# The Nuttall Encyclopædia/W

W
Waal, a S. branch of the Rhine, in Holland.
Wace, Anglo-Norman poet, born in Guernsey; author of two metrical chronicles, “Geste des Brétons” and “Roman de Rou,” the latter recording the fortunes of the dukes of Normandy down to 1106 (1120-1183).
Wace, Henry, Principal of King's College, London; has lectured ably on Christian apologetics, and written valuable works in defence of Christianity; b. 1836.
Wade, George, English general; commanded in Scotland during the rebellion of 1715, has the credit of the construction in 1725-35 of the military roads into the Highlands, to frustrate any further attempts at rebellion in the north (1668-1748).
Wadman, Widow, a lady in “Tristram Shandy” who pays court to Uncle Toby.
Wady, an Arabic name for the channel of a stream which is flooded in rainy weather and at other seasons dry.
Wagner, Wilhelm Richard, the great musical composer, born at Leipzig; showed early a faculty for music, and began the enthusiastic study of it under Beethoven; in 1835 became conductor of the orchestra of the theatre of Magdeburg, and held the same post afterwards at Riga and Königsberg; his principal works were “Rienzi” (1840), “The Flying Dutchman” (1843), “Tannhäuser” (1845), “Lohengrin” (1850), “Tristan and Isolde” (1859), “The Mastersingers of Nürnberg” (1859-60), and the “Ring of the Nibelungen,” the composition of which occupied 25 years; this last was performed in 1876 at Bayreuth in a theatre erected for the purpose in presence of the emperor of Germany and the principal musical artists of the world; “Parsifal” was his last work; his musical ideas were revolutionary, and it was some time before his works made their way in England (1813-1883).
Wagram, a village, 10 m. NE. of Vienna, where Napoleon gained a great victory over the Austrians under the Archduke Charles, on July 5 and 6, 1809.
Wahabis, a Mohammedan sect which arose among the Nedj tribe in Central Arabia, whose aims were puritanic and the restoration of Islamism to its primitive simplicity in creed, worship, and conduct; in creed they were substantially the same as the Sunnites (q. v.).
Waikato, the largest river in New Zealand, in the North Island, the outlet of the waters of Lake Taupo, the largest lake; has a course of 170 m.
Wakefield (37), a borough of Yorkshire, 9 m. S. of Leeds; has large woollen and other manufactures.
Walcheren, an island in the province of Zeeland, in the delta formed by the Maas and Scheldt; was the destination of an unfortunate expedition sent to the help of the Austrians against Napoleon in Antwerp, in which 7000 of the army composing it died of marsh fever, from which 10,000 were sent home sick and the rest recalled.
Waldeck-Pyrmont (57), two high-lying territories in North Germany forming one principality and subject to imperial authority; consists of hill and valley.
Waldenses, a Christian community founded in 1170 in the south of France, on the model of the primitive Church, by Peter Walden, a rich citizen of Lyons, and who were driven by persecution from country to country until they settled in Piedmont under the name of the Vaudois (q. v.), where they still exist.
Wales (1,519), one of three divisions of Great Britain; is 135 m. in length and from 37 to 95 m. in breadth, and bounded on the NW. and S. by the sea; it is divided into 12 counties, of which 6 form North Wales and 6 South Wales; is a mountainous country, intersected by beautiful valleys, which are traversed by a number of streams; it is largely agricultural; has mines of coal and iron, lead and copper, as well as large slate-quarries, which are extensively wrought; the Church of England is the church established, but the majority of the people are Nonconformists; it is represented in Parliament by 30 members; the natives are Celts, and the native language Celtic, which is still the language of a goodly number of the people.
Wales, Prince of, title borne by eldest son of the English monarch; first conferred in 1301 on eldest son of Edward I. after subjugation of Wales (1282); since 1901 borne by Prince George, formerly Duke of York; entered the navy in 1877, and attained the post of commander in 1890; became heir of the throne on death of his brother, Duke of Clarence (1892); married Princess Mary of Teck (1893), and has by this marriage four sons and a daughter; b. 1865.
Walfish Bay, a dependency of Cape Colony, in the middle of the coast-line of German South-West Africa.
Walker, George, defender of Londonderry against the army of James II., born in co. Tyrone, of English parents; was in holy orders, and by his sermons encouraged the town's-people during the siege, which lasted 105 days; he afterwards fought in command of his Derry men at the battle of the Boyne, where he lost his life.
Wallace, Alfred Russel, English naturalist, born at Usk, in Monmouthshire; was devoted to the study of natural history, in the interest of which he spent four years (1848-52) in the valley of the Amazon, and eight years after (1854-62) in the East India Archipelago, from the latter of which expedition especially he returned with thousands of specimens of natural objects, particularly insects and birds, and during his absence he wrought out a theory in the main coincident with Darwin's natural selection in corroboration thereof; he has since devoted much of his time to the study of spiritualism, and in spite of himself has come to be convinced of its claims to scientific regard; he has written on his travels, “Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection,” “Miracles and Modern Spiritualism,” &c.; b. 1823.
Wallace, Sir William, the champion of Scottish independence, born in Renfrewshire, second son of Sir Malcolm Wallace of Elderslie; was early seized with a desire to free his country from foreign oppressors, and ere long began to figure as chief of a band of outlaws combined to defy the authority of Edward I., who had declared himself Lord of Scotland, till at length the sense of the oppression became wide-spread, and he was appointed to lead in a general revolt, while many of the nobles held aloof or succumbed to the usurper; he drove the English from one stronghold after another, finishing with the battle of Stirling, and was installed thereafter guardian of the kingdom; such a reverse was more than the “proud usurper” could brook; he accordingly mustered a large army, and at Falkirk literally crushed Wallace and his followers with an overwhelming force, the craven nobles still standing aloof, one of them in the end proving traitor, and handing Wallace over to the enemy, who carried him off to London, and had him hanged, beheaded, and quartered.
Wallace Collection, a collection of works of art bequeathed to the nation by Lady Wallace, and now being housed in Hertford House, Manchester Square, London.
Wallenstein, general of the Imperial army in the Thirty Years' War, born in Bohemia, of a Protestant family, but on the death of his parents was, in his childhood, adopted and educated by the Jesuits, and bred up in the Catholic faith; bent on a military life, he served first in one campaign and then another; rose in imperial favour, and became a prince of the empire, but the jealousy of the nobles procured his disgrace, till the success of Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years' War and the death of Tully led to his recall, when he was placed at the head of the imperial army as commander-in-chief; drove the Saxons out of Bohemia, and marched against the Swedes, but was defeated, and fell again into disfavour; was deprived of his command, charged with treason, and afterwards murdered in the castle of Egra; he was a remarkable man, great in war and great in statesmanship, but of unbounded ambition; is the subject of a drama by Schiller, in three parts (1583-1634).
Waller, Edmund, poet, born in Hertfordshire to great wealth, and educated at Eton and Cambridge; early gave evidence of his genius for poetry, which, however, was limited in practice to the production of merely occasional pieces; he was in great favour at court; was a member of the Long Parliament; leant to the Royalist side, though he wrote a panegyric on Cromwell, which, too, is considered his best poem; he revived, or rather “remodelled,” the heroic couplet form of verse, which continued in vogue for over a hundred years after (1605-1687).
Walloons, name given to the descendants of the ancient Belgæ, a race of a mixed Celtic and Romanic stock, inhabiting Belgium chiefly, and speaking a language called Walloon, a kind of Old French; in Belgium they number to-day two and a quarter millions.
Walpole, Horace, Earl of Orford, born in London, educated at Eton and Cambridge; travelled on the Continent with Gray, the poet, who had been a school-fellow, but quarrelled with him, and came home alone; entered Parliament in 1741, and continued a member till 1768, but took little part in the debates; succeeded to the earldom in 1791; his tastes were literary; wrote “Anecdotes of Painting in England,” and inaugurated a new era in novel-writing with his “Castle of Otranto,” but it is by his “Letters” he will live in English literature, which, “malicious, light as froth, but amusing, retail,” as Stopford Brooke remarks, “with liveliness all the gossip of the time”; he is characterised by Carlyle as “one of the clearest-sighted men of his century; a determined despiser and merciless dissector of cant” (1717-1797).
Walpole, Sir Robert, Earl of Orford, Whig statesman, born at Houghton, Norfolk, educated at Eton and Cambridge; entered Parliament in 1701, and became member for King's Lynn in 1702; was favoured by the Whig leaders, and promoted to office in the Cabinet; was accused of corruption by the opposite party when in power, and committed to the Tower; on his release after acquittal was re-elected for King's Lynn; in 1715 became First Lord of the Treasury, and in 1721 became Prime Minister, which he continued to be for twenty-one years, but not without opposition on account of his pacific policy; on being driven against his will into a war with Spain, which proved unsuccessful, he retired into private life; he stood high in repute for his financial policy; it was he who established the first Sinking Fund, and who succeeded as a financier in restoring confidence after the bursting of the South Sea Bubble (q. v.); it is to his policy in defeating the plans of the Jacobites that the Hanoverian dynasty in great part owe their permanent occupancy of the British throne; it was a favourite maxim of his. “Every man has his price,” and he was mortified to find that Pitt could not be bought by any bribe of his (1677-1745).
Walpurgis Night, the eve of the 1st May, when the witches hold high revel and offer sacrifices to the devil their chief, the scene of their festival in Germany being the Brocken (q. v.). This annual festival was in the popular belief conceded to them in recompense for the loss they sustained when by St. Walpurga the Saxons were persuaded to renounce paganism with its rites for Christianity.
Walsingham, Sir Francis, English statesman, born at Chiselhurst; was ambassador at Paris, and was there during the St. Bartholomew massacre, and was afterwards appointed one of Queen Elizabeth's Secretaries of State; he was an insidious inquisitor, and had numerous spies in his pay, whom he employed to ferret out evidence to her ruin against Mary, Queen of Scots, and he had the audacity to sit as one of the Commissioners at her trial (1536-1590).
Walston, St., patron saint of husbandmen, of British birth; gave up wealth for agriculture, and died at the plough; is represented with a scythe in his hand and cattle near him.
Walter, John, London printer; the founder proper, though his father was the projector, of the Times newspaper, and forty years in the management of it, under which it became the “leading journal” of the day, a success due to his discernment and selection of the men with the ability to conduct it and contribute to it (1773-1847).
Walter the Penniless, a famous mob leader, adjutant of Peter the Hermit (q. v.) in the first Crusade.
Walton, Izaak, the angler, born in Stafford; settled as a linen-draper, first in Fleet Street and then in Chancery Lane, London; married a lady, a grand-niece of Cranmer, and on her death a sister of Bishop Ken, by whom he had several children; he associated with some of the best clergymen of the Church of England, among the number Dr. Donne, and was much beloved by them; on the death of his second wife he went to Winchester and stayed with his friend Dr. Morley, the bishop; his principal work was the “Complete Angler; or, the Contemplative Man's Recreation,” which was extended by his friend Charles Cotton, and is a classic to this day; he wrote in addition Lives of Hooker, Dr. Donne, Bishop Sanderson, Sir Henry Wotton, and George Herbert, all done, like the “Angler,” in a uniquely charming, simple style (1593-1683).
Wandering Jew. See Jew, Wandering.
Wapenshaw, originally gatherings of the people of a district in ancient times in Scotland, at which every man was bound to appear duly armed according to his rank, and make exhibition of his skill in the use of his weapons, against a time of war.
Warbeck, Perkin, an impostor who affected to be Richard, Duke of York, second son of Edward IV., alleged to have been murdered in the Tower, and laid claim to the crown of England in preference to Henry VII. In an attempt to make good this claim he was taken prisoner, and hanged at Tyburn in 1499.
Warburton, William, an English divine, born at Newark; was bishop of Gloucester; was author of the famous “Divine Legation of Moses,” characterised by Gibbon as a “monument of the vigour and weakness of the human mind”; is a distracted waste of misapplied logic and learning; a singular friendship subsisted between the author and Pope (1698-1779).
Ward, Artemus, the pseudonym of C. F. Browne (q. v.).
Ward, Mrs. Humphry, English authoress, born at Hobart Town; is a niece of Matthew Arnold; translated Amiel's “Journal,” a suggestive record, but is best known by her romance of “Robert Elsmere,” published in 1888, a work which was a help to some weak people and an offence to others of the same class; b. 1851.
Ward, William George, English theologian; was a zealous promoter of the Tractarian Movement, and led the way in carrying out its principles to their logical issue by joining the Church of Rome; he was a broad-minded man withal, and won the regard of men of every school; became editor of the Dublin Review (1812-1882).
Warrington (55), a parliamentary borough in Lancashire, on the Mersey, 20 m. E. of Liverpool; an old town, but with few relics of its antiquity; manufactures iron-ware, glass, soap, &c.; sends one member to Parliament.
Wars of the Roses, name given to a civil war in England from 1452 to 1486, between the Houses of York and Lancaster, so called from the badge of the former being a white rose and that of the latter being a red; it terminated with the accession of Henry VII., who united in his person the rival claims.
Warsaw (465), formerly the capital of Poland, now of the province of Russian Poland; stands on the left bank of the Vistula, 700 m. SW. of St. Petersburg; is almost in the heart of Europe, and in a position with many natural advantages; is about as large as Birmingham, and the third largest city in the Russian empire; it has a university with 75 professors and 1000 students, and has a large trade and numerous manufactures.
Wartburg, an old grim castle overhanging Eisenach (q. v.), where Luther was confined by his friends when it was too hot for him outside, and where, not forgetful of what he owed his country, he kept translating the Bible into the German vernacular, and where they still show the oaken table at which he did it, and the oaken ink-holder which he threw at the devil's head, as well as the ink-spot it left on the wall.
