Opium-Eater (The English), Thomas de Quincey, who published Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1845).
O. P. Q., Robert Merry (1755-1798); object of Gifford’s satire in Baviad and Mæviad, and of Byron’s in his English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. He marries Miss Brunton, the actress.
And Merry’s metaphors appear anew,
Chained to the signature of O. P. Q.
Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809).
Oracle of the Church (The), St. Bernard (1091-1153).
Oracle of the Holy Bottle (The), an oracle sought for by Rabelais, to solve the knotty point “whether Panurge (2 syl.) should marry or not.” The question had been put to sibyl and poet, monk and fool, philosopher and witch, but none could answer it. The oracle was ultimately found in Lantern-land.
This, of course, is a satire on the celibacy of the clergy and the withholding of the cup from the laity. Shall the clergy marry or not?—that was the moot point; and the “Bottle of Tent Wine,” or the clergy, who kept the bottle to themselves, alone could solve it. The oracle and priestess of the bottle were both called Bacbuc (Hebrew for “bottle”).—Rabelais, Pantag´ruel, iv., v. (1545).
Oracle (Sir), name used in Merchant of Venice to express conceited, pugnacious man.
... I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!”
Orange (Prince of), a title given to the heir-apparent of the king of Holland. “Orange” is a petty principality in the territory of Avignon, in the possession of the Nassau family.
Orania, the lady-love of Am´adis of Gaul.—Lobeira, Amadis of Gaul (fourteenth century).