(1.) ODDENA, a town of Africa, in Fetu, on the Gold Coast. (2.) ODDENA, a town of Arabia, near Taas. ODDER, a town of Arabia, in Yemen. (1.) * ODDLY. adv. [from odd. This word and oddnefs, should, I think, be written with one d; but the writers almost all combine against it.] 1. Not evenly. 2. Strangely; particularly; irregularly; unaccountably; uncouthly; contrarily to cuftom. Shak. How oddly will it found, that I Muft afk my child forgiveness. -One man is preffed with poverty, and looks fomewhat oddly upon it. Collier.-The dreams of fleeping men are made up of the waking man's ideas, though for the moft part oddly put together. Locke. A figure a little more oddly turned had caft him, and he had been executed. Locke. -If feveral men were to be asked concerning fome oddly fhaped fetus, whether it were a man or no? one fhould meet with different answers. Locke. Her awkward love indeed was oddly fated; She and her Polly were too near related. Prior. Yet from thefe colours oddly mix'd, Your fight upon the whole is fix'd. Prior. -They had feen a great black fubftance lying on the ground, very oddly shaped. Swift.-Foffils are very oddly and elegantly fhaped. Bentley. (2.) ODDLY ODD NUMBERS. See NUMBER, VII. 14. ODDNESS. n. f. [from odd.] 1. The ftate of being not even. 2. Strangenefs; particularity; uncouthnefs; irregularity.-Cicero begged it as alms of the hiftorians, to remember his confulfhip: and obferve the oddness of the event; all their hiftories are loft, and the vanity of his requeft ftands recorded in his own writings. Dryden.-A knave is apprehenfive of being difcovered; and this habitual concern puts an oddnefs into his looks. Collier. My wife fell into a violent diforder, and I was a little difcompofed at the oddness of the accident. Swift. *ODDS. n. f. [from odd.] x. Inequality; excefs of either compared with the other.-Between thefe two cafes there are great odds. Hooker. There appeareth great odds between them. Spenf. I will lay the odds that ere this year expire, We bear our civil fwords and native fire As far as France. I chiefly, who enjoy So far the happier lot, enjoying thee, Pre-eminent by fo much odds. Shall I give him to partake Shak. The fox, the ape, and humble bee, Were ftill at odds, being but three; Until the goofe came out of door, And ftaid the odds by making four. Gods of whatfoe'er degree, Refume not what themselves have giv❜n, Or any brother god in heav'n; Which keeps the peace among the gods, Or they must always be at odds. Shak. Swift. (1.) *ODE. n. f. [.] A poem written to be fung to mufick; a lyrick poem. The ode is either of the greater or less kind. The lefs is characterised by sweetness and eafe; the greater by fublimity, rapture, and quickness of tranfition.A man haunts the foreft that abuses our young plants with carving Rofalind on their barks; hangs odes upon hawthorns, and elegies on brambles; all forfooth deifying the name of Rofalind. Shak. O run, prevent them with thy humble ode, What work among you scholar gods! Milton. Prior. ODED, a prophet of the Lord, who, being at Samaria, when the Ifraelites returned from the war, with their king Pekah, together with 200,000 of the people of Judah captives, by a feasonable admonition, prevailed on the victors to restore their captive brethren to liberty; as recorded in 2 Chron. xxviii. See AHAZ. ODEGNO, a town of France, in the dep. of Marengo, and late duchy of Montferrat; 14 miles E. of Ceva. ODEIDA, a town of Yemen, 80 miles NE. of Milton. Aden. Full happiness with me? or rather not; Milton. Cromwell, with odds of number and of fate, Remov'd this bulwark of the church and ftate, Waller. ---All the odds between them has been the different cope that has been given to their understandings to range in. Locke.--Judging is balancing an account, and determining on which fide the odds lie. Bocke. 2. More than an even wager; more likely than the contrary.--It is odds but he will. And a fhrewd temptation. South.