that in some parts he had not been sufficiently explicit; that on all these points holy church had determined; by which determinations all Christians ought to abide ; and that these determinations should be given him as a direction of his faith; and in a few days he must appear again and give his opinion. At the time, he said among other things, "that he knew none holier than Christ and the apostles; and that these determinations were surely none of theirs, as they were against scripture." In conclusion, he was condemned as an heretic, and remanded to the Tower, from which place he escaped, and lay concealed in Wales. The clergy, with great zeal for the royal person, informed the king, then at Eltham, that 20,000 Lollards were assembled at St. Giles's for his destruction, with lord Cobham at their head. This pretended conspiracy, though there were not above 100 persons found, and those poor Lollards assembled for devotion, was entirely credited by the king, and fully answered the designs of the clergy; but there is not the smallest authority for it, in any author of reputation. A bill of attainder passed against lord Cobham; a price of a thousand marks was set upon his head; and a perpetual exemption from taxes promised to any town that should secure him. After he had been four years in Wales, he was taken at last by the vigilance of his enemies, brought to London in triumph, and dragged to execution in St. Giles's-fields. As a traitor, and a heretic, he was hung up in chains alive upon a gallows; and, fire being put under him, was burnt to death, in December, 1417.

He wrote, "Twelve Conclusions addressed to the parliament of England." At the end of the first book he wrote some monkish rhymes in Latin, which Bale has preserved, and which, he says, "were copyed out by dyverse men, and set upon theyr wyndowes, gates, and dores, which were then knowen for obstynate hypocrytes and fleshlye livers, which made the prelates madde." Bale published "A brefe Chrony cle concernynge the Examynacyon and death of the blessed martyr of Christ, syr Johan Oldecastell the lorde Cobham," which was reprinted under the care of Mr. Lewis, of Margate, in 1729. His life has been since elegantly written by Mr. Gilpin. "Lord Cobham," says this biographer, "had been much conversant in the world; and had probably been engaged in the early part of his life, in the licence of it. His religion, however,

put a thorough restraint upon a disposition naturally inclined to the allurements of pleasure. He was a man of a very high spirit, and warm temper; neither of which his sufferings could subdue. With very little temporizing he might have escaped the indignities he received from the clergy, who always considered him as an object beyond them; but the greatness of his soul could not brook concession. In all his examinations, and through the whole of his behaviour, we see an authority and dignity in his manner, which speak him the great man in all his afflictions. He was a person of uncommon parts, and very extensive talents; well qualified either for the cabinet or the field. In conversation he was remarkable for his ready and poignant wit. His acquirements were equal to his parts. No species of learning which was at that time in esteem had escaped his attention. It was his thirst of knowledge, indeed, which first brought him acquainted with the opinions of Wickliff. The novelty of them engaged his curiosity. He examined them as a philosopher, and in the course of his examination became a Christian." 1

OLDENBURG (HENRY), who wrote his name sometimes GRUBENDOL, reversing the letters, was a learned German, and born in 1626, in the duchy of Bremen, in the Lower Saxony, being descended from the counts of Oldenburg, in Westphalia, whence his name. During the long English parliament in Charles I.'s time, he was appointed consul for his countrymen, in which post he continued at London after the usurpation of Cromwell; but, being discharged from that employment, he was made tutor to the lord Henry Obrien, an Irish nobleman, whom he attended to the university of Oxford, and in 1656 entered himself a student, chiefly for the sake of admission. to the Bodleian library. He was afterwards tutor to William lord Cavendish, and was acquainted with Milton, among whose "Epistolæ familiares," are four letters to Oldenburg. During his residence at Oxford he became also acquainted with the members of that little association which gave birth to the royal society; and, upon the foundation of this latter, he was elected fellow; and, when the society found it necessary to have two secretaries, he was chosen assistant to Dr. Wilkins. He applied himself with

1 Gilpin's Lives.-Fox's Acts and Monuments.-Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors, by Park.-Bale's Brief Chronicle.-Milner's Ch. Hist. chap. 1. century XV. vol. IV. part. I.

extraordinary diligence to the business of this office, and began the publication of the "Philosophical Transactions," with No. 1. in 1664. In order to discharge this task with greater credit to himself and the society, he held a correspondence with more than seventy learned persons, and others, upon a vast variety of subjects, in different parts of the world. This fatigue would have been insupportable, had he not, as he told Dr. Lister, answered every letter the moment he received it, a rule which cannot be too warmly recommended, whether in cases of business, literature, or pleasure. Among Oldenburg's correspondents may be mentioned the celebrated Robert Boyle, with whom he had a very intimate friendship; and he translated several of that gentleman's works into Latin *.

About 1674 he was drawn into a dispute with Mr. Robert Hooke; who complained, that the secretary had not done him justice in the "Transactions," with respect to the invention of the spiral spring for pocket-watches. The contest was carried on with great warmth on both sides for two years, when it was determined, much to Oldenburg's honour, by a delaration of the council of the royal society, Nov. 20, 1676, in these words: "Whereas the publisher of the Philosophical Transactions hath made complaint to the council of the royal society, of some passages in a late book of Mr. Hooke, entitled Lampas,' &c. and printed by the printer of the said society, reflecting on the integrity and faithfulness of the said publisher,