Warton, Thomas, English poet, born at Basingstoke; was professor of Poetry at Oxford, and Poet-Laureate; wrote a “History of English Poetry” of great merit, and a few poetic pieces in faint echo of others by Pope and Swift for most part (1728-1790).
Warwick (11), the county town of Warwickshire, on the Avon, 21 m. SE. of Birmingham; it dates from Saxon times, and possesses a great baronial castle, the residence of the earls of Warwick, erected in 1394 on an eminence by the river grandly overlooking the town; it is the seat of several industries, and has a considerable trade in agricultural produce.
Warwick, Richard Neville, Earl of, eldest son of the Earl of Salisbury, the king-maker (q. v.); fought in the “Wars of the Roses,” and was in the end defeated by Edward IV. and slain (1428-1471).
Warwickshire (805), central county of England; is traversed by the Avon, a tributary of the Severn; the north portion, which was at one time covered by the forest of Arden, is now, from its mineral wealth, one of the busiest industrial centres of England; it contains the birthplace of Shakespeare; Birmingham is the largest town.
Wash, The, an estuary of the E. coast of England, between the counties of Norfolk and Lincoln, too shallow for navigation.
Washington (278), capital of the United States, in the district of Columbia, on the left bank of the Potomac, 35 in. SW. of Baltimore; was founded in 1791, and made the seat of the Government in 1800; it is regularly laid out, possesses a number of noble buildings, many of them of marble, the chief being the Capitol, an imposing structure, where the Senate and Congress sit; near it, 1½ m. distant, is the White House, the residence of the President, standing in grounds beautifully laid out and adorned with fountains and shrubbery.
Washington (340), a NW. State of the American Union, twice the size of Ireland; lies N. of Oregon; is traversed by the Cascade Mountains, the highest 8138 ft., and has a rugged surface of hill and valley, but is a great wheat-growing and grazing territory, covered on the W. by forests of pine and cedar; Olympia is the capital. Washington is the name of hundreds of places in the States.
Washington, George, one of the founders and first President of the United States, born at Bidges Creek, Westmoreland Co., Virginia, of a family from the North of England, who emigrated in the middle of the 17th century; commenced his public life in defending the colony against the encroachments of the French, and served as a captain in a campaign against them under General Braddock; In the contest between the colony and the mother-country he warmly espoused that of the colony, and was in 1775 appointed commander-in-chief; his first important operation in that capacity was to drive the English out of Boston, but the British rallying he was defeated at Brandywine and Germantown in 1777; next year, in alliance with the French, he drove the British out of Philadelphia, and in 1781 compelled Cornwallis to capitulate in an attack he made on Yorktown, and on the evacuation of New York by the British the independence of America was achieved, upon which he resigned the command; in 1789 he was elected to the Presidency of the Republic, and in 1793 was re-elected, at the end of which he retired into private life after paying a dignified farewell (1732-1799).
Waterbury (46), a city of Connecticut, U.S., 88 m. NE. of New York, with manufactures of metallic wares; world-famous for its cheap watches.
Waterford (21), a town in a county of the same name (98), in Munster, Ireland, at the junction of the Suir and the Barrow; has a splendid harbour formed by the estuary, and carries on an extensive export trade with England, particularly in bacon and butter, the chief industries of the county being cattle-breeding and dairy-farming.
Waterloo, a village 11 m. S. of Brussels, which gives name to a battle in which the French under Napoleon were defeated by an army under Wellington on June 18, 1815.
Watling Street, a great Roman road extending from Dover and terminating by two branches in the extreme N. of England after passing through London, the NE. branch, by York, and the NW. by or to Chester.
Watson, William, poet, born in Yorkshire; the first poem which procured him recognition was “Wordsworth's Grave,” and his subsequent poems have confirmed the impression produced, in especial his “Lachrymæ Musarum,” one of the finest tributes paid to the memory of Tennyson on the occasion of his death; among his later productions the most important is a volume entitled “Odes and other Poems,” published in 1894; has also written an admirable volume of essays, “Excursions in Criticism”; b. 1858.
Watt, James, inventor of the modern steam-engine, born in Greenock, son of a merchant; began life as a mathematical-instrument maker, opened business in Glasgow under university patronage, and early began to experiment on the mechanical capabilities of steam; when in 1703, while engaged in repairing the model of a Newcomen's engine, he hit upon the idea which has immortalised his name. This was the idea of a separate condenser for the steam, and from that moment the power of steam in the civilisation of the world was assured; the advantages of the invention were soon put to the proof and established, and by a partnership on the part of Watts with Matthew Boulton (q. v.) Watt had the satisfaction of seeing his idea fairly launched and of reaping of the fruits. Prior to Watt's invention the steam-engine was of little other use than for pumping water (1736-1819).
Watteau, Antoine, celebrated French painter and engraver, born at Valenciennes; his pictures were numerous and the subjects almost limited to pseudo-pastoral rural groups; the tone of the colouring is pleasing, and the design graceful (1684-1721).
Watts, George Frederick, eminent English painter, born in London; is distinguished as a painter at once of historical subjects, ideal subjects, and portraits; did one of the frescoes in the Poets' Hall of the Houses of Parliament and the cartoon of “Caractacus led in Triumph through the Streets of Rome”; has, as a “poet-painter,” by his “Love and Death,” “Hope,” and “Orpheus and Eurydice,” achieved a world-wide fame; he was twice over offered a baronetcy, but on both occasions he declined; b. 1817.
Watts, Isaac, Nonconformist divine, born at Southampton, son of a schoolmaster; chose the ministry as his profession, was for a time pastor of a church in Mark Lane, but after a succession of attacks of illness he resigned and went on a visit to his friend Sir Thomas Abney, with whom he stayed for 36 years, at which time his friend died, and he resumed pastoral duties as often as his health permitted; he wrote several books, among which was a book on “Logic,” long a university text-book, and a great number of hymns, many of them of wide fame and much cherished as helps to devotion (1674-1748).
Watts, Theodore, critic, born at St. Ives, bosom friend of Swinburne, who pronounces him “the first critic of our time—perhaps the largest-minded and surest-sighted of any age”; his influence is great, and it has been exercised chiefly through contributions to the periodicals of the day; has assumed the surname of Dunton after his mother; b. 1836.
Waugh, Edwin, a Lancashire poet, born at Rochdale, bred a bookseller; wrote, among other productions, popular songs, full of original native humour, the first of them “Come Whoam to thy Childer and Me” (1817-1890).
Wayland, the smith, a Scandinavian Vulcan, of whom a number of legends were current; figures in Scott's “Kenilworth.”
Waziris, a tribe of independent Afghans inhabiting the Suleiman Mountains, on the W. frontier of the Punjab.
Wealth, defined by Ruskin to be the possession of things in themselves valuable, that is, of things available for the support of life, or inherently possessed of life-giving power.
Weber, Karl Maria von, German composer, born near Lübeck, of a famed musical family; early gave proof of musical talent; studied at Vienna under Abbé Vogler, and at Dresden became founder and director of the German opera; his first great production was “Der Freischütz,” which established his fame, and was succeeded by, among others, “Oberon,” his masterpiece, first produced in London, where, shortly after the event, he died, broken in health; he wrote a number of pieces for the piano, deservedly popular (1786-1826).
Weber, Wilhelm Eduard, German physicist, born at Wittenberg; professor at Göttingen; distinguished for his contributions to electricity and magnetism, both scientific and practical (1801-1891).
Webster, Daniel, American statesman and orator, born at New Hampshire; bred to the bar, and practised in the provincial courts; by-and-by went to Boston, which was ever after his home; entered Congress in 1813, where, by his commanding presence and his animated oratory, he soon made his mark; was secretary for foreign affairs under President Harrison, and negotiated the Ashburton Treaty in settlement of the “boundary-line” question between England and the States; was much admired by Emerson, and was, when he visited England, commended by him to the regard of Carlyle as a man to “hear speak,” as “with a cause he could strike a stroke like a smith”; Carlyle did not take to him; he was too political for his taste, though he recognised in him a “man—never have seen,” he wrote Emerson, “so much silent Berserkir-rage in any other man” (1782-1852).
Webster, John, English dramatist of the 17th century; did a good deal as a dramatist in collaboration with others, but some four plays are exclusively his own work, the two best the “White Devil” and the “Duchess of Malfi.”
Webster, Noah, lexicographer, born at Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.; bred to law; tried journalism; devoted 20 years to his “Dictionary of the English Language” (1758-1843).
Wedgwood, Josiah, celebrated English potter, born at Burslem, son of a potter; in 1759 started a pottery on artistic lines in his native place; devoted himself first to the study of the material of his art and then to its ornamentation, in which latter he had at length the good fortune to enlist Flaxman as a designer, and so a ware known by his name became famous for both its substantial and artistic excellence far and wide over the country and beyond; he was a man of varied culture and of princely generosity, having by his art amassed a large fortune (1730-1793).
Wednesbury (69), a town in Staffordshire, 8 m. NW. of Birmingham; iron-ware manufacture the chief industry; has an old church on the site of an old temple to Woden, whence the name, it is alleged.
Wednesday, fourth day of the week, Woden's Day, as Thursday is Thor's. It is called Midwoch, i. e. Midweek, by the Germans.
Week, division of time of seven days, supposed to have been suggested by the interval between the quarters of the moon.
Weeping Philosopher, a sobriquet given to Heraclitus (q. v.) from a melancholy disposition ascribed to him, in contrast with Democritus (q. v.), designated the laughing philosopher.
Wei-hai-wei, a city in a deep bay on the Shantung promontory, China, 40 m. E. of Chefoo, and nearly opposite Port Arthur, which is situated on the northern side of the entrance to the Gulf of Pechili; was leased to Great Britain in 1898, along with the islands in the bay and a belt of land along the coast; its harbour is well sheltered, and accommodates a large number of vessels.
Weimar (24), capital of the grand-duchy of Saxe-Weimar, in a valley on the left bank of the Ilm, 13 m. E. of Erfurt, and famous as for many years the residence of the great Goethe and the illustrious literary circle of which he was the centre, an association which constitutes the chief interest of the place.
Weingartner, Felix, composer and musical conductor, born at Zara, Dalmatia; has composed symphonic poems, operas, and songs; b. 1863.
Weismann, August, biologist, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main; studied medicine at Göttingen; devoted himself to the study of zoology, the first-fruit of which was a treatise on the “Development of Diptera,” and at length to the variability in organisms on which the theory of descent, with modifications, is based, the fruit of which was a series of papers published in 1882 under the title of “Studies on the Theory of Descent”; but it is with the discussions on the question of heredity that his name is most intimately associated. The accepted theory on the subject assumes that characters acquired by the individual are transmitted to offspring, and this assumption, in his “Essays upon Heredity,” he maintains to be wholly groundless, and denies that it has any foundation in fact; heredity, according to him, is due to the continuity of the germ-plasm, or the transmission from generation to generation of a substance of a uniform chemical and molecular composition; b. 1834.
Weiss, Bernhard, German theologian, born at Königsberg; became professor at Kiel and afterwards at Berlin; has written on the theology of the New Testament, an introduction to it, and a “Leben Jesu,” all able works; b. 1827.
Weissenfels (23), a town of Prussian Saxony, 35 m. SW. of Leipzig, with an old castle of the Duke of Weissenfels and various manufactures.
Weissnichtwo (Know-not-where), in Carlyle's “Sartor,” an imaginary European city, viewed as the focus, and as exhibiting the operation, of all the influences for good and evil of the time we live in, described in terms which characterised city life in the first quarter of the 19th century; so universal appeared the spiritual forces at work in society at that time that it was impossible to say where they were and where they were not, and hence the name of the city, Know-not-where.
Weizsächer, Karl, eminent German theologian; studied at Tübingen and Berlin; succeeded Baur (q. v.) as professor at Tübingen; was a New Testament critic, and the editor of a theological journal, and distinguished for his learning and lucid style; b. 1822.
Welldon, James Edward Cowell, bishop of Calcutta; educated at Eton and Cambridge; has held several appointments, both scholastic and clerical; has translated several of the works of Aristotle, and was Hulsean Lecturer at Cambridge in 1897; b. 1854.
Weller, Sam, Mr. Pickwick's servant, and an impersonation of the ready wit and best quality of London low life.
Wellesley, a small province, part of Penang Territory, in the Straits Settlements; of great fertility, and yields tropical products in immense quantities, such as spices, tea, coffee, sugar, cotton, and tobacco.
Wellesley, Richard Cowley, Marquis of, statesman and administrator, born in Dublin, eldest son of the Earl of Mornington, an Irish peer, and eldest brother of the Duke of Wellington, and his senior by nine years; educated at Eton and Cambridge, where he distinguished himself in classics; in 1781 succeeded his father in the Irish House of Peers; entered Parliament in 1784; was a supporter of Pitt, and in 1797 appointed Governor-General of India in succession to Cornwallis, and raised to the English peerage as Baron Wellesley; in this capacity he proved himself a great administrator, and by clearing out the French and crushing the power of Tippoo Saib, as well as increasing the revenue of the East India Company, laid the foundation of the British power in India, for which he was raised to the marquisate, and voted a pension of £5000; he afterwards became Foreign Secretary of State and Viceroy of Ireland (1760-1842).
Wellhausen, Julius, Old Testament scholar, born at Hameln; held the post of professor of Theology at Greifswald, but resigned the post from conscientious scruples and became professor of Oriental Languages at Marburg in 1885; is best known among us as a biblical critic on the lines of the so-called higher criticism, the criticism which seeks to arrange the different parts of the Bible in their proper historical connection and order; b. 1844.
