Chapter XV: Part 15

⁂ The Count de la Marck was third son of John, count de la Marck and
Aremberg. He was arrested at Utrecht, and beheaded by order of
Maximilian, emperor of Austria, in 1485.

=Wild Boy of Hameln=, a human being found in the forest of Hertswold,
in Hanover. He walked on all fours, climbed trees like a monkey, fed
on grass and leaves, and could never be taught to articulate a single
word. He was discovered in 1725, was called “Peter, the Wild Boy,” and
died at Broadway Farm, near Berkhampstead, in 1785.

⁂ Mdlle. Lablanc was a wild girl found by the villagers of Soigny,
near Chalons, in 1731. She died in Paris in 1780.

=Wild Goose Chase= (_The_), a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1652).
The “wild goose” is Mirabel, who is “chased” and caught by Oriana,
whom he once despised.

=Wild Horses= (_Death by_). The hands and feet of the victim were
fastened to two or four wild horses, and the horses, being urged
forward, ran in different directions, tearing the victim limb from
limb.

METTIUS SUFFETIUS was fastened to two chariots, which were driven in
opposite directions. This was for deserting the Roman standard (B.C.
669).--Livy, _Annals_, i. 28.

SALCĒDE, a Spaniard, employed by Henri III. to assassinate Henri de
Guise, failed in his attempt, and was torn limb from limb by four wild
horses.

NICHOLAS DE SALVADO was torn to pieces by wild horses for attempting
the life of William, prince of Orange.

BALTHAZAR DE GERRARD was similarly punished for assassinating the same
prince (1584).

JOHN CHASTEL was torn to pieces by wild horses for attempting the life
of Henri IV. of France (1594).

FRANÇOIS RAVAILLAC suffered a similar death for assassinating the same
prince (1610).

=Wild Huntsman= (_The_), a spectral hunter with dogs, who frequents
the Black Forest to chase wild animals.--Sir W. Scott, _Wild Huntsman_
(from Bürger’s ballad).

⁂ The legend is that this huntsman was a Jew, who would not suffer
Jesus to drink from a horse-trough, but pointed to some water
collected in a hoof-print, and bade Him go there and drink.--Kuhn von
Schwarz, _Nordd. Sagen_, 499.

The French story of _Le Grand Veneur_ is laid in Fontainbleau Forest,
and is supposed to refer to St. Hubert.--Father Matthieu.

The English name is “Herne, the Hunter,” once a keeper in Windsor
Forest.--Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act iv. sc. 4.

The Scotch poem called _Albania_ contains a full description of the
wild huntsman.

⁂ The subject has been made into a ballad by Burger, entitled _Der
Wilde Jäger_.

=Wild Man of the Forest=, Orson, brother of Valentine, and nephew of
King Pepin.--_Valentine and Orson_ (fifteenth century).

=Wild Oats=, a drama by John O’Keefe (1798).

=Wild Wenlock=, kinsman of Sir Hugo de Lacy, besieged by insurgents,
who cut off his head.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry
II.).

=Wildair= (_Sir Harry_), the hero of a comedy so called by Farquhar
(1701). The same character had been introduced in the _Constant
Couple_ (1700), by the same author. Sir Harry is a gay profligate, not
altogether selfish and abandoned, but very free and of easy morals.
This was Wilks’s and Peg Woffington’s great part.

Their Wildairs, Sir John Brutes, Lady Touchwoods and Mrs. Frails are
conventional reproductions of those wild gallants and demireps which
figure in the licentious dramas of Dryden and Shadwell.--Sir W. Scott.

⁂ “Sir John Brute,” in _The Provoked Wife_ (Vanbrugh); “Lady
Touchwood,” in _The Belle’s Stratagem_ (Mrs. Cowley); “Mrs. Frail,” in
Congreve’s _Love for Love_.

=Wildblood of the Vale= (_Young Dick_), a friend of Sir Geoffrey
Peveril.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Wilde= (_Johnny_), a small farmer of Rodenkirchen, in the isle of
Rügen. One day he found a little glass slipper belonging to one of the
hill-folk. Next day a little brownie, in the character of a merchant,
came to redeem it, and Johnny Wilde demanded as the price “that he
should find a gold ducat in every furrow he ploughed.” The bargain was
concluded, but before the year was over he had worked himself to death
looking for ducats in the furrows which he ploughed.--_Rügen
Tradition._

=Wildenhaim= (_Baron_), father of Amelia. In his youth he seduced
Agatha Friburg, whom he deserted. Agatha bore a son, Frederick, who in
due time became a soldier. Coming home on furlough, he found his
mother on the point of starvation, and, going to beg alms, met the
baron with his gun, asked alms of him, and received a shilling. He
demanded more money, and, being refused, collared the baron, but was
soon seized by the keepers, and shut up in the castle dungeon. Here he
was visited by the chaplain, and it came out that the baron was his
father. As the baron was a widower, he married Agatha, and Frederick
became his heir.

_Amelia Wildenhaim_, daughter of the baron. A proposal was made to
marry her to Count Cassel, but, as the count was a conceited puppy,
without “brains in his head or a heart in his bosom,” she would have
nothing to say to him. She showed her love to Anhalt, a young
clergyman, and her father gave his consent to the match.--Mrs.
Inchbald, _Lovers’ Vows_ (altered from Kotzebue, 1800).

=Wildfire= (_Madge_), the insane daughter of old Meg Murdochson, the
gypsy thief. Madge had been seduced when a girl, and this, with the
murder of her infant, had turned her brain.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of
Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

=Wilding= (_Jack_), a young gentleman fresh from Oxford, who
fabricates the most ridiculous tales, which he tries to pass off for
facts; speaks of his adventures in America, which he has never seen;
of his being entrapped into marriage with a Miss Sibthorpe, a pure
invention. Accidentally meeting a Miss Grantam, he sends his man to
learn her name, and is told it is Miss Godfrey, an heiress. On this
incident the humor of the drama hinges. When Miss Godfrey is presented
to him he does not know her, and a person rushes in who declares she
is his wife, and that her maiden name was Sibthorpe. It is now
Wilding’s turn to be dumbfounded, and, wholly unable to unravel the
mystery, he rushes forth, believing the world is a Bedlam let
loose.--S. Foote, _The Liar_ (1761).

_Wilding_ (_Sir Jasper_), an ignorant but wealthy country gentleman,
fond of fox-hunting. He dresses in London like a foxhunter, and speaks
with a “Hoic! tally-ho!”

_Young Wilding_, son of Sir Jasper, about to marry the daughter of old
Philpot for the dot she will bring him.

_Maria Wilding_, the lively, witty, high-spirited daughter of Sir
Jasper, in love with Charles Beaufort. Her father wants her to marry
George Philpot, but she frightens the booby out of his wits by her
knowledge of books and assumed eccentricities.--Murphy, _The Citizen_,
(1757 or 1761).

