mistake was
discovered, was left like the last rose of summer to "pine on the stem,"
for neither felt inclined to pluck and wear the flower.

=Old Maids=, a comedy by S. Knowles (1841). The "old maids" are Lady
Blanche and Lady Anne, two young ladies who resolved to die old maids.
Their resolutions, however, are but ropes of sand, for Lady Blanche
falls in love with Colonel Blount, and Lady Anne with Sir Philip
Brilliant.

=Old Man= (_An_), Sir Francis Bond Head, Bart., who published his _Bubbles
from the Brunnen of Nassau_ under this signature.

=Old Man Eloquent= (_The_), Isoc'rat[^e]s, the orator. The defeat of the
Athenians at Cheronae'a had such an effect on his spirits that he
languished and died within four days, in the 99th year of his age.

... that dishonest victory
At Cheronaea, fatal to liberty,
Killed with report that Old Man Eloquent.

Milton, _Sonnet_, ix.

The same _sobriquet_ was freely applied to John Quincy Adams.

=Old Man of the Mountains=, Hussan-ben-Sabah, sheik al Jebal; also called
subah of Nishapour, the founder of the band (1090). Two letters are
inserted in Rymer's _Foedera_ by Dr. Adam Clarke, the editor, said to
be written by this sheik.

Aloaddin, "prince of the Assassins" (thirteenth century).

=Old Man of the Sea= (_The_), a monster which contrived to get on the back
of Sindbad the sailor, and refused to dismount. Sindbad at length made
him drunk, and then shook him off.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Sindbad the
Sailor," fifth voyage).

_Old Man of the Sea_ (_The_), Phorcus. He had three daughters, with only
one eye and one tooth between 'em.--_Greek Mythology._

=Old Manor-House= (_The_), a novel by Charlotte Smith. Mrs. Rayland is the
lady of the manor (1793).

=Old Moll=, the beautiful daughter of John Overie or Audery (contracted
into Overs) a miserly ferryman. "Old Moll" is a standing toast with the
parish officers of St. Mary Overs'.

=Old Mortality=, the best of Scott's historical novels (1716). Morton is
the best of his young heroes, and serves as an excellent foil to the
fanatical and gloomy Burley. The two classes of actors, viz., the brave
and dissolute cavaliers, and the resolute, oppressed covenanters, are
drawn in bold relief. The most striking incidents are the terrible
encounter with Burley in his rocky fastness; the dejection and anxiety
of Morton on his return from Holland; and the rural comfort of Cuddie
Headrigg's cott