Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/81

 U D U D 71 doubt parodied in Sheridan s Critic. His boyish Alcibiades is positively absurd, and even Don Carlos produces much the same effect in the closet, though its rattling vigour carried it off well in the theatre at a time when nature was little regarded. It was probably not unknown to Schiller. The comedies and melodramas are simply tire some, although a certain interest attaches to the military scenes in the Soldier s Fortune. There has hardly been another instance of a poet whose best and whose worst are at such an immeasurable distance from each other as Otway s ; but his supreme excellence in one of the most difficult branches of the dramatic art must always be held to entitle him to an exalted place as a tragic poet. It has been remarked that Dryden, with all his splendour, has but one truly pathetic passage in the whole range of his dramas. Otway, writing simply from the heart, reached at a bound an eminence inaccessible to the laborious efforts of the greater poet. His miscellaneous poems are only interesting in so far as they illustrate his life and character. Of the latter little is known. He was a man about town in a dissipated age ; but his references to his parents and friends, and his letters to the object of his unfortunate passion, show that he possessed deep and refined feeling. See Baker, Biographia Dramatica ; Johnson, Lives of the Poets ; Gosse, Seventeenth Century Studies ; and Ward, History of English Dramatic Literature, vol. ii. (R. G.) OUDENARDE, or OUDENAERDE, a small town of Belgium, in the province of East Flanders, on the Scheldt, 17 miles south-south-west from Ghent, with a population (1880) of 5880. It has manufactures of cotton and woollen fabrics, lace, tobacco, and starch, dyeing and bleaching establishments, salt refineries, distilleries, and so on. The town-hall, built in 1530 by Van Pede, is remarkable for the elegance of its architecture and the profusion of its ornament ; the portal of the council chamber is a masterpiece of wood-carving, executed in 1534 by Paul van der Schelden. Among other buildings of interest are the old church of St Walburga, of the 10th century, partly rebuilt in the 14th, and that of Our Lady of Pamele, an example, rare in Belgium, of the transition Gothic style. A monument was erected at Oudenarde in 1867 to the memory of the Belgians who fell in Mexico, at the battle of Zacamburo. The origin of Oudenarde is unknown ; it appears to have been a stronghold of some importance under the Romans. A fortress was erected there by Count Baldwin of Flanders in 1053. It was besieged in 1452 by the citizens of Ghent, who were repulsed by Simon de Lalaing after a memorable siege. Alexander Farnese took the town in 1581. Close to its walls was fought, on July 11, 1708, the battle of Oudenarde,- in which the French were defeated by the allied army under the command of Marlborough and Prince Eugene. It was retaken by the French in 1745. OUDH, a province of British India, now under the political administration of the lieutenant-governorship of the North-Western Provinces, but in respect of its land and courts still a distinct chief-commissionership. Lying between 25 34 and 28 42 N. lat. and between 79 44 and 83 9 E. long., it is bounded on the N.E. by Nepal, on the N.W. by the Rohilkhand division, on the S.W. by the Ganges river, on the E. and S.E. by the Benares division. The administrative headquarters of the province are at Lucknow. Physical Aspects. Oudh forms the central portion of the great Gangetic plain, sloping downwards from the Nepal Himalayas in the north-east to the Ganges on the south-west. For 60 miles along the northern border of Gonda and Bahraich districts the boundary extends close up to the lower slopes of the Himalayas, embracing the damp and unhealthy sub-montane region known as the tardi. To the westward of this, the northern boundary recedes a little from the mountain tract, and the tardi in this portion of the range has been for the most part ceded to Nepal. With the exception of a belt of Government forest along the northern frontier, the rest of the province consists of a fertile and densely peopled monotonous plain. The greatest elevation (600 feet) is attained in the jungle- clad plateau of Khairigarh in Kheri district, while the extreme south-east frontier is only 230 feet above sea- level. Four great rivers traverse or skirt the plain of Oudh in converging courses the Ganges, the Gumti, the Gogra, and the Rapti. Numerous smaller channels seam the whole face of the country, carrying off the surplus drainage in the rains, but drying up in the hot season. All the larger rivers, except the Gumti, as well as most of the smaller streams, have beds hardly sunk below the general level ; and in time of floods they burst through their con fining banks and carve out new channels for themselves. Numerous shallow ponds or jkils mark the former beds of the shifting rivers. These jkils have great value, not only as preservatives against inundation, but also as reservoirs for irrigation. The soil of Oudh consists of a rich alluvial deposit, the detritus of the Himalayan system, washed down into the Ganges valley by ages of fluvial action. Usually a light loam, it passes here and there into pure clay, or degenerates occasionally into barren sand. The uncultivable land consists chiefly of extensive usor plains, found in the southern and western districts, and covered by the deleterious saline efflorescence known as re h. Oudh possesses no valuable minerals. Salt was extensively manufactured during native rule, but the British Govern ment has prohibited this industry for fiscal reasons. Nodular limestone (kankar) occurs in considerable deposits, and is used as road metal. The general aspect of the province is that of a rich expanse of waving and very varied crops, interspersed by numerous ponds or lakes. The villages lie thickly scattered, consisting of low thatched cottages, and surrounded by patches of garden land, or groves of banyan, pipal, and pdkar trees. The dense foliage of the mango marks the site of almost every little homestead, no less an area than 1000 square miles being covered by these valuable fruit-trees. Tamarinds overhang the huts of the poorer classes, while the neighbourhood of a wealthy family may be recognized by the graceful clumps of bamboo. Plantains, guavas, jack-fruit, limes, and oranges add further beauty to the village plots. The flora of the Government reserved forests is rich and varied. The sal tree yields the most important timber ; the finest logs are cut in the Khairigarh jungles and floated down the Gogra to Bahramghat, where they are sawn. The hard wood of the shisham is also valuable ; and several other timber-trees afford materials for furniture or roofing shingle. Among the scattered jungles in various parts of the province, the mahud tree is prized alike for its edible flowers, its fruits, and its timber. ThQj hils supply the villages with wild rice, the roots and seeds of the lotus, and the sinyhdra water-nut. The fauna comprises most of the animals and birds common to the Gangetic plain ; but many species, formerly common, have now almost, if not entirely, disappeared. The wild elephant is now practically unknown, except when a stray specimen loses its way at the foot of the hills. Tigers are now only found in any numbers in the wilds of Khairigarh. Leopards still haunt the cane-brakes and thickets along the banks of the rivers ; and nilgai and antelopes abound. Game birds consist of teal and wild duck, snipe, jungle fowl, and peacock. Climate. The climate of Oudh is less damp than that of Lower Bengal, and has greater varieties of temperature. The year falls naturally into three seasons the rainy, from the middle of June to the beginning of October ; the cold weather, from October to February or March ; and the