writer, _b._ at Stapleton near Bristol, _m._ in 1809 Thomas A.T., a
barrister, who fell into financial misfortune. She then in 1827 went with
her family to Cincinnati, where the efforts which she made to support
herself were unsuccessful. On her return to England, however, she brought
herself into notice by publishing _Domestic Manners of the Americans_
(1832), in which she gave a very unfavourable and grossly exaggerated
account of the subject; and a novel, _The Refugee in America_, pursued it
on similar lines. Next came _The Abbess_ and _Belgium and Western
Germany_, and other works of the same kind on _Paris and the Parisians_,
and _Vienna and the Austrians_ followed. Thereafter she continued to pour
forth novels and books on miscellaneous subjects, writing in all over 100
vols. Though possessed of considerable powers of observation and a sharp
and caustic wit, such an output was fatal to permanent literary success,
and none of her books are now read. She spent the last 20 years of her
life at Florence, where she _d._ in 1863. Her third _s._ was Anthony T.,
the well-known novelist (_q.v._). Her eldest _s._, Thomas Adolphus, wrote
_The Girlhood of Catherine de Medici_, a _History of Florence_, and _Life
of Pius IX._, and some novels.
TRUMBULL, JOHN (1750-1831).--Poet, _b._ at Waterbury, Conn., was a
lawyer, and became a judge. He wrote much verse, his principal
productions being _The Progress of Dulness_ (1772) and _McFingal_ (1782),
written in support of the Revolution in imitation of _Hudibras_.
TUCKER, ABRAHAM (1705-1774).--Philosophic writer, _b._ in London, and
_ed._ at Oxf., was a country gentleman, who devoted himself to the study
of philosophy, and wrote under the name of Edward Search, a work in 7
vols., _The Light of Nature Followed_ (1768-78). It is rather a
miscellany than a systematic treatise, but contains much original and
acute thinking.
TUCKER, GEORGE (1775-1861).--Economist, etc., _b._ in Bermuda, became
Prof., of Moral Philosophy, etc., in the Univ. of Virginia. He wrote a
_Life of Jefferson_, _Political History of the United States_, _Essays
Moral and Philosophical_, _The Valley of the Shenandoah_, a novel, _A
Voyage to the Moon_ (satire), and various works on economics.
TUCKER, NATHANIEL BEVERLY (1784-1851).--_B._ in Virginia, became a Prof.,
of Law in William and Mary Coll. He wrote a novel, _The Partisan Leader_
(1836), a prophecy of the future disunion which led to the Civil War. It
was _re-pub._ in 1861 as _A Key to the Southern Conspiracy_. Another
novel was _George Balcombe_.
TUCKERMAN, HENRY THEODORE (1813-1871).--Essayist, etc., _b._ in Boston,
Mass. He was a sympathetic and delicate critic, with a graceful style. He
lived much in Italy, which influenced his choice of subjects in his
earlier writings. These include _The Italian Sketch-book_, _Isabel, or
Sicily_, _Thoughts on the Poets_, _The Book of the Artists_, _Leaves from
the Diary of a Dreamer_, etc.
TULLOCH, JOHN (1823-1886).--Theologian and historical writer, _b._ at
Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, studied at St. Andrews and Edin. He was
ordained to the ministry of the Church of Scotland at Dundee, whence he
was translated to Kettins, Forfarshire, and became in 1854 Principal and
Prof. of Theology in St. Mary's Coll., St. Andrews. He was a leader of
the liberal party in the Church of Scotland, and wrote _Literary and
Intellectual Revival of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century_ (1883),
_Movements of Religious Thought in the Nineteenth Century_ (1884-85),
_Rational Theology and Christian Philosophy in England in the Seventeenth
Century_, and a book on Pascal, etc.
TUPPER, MARTIN FARQUHAR (1810-1889).--Versifier, _s._ of a surgeon, was
_b._ in London, _ed._ at Charterhouse School and Oxf., and called to the
Bar in 1835. He, however, believed that literature was his vocation, and
wrote many works in prose and verse, only one of which, _Proverbial
Philosophy_, had much success. But the vogue which it had was enormous,
especially in America. It is a singular collection of commonplace
observations set forth in a form which bears the appearance of verse, but
has neither rhyme nor metre, and has long since found its deserved level.
He also wrote _War Ballads_, _Rifle Ballads_, and _Protestant Ballads_,
various novels, and an autobiography. T. was likewise an inventor, but
his ideas in this kind had not much success.
TURBERVILLE, or TURBERVILE, GEORGE (1540?-1610).--Poet, belonging to an
ancient Dorsetshire family, was _b._ at Whitchurch, and _ed._ at
Winchester and Oxf. He became sec. to Thomas Randolph, Ambassador to
Russia, and made translations from the Latin and Italian, and in 1570
_pub._ _Epitaphes, Epigrams, Songs, and Sonets_. He also wrote books on
_Falconrie_ and _Hunting_, and was one of the first to use blank verse.
TURNER, SHARON (1768-1847).--Historian, _b._ in London, was a solicitor,
and becoming interested in the study of Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon
literature, _pub._ the results of his researches in his _History of the
Anglo-Saxons_ (1799-1805). Thereafter he continued the narrative in
_History of England_ (1814-29), carrying it on to the end of the reign of
Elizabeth. These histories, especially the former, though somewhat marred
by an attempt to emulate the grandiose style of Gibbon, were works of
real research, and opened up, and to a considerable extent developed, a
new field of inquiry. T. also wrote a _Sacred History of the World_, and
a poem on Richard III.
TUSSER, THOMAS (1524?-1580).--Versifier on agriculture, was an Essex man.
Having a good voice he was trained in music, and was a chorister in St.
Paul's, and afterwards in Norwich Cathedral, and held the post of
musician to Lord Paget. He tried farming at different places, but
unsuccessfully, which did not, however, prevent his undertaking to
instruct others. This he does with much shrewdness and point in his
_Hundreth Goode Pointes of Husbandrie_ (1557), expressed in rude but
lively verse; thereafter he added _Hundreth Goode Pointes of Husserie_
(Housewifery). The two joined, and with many additions, were repeatedly
reprinted as _Five Hundredth Pointes of Goode Husbandrie united to as
many of Goode Huswifery_. Many proverbs may be traced back to the
writings of T., who, in spite of all his shrewdness and talent, _d._ in
prison as a debtor.
TYNDALE, WILLIAM (1484?-1536).--Translator of the Bible, belonged to a
northern family which, migrating to Gloucestershire during the Wars of
the Roses, adopted the alternative name of Huchyns or Hychins, which T.
himself bore when at Oxf. in 1510. After graduating there, he went to
Camb., where the influence of Erasmus, who had been Prof. of Theology,
still operated. He took orders, and in 1522 was a tutor in the household
of Sir John Walsh of Old Sodbury, and was preaching and disputing in the
country round, for which he was called to account by the Chancellor of
the diocese. At the same time he translated a treatise by Erasmus, the
_Enchiridion Militis Christiani_ (Manual of the Christian Soldier), and
in controversy with a local disputant prophesied that he would cause that
"a boye that driveth the plough" should know the Scriptures better than
his opponent. Having formed the purpose of translating the New Testament
T. went in 1523 to London, and used means towards his admission to the
household of Tunstal, Bishop of London, but without success; he then
lived in the house of a wealthy draper, Humphrey Monmouth, where he
probably began his translation. Finding, however, that his work was
likely to be interfered with, he proceeded in 1524 to Hamburg, whence he
went to visit Luther at Wittenberg. He began printing his translation at
Cologne the following year, but had to fly to Worms, where the work was
completed. The translation itself is entirely T.'s work, and is that of a
thorough scholar, and shows likewise an ear for the harmony of words. The
notes and introduction are partly his own, partly literal translations,
and partly the gist of the work of Luther. From Germany the translation
was introduced into England, and largely circulated until forcible means
of prevention were brought to bear in 1528. In this year T. removed to
Marburg, where he _pub._ _The Parable of the Wicked Mammon_, a treatise
on Justification by Faith, and _The Obedience of a Christian Man_,
setting forth that Scripture is the ultimate authority in matters of
faith, and the King in matters of civil government. Thereafter, having
been at Hamburg and Antwerp, T. returned to Marburg, and in 1530 _pub._
his translation of the _Pentateuch_ and _The Practice of Prelates_, in
which he attacked Wolsey and the proposed divorce proceedings of Henry
VIII., the latter of whom endeavoured to have him apprehended. Thereafter
he was involved in a controversy with Sir Thomas More. In 1533 he
returned to Antwerp, Henry's hostility having somewhat cooled, and was
occupied in revising his translations, when he was in 1535 betrayed into
the hands of the Imperial officers and carried off to the Castle of
Vilvorde, where the next year he was strangled and burned. T. was one of
the most able and devoted of the reforming leaders, and his, the
foundation of all future translations of the Bible, is his enduring
monument. He was a small, thin man of abstemious habits and untiring
industry.
TYNDALL, JOHN (1820-1893).--Scientific writer, _b._ at Leighlin Bridge,
County Carlow, was in early life employed in the ordnance survey and as a
railway engineer. He was next teacher of mathematics and surveying at
Queenwood Coll., Hampshire, after which he went to Marburg to study
science, and while there became joint author of a memoir _On the
Magneto-optic Properties of Crystals_ (1850). After being at Berlin he
returned in 1851 to Queenwood, and in 1853 was appointed Prof. of Natural
Philosophy in the Royal Institution, which in 1867 he succeeded Faraday
as Superintendent. With Huxley (_q.v._) he made investigations into the
Alpine glaciers. Thereafter he did much original work on heat, sound, and
light. In addition to his discoveries T. was one of the greatest
popularisers of science. His style, remarkable for lucidity and elegance,
enabled him to expound such subjects with the minimum of technical
terminology. Among his works are _The Glaciers of the Alps_ (1860),
_Mountaineering_ (1861), _Fragments of Science_, two vols. (1871),
including his address to the British Association at Belfast, which raised
a storm of controversy and protest in various quarters, _Hours of
Exercise on the Alps_, etc. T. _d._ from an overdose of chloral
accidentally administered by his wife.
TYTLER, ALEXANDER FRASER (1747-1813).--Historian, _s._ of William T.
(_q.v._), studied at Edin., was called to the Bar in 1770 and raised to
the Bench as Lord Woodhouselee in 1802. He was Prof. of History in Edin.,
and wrote _Elements of General History_ (1801), _An Essay on the
Principles of Translation_ (1791), besides various legal treatises.
TYTLER, PATRICK FRASER (1791-1849).--Historian, _s._ of the above,
studied at Edin., and was called to the Bar in 1813. Among his many
writings are an _Essay on the History of the Moors in Spain_, _The Life
of the Admirable Crichton_ (1819), _History of Scotland_ (1828-43), and
_England under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary_ (1839). His _History of
Scotland_, which was the result of 20 years of study and research, is
still authoritative.
TYTLER, WILLIAM (1711-1792).--Historical writer, was a lawyer in Edin.,
and wrote _An Inquiry into the Evidence against Mary Queen of Scots_, in
which he combated the views of Robertson. He discovered the _King's
Quhair_ of James I., and _pub._ in 1783 _The Poetical Remains of James
I., King of Scotland_, with a Life.
UDALL, NICOLAS (1505-1556).--Dramatist and scholar, _b._ in Hampshire,
and _ed._ at Oxf. In 1534 he became headmaster of Eton, from which he was
dismissed for misconduct, 1541. In 1537 he became Vicar of Braintree, in
1551 of Calborne, Isle of Wight, and in 1554 headmaster of Westminster
School. He translated part of the _Apophthegms_ of Erasmus, and assisted
in making the English version of his _Paraphrase of the New Testament_.
Other translations were Peter Martyr's _Discourse on the Eucharist_ and
Thomas Gemini's _Anatomia_, but he is best remembered by _Ralph Roister
Doister_ (1553?), the first English comedy, a rude but lively piece.
UNDERDOWN, THOMAS (_fl._ 1566-1587).--Translator. He translated the
_Æthiopian History_ of Heliodorus 1566; also from Ovid.
UNDERWOOD, FRANCIS HENRY (1825-1894).--Critic and biographer, _b._ in
Massachusetts, was American Consul at Glasgow and Leith. He wrote
_Hand-books of English Literature_, _Builders of American Literature_,
etc., some novels, _Lord of Himself_, _Man Proposes_, and _Dr. Gray's
Quest_, and biographies of Lowell, Longfellow, and Whittier.