Wellingborough (15), a market-town in Northamptonshire, 10 m. NE. of Northampton; has some fine buildings; the manufacture of shoes a chief industry.
Wellington (33), the capital of New Zealand, in the North Island, on Cook Strait; has a spacious harbour, with excellent accommodation for shipping, a number of public buildings, including government offices, and two cathedrals, a Roman Catholic and an Anglican, and a considerable trade; in 1865 it superseded Auckland as the capital of the whole of New Zealand.
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley (or Wesley), Duke of, born probably in Dublin, third son of the Earl of Mornington, an Irish peer, educated first at Chelsea, then at Eton, and then at a military school at Angers, in France; entered the army in 1787 as an ensign in the 73rd, and stepped gradually upwards in connection with different regiments, till in 1793 he became lieutenant-colonel of the 33rd; sat for a time in the Irish Parliament as a member for Trim, and went in 1794 to the Netherlands, and served in a campaign there which had disastrous issues such as disgusted him with military life, and was about to leave the army when he was sent to India, where he distinguished himself in the storming of Seringapatam, and in the command of the war against the Mahrattas, which he brought to a successful issue in 1803, returning home in 1805; next year he entered the Imperial Parliament, and in 1807 was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland; in 1808 he left for Portugal, where he was successful against the French in several engagements, and in 1809 was appointed commander-in-chief of the Peninsular army; in this capacity his generalship became conspicuous in a succession of victories, in which he drove the French first out of Portugal and then out of Spain, defeating them finally at Toulouse on the 12th April 1814, and so ending the Peninsular War; on his return home he was loaded with honours, and had voted to him from the public treasury a grant of £400,000; on the return of Napoleon from Elba he was appointed general of the allies against him in the Netherlands and on 18th June 1815 defeated him in the ever-memorable battle of Waterloo; this was the crowning feat in Wellington's military life, and the nation showed its gratitude to him for his services by presenting him with the estate of Strathfieldsaye, in Hampshire, worth £263,000, the price paid for it to Lord Rivers, the proprietor; in 1827 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the army, and in 1828 was Prime Minister of the State; as a statesman he was opposed to Parliamentary reform, but he voted for the emancipation of the Catholics and the abolition of the Corn Laws; he died in Walmer Castle on 1st September 1852, aged 84, and was buried beside Nelson in a crypt of St. Paul's (1769-1852).
Wellington College, a college founded in 1853 at Wokingham, Berks, in memory of the Duke of Wellington, primarily for the education of the sons of deceased military officers; there is a classical school to prepare for the university, and a modern side to prepare for the army, &c.
Wells, a small episcopal city in Somersetshire, 20 m. SW. of Bath; it derives its name from hot springs near it, and is possessed of a beautiful cruciform cathedral in the Early English style, adorned with some 600 statues of saints, 151 of which are life-size, and some of them colossal.
Wells, Charles Jeremiah, English poet, born in London; author of a dramatic poem entitled “Joseph and his Brethren,” published in 1824, a poem which failed to attract attention at the time, and the singular merits of which were first recognised by Swinburne in 1875, the author having meantime given up literature for the law, to which he had been bred (1800-1879).
Welsh, David, a Scottish divine, a gentlemanly scholarly man, professor of Church History in the University of Edinburgh; was Moderator of the General Assembly on the occasion of the Disruption of the Scottish Church (1843), and headed the secession on the day of the exodus (1793-1845).
Welsh, or Welch, John, a Scottish divine, a Nithsdale man; became Presbyterian minister of Ayr, and was distinguished both as a preacher and for his sturdy opposition to the ecclesiastical tyranny of James VI., for which latter he suffered imprisonment and exile; he was an ancestor of Jane Welsh Carlyle, and was married to a daughter of John Knox, who, when the king thought to win her over by offering her husband a bishopric, held out her apron before sovereign majesty, and threatened she would rather kep (catch) his head there than that he should live and be a bishop; she figures in the chapter in “Sartor” on Aprons, as one of Carlyle's apron-worthies (1570-1625).
Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, the largest Nonconformist body in Wales, of native growth, and that originated in the middle of the 18th century in connection with a great religious awakening; has an ecclesiastical constitution on Presbyterian lines, and is in alliance with the Presbyterian Church of England; it consists of 1330 churches, and has a membership of over 150,000, that is, on their communion roll, and two theological seminaries, one at Trevecca and one at Bala.
Welshpool (6), town in Montgomeryshire, North Wales, on the left bank of the Severn, 19 m. W. of Shrewsbury, the manufacture of flannels and woollen goods being the chief industry.
Wends, a horde of savage Slavs who, about the 6th century, invaded and took possession of vacant lands on the southern shores of the Baltic, and extended their inroads as far as Hamburg and the ocean, south also far over the Elbe in some quarters, and were a source of great trouble to the Germans in Henry the Fowler's time, and after; they burst in upon Brandenburg once, in “never-imagined fury,” and stamped out, as they thought, the Christian religion there by wholesale butchery of its priests, setting up for worship their own god “Triglaph, ugliest and stupidest of all false gods,” described as “something like three whales' cubs combined by boiling, or a triple porpoise dead-drunk.” They were at length “fairly beaten to powder” by Albert the Bear, “and either swept away or else damped down into Christianity and keeping of the peace,” though remnants of them, with their language and customs, exist in Lusatia to this day.
Wendt, Hans, German theologian, born in Hamburg, professor at Kiel and at Heidelberg; has written an excellent “Leben Jesu” among other able works; b. 1853.
Wenegeld, among the old Saxons and other Teutonic races a fine, the price of homicide, of varying amount, paid in part to the relatives of the person killed and in part to the king or chief.
Wener, Lake, the largest lake in Sweden, in the SW., 150 ft. above the sea-level and 100 m. long by 50 m. of utmost breadth, contains several islands, and abounds in fish.
Wentworth. See Strafford.
Werewolf, a person transformed into a wolf, or a being with a literally wolfish appetite, under the presumed influence of a charm or some demoniac possession.
Werner, Friedrich Ludwig Zacharias, a dramatist of a mystic stamp, born at Königsberg; is the subject of an essay by Carlyle, and described by him as a man of a very dissolute spiritual texture; wrote the “Templars of Cyprus,” the “Story of the Fallen Master,” &c. (1768-1823).
Werther, the hero of Goethe's sentimental romance, “The Sorrows of Werther” (q. v.).
Wesley, Charles, hymn-writer, born at Epworth, educated at Eton and Oxford; was associated with his more illustrious brother in the establishment of Methodism; his hymns are highly devotional, and are to be found in all the hymnologies of the Church (1708-1788).
Wesley, John, the founder of Methodism, born at Epworth, in Lincolnshire, son of the rector; was educated at the Charterhouse and at Lincoln College, Oxford, of which he became a Fellow; while there he and his brother, with others, were distinguished for their religious earnestness, and were nicknamed Methodists; in 1735 he went on a mission to Georgia, U.S., and had for fellow-voyagers some members of the Moravian body, whose simple piety made a deep impression on him; and on his return in two years after he made acquaintance with a Moravian missionary in London, and was persuaded to a kindred faith; up to this time he had been a High Churchman, but from this time he ceased from all sacerdotalism and became a believer in and a preacher of the immediate connection of the soul with, and its direct dependence upon, God's grace in Christ alone; this gospel accordingly he went forth and preached in disregard of all mere ecclesiastical authority, he riding about from place to place on horseback, and finding wherever he went the people in thousands, in the open air generally, eagerly expectant of his approach, all open-eared to listen to his word; to the working-classes his visits were specially welcome, and it was among them they bore most fruit; “the keynote of his ministry he himself gave utterance to when he exclaimed, 'Church or no Church, the people must be saved.'” Saved or Lost? was with him the one question, and it is the one question of all genuine Methodism to this hour (1703-1791).
Wessel, Johann, a Reformer before the Reformation, born at Gröningen; was a man of powerful intellect; taught in the schools, and was called by his disciples Lux Mundi (1420-1489).
Wessex, a territory in the SW. of England, inhabited by Saxons who landed at Southampton in 514, known as the West Saxons, and who gradually extended their dominion over territory beyond it till, under Egbert, their king, they became supreme over the other kingdoms of the Heptarchy.
West, Benjamin, painter, born near Springfield, Pennsylvania, of Quaker parentage; was self-taught, painted portraits at the age of 16, went to Italy in 1760, and produced such work there that he was elected member of several of the Italian academies; visited England on his way back to America in 1763, where he attracted the attention of George III., who patronised him, for whom he painted a goodly number of pictures to adorn Windsor Castle; he remained in England 40 years, painting hundreds of pictures, and was in 1792 elected President of the Royal Academy in succession to Sir Joshua Reynolds; among his paintings were “The Death of General Wolfe,” “Edward III. at Crécy,” and “The Black Prince at Poitiers” (1738-1817).
West Africa, name given to the region SW. of the Sahara, consisting of low lands with high lands behind, and through the valleys of which rivers flow down, and including Senegambia, Upper Guinea, and Lower Guinea, the coast of which is occupied by trading stations belonging to the French, the English, the Germans, the Belgians, and the Portuguese, and who are severally forcing their way into the inland territory connected with their several stations.
West Australia (161), the largest of the Australian colonies, though least populous, formerly called the Swan River Settlement, 1500 m. long and 1000 m. broad, and embracing an area nearly equal to one-third of the whole Australian continent; great part of it, particularly in the centre, is desert, and the best soil is in the W. and NE.; emigration to it proceeded slowly at first, but for the last 20 years it has been steadily increasing, especially since the discovery of gold, and it is now opening up; in 1890 it received a constitution and became self-governing like the other possessions of Great Britain in Australia; Perth, on the Swan River, is the capital, and the chief exports are wool and gold.
West Bromwich (59), a manufacturing town of the “Black Country,” in Staffordshire, 5 m. NW. of Birmingham; has important industries connected with the manufacture of iron ware; is of modern growth, and has developed rapidly.
West Indies (3,000), an archipelago of islands extending in a curve between North and South America from Florida on the one side to the delta of the Orinoco on the other, in sight of each other almost all the way, and constituting the summits of a sunken range of mountains which run in a line parallel to the ranges of North America; they are divided into the Great Antilles (including Cuba, Hayti, Jamaica, and Porto Rico), the Lesser Antilles (including the Leeward and the Windward Isles), and the Bahamas; lie all, except the last, within the Torrid Zone, and embrace unitedly an area larger than that of Great Britain; they yield all manner of tropical produce, and export sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton, spices, &c.; except Cuba, Hayti (q. v.), and Porto Rico, they belong to the Powers of Europe—Great Britain, France, Holland, and Denmark, and till lately Spain. The name Indies was applied to them because when Columbus first discovered them he believed he was close upon India, as he calculated he would find he was by sailing west.
West Point, an old fortress, the seat of the United States Military Academy, on the right bank of the Hudson River, 12 m. N. of New York; the Academy is on a plateau 188 ft. above the road; it was established in 1802 for training in the science and practice of military engineering, and the cadets are organised into a battalion of four companies officered from among themselves, all under strictest discipline.
West Virginia. See Virginia.
Westcott, Brook Foss, biblical scholar, born near Birmingham; studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, and obtained a Fellowship; took orders in 1851, and became Bishop of Durham in 1890; edited along with Dr. Hort an edition of the Greek New Testament, the labour of years, and published a number of works bearing on the New Testament and its structure and teachings; b. 1825.
Westkappel Dyke, one of the strongest dykes in the Netherlands; protects the W. coast of Walcheren; is 4000 yards long, and surmounted by a railway line.
Westmacott, Sir Richard, sculptor, born in London; studied at Rome under Canova; acquired great repute as an artist on his return to England, and succeeded Flaxman as professor of Sculpture in the Royal Academy; he executed statues of Pitt, Addison, and others, and a number of monuments in Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's; his latest work was the sculptured pediment of the British Museum (1775-1856).
Westmacott, Richard, sculptor and writer on art, born in London, son of preceding; was distinguished for the grace, simplicity, and purity of his style as an artist; succeeded his father as professor of Sculpture in the Royal Academy, and wrote a “Handbook of Sculpture” (1799-1872).
Westmeath (71), an inland county in Leinster, Ireland; is mostly level and gently undulating; the soil in many parts is good, but little cultivated; the only cereal crop raised is oats, but the herbage it yields supplies food for fattening cattle, which is a chief industry.
Westminster, a city of Middlesex, on the N. bank of the Thames, and comprising a great part of the West End of London; originally a village, it was raised to the rank of a city when it became the seat of a bishop in 1451, but it was as the seat of the abbey that it developed into a bishop's see; the abbey, for which it is so famous, was erected as it now exists at the same period, during 1245-72, on the site of one founded by Edward the Confessor during 1045-65; in Westminster Parliaments were held as early as the 13th century, and it is as the seat of the legislative and legal authority of the country that it figures most in modern times, though the most interesting chapters in its history are connected with the abbey round which it sprang up. See Dean Stanley's “Memorials of Westminster.”
Westminster Assembly of Divines, a convocation of divines assembled under authority of Parliament, at which delegates from England and Scotland adopted the Solemn League and Covenant (q. v.), fixed the establishment of the Presbyterian form of Church government in the three kingdoms, drew up the “Confession of Faith,” the “Directory of Public Worship,” and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms; it held its first meeting on 1st July 1643, and did not break up till 22nd February 1649.
