Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/70

 science, and she studied physiology at Harvard. Later on she travelled much in Europe, and then resumed her life with her step-father, whom she helped in his version of the 'Edda of Sæmund.' But the bondage was again found intolerable, and in 1849 Elise Otté escaped to St. Andrews, where she worked at scientific translations for the use of Dr. [q. v.], Chandos professor of anatomy and medicine. In 1863 she went to reside with Day and his wife at Torquay, and in 1872, after Day's death, made London her home. Here, for years, she carried on an active literary career, writing largely for scientific periodicals. In 1874 she published a 'History of Scandinavia,' which is her most durable work; she compiled grammars of Danish and of Swedish, and issued translations of standard works by De Quatrefages, R. Pauli, and others. Her translation of Pauli's 'Old England' (1861) was dedicated to her step-father, Thorpe. Miss Otté was one of the most learned women of her time, especially in philology and physical science, but she never acquired ease in literary expression. She lived wholly in the pursuit of knowledge, even in extreme old age, when rendered inactive and tortured by neuralgia. She died at Richmond on 20 Dec. 1903, in her eighty-sixth year.



OUIDA (pseudonym). [See (1839-1908), novelist.]

OVERTON, JOHN HENRY (1835–1903), canon of Peterborough and church historian, born at Louth, Lincolnshire, on 4 Jan. 1835, was only son of Francis Overton, surgeon, of Louth, a man of learning and of studious habits, by his wife Helen Martha, daughter of Major John Booth, of Louth. Educated first (1842-5) at the Louth grammar school, and next at a private school at Laleham, Middlesex, under the Rev. John Buckland, Overton went to Rugby in Feb. 1849, and thence obtained an open scholarship at Lincoln College, Oxford. He was placed in the first class in classical moderations in 1855 and in the third class in the final classical school in 1857, was captain of his college boat club, rowed stroke of its 'eight,' was a cricketer and throughout his life retained a keen interest in the game, and in his later years was addicted to golf. He graduated B.A. in 1858, and proceeded M.A. in 1860. In 1858 he was ordained to the curacy of Quedgeley, Gloucestershire, and in 1860 was presented by J. L. Fytche, a friend of his father, to the vicarage of Legbourne, Lincolnshire. While there he took pupils and studied English church history, specially during the eighteenth century. In 1878, in conjunction with his college friend, Charles John Abbey, rector of Checkendon, Oxfordshire, he published 'The English Church in the Eighteenth Century,' 2 vols., which was designed as a review of 'different features in the religion and church history of England' during that period rather than as 'a regular history' {Preface to second edition); it was well received and ranks high among English church histories; a second and abridged edition in one volume was published in 1887. Overton was collated to a prebend in lincoln cathedral by Bishop [q. v.] in 1879, and in 1883, on Gladstone's recommendation, was presented by the crown to the rectory of Epworth, Lincolnshire, the birthplace of  [q. v.], in whose career he took a warm interest. While at Epworth he was rural dean of Axholme. In 1889 he was made hon. D.D. of Edinburgh University. From 1892 to 1898 he was proctor for the clergy in convocation, and took an active part in its proceedings, speaking with weight and judgment. In 1898 he was presented by the dean and chapter of Lincoln to the rectory of Gumley, near Market Harborough, and represented the chapter in convocation. He was a frequent and popular speaker at church congresses. In 1901 he was a select preacher at Oxford, and from 1902 Birkbeck lecturer at Trinity College, Cambridge. Early in 1903 Dr. Carr Glyn, the bishop of Peterborough, made him a residentiary canon of his cathedral; he was installed on 12 Feb., and as the canonry was of small value, he retained his rectory. He kept one period of residence at Peterborough, but did not live to inhabit his prebendal house, for he died at Gumley rectory on 17 Sept. of that year. He was buried in the churchyard of the parish church of Skidbrook near Louth, where many of his family had been interred. A high churchman and a member of the English Church Union, he appreciated the points of view of those who differed from him. He was an excellent parish priest, and was courteous, good-tempered, and humorous.

On 17 July 1862 Overton married