URQUHART, SIR THOMAS (1611-1660).--Eccentric writer and translator, was
_ed._ at King's Coll., Aberdeen, after leaving which he travelled in
France, Spain, and Italy. He was bitterly opposed to the Covenanters, and
fought against them at Turriff in 1639. His later life was passed between
Scotland, England (where he was for some time a prisoner in the Tower),
and the Continent, where he lived, 1642-45. A man of considerable ability
and learning, his vanity and eccentricity verged upon insanity, and he is
said to have _d._ from the effects of an uncontrollable fit of joyful
laughter on hearing news of the Restoration. Among his extravagances was
a genealogy of his family traced through his _f._ to Adam, and through
his mother to Eve, he himself being the 153rd in descent. He _pub._
_Trissotetras_, a work on trigonometry (1645), an invective against the
Presbyterians (1652), a scheme for a universal language,
_Logopandecteision_ (1653), and a partial translation of Rabelais (1653),
a further portion being _pub._ in 1693. In the last he was assisted by
Peter Anthony Motteux, a Frenchman who had established himself in
England, who continued the work.
USK, THOMAS (_d._ 1388).--Poet, _b._ in London, was sec. to John of
Northampton, the Wyclifite Lord Mayor of London, whom he betrayed to save
himself, in which, however, he failed, being executed in 1388. During his
imprisonment, which lasted from 1384 until his death, he composed _The
Testament of Love_, a didactic poem long attributed to Chaucer.
USSHER, JAMES (1581-1656).--Divine and scholar, _b._ in Dublin, the _s._
of a lawyer there, and _ed._ at Trinity Coll., took orders, and became
Chancellor of St. Patrick's, Dublin, 1605, and Prof. of Divinity,
1607-21. On the Irish clergy, in 1715, deciding to assert themselves as
an independent church, U. had the main hand in drawing up the
constitution, certain features of which led to the suspicion of his being
in favour of Puritanism. To defend himself he went in 1619 to England,
and had a conference with the King (James I.), in which he so completely
succeeded that he was in 1621 made Bishop of Meath, and four years later
Archbishop of Armagh. He constantly used his influence in favour of
reform, and endeavoured to introduce such modifications of Episcopacy as
would conciliate and comprehend the Presbyterians. During the troubles
which led to the Civil War U. maintained the unlawfulness of taking up
arms against the King. The Rebellion in Ireland in 1641 drove him away,
and he settled first at Oxf., but ultimately at the house of Lady
Peterborough at Reigate, where he _d._ in 1656. His works dealt chiefly
with ecclesiastical antiquities and chronology, his _magnum opus_ being
_Annales_, a chronology of the world from the creation to the dispersion
of the Jews in the reign of Vespasian, a work which gained him great
reputation on the Continent as well as at home. The date of the creation
was fixed as 4004 B.C., which was long universally received. It has, of
course, been altogether superseded, alike by the discovery of ancient
records, and by geology.
VANBRUGH, SIR JOHN (1664-1726).--Dramatist and architect, _b._ in London
of Flemish descent, was in France from 1683 to 1685, studying
architecture, for which he had early shown a taste. The next year he got
a commission in the army, and in 1690 he was a prisoner first at
Vincennes and then in the Bastille. In 1696 he began his dramatic career
with _The Relapse_, which had great success. _Æsop_ followed in 1697, and
_The Provoked Wife_ in the same year. The latter was severely handled by
Jeremy Collier (_q.v._) in his _Short View_, etc., which produced a
vindication by the author. In addition to these he wrote or collaborated
in various other plays. His leading features as a dramatist are the
naturalness of his dialogue and his lively humour. Like all his
contemporaries he is frequently extremely gross. He obtained great fame
as an architect, as well as a dramatist. Among his most famous designs
are Castle Howard, Blenheim Palace, and Dalkeith Palace. He was knighted
by George I., was controller of the Royal works, and succeeded Wren as
architect to Greenwich Hospital. In addition to the plays above mentioned
V. wrote _The Confederacy_ and _The Country House_. He was a handsome and
jovial person, and highly popular in society.
VAUGHAN, HENRY (1622-1695).--Poet, _b._ in the parish of Llansaintffraed,
Brecknock, and as a native of the land of the ancient Silures, called
himself "Silurist." He was at Jesus Coll., Oxf., studied law in London,
but finally settled as a physician at Brecon and Newton-by-Usk. In his
youth he was a decided Royalist and, along with his twin brother Thomas,
was imprisoned. His first book was _Poems, with the Tenth Satire of
Juvenal Englished_. It appeared in 1646. _Olor Iscanus_ (the Swan of
Usk), a collection of poems and translations, was surreptitiously _pub._
in 1651. About this time he had a serious illness which led to deep
spiritual impressions, and thereafter his writings were almost entirely
religious. _Silex Scintillans_ (Sparks from the Flint), his best known
work, consists of short poems full of deep religious feeling, fine fancy,
and exquisite felicities of expression, mixed with a good deal that is
quaint and artificial. It contains "The Retreat," a poem of about 30
lines which manifestly suggested to Wordsworth his _Ode on the
Intimations of Immortality_, and "Beyond the Veil," one of the finest
meditative poems in the language. _Flores Solitudinis_ (Flowers of
Solitude) and _The Mount of Olives_ are devout meditations in prose. The
two brothers were joint authors of _Thalia Rediviva: the Pastimes and
Diversions of a Country Muse_ (1678), a collection of translations and
original poems.
VAUGHAN, ROBERT (1795-1868).--A minister of the Congregationalist
communion, Prof. of History in London Univ., 1830-43, and Pres. of the
Independent Coll., Manchester, 1843-57. He founded, and for a time ed.
the _British Quarterly_. He wrote, among various other works, _A History
of England under the Stuarts_, _Revolutions of History_, and a Life of
Wycliffe.
VEITCH, JOHN (1829-1894).--Philosophic and miscellaneous writer, _b._ at
Peebles, _ed._ at Univ. and New Coll., Edin., was assistant to Sir Wm.
Hamilton (_q.v._), 1856-60, Prof. of Logic at St. Andrews, 1860-64, and
Glasgow, 1864-94. He was a voluminous and accomplished writer, his works
including Lives of _Dugald Stewart_ (1857) and _Sir W. Hamilton_ (1869),
_Tweed and other Poems_ (1875), _History and Poetry of the Scottish
Border_ (1877), _Feeling for Nature in Scottish Poetry_ (1887), _Merlin
and other Poems_ (1889), _Border Essays_ (1896), and _Dualism and Monism_
(1895).
VERY, JONES (1813-1880).--Essayist and poet, _b._ at Salem, Mass., where
he became a clergyman and something of a mystic. He _pub._ one small
volume, _Essays and Poems_, the latter chiefly in the form of the
Shakespearian sonnet. Though never widely popular, he appealed by his
refined, still thoughtfulness to a certain small circle of minds.
WACE (_fl._ 1170).--Chronicler, _b._ in Jersey, and _ed._ at Caen, was
influenced by the Chronicle of Geoffrey of Monmouth (_q.v._), and based
upon it a French metrical romance, _Brut_. Later, at the command of Henry
II., he rewrote with additions a chronicle of the life of William the
Conqueror and entitled it _Roman de Rou_.
WADE, THOMAS (1805-1875).--Poet, _b._ at Woodbridge, _pub._ poems,
dramas, sonnets, and a translation of Dante's _Inferno_. Among his
writings are _Tasso and the Sisters_ (1825), _Mundi et Cordis Carmina_
(1835); _Duke Andrea_ (1828), and _The Jew of Arragon_ (1830), both
tragedies, and the _Phrenologists_ (1830), a farce.
WAKEFIELD, GILBERT (1756-1801).--Scholar and controversialist, _b._ at
Nottingham, _ed._ at Camb., took orders, but becoming a Unitarian
renounced them and acted as classical tutor in various Unitarian
academies. He was a strong defender of the French Revolution, and was
imprisoned for two years for writing a seditious pamphlet. He _pub._ ed.
of various classical writers, and among his theological writings are
_Early Christian Writers on the Person of Christ_ (1784), _An Examination
of Paine's Age of Reason_ (1794), and _Silva Critica_ (1789-95),
illustrations of the Scriptures.
WALLACE, LEWIS (1827-1905).--Novelist, _b._ at Brookville, Indiana,
served with distinction in the Mexican and Civil Wars, and rose to the
rank of General. He was also a politician of some note, and was Governor
of Utah and Minister to Turkey. His novel, _Ben Hur_ (1880), dealing with
the times of Christ, had great popularity, and was followed by _The Fair
God_, _The Prince of India_, and other novels, and by a work on the
_Boyhood of Christ_.
WALLER, EDMUND (1606-1687).--Poet, _b._ at Coleshill, Herts, and _ed._ at
Eton and Camb., belonged to an old and wealthy family, and in early
childhood inherited the estate of Beaconsfield, Bucks, worth £3500 a
year. He was related to John Hampden, and was distantly connected with
Oliver Cromwell, his own family, however, being staunch Royalists. He
studied law at Lincoln's Inn, and at the age of 16 became a member of
Parliament, in which he sat for various constituencies for the greater
part of his life, and in which his wit and vivacity, as well as his
powers of adapting his principles to the times, enabled him to take a
prominent part. In 1631 he added to his fortune by marrying Anne Banks, a
London heiress, who _d._ in 1634, and he then paid assiduous but
unsuccessful court to Lady Dorothea Sidney, to whom, under the name of
Sacharissa, he addressed much of his best poetry. Though probably really
a Royalist in his sympathies, W. supported the popular cause in
Parliament, and in 1641 conducted the case against Sir Francis Crawley
for his opinion in favour of the legality of ship-money. His speech,
which was printed, had an enormous circulation and brought him great
fame. Two years later, however, he was detected in a plot for seizing
London for the King, was expelled from the House, fined £10,000, and
banished. On this occasion he showed cowardice and treachery, humiliating
himself in the most abject manner, and betraying all his associates. He
went to the Continent, living chiefly in France and Switzerland, and
showing hospitality to Royalist exiles. Returning by permission in 1652
he addressed some laudatory verses, among the best he wrote, to Cromwell,
on whose death nevertheless he wrote a new poem entitled, _On the Death
of the late Usurper, O.C._ On the Restoration the accommodating poet was
ready with a congratulatory address to Charles II., who, pointing out its
inferiority as a poem to that addressed to Cromwell, elicited the famous
reply, "Poets, Sire, succeed better in fiction than in truth." The poem,
however, whatever its demerits, succeeded in its prime object, and the
poet became a favourite at Court, and sat in Parliament until his death.
In addition to his lighter pieces, on which his fame chiefly rests, W.
wrote an epic, _The Summer Islands_ (Bermudas), and a sacred poem,
_Divine Love_. His short poems, such as "On a Girdle," often show fancy
and grace of expression, but are frequently frigid and artificial, and
exhibit absolute indifference to the charms of Nature. As a man, though
agreeable and witty, he was time-serving, selfish, and cowardly.
Clarendon has left a very unflattering "character" of him. He _m._ a
second time and had five sons and eight daughters.
WALLER, JOHN FRANCIS (1810-1894).--Poet, _b._ at Limerick, and _ed._ at
Trinity Coll., Dublin, became a contributor to and ultimately ed. of the
_Dublin University Magazine_, usually writing under the pseudonym of
"Jonathan Freke Slingsby." His works include _Ravenscroft Hall_ (1852),
_The Dead Bridal_ (1856), and _Peter Brown_ (1872).
WALPOLE, HORATIO or HORACE (1717-1797).--Miscellaneous writer, third _s._
of Sir Robert W., the great minister of George II., was _b._ in London,
and _ed._ at Eton and Camb., after which he travelled on the Continent
with Gray, the poet (_q.v._). His _f._ bestowed several lucrative
appointments upon him, and he sat in Parliament for various places, but
never took any prominent part in public business. By the death of his
nephew, the 3rd Earl, he became in 1791 4th Earl of Orford. In 1747 he
purchased the villa of Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, the conversion of
which into a small Gothic Castle and the collection of the works of art
and curios with which it was decorated was the main interest of his
subsequent life. His position in society gave him access to the best
information on all contemporary subjects of interest, and he was as
successful in collecting gossip as curios. He also erected a private
press, from which various important works, including Gray's _Bard_, as
well as his own writings, were issued. Among the latter are _Letter from
Xo Ho to his Friend Lien Chi at Pekin_ (1757), _The Castle of Otranto_,
the forerunner of the romances of terror of Mrs. Radcliffe and "Monk"
Lewis, _The Mysterious Mother_ (1768), a tragedy of considerable power,
_Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors_, _Anecdotes of Painting_,
_Catalogue of Engravers_ (1763), _Essay on Modern Gardening_, _Memoirs of
the Last Ten Years of George II._, _Memoirs of the Reign of George III._,
and above all his _Letters_, 2700 in number, vivacious, interesting, and
often brilliant. W. never _m._
WALPOLE, SIR SPENCER (1839-1907).--Historian, _s._ of the Right Hon.
