regard, or rather in defiance, of the warning of
the God of the Jews.

OPIE, JOHN, English artist, born near Truro, Cornwall; began to
learn his father's trade of carpenter, but turning to art went with Dr.
Wolcott to London in 1780; for a year he had phenomenal success as a
portrait-painter; on the wane of his popularity he turned to scriptural
and historical painting and to illustration; after being Associate for a
year he was elected Academician in 1787; besides some lectures on art, he
wrote a Life of Reynolds and other works (1761-1807).

OPINICUS, a fabulous winged creature with the head of a griffin, the
body of a lion, and the tail of a camel; a heraldic symbol.

OPITZ, MARTIN VON, a German poet, born in Silesia; was much
patronised by the princes of Germany; was crowned with laurel, and
ennobled by Ferdinand II.; his poetry was agreeable to classic models,
but at the expense of soul, though, to his credit it must be said, the
German language and German poetry owe him a deep debt (1597-1639).

OPORTO (140), at the mouth of the Douro, 200 m. N. of Lisbon, the
chief manufacturing city of Portugal, and second in commercial
importance; is the head-quarters of the trade in port wine; the
industries include cloth, silk, hat, and porcelain manufacture, tobacco,
metal-casting, and tanning; besides wine it exports cattle, fruit, cork,
and copper. There are many old churches, schools, a library, and two
picture-galleries.

OPPORTUNIST, name given to a politician whose policy it is to take
advantage of, or be guided by, circumstances.

OPTIMISM, the doctrine or belief that in the system of things all
that happens, the undesirable no less than the desirable, is for the
best.

OPUS OPERATUM (i. e. the work wrought), a Latin phrase used to
denote the spiritual effect in the performance of a religious rite which
accrues from the virtue inherent in it, or by grace imparted to it,
irrespectively of the administrator.

ORAN (74), the busiest port in Algeria, is 260 m. W. of Algiers; it
has a Roman Catholic cathedral, a mosque, a school, a college, and two
castles, and exports esparto grass, iron ore, and cereals.

ORANGE RIVER or GARIEP, chief river of South Africa, rises in
the eastern highlands of Basutoland, and flows 100 m. westward to the
Atlantic, receiving the Vaal and the Caledon as tributaries, and having
Cape Colony on the S. bank and the Orange Free State, Griqualand West,
Bechuanaland, and