Olive Carraze, beautiful quadroon, virtuous and accomplished, whose mother, Madame Delphine, swears Olive is not her child, that she may secure the girl’s legal marriage with a white man who loves her honorably. On the afternoon of the marriage-day, when the wedded pair have taken their departure, Madame Delphine seeks her confessor, owns the perjury, receives absolution, and falls dead in the confessional.—George W. Cable, Madame Delphine (1879).
Oliver, the elder son of Sir Rowland de Bois [Bwor], left in charge of his younger brother, Orlando, whom he hated and tried indirectly to murder. Orlando, finding it impossible to live in his brother’s house, fled to the forest of Arden, where he joined the society of the banished duke. One morning he saw a man sleeping, and a serpent and lioness bent on making him their prey. He slew both the serpent and lioness, and then found that the sleeper was his brother Oliver. Oliver’s disposition from this moment underwent a complete change, and he loved his brother as much as he had before hated him. In the forest the two brothers met Rosalind and Celia. The former, who was the daughter of the banished duke, married Orlando; and the latter, who was the daughter of the usurping duke, married Oliver.—Shakespeare, As You Like It (1598).
Oliver and Rowland, the two chief paladins of Charlemagne. Shakespeare makes the duke of Alençon say:
Froissart, a countryman of ours, records,
England all Olivers and Rowlands bred
During the time Edward the Third did reign.
1 Henry VI. act i. sc. 2 (1589).
Oliver’s Horse, Ferrant d’Espagne.
Oliver’s Sword, Haute-claire.
Oliver le Dain or Oliver le Diable, court barber, and favorite minister of Louis XI. Introduced by Sir W. Scott in Quentin Durward and Anne of Geierstein (time, Edward IV.).
Oliver Floyd, a dashing lawyer, with iron-gray hair, and separated from his wife. His guardianly attention to Carol Lester set village and town gossip to talking.—Charlotte Dunning, Upon a Cast (1885).
Oliv´ia, a rich countess, whose love was sought by Orsino, duke of Illyria; but having lost her brother, Olivia lived for a time in entire seclusion, and in no wise reciprocated the duke’s love; in consequence of which Viola nicknamed her “Fair Cruelty.” Strange as it may seem, Olivia fell desperately in love with Viola, who was dressed as the duke’s page, and sent her a ring. Mistaking Sebastian (Viola’s brother) for Viola, she married him out of hand.—Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1614).
Never were Shakespeare’s words more finely given than by Miss M. Tree [1802-1862] in the speech to “Olivia,” beginning, “Make me a willow cabin at thy gate.”—Talfourd (1821).