Spencer W., Home Sec. in the three Derby Cabinets, belonged to the same
family as Sir Robert W. _Ed._ at Eton he became a clerk in the War
Office, and was thereafter successively Inspector of Fisheries 1867,
Lieutenant-Governor of the Isle of Man 1882, and Sec. to the Post Office,
where he made a reputation as an efficient administrator, and was made
K.C.B. in 1898. He _pub._ _History of England from_ 1815 in 6 vols.,
bringing the story down to 1858, and followed it up with _The History of
Twenty-five Years_. He also wrote Lives of Spencer Percival, Prime
Minister 1809-12, who was assassinated in the lobby of the House of
Commons in the latter year, and who was his maternal grandfather, and of
Earl Russell. His latest book was _Studies in Biography_. He wrote with
much knowledge, and in a clear and sober style.
WALTON, IZAAK (1593-1683).--Biographer, and author of _The Compleat
Angler_, _s._ of a yeoman, was _b._ at Stafford. Of his earlier years
little is known. He carried on business as a hosier in London, in which
he made a modest competence, which enabled him to retire at 50, the rest
of his long life of 90 years being spent in the simple country pleasures,
especially angling, which he so charmingly describes. He was twice _m._,
first to Rachel Floud, a descendant of Archbishop Cranmer, and second to
Ann Ken, half-sister of the author of the Evening Hymn. His first book
was a _Life of Dr. Donne_ (1640), followed by Lives of Sir Henry Wotton
(1651), Richard Hooker (1662), George Herbert (1670), and Bishop
Sanderson (1678). All of these, classics in their kind, short, but simple
and striking, were _coll._ into one vol. His masterpiece, however, was
_The Compleat Angler_, the first ed. of which was _pub._ in 1653.
Subsequent ed. were greatly enlarged; a second part was added by Charles
Cotton (_q.v._). With its dialogues between Piscator (angler), Venator
(hunter), and Auceps (falconer), full of wisdom, kindly humour, and
charity, its charming pictures of country scenes and pleasures, and its
snatches of verse, it is one of the most delightful and care-dispelling
books in the language. His long, happy, and innocent life ended in the
house of his son-in-law, Dr. Hawkins, Prebendary of Winchester, where in
the Cathedral he lies buried.
WARBURTON, BARTHOLOMEW ELIOT GEORGE (1810-1852).--Miscellaneous writer,
_b._ in County Galway, travelled in the East, and _pub._ an account of
his experiences, _The Crescent and the Cross_, which had remarkable
success, brought out an historical work, _Memoirs of Prince Rupert and
the Cavaliers_ (1849), and ed. _Memoirs of Horace Walpole and his
Contemporaries_. He perished in the burning of the steamer _Amazon_.
WARBURTON, WILLIAM (1698-1779).--Theologian, _b._ at Newark, where his
_f._ was an attorney. Intended for the law, he was for a few years
engaged in its practice, but his intense love of, and capacity for,
study led him to enter the Church, and in 1728 he was presented to the
Rectory of Brand-Broughton, where he remained for many years. His first
important work was _The Alliance between Church and State_ (1736), which
brought him into notice. But it was entirely eclipsed by his _Divine
Legation of Moses_, of which the first part appeared in 1737, and the
second in 1741. The work, though learned and able, is somewhat
paradoxical, and it plunged him into controversies with his numerous
critics, and led to his publishing a _Vindication_. It, however, obtained
for him the appointment of chaplain to Frederick, Prince of Wales. In
1739 W. gained the friendship of Pope by publishing a defence of _The
Essay on Man_. Through Pope he became acquainted with most of the men of
letters of the time, and he was made by the poet his literary executor,
and had the legacy of half his library, and the profits of his posthumous
works. On the strength of this he brought out an ed. of Pope's works. He
also _pub._ an ed. of Shakespeare with notes, which was somewhat severely
criticised, and his _Doctrine of Grace_, a polemic against Wesley. He
became Dean of Bristol in 1757 and Bishop of Gloucester in 1759. W. was a
man of powerful intellect, but his temper was overbearing and arrogant.
"WARD, ARTEMUS", (_see_ BROWN, C.F.).
WARD, ROBERT PLUMER (1765-1846).--Novelist and politician, _b._ in
London, _ed._ at Oxf., and called to the Bar 1790, held various political
offices, and wrote some books on the law of nations; also three novels,
_Tremaine, or the Man of Refinement_, full of prolix discussions; _De
Vere, or the Man of Independence_, in which Canning is depicted under the
character of Wentworth; and _De Clifford, or the Constant Man_.
WARD, WILLIAM GEORGE (1812-1882).--Theologian, _ed._ at Winchester and
Oxf., and came under the influence of J.H. Newman, whose famous Tract No.
XC. he defended, and whom he followed into the Church of Rome. In 1844 he
_pub._ _The Ideal of a Christian Church_ from the Romanist point of view,
whence his soubriquet of "Ideal Ward." He was lecturer on Moral
Philosophy at St. Edward's Coll., Ware, and wrote various treatises on
controversial theology.
WARDLAW, ELIZABETH, LADY (1677-1727).--Poetess, _dau._ of Sir Charles
Halkett of Pitfirrane, and wife of Sir Henry Wardlaw of Pitreavie, is
believed to have written the pseudo-ancient ballad of "Hardyknute." The
ballad of "Sir Patrick Spens" and others have also, but doubtfully, been
attributed to her.
WARNER, SUSAN (1819-1885).--Writer of tales, _b._ at New York, and wrote,
under the name of "Elizabeth Wetherell," a number of stories, of which
_The Wide, Wide World_ (1851) had an extraordinary popularity. Others
were _Queechy_ (1852), _The Old Helmet_ (1863), and _Melbourne House_
(1864). They have no particular literary merit or truth to nature, and
are rather sentimental and "gushy."
WARNER, WILLIAM (1558-1609).--Poet, _b._ in London or Yorkshire, studied
at Oxf., and was an attorney in London. In 1585 he _pub._ a collection
of seven tales in prose entitled _Pan his Syrinx_, and in 1595 a
translation of the _Menæchmi_ of Plautus. His chief work was _Albion's
England_, _pub._ in 1586 in 13 books of fourteen-syllabled verse, and
republished with 3 additional books in 1606. The title is thus explained
in the dedication, "This our whole island anciently called Britain, but
more anciently Albion, presently containing two kingdoms, England and
Scotland, is cause ... that to distinguish the former, whose only
occurrants I abridge from our history, I entitle this my book _Albion's
England_." For about 20 years it was one of the most popular poems of its
size--it contains about 10,000 lines--ever written, and he and Spenser
were called the Homer and Virgil of their age. They must, however, have
appealed to quite different classes. The plain-spoken, jolly humour,
homely, lively, direct tales, vigorous patriotic feeling, and
rough-and-tumble metre of Warner's muse, and its heterogeneous
accumulation of material--history, tales, theology, antiquities--must
have appealed to a lower and wider audience than Spenser's charmed verse.
The style is clear, spirited, and pointed, but, as has been said, "with
all its force and vivacity ... fancy at times, and graphic descriptive
power, it is poetry with as little of high imagination in it as any that
was ever written." In his narratives W. allowed himself great latitude of
expression, which may partly account for the rapidity with which his book
fell into oblivion.
WARREN, SAMUEL (1807-1877).--Novelist, _b._ in Denbighshire, _s._ of a
Nonconformist minister. After studying medicine at Edin. he took up law,
and became a barrister, wrote several legal text-books, and in 1852 was
made Recorder of Hull. He sat in the House of Commons for Midhurst
1856-59, and was a Master in Lunacy 1859-77. He was the author of
_Passages from the Diary of a late Physician_, which appeared (1832-37)
first in _Blackwood's Magazine_, as did also _Ten Thousand a Year_
(1839). Both attracted considerable attention, and were often reprinted
and translated. His last novel, _Now and Then_, had little success. W.
entertained exaggerated ideas as to the importance of his place in
literature.
WARTON, JOSEPH (1722-1800).--Critic, elder _s._ of the Rev. Thomas W.,
Prof. of Poetry at Oxf., was _ed._ at Basingstoke School, (of which his
_f._ was headmaster), Winchester, and Oxf. He took orders, held various
benefices, and became headmaster of Winchester Coll., and Prebendary of
Winchester and of St. Paul's. He _pub._ miscellaneous verses, 2 vols. of
_Odes_ (1744 and 1746), in which he displayed a then unusual feeling for
nature, and revolted against the critical rules of Pope and his
followers. He was a good classical scholar, and made an approved
translation of the _Eclogues_ and _Georgics_ of Virgil. He and his
brother Thomas (_q.v._) were friends of Johnson, and members of the
Literary Club. His last work of importance was an _Essay on the Writings
and Genius of Pope_, of which the first vol. appeared in 1757, and the
second in 1782, and which gave an impulse to the romantic movement in
English literature. He also ed. Pope's works, and had begun an ed. of
Dryden when he _d._
WARTON, THOMAS (1728-1790).--Literary historian and critic, younger _s._
of Thomas W., Prof. of Poetry at Oxf., and brother of the above, was
_ed._ under his _f._ at Basingstoke and at Oxf. At the age of 19 he
_pub._ a poem of considerable promise, _The Pleasures of Melancholy_, and
two years later attracted attention by _The Triumph of Isis_ (1749), in
praise of Oxf., and in answer to Mason's _Isis_. After various other
poetical excursions he _pub._ _Observations on Spenser's Faery Queen_
(1754), which greatly increased his reputation, and in 1757 he was made
Prof. of Poetry at Oxf., which position he held for 10 years. After
bringing out one or two ed. of classics and biographies of college
benefactors, he issued, from 1774-81, his great _History of English
Poetry_, which comes down to the end of the Elizabethan age. The research
and judgment, and the stores of learning often curious and recondite,
which were brought to bear upon its production render this work, though
now in various respects superseded, a vast magazine of information, and
it did much to restore our older poetry to the place of which it had been
unjustly deprived by the classical school. His ed. of Milton's minor
poems has been pronounced by competent critics to be the best ever
produced. W. was a clergyman, but if the tradition is to be believed that
he had only two sermons, one written by his _f._ and the other printed,
and if the love of ease and of ale which he celebrates in some of his
verses was other than poetical, he was more in his place as a critic than
as a cleric. As a poet he hardly came up to his own standards. He was
made Poet Laureate in 1785, and in the same year Camden Prof. of History,
and was one of the first to detect the Chatterton forgeries, a task in
which his antiquarian lore stood him in good stead.
WATERLAND, DANIEL (1683-1740).--Theologian, _b._ at Waseley Rectory,
Lincolnshire, and _ed._ at Camb., took orders, and obtained various
preferments, becoming Master of Magdalene Coll., Camb. 1713, Chancellor
of York 1722, and Archdeacon of Middlesex 1730. He was an acute and able
controversialist on behalf of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, on
which he wrote several treatises. He was also the author of a _History of
the Athanasian Creed_ (1723).
WATERTON, CHARLES (1782-1865).--Naturalist, belonged to an old Roman
Catholic family in Yorkshire, and was _ed._ at Stonyhurst Coll. Sent out
in 1804 to look after some family estates in Demerara, he wandered
through the wildest parts of Guiana and Brazil, in search of plants and
animals for his collections. His adventures were related in his
highly-spiced and entertaining _Wanderings in South America, etc._
(1825), in which he details certain surprising episodes in connection
with the capture of serpents, and specially of a cayman, on the back of
which he rode. He also wrote an interesting account of his family.
WATSON, JOHN (1850-1907) "IAN MACLAREN".--Novelist and theological
writer, _b._ at Manningtree, where his _f._ was an Inland Revenue
official, _ed._ at Stirling and Edin., and the New Coll. there. He came,
after serving in a country charge, to Sefton Park Presbyterian Church,
Liverpool, where he was a popular preacher, and took a prominent part in
the social and religious life of the city. He wrote, under the name of
"Ian Maclaren," several novels belonging to the "Kailyard" school,
including _Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush_ and _The Days of Auld Lang
Syne_, which had great popularity both at home and in America. He also
wrote religious works, of which _The Mind of the Master_ is the best
known.
WATSON, ROBERT (1730-1781).--Historian, _s._ of an apothecary in St.
Andrews, where and at Edin. and Glasgow, he was _ed._ He became Prof. of
Logic, and afterwards Principal of St. Salvador's Coll., at St. Andrews,
and wrote a History of Philip II. of Spain, and part of a continuation on
Philip III., which were long standard works.
WATSON, THOMAS (1557?-1592).--Poet, _b._ in London, was at Oxf., and
studied law. He was a scholar, and made translations, one of which was a
Latin version of the _Antigone_ of Sophocles. In 1582 he _pub._
_Hecatompathia, or The Passionate Centurie of Love_, consisting of 100
eighteen-line poems, which he called sonnets. It was followed by
_Amyntas_ (1585) and _Teares of Fansie_ (1593).
WATTS, ALARIC ALEXANDER (1797-1864).--Poet, _b._ in London, had an active
career as a journalist. He founded the _United Service Gazette_, and ed.
various newspapers and an annual, the _Literary Souvenir_. His poems were
_coll._ as _Lyrics of the Heart_. His numerous journalistic ventures
finally resulted in bankruptcy.