Westminster Hall, a structure attached to the Houses of Parliament at Westminster, built by King William Rufus, and roofed and remodelled by Richard II.; was the scene of the trials of Wallace, Sir Thomas More, Strafford, Charles I., Warren Hastings, and others, as well as the installation of Cromwell as Lord Protector, and till 1883 the seat of the High Courts of Justice; is a place of great historic interest; has a roof composed of 13 great timber beams, and one of the largest in the world to be unsupported.
Westmorland (i. e. westmoorland) (60), a northern county of England, 32 m. from N. to S. and 40 m. from E. to W.; is in the Lake District, and mountainous, with tracts of fertile land and forest land, as well as rich pasture lands.
Weston-super-Mare (15), a watering-place in Somersetshire, on the Bristol Channel, looking across it towards Wales.
Westphalia, a German duchy, now a Prussian province; made with other territories in 1807 into a kingdom by Napoleon for his brother Jerome, and designed to be the centre of the Confederation of the Rhine; was assigned to Prussia in 1813 according to the Treaty of Vienna.
Wetstein, Johann Jacob, biblical scholar, born at Basel; was devoted to the study of the New Testament text; published a Greek Testament with his emendations and “Prolegomena” connected therewith; his emendations, one in particular, brought his orthodoxy under suspicion for a time (1693-1754).
Wette, De. See De Wette.
Wetter, Lake, one of the largest lakes in Sweden, 70 m. long, 13 m. broad, and 270 ft. above the sea-level; its clear blue waters are fed by hidden springs, it rises and falls periodically, and is sometimes subject to sudden agitations during a calm.
Wetterhorn (i. e. peak of tempests), a high mountain of the Bernese Oberland, with three peaks each a little over 12,000 ft. in height.
Wexford (111), a maritime county in Leinster, Ireland; is an agricultural county, and exports large quantities of dairy produce; has a capital (11) of the same name, a seaport at the mouth of the river Slaney.
Weyden, Roger Van der, Flemish painter, born at Tourney; was trained in the school of Van Eyck, whose style he contributed to spread; his most famous work, a “Descent from the Cross,” now in Madrid (1400-1464).
Weymouth (13), a market-town and watering-place in Dorsetshire, 8 m. S. of Dorchester; has a fine beach and an esplanade over a mile in length; it came into repute from the frequent visits of George III.
Wharton, Philip, Duke of, an able man, but unprincipled, who led a life of extravagance; professed loyalty to the existing government in England; intrigued with the Stuarts, and was convicted of high-treason, and died in Spain in a miserable condition (1698-1731).
Whately, Richard, archbishop of Dublin, born in London; studied at Oriel College, Oxford, of which he became a Fellow, and had Arnold, Keble, Newman, Pusey, and other eminent men as contemporaries; was a man of liberal views and sympathies, and much regarded for his sagacity and his skill in dialectics; his post as archbishop was no enviable one; is best known by his “Logic,” for a time the standard work of the subject; he opposed the Tractarian movement, but was too latitudinarian for the evangelical party (1787-1863).
Wheatstone, Sir Charles, celebrated physicist and electrician, born near Gloucester; was a man of much native ingenuity, and gave early proof of it; was appointed professor of Experimental Philosophy in King's College, London, and distinguished himself by his inventions in connection with telegraphy; the stereoscope was of his invention (1802-1875).
Wheel, Breaking on the, a very barbarous mode of inflicting death at one time, in which the limbs of the victim were stretched along the spokes of a wheel, and the wheel being turned rapidly round, the limbs were broken by repeated blows from an iron bar; this is what the French roué means, applied figuratively to a person broken with dissipation, or what we call a rake.
Wheeling (39), largest city in West Virginia, U.S., on the Ohio River, 67 m. SW. of Pittsburg; contains some fine buildings; is a country rich in bituminous coal; has extensive manufactures; is a great railway centre, and carries on an extensive trade.
Whewell, William, professor of the “science of things in general,” born at Lancaster, son of a joiner; studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he became successively fellow, tutor, professor, and master; was a man of varied attainments, of great intellectual and even physical power, and it was of him Sydney Smith said, “Science was his forte and omniscience his foible”; wrote “Astronomy and General Physics in reference to Natural Theology,” the “Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences,” the “History of Moral Philosophy,” an essay on the “Plurality of Worlds,” &c. (1794-1866).
Whichcote, Benjamin, Cambridge Platonist, born in Shropshire; was a Fellow and Tutor of Emmanuel College; was distinguished for his personal influence over his pupils, many of them eminent men; he gave a philosophical turn to their theological opinions (1609-1683).
Whigs, name given at the end of the 17th century to the Covenanters of Scotland, and afterwards extended to the Liberal party in England from the leniency with which they were disposed to treat the whole Nonconformist body, to which the persecuted Scottish zealots were of kin; they respected the constitution, and sought only to reform abuses.
Whistler, James Abbot M'Neill, painter and etcher, born at Lowell, Massachusetts; studied military engineering at West Point (q. v.), and art at Paris, and settled at length as an artist in London, where he has exhibited his paintings frequently; has executed some famous portraits, in especial one of his mother, and a remarkable one of Thomas Carlyle, now the property of Glasgow Corporation; paintings of his exhibited in the Grosvenor Gallery, London, provoked a criticism from Ruskin, which was accounted libellous, and as plaintiff he got a farthing damages, without costs; very much, it is understood, to his critic's disgust, and little to his own satisfaction, as is evident from the character of the pamphlet he wrote afterwards in retaliation, entitled “Whistler versus Ruskin: Art and Art Critics”; b. 1834.
Whiston, William, divine and mathematician, born in Leicestershire; educated at Clare College, Cambridge, of which he became a Fellow; gained reputation from his “Theory of the Earth”; succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as Lucasian professor, but was discharged from the office and expelled from the university for Arianism; removed to London, where he lived a separatist from the Church, and died a Baptist; wrote “Primitive Christianity,” and translated “Josephus”; he was a crotchety but a conscientious man (1667-1752).
Whitby, a seaport and famous bathing-place in the North Riding of Yorkshire, 54½ m. NE. of York; is situated at the mouth of the Esk, and looks N. over the German Ocean; it consists of an old fishing town sloping upwards, and a fashionable new town above and behind it, with the ruins of an abbey; Captain Cook was a 'prentice here, and it was in Whitby-built ships, “the best and stoutest bottoms in England,” that he circumnavigated the globe.
Whitby, Daniel, English divine, born in Northamptonshire; became rector of St. Edmunds, Salisbury; involved himself in ecclesiastical controversy first with the Catholics, then with the High Church party, and got into trouble; had one of his books burned at Oxford; his most important work “Paraphrase and Commentary on the New Testament”; died an Arian (1638-1726).
White, Alexander, a Scottish divine, born in Kirriemuir, of humble parentage; a man of deep religious sympathies and fervid zeal, with an interest before all in spiritual things; studied the arts in Aberdeen and theology in Edinburgh, in the latter of which cities he ministers to a large attached flock; is the author of books, originally for most part addresses, calculated to awaken in others an interest in divine things akin to his own; b. 1837.
White, Sir George Stewart, English general, has had a brilliant career; entered the army in 1853; won the Victoria Cross twice over; served in the Mutiny, in the Afghan Campaign (1879-1880), in the Nile Expedition (1885), in the Burmese War (1885-1887), and was made Commander-in-Chief in India in 1893, Quartermaster-General in 1898, and is now distinguishing himself by his generalship and heroism in the South African War; b. 1835.
White, Gilbert, English naturalist, born in the village of Selborne, Hants; educated at Oriel College, Oxford, in which he obtained a Fellowship, which he retained all his life; became curate of Selborne, and passed an uneventful life studying the habits of the animals around him, where he “had not only no great men to look on, but not even men, only sparrows and cockchafers; yet has he left us a 'Biography' of these, which, under the title of 'Natural History of Selborne,' still remains valuable to us, which has copied a little sentence or two faithfully from the inspired volume of Nature, and so,” adds Carlyle, “is itself not without inspiration” (1720-1793).
White, Henry Kirke, minor poet, born at Nottingham; published a book of poems in 1803, which procured him the patronage of Southey; got a sizarship in St. John's, Cambridge; through over-zeal in study undermined his constitution and died of consumption, Southey editing his “Remains” (1785-1806).
White, Joseph Blanco, man of letters of an unstable creed, born in Seville, of Irish parentage; first ordained a priest; left the Catholic Church, and took orders in the Church of England; left the English, became a Unitarian, and settled to miscellaneous literary work; left an autobiography which reveals an honest quest of light, but to the last in doubt; he lives in literature by a sonnet “Night and Death” (1775-1841).
White Horse, name given to the figure of a horse on a hill-side, formed by removing the turf, and showing the white chalk beneath; the most famous is one at Uffington, in Berkshire, alleged to commemorate a victory of King Alfred.
White House, name popularly given to the official residence of the President of the United States, being a building of freestone painted white.
White Lady, a lady dressed in white fabled in popular mediæval legend to appear by day as well as at night in a house before the death of some member of the family; was regarded as the ghost of some deceased ancestress.
White Mountains, a range of mountains in Maine and New Hampshire, U.S., forming part of the Appalachian system; much frequented by tourists on account of the scenery, which has won for it the name of the “Switzerland of America”; Mount Washington, one of the hills, has a hotel on the summit approached by a railway.
White Nile, one of the two streams forming the Nile, which flows out of the Albert Nyanza, and which unites with the Blue Nile from Abyssinia near Khartoum.
White Sea, a large inlet of the Arctic Ocean, in the N. of Russia, which is entered by a long channel and branches inward into three bays; it is of little service for navigation, being blocked with ice all the year except in June, July, and August, and even when open encumbered with floating ice, and often enveloped in mists at the same time.
Whiteboys, a secret Irish organisation that at the beginning of George III.'s reign asserted their grievances by perpetrating agrarian outrages; so called from the white smocks the members wore in their nightly raids.
Whitefield, George, founder of Calvinistic Methodism, born at Gloucester; was an associate of Wesley (q. v.) at Oxford, and afterwards as preacher of Methodism both in this country and America, commanding crowded audiences wherever he went, and creating, in Scotland particularly, a deep religious awakening, but who separated from Wesley on the matter of election; died near Boston, U.S. (1714-1770).
Whitehaven (18), a seaport of Cumberland, 38 m. SW. of Carlisle, with coal and hematite iron mines in the neighbourhood; has blast-furnaces, iron-works, and manufactures of various kinds, with a considerable coasting traffic.
Whitelocke, Bulstrode, a statesman of the Commonwealth, born in London; studied law at the Middle Temple: sat in the Long Parliament, and was moderate in his zeal for the popular side; at the Restoration his name was included in the Act of Oblivion, but he took no part afterwards in public affairs; left “Memorials” of historical value (1605-1675).
Whitgift, John, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Great Grimsby; was educated at Cambridge, and became Fellow and Master of Pembroke College; escaped persecution under Queen Mary, and on the accession of Elizabeth was ordained a priest; after a succession of preferments, both as a theologian and an ecclesiastic, became archbishop in 1583; attended Queen Elizabeth on her deathbed, and crowned James I.; was an Anglican prelate to the backbone, and specially zealous against the Puritans; contemplated, with no small apprehension, the accession of James, “in terror of a Scotch mist coming down on him with this new Majesty from the land of Knox, or Nox, Chaos, and Company”; his last words were, with uplifted hands and eyes, a prayer for the Church, uttered in King James's hearing (1530-1604).
Whithorn, a small town in Wigtownshire, 12 m. S. of Wigtown, celebrated as the spot where St. Ninian planted Christianity in Scotland, and founded a church to St. Martin in 397.
Whitman, Walt, the poet of “Democracy,” born in Long Island, U.S., of parents of mingled English and Dutch blood; was a large-minded, warm-hearted man, who led a restless life, and had more in him than he had training to unfold either in speech or act; a man eager, had he known how, to do service in the cause of his much-loved mankind; wrote “Leaves of Grass,” “Drum-Taps,” and “Two Rivulets” (1819-1892).
Whitney, Eli, an American inventor, born in Massachusetts; invented the cotton-gin, a machine for cleaning seed-cotton, and became a manufacturer of firearms, by which he realised a large fortune (1765-1825).
Whitney, William Dwight, American philologist, born in Massachusetts; studied at Yale College, where he became professor of Sanskrit, in which he was a proficient, and to the study of which he largely contributed; has done much for the science of language (1827-1894).
Whitsunday, the seventh Sunday after Easter, a festival day of the Church kept in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Ghost.
Whittier, John Greenleaf, the American “Quaker Poet,” born at Haverhill, in Massachusetts, the son of a poor farmer; wrought, like Burns, at field work, and acquired a loving sympathy with Nature, natural people, and natural scenes; took to journalism at length, and became a keen abolitionist and the poet-laureate of abolition; his poems are few and fugitive (1807-1893).
Whittington, Sir Richard, Lord Mayor of London, born at Pauntley, Gloucestershire; came to London, prospered in business, was elected Lord Mayor thrice over, and knighted; this is the Whittington of the nursery tale, “Dick Whittington and his Cat” (1538-1623).
Whitworth, Sir Joseph, eminent mechanician, born at Stockport; the rival of Lord Armstrong in the invention of ordnance; invented artillery of great range and accuracy; was made a baronet in 1869 (1803-1887).
Whyte-Melville, George John, novelist of the sporting-field, born at Mount Melville, near St. Andrews; entered the army, and for a time served in it; met his death while hunting (1821-1878).
Wick (8), county-town of Caithness, on Wick River, 161 m. NE. of Inverness, is the chief seat of the herring fishery in Scotland; Wick proper, with its suburbs Louisburgh and Boathaven, is on the N. of the river, and Pultneytown on the S.; has a few manufactures, with distilleries and breweries.
