OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Phathema (of Corduba)

PHATHEMA, Daughter of Zachary the Prœtor, called Alschablar, of Corduba.
Noted for her learning; wrote with her own hand many volumes in an elegant manner; died unmarried, in the 427th year of the Hegira, aged 94.
Ibid.
# A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Pembroke, (Mary Sidney, Countess of)

Her natural genius was excellent; which assisted by a polite education, enabled her to make an illustrious appearance among the literati of that time.
About the year 1576, she married Henry lord Pembroke, by whom she had William, who succeeded him in his honours, Philip, and a daughter who died young.
Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, her uncle, made the match for her, and paid part of her fortune. Her brother Sir Philip Sidney, the ornament of his age and country, was so exceedingly pleased with her fine genius, and excellent improvement of it, that he consecrated his ingenious romance to her under the title of The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, beginning 'dear and most worthy to be dear lady;' and Mr. Abraham Fraunce endeavoured to do her honour by devoting his labours to her; the titles of whose books induced some to think they were of her own composing. The titles are, The Countess of ​Pembroke's Yvy-church. Containing the affectionate life and unfortunate death of Phillis and Amyntas: That in a pastoral: This in a Funeral: Both in English Hexameters, by Abraham Fraunce, 1591. Also, The Countess of Pembroke's Emmanuel. Containing the Nativity, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ: together with certain Psalms of David. All in English Hexameter, by Abraham Fraunce, 1592.
As her genius inclined her to poetry, she translated many of the Psalms into English verse; which are still preserved in the library at Wilton. But Sir John Harrington supposes, that she was assisted by Dr. Babington, chaplain to that family, and afterwards bishop of Worcester: for, says he, it was more than a woman's skill to express the sense of the Hebrew so right, as she hath done in her verse; or more than the Latin or English translation could give her.
She translated and published, A Discourse of Life and Death, written in French by Philip Mornay, done into English by the countess of Pembroke, 1590. Likewise the Tragedy of Antonie. Done into English by the countess of Pembroke, 1595.
This great lady was not only learned herself, but a patroness of men of letters.
She survived her husband twenty years; and having lived to a good old age, died at her house in Aldersgate-street, London, 1602. She was buried with the Pembroke family, in the chancel of the cathedral church of Salisbury; but without any monument. (See article Herbert.)
Female Worthies.
# A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Pennington, (Lady)

PENNINGTON (LADY),
Author of The Unfortunate Mother's Advice to her absent Daughters.
# A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Pescara, (Victoria Colonna, Marchesa de)

PESCARA (VICTORIA COLONNA, MARCHESA DE), the most celebrated female Poet of Italy,
Was of a most illustrious house, and admired in the 16th century, for her courage, learning and conjugal fidelity. Daughter of Fabricius Colonna, a Roman nobleman, she was married to the marquis of Pescara, one of the most famous generals of the age. After the victory of Pavia, the pope and Italian princes, who wished to shake off the yoke of the emperor Charles V. offered to the marquis, who had a great part in the above victory, the kingdom of Naples; but Victoria wisely persuaded him to refuse the dangerous but dazzling offer, and keep in the bounds of prudence and moderation. After his death, which happened in the flower of her age, she refused every offer of marriage, saying, "that her husband yet lived, and would ever live, in her heart." In fact, she never ceased regretting him, and her most beautiful poems are written to his memory. Towards the latter end of her life, she retired into a monastery, at Milan, where she died about 1541.
F. C.
# A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Paula

PAULA,
A learned and pious lady, of the family of the Scipios; a disciple of St. Jerom. She died 407, aged 57. St. Jerom wrote her life.
F. C. &c.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Witch-Hazel

See also Witch-Hazel on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WITCH-HAZEL, in botany, the common name for a North American shrub, Hamamelis virginica, known in gardens. The clusters of rich yellow flowers begin to expand in the autumn before the leaves fall and continue throughout the winter. The bark and leaves are astringent, and the seeds contain a quantity of oil and are edible. The name is derived from the use of the twigs as divining rods, just as hazel twigs were used in England.
Britten and Holland (Dictionary of English Plant Names, p. 247) quote three British plants under this name: (1) Wych elm (Ulmus montana), which, according to Parkinson (Theatr. 1403), was called “Witch hasell,” because the leaves are “like unto the leaves of the Hasell nut”; (2) Hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus), which, according to Gerard, was so called in some places from its likeness to the elm or “wich Hazell tree”; and (3) Mountain ash (Pyras Aucuparia).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Witch and Wizard

