A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature Part 51

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 t.i.tles 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 Emba.s.sy 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 _Ill.u.s.trious 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 Sh.o.r.e_, _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 Cyclopaedia_, on which he had been employed, to undertake an American ornithology to be written and ill.u.s.trated 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 succ.u.mbed 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).--Archaeologist 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 friends.h.i.+p 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 Ambrosianae_, 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 s.h.i.+ning 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, Berwicks.h.i.+re, 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 Lincolns.h.i.+re, 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, Hamps.h.i.+re, 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 ent.i.tle 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, Renfrews.h.i.+re. 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 _a.n.a.lecta, 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 _a.n.a.lecta_ is a most curious miscellany showing a strong appet.i.te 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, Devons.h.i.+re, 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 a.s.sisted 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 circ.u.mstances 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 a 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 _Athenae 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 _Ill.u.s.trated Natural History_ (1853), _Animal Traits and Characteristics_ (1860), _Common Objects of the Sea Sh.o.r.e_ (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 Basilike?_ in which he argued for the authors.h.i.+p 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 c.o.c.kermouth. 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 ill.u.s.trious brother), except a claim for 5000 against Lord Lonsdale, which his lords.h.i.+p 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 Lancas.h.i.+re; 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 friends.h.i.+p 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, Dorsets.h.i.+re, 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 circ.u.mstances 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 friends.h.i.+p 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 pa.s.sages in _The Excursion_, and some of his short pieces, and especially his sonnets, he rises to heights of n.o.ble 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 enn.o.bling views of life and duty. But his great distinguis.h.i.+ng 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 n.o.ble 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 Ess.e.x, who employed him abroad, and while at Venice he wrote _The State of Christendom or a Most Exact and Curious Discovery of many Secret Pa.s.sages 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 _Reliquiae Wottonianae_. 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 Ess.e.x_ (1831-36). In 1836 he went to London, and adopted literature as a profession, devoting himself specially to archaeology, 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 emba.s.sy 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 Amba.s.sador 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 friends.h.i.+p 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 Moliere's _Misanthrope_. His plays are notoriously coa.r.s.e.