Wicked Bible, an edition of the Bible with the word not omitted from the Seventh Commandment, for issuing which in 1632 the printers were fined and the impression destroyed.
Wicklow (61), a maritime county, with a capital of the name in Leinster, Ireland; is in great part mountainous and barren; has mines and quarries, and some fertile parts.
Wicliffe, John, or Wyclif, the “Morning Star of the Reformation,” born at Hipswell, near Richmond, Yorkshire; studied at Oxford, and became Master of Balliol in 1361, professor of Divinity in 1372, and rector of Lutterworth in 1375; here he laboured and preached with such faithfulness that the Church grew alarmed, and persecution set in, which happily, however, proved scatheless, and only the more emboldened him in the work of reform which he had taken up; and of that work the greatest was his translation of the Bible from the Vulgate into the mother-tongue, at which, with assistance from his disciples, he laboured for some 10 or 15 years, and which was finished in 1380; he may be said to have died in harness, for he was struck with paralysis while standing before the altar at Lutterworth on 29th December 1384, and died the last day of the year; his remains were exhumed and burned afterwards, and the ashes thrown into the river Swift close by the town, “and thence borne,” says Andrew Fuller, “into the main ocean, the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over” (1325-1384).
Widdin (14), a town on the right bank of the Danube, Bulgaria; is a centre of industry and trade; was a strong place, but by decree of the Berlin Congress in 1879 the fortress was demolished.
Wieland, Christoph Martin, eminent German littérateur, born near Biberach, a small village in Swabia, son of a pastor of the pietist school; studied at Tübingen; became professor of Philosophy at Erfurt, and settled in Weimar in 1772 as tutor to the two sons of the Duchess Amalia, where he by-and-by formed a friendship with Goethe and the other members of the literary coterie who afterwards settled there; he wrote in an easy and graceful style, and his best work is a heroic poem entitled “Oberon” (1733-1813).
Wieliczka (6), a town in Austrian Galicia, near Cracow, famous for its salt mines, which have been wrought continuously since 1250, the galleries of which extend to more than 50 m. in length, and the annual output of which is over 50,000 tons.
Wier, Johann, physician, born in North Brabant; was distinguished as the first to attack the belief in witchcraft, and the barbarous treatment to which suspects were subjected; the attack was treated as profane, and provoked the hostility of the clergy, and it would have cost him his life if he had not been protected by Wilhelm IV., Duke of Jülich and Clèves, whose physician he was (1516-1566).
Wiertz, Antoine, a Belgian painter, born at Dinant, did a great variety of pictures on a variety of subjects, some of them on a large scale, and all in evidence of a high ideal of his profession, and an original genius for art (1806-1865).
Wiesbaden (65), capital of Hesse-Nassau, a famous German watering-place, abounding in hot springs, 5 m. NW. of Mainz; has a number of fine buildings and fine parade grounds, picture-gallery, museum, and large library; is one of the best-frequented spas in Europe, and is annually visited by 60,000 tourists or invalids; it was famed for its springs among the old Romans.
Wife of Bath, one of the pilgrims in Chaucer's “Canterbury Tales.”
Wigan (55), a town in Lancashire, 18 m. NW. of Manchester, in the centre of a large coal-field; cottons are the staple manufactures; is a place of ancient date, and has some fine buildings.
Wight, Isle of, an island in the S. of England, included in Hampshire, from which it is separated by the channel of the Solent (q. v.); it is of triangular shape, is 23 m. of utmost length, and about 14 m. of utmost breadth; it is traversed by a range of chalk downs from E. to W.; the soil is fertile, especially in the E.; the scenery rich and varied, and the climate charming; Newport is the capital in the centre; near Cowes is Osborne House, the summer residence of Queen Victoria.
Wigtownshire (36), the most southerly county in Scotland, in the SW. of which the largest town is Stranraer, and the county town Wigtown; it is an agricultural county, and largely pastoral.
Wilberforce, Samuel, English prelate, born at Clapham, third son of the succeeding; entered Oriel College, Oxford, at 18, where he distinguished himself by his powers of debate; took holy orders, and rose to eminence in the Church; was made Bishop of Oxford in 1845, and of Winchester in 1869; was a High Churchman of the pure Anglican type, and equally opposed to Romanism and Nonconformity; shone in society by his wit and powers of conversation; Carlyle often “exchanged pleasant dialogues with him, found him dexterous, stout and clever, far from being a bad man”; “I do not hate him,” he said to Froude one day, “near so much as I fear I ought to do”; he found him “really of a religious nature,” and secretly in sympathy with himself on religious matters; was killed by a fall from his horse; he was popularly known by the sobriquet of “Soapy Sam” (1805-1873).
Wilberforce, William, eminent philanthropist, born at Hull, son of a wealthy merchant; attended St. John's College, Cambridge, at 17; represented his native town in Parliament as soon as he was of age; he was early and deeply impressed with the inhumanity of the slave-trade, and to achieve its abolition became the ruling passion of his life; with that object he introduced a bill for its suppression in 1789, but it was not till 1801 he carried the Commons with him, and he had to wait six years longer before the House of Lords supported his measure and the Emancipation Act was passed; he retired into private life in 1825, and died three days after the vote of 20 millions to purchase the freedom of the West Indian slaves; he was an eminently religious man of the Evangelical school; wrote “Practical View of Christianity” (1759-1833).
Wild, Jonathan, an English villain, who for housebreaking was executed in 1725, and the hero of Fielding's novel of the name; he had been a detective; was hanged amid execration on the part of the mob at his execution.
Wilderness, a district covered with brushwood in Virginia, U.S., the scene of a two days' terrible conflict between the Federals and the Confederates on the 5th and 6th May 1864.
Wildfire, Madge, a character in the “Heart of Midlothian,” who, being seduced, had, in her misery under a sense of her crime, gone crazy.
Wilfrid, St., a Saxon bishop of York, born in Northumbria; brought up at Lindisfarne; had a checkered life of it; is celebrated in legend for his success in converting pagans, and is usually represented in the act; d. 709.
Wilhelmina I., queen of the Netherlands, daughter of William III., and who ascended the throne on his decease in November 1890; her mother, a sister of the Duchess of Albany, acted as regent during her minority, and she became of age on the 11th August 1898, when she was installed as sovereign amid the enthusiasm of her people; b. 1880.
Wilhelmshaven (13), the chief naval port of Germany, on Jahde Bay, 43 m. NW. of Bremen.
Wilkes, Charles, American naval officer; made explorations in the Southern Ocean in 1861; boarded on the high seas the British mail-steamer Trent, and carried off two Confederate commissioners accredited to France, who were afterwards released on the demand of the British Government (1798-1877).
Wilkes, John, a notable figure in the English political world of the 18th century, born in Clerkenwell, son of a distiller; was elected M.P. for Aylesbury in 1761; started a periodical called the North Briton, in No. 45 of which he published an offensive libel, which led to his arrest and imprisonment in the Tower, from which he was released—on the ground that the general warrant on which he was apprehended was illegal—amid general rejoicing among the people; he was afterwards prosecuted for an obscene production, an “Essay on Women,” and outlawed for non-appearance; he sought an asylum in France, and on his return was elected for Middlesex, but instead of being allowed to sit was committed to prison; this treatment made him the object of popular favour; he was elected Lord Mayor of London, re-elected for Middlesex, and at length allowed to take his seat in the House; he was for years the cause of popular tumults, the watchword of which was “Wilkes and Liberty”; the cause of civil liberty certainly owes something to him and to the popular agitations which an interest in him stirred up (1727-1797).
Wilkie, Sir David, painter, born at Cults, Fife; executed a great many pictures depicting homely subjects, which were very popular, and are generally well known by the engravings of them, such as the “Rent Day,” “The Penny Wedding,” “Reading the Will,” &c., which were followed by others in a more ambitious style, and less appreciated, as well as portraits (1785-1841).
Wilkins, John, bishop of Chester, born in Northamptonshire; married Oliver Cromwell's sister; wrote mathematical treatises, a curious one in particular, “Discovery of a New World,” and was one of the founders of the Royal Society (1614-1672).
Wilkinson, Sir John, Egyptologist, born In Westmorland; studied at Oxford; explored the antiquities of Egypt, and wrote largely on the subject (1797-1875).
Will, Freedom of the, the doctrine that in and under the dominion of pure reason the will is free, and not free otherwise; that in this element the Will “reigns unquestioned and by Divine right”; only in minds in which volition is treated as a synonym of Desire does this doctrine admit of debate.
Willems, Jan Frans, Dutch poet and scholar, born near Antwerp; translated “Reynard the Fox” into Flemish, and did much to encourage the Flemings to preserve and cultivate their mother-tongue (1793-1846).
William I., the Conqueror, king of England, born at Falaise; became Duke of Normandy by the death of his father; being an illegitimate son had to establish his power with the sword; being the cousin of Edward the Confessor was nominated by him his successor to the English throne, which being usurped by Harold, he invaded England and defeated Harold at Senlac in 1066 and assumed the royal power, which he established over the length and breadth of the country in 1068; he rewarded his followers with grants of land and lordships over them, subject to the crown; the Doomsday Book (q. v.) was compiled by his order, and the kingdom brought into closer relation with the Church of Rome, his adviser in Church matters being Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury (q. v.); died by a fall from his horse when suppressing rebellion in Normandy, and was buried at Caen. He was, as characterised by Carlyle, “in rude outline a true God-made king, of most flashing discernment, of most strong lion-heart—in whom, as it were, within a frame of oak and iron the gods had planted the soul of 'a man of genius' ... the essential element, as of all such men, not scorching fire (merely), but shining illuminative light ... the most sure-eyed perception of what is what on this God's earth.” His invasion of England is known as the Norman Conquest, and it involved the introduction of the feudal system and Norman manners in the habits and speech of the English people (1027-1087).
William II., king of England, surnamed Rufus or Ruddy, born in Normandy, third son of William I.; succeeded his father in 1087; had to face a rebellion, headed by Bishop Odo, in favour of his eldest brother, Robert, Duke of Normandy, which he suppressed by favour of the mass of the people, to whom he made promises which he did not keep, for he proved a stern and exacting ruler; his energy was great, but was frequently spasmodic; he added Normandy to his dominion by compact with Robert, who went on Crusade, compelled Malcolm of Scotland to do homage for his kingdom, conducted several campaigns against the Welsh, and had a long-continued wrangle with Archbishop Anselm, virtually in defence of the royal prerogative against the claims of the Church, for a humorous account of the meaning of which see Carlyle's “Past and Present,” Book iv. chap. i.; he was accidentally shot while hunting in the New Forest by Walter Tirel, and buried in Winchester Cathedral, but without any religious service; in his reign the Crusades began, and Westminster Hall was built (1066-1100).
William III., king of England, born at The Hague, son of William II., Prince of Orange, by Mary, the daughter of Charles I.; during a contest on the part of the United Provinces with Louis XIV. was, in 1672, elected Stadtholder, and by his valour and wisdom brought the war to an end in 1678; married his cousin Mary, daughter of James II.; being invited to England, landed with a large army at Torbay, and on the flight of James to France, he and Mary were proclaimed king and queen of Great Britain and Ireland in 1689; the Scotch and the Irish offered resistance in the interest of the exiled monarch, but the former were defeated at Killiecrankie in 1689, and the latter at the battle of the Boyne in 1690; he was an able man and ruler, but his reign was troubled by an interminable feud with France, and by intrigues on behalf of James both at home and abroad; he died by a fall from his horse at Kensington just as a great war with France was impending; he was through life the adversary of the covetous schemes of Louis, and before his death he had prepared the materials of that coalition which, under Marlborough and Prince Eugene, brought Louis to the brink of ruin; his reign forms one of the great epochs in the history of England, and is known as the Revolution (1650-1702).
William IV., king of England, known as the “sailor king,” born in Buckingham Palace, the third son of George III.; entered the navy in 1779; saw service under Rodney and Nelson, but practically retired in 1789, as from insubordination he had to do, though he was afterwards promoted to be Admiral of the Fleet, and even Lord High Admiral, and continued to take great interest in naval affairs; after living, as Duke of Clarence, from 1792 to 1816 with Mrs. Jordan, the actress, by whom he had 10 children, he married in 1810 Adelaide, eldest daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen; on the death of the Duke of York in 1827 became heir-presumptive, and on the death of George IV. in 1830 succeeded to the throne; his reign was distinguished by the passing of the first Reform Bill in 1832, the abolition of slavery in the colonies in 1833, the reform of the poor-laws in 1834, and the Municipal Reform Act in 1835; died at Windsor, and was succeeded by his niece. Queen Victoria (1765-1837).
William I., emperor of Germany, born at Berlin, second son of Frederick William III. of Prussia, and brother of Frederick William IV., his predecessor on the Prussian throne; was bred from boyhood to military life, having received his first commission at the age of 10; took part in the war of liberation that preceded the fall of Napoleon, and received his baptism of fire on 14th February 1814; visited England in 1844, and again in 1848, and returned prepossessed in favour of constitutional government, which he found the king had already conceded in his absence; in 1858 he was appointed regent owing to his brother's incapacity, and on 2nd February 1861 he succeeded to the throne, having previously made the acquaintance of Moltke in 1818 and of Bismarck in 1834; on his accession, while professing all due respect to the representatives of the people, he announced his intention to maintain to the uttermost all his rights as king, and this gave rise to a threat of insurrection, but a war with Denmark, which issued in the recovery of the German duchies of Sleswick-Holstein, led to an outburst of loyalty, and this was deepened by the publication of the project of Bismarck to unite all Germany under the crown of Prussia; this provoked a war with Austria, which lasted only seven weeks, and ended with the consent of the latter to the projected unification of the other States, and the establishment of a confederation of these under the headship of the Prussian king, a unification which was consolidated into an Imperial one at the close of the Franco-German War, when, on the 18th January 1871, the Prussian king was proclaimed emperor of Germany in the palace of Versailles; the reign which followed was a peaceful one, and the pledge of peace to the rest of Europe; the emperor was a man of robust frame, of imposing figure, of temperate habits, of firm purpose, conspicuous courage, and devoted with his whole heart to the welfare of his people (1797-1888).