See also Witchcraft and Wizard (supernatural) on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WITCH and WIZARD. These two words are now generally used of an adept of the black art, a sorcerer, magician, female ​and male respectively (see Magic and Witchcraft). “Witch,” formerly of common gender, represents O. Eng. wicca (masc.), wicce (fem.), agent-nouns to wiccian, to practise sorcery, probably a causative verb from O. Eng. wícan, to give way (cf. “weak”), and therefore signifying to avert (evil), conjure away. So Norweg. vikja means (1) to turn aside, (2) to exorcise. The participial “wicked” means witch-like. “Wizard” is formed from “wise,” with the slightly contemptuous Anglo-French suffix -ard, as in drunkard, laggard, sluggard, &c.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Wishaw

See also Wishaw on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WISHAW, a municipal and police burgh of Lanarkshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 20,873. It occupies the face of a hill a short distance south of the South Calder and about 2 m. N. of the Clyde, 15 m. E.S.E. of Glasgow by the Caledonian railway. It owes its importance to the development of the coal and iron industry, and was created a police burgh in 1855. It was extended to include the villages of Cambusnethan and Craigneuk in 1874. The chief public buildings are the town-hall, Victoria hall, the public library and the parish hall, and there is also a public park.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Wislicenus, Johannes

See also Johannes Wislicenus on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WISLICENUS, JOHANNES (1835–1902), German chemist, was born on the 24th of June 1835 at Klein-Eichstedt, in Thuringia. In 1853 he entered Halle University, but in a few months emigrated to America with his father. For a time he acted as assistant to Professor E. N. Horsford at Harvard, and in 1855 was appointed lecturer at the Mechanics' Institute in New York. Returning to Europe in 1856, he continued his studies at Zürich University, where nine years later he became professor of chemistry. This post he held till 1872. He then succeeded A. F. L. Strecker in the chair of chemistry at Würzburg, and in 1885, on the death of A. W. H. Kolbe, was appointed to the same professorship at Leipzig, where he died on the 6th of December 1902. As an original investigator he devoted himself almost exclusively to organic chemistry, and especially to stereochemistry. His work on the lactic acids cleared up many difficulties concerning the combination of acid and alcoholic properties in oxy-acids in general, and resulted in the discovery of two substances differing in physical properties though possessing a structure of proved chemical identity. To this phenomenon, then noticed for the first time, he gave the name of “geometrical isomerism.” So far back as 1869, before the publication of the doctrine of J. H. van’t Hoff and J. A. Le Bel, he expressed the opinion that the ordinary constitutional formulae did not afford an adequate explanation of certain carbon compounds, and ​suggested that account must be taken of the verschiedene Lagerung ihrer Atome im Raume. Later (see Die räumliche Anordnung der Atome in organischen Molekülen, 1887) he extended the application of the van't Hoff-Le Bel theory, believing that it, together with the supposition that there are “specially directed forces, the affinity-energies,” which determine the relative position of atoms in the molecule, afforded a method by which the spatial arrangement of atoms in particular cases may be ascertained by experiment. Wislicenus is also known for his work on aceto-acetic ester and its application as a synthetical agent. He was awarded the Davy medal by the Royal Society in 1898.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Wismar