=Wildrake=, a country squire, delighting in horses, dogs, and field
sports. He was in love with “neighbor Constance,” daughter of Sir
William Fondlove, with whom he used to romp and quarrel in childhood.
He learned to love Constance; and Constance loved the squire, but knew
it not till she feared he was going to marry another. When they each
discovered the state of their hearts, they agreed to become man and
wife.--S. Knowles, _The Love-Chase_ (1837).

_Wildrake_ (_Roger_), a dissipated royalist.--Sir W. Scott,
_Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

=Wilhelmi´na= [BUNDLE], daughter of Bundle, the gardener. Tom Tug, the
waterman, and Robin, the gardener, sought her in marriage. The father
preferred honest Tom Tug, but the mother liked better the sentimental
and fine-phrased Robin. Wilhelmina said he who first did any act to
deserve her love should have it. Tom Tug, by winning the waterman’s
badge, carried off the bride.--C. Dibdin, _The Waterman_ (1774).

=Wilfer= (_Reginald_), called by his wife R. W., and by his fellow
clerks Rumty. He was clerk in the drug-house of Chicksey, Stobbles and
Veneering. In person Mr. Wilfer resembled an overgrown cherub; in
manner he was shy and retiring.

Mr. Reginald Wilfer was a poor clerk, so poor indeed that he had never
yet attained the modest object of his ambition, which was to wear a
complete new suit of clothes, hat and boots included, at one time. His
black hat was brown before he could afford a coat; his pantaloons were
white at the seams and knees before he could buy a pair of boots; his
boots had worn out before he could treat himself to new pantaloons;
and by the time he worked round to the hat again, that shining modern
article roofed in an ancient ruin of various periods.--Ch. iv.

_Mrs. Wilfer_, wife of Mr. Reginald. A most majestic woman, tall and
angular. She wore gloves, and a pocket-handkerchief tied under her
chin. A patronizing, condescending woman was Mrs. Wilfer, with a
mighty idea of her own importance. “Viper!” “Ingrate!” and such like
epithets were household words with her.

_Bella Wilfer_, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wilfer. A wayward, playful,
affectionate, spoilt beauty, “giddy from the want of some sustaining
purpose, and capricious because she was always fluttering among little
things.” Bella was so pretty, so womanly, and yet so childish that she
was always captivating. She spoke of herself as “the lovely woman,”
and delighted in “doing the hair of the family.” Bella Wilfer married
John Harmon (John Rokesmith), the secretary of Mr. Boffin, “the golden
dustman.”

_Lavinia Wilfer_, youngest sister of Bella, and called “The
Irrepressible.” Lavinia was a tart, pert girl, but succeeded in
catching George Samson in the toils of wedlock.--C. Dickens, _Our
Mutual Friend_ (1864).

=Wilford=, in love with Emily, the companion of his sister, Miss
Wilford. This attachment coming to the knowledge of Wilford’s uncle
and guardian, was disapproved of by him; so he sent the young man to
the Continent, and dismissed the young lady. Emily went to live with
Goodman Fairlop, the woodman, and there Wilford discovered her in an
archery match. The engagement Was renewed, and ended in marriage.--Sir
H. B. Dudley, _The Woodman_ (1771).

_Wilford_, secretary of Sir Edward Mortimer, and the suitor of Barbara
Rawbold (daughter of a poacher). Curious to know what weighed on his
master’s mind, he pried into an iron chest in Sir Edward’s library;
but while so engaged, Sir Edward entered and threatened to shoot him.
He relented, however, and having sworn Wilford to secrecy, told him
how and why he had committed murder. Wilford, unable to endure the
watchful and jealous eye of his master, ran away; but Sir Edward
dogged him from place to place, and at length arrested him on the
charge of theft. Of course, the charge broke down, Wilford was
acquitted, Sir Edward confessed himself a murderer, and died. (See
WILLIAMS, CALEB.)--G. Colman, _The Iron Chest_ (1796).

⁂ This is a dramatic version of Godwin’s novel called _Caleb Williams_
(1794). Wilford is “Caleb Williams,” and Sir Edward Mortimer is
“Falkland.”

_Wilford_, supposed to be earl of Rochdale. Three things he had a
passion for: “the finest hound, the finest horse, and the finest wife
in the three kingdoms.” It turned out that Master Walter, “the
hunchback,” was the earl of Rochdale, and Wilford was no one.--S.
Knowles, _The Hunchback_ (1831).

_Wilford_ (_Lord_), the truant son of Lord Woodville, who fell in love
with Bess, the daughter of the “blind beggar of Bethnal Green.” He saw
her by accident in London, lost sight of her, but resolved not to rest
night or day till he found her; and, said he, “If I find her not, I’m
tenant of the house the sexton builds.” Bess was discovered in the
Queen’s Arms inn, Romford, and turned out to be his cousin.--S.
Knowles, _The Beggar of Bethnal Green_ (1834).

=Wilfred=, “the fool,” one of the sons of Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone,
of Osbaldistone Hall.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

=Wilfrid=, son of Oswald Wycliffe; in love with Matilda, heiress of
Rokeby’s knight. After various villainies, Oswald forced from Matilda
a promise to marry Wilfrid. Wilfrid thanked her for the promise, and
fell dead at her feet.--Sir W. Scott, _Rokeby_ (1813).

=Wilfrid= or =Wilfrith= (_St._). In 681, the Bishop Wilfrith, who had
been bishop of York, being deprived of his see, came to Sussex, and
did much to civilize the people. He taught them how to catch fish
generally, for before they only knew how to catch eels. He founded the
bishopric of the South Saxons at Selsey, afterwards removed to
Chichester, founded the monastery of Ripon, built several
ecclesiastical edifices, and died in 709.

St. Wilfrid, sent from York into the realms received
(Whom the Northumbrian folk had of his see bereaved),
And on the south of Thames a seat did him afford,
By whom the people first received the saving word.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xi. (1613).

=Wilhelm Meister= [_Mice.ter_], the hero and title of a philosophic
novel by Goethe. This is considered to be the first true German novel.
It consists of two parts published under two titles, viz., _The
Apprenticeship of Wilhelm Meister_ (1794-96), and _The Travels of
Wilhelm Meister_ (1821).

=Wilkins= (_Peter_), Robert Pultock, of Clement’s inn, author of _The
Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins, a Cornish Man_ (1750).

The tale is this: Peter Wilkins is a mariner, thrown on a desert
shore. In time he furnishes himself from the wreck with many
necessaries, and discovers that the country is frequented by a
beautiful winged race called glumms and gawreys, whose wings when
folded, serve them for dress, and when spread, are used for flight.
Peter marries a gawrey, by name Youwarkee, and accompanies her to
Nosmnbdsgrsutt, a land of semi-darkness, where he remains many years.

_Peter Wilkins_ is a work of uncommon beauty.--Coleridge, _Table Talk_
(1835).