William II., emperor of Germany, born at Berlin, grandson of the preceding, and son of Frederick III., whom he succeeded as emperor in 1888; was trained from early boyhood for kinghood, and on his accession to the throne gave evidence of the excellent schooling he had received to equip him for the high post he was called to fill; he showed that the old Hohenzollern blood still flowed in his veins, and that he was minded to be every inch a king; one of the first acts of his reign was to compel the resignation of Bismarck, as it was his intention to reign alone; that he has proved himself equal to his task events since have fully justified, and it is hoped it will be seen that his influence on public affairs will lead to the advantage of the German people and the peace of the world; he is by his mother the grandson of Queen Victoria, and the relationship is full of promise for the union throughout the world of the Teutonic peoples, who have already achieved so much for the good of the race; b. 1859.
William the Lion, king of Scotland, grandson of David I., and brother of Malcolm IV., whom he succeeded in 1165, and whose surname is supposed to have been derived from his substitution of the lion for the dragon on the arms of Scotland; was taken captive when invading England at Alnwick Castle in 1174; sent prisoner to Falaise, in Normandy, but liberated on acknowledgment of vassalage to the English king, a claim which Richard I. surrendered on payment by the Scots of 10,000 marks to aid him in the Crusade; was the first king of Scotland to form an alliance with France; died at Stirling after a reign of 49 years (1143-1214).
William the Silent, Prince of Orange, a cadet of the noble house of Nassau, the first Stadtholder of the Netherlands, a Protestant by birth; he was brought up a Catholic, but being at heart more a patriot than a Catholic, he took up arms in the cause of his country's freedom, and did not rest till he had virtually freed it from the Spanish yoke, which was then the dominant Catholic power; his enemies procured his assassination in the end, and he was murdered by Belthazar Gerard, at Delft; he was brought up at the court of Charles V., where “his circumspect demeanour procured him the surname of Silent, but under the cold exterior he concealed a busy, far-sighted intellect, and a generous, upright, daring heart” (1533-1584).
Williams, Isaac, Tractarian, born in Wales; educated at Oxford; got acquainted with Keble; wrote religious poetry and Tract LXXX. on “Reserve in Religious Teaching” (1802-1865).
Williams, John, missionary and martyr, born near London; brought up an ironmonger; offered his services to the London Missionary Society; was sent out in 1816 to the Society Islands; laboured with conspicuous success among the natives; came home in 1834, and after four years returned, but was murdered at Erromango in the New Hebrides, and his body eaten by the cannibals (1796-1839).
Williams, Sir Monier Monier-, Sanskrit scholar, born at Bombay; appointed Boden professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, 1860; author of a Sanskrit Grammar and Lexicon, and projected the founding of the Indian Institute; b. 1819.
Williams, Roger, founder of the State of Rhode Island, U.S., born in Wales; being a Puritan, fled the country to escape persecution, and settled in New England, where he hoped to enjoy the religious freedom he was denied at home, but was received with disfavour by the earlier settlers as, from his extreme views, a “troubler of Israel,” and obliged to separate himself and establish a colony of his own, which he did at Providence by favour of an Indian tribe he had made friends of, and under a charter from the Long Parliament of England, obtained through Sir Henry Vane, where he extended to others the toleration he desired for himself; he was characterised by Milton, who knew him, as “that noble champion of religious liberty” (1600-1683).
Williams, Rowland, English clergyman, born in Flintshire; was a prominent member of the Broad Church party; was condemned, though the judgment was reversed, by the Court of Arches, for a paper contributed to the famous “Essays and Reviews”; wrote “Rational Godliness,” “Christianity and Hinduism,” &c. (1817-1870).
Willibrod, St., the “Apostle of the Frisians,” born in Northumbria; was the chief of a company of 12 monks who went as missionaries from Ireland to Friesland, where they were welcomed by Pépin d'Héristal, and afterwards favoured by his son, Charles Martel; he founded an abbey near Trèves; when he was about to baptize the Duke of Friesland, it is said the duke turned away when he was told his ancestors were in hell, saying he would rather be with them there than in heaven without them (658-739).
Willis, Parker, American writer and journalist; had travelled much abroad, and published his experiences; among his writings “Pencillings by the Way,” “Inklings of Adventure,” “People I have Met,” &c. (1806-1867)
Willoughby, Sir Hugh, early Arctic voyager; was sent out in 1553 with three vessels by a company of London merchants on a voyage of discovery, but the vessels were separated by a storm in the North Seas, and not one of them returned, only Richard Challoner, the captain of one of them, found his way to Moscow, and opened up a trade with Russia and this country; the ships, with the dead bodies of their crews, and the journal of their commander, were found by some fishermen the year after.
Wills, William John, Australian explorer, born at Totnes; accompanied O'Hara Burke from the extreme S. to the extreme N. of the continent, but died from starvation on the return journey two days before his leader (1834-1860).
Wilmington (61), a large and handsome city and port in Delaware, 25 m. SW. of Philadelphia, with extensive manufactures; also the name of the largest city (20) in North Carolina, with considerable manufactures and trade; was a chief Confederate port during the Civil War.
Wilson, Alexander, ornithologist, born at Paisley; son of a weaver, bred to the loom; began his literary career as a poet; imprisoned for a lampoon on a Paisley notability, went on his release to America unfriended, with only his fowling-piece in his hand, and a few shillings in his pocket; led an unsettled life for a time; acquired the arts of drawing, colouring, and etching, and, so accomplished, commenced his studies on the ornithology of America, and prevailed upon a publisher in Philadelphia to undertake an exhaustive work which he engaged to produce on the subject; the first volume appeared in 1808, and the seventh in 1813, on the publication of which he met his death from a cold he caught from swimming a river in pursuit of a certain rare bird (1766-1813).
Wilson, Sir Daniel, archæologist, was born in Edinburgh, became in 1853 professor of English Literature at Toronto; wrote “Memorials of Edinburgh,” “Prehistoric Annals of Scotland,” “Prehistoric Man,” &c. (1816-1892).
Wilson, Sir Erasmus, English surgeon, a great authority on skin diseases, and devoted much time to the study of Egyptian antiquities; it was at his instance that the famous Cleopatra's Needle was brought to England; he was liberal in endowments for the advance of medical science (1809-1884).
Wilson, George, chemist, born in Edinburgh, younger brother of Sir Daniel; was appointed professor of Technology in Edinburgh University; was eminent as a popular lecturer on science, and an enthusiast in whatever subject he took up (1819-1859).
Wilson, Horace Hayman, Orientalist, born in London; studied medicine; went to India as a surgeon; mastered Sanskrit, and became Boden professor at Oxford (1786-1860).
Wilson, John, Indian missionary, born near Lauder, educated at Edinburgh; missionary at Bombay from 1828 to his death—from 1843 in connection with the Free Church of Scotland; from his knowledge of the languages and religions of India, and his sagacity, was held in high regard (1804-1875).
Wilson, John, the well-known “Christopher North,” born in Paisley, son of a manufacturer, who left him a fortune of £50,000; studied at Glasgow and Oxford; a man of powerful physique, and distinguished as an athlete as well as a poet; took up his abode in the Lake District, and enjoyed the society of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey; wrote two poems, the “Isle of Palms,” and the “City of the Plague”; lost his fortune, and came to settle in Edinburgh; was called to the Scottish bar, but never practised; became editor of Blackwood's Magazine, and was in 1820 elected over Sir William Hamilton professor of moral philosophy in Edinburgh University; his health began to fail in 1840; resigned his professorship in 1851, and received a pension from the Crown of £300; he is described by Carlyle as “a tall, ruddy, broad-shouldered figure, with plenteous blonde hair, and bright blue flashing eyes, and as he walked strode rapidly along; had much nobleness of heart, and many traits of noble genius, but the central tie-beam seemed always wanting; a good, grand ruined soul, that never would be great, or indeed be anything” (1785-1854).
Wilton, market-town in Wiltshire, 3 m. NW. of Salisbury; was the ancient capital of Wessex, and gave name to the county; its church, erected by Lord Herbert of Lea in 1844, is a rich Lombardic structure, with a campanile 108 ft. high.
Wiltshire or Wilts (264), an inland county in SW. of England, with Gloucestershire on the N. and Dorset on the S., 54 m. from N. to S. and 37 m. from E. to W.; is largely an agricultural and pastoral county; is flat, rising into hills in the N., and is broken by downs and rich valleys in the S., except on Salisbury Plain; sheep-breeding and dairy-farming are the chief industries, and it is famous for cheese and bacon.
Wimbledon (25), a suburb of London, 7½ m. to the SW., on a common used by the volunteers from 1860 to 1889 for rifle practice.
Winchester (19), an ancient city of Hampshire, and the county town, 60 m. SW. of London, on the right bank of the Itchen; is a cathedral city, with a noted large public school; was at one time the capital of England; the cathedral dates from the 11th century, but it has subsequently undergone considerable extensions and alterations; the school was founded by William of Wykeham in 1387.
Winckelmann, Johann Joachim, great art critic, born at Stendal, in Prussian Saxony, of poor parents; was a student from his boyhood, and early devoted especially to archæology and the study of the antique; became a Roman Catholic on the promise of an appointment in Rome, where he would have full scope to indulge his predilections, and became librarian to Cardinal Albani there; his great work was “Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums” (the “History of Ancient Art”), in particular that of Greece, which proved epoch-making, and the beginning of a new era in the study of art in general; he was assassinated in a hotel at Trieste on his way to Vienna by a fellow-traveller to whom he had shown some of his valuables, and the German world was shocked (1717-1768).
Windermere, a lake on the borders of Westmorland and Lancashire, the largest in England, 10½ m. long from N. to S., and 1 m. broad; is 240 ft. deep and 134 ft. above sea-level; is amid beautiful scenery, and near it is Rydal Mount, long the residence of Wordsworth.
Windham, William, English statesman, born of an ancient Norfolk family; was opposed to the American War; took part in the impeachment of Warren Hastings; was Secretary at War under Pitt; advocated the removal of Catholic disabilities, but was opposed to Parliamentary reform; has been described by his contemporaries as the model both physically and mentally of an English gentleman, able and high minded (1780-1810).
Windischgrätz, Prince, Austrian field-marshal; took part in the campaigns against Napoleon, and in 1848 suppressed the revolution at Prague and Vienna; failed against the Hungarians, and was superseded (1787-1862).
Windsor (12), a town in Berkshire, on the right bank of the Thames, opposite Eton, and about 22 m. W. of London, with a castle which from early Plantagenet times has been the principal residence of the kings of England.
Windward Islands (150), a group of the West Indies, the Lesser Antilles, belonging to Britain, extending from Martinique to Trinidad.
Windward Passage, a channel leading into the Caribbean Sea, between the islands of Cuba and Hayti.
Winer, George Benedict, New Testament scholar, born at Leipzig, and professor there; best known for his work on the New Testament Greek idioms (1789-1858).
Winifred, St., a British maiden who was decapitated by Prince Caradoc in 650; where her head rolled off tradition says a spring instantly gushed forth, the famous Holywell in Flintshire; is represented in art carrying her head.
Winkelried, Arnold von, a brave Swiss who, on the field of Sempach, on 9th June 1386, rushed on the lances of the opposing Austrians, and so opened a way for his compatriots to dash through and win the day.
Winkle. See Rip Van Winkle.
Winnipeg (25), formerly Fort Garry, the capital of Manitoba, at the junction of the Assiniboine with the Red River, over 1400 m. NW. of Montreal; is a well-built town, with several public buildings and all modern appliances; stands on the Pacific Railway; is a busy trading centre, and is growing rapidly.
Winnipeg, Lake, a lake in Manitoba, 40 m. N. of the city, 280 m. long, 57 m. broad, and covering an area of over 8000 sq. m.; it drains an area twice as large as France; the Saskatchewan flows into it, and the Nelson flows out.
Winstanley, Henry, English engineer; erected a lighthouse on the Eddystone Rock in 1696, and completed it in four years; it was built of timber, and had not much strength; he perished in it in a storm in 1703.
Wint, Peter de, water-colourist, born in Staffordshire, of Dutch descent; famed for paintings of English scenery and rustic life (1784-1849).
Winter King, name given by the Germans to Frederick V., husband of Elizabeth, daughter of James I., his Winter Queen, who was elected king of Bohemia by the Protestants in 1619, and compelled to resign in 1620.
Winthrop, John, “Father of Massachusetts,” born in Suffolk; studied at Trinity College; headed a Puritan colony from Yarmouth to Salem, and was governor of the settlement at Boston till his death; was a pious and tolerant man; left a “Journal” (1581-1649).
Wisconsin (1,686), one of the Central States of North America, nearly as large as England and Wales, and situated between Lake Superior and Michigan; the surface is chiefly of rolling prairie, and the soil fertile; yields cereals, sugar, hops, hemp, and large quantities of lumber from the forests; lead, iron, copper, and silver are among its mineral resources; it abounds in beautiful lakes; the Wisconsin and the Chippewa are the chief rivers, tributaries of the Mississippi; and Madison (the capital), Milwaukee, and La Crosse are the chief towns.
