law in the university of that city, which he quitted without having submitted to the final examination. He was then employed as a clerk in the office of the “Court of Conscience,” and subsequently in that of the Commercial Court at Moscow. Both tribunals were called upon to settle disputes chiefly among the Russian merchant class, from which Ostrovskiy was thus enabled to draw the chief characters for his earliest comedies. Among these are Byednaya Nivesta (“The Poor Bride”), Byednost ne Porok (“Poverty not a Vice”), and Ne v’svoi sani ne sadis (literally “Don’t put yourself in another’s sledge,” meaning “Don't put yourself in a position for which you are not suited”). Of this last Nicholas I. said, “it was not a play, but a lesson.” The uncultured, self-satisfied Moscow merchants are strikingly portrayed in Grozá (“The Tempest”) and Svoyi lyudi sochtyomsya (“Between near relatives no accounts are needed”), which was originally called “The Bankrupt.” The last-mentioned comedy was prohibited for ten years, until the accession of Alexander II., and Ostrovskiy was dismissed the government service and placed under the supervision of the police. The Liberal tendencies of the new reign, however, soon brought relief, Ostrovskiy was one of several well-known literary men who were sent into the provinces to report on the condition of the people. Ostrovskiy’s field of inquiry lay along the upper Volga, a part of the country memorable for some of the most important events in Russian history. This mission induced him to write several historical dramas of great merit, such as Kuzma Zakharich Minin Soukhorouk (the full name of the famous butcher who saved Moscow from the Poles); “The False Demetrius” and “Vassily Shuisky”; Vassilisa Melentieva (the name of a favourite court lady of Ivan the Terrible), and the comedy, Voivoda eeli Son na Volge (“The Military Commander,” or “A dream on the Volga”). Many of his later works treat of the Russian nobility, and include Byeshani Dengi (literally “Mad Money”), Vospeetinitsa (“A Girl brought up in a Stranger’s Family”), and Volki e Ovtsi (“Wolves and Sheep”); others relate to the world of actors, such as Liess (“Forest”), Bez vini vinovatiya (“Guiltlessly guilty”), and Talenti e Pokloniki (“Talents and their Admirers”). Ostrovskiy enjoyed the patronage of Alexander III., and received a pension of 3000 roubles a year. With the help of Moscow capitalists he established in that city a model theatre and school of dramatic art, of which he became the first director. He also founded the Society of Russian Dramatic Art and Opera Composers. His death took place on the 24th of June 1886, while travelling to his estate in Kostroma.
OSTUNI, a picturesque walled city of Apulia, Italy, in the
province of Lecce, 23 m. by rail N.W. of Brindisi. Pop. (1901)
7734 (town); 22,811 (commune). It has a cathedral of the 15th century
with a fine Romanesque façade, and a municipal library
with a collection of antiquities. The see has been amalgamated
with that of Brindisi.
OSUNA, PEDRO TELLEZ GIRON, 3rd duke of (1575–1624),
Spanish viceroy of Sicily and Naples, was born at Osuna, and
baptized on the 18th of January 1575. He was the son of Juan
Tellez Giron, the 2nd duke, and of his wife Ana Maria de Velasco,
a daughter of the constable of Castile. When a boy he
accompanied his grandfather, the 1st duke, to Naples, where he
was viceroy. He saw service at the age of fourteen with the
troops sent by Philip II. to put down a revolt in Aragon, and
was married while still young to Doria Catarina Enriquez de
Ribera, a grand-daughter on her mother’s side of Hernan
Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico. In 1598 he inherited the
dukedom. Before and after his marriage he was known for the
reckless dissipation of his life. The scandals to which his
excesses gave rise led to his imprisonment at Arevalo in 1600.
This sharp lesson had a wholesome effect on the duke, and in the
same year he left for Flanders, with a body of soldiers raised at
his own expense. His appearance in Flanders as a grandee with
a following of his own caused some embarrassment to the king’s
officers. But Osuna displayed unexpected docility and good
sense in the field. He was content to serve as a subordinate, and
took a full share of work and fighting both by land and sea.
