839
daughter to (lie earl of Leicester , afterwards wife to the earl ofpttuderlaiid. He was now known at court, caressed by all whohad any relish for wit and humour; and was one of the famousclub of which Lord Falkland, Mr. Chihingworth, Sic, were meni-oers. He was elected M. P. in 1640. An intermission of parlia-ments, having disgusted the nation, and raised jealousies against,tlte desi gns of the court, lie was one of the tirst who condemnedthese measures. He made a speech in tlte house on this occasion,m opposition to the court. But lie voted against the abolition ofEpiscopacy . At the Restoration hi.' was treated with great ci-vility by Charles If. who always made him one of the party inhis diversions at tlte duke ot Buckingham’s, &c. He wrote apanegyric upon his restoration. He sat in several parliamentsafterlife Restoration, and enlivened their debates much with hiswit, his natural vivacity making his company agreeable to the last.He died of a dropsy in 1687, and was interred in Beaconsfield,vhere a monument is erected to his memory. He is esteemed themost elegant and harmonious versifier of his time, and a great re-finer of tlte English language. The best edition of his works,containing poems, speeches, letters, &c. is that published in 4to.by Mr. Fenton, in 1730.
WALLINGFORD, a borough of England, ill Berkshire , 14miles N. YV. of Reading, and 46 W. of London . .Lon. 1. 1. W.Eat. 51.36. N.
WALLIS, Dr. John, a celebrated mathematician, educated atCambridge ; where he became fellow ot Queen’s college, till, byhis marri 'ge, he vacated it. In 1640, he received holy orders,and became chaplain to lady Vere. While he lived in this family,he cultivated the art of deciphering. In 1643 he published,“ Truth Tried; or, Animadversions on the Lord Brooke’s Trea-tise , called The Nature of Truth, &e.” In 1644, he was chosenone of the secretaries to the assembly of divines at Westminster.Hr. Peter Turner, Savilian professor of geometry in Oxford ,being ejected by the parliament’s visitors in 1649, Mr. Wallis wasappointed to succeed him in that place. In 1653 he published atOxford a Grammar of the English l ongue, in Latin . In 1655 heenter red the list with Mr. Hobbes ; and their controversy lasteda considerable time. In 1657 the Doctor published his Mathe-matical Works. Upon the deatli of Dr. Langbaine, lie was chosencustos archivorum of the university. After the Restoration hemet with great respect, the king himself entertaining a favourableopinion of him on account of some services lie had done both tohis royal father and himself._ Fie was therefore confirmed in hisplaces, admitted one of the king’s chaplains in ordinary, and ap-pointed one of the divines empowered to view the book ofcommon prayer. He continued a steady conformist till his deatli,in 1703. He was one of the first members of the Royal Society .Besides the works above-mentioned, he published many
others.
WALNUT, in botany, See Juglans.
WALPO. a town of Sclavonia, 20 miles W. of Eszek ; 110Miles S. of Buda. Lon.19. 22. E. Lat. 45. 35. N.
Walpole, Sir Robert, earl of Orford, was born at Hough-ton in Norfolk, Sep. 6th, 1674, and educated at Eton . In 1700^ was chosen member of parliament for Lynn. In 1705 he wasappointed -ecrelarv at war, anti in 1709 treasurer of the navy, butthe change of 'ministers lie was voted by the commons to beguilty of corruption, and ordered to be expelled the house. The^Rg-party, however, strenuously supported him, and he was^-elected for Lvnn, though the house declared the election void,the accession ot George I. he was made paymaster of the^rces, but*two years afterwards be resigned his place, and joinedopposition. Another change taking place in 1725, he had thePii d in (|| t . administration, and was nominated first lord of the■reasni-y, an( | c hancellor of the exchequer. He maintained his: 10w er with great firmness till 1742, when he resigned, and wasSeated earl of Orford, with a pension of 4000Z. a year. The re-Mainder of |,j<, |,f P fie spent in tranquillity and retirement, andJle d, in 174.5, in the 71st year of his age.
, WALSALL, a borough of England, in Staffordshire , 9 miles?• W. of Litchfield, 15 S. ot Stafford, and 116 N. W. of London .
w* 1 ; 56 - w - L »t. 52.46. N. ..
j. ^ ALSINGIIAM, in geography, a town of Norfolk, 22 milesNorwich, and 117 N. IS. E. of London . Lon. 0. 53.