=Wilkinson= (_James_), servant to Mr. Fairford, the lawyer.--Sir W.
Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

=Will= (_Belted_), William, Lord Howard, warden of the western marches
(1563-1640).

His Bilboa blade, by Marchmen felt,
Hung in a broad and studded belt;
Hence, in rude phrase, the Borderers still
Called noble Howard “Belted Will.”
Sir W. Scott, _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ (1805).

=Will Laud=, a smuggler, with whom Margaret Catchpole (_q.v._) falls
in love. He persuades her to escape from Ipswich jail, and supplies
her with a seaman’s dress. The two are overtaken, and Laud is shot in
attempting to prevent the recapture of Margaret.--Rev. R. Cobbold,
_Margaret Catchpole_.

=Will and Jean=, a poetic story by Hector Macneill (1789). Willie
Gairlace was once the glory of the town, and he married Jeanie Miller.
Just about this time Maggie Howe opened a spirit shop in the village,
and Willie fell to drinking. Having reduced himself to beggary, he
enlisted as a soldier, and Jeanie had “to beg her bread.” Willie,
having lost his leg in battle, was put on the Chelsea “bounty list;”
and Jeanie was placed, by the duchess of Buccleuch, in an
alms-cottage. Willie contrived to reach the cottage and

Jean ance mair, in fond affection,
Clasped her Willie to her breast.

=Willet= (_John_), landlord of the Maypole inn. A burly man,
large-headed, with a flat face, betokening profound obstinacy and
slowness of apprehension, combined with a strong reliance on his own
merits. John Willet was one of the most dogged and positive fellows in
existence, always sure that he was right, and that every one who
differed from him was wrong. He ultimately resigned the Maypole to his
son, Joe, and retired to a cottage in Chigwell, with a small garden,
in which Joe had a Maypole erected for the delectation of his aged
father. Here at dayfall assembled his old chums, to smoke, and prose,
and doze, and drink the evenings away; and here the old man played the
landlord, scoring up huge debits in chalk to his heart’s delight. He
lived in the cottage a sleepy life for seven years, and then slept the
sleep which knows no waking.

_Joe Willet_, son of the landlord, a broad-shouldered, strapping young
fellow of 20. Being bullied and brow-beaten by his father, he ran away
and enlisted for a soldier, lost his right arm in America, and was
dismissed the service. He returned to England, married Dolly Varden,
and became landlord of the Maypole, where he prospered and had a large
family.--C. Dickens, _Barnaby Rudge_ (1841).

=William=, archbishop of Orange, an ecclesiastic who besought Pope
Urban on his knees to permit him to join the crusaders, and, having
obtained permission, led 400 men to the siege of Jerusalem.--Tasso,
_Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

_William_, youngest son of William Rufus. He was the leader of a large
army of British bowmen and Irish volunteers in the crusading
army.--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_, iii. (1575).

⁂ William Rufus was never married.

_William_, footman to Lovemore, sweet upon Muslin, the lady’s maid. He
is fond of cards, and is a below-stairs imitation of the high-life
vices of the latter half of the eighteenth century.--A. Murphy, _The
Way to Keep Him_ (1760).

_William_, a serving-lad at Arnheim Castle.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of
Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

_William_ (_Lord_), master of Erlingford. His elder brother, at death,
committed to his charge Edmund, the rightful heir, a mere child; but
William cast the child into the Severn, and seized the inheritance.
One anniversary, the Severn overflowed its banks, and the castle was
surrounded; a boat came by, and Lord William entered. The boatman
thought he heard the voice of a child--nay, he felt sure he saw a
child in the water, and bade Lord William stretch out his hand to take
it in. Lord William seized the child’s hand; it was lifeless and
clammy, heavy and inert. It pulled the boat under water, and Lord
William was drowned, but no one heard his piercing cry of agony.--R.
Southey, _Lord William_ (a ballad, 1804).

=William and Margaret=, a ballad by Mallet. William promised marriage
to Margaret, deserted her, and she died “consumed in early prime.” Her
ghost reproved the faithless swain, who “quaked in every limb,” and,
raving,

He hy’d him to the fatal place,
Where Margaret’s body lay;
And stretch’d him on the grass-green turf
That wrapt her breathless clay.

And thrice he call’d on Margaret’s name,
And thrice he wept full sore;
Then laid his cheek to her cold grave,
And word spake never more.

=William, king of Scotland=, introduced by Sir W. Scott in _The
Talisman_ (1825).

=William of Cloudesley= (3 _syl._), a north country outlaw, associated
with Adam Bell and Clym of the Clough (_Clement of the Cliff_). He
lived in Englewood Forest, near Carlisle. Adam Bell and Clym of the
Clough were single men, but William had a wife named Alyce, and
“children three,” living at Carlisle. The three outlaws went to London
to ask pardon of the king, and the king, at the queen’s intercession,
granted it. He then took them to a field to see them shoot. William
first cleft in two a hazel wand at a distance of 200 feet; after this
he bound his eldest son to a stake, put an apple on his head, and, at
a distance of “six score paces,” cleft the apple in two without
touching the boy. The king was so delighted that he made William “a
gentlemen of fe,” made his son a royal butler, the queen took Alyce
for her “chief gentlewoman,” and the two companions were appointed
yeoman of the bed-chamber.--Percy, _Reliques_ (“Adam Bell,” etc.), I.
ii. 1.

=William of Goldsbrough=, one of the companions of Robin Hood,
mentioned in Grafton’s _Olde and Auncient Pamphlet_ (sixteenth
century).

=William of Norwich= (_Saint_), a child said to have been crucified by
the Jews in 1137. (See HUGH OF LINCOLN and WERNER.)

Two boys of tender age, those saints ensue,
Of Norwich, William was, of Lincoln, Hugh.
Whom th’ unbelieving Jews (rebellious that abide),
In mockery of our Christ, at Easter crucified.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxiv. (1622).

=William-with-the-Long-Sword=, the earl of Salisbury. He was the
natural brother of Richard Cœur de Lion.--Sir W. Scott, _The
Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).

=Williams= (_Caleb_), a lad in the service of Falkland. Falkland,
irritated by cruelty and insult, commits a murder, which is attributed
to another. Williams, by accident, obtains a clue to the real facts;
and Falkland, knowing it, extorts from him an oath of secrecy, and
then tells him the whole story. The lad, finding life in Falkland’s
house insupportable, from the ceaseless suspicion to which he is
exposed, makes his escape, and is pursued by Falkland with relentless
persecution. At last Williams is accused by Falkland of robbery, and,
the facts of the case being disclosed, Falkland dies of shame and a
broken spirit. (See WILFORD.)--W. Godwin, _Caleb Williams_ (1794).

⁂ The novel was dramatized by G. Colman, under the title of _The Iron
Chest_ (1796). Caleb Williams is called “Wilford,” and Falkland is
“Sir Edward Mortimer.”

