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fat swelling of the master-sinew, of a horse, occasioned by such anover-reach.

Over-riding, in the manege, the same with Over-done,supra.

Over ruling an Objection, in law, is the rejecting or settingof if aside by the court.

Over running, among! printers. See Printing.

OVERSEERS OF Tills POOR, arc public officers appointedbv statute in every parish, to provide for the poor therein; andsometimes tiny are two, three, or four, according to the largenessof parishes.

OVERSET, or OVERTHROW, in the sea-language, a shipis said to overset when her keel turns uppermost; which misfor-tune is occasioned either by bearing too much sail, or by ground-ing her so that she fall-: upon one side.

OYERFLACKEE, an island of Batavia, in the province ofHolland, situated on the mouth of the river Maes, having theisland of Yoorn on the north, Brabant on the east, the island ofSchoven on the south, and the Goreecn the west.

OVERT, the same with open ; thus vn overt-act signifies an actwhich, in law, must be clearly proved ; and such is to be ailedgedin every indictment for high-treason.

OVERTURE , or OUVERTURE, opening or preluding; aterm used for the solemnities at the beginning of any public act orceremony ; an opera, tragedy, concert of music, &c. The over-ture of the theatre, or scene, is a piece of music usually endingwith a fugue : the overture of a jubilee is a general procession, &c.

’ OYERY.SSEL, a province of Batavia or Holland, bounded byGroningen on the north, by Westphalia on the x*ast, by Zulphenon tlie son’ll, and by Gueiderland, the Zuyder Sea, and Friesland ,on the wot.

OV1CULUM, in the ancient architecture, a little ovum, oregg: some abo use the word oviculuiu for ovolo. See Ovolo.

OUGHTRED, William, an eminent mathematician , bornand educated at Eton, in 1573, whence lie was sent to King’sCollege in Cambridge , of which be afterwards became fellow.Being admitted to hole orders, he ieit the university about 1003,and was presented to the rei tore of Aldbury, near Guildtord, inSurry ; a.i.l about H)28 was appointed by the earl o! Arundel toinstruct his sou in the mathematics. He corresponded with someot the most eminent scholars of his time upon mathematical subjecls; and the most celebrated mathematicians of that age owedmost of their skill to him, as young gentlemen qnne from all partsto receive his instructions. Upon hearing the news of the vote atWestmin-ter, for the restoration of -king Charles 11. he expired ina sudden transport of joy, aged'PS. He wrote, i. Clavis Malhe-itiatica; afterwards published in English . 2. A Description of thedouble horizontal Dial. 3. Qpuscula. Malhematica ; and severalother works, lie left also behind him a great number of papersupon mathematical subjects, in the museum of William Jones, esq.F.R.S. He had one son, whom he bred a watch-maker, andwrote a book of instruction on that art for his use.

OUJATANOiy, a fort of the United States in the North-Western Territory, 130 miles S. of Fort St. Joseph. Lon. 87. 58.W. Iy.it. 40. 38. N.

OVID!US NASO, Publius, a celebrated Latin poet of theAugustan age, was a Roman knight, born at Sulmo , B.C. 43. Hestudied rhetoric under Aurelius Fuscus, and lor some time fre-quented the bar. His progress in eloquence was great, but no-thing could deter him from pursuing liis natural inclination to^oetry. Every tiling he wrote was expressed in poefical number:.A lively genius and a fertile imagination soon pained him ad-mirers: the learned became bis friends; Virgil, Propertius , Ti-bulti's, and Horace, honoured him with their correspondence, andAugustus patronised him with the mo-t unbounded liberality.Soon, however, he incurred bis di»pieastire, and was banishedto Tomos, a city on the Pontus Euxinus , near the mouth of theDanube , when he was fifty years of age. The cause of this exileis unknown, but several passages indicate that it was something lieknew of the family of Augustus , llis w ritings in exile, althoughfull of flattery and impatience, failed to procure him a pardon,and lie died in the seventh or eighth year of his banishment, in thefifty-seven'h war ol ins age. lie was buried at Tomos. Thegreatest part of his poems are extant, consisting of his Metamor-pliyies, hi> Fusil , lus Trirtia, Elegies, the llcroides, three books

Amorum, and three do Arte Amandi, with the other de RemeclioAtnoris, his Hits, and fragments of other poems, among which arepart of a tragedy called Medea, llis Epistles from"Pontus arethe language of a mean flatterer. All his poetry is characterisedby sweetness of style, glowing expression, and elegance of de-scription, mixed, however, with much licentiousness. Idle bestedition of his works is that of Bunnann, 4 vols. 8vo.

