the Bohemian king tried to recover his lost lands; he found allies and collected a large army, but he was defeated by Rudolph and killed at Dürnkrut on the March on the 26th of August 1278. Ottakar was a founder of towns and a friend of law and order, while he assisted trade and welcomed German immigrants. Clever, strong and handsome, he is a famous figure both in history and in legend, and is the subject of a tragedy by F. Grillparzer, König Ottokars Glück und Ende. His son and successor was Wenceslaus II.

See O. Lorenz, Geschichte König Ottokars, ii. (Vienna, 1866); A. Huber, Geschichte Oesterreichs, Band i. (Gotha, 1885); and F. Palacky, Geschichte von Böhmen, Band i. (Prague, 1844).

OTTAVA RIMA, a stanza of eight iambic lines, containing three rhymes, invariably arranged as follows:-a baba b c c. It is an Italian invention, and we find the earliest specimens of its use in the poetry of the fourteenth century. Boccaccio employed it for the Teseide, which he wrote in Florence in 1340, and for the Filostrato, which he wrote at Naples some seven years later. These remarkable epics gave to ollava rima its classic character. In the succeeding century it was employed by Politian, and by Boiardo for his famous Orlando Innamorato (1486). It was Pulci, however, in the Morgante Maggiore (1487), who invented the peculiar mock-heroic, or rather half-serious, half-burlesque, style with which ottava rima has been most commonly identified ever since and in connexion with which it was introduced into England by Frere and Byron. The measure, which was now recognized as the normal one for all Italian epic poetry, was presently wielded with extraordinary charm and variety by Berni, Ariosto and Tasso. The merits of it were not perceived by the English poets of the 16th and 17th centuries, although the versions of Tasso by Carew (1594) and Fairfax (1600) and of Ariosto by Harington (1591) preserve its external construction. The stanzaic forms invented

Nor David Hartley's doctrine of vibrations. Byron was greatly impressed by the opportunities for satire involved in Frere's experiment, and in October 1817, in imitation of Whistlecraft, but keeping still closer to Pulci, he wrote Beppo. By far the greatest monument in oltava rima which exists in English literature is Don Juan (1819-1824). Byron also employed this measure, which was peculiarly adaptable to the purposes of his genius, in The Vision of Judgment (1822). Meanwhile Shelley also became attracted by it, and in 1820 translated the Hymns of Homer into ollava rima. The curious burlesque epic of William Tennant (1784-1848), Anster Fair (1812), which preceded all these, is written in what would be ottava rima if the eighth line were not an alexandrine. The form has been little used in other languages than Italian and English. It was employed by Boscán (1490-1542), who imitated Bembo vigorously in Spanish, and the very fine Araucana of Ercilla y Zúñiga (15331595) is in the same measure. Lope de Vega Carpio wrote plentifully in oltava rima. In Portuguese poetry of the 16th and 17th centuries this measure obtained the sanction of Camoens, who wrote in it his immortal Lusiads (1572). Ottava rima has been attempted in German poetry by Uhland and others, but not for piecos of any considerable length. (E. G.)

OTTAWA, a tribe of North American Indians of Algonquian stock, originally settled on the Ottawa river, Canada, and later on the north shore of the upper peninsula of Michigan. They were driven in 1650 by the Iroquois beyond the Mississippi, only to be forced back by the Dakotas. Then they settled on Manitoulin Island, Lake Huron, and joined the French against the English. During the War of Independence, however, they fought for the latter. Some were moved to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), but the majority live to-day in scattered communities throughout lower Michigan and Ontario.

OTTAWA, the largest tributary of the river St Lawrence; ranking ninth in length among the rivers of Canada, being 685 m. long. It flows first westward to Lake Temiscaming; thence south-cast and east. The principal tributaries on the left bank are the Rouge (115 m.), North Nation (60), Lievre (205), Gatineau (240), Coulonge (135), Dumoine (80); and on the right bank, the South Nation (90), Mississippi (105), Madawaska (130) and Petawawa (95). Canals at Ste Anne, Carillon and Grenville permit the passage of vessels drawing 9 ft., from Montreal up to the city of Ottawa. At Ottawa the river is connected with Lake Ontario by the Rideau Canal. The Chaudière Falls, and the Chats and other rapids, prevent continuous navigation above the capital, but small steamers ply on the larger navigable stretches. The Montreal, Ottawa and Georgian Bay Canal is designed to surmount these obstructions and provide a navigable channel from Georgian Bay up French river, through Lake Nipissing and over the height of land to the Ottawa, thence down to Montreal, of sufficient depth to enable vessels drawing zo or 21 ft. to carry cargo from Chicago, Duluth, Fort William, &c. to Montreal, or, if necessary, to Europe, without breaking bulk. Except the suggested Hudson Bay route, this canal would form