_Williams_ (_Ned_), the sweetheart of Cicely Jopson, farmer, near
Clifton.

_Farmer Williams_, Ned’s father.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time,
George II.).

=Willie=, clerk to Andrew Skurliewhitter, the scrivener.--Sir W.
Scott, =Fortunes of Nigel= (time, James I.).

=Willieson= (_William_), a brig-owner, one of the Jacobite
conspirators under the laird of Ellieslaw.--Sir W. Scott, _The Black
Dwarf_ (time, Anne).

=Williewald of Geierstein= (_Count_), father of Count Arnold of
Geierstein, _alias_ Arnold Biederman (landamman of Unterwalden).--Sir
W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Will-o’-the-Flat=, one of the huntsmen near Charlie’s Hope farm.--Sir
W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Willoughby= (_Lord_), of Queen Elizabeth’s court.--Sir W. Scott,
_Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Willy=, a shepherd to whom Thomalin tells the tale of his battle with
Cupid (Ecl. iii). (See THOMALIN.) In Ecl. viii. he is introduced
again, contending with Perigot for the prize of poetry, Cuddy being
chosen umpire. Cuddy declares himself quite unable to decide the
contest, for both deserve the prize.--Spenser, _The Shepheardes
Calendar_ (1579).

=Wilmot.= There are three of the name in _Fatal Curiosity_ (1736), by
George Lillo, viz., old Wilmot, his wife, Agnes, and their son, young
Wilmot, supposed to have perished at sea. The young man, however, is
not drowned, but goes to India, makes his fortune, and returns,
unknown to any one of his friends. He goes in disguise to his parents,
and deposits with them a casket. Curiosity induces Agnes to open it,
and when she sees that it contains jewels, she and her husband resolve
to murder the owner and appropriate the contents of the casket. No
sooner have they committed the fatal deed than they discover it is
their own son whom they have killed; whereupon the old man stabs first
his wife and then himself.

The harrowing details of this tragedy are powerfully depicted; and the
agonies of old Wilmot constitute one of the most appalling and
affecting incidents in the drama.--R. Chambers, _English Literature_,
i. 592.

Old Wilmot’s character, as the needy man who had known better days,
exhibits a mind naturally good, but prepared for acting evil.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Drama_.

_Wilmot_ (_Miss Arabella_), a clergyman’s daughter, beloved by George
Primrose, eldest son of the vicar of Wakefield, whom ultimately she
marries.--Goldsmith, _Vicar of Wakefield_ (1766).

_Wilmot_ (_Lord_), earl of Rochester, of the court of Charles II.--Sir
W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

=Wilsa=, the mulatto girl of Dame Ursley Suddlechop, the barber’s
wife.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

=Wilson= (_Alison_), the old housekeeper of Colonel Silas Morton of
Milnwood.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

_Wilson_ (_Andrew_), smuggler; the comrade of Geordie Robertson. He
was hanged.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

_Wilson_ (_Bob_), groom of Sir William Ashton, the lord keeper of
Scotland.--Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).

_Wilson_ (_Christie_), a character in the introduction of the _Black
Dwarf_, by Sir W. Scott.

_Wilson_ (_John_), groom of Mr. Godfrey Bertram, laird of
Ellangowan.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Wilton= (_Ralph de_), the accepted suitor of Lady Clare, daughter of
the earl of Gloucester. When Lord Marmion overcame Ralph de Wilton in
the ordeal of battle, and left him for dead on the field, Lady Clare
took refuge in Whitby Convent. By Marmion’s desire she was removed
from the convent to Tantallon Hall, where she met Ralph, who had been
cured of his wounds. Ralph, being knighted by Douglas, married the
Lady Clare.--Sir W. Scott, _Marmion_ (1808).

=Wimble= (_Will_), a character in Addison’s _Spectator_, simple,
good-natured, and officious.

⁂ Will Wimble in the flesh was Thomas Morecroft, of Dublin (*-1741).

=Wimbledon= (_The Philosopher of_), John Horne Tooke, who lived at
Wimbledon, near London (1736-1812).

=Winchester= (_The bishop of_), Lancelot Andrews. The name is not
given in the novel, but the date of the novel is 1620, and Dr. Andrews
was translated from Ely to Winchester in February, 1618-19; and died
in 1626.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

=Wind Sold.= At one time the Finlanders and Laplanders drove a
profitable trade by the sale of winds. After being paid they knitted
three magical knots, and told the buyer that when he untied the first
he would have a good gale; when the second, a strong wind; and when
the third, a severe tempest.--Olaus Magnus, _History of the Goths,
etc._, 47 (1658).

King Eric of Sweden was quite a potentate of these elements, and could
change them at pleasure by merely shifting his cap.

Bessie Millie, of Pomo´na, in the Orkney Islands, helped to eke out
her living (even so late as 1814) by selling favorable winds to
mariners, for the small sum of sixpence per vessel.

Winds were also at one time sold at Mont St. Michel, in Normandy, by
nine druidesses, who likewise sold arrows to charm away storms. These
arrows were to be shot off by a young man 25 years of age.

⁂ Witches generally were supposed to sell wind.

’Oons! I’ll marry a Lapland witch as soon, and live upon selling
contrary winds and wrecked vessels.--W. Congreve, _Love for Love_,
iii. (1695).

In Ireland and in Denmark both,
Witches for gold will sell a man a wind,
Which, in the corner of a napkin wrapped,
Shall blow him safe unto what coast he will.
Summer, _Last Will and Test_. (1600).

⁂ See note to the _Pirate_: “Sale of Winds” (_Waverley Novels_, xxiv.
136).

When Ulysses left the island of Æolus, whom Jupiter had made keeper of
the winds, Æolus bound the storm-winds in an ox’s bladder, and tied it
in the ship that not even a little breath might escape. Then he sent
the west wind to waft the ship onward. While Ulysses was asleep his
companions, thinking a treasure was concealed in the bladder, loosed
the skin, and all the winds rushed out. The ship was driven back to
the island of Æolus, who refused to let them land, believing that they
must be hated by the gods.

=Winds= (_The_), according to Hesiod, were the sons of Astræus and
Aurora.

You nymphs, the winged offspring which of old
Aurora to divine Astræus bore.
Akenside, _Hymn to the Naiads_(1767).

=Winds and Tides.= Nicholas of Lyn, an Oxford scholar and friar, was a
great navigator. He “took the height of mountains with his astrolobe,”
and taught that there were four whirlpools like the Maelström of
Norway--one in each quarter of the globe, from which the four winds
issue, and which are the cause of the tides.

One Nicholas of Lyn
The whirlpools of the seas did come to understand, ...
For such immeasured pools, philosophers agree,
I’ the four parts of the world undoubtedly there be,
From which they have supposed nature the winds doth raise,
And from them too proceed the flowing of the seas.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xix. (1622).

