Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 07.djvu/80

OBLEANS 48 ORMONDE ("Philip Equality"), and voted for the death of Louis XVI. It did not save him from being arrested as a Bourbon, con- demned and beheaded, in Paris, Nov. 6, 1793. ORLEANS, LOUIS PHILIPPE ROB- ERT, DUKE OF, born in Twickenhamj England, Feb. 6, 1869; son of the Count of Paris, and heir to the French throne; was educated in France, but banished with the other princes in 1886. In 1890 he returned and demanded the right of enlisting in the army, but was again im- prisoned and banished. On the death of his father, in 1894, he became the head of the royal house. ORLEANS, PHILIPPE, DUKE OF, only brother of Louis XIV. of France, and founder of the house of Bourbon- Orleans, which for a short time held the throne of France; born Sept. 21, 1640. In his 21st year he married Henrietta of England, sister of Charles II. The great esteem which the king showed for this princess excited the jealousy of his broth- er, and her sudden death was attributed to poison, to the administration of which the duke was suspected of being acces- sory. His jealousy seems not to have been unfounded. The second marriage of the duke, with the Princess Elizabeth of the Palatinate (1671), was arranged by Louis to secure the neutrality of the Elector Palatine in the approaching war against Holland. In this war the duke distinguished himself in spite of his ef- feminacy. He died June 9, 1701. ORLEANS, PHILIPPE, DUKE OF, Regent of France, son of Philippe, Duke of Orleans, and the Princess Palatine Elizabeth; born in St. Cloud, France, in August, 1674. He fell early under the influence of the clever and unscrupulous Abbe (afterward Cardinal) Dubois. He made his military debut at the siege of Mons (1691), and in 1693 distinguished himself at Neerwinden, but only to arouse the jealousy of Louis XIV., his uncle, who compelled him to retire from the army. In 1692 he married Mile, de Blois, the legitimated daughter of Louis. In 1707 he was appointed to succeed the Duke of Berwick in Spain, and complet- ed the subjugation of that country. He was recalled, however, being suspected of intriguing .for the crown of Spain. On the death of the king (Sept. 1, 1715), he was appointed regent. He found the finances in extreme disorder, and his reckless introduction of a vast paper currency brought the nation to the verge of bankruptcy. He resigned the gov- ernment to Louis XV. on Feb. 13, 1723, and died in Paris, in December of the same year. ORLOFF, a celebrated Russian fam- ily, founded under Peter the Great by Ivan Orel, one of the archers or strelitzes, who, when that body was destroyed, saved his life by his cool courage, and be- came an officer and a noble. The most celebrated of his descendants were: Gregory, a Russian general and politi- cal intriguer, who greatly promoted the elevation of his mistress, Catherine II., to the throne. Being disappointed in his hope of sharing the crown with her, and declining a private marriage, he was supplanted by a new favorite, and died insane in 1783. He had one son by the empress, named Bobrinski. Alexis, his brother, and fellow conspirator, was a man of gigantic stature and strength, and is said to have strangled the Emper- or Peter with his own hands. He was a favorite of Catherine, and was married to the Princess Tarakanoff, daughter of the Empress Elizabeth; died in 1808. Gregory Vladimirowitz, a nobleman of the same family, born in 1778, and bear- ing the title of Count Orloff, was distin- guished for his patronage and culture of letters. He was author of "Historical, Political, and Literary Memoirs of Na- ples"; and "History of the Arts in Italy"; died in 1826. Michael, son of the above Alexis; born in 1785, served in the Russian army against Napoleon I., and went to Paris with the Allies in 1814. Alexis, brother of the preceding; born in 1787, distinguished himself as a diplo- matist and statesman under Nicholas, and died in 1861. ORMOLU, a brass used for cheap jew- elry, and composed of zinc and copper, in various proportions, to imitate gold. Gold lacquer is used to heighten the color. It is also called mosaic gold. Bronze and copper-gilt also go by this name. ORMONDE, JAMES BUTLER, DUKE OF, an English statesman; born in London, England, Oct. 19, 1610. He was the first of the ancient Anglo-Irish family of Butler on whom the ducal title was conferred. In the beginning of the 18th century Theobald Butler, from whom the Duke of Ormonde was descend- ed, held the hereditary office of royal cupbearer or "butler" of Ireland. The duke's father, the son of the celebrated Walter, Earl of Ormonde, was drowned in crossing the channel; and the old earl having incurred the displeasure of the king, James I., and being thrown into prison, James, who on his father's death became, as Viscount Thurles, the heir