When peace was made with England in 1604 he is said to have visited London. He is said also to have paid a visit to Holland during the armistice arranged to allow of the negotiations for the twelve years’ truce of 1609; but, as he was back in Spain by that year, he cannot have seen much of the country. His services had purged his early offences, and he had been decorated with the Golden Fleece. On the 18th of September 1610 he was named viceroy of Sicily, and he took possession of his post at Melazzo on the 9th of March 1611. In 1616 he was promoted to the vice royally of Naples, and held the office till he was recalled on the 28th of March 1620. The internal government of Osuna in both provinces was vigorous and just. During his Sicilian vice royalty he organized a good squadron of galleys with which he freed the coast for a time from the raids of the Mahommedan pirates of the Barbary States and the Levant. After his transfer to Naples Osuna continued his energetic wars with the pirates, but he became concerned in some of the most obscure political intrigues of the time. He entered into a policy of unmeasured hostility to Venice, which he openly attacked in the Adriatic. The princes of the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs were at all times anxious to secure safe communication with the German possessions of their family. Hence their anxiety to dominate all northern Italy and secure possession of the Alpine passes. It would have suited them very well if they could have reduced Venice to the same state of servitude as Genoa. Osuna threw himself into this policy with a whole heart. There can be no reasonable doubt that he was engaged with the Spanish ambassador, and the viceroy of Milan, in the mysterious conspiracy against Venice in 1618. As usual, the Spanish government had miscalculated its resources, and was compelled to draw back. It then found extreme difficulty in controlling its fiery viceroy. Osuna continued to act against Venice in an almost piratical fashion, and treated orders from home with scant respect. Serious fears began to be entertained that he meant to declare himself independent in Naples, and had he tried he could have brought about a revolt which the enfeebled Spanish government could hardly have suppressed. It is, however, unlikely that he had treasonable intentions. He allowed his naval forces to be gradually reduced by drafts, and when superseded returned obediently to Madrid. After his return he was imprisoned on a long string of charges, and largely at the instigation of the Venetians. No judgment was issued against him, as he died in prison on the 24th of September 1624. The “great duke of Osuna,” as he is always called by the Spaniards, impressed the imagination of his countrymen profoundly as a vigorous, domineering and patriotic leader of the stamp of the 16th century, and he was no less admired by the Italians. His ability was infinitely superior to that of the ordinary politicians and courtiers of the time, but he was more energetic than really wise, and he was an intolerable subordinate to the bureaucratic despotism of Madrid.
The Vita di Don Pieiro Giron, duca d’ Ossuna, vicere di Napoli e di Sicilia of Gregorio Leti (Amsterdam, 1699) is full of irrelevances, and contains much gossip, as well as speeches which are manifestly the invention of the author. But it is founded on good documents, and Leti, an Italian who detested the Spanish rule, knew the state of his own country well. See also Don C. Fernandez Duro, El Gran Duque de Osuna y su Marina (Madrid, 1885), and Documentos inéditos para la historia de España (Madrid, 1842, &c.), vols. xliv.-xlvii.
OSUNA, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Seville;
57 m. by rail E.S.E. of Seville. Pop. (1900) 18,072. Osuna
is built on a hill, overlooking the fertile plain watered by the
Salado, a sub-tributary of the Guadalquivir. On the top of the
hill stands the collegiate church, dating from 1534 and containing
interesting Spanish and early German paintings. These,
however, as well as the sculptures over the portal, suffered
considerably during the occupation of the place by the French
under Soult. The vaults, which are supported by Moorish
arches, contain the tombs of the Giron family, by one of whom,
Don Juan Tellez, the church was founded in 1534. The university
of Osuna, founded also by him in 1549, was suppressed in
1820; but its large building is still used as a secondary school.