Wisdom of Jesus. See Ecclesiasticus.
Wisdom of Solomon, one of the most beautiful books in the Apocrypha, written at the close of the 2nd century B.C. by one who knew both the Greek language and Greek philosophy, to commend the superiority to this philosophy of the divine wisdom revealed to the Jews. Its general aim, as has been said, is “to show, alike from philosophy and history, as against the materialists of the time, that the proper goal of life was not mere existence, however long, or pleasure of any sort, but something nobly intellectual and moral, and that the pious Israelite was on the surest path to its attainment.”
Wiseman, Nicholas, cardinal and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, born at Seville, of Irish parents; studied at a Roman Catholic college near Durham and the English college at Rome, of which he became rector; lectured in London in 1836 on the Doctrines of the Catholic Church, and in 1840 became vicar-apostolic, first in the central district of England, then of the London district in 1846, and was in 1850 named Archbishop of Westminster by the Pope; this was known in England as the “papal aggression,” which raised a storm of opposition in the country, but this storm Wiseman, now cardinal, succeeded very considerably in allaying by a native courtesy of manner which commended him to the regard of the intelligent and educated classes of the community; he was a scholarly man, and a vigorous writer and orator (1802-1865).
Wishart, George, a Scottish martyr, born in Forfarshire; began life as a schoolmaster; was charged with heresy for teaching the Greek New Testament; left the country and spent some time on the Continent; on his return boldly professed and preached the Reformation doctrines, and had the celebrated John Knox, who was tutor in the district, for a disciple among others; he was arrested in Haddingtonshire in January and burned at St. Andrews in March 1546; Knox would fain have accompanied him on his arrest, but was paternally dissuaded by the gentle martyr; “Go home to your bairns” (pupils), said he; “ane is sufficient for a sacrifice.”
Wismar (15), a seaport of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, on the Baltic; has a number of quaint old buildings, various manufactures, and an active trade.
Witch of Endor, a divining woman consulted by King Saul, who affected to call up the spirit of Samuel, who foretold his defeat and doom.
Witenagemot (assembly of the wise), name given to the national council or Parliament of England in Anglo-Saxon times, agreeably to whose decisions the affairs of the kingdom were managed; it consisted of the bishops, royal vassals, and thanes.
Wither, George, poet, born at Arlesford, in Hampshire, and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford; was imprisoned for his first poem, a satire, “Abuses Stript and Whipt,” in 1613; his subsequent productions betray true poetic inspiration, and special passages in them are much admired; he was a religious poet, and is much belauded by Charles Lamb; in the Civil War he espoused the Puritan side, and in his zeal in its behalf raised a troop of horse (1588-1667).
Witherspoon, John, Scottish theologian, born at Tester; was minister at Paisley; became president of the college at New Jersey, U.S.; died at Princeton; wrote “Ecclesiastic Characteristics” against the Moderates, also on justification and regeneration (1722-1794).
Witsius, Hermann, Dutch theologian; became professor at Leyden; wrote on what are in old orthodox theology called the “Covenants,” of which there were reckoned two, one of works, under the Mosaic system, and the other of grace, under the Christian (1636-1708).
Wittekind, leader of the Saxon struggle against Charlemagne; annihilated the Frankish army in 783, in retaliation for which Charlemagne executed 4500 Saxons he had taken prisoners, which roused the entire Saxon people to arms, and led to a drawn battle at Detmold, upon which Wittekind accepted baptism, and was promoted to a dukedom by the Frankish king; he fell in battle with Gerold, a Swabian duke, in 807.
Wittenberg (13), a town in Prussian Saxony, on the right bank of the Elbe, 50 m. SW. of Berlin; was the capital of the electorate of Saxony, and a stronghold of the Reformers; is famous in the history of Luther, and contains his tomb; it was on the door of the Schlosskirche of which he nailed his famous 95 theses, and at the Elster Gate of which he burned the Pope's bull, “the people looking on and shouting, all Europe looking on.”
Wizard of the North, name given to Sir Walter Scott, from the magic power displayed in his writings.
Woden, the German and Anglo-Saxon name for Odin (q. v.).
Wodrow, Robert, Scottish Church historian, born at Glasgow; studied at the University, became librarian, and settled as minister at Eastwood, Renfrewshire; was diligent with his pen; left 50 volumes of MSS., only one of which was published in his lifetime, “History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution,” the rest having been in part published by several antiquarian societies since (1679-1734).
Woffington, Peg, actress, born in Dublin, where she made her first appearance in 1737, and in London at Covent Garden in 1740, in a style which carried all hearts by storm; she was equally charming in certain male characters as in female; her character was not without reproach, but she had not a little of that charity which covereth a multitude of sins, in the practice of which, after her retirement in 1757, she ended her days (1720-1768).
Woiwode, name at one time of an elective prince among the Slavs, originally one chosen in some emergency; superseded by Hospodar in 1716.
Woking (9), a small town in Surrey, 24 m. SW. of London; contains a large cemetery with crematorium near it, and not far off is Bisley Common, with shooting-butts for practice by the Volunteers.
Wolcot, John, better known by his pseudonym Peter Pindar, born in Devonshire; bred to and practised medicine; took orders, and held office in the Church; took eventually to writing satires and lampoons, which spared no one, and could not be bribed into silence; was blind for some years before he died (1738-1819).
Wolf, Friedrich August, great classical scholar, born near Nordhausen; studied at Göttingen; was professor of Philology at Halle; became world-famous for his theory of the Homeric poems; he maintains, in his “Prolegomena ad Homerum,” that the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey” were originally a body of independent ballads handed down by oral tradition, and gradually collected into two groups, which finally appeared each as one, bearing the name of Homer, who, he allows, was probably the first to attempt to weave them severally into one; the “Prolegomena” was published in 1735, and its appearance caused a wide-spread sensation, and gave rise to a controversy which maintains itself to the present time (1759-1824).
Wolfe, Charles, author of the “Burial of Sir John Moore,” born in Dublin; became an Irish clergyman; died of consumption (1791-1823).
Wolfe, James, major-general, born in Kent, son of a lieutenant-general, who served under Marlborough; was present at the battles of Dettingen, Fontenoy, Falkirk, and Culloden, and served in the expedition against Rochefort, which it was believed proved disastrous because his counsel was not followed; this circumstance attracted the attention of Pitt, who appointed him a command in Canada; here he distinguished himself first at the siege of Louisburg, and then by the capture of Quebec, where he fell at the moment of victory; he lived to hear the cry “They run,” and eagerly asked “Who run?” and being told the French, exclaimed, “I thank God, and die contented” (1727-1759).
Wolfenbüttel (13), an old town in Brunswick, 7 m. S. of Brunswick; contains an old building, now rebuilt, being a library of vast extent and rich in MSS.; has various manufactures.
Wolff, Johann Christian von, German philosopher and mathematician, born at Breslau; was appointed professor at Halle in 1707, but was in 1723 not only removed from his chair, but banished from Prussia by Frederick William on account of his opinions, which, as fatalistic, were deemed socially demoralising, but was recalled by Frederick the Great on his accession, and afterwards promoted to the rank of baron of the empire; he was a disciple of Leibnitz, and the father of the philosophy that prevailed in Germany before the time of Kant; his merits as a philosopher were threefold: he claimed for philosophy the entire field of knowledge, he paid special attention to method in philosophical speculation, and he first taught philosophy to express itself in German, or made German the philosophical language (1679-1754).
Wollaston, William, ethical and theological writer, born near Stafford; wrote “Religion of Nature,” a rationalistic work written in an optimistic spirit (1659-1724).
Wollaston, William Hyde, physicist and chemist, born in Norfolk, grandson of preceding; made extensive discoveries in chemistry and optics; invented the camera lucida and the goniometer.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. See Godwin.
Wolseley, Garnet Joseph, Lord, field-marshal, born in co. Dublin, of a Staffordshire family; entered the army in 1852; served in the Burmese War of 1852-1853, in the Crimean War, where he was severely wounded, in the Chinese War of 1860, and afterwards in Canada; commanded in the Ashantee War in 1878, and received the thanks of Parliament, with a grant of £25,000, for “courage, energy, and perseverance” in the conduct of it, and after services in Natal, Egypt, and Ireland was made field-marshal in 1894, and commander-in-chief in 1895; b. 1833.
Wolsey, Thomas, cardinal, born at Ipswich, son of a well-to-do grazier and wool-merchant; educated at Magdalen College, Oxford; entered the Church early; gained the favour of Henry VII., and was promoted by him for his services to the deanery of Lincoln; this was the first of a series of preferments at the hands of royalty, which secured him one bishopric after another until his revenue accruing therefrom equalled that of the crown itself, which he spent partly in display of his rank and partly in acts of munificence; of his acts of munificence the founding of Christ Church College in the interest of learning was one, and the presentation of Hampton Court Palace, which he had built, to the king, was another; it was in the reign of Henry VIII. that he rose to power, and to him especially he owed his honours; it was for his services to him he obtained the chancellorship of the kingdom, and at his suit that he obtained the cardinal's hat and other favours from the Pope; this, though not the height of his ambition, was the limit of it, for he soon learned how frail a reed is a prince's favour; he refused to sanction his master's marriage with Anne Boleyn, and was driven from power and bereft of all his possessions; finally, though restored to the see of York, he was arrested on a charge of treason, took ill on the way to London, and died at Leicester, with the words on his lips, “Had I but served God as I have served the king, He would not have forsaken me in my grey hairs” (1471-1530).
Wolverhampton (82), a town in Staffordshire, 12½ m. NW. of Birmingham, in the midst of coal and iron fields; the centre of a group of towns engaged in different kinds of iron manufacture, locks and keys the staple, and the metropolis of the Black Country.
Woman's Rights, claims on the part and in the behalf of women to a status in society which will entitle them to the legal and social privileges of men.
Wood, Sir Andrew, Scottish admiral, born in Largo, Fife; was distinguished and successful in several naval engagements, chiefly in the Forth, against the English in the reigns of James III. and James IV.; received for his services the honour of knighthood and the village and lands of Largo in fee; was an eccentric old admiral; is said to have had a canal cut from his house to the church, and to have sailed thither in his barge every Sunday; d. 1540.
Wood, Anthony, antiquary, born at Oxford, and educated at Merton College, Oxford; was a gentleman of independent means; wrote “History and Antiquities of Oxford University,” which appeared in 1674, and “Athenæ Oxonienses,” which appeared in 1691, being an exact history of all the writers and bishops educated at Oxford from 1500 to 1690 (1632-1695).
Wood, Sir Evelyn, soldier, born in Essex; served in the Indian Mutiny War, and received the V.C., also in the Ashanti, in the Zulu, in the Transvaal (1880-1881) Wars, and in Egypt in 1882; b. 1838.
Wood, Mrs. Henry (née Price), novelist, born in Worcestershire; her best novels “The Channings” and “Mrs. Halliburton's Troubles,” though her most popular “East Lynne”; she wrote some thirty, all popular, and deservedly so (1820-1887).
Wooden Horse, a gigantic horse of wood, within which Greek warriors were concealed, and which the Trojans were persuaded to admit into their city, to its ruin, on the pretext that it was an offering by the Greeks to Pallas, to atone for their abstraction of her image from the citadel.
Woodstock, a small market-town on the Glyme, 8 m. NW. of Oxford, once a royal manor, near which is Blenheim Park (q. v.).
Woolner, Thomas, English sculptor, born at Hadleigh, in Suffolk; sympathised with the Pre-Raphaelite movement; did a number of statues (one of Bacon for Oxford), busts of famous contemporaries—Carlyle, Darwin, Tennyson, &c.—and ideal works, such as Elaine, Ophelia, Guinevere, &c.; was a poet as well as a sculptor (1826-1892).
Woolsack, the seat of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords, as Speaker of the House, being a large square cushion of wool covered with red cloth, without either back or arms.
Woolston, Thomas, an eccentric semi-deistical writer, born at Northampton, who maintained a lifelong polemic against the literal truth of the Bible, and insisted that the miraculous element in it must be allegorically interpreted, with such obstinacy that he was in the end subjected to imprisonment as a blasphemer, from which he was never released, because he refused to recant (1669-1731).
Woolwich (40), a town in Kent, on the S. bank of the Thames, 9 m. below London; is the chief military arsenal in the country; contains a gun factory, ammunition factory, laboratory, &c., which employ 12,000 men, besides barracks for artillery, engineers, &c., covering an area 4 m. in circumference.
Worcester (42), the county town of Worcestershire, on the left bank of the Severn, 26 m. SE. of Birmingham; a very ancient place, and a handsome city, with a noble old Gothic cathedral; is famous for its blue porcelain ware and other industries, particularly glove-making; was the scene in 1651 of Cromwell's victory over the Royalists, which he called his “crowning mercy.”
Worcester (118), the second city of Massachusetts, U.S., a place of busy industry, and with a flourishing trade.
Worcester, Marquis of, inventor of the steam-engine, born probably in the Strand; early gave himself to mechanical studies; was an ardent Royalist; negotiated with the Irish Catholics on behalf of the king; was discovered and imprisoned on a charge of treason, but his release being procured by the king, he spent some time in exile; on his return he was again imprisoned and then released; wrote an account of inventions amounting to a hundred, “A Century of Inventions” as he called it, one of which he described as “an admirable and most forcible way of driving up water by fire” (1601-1667).