=Windmill With a Weather-Cock Atop= (_The_). Goodwyn, a puritan
divine, of St. Margaret’s, London, was so called (1593-1651).

=Windmills.= Don Quixote, seeing some thirty or forty windmills,
insisted that they were giants, and, running a tilt at one of them,
thrust his spear into the sails; whereupon the sail raised both man
and horse into the air, and shivered the knight’s lance into
splinters. When Don Quixote was thrown to the ground, he persisted in
saying that his enemy, Freston, had transformed the giants into
windmills merely to rob him of his honor, but notwithstanding, the
windmills were in reality giants in disguise. This is the first
adventure of the knight.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. i. 8 (1605).

_Windmills._ The giant Widenostrils lived on windmills. (See
WIDENOSTRILS.) Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, iv. 17 (1545).

=Windsor= (_The Rev. Mr._), a friend of Master George Heriot, the
king’s goldsmith.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

=Windsor Beauties= (_The_), Anne Hyde, duchess of York, and her twelve
ladies in the court of Charles II., painted by Sir Peter Lely, at the
request of Anne Hyde. Conspicuous in her train of Hebês was Frances
Jennings, eldest daughter of Richard Jennings of Standridge, near St.
Alban’s.

=Windsor Sentinel= (_The_), who heard St. Paul’s clock strike
thirteen, was John Hatfield, who died at his house in Glasshouse Yard,
Aldersgate, June 18, 1770, aged 102.

=Wingate= (_Master Jasper_), the steward at Avenel Castle.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Wingfield=, a citizen of Perth, whose trade was
feather-dressing.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry
IV.).

_Wingfield_ (_Ambrose_), employed at Osbaldistone Hall.

_Lancie Wingfield_, one of the men employed at Osbaldistone Hall.--Sir
W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

=Wing-the-Wind= (_Michael_), a servant at Holyrood Palace, and the
friend of Adam Woodcock.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Winifred=, heroine of _The Last Meeting_, by Brander Matthews. In
defiance of all innuendoes and arguments, she remains true to her
lover throughout the period of his mysterious absence.

=Winifrid= (_St._), patron saint of virgins; beheaded by Caradoc, for
refusing to marry him. The tears she shed became the fountain called
“St. Winifrid’s Well,” the waters of which not only cure all sorts of
diseases, but are so buoyant that nothing sinks to the bottom. St.
Winifrid’s blood stained the gravel in the neighborhood red, and her
hair became moss. Drayton has given this legend in verse in his
_Polyolbion_ x. (1612).

=Winkle= (_Nathaniel_), M.P.C., a young cockney sportsman, considered
by his companions to be a dead shot, a hunter, skater, etc. All these
acquirements are, however, wholly imaginary. He marries Arabella
Allen.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).

_Winkle_ (_Rip Van_), a Dutch colonist of New York, who met a strange
man in a ravine of the Catskill Mountains. Rip helped the stranger to
carry a keg to a wild retreat among rocks, where he saw a host of
strange personages playing skittles in mysterious silence. Rip took
the first opportunity of tasting the keg, fell into a stupor, and
slept for twenty years. On waking, he found that his wife was dead and
buried, his daughter married, his village remodelled, and America had
become independent.--Washington Irving, _Sketch-Book_ (1820).

The tales of Epimenidês, of Peter Klaus, of the Sleeping Beauty, the
Seven Sleepers, etc., are somewhat similar. (See SLEEPER.)

=Winklebred= or =Winklebrand= (_Louis_), lieutenant of Sir Maurice de
Bracy, a follower of Prince John.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time,
Richard I.).

=Winnie=, (_Annie_), an old sibyl, who makes her appearance at the
death of Alice Gray.--Sir W. Scott, _Bride of Lammermoor_ (time,
William III.).

=Winter=, the head servant of General Witherington, _alias_ Richard
Tresham.--Sir W. Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).

_Winter._ (See SEASONS.)

=Winterbourne=, travelling American who makes a “study” of Daisy
Miller.--Henry James, Jr., _Daisy Miller_ (1878).

=Winter King= (_The_), Frederick V., the rival of Ferdinand II. of
Germany. He married Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England, and
was king of Bohemia for just one winter, the end of 1619 and the
beginning of 1620 (1596-1632). (See SNOW KING.)

=Winter Queen= (_The_), Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England,
and wife of Frederick V. “The Winter King.” (See SNOW QUEEN.)

=Winter’s Tale= (_The_), by Shakespeare (1604). Leontês, king of
Sicily, invites his friend Polixenês to visit him. During this visit
the king becomes jealous of him, and commands Camillo to poison him;
but Camillo only warns Polixenês of the danger, and flees with him to
Bohemia. When Leontês hears thereof, his rage is unbounded; and he
casts his queen, Hermi´onê, into prison, where she gives birth to a
daughter, which Leontês gives direction shall be placed on a desert
shore to perish. In the mean time, he is told that Hermionê, the
queen, is dead. The vessel containing the infant daughter being
storm-driven to Bohemia, the child is left there, and is brought up by
a shepherd, who calls it Perdĭta. One day, in a hunt, Prince Florizel
sees Perdita and falls in love with her; but Polixenês, his father,
tells her that she and the shepherd shall be put to death if she
encourages the foolish suit. Florizel and Perdita now flee to Sicily,
and being introduced to Leontês, it is soon discovered that Perdita is
his lost daughter. Polixenês tracks his son to Sicily, and being told
of the discovery, gladly consents to the union he had before
forbidden. Pauli´na now invites the royal party to inspect a statue of
Hermionê in her house, and the statue turns out to be the living
queen.

The plot of this drama is borrowed from the tale of _Pandosto_, or
_The Triumph of Time_, by Robert Greene (1583).

We should have him back
Who told the _Winter’s Tale_ to do it for us.
Tennyson, Prologue of _The Princess_.

=Winterblossom= (_Mr. Philip_), “the man of taste,” on the managing
committee at the Spa.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_ (time, George
III.).

=Wintersen= (_The count_), brother of Baron Steinfort, lord of the
place, and greatly beloved.

_The Countess Wintersen_, wife of the above. She is a kind friend to
Mrs. Haller, and confidante of her brother, the Baron
Steinfort.--Benjamin Thompson, _The Stranger_ (1797).

=Winterton= (_Adam_), the garrulous old steward of Sir Edward
Mortimer, in whose service he had been for forty-nine years. He was
fond of his little jokes, and not less so of his little nips, but he
loved his master and almost idolized him.--G. Colman, _The Iron Chest_
(1796).

=Win-the-Fight= (_Joachin_), the attorney employed by Major
Bridgenorth, the roundhead.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_
(time, Charles II.).

=Winthrop= (_Madam_). One of the oddest chapters in a bona fide
courtship is found in the diary of Judge Samuel Sewall, wherein he
sets down in order the several stages of his wooing of Madame
Winthrop. One extract must suffice.