. 50. N.
W. otLat. 52
WALTHAM, or BISHOP’s WALTHAM, a town of Ena-bl'd, in Hants, 8 miles S. ol Winchester . Lon. 1. 20 W Lat50. 57. N. • . .
Waltham Abbey, or Holy Cross, a town of Essex , 12 milesN. ol London . Lon. 0. 3. E. Lat. 51. 42. N.
Waltham on the Would, a town of Leicestershire , 19 nviesN. E. ol Leicester, and 113 N. by W, of London .
WALTHERIA, in botany, a genus.of plants in the class mo-nadelphia and order triandria; natural order, Columnifene. Ca-lyx double; outer lateral, three leaved, deciduous; petals five;st)le one; capsule one-celled, two-valved, one-seeded. Thereare six species.
WALTON, Biuant, a learned prelate, was born at Cleave-land, in Yorkshire , in 1600, and was educated first at MagdalenCollege, and afterwards at Peter-house , Cambridge/ In 1639 hetook his doctor’s degree, and at this time was prebendary of St.Paul’s, chaplain to the king, and rector of St. Martin Orgar’s,London . He suffered considerably at the breaking out of thecivil war, on which he fled to Oxford . He undertook, and hap-pily performed, the publishing of a Polyglot Bible, in 6 vols. folio,in which lie was assisted by the learned Edmund Castell , and othereminent men. Dr. Walton was also the author of a Defence oftLis work, against Dr. Owen ; and a book on the right of theLondon clergy to tithes. In 16£o lie was, preferred to the see ofChester, but died in London tiie year following.
WAMPUM , the money used by the North-American Indians.It is much used in all their treaties as a symbol of friendship. Itis made of a shell of a particular species of Venus.
WANGARA, a kingdom of Africa, with its capita! so named.Lon. 16. 30. L. Lat. 16. 0. N.
WANGEN, a town in the province of Alsace , 8 miles N-W.of Strashurg, and 9 S. E. of Savern. Lon. 7. 42. E. Lat. 4S38. N.
Wangen, an imperial town of Suabia , 17 miles N E. of Lin-dau, and 30 E. of Constance. Lon. 9. 56. E. Lat. 47. 38. N.
WANTAGE, a town of England, in Berkshire , 12 miles S.W. of Oxford, and 60 W. of London . Lon. 1. 16. E. Lat.5135. N.
WAPENTAKE is the same with hundred. The word seems to heof Danish original, and to be so called for this reason; when firstthis kingdom, or part thereof, was divided into wapentakes, hewho was the chief of the wapentake or hundred, and whom wenow call a high constable, as soon as he entered upon his office,appeared in a field on a certain day on horseback with a pike inhis hand, and all the chief men of the hundred met him there withtheir lances, and touched his pike ; which was a sign that theywere firmly united to each other by the touching their weapons.But Sir Thomas Smith says, that anciently musters were made ofthe armour and weapons of the several inhabitants of every wapen-take; and from those that could not find sufficient pledges fortheir good abearing, their weapons were taken away and given toothers ; from whence he derives the word.
WAPITWAGAN ISLANDS, a cluster of islands near the S.coast of Labtador; in Lon. 60. 20. W. Lat. 50. 4. N.
WAR , a contest between two sovereigns, states, or large bodiesof people: and as these are unwilling to submit the decision oftheir differences to arbitration, or equity, they generally resort toarms for that purpose. War is always a national evil; and is jus-tifiable only in cases of self-defence; though, by proper remon-strances, it might doubtless in many instances be avoided, togetherwith all its horrors. Like the duels between private individuals,which disgrace civilized Europe , war may fora short time gratifythe age of hatred:.but it uniformly fails to answer the end forwhich it was commenced ; disappointing the wishes of the ambi-tious; betraying the interests of society; in short, beingequally useless and distressing. Defensive wars, however, mayhe justified by dire necessity ; so that the good wishes of the mo-derate and pacific must ever attend such exertions. In this pointof view, the art of war is an useful and necessary pursuit; as itsobject is to defend persecuted virtue; to punish the daring ag-gressor; to curb ambition; and to oppose the unjust claims ofturbulent neighbours; but when warfare is wantonly courted, forcontrary purposes, it deserves to be branded with infamy ; and, asCount Turpin (“ Essay on the Art of War,”} has justly’observed,if he, who first reduced to rules the art of destroying his fellow-
creatures,'