Chapter Overreach to Ozair of O by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Overreach to Ozair

Overreach (Sir Giles), Wellborn’s uncle. An unscrupulous, hard-hearted rascal, grasping and proud. He ruined the estates both of Wellborn and Allworth, and by overreaching grew enormously rich. His ambition was to see his daughter Margaret marry a peer; but the overreacher was overreached. Thinking Wellborn was about to marry the rich dowager Allworth, he not only paid all his debts, but supplied his present wants most liberally, under the delusion “if she prove his, all that is hers is mine.” Having thus done, he finds that lady Allworth does not marry Wellborn but lord Lovell. In regard to Margaret, fancying she was sure to marry lord Lovell, he gives his full consent to her marriage; but finds she returns from church not lady Lovell but Mrs. Allworth.—Massinger: A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1628).

(The prototype of “sir Giles Overreach” was sir Giles Mompesson, a usurer outlawed for his misdeeds.)

When Kemble played “sir Giles Overreach,” he was anxious to represent the part as Henderson [1747–1785] had done it, and wrote to Mrs. Inchbald to know “what kind of a hat Mr. Henderson wore; what kind of wig, cravat, ruffles, clothes, stockings with or without clocks, square or round-toed shoes. I shall be uneasy if I have not an idea of his dress, even to the shape of his buckles and what rings he wore on his hands. Moroseness and cruelty seem the groundwork of this monstrous figure; but I am at a loss to know whether, in copying it, I should draw the lines that express his courtesy to lord Lovel [sic] with an exaggerated strength or not …” Mrs. Inchbald’s answer is unfortunately lost.—W. C. Russell: Representative Actors.

I saw Kemble play “sir Giles Overreach” last night; but he came not within a hundred miles of G. F. Cooke [1756–1812], whose terrible visage, and short, abrupt utterance, gave a reality to that atrocious character. Kemble was too handsome, too plausible, and too smooth.—Sir W. Scott.

Overton (Colonel), one of Cromwell’s officers.—Sir W. Scott: Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).

Ovid, a Latin poet in the time of Augustus. He wrote the poetical fables called Metamorphoses, but he is far more often identified as the model of elegiac poetry (B.C. 43-18).

The French Ovid, Du Bellay; also called “The Father of Grace and Elegance” (1524–1560).

Ovid and Corinna. Corinna was Julia, daughter of Augustus the emperor, and the paramour of Ovid. She was noted for her beauty, talent, and licentiousness. Some say Corinna was Livia the wife of Augustus.—Amor., i. 5.

So was her heavenly body comely raised
On two faire columnes; those that Ovid praised
In Julia’s borrowed name.

Ovo. Ab ovo usque ad mala (“from the egg to the apple”), from the beginning to the end of a feast or meal. The Romans began their entertainments with eggs, and ended with fruits.—Horace: 1 Satires, iii. 6; Cicero: Fam., ix. 20.

Owain (Sir), the Irish knight of king Stephen’s court, who passed through St. Patrick’s purgatory by way of penance. —Henry of Saltrey: The Descent of Cwain (1153).

Oweenee, the youngest of ten sisters, all of surpassing beauty. She married Osseo, who was “old, poor, and ugly,” but “most beautiful within.” (See Osseo, p.788.)—Longfellow: Hiawatha, xii. (1855).

Owen (Sam), groom of Darsie Latimer, i.e. sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet.—Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Owen, confidential clerk of Mr. Osbaldistone, senior.—Sir W. Scott: Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Owen (Sir) passed in dream through St. Patrick’s purgatory. He passed the convent gate, and the warden placed him in a coffin. When the priests had sung over him the service of the dead, they placed the coffin in a cave, and sir Owen made his descent. He came first to an ice desert, and received three