--The prefbyte. vian party endeavoured one day to introduce a Y "ODEL, Thomas, Uramatic writer, born in Buckinghamshire. He erected a theatre in Goodman's Fields, in 1729; and in 1738 was appointed Deputy Mafter of Revels. He wrote four dramatic pieces, which met with fuccefs. He died in 1749. ODÉMIRA, a town of Portugal, in Alentejo; 24 miles SW. of Ourique, and 13 SE. of Sines. (1.) ODEN. See ODIN, ODINUS, and Wo DEN. (2) ODEN, mountains of Germany. See AB NOBA. ODENATUS, a celebrated prince of Palmyra, He very early inured himself to bear fatigues, and by hunting leopards and wild beats, accustomed himfelf to the labours of a military life. He was a faithful friend to the Romans; and when Aurelian was taken prifoner by Sapor king of Perfia, Odenatus folicited his release, by writing to the conqueror, and by fending him prefents. The Perfian tyrant was offended at this liberty, tore the letter, and ordered the prefents to be thrown into a river; and commanded Odenatus to appear before him, on pain of being devoted to inftant deftruction. Odenatus defpifed this haughty fummons, and oppofed force by force. He obtained confiderable advantages over the troops of Sapor, and took his wife prifoner, with a great booty. In return for these services Gallienus then emperor, named Odenatus his colleague, and gave the title of Auguftus to his children and of Augufta to his wife, the celebrated ZENOBIA. Odenatus, thue invefted with new power, refolved to fignalife himfelf more confpicuously, but he perished by the dagger of one of his own relations, whom he had flightly offended at a domeftic entertainment. He died at Emessa about A. D. 267, and Zenobia fucceeded him. See PALMYRA. ODENBACH, a town of France, in the dep. of Mont Tonnere, and late duchy of Deux Ponts; 3 miles S. of Meiffenheim. ODENHEIM. a village and princely priory of Germany in the circle of the Upper Rhine, 14 miles S. of Heidelberg; founded in 1122. The ci-devant bishop of Spire, had a feat and vote at the imperial diet as prior of Odenheim. ODEN-HOTUN, a town of Corea, 425 miles E. of Peking. ODEŇSALA, a town of Sweden, in Upland. ODENSEE, the capital of the ille of Funen, a place of fuch high antiquity, that fome Danish writers derive its foundation and name from ODEN, OF WODEN, the god and hero of the Gothic nations."Its name certainly occurs (fays Mr Coxe) in the earlieft ages of the Danish hiftory; and it was a town of great note long before Copen bagen exifted. It ftands upon a small river, not navigable, which runs into a bay of the Categate, about two miles from the bay of Stegeftand. Many of the houfes are ancient, bearing dates about the middle of the 16th century; but part is newly built it contains about 5200 inhabitants, who carry on fome trade, exporting chiefly grain and leather; the latter is much esteemed, and its goodness is supposed to arife from a certain property in the river water in which it is foaked fof tanning. The Danish cavalry are fupplied from thence with the greateft part of their leathern accoutrements. Its ftrong beer is also much efteemed. Odenfee is a bishopric, founded by Harold Binatand in 980, and is the richeft in Denmark, next to Copenhagen. It has a school, endowed by the celebrated Q. Margaret, in which a number of scholars, from 6 to 16 years of age, are infructed gratis; they live and board in the town, and receive each a yearly penfion. There is alfo a gymnafium, inftituted by Chriftian IV. for ftudents of the age of 16. This feminary was improved by the liberality of HOLBERG the Danish hiftorian, but is now greatly fallen from its former flourishing ftate. The Cathedral is a large old brick building. The church formerly belonged to the convent of Recolets, and contains the fe pulchre of John king of Denmark, and his fon Chriftian II." Odenfee lies 22 miles from Affens, and 75 W. of Copenhagen. Lon. 10. 27. E. Lat. 55. 28. N. ODENSWI, a town of Sweden, in Smaland. (1.) ODER, a river of France, which runs into the fea, 3 miles below Quimper, in the depart ment of Finisterre. (2.) ODER, à river of Germany, which rifes near a town fo named in Silefia, and on the confines of Moravia. It runs N. through that province, and then into the Marche at Brandenburg and Pomerania, where it forms a large lake, afterwards falling into the Baltic Sea by three mouths; between which lie the islands Úfedem and Wolin. It affes by feveral towns; as Rati bor, Opelen, Breflau, Glogau, and Croffen, in Silefia; Francfort, Lebus, and Cuftrin, in Brandenburg; and Gartz, Stetin, Cammin, Wollin, Ufedom, and Wolgait, in Pomerania. (3.) ODER, a town of Silefia, at the fource of the Oder, 16 miles SW. of Troppaw. Lon. 17. 30. E. Lat. 50. 46. N. (4. ODER, ALT, a river of Silefia, which runs into the ODER (N° 2.), one mile NW. of Breflau. (1.) ODERBERG, a town of Brandenburg, on the Oder, 25 miles NW of Cuftrin, and 35 NE. of Berlin. } (2.) ODERBERG, or BOGUMIN, a town of SiODERBURG, lefia, in Tefchen, at the confluence of the Oder and Efla, 12 miles SSW. of Ratibor. Lon. 18. 