See also Wismar on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WISMAR, a seaport town of Germany, in the grand-duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, situated on the Bay of Wismar, one of the best harbours on the Baltic, 20 m. by rail N. of Schwerin. Pop. (1905) 21,902. The town is well and regularly built, with broad and straight streets, and contains numerous handsome and quaint buildings in the northern Gothic style. The church of St Mary, a Gothic edifice of the 13th and 14th centuries, with a tower 260 ft. high, and the church of St Nicholas (1381-1460), with very lofty vaulting, are regarded as good examples of the influence exercised in these northern provinces by the large church of St Mary in Lübeck. The elegant cruciform church of St George dates from the 14th and 15th centuries. The Fürstenhof, at one time a ducal residence, but now occupied by the municipal authorities, is a richly decorated specimen of the Italian early Renaissance style. Built in 1552-1565, it was restored in 1877-1879. The “Old School,” dating from about 1300, has been restored, and is now occupied as a museum. The town hall (rebuilt in 1829) contains a collection of pictures. Among the manufactures of Wismar are iron, machinery, paper, roofing-felt and asphalt. There is a considerable trade, especially by sea, the exports including grain, oil-seeds and butter, and the imports coal, timber and iron. The harbour is deep enough to admit vessels of 17-ft. draught, and permits large steamers to unload along its quays. Two miles from Wismar lies the watering-place of Wendorf.
Wismar is said to have received civic rights in 1229, and came into the possession of Mecklenburg in 1301. In the 13th and 14th centuries it was a flourishing Hanse town, with important woollen factories. Though a plague carried off 10,000 of the inhabitants in 1376, the town seems to have remained tolerably prosperous until the 16th century. By the peace of Westphalia in 1648 it passed to Sweden, with a lordship to which it gives its name. In 1803 Sweden pledged both town and lordship to Mecklenburg for 1,258,000 thalers, reserving, however, the right of redemption after 100 years. In view of this contingent right of Sweden, Wismar was not represented in the diet of Mecklenburg until 1897. In 1903 Sweden finally renounced its claims. Wismar still retains a few relics of its old liberties, including the right to fly its own flag.
See Burmeister, Beschreibung von Wismar (Wismar, 1857); Willgeroth, Geschichte der Stadt Wismar, pt. i. (Wismar, 1898); and Bruno Schmidt, Der Schwedisch-mecklenburgische Pfandvertrag über Stadt und Herrschaft Wismar (Leipzig, 1901).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Witch of Agnesi

See also Witch of Agnesi on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WITCH OF AGNESI, in geometry, a cubic curve invented by Maria Gaetana Agnesi. It is constructed by the following method: Let AQB be a semicircle of diameter
AB, produce MQ the ordinate of Q to P so that MQ : MP :: AM : AB. Then the locus of P is the witch. The cartesian equation, if A be taken as origin and AB ( = 2a) for the axis of x, is xy$^2$ = 4а$^2$(2а − х). The curve consists of one branch entirely to the left of the line x = 2a and having the axis of y as an asymptote.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Witham

See also Witham on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WITHAM, an urban district in the Maldon parliamentary division of Essex, England, 39 m. N.E. by E. from London by the Great Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 3454. It lies on the River Brain, an affluent of the Blackwater, also known as the Guith, a form connected with the name Witham. The church of St Nicholas is principally Decorated, but retains earlier portions. Roman bricks appear in its fabric, and premise a Roman station in the vicinity. Surrounding the church (which stands in a high lying portion of the town known as Chipping Hill) there are earthworks, possibly the remains of a fortification recorded as made by order of Edward the Elder in 913, but perhaps of British origin.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Witch Brooms

See also Witch's broom on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WITCH BROOMS, or “Birds' Nests,” in botany, peculiar broom-like growths often seen on the branches of many trees. They are a dense development of branching twigs formed at one place on a branch as the result of the irritation set up by the presence of a mite or a fungus.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Lambert, Anne Therese, Marquise de

Layout 2
LAMBERT, ANNE THERESE, MARQUISE DE,
Was daughter of a master of the accounts, and was born at Paris in 1647. She lost her father at three years old; and her mother then married the ingenious Bachaumont, who took great pleasure in cultivating his step-daughter's talents. She married Henri Lambert, Marquis of St. Bris, in 1666; but he died in 1688. After this, she had long and troublesome law-suits; but succeeding in them, she took a house in Paris, to which it was considered an honour to be admitted. All literary persons resorted to it for the sake of conversation, as hers was almost the only house free from the vice of gaming. She died in 1733, aged 86. Her works were printed in two volumes, and are marked by fine sense, taste, and spirit. The principal ones are, "Avis d'une Mère à son fils, et d'une Mère à sa fille." These are not mere dry didactic precepts, but the easy and graceful effusions of a noble and delicate mind.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Lafite, Marie Elizabeth de