WATTS, ISAAC (1674-1748).--Poet and theologian, _b._ at Southampton,
where his _f._ kept a school, and _ed._ at a Nonconformist academy at
Stoke Newington, became minister of an Independent congregation in Mark
Lane; but his health proving insufficient for his pastoral duties, he
resigned, and gave himself chiefly to literary work, continuing to preach
occasionally. For the last 36 years of his life he resided at Theobald's,
the house of his friend, Sir Thomas Abney. Among his writings were
various educational treatises, including those on _Logic_ and _The
Improvement of the Mind_, and some works on theological subjects. But his
fame rests on his sacred poems and his hymns, which number over 500, and
with much that is prosaic comprised "There is a Land of Pure Delight," "O
God our Help in Ages Past," and "When I survey the Wondrous Cross," which
has been called "the most majestic hymn in English speech." His _Horæ
Lyricæ_ was _pub._ in 1706, _Hymns_ (1707), _Divine Songs_ (for children)
(1715), _Metrical Psalms_ (1719). Some of his poems, such as his
exquisite cradle song, "Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber" have a
perfect beauty and tenderness.
WAUGH, EDWIN (1817-1890).--Poet, _s._ of a shoemaker, was _b._ at
Rochdale and, after a little schooling, apprenticed to a printer. He read
eagerly, and became assistant sec. to the Lancashire Public School
Association. He first attracted attention by his sketches of Lancashire
life and character in the _Manchester Examiner_. He wrote also in prose
_Factory Folk_, _Besom Ben Stories_, and _The Chimney Corner_. His best
work was, perhaps, his dialect songs, _coll._ as _Poems and Songs_
(1859), which brought him great local fame. He was possessed of
considerable literary gift, and has been called "the Lancashire Burns."
WEBBE, WILLIAM (_b._ 1550).--Critic and translator. Almost nothing is
known of him except that he was at Camb. and acted as tutor in certain
distinguished families, and was a friend of Spenser. He wrote a
_Discourse of English Poetrie_ (1586), in which he discusses metre, rhyme
(the use of which he reprehends), and reviews English poetry up to his
own day. He also translated the first two of the _Eclogues_ of Virgil in
singularly unmelodious hexameters.
WEBSTER, MRS. AUGUSTA (DAVIES) (1837-1894).--Poet and translator, _dau._
of Admiral Davies, _m._ Mr. Thomas Webster, a solicitor. She wrote a
novel, _Lesley's Guardians_, and several books of poetry of distinguished
excellence, including _Blanche Lisle_, _Dramatic Studies_ (1866),
_Portraits_ (1870), _A Book of Rhyme_ (1881), and some dramas, including
_The Auspicious Day_ (1874), _Disguises_, and _The Sentence_ (1887). She
also made translations of _Prometheus Bound_ and _Medea_.
WEBSTER, DANIEL (1782-1852).--Orator, _s._ of a farmer in New Hampshire,
was a distinguished advocate in Boston, and afterwards a member of the
United States Senate and Sec. of State 1841-43 and 1850-52. He was the
greatest orator whom America has produced, and has a place in literature
by virtue of his _pub._ speeches.
WEBSTER, JOHN (1580?-1625?).--Dramatist. Though in some respects he came
nearest to Shakespeare of any of his contemporaries, almost nothing has
come down to us of the life of W. Even the dates of his birth and death
are uncertain. He appears to have been the _s._ of a London tailor, to
have been a freeman of the Merchant Taylor's Company, and clerk of the
parish of St. Andrews, Holborn. Four plays are known to be his, _The
White Devil, or the Life and Death of Vittoria Corombona_ (1612), _Appius
and Virginia_ (1654), _The Devil's Law Case_ (1623), and _The Duchess of
Malfi_ (1623), and he collaborated with Drayton, Middleton, Heywood,
Dekker, etc., in the production of others. He does not appear to have
been much regarded in his own day, and it was only in the 19th century
that his great powers began to be appreciated and expounded by such
critics as Lamb and Hazlitt, and in later days Swinburne. The first says,
"To move a horror skilfully, to touch a soul to the quick, to lay upon
fear as much as it can bear, to wean and weary a life till it is ready to
drop, and then step in with mortal instruments to take its last forfeit,
this only a Webster can do." W. revels in the horrible, but the touch of
genius saves his work from mere brutality, and evokes pity and sorrow
where, without it, there would be only horror and disgust. His work is
extremely unequal, and he had no power of construction, but his
extraordinary insight into motives and feelings redeem all his failings
and give him a place second only to Marlowe and Ben Jonson among the
contemporaries of Shakespeare.
WEBSTER, NOAH (1758-1843).--Lexicographer, etc., _b._ at Hartford, Conn.,
and _ed._ at Yale. His long life was spent in unremitting diligence as
teacher, lawyer, and man of letters. His great work is his American
_Dictionary of the English Language_ (1828), for which he prepared
himself by 10 years' study of philology. Many abridgments of it have
appeared, and in 1866 a new and enlarged ed. was _pub._ His _Elementary
Spelling Book_ is believed to have attained a circulation of 70,000,000
copies. He also _pub._ _A Philosophical and Practical Grammar of the
English Language_ (1807), and many other works.
WELLS, CHARLES JEREMIAH (1800?-1879).--Poet, _b._ in London, where he
practised as a solicitor, _pub._ in 1822 _Stories after Nature_, written
in poetic prose, which attracted no attention, and a biblical drama,
_Joseph and his Brethren_ (1824), which had an almost similar fate until
D.G. Rossetti called attention to it in 1863, giving it a high meed of
praise. In 1874, stung by want of appreciation, he had burned his
manuscripts of plays and poems; but on the new interest excited in his
_Joseph_ he added some new scenes. In his later years he lived in France.
_Joseph and his Brethren_ ed. in the World's Classics, 1909.
WENDOVER, ROGER DE (_d._ 1236).--Chronicler, a monk of St. Albans, became
Prior of Belvoir, from which he was deposed for extravagance, but was
recalled to St. Albans, where he _d._ He wrote _Flores Historiarum_
(Flowers of History), a history of the world in 2 books, the first from
the creation to the incarnation, the second to the reign of Henry III.,
his own time. The latter is of value as a contemporary authority, and is
an impartial and manly account of his own period.
WESLEY, CHARLES (1707-1788).--Hymn-writer, younger brother of John W.
(_q.v._), was _b._ at Epworth, and _ed._ at Westminster School and Oxf.
He was all his life closely associated with his elder and greater
brother, one of whose most loyal helpers he was, though not agreeing with
him in all points. His chief fame is founded upon his hymns, of which he
is said to have written the almost incredible number of 6500, many of
them among the finest in the language. They include "Jesus, Lover of my
Soul," "Love Divine all Loves excelling," "Come, oh Thou Traveller
Unknown," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," and "Come, let us join our
Friends above."
WESLEY, JOHN (1703-1791).--Theological writer, diarist, and founder of
Methodism, was the second surviving _s._ of the Rev. Samuel W., Rector of
Epworth, Lincolnshire. The name was also written Westley and Wellesley,
and the family appears to be the same as that to which the Duke of
Wellington and his brother the Marquis Wellesley belonged. W. was _ed._
at the Charterhouse and at Oxf., and was ordained deacon in 1725, and
priest in 1728. After assisting his _f._ for a short time as curate, he
returned to Oxf., where he found that his brother Charles, along with G.
Whitefield (_q.v._) and others, had begun that association for religious
improvement from which sprang the great religious movement known as
Methodism. About the same time the two brothers came under the influence
of William Law (_q.v._), author of the _Serious Call_, and in 1735 John
went on a mission to Georgia to preach to the Indians and colonists, and
became closely associated with the Moravian Brethren. Difficulties of a
personal character, however, led to his return in 1738 to London, where
he continued to associate with the Moravians. It was at this time that,
hearing Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans read at a meeting,
he found his religious and ecclesiastical views revolutionised. Hitherto
holding strong High Church views in some directions, he now assumed a
position which ultimately led to his abandoning the doctrine of
Apostolical succession, and ordaining pastors and bishops, and finally
creating a separate ecclesiastical organisation. Consequences soon
followed; the pulpits of the Church were closed against him, and he began
his marvellous career of itinerant and out-of-door preaching, which was
continued to the close of his long life. He soon became a mighty power in
the land; vast crowds waited on his ministrations, which were
instrumental in producing a great revival of religious interest, and
improved morality among the people. At the same time violent opposition
was aroused, and W. was often in danger of his life from mobs. In the
end, however, he lived down this state of things to a large extent, and
in his old age was the object of extraordinary general veneration, while
in his own communion he exercised a kind of pontifical sway. During the
50 years of his apostolic journeyings he is said to have travelled
250,000 miles in Britain, Ireland, and the Continent; but notwithstanding
this phenomenal activity he was able, by extreme economy of time, to
write copiously, his works including educational treatises, translations
from the classics, histories of Rome and England, a history of the
Church, biblical commentaries, manifold controversial treatises and ed.
of religious classics. Most of them had an enormous circulation and
brought him in £30,000, all of which he expended on philanthropic and
religious objects. The work, however, on which his literary fame chiefly
rests is his _Journal_, extending from 1735-90, which is one of the most
graphic and interesting records of its kind in existence. He also wrote
many hymns, largely translations from the German, and he had a
considerable, hand in giving their final form to the almost innumerable
hymns of his brother Charles. W. was a man of practical and organising
ability of the first order, of intense religious earnestness and
sincerity, benevolent feelings, and agreeable manners. At the same time
he was of an autocratic temper, and often showed keenness and even
intolerance in his controversies, which were largely against the extreme
Calvinism of his old friend and fellow-labourer, Whitefield, and Toplady,
the author of the hymn "Rock of Ages," himself a bitter polemic. In 1740
he had formally withdrawn from association with the Moravians. W. was
_m._ in 1751 to a widow, Mrs. Vazeille, with whom, however, he did not
live happily, and who separated from him in 1776.
WESTALL, WILLIAM (1834-1903).--Novelist, was originally in business, but
later betook himself to journalism, and also wrote a large number of
novels, including _The Old Factory_, _Strange Crimes_, _Her Ladyship's
Secret_, etc., which, while healthy in tone and interesting, have no
literary distinction.
WHARTON, THOMAS WHARTON, 1ST MARQUIS of (1648-1715).--Statesman and
writer of "Lillibullero," _s._ of the 4th Baron W., was one of the most
profligate men of his age. He was a supporter of the Exclusion Bill, and
consequently obnoxious to James II. His only contribution to literature
was the doggerel ballad, "Lillibullero" (1688), which had so powerful a
political effect that its author claimed to have sung a King out of three
kingdoms. He was generally disliked and distrusted, but held for a short
time, from 1708, the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, when he had Addison as
his chief sec.
WHATELEY, RICHARD (1787-1863).--Theologian and economist, _s._ of the
Rev. Dr. Joseph W., _b._ in London, and _ed._ at a school in Bristol, and
at Oxf., where he became a coll. tutor. Taking orders he became Rector of
Halesworth, Suffolk. In 1822 he delivered his Bampton lectures on _The
Use and Abuse of Party Feeling in Religion_. Three years later he was
made Principal of St. Alban's Hall, in 1829 Prof. of Political Economy,
and in 1831 Archbishop of Dublin. As head of a coll. and as a prelate W.
showed great energy and administrative ability. He was a vigorous,
clear-headed personality, somewhat largely endowed with contempt for
views with which he was not in sympathy, and with a vein of caustic
humour, in the use of which he was not sparing. These qualities made him
far from universally popular; but his honesty, fairness, and devotion to
duty gained for him general respect. He had no sympathy with the Oxf.
movement, was strongly anti-Calvinistic, and somewhat Latitudinarian, so
that he was exposed to a good deal of theological odium from opposite
quarters. He was a voluminous writer, and among his best known works are
his treatises on _Logic_ (1826) and _Rhetoric_ (1828), his _Historic
Doubts relative to Napoleon Buonaparte_ (1819), intended as a _reductio
ad absurdum_ of Hume's contention that no evidence is sufficient to prove
a miracle, _Essays on some Peculiarities of the Christian Religion_
(1825), _Christian Evidences_ (1837), and ed. of Bacon's _Essays_ with
valuable notes, and of Paley's _Evidences_.
WHETSTONE, GEORGE (1544?-1587?).--Dramatist, one of the early, roistering
playwrights who frequented the Court of Elizabeth, later served as a
soldier in the Low Countries, accompanied Sir Humphrey Gilbert's
expedition to Newfoundland in 1578, and was at the Battle of Zutphen in
1586. He was a trenchant critic of the contemporary drama, contending for
greater reality and rationality. His play, _Promos and Cassandra_,
translated from Cinthio's _Hecatomithi_, was used by Shakespeare in
_Measure for Measure_.