It appears that in 1667 he was taken up on suspicion, and imprisoned in the Tower. In a letter dated London, Sept. 7, of that year, he writes thus: "I was so stifled by the prisonair, that as soon as I had my enlargement from the Tower, I widen'd it, and took it from London into the Contry, to fann myselfe for some days in the good air of Craford in Kent. Being now returned, and having recovered my stomach, which I had in a manner quite lost, I intend, if God will, to fall to my old trade, if I have any support to follow it. My late misfortune, I feare, will much prejudice me; many persons unacquainted with me, and hearing me to be a stranger, being apt to derive a suspicion upon me. Not a few came to the Tower, merely to enquire after my crime, and to see the warrant; in which when they

found, that it was for dangerous desseins and practices, they spred it over London, and made others have no good opinion of me. Incarcera audacter, semper aliquid hæret. Before I went into the contry, I waited on my lord Arlington, kissing the rod. I hope, I shall live fully to satisfy his majesty, and all honest Englishmen, of my integrity, and of my reall zeal to spend the remainder of my life in doing faithfull service to the nation, to the very utmost of my abilities. I have learned, during this commitment, to know my reall friends. God Almighty blesse them, and enable me to convince them all of my gratitude." By his other correspondence, a part of which is printed in the "General Dictionary including Bayle," we learn that he was always poor, and ill rewarded for his services.

in his management of the intelligence of the said society; this council had thought fit to declare, in the behalf of the publisher aforesaid, that they knew nothing of the publi cation of the said book; and farther, that the said publisher hath carried himself faithfully and honestly in the management of the intelligence of the royal society, and given no just cause for such reflections."

Mr. Oldenburg continued to publish the Transactions as before, to No. CXXXVI, June 25, 1677; after which the publication was discontinued till Jan. following; then resumed by his successor in the secretary's office, Mr. Nehemiah Grew, who carried it on till Feb. 1678. Our author dying at his house at Charlton, near Greenwich, in Kent, in August that year, was interred there. Besides the works already mentioned, he translated into English, 1. "The Prodromus to a Dissertation by Nich. Steno, concerning Solids naturally contained within Solids," &c.1671, 8vo. 2. "A genuine explication of the Book of Revelations," &c. 1671, 8vo, written by A. B. Piganius. "The Life of the Duchess of Mazarine," in 8vo, translated from the French. He left a son, named Rupert, from prince Rupert his godfather, and a daughter, named Sophia, by his wife, who was daughter and sole heir to the famous John Dury, a Scotch divine,'

OLDENBURGER (PHILIP ANDREW), an eminent professor of law and history at Geneva, died in that city in 1678, leaving a great number of valuable works, some of them published under feigned names, particularly Burgoldensis. The following are the principal: 1. "Thesaurus rerum publicarum totius orbis," Geneva, 1675, 4 vols. 8vo, a useful and curious book for the knowledge of the new monarchies and their interests. 2. "Limnæus enucleatus," ibid. 1670, folio; a work in high repute, and necessary for those who study the law of the empire. 3. "Notitia Imperii, sive discursus in instrumentum pacis Osnabrugo-Monasteriensis," under the name of Phil. And. Burgoldensis, 4to. 4. "Tractatus de Rebuspublicis turbidis in tranquillum statum reducendis, in eoque conservandis." 5. "Tractatus de quatuor elementis juridicè consideratis et notis illustratus." 6. "Manuale principum Christianorum de vera eorum felicitate." 7. "Tractatus Juridico

Gen. Dict.-Martin's Biog. Phil.-Ath. Ox. vol. II.—Ward's Gresham Professors.

Politicus de securitate juris, publici ac privati." 8. “De origine et progressu juris Romani," &c.'

OLDFIELD (ANNE), a celebrated English actress, and most accomplished woman, was born in Pall-mall, London, in 1683. Her father, once possessed of a competent estate, was then an officer in the guards; but, being improvident, left his family, at his death, almost destitute. In these circumstances, the widow was forced to live with a sister, who kept a tavern in St. James's market; and the daughter was placed with a sempstress in King-street, Westminster. Miss Oldfield, in the mean time, conceived an extraordinary taste for the drama, and was entertaining her relations at a tavern by reading, or attempting to act, when her voice chanced to reach the ear of Farquhar, the celebrated dramatic writer, who happened to dine in the same house. On being introduced, he was struck with her agreeable person and carriage, and presently pronounced her admirably formed for the stage. This concurring with her own inclinations, her mother opened the matter to sir John Vanburgh, a friend of the family, who having the same favourable opinion of her talents, recommended her to Mr. Rich, then patentee of the king's theatre. She remained, however, in comparative obscurity, till 1703, when she first appeared to advantage in the part of Leonora in "Sir Courtly Nice;" and established her theatrical reputation, the following year, in that of Lady Betty Modish in the "Careless Husband."

A little before this time, she formed an illicit connection with Arthur Maynwaring, esq. who interested himself greatly in the figure she made upon the stage; and it was in some measure owing to the pains he took in improving her natural talents, that she became, as she soon did, the delight and chief ornament of it. After the death of this gentleman, which happened in Nov. 1712, she engaged in a like commerce with brigadier-gen. Charles Churchill, esq. * She had one son by Maynwaring; and another by

* George II. and queen Caroline, when prince and princess of Wales, condescended sometimes to converse with her at their levees. One day, the princess asked her, if she was married to general Churchill? "So it is said, may it please your highness, but we have not owned it yet." It may

appear singular, to quote the late pious Sir James Stonhouse for anecdotes of Mrs. Oldfield, yet in one of his letters, we are informed that she always went to the house in the same dress she had worn at dinner in her visits to the houses of great people; for she was much caressed on account of her pro1 Moreri.-Dict. Hist.