“I think I repeated again that I would go home and bewail my rashness
in making more haste than good speed. I would endeavor to contain
myself and not go on to solicit her to do that which she could not
consent to. Took leave of her. As came down the steps, she bid me have
a care. Treated me courteously. Told her she had entered the fourth
year of her widowhood. I had given her the newsletter before. I did
not bid her draw off her glove as sometime I had done. Her dress was
not so clean as sometime it had been. Jehovah jireh!”--_Sewall Papers_
(173——).

=Wisdom= (_Honor paid to_).

ANACHARSIS went from Scythia to Athens to see Solon.--Ælian, _De Varia
Historia_, v.

APOLLONIOS TYANÆUS (Cappadocia) travelled through Scythia and into
India as far as the river Phison to see Hierarchus.--Philostrătos,
_Life of Apollonios_.

BEN JONSON, in 1619, travelled on foot from London to Scotland merely
to see W. Drummond, the Scotch poet, whose genius he admired.

LIVY went from the confines of Spain to Rome to hold converse with the
learned men of that city.--Pliny the Younger, _Epistle_, iii 2.

PLATO travelled from Athens to Egypt to see the wise men or magi, and
to visit Archytas of Tarentum, inventor of several automatons, as the
flying pigeon, and of numerous mechanical instruments, as the screw
and crane.

PYTHAGORAS went from Italy to Egypt to visit the vaticinators of
Memphis.--Porphyry, _Life of Pythagoras_.

SHEBA (_The queen of_) went from “the uttermost parts of the earth” to
hear and see Solomon, whose wisdom and greatness had reached her ear.

=Wisdom Persecuted.=

ANAXAGORAS of Clazomēnæ held opinions in natural science so far in
advance of his age that he was accused of impiety, cast into prison,
and condemned to death. It was with great difficulty that Perĭclês got
the sentence commuted to fine and banishment.

AVERROIS, the Arabian philosopher, was denounced as a heretic, and
degraded, in the twelfth Christian century (died 1226).

BACON (_Friar_) was excommunicated and imprisoned for diabolical
knowledge, chiefly on account of his chemical researches (1214-1294).

BRUNO (_Giordano_) was burnt alive for maintaining that matter is the
mother of all things (1550-1600).

CROSSE (_Andrew_), electrician, was shunned as a profane man, because
he asserted that certain minute animals of the genus _Acarus_ had been
developed by him out of inorganic elements (1784-1855).

DEE (_Dr. John_) had his house broken into by a mob, and all his
valuable library, museum, and mathematical instruments destroyed,
because he was so wise that “he must have been allied with the devil”
(1527-1608).

FEARGIL. (See “Virgilius.”)

GALILEO was imprisoned by the Inquisition for daring to believe that
the earth moved round the sun and not the sun round the earth. In
order to get his liberty, he was obliged to “abjure the heresy;” but
as the door closed he muttered, _E pur si muove_ (“But it does move,
though”), (1564-1642).

GERBERT, who introduced algebra into Christendom, was accused of
dealing in the black arts, and was shunned as a “son of Belial.”

GROSTED or GROSSETESTE, bishop of Lincoln, author of some two hundred
works, was accused of dealing in the black arts, and the pope wrote a
letter to Henry III., enjoining him to disinter the bones of the
too-wise bishop, as they polluted the very dust of God’s acre (died
1253).

FAUST (_Dr._), the German philosopher, was accused of diabolism for
his wisdom so far in advance of the age.

PEYRERE was imprisoned in Brussels for attempting to prove that man
existed before Adam (seventeenth century).

PROTAGORAS, the philosopher, was banished from Athens, for his book
_On the Gods_.

SOCRATÉS was condemned to death as an atheist, because his wisdom was
not in accordance with that of the age.

VIRGILIUS, bishop of Saltzburg, was compelled by Pope Zachary to
retract his assertion that there are other “worlds” besides our earth,
and other suns and moons besides those which belong to our system
(died 784).

Geologists had the same battle to fight, and so had Colenso, bishop of
Natal.

=Wise= (_The_).

Albert II., duke of Austria, “The Lame and Wise” (1289, 1330-1358).

Alfonso X. of Leon and Castile (1203, 1252-1284).

Charles V. of France, _Le Sage_ (1337, 1364-1380).

Che-Tsou of China (*, 1278-1295).

Comte de las Casas, _Le Sage_ (1766-1842).

Frederick, elector of Saxony (1463, 1544-1554).

James I., the “Solomon” of England (1566, 1603-1625).

John V., duke of Brittany, “The Good and Wise” (1389, 1399-1442).

=Wise Men= (_The Seven_): (1) Solon of Athens, (2) Chilo of Sparta,
(3) Thalês of Milētos, (4) Bias of Priēnê, (5) Cleobūlos of Lindos,
(6) Pittăcos of Mitylēnê, (7) Periander of Corinth, or, according to
Plato, Myson of Chenæ. All flourished in the sixth century B.C.

First SOLON, who made the Athenian laws;
While CHILO, in Sparta, was famed for his saws;
In Milētos did THALES astronomy teach;
BIAS used in Priēnê his morals to preach;
CLEOBULOS, of Lindos, was handsome and wise;
Mitylenê ’gainst thraldom saw PITTACOS rise;
PERIANDER is said to have gained, thro’ his court,
The title that MYSON, the Chenian, ought.

One of the chapters in Plutarch’s _Moralia_ is entitled, “The Banquet
of the Seven Wise Men,” in which Periander is made to give an account
of a contest at Chalcis between Homer and Hesiod. The latter won the
prize, and caused this inscription to be engraved on the tripod
presented to him:

This Hesiod vows to the Heliconian nine,
In Chalcis won from Homer the divine.

=Wise Men of the East.= Klopstock, in _The Messiah_, v., says there
were six “Wise Men of the East,” who, guided by the star, brought
their gifts to Jesus, “the heavenly babe,” viz., Ha´dad, Selima,
Zimri, Mirja, Be´led and Sun´ith. (See COLOGNE, THREE KINGS OF.)

=Wisest Man.= So the Delphic oracle pronounced Soc´ratês to be.
Socratês modestly made answer, ’Twas because he alone had learnt this
first element of truth, that he knew nothing.

Not those seven sages might him parallel;
For he whom Pythian maid did whilome tell
To be the wisest man that then on earth did dwell.
Phin. Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, vi. (1633).

=Wisheart= (_The Rev. Dr._), chaplain to the earl of Montrose.--Sir W.
Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (time, Charles I.).

=Wishfort= (_Lady_), widow of Sir Jonathan Wishfort; an irritable,
impatient, decayed beauty, who painted and enamelled her face to make
herself look blooming, and was afraid to frown lest the enamel might
crack. She pretended to be coy, and assumed, at the age of 60, the
airs of a girl of 16. A trick was played upon her by Edward Mirabell,
who induced his lackey, Waitwell, to personate Sir Rowland, and make
love to her; but the deceit was discovered before much mischief was
done. Her pet expression was, “As I’m a person.”--W. Congreve, _The
Way of the World_ (1700).