10. E. Lat. 50. 2. N. ODERLIUNGA, a town of Sweden, in Schonen; 17 miles E. of Engelholm. ODERNHEIM, two towns of Germany, now annexed to the French empire, and both included in the department of Mont Tonnere; viz. ft, in the circle of the Lower Rhine, and late Palatinate, formerly imperial, 13 miles NW. of Worms. and 14 (Dr Brookes fays 20) S. of Meutz. Lon. 8. 10. E. Lat. 49. 45. N.; 2d, in the circle of the Upper Rhine, and ci-devant duchy of Deux Ponts; 4 miles N. of Weffenheim, and 8 WSW. of Creutznach. ODERQUAT, a town of Germany, in Bremen; 15 miles N. of Stade. ODER-SEIFF, a lake of Silefia, in Breslau, ODERZO, a town of Maritime Auftria, in the Trevifan, 13 miles SE. of Ceneda, and 13 NE. of Trevigio. ODESTUGU, a town of Sweden, in Smaland, 13 miles SE. of Jonkioping. ODEUM, in Grecian antiquity, a music theatre built by Pericles; the infide of which was filled with feats and ranges of pillars, and on the outfide, the roof defcended fhelving downwards from a point in the centre, with many bendings, in imitation of the king of Perfia's pavilion. Here the mufical prizes were contended for; and here alfo, according to Ariftophanes, was a tribunal, ODEYPOUR, a town of Indoftan, in Orixa, 190 miles NW. of Cattack. * ODIBLE. adj. [from odi, Lat.] Hateful. ODIEL, a river of Spain, which runs into the Tinto near its mouth. ODIHAM, a town of Hampshire, feated reat a navigable canal, between the Wye and Thames. It is a corporation and has a market on Sat. It had Ii2 or fome inflammable matter on the cliffs, as at Charmouth Dorfet." a palace and caftle, which was bravely defended by 13 English foldiers against the Dauphin of France, in the reign of K. John. In that of Edward III, David II. K. of Scots was kept prifoner in it. It is 25 m. NE. of Winchester, and 42 W. by S. of London. Lon. o. 56. W. Lat. 51. 18. N. (1.) ODIN, in Saxon mythology, called alfo in the dialect of the Anglo Saxons WODEN, or WoDAN, a name given by the ancient Scythians, to their fupreme god. (2.) ODIN, in Saxon hiftory, a name affumed about A. A. C. 70. by Sicos, a Scythian prince, who conquered the northern nations, made great changes in their government, manners, and religion, enjoyed great honours, and had even divine honours paid him. According to the account given of this conqueror by Snorro, the ancient hif. torian of Norway, and his commentator Torfæus, Odin was a Scythian, who withdrew himself, with many others in his train, by flight, from the vengeance of the Romans, under Pompey; and having officiated as prieft in his own country, he affumed the direction of the religious worlhip, as well as the civil government, of the nations which he conquered Having fubdued Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, he retired to Sweden where he died. Dr Henry gives this account of him: "Odin is believed to have been the name of the one true God among the first colonies who came from the east and peopled Germany and Scandinavia, and among their pofterity for feveral ages. But at length a mighty conqueror, the leader of a new army of adventurers from the eaft, over-run the north of Europe, erected a great empire, affumed the name of ODIN, and claimed the honours which had been formerly paid to that deity. From thenceforward this deified mortal, under the name of Odin or Wodin, became the chief object of the idolatrous, worship of the Saxons and Danes in this ifland, as well as of many other nations. Having been a mighty and fuccefsful warrior, he was believed to be the god of war, who gave victory, and revived courage in the conflict. Having civilized, in fome measure, the countries which he conquered, and introduced arts formerly unknown, he was allo worshipped as the god of arts and artifts. In a word, to this Odin his deluded worshippers impiously afcribed all the attributes which belong only to the true God; to him they built magnificent temples, offered many facrifices, and confecrated the fourth day of the week, which is ftill called by his name Woden's day or Wednesday in England and in all the other countries where he was formerly worshipped. Notwithstanding all this, the founders of all the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy pretended to be defcended from Wodin, and fome of them at the distance only of a few generations.". His wife's name was Frea. See FREA, and MYтноLOGY, 41. ODIN'S FIRE. We have this account of it in Gough's Cambden: "In Evie parish, in the Orkneys, near the