WHEWELL, WILLIAM (1794-1866).--Philosopher, theologian and mathematician,
_s._ of a joiner at Lancaster, where he was _b._, _ed._ at Camb., where
he had a brilliant career. He became Prof. of Mineralogy at Camb. 1828,
of Moral Theology 1838, was Master of Trinity from 1841 until his death,
and he held the office of Vice-Chancellor of the Univ. in 1843 and 1856.
W. was remarkable as the possessor of an encyclopædic fund of knowledge,
perhaps unprecedented, and he was the author of a number of works of
great importance on a variety of subjects. Among the chief of these may
be mentioned his Bridgewater Treatise on _Astronomy and General Physics
considered with Reference to Natural Theology_ (1833), _History of the
Inductive Sciences_ (1837), _The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences_
(1840), _Essay on Plurality of Worlds_ (anonymously), _Elements of
Morality_ (1845), _History of Moral Philosophy in England_ (1852), and
_Platonic Dialogues_. In addition to these he wrote innumerable articles,
reviews, and scientific papers. It was as a co-ordinator of knowledge and
the researches of others that W. excelled; he was little of an original
observer or discoverer. He is described as a large, strong, erect man
with a red face and a loud voice, and he was an overwhelming and somewhat
arrogant talker.
WHICHCOTE, BENJAMIN (1609-1683).--Divine, belonged to a good Shropshire
family, and was at Camb., where he became Provost of King's Coll., of
which office he was deprived at the Restoration. He was of liberal views,
and is reckoned among the Camb. Platonists, over whom he exercised great
influence. His works consist of _Discourses_ and _Moral and Religious
Aphorisms_. In 1668 he was presented to the living of St. Lawrence,
Jewry, London, which he held until his death.
WHIPPLE, EDWIN PERCY (1819-1886).--Essayist and critic, _b._ in
Massachusetts, was a brilliant and discriminating critic. His works
include _Character and Characteristic Men_, _Literature and Life_,
_Success and its Conditions_, _Literature of the Age of Elizabeth_,
_Literature and Politics_, etc.
WHISTON, WILLIAM (1667-1752).--Theologian, and man of science, _b._ at
Norton, Leicestershire, and _ed._ at Camb., where he succeeded Newton as
Lucasian Prof. of Mathematics, was a prominent advocate of the Newtonian
system, and wrote a _Theory of the Earth_ against the views of Thomas
Burnet (_q.v._). He also wrote several theological works, _Primitive
Christianity Revived_ and the _Primitive New Testament_. The Arian views
promulgated in the former led to his expulsion from the Univ. His best
known work was his translation of _Josephus_. He was a kindly and honest,
but eccentric and impracticable man, and an insatiable controversialist.
WHITE, GILBERT (1720-1793).--Naturalist, _b._ at Selborne, Hants, and
_ed._ along with the Wartons (_q.v._) at their father's school at
Basingstoke, and thereafter at Oxf., entered the Church, and after
holding various curacies settled, in 1755, at Selborne. He became the
friend and correspondent of Pennant the naturalist (_q.v._), and other
men of science, and _pub._ in the form of letters the work which has made
him immortal, _The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne_ (1789).
He was never _m._, but was in love with the well-known bluestocking
Hester Mulso, afterwards Mrs. Chapone, who rejected him. He had four
brothers, all more or less addicted to the study of natural history.
WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806).--Poet, _s._ of a butcher at Nottingham.
At first assisting his _f._, next a stocking weaver, he was afterwards
placed in the office of an attorney. Some contributions to a newspaper
introduced him to the notice of Capel Lofft, a patron of promising
youths, by whose help he brought out a vol. of poems, which fell into the
hands of Southey, who wrote to him. Thereafter friends raised a fund to
send him to Camb., where he gave brilliant promise. Overwork, however,
undermined a constitution originally delicate, and he _d._ at 21. Southey
wrote a short memoir of him with some additional poems. His chief poem
was the _Christiad_, a fragment. His best known production is the hymn,
"Much in sorrow, oft in Woe."
WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841).--Poet, _s._ of a merchant, an Irish
Roman Catholic resident at Seville, where he was _b._, became a priest,
but lost his religious faith and came to England, where he conducted a
Spanish newspaper having for its main object the fanning of the flame of
Spanish patriotism against the French invasion, which was subsidised by
the English Government. He again embraced Christianity, and entered the
Church of England, but latterly became a Unitarian. He wrote, among other
works, _Internal Evidences against Catholicism_ (1825), and _Second
Travels of an Irish Gentleman in search of a Religion_, in answer to T.
Moore's work, _Travels, etc._ His most permanent contribution to
literature, however, is his single sonnet on "Night", which Coleridge
considered "the finest and most grandly conceived" in our language.
WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885).--Shakespearian scholar, _b._ in New
York State, was long Chief of the Revenue Marine Bureau, and was one of
the most acute students and critics of Shakespeare, of whose works he
_pub._ two ed., the first in 1865, and the second (the Riverside) in
1883. He also wrote _Words and their Uses_, _Memoirs of Shakespeare_,
_Studies in Shakespeare_, _The New Gospel of Peace_ (a satire), _The Fate
of Mansfield Humphreys_ (novel), etc.
WHITEHEAD, CHARLES (1804-1862).--Poet, novelist, and dramatist; is
specially remembered for three works, all of which met with popular
favour: _The Solitary_ (1831), a poem, _The Autobiography of Jack Ketch_
(1834), a novel, and _The Cavalier_ (1836), a play in blank verse. He
recommended Dickens for the writing of the letterpress for R. Seymour's
drawings, which ultimately developed into _The Pickwick Papers_.
WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM (1715-1785).--Poet, _s._ of a baker at Camb., and
_ed._ at Winchester School and Camb., became tutor in the family of the
Earl of Jersey, and retained the favour of the family through life. In
1757 he succeeded Colley Cibber as Poet Laureate. He wrote plays of only
moderate quality, including _The Roman Father_ and _Creusa_, tragedies,
and _The School for Lovers_, a comedy; also poems, _The Enthusiast_ and
_Variety_. His official productions as Laureate were severely attacked,
which drew from him in reply _A Charge to the Poets_.
WHITMAN, WALTER or WALT (1819-1892).--Poet, was _b._ at Huntingdon, Long
Island, New York. His mother was of Dutch descent, and the farm on which
he was _b._ had been in the possession of his father's family since the
early settlement. His first education was received at Brooklyn, to which
his _f._ had removed while W. was a young child. At 13 he was in a
printing office, at 17 he was teaching and writing for the newspapers,
and at 21 was editing one. The next dozen years were passed in desultory
work as a printer with occasional literary excursions, but apparently
mainly in "loafing" and observing his fellow-creatures. It was not till
1855 that his first really characteristic work, _Leaves of Grass_,
appeared. This first ed. contained only 12 poems. Notwithstanding its
startling departures from conventionality both in form and substance it
was well received by the leading literary reviews and, with certain
reserves to be expected, it was welcomed by Emerson. It did not, however,
achieve general acceptance, and was received with strong and not
unnatural protest in many quarters. When a later ed. was called for
Emerson unsuccessfully endeavoured to persuade the author to suppress the
more objectionable parts. On the outbreak of the Civil War W. volunteered
as a nurse for the wounded, and rendered much useful service. The results
of his experiences and observations were given in verse in _Drum Taps_
and _The Wound Dresser_, and in prose in _Specimen Days_. From these
scenes he was removed by his appointment to a Government clerkship, from
which, however, he was soon dismissed on the ground of having written
books of an immoral tendency. This action of the authorities led to a
somewhat warm controversy, and after a short interval W. received another
Government appointment, which he held until 1873, when he had a paralytic
seizure, which rendered his retirement necessary. Other works besides
those mentioned are _Two Rivulets_ and _Democratic Vistas_. In his later
years he retired to Camden, New Jersey, where he _d._ W. is the most
unconventional of writers. Revolt against all convention was in fact his
self-proclaimed mission. In his versification he discards rhyme almost
entirely, and metre as generally understood. And in his treatment of
certain passions and appetites, and of unadulterated human nature, he is
at war with what he considered the conventions of an effeminate society,
in which, however, he adopts a mode of utterance which many people
consider equally objectionable, overlooking, as he does, the existence
through all the processes of nature of a principle of reserve and
concealment. Amid much that is prosaic and rhetorical, however, it
remains true that there is real poetic insight and an intense and
singularly fresh sense of nature in the best of his writings.
_Works_, 12 vols., with _Life_. _See_ Stedman's _Poets of America_.
Monographs by Symonds, Clarke, and Salter.
WHITNEY, WILLIAM DWIGHT (1827-1894).--Philologist, _b._ at Northampton,
Mass., was Prof. of Sanskrit, etc., at Yale, and chief ed. of the
_Century Dictionary_. Among his books are _Darwinism and Language_ and
_The Life and Growth of Language_.
WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF (1807-1892).--Poet, was _b._ at Haverhill,
Massachusetts, of a Quaker family. In early life he worked on a farm. His
later years were occupied partly in journalism, partly in farming, and he
seems also to have done a good deal of local political work. He began to
write verse at a very early age, and continued to do so until almost his
latest days. He was always a champion of the anti-slavery cause, and by
his writings both as journalist and poet, did much to stimulate national
feeling in the direction of freedom. Among his poetical works are _Voices
of Freedom_ (1836), _Songs of Labour_ (1851), _Home Ballads_ (1859), _In
War Time_ (1863), _Snow Bound_ (1866), _The Tent on the Beach_ (1867),
_Ballads of New England_ (1870), _The Pennsylvania Pilgrim_ (1874). W.
had true feeling and was animated by high ideals. Influenced in early
life by the poems of Burns, he became a poet of nature, with which his
early upbringing brought him into close and sympathetic contact; he was
also a poet of faith and the ideal life and of liberty. He, however,
lacked concentration and intensity, and his want of early education made
him often loose in expression and faulty in form; and probably a
comparatively small portion of what he wrote will live.
WHYTE-MELVILLE, GEORGE JOHN (1821-1878).--Novelist, _s._ of a country
gentleman of Fife, _ed._ at Eton, entered the army, and saw service in
the Crimea, retiring in 1859 as Major. Thereafter he devoted himself to
field sports, in which he was an acknowledged authority, and to
literature. He wrote a number of novels, mainly founded on sporting
subjects, though a few were historical. They include _Kate Coventry_,
_The Queen's Maries_, _The Gladiators_, and _Satanella_. He also wrote
_Songs and Verses_ and _The True Cross_, a religious poem. He _d._ from
an accident in the hunting-field.
WICLIF, or WYCLIF, JOHN (1320?-1384).--Theologian and translator of the
Bible, _b._ near Richmond, Yorkshire, studied at Balliol Coll., Oxf., of
which he became in 1361 master, and taking orders, became Vicar of
Fillingham, Lincolnshire, when he resigned his mastership, and in 1361
Prebendary of Westbury. By this time he had written a treatise on logic,
and had won some position as a man of learning. In 1372 he took the
degree of Doctor of Theology, and became Canon of Lincoln, and in 1374
was sent to Bruges as one of a commission to treat with Papal delegates
as to certain ecclesiastical matters in dispute, and in the same year he
became Rector of Lutterworth, where he remained until his death. His
liberal and patriotic views on the questions in dispute between England
and the Pope gained for him the favour of John of Gaunt and Lord Percy,
who accompanied him when, in 1377, he was summoned before the
ecclesiastical authorities at St. Paul's. The Court was broken up by an
inroad of the London mob, and no sentence was passed upon him. Another
trial at Lambeth in the next year was equally inconclusive. By this time
W. had taken up a position definitely antagonistic to the Papal system.
He organised his institution of poor preachers, and initiated his great
enterprise of translating the Scriptures into English. His own share of
the work was the Gospels, probably the whole of the New Testament and
possibly part of the Old. The whole work was ed. by John Purvey, an Oxf.
friend, who had joined him at Lutterworth, the work being completed by
1400. In 1380 W. openly rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation, and
was forbidden to teach at Oxf., where he had obtained great influence. In
1382 a Court was convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, which passed
sentence of condemnation upon his views. It says much for the position
which he had attained, and for the power of his supporters, that he was
permitted to depart from Oxf. and retire to Lutterworth, where, worn out
by his labours and anxieties, he _d._ of a paralytic seizure on the last
day of 1384. His enemies, baffled in their designs against him while
living, consoled themselves by disinterring his bones in 1428 and
throwing them into the river Swift, of which Thomas Fuller (_q.v._) has
said, "Thus this brook has conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into
Severn, Severn into the Narrow Seas, they into the main ocean, and thus
the ashes of Wicliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is
dispersed all the world over." The works of W. were chiefly controversial
or theological and, as literature, have no great importance, but his
translation of the Bible had indirectly a great influence not only by
tending to fix the language, but in a far greater degree by furthering
the moral and intellectual emancipation on which true literature is
essentially founded.