OVfEDA, in botany, a genus of the angiospermia order, anddidynamia class of plants ; natural order Personal;!’. Calyx quin-quefid ; tube of the corolla almost cylindrical above, very long ;berry globose and disp'ermous. It has two species, O. spinosa,and O. mitis.

OVIEDO, a city of Spain, capital of Asturias d’Oviedo, 50mib-s N.W. of Leon, and 208 N.W. of Madrid . Lon. 5. 47. \V.Lat. 43. 23. N.

OVTL1A, or SEPTA, a place in ancient Rome , in the CampusMartins, at first railed in like a sheep-pen, whence its name. Af-terwards it was mounted with marble, and beautified with walks,and people were called to give their suffrages for the election ofmagistrates.

OVINIA LEX, the Ovinian I. aw, a law of ancient Rome ,enacted to permit the censors to elect and admit among the sena-tors the most virtuous and worthiest of the citizens.

OVIPAROUS, [pri/»i, and pario, Lat.] bringing forth eggs;

not viviparous.

OVIS , the Sheet, in zoology, a genus of the mammalia class,and of the order pecora. Horns concave, turned backwards, fullof wrinkles; tore-teeth eight in the under jaw, no canine teeth.Dr. Shaw enumerates nine species. The wool of these animals isonly a congeries of very long and slender hairs oddly twisted andcontorted, and variously interwoven with one another. 'Ibis, asfar as is yet known, is a clothing peculiar to the sheep kind, noother animal having been seen to possess it. It is not, however,the clothing of all the species of sheep, some that are found in dis-tant nations having short hair like that ot the goat. See Plate C.

O. Ammon, the Argali, or Ovis Fera of Dr. Pallas; or theWild Sheep of Mr. Pennant, is supposed to be the original of thecommon sheep. The horns are large, semicircularly arched hack-wards and divergent, wrinkled (hi their upper surface, and flattishon the under side : the neck has two pendant hairy wattles. Dr.Pallas paid particular attention to this species. He says lie “ foundthe ovis fera, or wild sheep, in all its native vigour, boldness, andactivity, inhabiting the vast chain of mountains wli ch run throughthe centre of Asia to the Eastern Sea, and the branches which itsends off to Great Tarlary, China , and the Indies. This wildanimal, which our learned ’naturalist declares to be the imisiinoivof Pliny , and the ophion of the Greeks, is called argali by theSiberians, which means wild sheep ; and by the Russians kamen-noi barium, or sheep of the rocks, irom its ordinary place of abode.It delights in the bare rocks ot the Asiatic chain just mentioned,where it is constantly found basking in the sun ; but it avoids thewoods of the mountains, and every other object that would inter-ci pt the direct rays of the glorious luminary. Its food is the Al-pine plants and shrubs it finds amongst the rocks. The argaliprefers a temperate climate, although lie docs not disdain that ofAsiatic Siberia, as there lie finds his favourite bare rocks, sun-shine, and Alpme plants; nay, lie is even found in the cold east-ern extremity of Siberia and Kaintschalka, which plainly provesthat nature has given a most extensive range to the sheep in awild state, equal even to w hat she has given to man, the lord ofthe creation ; a fact that ought to make us slow in believing theassertions not uncommon, which tend to prove the sheep a local,animal ; or at least that it must be confined to certain latitudes, topossess it in all its value. The argali loves solitude, or possiblyperfect liberty, and therefore flees the haunts of all-subduing man;,lienee it gradually abandons a country in proportion as it becomespeopled, if no unsurmounlable obstacle obstructs its flight; inso-much that Dr. Fallas thinks that nothing but the surrounding seacan account for wild sheep being found in an inhabited island, asis sometimes the case. '] lie ew e of the argali brings forth beforethe nu lling of the snow. Her y oung resembles much a youngkid ; except that it has a large fiat protuberance in place of horns,and that it is covered with a woolly hair, frizzled, and of a dai Itgrey. There is no annual so shy as the argali, which it is almostimpossible to overtake on such ground as it keeps to. When pur-

* sued.