., became the friend of Carr, afterwards Earl of Rochester and
Somerset, and fell a victim to a Court intrigue connected with the
proposed marriage of Rochester and Lady Essex, being poisoned in the
Tower with the connivance of the latter. He wrote a poem, _A Wife, now a
Widowe_, and _Characters_ (1614), short, witty descriptions of types of
men. Some of those _pub._ along with his are by other hands.

OWEN, JOHN (1560-1622).--Epigrammatist, _b._ at Plas Dhu, Carnarvonshire,
_ed._ at Winchester and Oxf., and became head master of King Henry VIII.
School at Warwick. His Latin epigrams, which have both sense and wit in a
high degree, gained him much applause, and were translated into English,
French, German, and Spanish.

OWEN, JOHN (1616-1683).--Puritan divine, _b._ at Stadhampton,
Oxfordshire, and _ed._ at Oxf., from which he was driven by Laud's
statutes. Originally a Presbyterian, he passed over to Independency. In
1649 he accompanied Cromwell to Ireland, and in 1650 to Edinburgh. He was
Dean of Christ Church, Oxf. (1651-60), and one of the "triers" of
ministers appointed by Cromwell. After the Restoration he was ejected
from his deanery, but was favoured by Clarendon, who endeavoured to
induce him to conform to the Anglican Church by offers of high
preferment. Strange to say Charles II. also held him in regard, and gave
him money for the Nonconformists; and he was allowed to preach to a
congregation of Independents in London. His great learning and ability
rendered him a formidable controversialist, specially against Arminianism
and Romanism. His works fill 28 vols; among the best known being _The
Divine Original, etc., of the Scriptures_, _Indwelling Sin_,
_Christologia_, or ... The Person of Christ_, and a commentary
on Hebrews.

OWEN, ROBERT (1771-1858).--Socialist and philanthropist, _b._ at Newton,
Montgomeryshire, had for his object the regeneration of the world on the
principles of socialism. His sincerity was shown by the fact that he
spent most of the fortune, which his great capacity for business enabled
him to make, in endeavours to put his theories into practice at various
places both in Britain and America. He was sincerely philanthropic, and
incidentally did good on a considerable scale in the course of his more
or less impracticable schemes. He propounded his ideas in _New Views of
Society, or Essays on the Formation of the Human Character_ (1816).

OXFORD, EDWARD DE VERE, EARL of (1550-1604