fea, are some rocks which frequently in the night appear on fire; and the church of St Michael there was often feen full of lights cailed fires fent by Odin to guard their tombs; but now ceafed. This may be a meteor, ODINUS, a celebrated hero of antiquity, who flourished about 70 years before the Chriftian era, in the northern part of ancient Germany, and Denmark. He was at the fame time a priest, a foldier, a poet, a monarch, and a victor. He impofed upon the credulity of his fuperftitious courtrymen, and made them believe that he could raife the dead, and that he was acquainted with futurity. When he had extended his power and increafed his fame by conqueft and by artifice, he determined to die in a different way from other men. He affembled bis friends, and with the sharp point of a lance he made in his body nine different wounds in the form of a circle; and when expiring, he declared that he was going to Scythia, where he should become an immortal god. He added that he would prepare blifs and felicity for thofe of his countrymen who lived a virtuous life, who fought with bravery, and who died like heroes in the field of battle. Thefe injunctions had the wifhed-for effect: his countrymen fuperftitiously believed him, and constantly recommended themfelves to his protection when they engaged in battle; and they entreated him to receive the fouls of fuch as fell in war. He feems to be the fame with ODIN. De ODIO ET ATIA. See IMPRISONMENT, § 3. The writ de odio et atia was anciently directed to the theriff, commanding him to inquire whether a prifoner charged with murder was committed upon juft caufe of fufpicion, or merely propter odium et atium, for hatred and ill-will; and if upon the inquifition due caufe of fufpicion did not then appear, then there iffued another writ for the theriff to admit him to bail. This writ, according to Bracton, ought not to be denied to any man; it being exprefsly ordered to be made out gratis, without any denial, by magna charta, c. 26. and ftat. Weftm. 2. 13 Edw. I. c. 29. tute of Gloucefter, 6 Edw. I. c. 9. reftrained it in the cafe of killing by mifadventure or felf-defence; and the ftatute 28 Edw. III. c. 9. abolithed it in all cafes whatfoever; but as the ftat. 42 Ed. III. c. I. repealed all statutes then in being contrary to the great charter, Sir Edward Coke is of opinion that the writ de odio et atia was thereby revived. See HABEAS CORPUS. But the fta * ODIOUS. adj. [odieux, Fr. odiofus, Latin.] 1. Hateful; deteftable; abominable. For ever all goodness will be moft charming; for ever all wickednefs will be moft odious. Spratt.-If there could have been hatred in the world, when there was fcarce any thing odious, it would have acted within the compafs of its proper object. South.— Expel from Italy that odious name. Dryden. Granville. 2. Expofed to hate.-As by unjust dealing they 4. A word expreffive of difguft: ufed by wo men. Green fields, and fhady groves, and cryftal And larks, and nightingales, are odious things. * ODIOUSLY. adv. [from odious.] 1. Hatefully; abominably.— Had thy love, ftill odiously pretended, Been, as it ought, fincere, it would have taught thee. Far other reas'nings. Milton's Agonifies. 2. Individiously, so as to cause hate.-Arbitrary power no fober man can fear, either from the king's difpofition or his practice; or even where you would odiofly lay it, from his minifters. Drgden. ODIOUSNESS. n. f. [from odious.] 1. Hate fulness. Have a true fenfe of his fin, of its odiousnefs, and of its danger. Wake's Preparations. 2. The ftate of being hated.-There was left of the blood royal an aged gentleman of approved goodnefs, who had gotten nothing by his cousin's power but danger from him, and odiousness for him. Sidney. * ODIÚM. n. /. [Latin.] Invidioufnefs; quality of provoking hate.-The odium and offences which fome men's rigour or remiffness had contracted upon my government, I was refolved to have expiated. King Charles. She threw the odium of the fact on me, And publicly avow'd her love to you. Dryd. -Projectors, and inventors of new taxes being hateful to the people, feldom fail of bringing odium upon their mafter. Davenant. ODNESS, a cape of Scotland, on the E. coaft of the isle of Stronfa. Lon. o. 47. E. of Edin. Lat. 58. 