=Wishing-Cap= (_The_), a cap given to Fortunatus. He had only to put
the cap on and wish, and whatever he wished he instantly
obtained.--Straparola, _Fortunatus_.

=Wishing-Rod= (_The_), a rod of pure gold, belonging to the Nibelungs.
Whoever possessed it could have anything he desired to have, and hold
the whole world in subjection.--_The Nibelungen Lied_, 1160 (1210).

=Wishing-Sack= (_The_), a sack given by our Lord to a man named
“Fourteen,” because he was as strong as fourteen men. Whatever he
wished to have he had only to say, “Come into my sack,” and it came
in.

⁂ This is a Basque legend. In Gascoigne it is called _Le Sac de la
Ramée_ (“Ramée’s Sack”).

=Wit--Simplicity.= It was said of John Gay that he was

In wit a man, simplicity a child.

⁂ The line is often flung at Oliver Goldsmith, to whom, indeed, it
equally applies.

=Witch.= The last person prosecuted before the lords or justiciary (in
Scotland) for witchcraft was Elspeth Rule. She was tried May 3, 1709,
before Lord Anstruther, and condemned to be burned on the cheek, and
banished from Scotland for life.--Arnot, _History of Edinburgh_, 366,
367.

=Witch-Finder=, Matthew Hopkins (seventeenth century). In 1645 he
hanged sixty witches in his own county (Essex) alone, and received
20s. a head for every witch he could discover.

Has not the present parliament
Mat Hopkins to the devil sent,
Fully empowered to treat about,
Finding revolted witches out?
And has not he within a year
Hanged three score of them in one shire?
S. Butler, _Hudibras_, ii. 3 (1664).

=Witch of Atlas=, the title and heroine of one of Shelley’s poems.

=Witch of Balwer´y=, Margaret Aikens, a Scotchwoman (sixteenth
century).

=Witch of Edmonton= (_The_), called “Mother Sawyer.” This is the true
traditional witch; no mystic hag, no weird sister, but only a poor,
deformed old woman, the terror of villagers, and amenable to justice.

Why should the envious world
Throw all their scandalous malice upon me?
Because I’m poor, deformed, and ignorant,
And, like a bow, buckled and bent together
By some more strong in mischiefs than myself.
_The Witch of Edmonton_, (by Rowley, Dekker and Ford,
1658).

=Witch’s Blood.= Whoever was successful in drawing blood from a witch,
was free from her malignant power. Hence Talbot, when he sees La
Pucelle, exclaims, “Blood will I draw from thee; thou art a
witch!”--Shakespeare, _1 Henry VI._ act i. sc. 5 (1592).

=Witherington= (_General_), _alias_ Richard Tresham, who first appears
as Mr. Matthew Middlemas.

_Mrs. Witherington_, wife of the general, alias Mrs. Middlemas (born
Zelia de Monçada). She appears first as Mrs. Middlemas.--Sir W. Scott,
_The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).

=Wititterly= (_Mr. Henry_), an important gentleman, 38 years of age;
of rather plebeian countenance, and with very light hair. He boasts
everlastingly of his grand friends. To shake hands with a lord was a
thing to talk of, but to entertain one was to be in the seventh
heaven.

_Mrs. Wititterly_ [_Julia_], wife of Mr. Wititterly, of Cadŏgan Place,
Sloane Street, London; a faded lady living in a faded house. She calls
her page Alphonse (2 _syl._), “although he has the face and figure of
Bill.” Mrs. Wititterly toadies the aristocracy, and, like her husband,
boasts of her grand connections and friends.--C. Dickens, _Nicholas
Nickleby_ (1838). (See TIBBS).

=Witling of Terror=, Bertrand Barère; also called “The Anacreon of the
Guillotine” (1755-1841).

=Wittenbold=, a Dutch commandant in the service of Charles II.--Sir W.
Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

=Witterington= (_Roger_). (See WIDDRINGTON.)

=Wittol= (_Sir Joseph_), an ignorant, foolish simpleton, who says that
Bully Buff “is as brave a fellow as Cannibal.”--Congreve, _The Old
Bachelor_ (1693).

=Witwould= (_Sir Wilful_), of Shropshire, half-brother of Anthony
Witwould, and nephew of Lady Wishfort. A mixture of bashfulness and
obstinacy, but when in his cups as loving as the monster in the
_Tempest_. He is “a superannuated old bachelor,” who is willing to
marry Millamant; but as the young lady prefers Edward Mirabell, he is
equally willing to resign her to him. His favorite phrase is, “Wilful
will do it.”

_Anthony Witwould_, half-brother to Sir Wilful. “He has good nature
and does not want wit.” Having a good memory, he has a store of other
folks’ wit, which he brings out in conversation with good effect.--W.
Congreve, _The Way of the World_ (1700).

=Wives as they Were and Maids as they Are=, a comedy by Mrs. Inchbald
(1797). Lady Priory is the type of the former, and Miss Dorrillon of
the latter. Lady Priory is discreet, domestic, and submissive to her
husband; but Miss Dorrillon is gay, flighty, and fond of pleasure.
Lady Priory, under false pretences, is allured from home by a Mr.
Bronzely, a man of no principle and a rake; but her quiet, innocent
conduct quite disarms him, and he takes her back to her husband,
ashamed of himself, and resolves to amend. Miss Dorrillon is so
involved in debt that she is arrested, but her father from the Indies
pays her debts. She also repents, and becomes the wife of Sir George
Evelyn.

=Wives of Literary Men.= According to popular rumor the following were
_unhappy_ in their wives:--Addison, Byron, Dickens, Dryden, Albert
Dürer, Hooker, Ben Jonson, W. Lilly, Milton (first wife), Molière,
More, Saadi, Scaliger, Shakespeare, Shelley, Socratês, Wycherly, etc.
The following were _happy_ in their choice:--Thomas Moore, Sir W.
Scott, Wordsworth, William Howitt, Robert Browning, S. C. Hall,
Disraeli, Gladstone, etc., in England, and in America a great majority
of literary men:--Longfellow, Lowell, Emerson, Hawthorne, to name only
a few.

=Wizard of the North=, Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).

=Wobbler= (_Mr._), of the Circumlocution Office. When Mr. Clennam, by
the direction of Mr. Barnacle, in another department of the office,
called on this gentleman, he was telling a brother clerk about a
rat-hunt, and kept Clennam waiting a considerable time. When at length
Mr. Wobbler chose to attend, he politely said, “Hallo, there! What’s
the matter?” Mr. Clennam briefly stated his question; and Mr. Wobbler
replied, “Can’t inform you. Never heard of it. Nothing at all to do
with it. Try Mr. Clive.” When Clennam left, Mr. Wobbler called out,
“Mister! Hallo, there! Shut the door after you. There’s a devil of a
draught!”--Charles Dickens, _Little Dorrit_, x. (1857).

