O.
Oak.
Those green-robed senators of mighty woods,
Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars,
Dream, and so dream all night without a stir.
1267
KEATS: Hyperion, Bk. i.
A song to the oak, the brave old oak,
Who hath ruled in the greenwood long!
1268
HENRY F. CHORLEY: The Brave Old Oak.
Oars.
The oars were silver,
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes.
1269
SHAKS.: Ant. and Cleo., Act ii., Sc. 2.
Oaths.
'T is not the many oaths that make the truth;
But the plain single vow, that is vow'd true.
1270
SHAKS.: All 's Well, Act iv., Sc. 2.
Oaths were not purpos'd, more than law,
To keep the good and just in awe,
But to confine the bad and sinful,
Like moral cattle, in a pinfold.
1271
BUTLER: Hudibras, Pt. ii., Canto ii., Line 197.
Obedience.
Let them obey that know not how to rule.
1272
SHAKS.: 2 Henry VI., Act v., Sc. 1.
Obedience is the Christian's crown.
1273
SCHILLER: Fight with the Dragon, St. 24.
Observation.
For he is but a bastard to the time
That doth not smack of observation.
1274
SHAKS.: King John, Act i., Sc. 1.
Ocean.
Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean—roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;
Man marks the earth with ruin—his control
Stops with the shore;—upon the watery plain
The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain
A shadow of man's ravage, save his own,
When, for a moment, like a drop of rain,
He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan,
Without a grave, unknell'd, uncoffin'd, and unknown.
1275
BYRON: Ch. Harold, Canto iv., St. 179.
One height
Showed him the ocean, stretched in liquid light,
And he could hear its multitudinous roar,
Its plunge and hiss upon the pebbled shore.
1276
GEORGE ELIOT: Legend of Jubal, Line 506.
October.
The sweet calm sunshine of October, now
Warms the low spot; upon its grassy mould
The purple oak-leaf falls; the birchen bough
Drops its bright spoil like arrow-heads of gold.
1277
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT: October, 1866.
October's foliage yellows with his cold.
1278
RUSKIN: The Months.
Offence.
In such a time as this, it is not meet
That every nice offence should bear his comment.
1279
SHAKS.: Jul. Cæsar, Act iv., Sc. 3.
And love the offender, yet detest the offence.
1280
POPE: Eloisa to A., Line 192.
Old Age.
Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty;
For in my youth I never did apply
Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood;
Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo
The means of weakness and debility:
Therefore my age is as a lusty winter,
Frosty, but kindly.
1281
SHAKS.: As You Like It, Act ii., Sc. 3.
When he is forsaken,
Withered and shaken,
What can an old man do but die?
1282
HOOD: Ballad.
Opinion.
Opinion's but a fool, that makes us scan
The outward habit by the inward man.
1283
SHAKS.: Pericles, Act ii., Sc. 2.
He that complies against his will
Is of his own opinion still.
1284
BUTLER: Hudibras, Pt. iii., Canto iii., Line 547.
Opportunity.
O Opportunity! thy guilt is great:
'T is thou that execut'st the traitor's treason;
Thou sett'st the wolf where he the lamb may get;
Whoever plots the sin, thou point'st the season;
'T is thou that spurn'st at right, at law, at reason.
1285
SHAKS.: R. of Lucrece, Line 876.
Oracle.
I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!
1286
SHAKS.: M. of Venice, Act i., Sc. 1.
Oratory.
Thence to the famous orators repair,
Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce democracy,
Shook the Arsenal, and fulmined over Greece,
To Macedon, and Artaxerxes' throne.
1287
MILTON: Par. Regained, Bk. iv., Line 267.
Order.
Order is heav'n's first law; and this confest,
Some are, and must be, greater than the rest,
More rich, more wise; but who infers from hence
That such are happier, shocks all common sense.
1288
POPE: Essay on Man, Epis. iv., Line 49.
Ornament.
Thus ornament is but the guiled shore
To a most dangerous sea.
1289
SHAKS.: M. of Venice, Act iii., Sc. 2.
Owl.
It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman,
Which gives the stern'st good-night.
1290
SHAKS.: Macbeth, Act ii., Sc. 2.