59. N. (1.) ODO, or ST ODO, fecond Abbot of Clugni in France, was illuftrious for learning and piety in the 10th century. The sanctity of his life contributed greatly to enlarge the congregation of Clugni; and he was fo efteemed, that popes, bishops, and fecular princes, ufually chofe him the arbiter of their disputes. He died about the year 942, and his works are printed in the Bibliotheque of Clugni. (2.) ODO CANTIANUS, fo called as being a native of Kent in England, waa a Benedictine monk in the 12th century, in which order his learning and eloquence raifed him to the dignity of prior and abbot. Abp. Becket was his friend; and his panegyric was made by John of Salisbury. He' compofed Commentaries on the Pentateuch and the 2d Book of Kings; Moral Reflections on the Pfalms; treatifes intitled, De onere Philiflim; De moribus Ecclefiaflicis; De vitiis et virtutibus Anime, &c. ODOACER, king of the Heruli, according to Ennodius, was only a private man in the guards of the emperor Auguftulus, when (A. D. 476, under the confulfhip of Bafilicus and Armatus) the barbarians chofe him for their leader. The barbarians thought, as they often defended Italy, they had a right at least to part of it; but upon demanding it they were refufed, and the confequence was a revolt. Odoacer is faid to have been a man of uncommon parts, capable alike of commanding an army or governing a ftate. Having left his own country when he was very young, to serve in Ita. ly, as he was remarkably tall, he was admitted among the emperor's guards, and continued in that nation till the above year; when, putting himself at the head of the barbarians in the Roman pay, who, though of different nations, had unanimously chofen him for their leader, he marched against Oreftes and his fon Auguftulus, who ftill refused to fhare any of the lands in Italy. The Romans being inferior both in numbers and valour were easily conquered: Oreftes was ordered to be flain; but Auguftulus was fpared, and, though ftripped of his dignity, was treated with humanity, and allowed a libera) fum for his support and that of his relations. Odoacer was proclaimed king of Italy, but affumed neither the purple nor any other mark of imperial dignity. He was afterwards defeated and flain by THEODORIC the Oftrogoth. See GOTHS, and ITALY, § 6. ODOEV, a town of Ruffia, in Tula, on Upha. ODOLI HOTUN, a town of Chinese Tartary. ODOMANTI, an ancient nation of Thrace, on the E. banks of the Strymon. Liv. Ixv. c. 4. ODONCK, á fort of France, in the dep. of the, Scheldt, and late prov. of Auftrian Flanders, on the Lys; 6 miles below Ghent. ODONES, an ancient people of Thrace. ODONTALGIA, the TOOTHACH. See MEDICINE, Index. *ODONTALGICK. adj. [Sav and any.] Pertaining to the tooth-ach. ODONTOIDE, in anatomy, an appellation given to the process of the fecond vertebra of the neck, from it resemblance to a tooth. ODORAN, a French monk, born at Sens, who flourished about 1035. He wrote a chronicle entitled Chronica Rerum in orbe geftarum; which comes down from A. D. 875 to 1032. * ODORATE. adj. [odoratus, Latin.] Scented; having a strong scent, whether fœtid or fragrant.— Smelling is with a communication of the breath, or vapour of the objc& odorate. Bacon's Natural History. ODORIFEROUS. adj. [odorifer, Lat.] Giving fcent; ufually, fweet of fcent; fragrant; perfumed.-A bottle of vinegar, fo buried, came forth more lively and odoriferous, smelling almoft like a violet. Bacon. There ftood in his room preffes that enclofed Native perfumes. Fanning their odoriferous wings difpenfe Milton's Paradise Loft. —A grain of mufk will fend forth odoriferous particles for fcores of years, without its being spent. Locke. *ODORIFEROUSNESS. n. f. [from odiferous.] Sweetness of fcent; fragrance. * ODOROUS. adj. [odorus, Latin.] Fragrant; perfumed; fweet of scent. Such fragrant flowers do give moft odorous fmell, But her fweet odour did them all excel. Sperfer. Their private roofs on od rous timber born, Such as might palaces for kings adorn. Waller. -We * ODOUR. n. f. [dor, Lat. odeur, Fr.] t. Scent, whether good or bad.-Democritus, when he lay a dying, fent for loaves of new bread, which having opened and poured 'a little wine into them, he kept himself alive with the odour till a certain feaft was paft. Bacon.-Infufions in air, for fo we may call odours, have the fame diverfities with infufions in waters; in that the feveral odours which are in one flower, or other body, iffue at feveral times, fome earlier, fome latter. Bacon. They refer fapor unto falt, and odour unto fulphur. Brown's Vulg. Errours. Young. Black kennels abfept odours the regrets, And flops her nofe at beds of violets. 