Layout 2
LAFITE, MARIE ELIZABETH DE,
Was born at Paris in 1750, and died at London in 1794. She wrote "Repsonses á Demeler ou Essai d'une Maniere d'éxercer l'attention;" "Entretieres, Drames, et Contes Moraux, à l'usage dea Enfans." She also translated into French, some of the works of Wieland, Gellert, and Lavater.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Lamb, Lady Caroline

Layout 2
LAMB, LADY CAROLINE,
Daughter of the Earl of Besborough, was born in 1785. The history of Lady Caroline Lamb is painfully interesting. She was united, before the age of twenty, to the Honourable William Lamb, (Lord Melbourne,) and was long the delight of the fashionable circles, from the singularity as well as the grace of her manners, her literary accomplishments, and personal attractions. On meeting with Lord Byron, she contracted an unfortunate attachment for the noble poet, which continued three years, and was the theme of much remark. The poet is said to have trifled with her feelings, and a rupture took place. For many years Lady Caroline led a life of comparative seclusion, principally at Brocket Hall. This was interrupted by a singular and somewhat romantic occurrence. Riding with Mr. Lamb, she met, just by the park-gates, the hearse which was conveying the remains of Lord Byron to Newstead Abbey. She was taken home insensible: an illness of length and severity succeeded. Some of her medical attendants imputed her fits, certainly of great incoherence and long continuance, to partial insanity. At this supposition she was invariably and bitterly indignant. Whatever be the cause, it is certain from that time her conduct and habits materially changed; and about three years before her death a separation took place between her and Mr. Lamb, who continued, however, frequently to visit, and, to the day of her death, to correspond with her. It is just to both parties to add, that Lady Caroline constantly spoke of her husband in the highest and most affectionate terms of admiration and respect. A romantic susceptibility of temperament and character seems to have been the bane of this unfortunate lady.
Lady Caroline Lamb was the authoress of three works of fiction. ​which, from extrinsic circumstances, were highly popular in their day. The first, "Glenarvon," was published in 1816; and the hero was understood to shadow forth the character and sentiments of Lord Byron! It was a representation of the dangers attending a life of fashion. The second, "Graham Hamilton," depicted the difficulties and dangers inseparable, even in the most amiable minds, from weakness and irresolution of character. The third, "Ada Reis," (1823,) is a wild Eastern tale, the hero being introduced as the Don Juan of his day, a Georgian by birth, who, like Othello, is sold to slavery, but rises to honours and distinctions. In the end Ada is condemned, for various misdeeds, to eternal punishment!
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Lamballe, Marie Therese, Louise, of Savoy, Carignan, Princess de

Layout 2
LAMBALLE, MARIE THERESE, LOUISE, OF SAVOY, CARIGNAN, PRINCESS DE,
Was born at Turin, September 8th., 1749, and married the Duke of Bourbon Penthifevre, by whom she was left a wealthy, young, beautiful, and amiable widow. When appointed intendant of the royal household of Marie Antoinette, she gained and deserved the confidence and warm affection of her mistress. On the unfortunate flight of the royal family to Varennes, Madame Lamballe escaped by another road from France to England, where she might have lived in safety; but she no sooner beard of the imprisonment of her royal friend, than she hastened back to Paris to soothe her miseries. This fidelity and devotion proved fatal to her. Dragged to the prison of La Force, she was tried before the bloody tribunal, September 3rd., 1792, and, when questioned about the queen, she answered with firmness and dignity. Some of the judges, moved by her heroism, youth, and beauty, wished to spare her; but as soon as she had left the place of her trial, she was seized by the mob and literally torn and cut to pieces. Her head was placed on a pike, and paraded by the diabolical monsters in view of the unfortunate queen and her family.
The character of the Princess de Lamballe was so perfect, that not even her enemies and assassins dared to asperse it.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Labbe, Louise, (La Belle Cordiere,)

