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 OETTINGEN and he was made prelate and ecclesiastical councillor at Murrhardt, a post which he held until his death. He exerted a great influence on the spiritual thought of Germany. He wrote several philosophical and cabalistic works, and devoted much time to the study of the trans- mutation of metals. His autobiography was published at Stuttgart in 1845, and a complete edition of his works has been collected and ed- ited by Ehmann (Reutlingen, 1852 etseq. who published also his life and letters in 1859. OETTINGEN, a mediatized county of Germany, which existed in the Riesgau, Swabia, as early as the 13th century, and is divided at present between the Spielberg and Wallerstein lines, the territory belonging partly to Bavaria (since 1806) and partly to Wiirtemberg (since 1810). Wallerstein, the principal town of the latter branch, is situated in the Bavarian district of Swabia and Neuburg, and celebrated for its pal- ace and its library of 100,000 volumes. Prince LTJDWIG KEAFT ERNST VON OETTINGEN- WAL- LEESTEIN, a Bavarian statesman, born at Wal- lerstein Jan. 31, 1791, died in Lucerne, Switz- erland, July 22, 1870. He lost his seat in the Bavarian diet in 1823, on account of his oppo- sition to the government, and his right to the succession as prince by marrying in the same year the daughter of his gardener. In 1828 he was restored to his seat in the diet, and in 1831 he became minister of the interior, but was soon succeeded by his adversary Abel. He was employed in diplomatic missions in 1843-'4, and formed with Berks in 1847 the so-called Lola cabinet. Subsequently he figured in the chamber as a liberal, but his influence was im- paired by his want of consistency, and he was arrested for debt. On his release in 1863 he was obliged to seek refuge in Lucerne. His nephew, Prince Charles (born in 1840), is the present heir of the house. OETTINGER, Ednard Maria, a German author, born of Jewish parents in Breslau, Nov. 19, 1808, died June 26, 1872. He completed his education in Vienna, adopted the Roman Cath- olic religion, and became a journalist, editing various journals, mostly humorous, in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Mannheim, and Leipsic. He wrote several romances, including "The Ring of Nostradamus " (1838), " Uncle Zebra " (1842-'3), " The Grammar of Marriage " (1844), " Sophie Arnould " (1847), " Potsdam and Sans- Souci" (1848), and "Jerome Napoleon and his Capri" (1853). Among his bibliographical works are Archives historiques (1841), and Bibliographic biographique (1850 ; enlarged ed., Brussels, 1854). His last years were spent in poverty and blindness. He left an unfin- ished work entitled Le moniteur des dates. OFEN. See BUDA. OFFA, a king of Mercia, Britain, who reigned for about 40 years in the second half of the 8th century. He conquered various territories, and compelled the king of Kent to acknowledge his authority. Charlemagne called him the most powerful of the Christian kings of the OFFENBURG 587 West, and maintained friendly relations with him except during a short period when the traders in Offa's dominions committed depre- dations upon Frankish merchants. At the in- stigation of Cynedrida, his wife, he put to death Ethelbert, king of East Anglia, and seized his states. He soon died, overcome by remorse, and was succeeded by his son Egferth, who reigned only a few months. Offa compiled the laws of his dominions, which are mostly in- cluded in the Anglo-Saxon code of Alfred the Great. See "Essay on the Life and Institu- tions of Oft'a," by Mackenzie (London, 1840). OFFENBACH, the chief manufacturing town of the grand duchy of Hesse, Germany, on the S. bank of the Main, 4 m. E. of Frankfort; pop. in 1871, 22,691. It contains a castle, and has manufactories of cottons and woollens, carriages, cards, musical instruments, jewelry, and other wares. OFFENBACH, Jacques, a French composer, born of German-Jewish parents in Cologne, June 21, 1819. He was a student at the Paris con- servatory from 1835 to 1837, and began his career as a player upon the violoncello. His first published compositions were music to La Fontaine's fables. In 1847 he became leader of the orchestra at the Theatre Francais. In 1855 he opened the Bouffes Parisiens on the Champs lys6es as a summer theatre, transfer- ring his company in the winter to the Theatre de Comte in the passage Choiseul. In 1873 he became director of the Gaite theatre. His career since the opening of the Bouffes Pari- siens has been one of great prosperity and pop- ularity. His Orphee aux enfers ran for 300 successive nights when first produced, and his operas have been performed throughout Eu- rope and America. For the copyright of his spectacular opera bouife " Whittington and his Cat," produced at the Alhambra theatre, Lon- don, Christmas, 1874, he received 3,000. He was the first to bring to the treatment of bur- lesque the ingenuity and elaboration which other composers have given to more serious works. His rank as a composer is by no means proportionate to the popularity he has obtained. His training was incomplete ; his melodies, though rhythmical, are trivial ; and the struc- ture of his operas is founded for the most part upon dance measures, bright and pleasant, but of little musical value. On several occasions he has endeavored to produce a higher class of compositions, and he wrote as operas comiques Barcouf and Robinson Crusoe. But he failed in these attempts, and returned to the opera bouffe. His best known productions in addi- tion to those above named are La belle Eelene (1864), Barbe-Eleue (1866), La grande duchess* (1867), La Perichole and Genevieve de Bra- bant (1868), Les brigands and La princesse dt Trebizonde (1869), La jolie parfumeuse (1873), and Madame Varchiduc (1 874). OFFENBURG, a town of Baden, at the entrance of the Kinzig valley, 40 m. S. W. of Carlsruhe ; pop. in 1871, 5,756. It has a Catholic gymna-