2. Fragrance; perfume; fweet fcent.Mefeem'd I fmelt a garden of sweet flow'rs, That dainty odours from them threw around. Spenfer. By her interceffion with the king the would lay a most seasonable and popular obligation upon the whole nation, and leave a pleasant odour of her grace and favour to the people behind her. Clarendon. The Levites; burned the holy incenfe in fuch quantities as refreshed the whole multitude with its odours. Addifon. ODRAU, a town of Silefia, in Oppau. ODRYSÆ, an ancient nation of Thrace, between the Abdera and the Ifter. Liv. xxxix. 53. ODYCK, a town of Holland, in the dep. of the Rhine, and late prov. of Utrecht, 9 miles SE. of Utrecht. 1 ODYSSEA. See ODYSSEY. ODYSSEUM, in ancient geography, a promontory of Sicily, W. of Pachynus; fo named from Ulyffes. ODYSSEY, an epic poem compofed by Homer; fo named from odussus, the Greek name of ULYSSES, whofe adventures it records. * OE. This combination of vowels does not properly belong to our language, nor is ever found but in words derived from the Greek, and not yet wholly conformed to our manner of writing: oe has in fuch words the found of E. (1.) OEA, an ancient city of Africa, now called TRIPOLI. Plin. v. 4.. (2.) OEA, a town of Egina, Heródot. v. 83. ŒAGER, or in fabulous hiftory, a king (1.) ŒAGRUS, of Thrace, the father of the poet Orpheus, by the Mufe, Calliope. See OR PHEUS. OECHIONÉ, a fingular fish of Mexico. See MEXICO, $14. DECOLAMPADIUS, John, a celebrated German reformer, born at Rainspurg in Franconia, in 1482. He ftudied at Heilbrun, and afterwards at Hiedelburg, where he took his degree of bachelor in philofophy in his 14th year. His reputation induced the elector-palatine to appoint him preceptor to his fon. He completed his ftudies at Tubingen, under Reuchlin; after which he was invited to Bafil, and made D. D. At Augsburg, he embraced the fentiments of Luther, and publifhed his Confeffion, which containing doctrines difagreable to the monks of his convent, he quitted it, and returned to Bafil, in 1522, where the council appointed him profeffor of divinity and city preacher. He tranflated St Chryfoftom's Commentaries upon Genefis into Latin. In the dif pute between Luther and Zuinglius refpecting the eucharift, he defended the opinions of the latter, in a work which is reckoned well written. In 1528 he married, and completed the reformation of the churches of Bafil and Ulm. In 1529, he affifted at the conference at Marfpurg; and returning to Bafil, died of the plague, in 1531, aged 49. A monument is erected in the cathedral to his memory. He left a fon and two daughters. His works are numerous and refpectable. (1.)* OECONOMICKS. n. s. [ssnovoμixos; œconomique, Fr. from oeconomy. Both it and its deriva-' tives are under ECONOMY.] Management of household affairs.-A prince's leaving his bufinefs wholly to his minifters, is as dangerous an errour in politicks, as a mafter's committing all to his fervants is in oeconomicks. L'Eftrange. (2.) OECONOMICs, the art of managing the affairs of a family or community. OECONOMISTS, a fect of philofophers in France, who lately made a great noise in Europe, and are generally believed to have been unfriendly to religion, and to have paved the way for the numberlefs horrors attending the French revolution, by eradicating all regard for it from the minds of the people. The founder of this fect was Dr Duquefnai, who had fo well infinuated himfelf into the favour of Lewis XV. that he used to call him his thinker. The fect was ftyled Oeconomists, because the economy and order to be introduced into the finances, and other plans of alleviating the diftreffes of the people, were their conftant topics. The Abbe Baruel admits, that fome few of them may have had no other objects; but he adduces very plausible evidence, that the great aim of the majority of the fect was to eradicate from the minds of the people all reverence for divine revelation. This they endeavoured to do by printing and difperfing among the people at very low prices, and often gratis, by the hands of hawkers, pedlars, &c. pamphlets and fmall books, containing extracts from the works of Voltaire, Diderot, and other modern philofophers, against religion, morals and government. Under pretence of ameliorating the condition of the people, and inftructing them, they drew feveral of the king's best friends in, to patronize their fociety and their oftenfible measures; but in the mean time held private and fecret meetings with all whom they could truft, at Baron Holbach's; where |