=Woeful Countenance= (_Knight of the_). Don Quixote was so called by
Sancho Panza, but after his adventure with the lions he called himself
“The Knight of the Lions.”--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iii. 5; II.
i. 17 (1605-15).

=Wolf.= The NEURI, according to Herodŏtus, had the power of assuming
the shape of wolves once a year.

One of the family of ANTÆUS, according to Pliny, was chosen annually,
by lot, to be transformed into a wolf, in which shape he continued for
nine years.

LYCA´ON, king of Arcādia, was turned into a wolf because he attempted
to test the divinity of Jupiter by serving up to him “human flesh at
table.”--Ovid.

VERET´ICUS, king of Wales, was turned by St. Patrick into a wolf.

_Wolf._ When Dantê, in the first Canto of the _Divina Commedia_,
describes the ascent of the hill (of fame?) he is met, first by a
panther (_pleasure?_) then by a lion (_ambition?_) then by a she-wolf
(_avarice?_)

A she-wolf, ... who in her leanness seemed
Full of all wants, ... with such fear
O’erwhelmed me ... that of the height all hope I lost.
Dantê, _Inferno_, i. (1300).

_Wolf_ (_To cry_), to give a false alarm.

YÖW-WÂNG, emperor of China, was greatly enamoured of a courtezan named
Pao-tse, whom he tried, by sundry expedients, to make laugh. At length
he hit upon the following plan:--He caused the tocsins to be rung, the
drums to be beaten, and the signal-fires to be lighted, as if some
invader was at the gates. Pao-tse was delighted, and laughed
immoderately to see the vassals and feudatory princes pouring into the
city, and all the people in consternation. The emperor, pleased with
the success of his trick, amused his favorite over and over again by
repeating it. At length an enemy really did come, but when the alarm
was given no one heeded it, and the emperor was slain (B.C. 770).

=Wolf duke of Gascony=, one of Charlemagne’s paladins. He was the
originator of the plan of tying wetted ropes round the temples of his
prisoners, to make their eye-balls start from their sockets. It was he
also who had men sewn up in freshly stripped bulls’ hides, and exposed
to the sun till the hides, in shrinking, crushed their
bones.--L’Epine, _Croquemitaine_, iii.

=Wolf of France= (_She-_), Isabella _la Belle_, wife of Edward II. She
murdered her royal husband “by tearing out his bowels with her own
hands.”

She-wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs,
Thou tear’st the bowels of thy mangled mate.
Gray, _The Bard_ (1757).

=Wol´fort=, usurper of the earldom of Flanders.--Beaumont and
Fletcher, _The Beggars’ Bush_ (1622).

=Wolfort Webber=, Old Knickerbocker, searcher for treasure buried by
buccaneers.--Washington Irving, _Tales of a Traveller_.

=Wolsey= (_Cardinal_), introduced by Shakespeare in his historic play
of _Henry VIII._ (1601).

=Woman Changed to a Man.= Iphis, daughter of Lygdus and Telethusa, of
Crete. The story is that the father gave orders if the child about to
be born proved to be a girl, it was to be put to death; and that the
mother, unwilling to lose her infant, brought it up as a boy. In due
time the father betrothed his child to Ianthê, and the mother, in
terror, prayed for help, when Isis, on the day of marriage, changed
Iphis to a man.--Ovid, _Metaph._ ix. 12; xiv, 699.

CÆNEUS [_Se.nuce_], was born of the female sex, but Neptune changed
her into a man. Ænēas, however, found her in the infernal regions
restored to her original sex.

TIRE´SIAS, was converted into a woman for killing one of two serpents
he met in a wood and was restored to his original sex by killing the
other serpent met again after seven years.

D’EON DE BEAUMONT, the Chevalier, was believed to be a woman.

HERMAPHRODITOS was of both sexes.

=Woman killed with Kindness= (_A_), a tragedy by Thos. Heywood (1600).
The “woman” was Mrs. Frankford, who was unfaithful to her marriage
vow. Her husband sent her to live on one of his estates, and made her
a liberal allowance; she died, but on her death-bed her husband came
to see her, and forgave her.

=Woman made of Flowers.= Gwydion, son of Don, “formed a woman out of
flowers,” according to the Bard Taliesin. Arianrod had said that Llew
Llaw Gyffes (_i.e._, “The Lion with the Steady Hand”), should never
have a wife of the human race. So Math and Gwydion, two enchanters,

Took blossoms of oak, and blossoms of broom, and blossoms of
meadow-sweet, and produced therefrom a maiden, the fairest and most
graceful ever seen, and baptized her Blodeuwedd, and she became his
bride.--_The Mabinogion_ (“Math,” etc., twelfth century).

=Woman’s Wit=, or =Love’s Disguises=, a drama by S. Knowles (1838).
Hero Sutton loved Sir Valentine de Grey, but offended him by waltzing
with Lord Athunree. To win him back she assumed the disguise of a
Quakeress, called herself Ruth, and pretended to be Hero’s cousin. Sir
Valentine fell in love with Ruth, and then found out that Ruth and
Hero were one and the same person. The secondary plot is that of Helen
and Walsingham, lovers. Walsingham thought Helen had played the wanton
with Lord Athunree, and he abandoned her. Whereupon Helen assumed the
garb of a young man named Eustace, became friends with Walsingham,
said she was Helen’s brother; but in the brother he discovers Helen
herself, and learnt that he had been wholly misled by appearances.

=Women= (_The Nine Worthy_): (1) Minerva, (2) Semiramis, (3) Tomyris,
(4) Jael, (5) Debŏrah, (6) Judith, (7) Britomart, (8) Elizabeth or
Isabella of Aragon, (9) Johanna of Naples.

By’r lady, maist story-man, I am well afraid thou hast done with thy
talke. I had rather have herd something sayd of gentle and meeke
women, for it is euill examples to let them understand of such studye
manlye women as those have been which erewhile thou hast tolde of.
They are quicke enow, I warrant you, noweadays, to take hart-a-grace,
and dare make warre with their husbandes. I would not vor the price o’
my coate, that Jone, my wife had herd this yeare; she would haue
carried away your tales of the nine worthy women a dele zoner than our
minister’s tales anent Sarah, Rebekah, Ruth, and the ministering
women, I warrant you.--John Ferne, _Dialogue on Heraldry_ (“Columel’s
reply to Torquatus”).

⁂ “Hart-a-grace,” a hart permitted by royal proclamation to run free
and unharmed for ever, because it has been hunted by a king or queen.

=Women of Abandoned Morals.=

BARBARA of Cilley, second wife of the Emperor Sigismund, called “The
Messalīna of Germany.”