WILBERFORCE, WILLIAM (1759-1833).--Philanthropist and religious writer,
_s._ of a merchant, was _b._ at Hull, _ed._ at Camb., entered Parliament
as member for his native town, became the intimate friend of Pitt, and
was the leader of the crusade against the slave-trade and slavery. His
chief literary work was his _Practical View of Christianity_, which had
remarkable popularity and influence, but he wrote continually and with
effect on the religious and philanthropic objects to which he had devoted
his life.
WILCOX, CARLES (1794-1827).--Poet, _b._ at Newport, N.H., was a
Congregationalist minister. He wrote a poem, _The Age of Benevolence_,
which was left unfinished, and which bears manifest traces of the
influence of Cowper.
WILDE, OSCAR O'FLAHERTY (1856-1900).--Poet and dramatist, _s._ of Sir
William W., the eminent surgeon, was _b._ at Dublin, and _ed._ there at
Trinity Coll. and at Oxf. He was one of the founders of the modern cult
of the æsthetic. Among his writings are _Poems_ (1881), _The Picture of
Dorian Gray_, a novel, and several plays, including _Lady Windermere's
Fan_, _A Woman of no Importance_, and _The Importance of being Earnest_.
He was convicted of a serious offence, and after his release from prison
went abroad and _d._ at Paris. _Coll._ ed. of his works, 12 vols., 1909.
WILKES, JOHN (1727-1797).--Politician, _s._ of a distiller in London, was
_ed._ at Leyden. Witty, resourceful, but unprincipled and profligate, he
became from circumstances the representative and champion of important
political principles, including that of free representation in
Parliament. His writings have nothing of the brilliance and point of his
social exhibitions, but his paper, _The North Briton_, and especially the
famous "No. 45," in which he charged George III. with uttering a
falsehood in his speech from the throne, caused so much excitement, and
led to such important results that they give him a place in literature.
He also wrote a highly offensive _Essay on Woman_. W. was expelled from
the House of Commons and outlawed, but such was the strength of the cause
which he championed that, notwithstanding the worthlessness of his
character, his right to sit in the House was ultimately admitted in 1774,
and he continued to sit until 1790. He was also Lord Mayor of London.
WILKIE, WILLIAM (1721-1772).--Poet, _b._. in Linlithgowshire, _s._ of a
farmer, and _ed._ at Edin., he entered the Church, and became minister of
Ratho, Midlothian, in 1756, and Prof. of Natural Philosophy at St.
Andrews in 1759. In 1757 he _pub._ the _Epigoniad_, dealing with the
Epigoni, sons of the seven heroes who fought against Thebes. He also
wrote _Moral Fables in Verse_.
WILKINS, JOHN (1614-1672).--Mathematician and divine, _s._ of a goldsmith
in Oxf., but _b._ at Daventry and _ed._ at Oxf., entered the Church, held
many preferments, and became Bishop of Chester. He _m._ a sister of
Oliver Cromwell, and being of an easy temper and somewhat accommodating
principles, he passed through troublous times and many changes with a
minimum of hardship. He was one of the band of learned men whom Charles
II. incorporated as the Royal Society. Among his writings are _The
Discovery of a World in the Moon_, _Mathematical Magic_, and _An Essay
towards ... a Philosophical Language_.
WILKINSON, SIR JOHN GARDNER (1797-1875).--Egyptologist, _s._ of a
Westmoreland clergyman, studied at Oxf. In 1821 he went to Egypt, and
remained there and in Nubia exploring, surveying, and studying the
hieroglyphical inscriptions, on which he made himself one of the great
authorities. He _pub._ two important works, of great literary as well as
scholarly merit, _Materia Hieroglyphica_ (1828) and _Manners and Customs
of the Ancient Egyptians_ (6 vols., 1837-41). He wrote various books of
travel, and was knighted in 1839.
WILLIAM of MALMESBURY (_fl._ 12th cent.).--Historian, was an inmate of
the great monastery at Malmesbury. His name is said to have been
Somerset, and he was Norman by one parent and English by the other. The
date of his birth is unknown, that of his death has sometimes been fixed
as 1142 on the ground that his latest work stops abruptly in that year.
His history, written in Latin, falls into two parts, _Gesta Regum
Anglorum_ (Acts of the Kings of the English), in five books, bringing the
narrative down from the arrival of the Saxons to 1120, and _Historia
Novella_ (Modern History), carrying it on to 1142. The work is
characterised by a love of truth, much more critical faculty in sifting
evidence than was then common, and considerable attention to literary
form. It is dedicated to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the champion of
Queen Matilda. Other works by W. are _De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum_,
Lives of the English Bishops, and a history of the Monastery of
Glastonbury.
WILLIAM of NEWBURGH, or NEWBURY (1136-1198?).--Historian, belonged to the
monastery of Newburgh in Yorkshire. His own name is said to have been
Little. His work, _Historia Rerum Anglicarum_ (History of English
affairs), is written in good Latin, and has some of the same qualities as
that of William of Malmesbury (_q.v._). He rejects the legend of the
Trojan descent of the early Britons, and animadverts severely on what he
calls "the impudent and impertinent lies" of Geoffrey of Monmouth
(_q.v._). His record of contemporary events is careful.
WILLIAMS, SIR CHARLES HANBURY (1708-1759).--Diplomatist and satirist,
_s._ of John Hanbury, a Welsh ironmaster, assumed the name of Williams on
succeeding to an estate, entered Parliament as a supporter of Walpole,
held many diplomatic posts, and was a brilliant wit with a great
contemporary reputation for lively and biting satires and lampoons.
WILLIS, BROWNE (1682-1760).--Antiquary, _ed._ at Westminster and Oxf.,
entered the Inner Temple 1700, sat in the House of Commons 1705-8. He
wrote _History of the Counties, Cities, and Boroughs of England and
Wales_ (1715), _Notitia Parliamentaria_, etc.
WILLIS, NATHANIEL PARKER (1806-1867).--Poet, _b._ at Portland, and _ed._
at Yale, was mainly a journalist, and conducted various magazines,
including the _American Monthly_; but he also wrote short poems, many of
which were popular, of which perhaps the best is "Unseen Spirits,"
stories, and works of a more or less fugitive character, with such titles
as _Pencillings by the Way_ (1835), _Inklings of Adventure_, _Letters
from under a Bridge_ (1839), _People I have Met_, _The Rag-Tag_, _The
Slingsby Papers_, etc., some of which were originally contributed to his
magazines. He travelled a good deal in Europe, and was attached for a
time to the American Embassy in Paris. He was a favourite in society, and
enjoyed a wide popularity in uncritical circles, but is now distinctly a
spent force.
WILLS, JAMES (1790-1868).--Poet and miscellaneous writer, younger _s._ of
a Roscommon squire, was _ed._ at Trinity Coll., Dublin, and studied law
in the Middle Temple. Deprived, however, of the fortune destined for him
and the means of pursuing a legal career by the extravagance of his elder
brother, he entered the Church, and also wrote largely in _Blackwood's
Magazine_ and other periodicals. In 1831 he _pub._ _The Disembodied and
other Poems_; _The Philosophy of Unbelief_ (1835) attracted much
attention. His largest work was Lives of _Illustrious and Distinguished
Irishmen_, and his latest publication _The Idolatress_ (1868). In all his
writings W. gave evidence of a powerful personality. His poems are
spirited, and in some cases show considerable dramatic qualities.
WILLS, WILLIAM GORMAN (1828-1891).--Dramatist, _s._ of above, _b._ in
Dublin. After writing a novel, _Old Times_, in an Irish magazine, he went
to London, and for some time wrote for periodicals without any very
marked success. He found his true vein in the drama, and produced over 30
plays, many of which, including _Medea in Corinth_, _Eugene Aram_, _Jane
Shore_, _Buckingham_, and _Olivia_, had great success. Besides these he
wrote a poem, _Melchior_, in blank verse, and many songs. He was also an
accomplished artist.
WILSON, ALEXANDER (1766-1813).--Poet and ornithologist, _b._ at Paisley,
where he worked as a weaver, afterwards becoming a pedlar. He _pub._ some
poems, of which the best is _Watty and Maggie_, and in 1794 went to
America, where he worked as a pedlar and teacher. His skill in depicting
birds led to his becoming an enthusiastic ornithologist, and he induced
the publisher of _Rees's Cyclopædia_, on which he had been employed, to
undertake an American ornithology to be written and illustrated by him.
Some vols. of the work were completed when, worn out by the labour and
exposure entailed by his journeys in search of specimens, he succumbed
to a fever. Two additional vols. appeared posthumously. The work, both
from a literary and artistic point of view, is of high merit. He also
_pub._ in America another poem, _The Foresters_.
WILSON, SIR DANIEL (1816-1892).--Archæologist and miscellaneous writer,
_b._ and _ed._ in Edin., and after acting as sec. of the Society of
Antiquaries there, went to Toronto as Prof. of History and English
Literature. He was the author of _Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden
Time_, _The Archeology and Pre-historic Annals of Scotland_ (1851),
_Civilisation in the Old and the New World_, a study on "Chatterton," and
_Caliban, the Missing Link_, etc.
WILSON, JOHN ("CHRISTOPHER NORTH") (1785-1854).--Poet, essayist, and
miscellaneous writer, _s._ of a wealthy manufacturer in Paisley, where he
was _b._, was _ed._ at Glas. and Oxf. At the latter he not only displayed
great intellectual endowments, but distinguished himself as an athlete.
Having succeeded to a fortune of £50,000 he purchased the small estate of
Elleray in the Lake District, where he enjoyed the friendship of
Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge, and De Quincey. In 1812 he _pub._ _The
Isle of Palms_, followed four years later by _The City of the Plague_,
which gained for him a recognised place in literature, though they did
not show his most characteristic gifts, and are now almost unread. About
this time he lost a large portion of his fortune, had to give up
continuous residence at Elleray, came to Edinburgh, and was called to the
Scottish Bar, but never practised. The starting of _Blackwood's Magazine_
brought him his opportunity, and to the end of his life his connection
with it gave him his main employment and chief fame. In 1820 he became
Prof. of Moral Philosophy in the Univ. of Edin. where, though not much of
a philosopher in the technical sense, he exercised a highly stimulating
influence upon his students by his eloquence and the general vigour of
his intellect. The peculiar powers of W., his wealth of ideas, felicity
of expression, humour, and animal spirits, found their full development
in the famous _Noctes Ambrosianæ_, a medley of criticism on literature,
politics, philosophy, topics of the day and what not. _Lights and Shadows
of Scottish Life_ and _The Trials of Margaret Lyndsay_ are contributions
to fiction in which there is an occasional tendency to run pathos into
rather mawkish sentimentality. In 1851 W. received a Government pension
of £300. The following year a paralytic seizure led to his resignation of
his professorial chair, and he _d._ in 1854. He was a man of magnificent
physique, of shining rather than profound intellectual powers, and of
generous character, though as a critic his strong feelings and prejudices
occasionally made him unfair and even savage.
WILSON, JOHN (1804-1875).--Missionary and orientalist, _b._ at Lauder,
Berwickshire, and _ed._ at Edin. for the ministry of the Church of
Scotland, went in 1828 to India as a missionary, where, besides his
immediate duties, he became a leader in all social reform, such as the
abolition of the slave-trade and _suttee_, and also one of the greatest
authorities on the subject of caste, and a trusted adviser of successive
Governors-General in regard to all questions affecting the natives. He
was in addition a profound Oriental scholar as to languages, history, and
religion. He was D.D., F.R.S., and Vice-Chancellor of Bombay Univ. Among
his works are _The Parsi Religion_ (1812), _The Lands of the Bible_
(1847), _India Three Thousand Years Ago_, and _Memoirs of the Cave
Temples of India_.
WILSON, THOMAS (1525?-1581).--Scholar and statesman, _b._ in
Lincolnshire, was at Camb., and held various high positions under Queen
Elizabeth. He was the author of _The Rule of Reason containing the Arte
of Logique_ (1551), and _The Arte of Rhetorique_ (1553), and made
translations from Demosthenes. He endeavoured to maintain the purity of
the language against the importation of foreign words.
WINGATE, DAVID, (1828-1892).--Poet, was employed in the coal-pits near
Hamilton from the time he was 9. He _pub._ _Poems and Songs_ (1862),
which was favourably received, and followed by _Annie Weir_ (1866). After
this he studied at the Glasgow School of Mines, became a colliery
manager, and devoted his increased leisure to study and further literary
work. _Lily Neil_ appeared in 1879, followed by _Poems and Songs_ (1883),
and _Selected Poems_ (1890). W. was a man of independent character. He
was twice _m._, his second wife being a descendant of Burns.