Layout 2
LABBE, LOUISE, (LA BELLE CORDIERE,)
Was born in Lyons, in 1525 or 1526. Her father, Pierre Chardin, surnamed Labbé, was a rope-maker or seller. He had her carefully instructed in the Greek, Latin, Spanish, and Italian languages, and also 'in riding and military exercises. She was fond of music, hunting, and war. Her boldness was increased by the example of the heroines of her own time. Before she was sixteen, she went to Perpignan, in the army of the young dauphin, where, under the name of Captain Loys, she exhibited great valour. Among the numerous admirers attracted by her beauty, her talents, and her courage, a young warrior, whose name is unknown, inspired her with a lasting passion.
Louise Labbé married Ennemond Perrin, a wealthy rope-seller, by which she was enabled to devote herself entirely to her literary tastes. Her house, near Lyons, became the resort of men of letters, and persons of distinction. In these societies, where Louise was the presiding genius, everything was collected that could gratify the understanding, delight the imagination, or captivate the senses. The charms, talents, and assemblies of La belle Cordiére excited jealousy and provoked scandal in the society of Lyons, Her writings, too, sometimes voluptuous, and sometimes satirical, afforded new provocation for censure, for which her conduct gave suspicion if not proof.
The most celebrated of her works is a fiction entitled "Debat de Folie et d'Amour;" it is dedicated to her illustrious friend Clemence de Bourges. This piece is full of wit, originality, and beauty. Erasmus and La Fontaine were both indebted to it; the first, for the idea of "The Praise of Folly," and the last, for "L'Amour et la Folic." In truth, La Fontaine's poem is only a versification of the prose story of Louise Labbé. Her elegies and sonnets are highly esteemed by the French.
We may find some excuse for her conduct in the character of the age, when gallantry was not considered dishonourable; and she herself was surrounded by a crowd of agreeable and distinguished, but licentious men. Her generosity, her taste for learning, and her acquirements, so extraordinary for the times, effaced this stain in the eyes of most of her contemporaries, as we learn from tributes of esteem paid her. The street in Lyons where her house was situated was called after her, and still bears the name of La Belle Cordiére. The charm of her conversation, her accomplishments, her talents, the verses which she composed and sung to the lute, contributed to fascinate her admirers to the end of her life. She died in 1566.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Lamb, Mary

Layout 2
LAMB, MARY,
The daughter of respectable parents, was born in London about 1766. She was subject to attacks of insanity, and in one of them, in 1796, brought on by over-exertion, and anxiety about her mother, then quite an aged person, she stabbed her mother to the heart, killing her instantly. After recovering from this attack, she resided with her brother Charles, the well-known author of "Essays of Elia," who devoted his whole life to her. They lived in or near London. In connection with her brother. Miss Lamb wrote two volumes of juvenile poetry; "Stories for Children, or Mrs. Leicester's School," and "Tales from Shakspere." Miss Lamb was remarkable for the sweetness of her disposition, the clearness of her understanding, and the gentle wisdom of all her acts and words, notwithstanding the distraction under which she suffered for weeks, and latterly for months, in every year. She survived her brother eleven years, dying May 20th., 1847. She was buried with him in Edmonton church-yard.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Lambert, Miss

Layout 2
LAMBERT, MISS.
"The Handbook of Needlework" has made this lady's name familiar to the learned and the unlearned; with many it is the only book they peruse, and to it they return again and again with ever-new interest. Garrick was said by Dr. Johnson to contribute to the gaiety of nations; Miss Lambert may be truly eulogised as adding to the pleasure of nations, and filling up the blanks in many a droning existence, animating the stupid to interest, and rousing the indolent to exertion. Pedantry may strive to undervalue her labours, but her readers are more numerous, from the palace to the cottage, than those of the most admired poetess or novelist. Her book has penetrated into regions where Mrs. Norton is unknown, and even time-honoured Miss Edgeworth ignored; not only in the drawing-rooms of London and Washington, but in the wild settlements of Oregon (we speak it advisedly) and in the burning cities of Hindoostan, "The Handbook of Needlework" is a favourite volume.