oumelia.

OTTOMANS, the name given to the Turks from OTHMAN (q. v.).

OTWAY, THOMAS, English dramatist, born in Sussex, intended for the
Church; took to the stage, failed as an actor, and became a playwright,
his chief production in that line being "Alcibiades," "Don Carlos," "The
Orphan," and "Venice Preserved," the latter two especially; he led a life
of dissipation, and died miserably, from choking, it is said, in greedily
swallowing a piece of bread when in a state of starvation (1651-1685).

OUBLIETTE, an underground cell, perfectly dark, in which prisoners
were subjected to perpetual confinement, was so called as being a "place
of forgetfulness," or where one is forgotten; they were often put
secretly to death.

OUDENARDE, a town in Belgium, 15 m. S. of Ghent, scene of
Marlborough's third victory over the French in 1708; it contains a
16th-century hotel de ville, with a fine tower, and some interesting
churches.

OUDH (12,551), a province in the Bengal Presidency, occupying the
basin of the Gumti, Gogra, and Rapti Rivers, and stretching from the N.
bank of the Ganges to the lower Himalayas; is a great alluvial plain,
through which these rivers flow between natural embankments, affording
irrigation by their marshes and overflows. The sole industry is
agriculture; the crops are wheat and rice, which are exported by rail and
river. The population is one of the densest in the world, the labouring
classes being very poor. The only large town is Lucknow (273), on the
Gumti. One of the earliest centres of Aryan civilisation, Oudh became
subject to the empire of Delhi in the 12th century, but was an
independent State for a century prior to its annexation by the British in
1856.

OUDINOT, DUKE OF REGGIO, marshal of France, born at Bar-le-Duc;
served with distinction under the Revolution and the Empire; led the
retreat from Moscow, and was wounded; joined the Royalists after the fall
of Napoleon, and died Governor of the Hotel des Invalides (1767-1847).

OUIDA, the pseudonym of Louise de la Ramee, English novelist, born
at Bury St. Edmunds; resides chiefly at Florence; has written over a
score of novels, "Under Two Flags" and "Moths" among the best; _b_. 1840.

OUSE, the name of several English rivers, of which the chief are (1)
the Yorkshire Ouse, flowing through the great Vale of York southwards to
the Humber, receiving the Swale, Ure, Nidd, Wharfe, and Aire from the W.
and the Derwent from the E.