WINTHROP, THEODORE (1828-1861).--Novelist, _b._ at New Haven, Conn.,
descended through his _f._ from Governor W., and through his mother from
Jonathan Edwards, _ed._ at Yale, travelled in Great Britain and on the
Continent, and far and wide in his own country. After contributing to
periodicals short sketches and stories, which attracted little attention,
he enlisted in the Federal Army, in 1861, and was killed in the Battle of
Great Bethel. His novels, for which he had failed to find a publisher,
appeared posthumously--_John Brent_, founded on his experiences in the
far West, _Edwin Brothertoft_, a story of the Revolution War, and _Cecil
Dreeme_. Other works were _The Canoe and Saddle_, and _Life in the Open
Air_. Though somewhat spasmodic and crude, his novels had freshness,
originality, and power, and with longer life and greater concentration he
might have risen high.
WITHER, GEORGE (1588-1667).--Poet, _b._ near Alton, Hampshire, was at
Oxf. for a short time, and then studied law at Lincoln's Inn. In 1613 he
_pub._ a bold and pungent satire, _Abuses Stript and Whipt_, with the
result that he was imprisoned for some months in the Marshalsea. While
there he wrote _The Shepheard's Hunting_, a pastoral. _Wither's Motto_,
_Nec Habeo, nec Careo, nec Curo_ (I have not, want not, care not) was
written in 1618, and in 1622 he _coll._ his poems as _Juvenilia_. The
same year he _pub._ a long poem, _Faire Virtue, the Mistress of
Philarete_, in which appears the famous lyric, "Shall I wasting in
despair." Though generally acting with the Puritans he took arms with
Charles I. against the Scotch in 1639; but on the outbreak of the Civil
War he was on the popular side, and raised a troop of horse. He was taken
prisoner by the Royalists, and is said to have owed his life to the
intercession of a fellow-poet, Sir John Denham. After the establishment
of the Commonwealth he was considerably enriched out of sequestrated
estates and other spoils of the defeated party; but on the Restoration
was obliged to surrender his gains, was impeached, and committed to the
Tower. In his later years he wrote many religious poems and hymns,
_coll._ as _Hallelujah_. Before his death his poems were already
forgotten, and he was referred to by Pope in _The Dunciad_ as "the
wretched Withers". He was, however, disinterred by Southey, Lamb, and
others, who drew attention to his poetical merits, and he has now an
established place among English poets, to which his freshness, fancy, and
delicacy of taste well entitle him.
WODROW, ROBERT (1679-1734).--Church historian, _s._ of James W., Prof. of
Divinity in Glasgow. Having completed his literary and theological
education there, he entered the ministry of the Church of Scotland, and
was ordained to the parish of Eastwood, Renfrewshire. Here he carried on
the great work of his life, his _History of the Sufferings of the Church
of Scotland 1660 to 1688_. W. wrote when the memory of the persecutions
was still fresh, and his work is naturally not free from partisan feeling
and credulity. It is, however, thoroughly honest in intention, and is a
work of genuine research, and of high value for the period with which it
deals. It was _pub._ in two folio vols. in 1721 and 1722. W. made large
collections for other works which, however, were not _pub._ in his
lifetime. _The Lives of the Scottish Reformers and Most Eminent
Ministers_ and _Analecta, or a History of Remarkable Providences_, were
printed for the Maitland Club, and 3 vols. of his correspondence in 1841
for the Wodrow Society. The _Analecta_ is a most curious miscellany
showing a strong appetite for the marvellous combined with a hesitating
doubt in regard to some of the more exacting narratives.
WOLCOT, JOHN (1738-1819).--Satirist, _b._ near Kingsbridge, Devonshire,
was _ed._ by an uncle, and studied medicine. In 1767 he went as physician
to Sir William Trelawny, Governor of Jamaica, and whom he induced to
present him to a Church in the island then vacant, and was ordained in
1769. Sir William dying in 1772, W. came home and, abandoning the Church,
resumed his medical character, and settled in practice at Truro, where he
discovered the talents of Opie the painter, and assisted him. In 1780 he
went to London, and commenced writing satires. The first objects of his
attentions were the members of the Royal Academy, and these attempts
being well received, he soon began to fly at higher game, the King and
Queen being the most frequent marks for his satirical shafts. In 1786
appeared _The Lousiad, a Heroi-Comic Poem_, taking its name from a legend
that on the King's dinner plate there had appeared a certain insect not
usually found in such exalted quarters. Other objects of his attack were
Boswell, the biographer of Johnson, and Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller.
W., who wrote under the _nom-de-guerre_ of "Peter Pindar," had a
remarkable vein of humour and wit, which, while intensely comic to
persons not involved, stung its subjects to the quick. He had likewise
strong intelligence, and a power of coining effective phrases. In other
kinds of composition, as in some ballads which he wrote, an unexpected
touch of gentleness and even tenderness appears. Among these are _The
Beggar Man_ and _Lord Gregory_. Much that he wrote has now lost all
interest owing to the circumstances referred to being forgotten, but
enough still retains its peculiar relish to account for his contemporary
reputation.
WOLFE, CHARLES (1791-1823).--Poet, _s._ of a landed gentleman in Kildare,
was _b._ in Dublin, where he completed his _ed._ at Trinity Coll., having
previously been at Winchester. He took orders, and was Rector of
Donoughmere, but his health failed, and he _d._ of consumption at 32. He
is remembered for one short, but universally known and admired poem, _The
Burial of Sir John Moore_, which first appeared anonymously in the _Newry
Telegraph_ in 1817.
WOOD, or À WOOD, ANTHONY (1632-1695).--Antiquary, was _b._ at Oxf., where
he was _ed._ and spent most of his life. His antiquarian enthusiasm was
awakened by the collections of Leland, and he early began to visit and
study the antiquities of his native county. This with history, heraldry,
genealogies, and music occupied his whole time. By 1669 he had written
his _History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford_, which was
translated into Latin not to his satisfaction by the Univ. authorities,
and he wrote a fresh English copy which was printed in 1786. His great
work was _Athenæ Oxonienses; an exact History of all the Writers and
Bishops who have had their Education in the University of Oxford, to
which are added the Fasti or Annals of the said University_ (1691-92).
For an alleged libel on the Earl of Clarendon in that work the author was
expelled in 1694. He also wrote _The Ancient and Present State of the
City of Oxford_, and _Modius Salium, a Collection of Pieces of Humour_,
generally of an ill-natured cast.
WOOD, MRS. ELLEN (PRICE) (1814-1887).--Novelist, writing as "Mrs. Henry
Wood," was _b._ at Worcester. She wrote over 30 novels, many of which,
especially _East Lynne_, had remarkable popularity. Though the stories
are generally interesting, they have no distinction of style. Among the
best known are _Danesbury House_, _Oswald Cray_, _Mrs. Halliburton's
Troubles_, _The Channings_, _Lord Oakburn's Daughters_, and _The Shadow
of Ashlydyat_. Mrs. W. was for some years proprietor and ed. of the
_Argosy_.
WOOD, JOHN GEORGE (1827-1889).--Writer on natural history, _s._ of a
surgeon, _b._ in London, and _ed._ at home and at Oxf., where he worked
for some time in the anatomical museum. He took orders, and among other
benefices which he held was for a time chaplain to St. Bartholomew's
Hospital. He was a very prolific writer on natural history, though rather
as a populariser than as a scientific investigator, and was in this way
very successful. Among his numerous works may be mentioned _Illustrated
Natural History_ (1853), _Animal Traits and Characteristics_ (1860),
_Common Objects of the Sea Shore_ (1857), _Out of Doors_ (1874), _Field
Naturalist's Handbook_ (with T. Wood) (1879-80), books on gymnastics,
sport, etc., and an ed. of White's _Selborne_.
WOOLMAN, JOHN (1720-1772).--Quaker diarist, _b._ at Burlington, New
Jersey, began life as a farm labourer, and then became a clerk in a
store. He underwent deep religious impressions, and the latter part of
his life was devoted to itinerant preaching and doing whatever good came
to his hand. To support himself he worked as a tailor. He was one of the
first to witness against the evils of slavery, on which he wrote a tract,
_Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes_ (1753). His _Journal_
"reveals his life and character with rare fidelity" and, though little
known compared with some similar works, gained the admiration of, among
other writers, Charles Lamb, who says, "Get the writings of John Woolman
by heart." In 1772 he went to England, where he _d._ of smallpox in the
same year.
WOOLNER, THOMAS (1826-1892).--Sculptor and poet, _b._ at Hadleigh,
attained a high reputation as a sculptor. He belonged to the
pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and contributed poems to their magazine, the
_Germ_. He wrote several vols. of poetry, including _My Beautiful Lady_
(1863), _Pygmalion_, _Silenus_, _Tiresias_, and _Nelly Dale_. He had a
true poetic gift, though better known by his portrait busts.
WORDSWORTH, CHRISTOPHER (1774-1846).--Biographer, etc., was a younger
brother of the poet, _ed._ at Camb., took orders, and became Chaplain to
the House of Commons, and Master of Trinity Coll., Camb. 1820-41. He was
also Vice-Chancellor of the Univ. 1820-21 and 1826-27. He _pub._
_Ecclesiastical Biography_ (1810), and _Who wrote Eikon Basiliké?_ in
which he argued for the authorship of Charles I.
WORDSWORTH, CHRISTOPHER (1807-1885).--_S._ of above, _ed._ at Camb., took
orders and became a Canon of Westminster 1844, and Bishop of Lincoln
1868. He travelled in Greece, and discovered the site of Dodona. His
writings include in theology a commentary on the Bible (1856-70), _Church
History to A.D. 451_ (1881-83), and in other fields, _Athens and Attica_
(1836), and _Theocritus_ (1844).
WORDSWORTH, DOROTHY (1771-1855).--Diarist, etc., was the only sister of
the poet, and his lifelong and sympathetic companion, and endowed in no
small degree with the same love of and insight into nature as is
evidenced by her _Journals_. Many of her brother's poems were suggested
by scenes and incidents recorded by her, of which that on Daffodils
beginning "I wandered lonely as a cloud" is a notable example.
WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM (1770-1850).--Poet, _s._ of John W., attorney and
agent to the 1st Lord Lonsdale, was _b._ at Cockermouth. His boyhood was
full of adventure among the hills, and he says of himself that he showed
"a stiff, moody, and violent temper." He lost his mother when he was 8,
and his _f._ in 1783 when he was 13. The latter, prematurely cut off,
left little for the support of his family of four sons and a _dau._,
Dorothy (afterwards the worthy companion of her illustrious brother),
except a claim for £5000 against Lord Lonsdale, which his lordship
contested, and which was not settled until his death. With the help,
however, of uncles, the family were well _ed._ and started in life.
William received his earlier education at Penrith and Hawkshead in
Lancashire; and in 1787 went to St. John's Coll., Camb., where he
graduated B.A. in 1791. In the preceding year, 1790, he had taken a
walking tour on the Continent, visiting France in the first flush of the
Revolution with which, at that stage, he was, like many of the best
younger minds of the time, in enthusiastic sympathy. So much was this the
case that he nearly involved himself with the Girondists to an extent
which might have cost him his life. His funds, however, gave out, and he
returned to England shortly before his friends fell under the guillotine.
His uncles were desirous that he should enter the Church, but to this he
was unconquerably averse; and indeed his marked indisposition to adopt
any regular employment led to their taking not unnatural offence. In 1793
his first publication--_Descriptive Sketches of a Pedestrian Tour in the
Alps_, and _The Evening Walk_--appeared, but attracted little attention.
The beginning of his friendship with Coleridge in 1795 tended to confirm
him in his resolution to devote himself to poetry; and a legacy of £900
from a friend put it in his power to do so by making him for a time
independent of other employment. He settled with his sister at Racedown,
Dorsetshire, and shortly afterwards removed to Alfoxden, in the Quantock
Hills, to be near Coleridge, who was then living at Nether Stowey in the
same neighbourhood. One result of the intimacy thus established was the
planning of a joint work, _Lyrical Ballads_, to which Coleridge
contributed _The Ancient Mariner_, and W., among other pieces, _Tintern
Abbey_. The first ed. of the work appeared in 1798. With the profits of
this he went, accompanied by his sister and Coleridge, to Germany, where
he lived chiefly at Goslar, and where he began the _Prelude_, a poem
descriptive of the development of his own mind. After over a year's
absence W. returned and settled with Dorothy at Grasmere. In 1800 the
second ed. of _Lyrical Ballads_, containing W.'s contributions alone,
with several additions, appeared. In the same year Lord Lonsdale _d._,
and his successor settled the claims already referred to with interest,
and the share of the brother and sister enabled them to live in the
frugal and simple manner which suited them. Two years later W.'s
circumstances enabled him to marry his cousin, Mary Hutchinson, to whom
he had been long attached. In 1804 he made a tour in Scotland, and began
his friendship with Scott. The year 1807 saw the publication of _Poems in
Two Volumes_, which contains much of his best work, including the "Ode to
Duty," "Intimations of Immortality," "Yarrow Unvisited," and the
"Solitary Reaper." In 1813 he migrated to Rydal Mount, his home for the
rest of his life; and in the same year he received, through the influence
of Lord Lonsdale, the appointment of Distributor of Stamps for
Westmoreland, with a salary of £400. The next year he made another
Scottish tour, when he wrote _Yarrow Visited_, and he also _pub._ _The
Excursion_, "being a portion of _The Recluse_, a Poem." W. had now come
to his own, and was regarded by the great majority of the lovers of
poetry as, notwithstanding certain limitations and flaws, a truly great
and original poet. The rest of his life has few events beyond the
publication of his remaining works (which, however, did not materially
advance his fame), and tokens of the growing honour in which he was held.
