ation, _On the word of a gentleman_.

HENRY III. of England, when he confirmed "Magna Charta," used the
expression, _On the word of a gentleman, a king and a knight_.

Earl of ANGUS (reign of Queen Mary), when incensed, used to say, _By the
might of God_, but at other times his oath was _By St. Bride of
Douglas_.--Godscroft, 275.

ST. WINFRED or BONI'FACE used to swear by _St. Peter's tomb_.

In the reign of Charles II. fancy oaths were the fashion. (For
specimens, see FOPPINGTON.)

The most common oath of the ancient Romans was _By Hercul[^e]s_! for men;
and _By Castor_! for women; _By Pollux_! for both.

Viri per _Herculem_, mulieres per _Castorem_, utrique per
_Pollucem_ jurare soliti.--Gellius, _Noctes Atticoe_,[TN-44] ii.
6.

=Obad'don=, the angel of death. This is not the same angel as Abbad'ona,
one of the fallen angels, and once the friend of Ab'diel (bk. vi.).

My name is Ephod Obaddon or Sevenfold Revenge. I am an angel of
destruction. It was I who destroyed the first-born of Egypt. It was
I who slew the army of Sennacherib.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_,
xiii. (1771).

=Obadi'ah=, "the foolish fat scullion" in Sterne's novel of _Tristram
Shandy_ (1759).

_Obadiah_, clerk to Justice Day. A nincompoop, fond of drinking, but
with just a shade more brains than Abel Day, who is "a thorough ass"
(act i. 1).--T. Knight, _The Honest Thieves_ (died 1820).

This farce is a mere _r['e]chauff['e]_ of _The Committee_ (1670), a
comedy by the Hon. Sir R. Howard, the names and much of the conversation
being identical. Colonel Blunt is called in the farce "Captain Manly."

=Obadiah Prim=, a canting, knavish hypocrite; one of the four guardians
of Anne Lovely, the heiress. Colonel Feignwell personates Simon Pure,
and obtains the Quaker's consent to his marriage with Anne Lovely.--Mrs.
Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ (1717).

=Obermann=, the impersonation of high moral worth without talent, and the
tortures endured by the consciousness of this defect.--Etienne Pivert de
Sen'ancour, _Obermann_ (1804).

=Oberon=, king of the fairies, quarrelled with his wife, Titania, about a
"changeling" which Ob[)e]ron wanted for a page, but Titania refused to
give up. Oberon, in revenge, anointed her eyes in sleep with the extract
of "Love in Idleness," the effect of which was to make the sleeper in
love with the first object beheld on waking. Titania happened to see a
country bum