Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3a.pdf/630

OVE and logic, and took the degree of B.A. in 1598. He then removed to London for the purpose of studying law in the Middle temple, and subsequently spent some time on the continent, where he made himself master of several foreign languages, and added largely to his knowledge of men and manners. On his return to England he contracted an intimacy with Robert Carr, the worthless favourite of James I., and soon became his bosom friend and confidential adviser. Carr, who was grossly illiterate, seems to have placed implicit confidence in the accomplished scholar, and was governed by him in all his actions. Overbury was in consequence flattered and caressed by all who were anxious to gain the favour of the minion and of his royal master; and his society was courted by the highest nobles and the most powerful statesmen. The king made him a knight in 1608, and the court poets ascribed to him every accomplishment and every virtue under heaven. But the friendship between Carr, now Viscount Rochester, and his learned but unprincipled mentor was soon fatally dissolved. Carr had formed a guilty attachment to the profligate countess of Essex, and Overbury had not only been privy to the intrigue, but had written for his friend passionate letters and sentimental ditties, by which the lady was in a great measure won. But, on learning that Rochester had formed the design of obtaining a divorce and marrying the countess, he earnestly dissuaded him from this step, and denounced the lady's character in strong but well-merited terms. The weak and infatuated lover revealed this conversation to her, and was induced by her blandishments to enter into the scheme of deadly vengeance which she planned. In April, 1613, Sir Thomas was offered an embassy to Russia which, by the advice of Rochester, he was induced to decline. A few days after, he was committed to the Tower on the charge of disobeying the king's command. His friends were strictly prohibited from seeing him, and his sole attendant was a ruffian named Weston, who was employed expressly on account of his knowledge of drugs. Slow poisons were regularly administered to the unconscious prisoner. His daily food, and even the water which he drank, was tainted with deadly powders. For upwards of three months his strong constitution resisted the effects of the poison; but at length, when he was worn to a skeleton and covered with sores, a clyster put an end to his life on the 15th September, 1613. His body was hastily and secretly buried within the walls of the Tower, and it was given out that he had died of an infectious and loathsome disease. After the lapse of two years the guilt of the murderers was brought to light. They were all tried and condemned. Four of the inferior agents suffered the penalty of the law, but Carr and his wife—now the earl and countess of Somerset—were pardoned by the king in circumstances which cast painful suspicions on the royal character. Overbury's works were not published till after his death. His poems consist of "The Wife," 1614; and "The First and Second Part of the Remedy for Love," 1620—a paraphrase from Ovid. His most important prose work is his "Characters," which are well drawn and full of antithesis and wit. His other writings are "Newes from anywhere, or Old Truths under a Supposal of Novelty;" "Observations on the Seventeen Provinces," 1626; "Crumms fallen from King James' Table, or his Table Talk," 1715. A collected edition of Overbury's works, with a life by E. F. Rimbault, was published in 1856.—J. T.  OVERWEG,, an intrepid traveller of note, was born at Hamburg on the 24th July, 1822. He received his education at the universities of Bonn and Berlin, taking his degree at the latter. In 1849, at the joint expense of the English and Prussian governments, Mr. Richardson was preparing to undertake an expedition to Lake Tchad in Central Africa; and a naturalist being required to accompany him, and application having been made at Berlin for a suitable person. Dr. Overweg, who was strongly recommended by the most competent authorities, was appointed to the post. Besides Richardson, he had for his fellow-traveller Dr. Heinrich Barth, who had already visited the northern part of the great African continent. In the March of 1850 the expedition left Tripoli, and after a journey of much difficulty and danger, reached Lake Tchad in April, 1851, losing one of their number by the way, Mr. Richardson, who died shortly before they arrived at their place of destination. A boat of peculiar construction, capable of being taken asunder for facility of conveyance, had been carried with them by the travellers, and in this boat Overweg navigated Lake Tchad, explored its various islands, and also the surrounding coasts. In addition, while Barth was engaged elsewhere, Overweg made a journey from Kuka, near the lake, in the direction of the south-west towards Quorra; but died of fever after his return to Kuka, September 27th, 1852, leaving a name forever to be remembered in the annals of African discovery.