Worcestershire, an agricultural and pastoral county in the valley of the Severn, the N. part of which is the Black Country, rich in coal and iron mines, with Dudley for capital, and the SW. occupied by the Malvern Hills, while the S. is famous for its orchards and hop-gardens; it has also extensive manufactures at Worcester, Kidderminster, Stourbridge, and Redditch.
Word, The, or Logos, the name given by St. John to God as existing from the beginning as in the fulness of time He manifested Himself in Christ, or as at first what He revealed Himself at last.
Wordsworth, Charles, bishop of St. Andrews, born in Lambeth, studied at Christ Church, Oxford; was private tutor to Gladstone and Manning, Warden of Glenalmond College, Perthshire, and made bishop in 1852; was a student of Shakespeare, and distinguished as a prelate for his zeal for Church union in Scotland; he was a nephew of the poet (1805-1892).
Wordsworth, William, poet, born at Cockermouth, of a Yorkshire stock; educated at Hawkshead Grammar School and at St. John's College, Cambridge; travelled in France at the Revolution period, and was smitten with the Republican fever, which however soon spent itself; established himself in the S. of England, and fell in with Coleridge, and visited Germany in company with him, and on his return settled in the Lake Country; married Mary Hutchinson, who had been a school-fellow of his, and to whom he was attached when a boy, and received a lucrative sinecure appointment as distributor of stamps in the district, took up his residence first at Grasmere and finally at Rydal Mount, devoting his life in best of the Muses, as he deemed, to the composition of poetry, with all faith in himself, and slowly but surely bringing round his admirers to the same conclusion; he began his career in literature by publishing along with Coleridge “Lyrical Ballads”; finished his “Prelude” in 1806, and produced his “Excursion” in 1814, after which, from his home at Rydal Mount, there issued a long succession of miscellaneous pieces; he succeeded Southey as poet-laureate in 1843; he is emphatically the poet of external nature and of its all-inspiring power, and it is as such his admirers regard him; Carlyle compares his muse to “an honest rustic fiddle, good and well handled, but wanting two or more of the strings, and not capable of much”; to judge of Wordsworth's merits as a poet the student is referred to Matthew Arnold's “Selections” (1770-1850).
World, the, the name applied in the New Testament to the collective body of those who reject and oppose the spirit of Christ, who practically affirm what He denies, and practically deny what He affirms, or turn His Yea into Nay, and His Nay into Yea.
Worms (25), an old German town in Hesse-Darmstadt, in a fertile plain on the left bank of the Rhine, 40 m. SE. of Mainz, with a massive Romanesque cathedral having two domes and four towers; it was here the Diet of the empire was held under Charles V., and before which Martin Luther appeared on 17th April 1521, standing alone in his defence on the rock of Scripture, and deferentially declining to recant: “Here stand I; I can do no other; so help me God.”
Worsaae, Jans Jacob, eminent Danish archæologist, born in Jutland; has written on the antiquities of the North, specially in a Scandinavian reference (1821-1885).
Worthing (16), a fashionable watering-place on the Sussex coast, 10½ m. SW. of Brighton; has a mild climate, fine sands, and a long wide parade.
Wotton, Sir Henry, diplomatist and scholar, born in Kent; was ambassador of James I. for 20 years, chiefly at Venice; visited Kepler (q. v.) on one occasion, and found him a very “ingenious person,” and came under temporary eclipse for his definition of an ambassador, “An honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country”; was ultimately provost of Eton, and was a friend of many good men, among others Isaac Walton, who wrote his Life; he wished to be remembered as the author of the saying, “The itch of controversy is the scab (scabies) of the Churches,” and caused it to be insculpt in his epitaph (1568-1630).
Wouvermans, Philip, Dutch painter, born at Haarlem, where he lived and died; painted small landscapes, hunting pieces, and battle pieces, from which the picture-dealers profited, while he lived and died poor; had two brothers, whose pictures are, though inferior, often mistaken for his (1619-1668).
Wrangel, Frederick, Prussian field-marshal, born at Stettin; served with distinction in various campaigns, and commanded in the Danish War of 1864, and was present in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, though without command; was known as Papa Wrangel among the Berliners, who loved him for his disregard of grammar (1784-1877).
Wrangler, name given in Cambridge University to those who have attained the first rank in mathematics, pure and applied, the one who heads the list being known as the Senior Wrangler.
Wrede, Philip, field-marshal and prince, born in Heidelberg; served as a Bavarian general against Austria as the ally of Napoleon at Wagram, and also in the expedition against Russia in 1812, on which occasion he covered the retreat of the French army to the loss of nearly all the cavalry; fought against the French at Hanau; was defeated, but was afterwards successful on French soil, and eventually became commander-in-chief of the Bavarian army (1767-1838).
Wren, Sir Christopher, architect, born at East Knoyle, in Wiltshire; educated at Westminster School and Wadham College, Oxford, and became Fellow of All Souls; was early distinguished in mathematics and for mechanical ingenuity, and soon became notable for his skill in architecture, and received a commission to restore St. Paul's, London, but on its destruction in 1666 he was appointed to design and erect an entirely new structure; for this he had prepared himself by study abroad, and he proceeded to construct a new St. Paul's after the model of St. Peter's at Rome, a work which, as it occupied him from 1675 to 1710, took him 35 years to finish; he died at the age of 90, sitting in his chair after dinner, and was buried in the cathedral which he had erected, with this inscription, “Si monumentum requiris, circumspice” (If you inquire after his monument, look around); Wren was a man of science as well as an artist; he was at one time Savilian professor of Astronomy at Oxford, and one of the founders of the Royal Society (1631-1723).
Wren, Matthew, bishop of Ely; was one of the judges of the Star Chamber; assisted in preparing the liturgy for Scotland, which, when read in St. Giles', Edinburgh, roused the ire of Jenny Geddes (q. v.); was impeached, and confined in the Tower for 18 years, and released at the Restoration (1585-1667).
Wrexham (12), an important town in Denbighshire, North Wales, 12 m. SW. from Chester, in the centre of a mining district, and famed for its breweries.
Wright, Joseph, painter, usually called “Wright of Derby,” from his birthplace and place of residence nearly all his life; he excelled in portraits, and in the representation of the effects especially of firelight (1734-1797).
Wright, Thomas, antiquary, born in Shropshire, but settled in London; wrote or edited a vast number of works bearing on the antiquities, literary and other, of England, and was connected with the founding of sundry antiquarian societies (1810-1877).
Writers to the Signet, a body of solicitors in Scotland who had at one time the exclusive privilege of practising in and drawing up cases for the supreme courts of the country, and whose privileges are now limited to the preparation of crown writs.
Wulstan, St., Saxon bishop of Worcester in the days of Edward the Confessor; being falsely accused by his adversaries, after the king's death, he was required to resign, but refused, and laying his crozier on the Confessor's shrine called upon him to decide who should wear it; none of his accusers could lift it, only himself, to his exculpation from their accusations.
Wundt, Wilhelm Max, distinguished German physiologist, born in Baden, and professor at Leipzig; distinguished for his studies on the connection of the physical with the psychical in the human organisation, and has written on psychology as well as physiology; b. 1832.
Wupperthal, a densely-peopled valley in Germany traversed by the river Wupper, which after a course of 40 m. enters the right bank of the Rhine between Cologne and Düsseldorf, and which embraces the towns of Barmen and Elberfeld.
Wurmser, Count von, Austrian general, born in Alsace; took an active part in the war with France; commanded the respect of Napoleon from his defence of Mantua, on the capitulation of which he refused to take him prisoner (1721-1797).
Würtemberg (2,035), a kingdom of South Germany, about one-fourth the size of Scotland, between Baden on the W. and Bavaria on the E.; the Black Forest extends along the W. of it, and it is traversed nearly E. and W. by the Swabian Alp, which slopes down on the N. side into the valley of the Neckar, and on the S. into that of the Danube; the soil is fertile, and is in great part under cultivation, yielding corn, vines, and fruits, agriculture being the chief industry of the population; there are only four towns whose inhabitants exceed 20,000, of which Stuttgart is one, and Ulm, the capital, is the other; the towns are the centres of varied manufactures; education is of a high standard; and associated with the country is a number of famous names-enough to mention the names of Kepler, Schiller, Hegel, Schelling, and Strauss; the government is constitutional, under a hereditary sovereign.
Wurtz, Charles Adolphe, celebrated French chemist, born at Strasburg (1817-1884).
Würzburg (51), a Bavarian town in a valley of the Main, 70 m. SB. of Frankfort; its principal buildings are the Royal or Episcopal Palace, the cathedral, and the university, with the Julius Hospital, called after its founder, Bishop Julius, who was also founder of the university, which is attended by 1500 students, mostly medical, and has a library of 100,000 volumes; the fortress of Marienberg, overlooking the town, was till 1720 the episcopal palace.
Wuttke, Karl, theologian, born at Breslau, professor at Halle; wrote on Christian ethics, stoutly maintained the incompatibility of Christianity with democracy, that a Christian could not be a democrat or a democrat a Christian (1819-1870).
Wyandots, a tribe of North American Indians of the Iroquois stock; were nearly exterminated in 1636, but a feeble remnant of them now occupy a small district in the Indian Territory.
Wyatt, Richard, sculptor, born in London; studied in Home under Canova, and had Gibson for fellow-student; a man of classical tastes, and produced a number of exquisitely-modelled, especially female, figures (1795-1850).
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, English poet, courtier, and statesman, born at Allington Castle, in Kent, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge; was a welcome presence at court, a friend of Anne Boleyn, in high favour with the king, and knighted in 1537; did a good deal of diplomatic work in Spain and the Netherlands, and died on his way to meet the Spanish ambassador and convoy him to London; he had travelled in Italy, had studied the lyric poets of Italy, especially Petrarch, and, along with Surrey, imported their sentiment into English verse, “amourist poetry,” as it has been called, “a poetry extremely personal, and personal as English poetry had scarcely ever been before” (1503-1542).
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, the younger, only son of the preceding; was leader of the rebellion that broke out in 1554 in consequence of the settlement of the marriage between Queen Mary and Philip of Spain, in which, being repulsed at Temple Bar, he surrendered, was committed to the Tower, and for which he was executed, Lady Jane Grey and her husband following to the same doom shortly after (1520-1554).
Wycherley, William, dramatist, born in Shropshire, of good birth, and resided for a time in Paris, being admitted to the circle of the Précieuses, but returned to England at the Restoration, and became a figure at the court; his plays were marked with the coarseness of the time, and his best were “The Country Wife” (1675) and the “Plain Dealer” (1677); married the Countess of Drogheda for her fortune, a legacy which cost him only lawsuits and imprisonment for debt; succeeded to his paternal estate when he was an old man; married again, and died immediately after (1640-1715).
Wycliffe, John. See Wicliffe.
Wycombe, High (13), a market-town in Buckinghamshire, on the Wye, 25 m. SE. of Oxford; has a parish church built in the Norman style in 1273 and restored in 1887, and several public buildings; the manufacture of chairs, lace, and straw-plait among the leading industries.
Wye, a lovely winding river in South Wales, which rises near the source of the Severn on Plinlimmon, and falls into its estuary at Chepstow, 125 m. from its head; rapid in its course at first, it becomes gentler as it gathers volume; barges ascend it as far as Hereford, but a high tidal wave makes navigation dangerous at its mouth.
Wykeham, William of, bishop of Winchester, born in Hampshire of humble parentage; was patronised by the governor of Winchester Castle and introduced by him to Edward III., who employed him to superintend the rebuilding of Windsor Castle, and by-and-by made him Privy Seal and Lord Chancellor, though he fell into disgrace towards the close of Edward's reign; was restored to favour in Richard II.'s reign and once more made Chancellor; in his later years he founded the New College, Oxford, built and endowed St. Mary's College, Winchester, and rebuilt the cathedral there. He was less of a theologian than an architect; was disparagingly spoken of by John Wickliffe as a “builder of castles,” and his favourite motto was, “Manners make the man”; (1324-1404).
Wynnad, a highland district in the Western Ghâts, Madras Presidency, with extensive coffee plantations, and a wide distribution of auriferous quartz rock, the working of which has been on an extravagant scale, and has involved the loss of much capital.
Wyntoun, Andrew of, Scottish chronicler; lived at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries; was canon regular of St. Andrews and prior of St. Serf, Lochleven; the subject of his “Original Chronicle,” as he calls it, was Scottish history, introduced by foreign from the creation downwards, and it was written in verse that can hardly be called poetry; it is of value historically and interesting philologically, and consists of nine books or cantos; it is to him we owe “When Alexander our King was dead.”
Wyoming (60), a North-West State of the American Union, chiefly on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, an elevated region about three times the area of Ireland and a comparatively sparse population, settled principally along the line of the Union Pacific Railway; it has a very rugged surface, and abounds in deep cañons and frowning precipices, the lakes also are deep, and there are immense geysers, one, the Great Geyser, throwing up a volume of water 300 ft. high; it is rich in minerals, yields good crops of various grains, rears large herds of horses and cattle, as well as game on its moors, and trout and salmon in its rivers. See Yellowstone Park.
Wyoming Valley, a fertile valley in Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River, 20 m. long by 5 broad; it was the scene of a series of contests between rival settlers, when the last of them were set upon by an invading force, forced to surrender, and either massacred or driven forth from the valley; Campbell's “Gertrude of Wyoming” relates to this last disaster.
Wyss, Johann Rudolf, Swiss littérateur, born at Bern, professor of Philosophy there; the author of the “Swiss Family Robinson,” on which alone his title to fame rests (1781-1830).
Wyvern, a heraldic device in shape of a dragon with expanded wings, with only two legs and the pointed tail of a scorpion.