_The White Doe of Rylstone_ appeared in 1815, in which year also he made
a collection of his poems; _Peter Bell_ and _The Waggoner_ in 1819; _The
River Duddon_ and _Memorials of a Tour on the Continent_ in 1820;
_Ecclesiastical Sonnets_ 1822; and _Yarrow Revisited_ in 1835. In 1831
he paid his last visit to Scott; in 1838 he received the degree of
D.C.L. from Durham, and in 1839 the same from Oxf. Three years later he
resigned his office of Distributor of Stamps in favour of his _s._, and
received a civil list pension of £300. The following year, 1843, he
succeeded Southey as Poet Laureate. His long, tranquil, and fruitful life
ended in 1850. He lies buried in the churchyard of Grasmere. After his
death the _Prelude_, finished in 1805, was _pub._ It had been kept back
because the great projected poem of which it was to have been the
preface, and of which _The Excursion_ is a part, was never completed.
The work of W. is singularly unequal. When at his best, as in the
"Intimations of Immortality," "Laodamia," some passages in _The
Excursion_, and some of his short pieces, and especially his sonnets, he
rises to heights of noble inspiration and splendour of language rarely
equalled by any of our poets. But it required his poetic fire to be at
fusing point to enable him to burst through his natural tendency to
prolixity and even dulness. His extraordinary lack of humour and the,
perhaps consequent, imperfect power of self-criticism by which it was
accompanied, together with the theory of poetic theme and diction with
which he hampered himself, led him into a frequent choice of trivial
subjects and childish language which excited not unjust ridicule, and
long delayed the general recognition of his genius. He has a marvellous
felicity of phrase, an unrivalled power of describing natural appearances
and effects, and the most ennobling views of life and duty. But his great
distinguishing characteristic is his sense of the mystic relations
between man and nature. His influence on contemporary and succeeding
thought and literature has been profound and lasting. It should be added
that W., like Milton, with whom he had many points in common, was the
master of a noble and expressive prose style.
SUMMARY.--_B._ 1770, _ed._ at Camb., sympathiser with French Revolution
in earlier stages, first publication _Tour in the Alps_ and _Evening
Walk_ 1793, became acquainted with Coleridge 1795, _pub._ with him
_Lyrical Ballads_ 1798, visits Germany and begins _Prelude_, returns to
England and settles at Grasmere, _pub._ second ed. of _Lyrical Ballads_,
entirely his own, 1800, _m._ Mary Hutchinson 1802, visits Scotland 1804
and becomes acquainted with Scott, _pub._ _Poems in Two Volumes_ 1807,
goes to Rydal Mount 1813, appointed Distributor of Stamps, revisits
Scotland, writes _Yarrow Visited_ and _pub._ _The Excursion_ 1814, _White
Doe_ and _coll._ works 1815, _Waggoner_, _Ecclesiastical Sonnets_, etc.,
1819-35, pensioned 1842, Poet Laureate 1843, _d._ 1850.
There are numerous good ed. of the poems, including his own by Moxon
(1836, 1845, and 1850), and those by Knight (1882-86), Morley (1888),
Dowden (1893), Smith (1908). Another by Knight in 16 vols. includes the
prose writings and the _Journal_ by Dorothy (1896-97). _Lives_ by
Christopher Wordsworth (1857), Myers (1880), and others. See also
criticism by W. Raleign (1903).
WOTTON, SIR HENRY (1568-1639).--Diplomatist and poet, _s._ of a Kentish
gentleman, was _b._ at Boughton Park, near Maidstone, and _ed._ at
Winchester and Oxf. After spending 7 years on the Continent, he entered
the Middle Temple. In 1595 he became sec. to the Earl of Essex, who
employed him abroad, and while at Venice he wrote _The State of
Christendom or a Most Exact and Curious Discovery of many Secret Passages
and Hidden Mysteries of the Times_, which was not, however, printed until
1657. Afterwards he held various diplomatic appointments, but Court
favour latterly failed him and he was recalled from Venice and made
Provost of Eton in 1624, to qualify himself for which he took deacon's
orders. Among his other works were _Elements of Architecture_ (1624) and
_A Survey of Education_. His writings in prose and verse were _pub._ in
1651 as _Reliquiæ Wottonianæ_. His poems include two which are familiar
to all readers of Elizabethan verse, _The Character of a Happy Life_,
"How happy is he born and taught," and _On his Mistress, the Queen of
Bohemia_, beginning "Ye meaner Beauties of the Night." He was the
originator of many witty sayings, which have come down.
WRAXALL, SIR NATHANIEL WILLIAM (1751-1831).--Historical writer, _b._ at
Bristol, was for a few years in the service of the East India Company,
and thereafter employed on diplomatic missions, and sat for some years in
the House of Commons. In addition to a book of travels and some
historical works relating to the French and other foreign Courts, he
wrote _Historical Memories of my own Time_ 1772-84, _pub._ in 1815. The
work was severely criticised by both political parties, and in particular
by Macaulay; but W. made a reply which was considered to be on the whole
successful. A continuation bringing the narrative down to 1790 was _pub._
in 1836. The _Memoirs_ are valuable for the light they throw on the
period, and especially for the portraits of public men which they give.
WRIGHT, THOMAS (1810-1877).--Antiquary, _b._ near Ludlow, of Quaker
parentage, was _ed._ at Camb. His first work was a _History of Essex_
(1831-36). In 1836 he went to London, and adopted literature as a
profession, devoting himself specially to archæology, history, and
biography. He held office in various societies such as the "Camden,"
"Percy," and "Shakespeare," and ed. many works for them. In all he was
the author of over 80 publications, of which some of the chief are _The
Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon_, _Biographia Britannica Literaria_,
_Queen Elizabeth and her Times_, and _History of Domestic Manners and
Sentiments in England during the Middle Ages_. He was superintendent of
the excavation of the Roman city at Wroxeter in 1859.
WYATT, SIR THOMAS (1503-1542).--Poet, _s._ of Sir Henry W., a servant of
Henry VII., and _ed._ at St. John's Coll., Camb., came to Court and was
frequently employed by Henry VIII. on diplomatic missions. He is said to
have been an admirer of Anne Boleyn before her marriage, and on her
disgrace was thrown into the Tower for a short time. In 1537 he was
knighted, and two years later was against his will sent on a mission to
the Emperor Charles V. On the death in 1540 of Thomas Cromwell, to whose
party he belonged, W. was accused of misdemeanours during his embassy and
again imprisoned in the Tower, where he wrote a defence which resulted in
his release. In 1542 he was sent to meet the Spanish Ambassador at
Falmouth, and conduct him to London, but on the way caught a chill, of
which he _d._ W. shares with the Earl of Surrey (_q.v._) the honour of
being the first real successor of Chaucer, and also of introducing the
sonnet into England. In addition to his sonnets, which are in a more
correct form than those of Surrey, W. wrote many beautiful lyrics; in
fact he may be regarded as the reviver of the lyrical spirit in English
poetry which, making its appearance in the 13th century, had fallen into
abeyance. In the anthology known as _Tottel's Miscellany_, first _pub._
in 1557, 96 pieces by W. appear along with 40 by Surrey, and others by
different hands. W. has less smoothness and sweetness than Surrey, but
his form of the sonnet was much more difficult as well as more correct
than that invented by the latter, and afterwards adopted by Shakespeare,
and his lyrical gift is more marked.
WYCHERLEY, WILLIAM (1640?-1716).--Dramatist, was _b._ at Clive, near
Shrewsbury, where his _f._ had an estate. He was at the Inner Temple in
1659, and at Oxf. in 1660. Part of his youth had been spent in France,
where he became a Roman Catholic, but at the Restoration he returned to
Protestantism. He wrote four comedies, _Love in a Wood_, _The Gentleman
Dancing Master_, _The Country Wife_, and _The Plain Dealer_, all produced
in the reign of Charles II., and nothing of consequence afterwards, a
vol. of poems doing little to add to his reputation. About 1679 he _m._
the widowed Countess of Drogheda, who _d._ in 1681, and he entered into a
second marriage eleven days before his death. In his later years he
formed a friendship with Pope, then a boy of 16. W. was one of the
founders of the Comedy of Manners. The merit of his plays lies in smart
and witty dialogue rather than in construction. _The Plain Dealer_, his
best, is founded upon Molière's _Misanthrope_. His plays are notoriously
coarse.
WYNTOUN, ANDREW of (1350?-1420?).--Chronicler, was a canon of St.
Andrews, who became Prior of St. Serf's island in Loch Leven. His work,
entitled _The Orygynale Cronykil_, begins with the creation of angels and
men and comes down to 1406. It is poetic in form though rarely so in
substance, and is of considerable historical value in its later parts and
as regards the see of St. Andrews.
YALDEN, THOMAS (1670-1736).--Poet, _s._ of an exciseman at Oxf., and
_ed._ at Magdalen Coll., entered the Church, in which he obtained various
preferments. He was the author of a considerable number of poems,
including a _Hymn to Darkness_, Pindaric Odes, and translations from the
classics.
YATES, EDMUND (1831-1894).--Novelist and dramatist, _b._ at Edin., held
for some years an appointment in the General Post Office. He did much
journalistic work, mainly as a dramatic writer, and wrote many dramatic
pieces and some novels, including _Running the Gauntlet_ and _The Black
Sheep_. He was perhaps best known as ed. of _The World_ society journal.
YONGE, CHARLOTTE MARY (1823-1901).--Novelist, only _dau._ of a landed
gentleman of Hampshire, was _b._ near Winchester, and in her girlhood
came under the influence of Keble, who was a near neighbour. She began
writing in 1848, and _pub._ during her long life about 100 works, chiefly
novels, interesting and well-written, with a High Church tendency. Among
the best known are _The Heir of Redclyffe_, _Heartsease_, and _The Daisy
Chain_. She also wrote _Cameos from English History_, and Lives of Bishop
Patteson and Hannah More. The profits of her works were devoted to
religious objects.
YOUNG, ARTHUR (1741-1820).--Writer on agriculture, was _b._ in London,
the _s._ of a Suffolk clergyman. In his early years he farmed, making
many experiments, which though they did not bring him financial success,
gave him knowledge and experience, afterwards turned to useful account.
Various publications had made his name known, and in 1777 he became agent
to Lord Kingsborough on his Irish estates. In 1780 he _pub._ his _Tour in
Ireland_, and four years later started the _Annals of Agriculture_, 47
vols. of which appeared. His famous tours in France were made 1787-90,
the results of his observations being _pub._ in _Travels in France_
(1792). He was in 1793 appointed sec. to the newly founded Board of
Agriculture, and _pub._ many additional works on the subject. He is
justly regarded as the father of modern agriculture, in which, as in all
subjects affecting the public welfare, he maintained an active interest
until his death. In his later years he was blind.
YOUNG, EDWARD (1683-1765).--Poet, _s._ of the Rector of Upham, Hampshire,
where he was _b._ After being at Winchester School and Oxf. he
accompanied the Duke of Wharton to Ireland. Y., who had always a keen eye
towards preferment, and the cult of those who had the dispensing of it,
began his poetical career in 1713 with _An Epistle to Lord Lansdowne_.
Equally characteristic was the publication in the same year of two poems,
_The Last Day_ and _The Force of Religion_. The following year he
produced an elegy _On the Death of Queen Anne_, which brought him into
notice. Turning next to the drama he produced _Busiris_ in 1719, and _The
Revenge_ in 1721. His next work was a collection of 7 satires, _The Love
of Fame, the Universal Passion_. In 1727 he entered the Church, and was
appointed one of the Royal Chaplains, and Rector of Welwyn, Herts, in
1730. Next year he _m._ Lady Elizabeth Lee, the widowed _dau._ of the
Earl of Lichfield, to whom, as well as to her _dau._ by her former
marriage, he was warmly attached. Both _d._, and sad and lonely the poet
began his masterpiece, _The Complaint, or Night Thoughts_ (1742-44),
which had immediate and great popularity, and which still maintains its
place as a classic. In 1753 he brought out his last drama, _The
Brothers_, and in 1761 he received his last piece of preferment, that of
Clerk to the Closet to the Princess Dowager of Wales. Four years later,
in 1765, he _d._ The poems of Y., though in style artificial and
sometimes forced, abound in passages of passion and power which sometimes
reach the sublime. But the feelings and sentiments which he expresses
with so much force as a poet form an unpleasantly harsh contrast with the
worldliness and tuft-hunting of his life.