—J. J.  OVID, whose full name was, was born at Sulmo in Samnium, about ninety miles from Rome, on March 20th, 43. His father, of an ancient equestrian family, was in easy circumstances, though not wealthy, and gave him an excellent education. Ovid was designed by his father for the practice of the law, and after pursuing his studies for some time at Athens he settled at Rome, and appears to have nominally embraced the profession of a pleader. But he was by nature averse from forensic business, and seems never to have made much progress at the Roman bar. His private fortune allowed him to consult his own tastes, and he had access to the best society of the capital. With the most eminent of his brother poets he was on terms of intimacy, and his brilliant talents and amiable character seem to have made him a general favourite. He lived a gay and licentious life, after the manner of the fine gentlemen of Rome in his day, and had the most perfect acquaintance with the fashionable world of that period. Ovid was married three times, and was a grandfather at the time of his banishment. His two first marriages do not seem to have been happy, but to his third wife and to his daughter Perilla he was tenderly attached. Little more is known of his life until the period of his exile. He passed an easy and voluptuous existence, with interest enough, however, in his poetical compositions to prevent him from complaining of ennui until. 8, when he was suddenly banished by Augustus to Tomi, a town on the Danube in Scythia, at the extremity of the Roman world. The cause of his exile is altogether uncertain. It would seem, however, that he had become acquainted with some secret of the imperial family, which Augustus was anxious to prevent from ever becoming known. The pretext assigned for his banishment in the imperial edict was the licentiousness of his "Art of Love," but as that had then been published for nearly ten years, and was not more immoral than many other writings of that age, this was certainly not the true reason. Ovid suffered much at Tomi from the inclement climate, the separation from his family and friends, and the various hardships attendant on so dreary an exile. He survived Augustus about four years, but was not permitted by Tiberius to return to Rome, and died at Tomi,. 18, at the age of sixty. He has often been censured for his abject supplications to Augustus and want of fortitude during his banishment, but it would be unreasonable to expect the bearing of a Cato from a luxurious epicurean like Ovid; and we are rather disposed to dwell with admiration on the freshness and activity of mind which he preserved in his fearful exile among the Scythian barbarians. Ovid has been termed by Niebuhr the most poetical, next to Catullus, among the Roman poets. The same great critic also praises him for his wonderful facility of composition. There is no appearance of labour in his writings, but everything gives you the impression of having been produced with the greatest ease, and as it were spontaneously. Previous to his banishment all his poems have a happy and joyous air, unmistakably indicating the sanguine temperament and prosperous condition of the author. In forming a judgment of Ovid as a poet, we must remember that his tragedy, the "Medea," esteemed by antiquity his most perfect work, is now lost. The "Heroides," or Loves of the Heroines, is the most refined and graceful of all the elegiac compositions of the Romans. The "Fasti" is a sort of poetical calendar, with appropriate festivals and mythology, and the substance was probably taken from the old Roman annalists. The "Art of Love," the "Remedies of Love," and the three books of "Elegies," are remarkable chiefly for the elegance of expression and easy play of fancy in which Ovid is seldom wanting. In his hands the stiff and prosaic Latin becomes as flexible and harmonious as the Greek. The licentiousness of these poems cannot be excused, but we should remember in condemning the author what the age and society were for which he wrote. His great poem, the "Metamorphoses," to which he seems to have chiefly looked for immortality, like the Æneid, never received the final corrections of its author. With many faults, it has numerous passages of striking beauty, and is certainly one of the most interesting poems of the ancient world. Ovid excels in passionate description and in pathetic and tender scenes. He had an intimate knowledge of the human heart, and especially 