Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/790

 "A Tale of the Times," "Poems and Plays," "Letters to a Young Man," "Letters to a Young Lady," etc.

WESTMORELAND, JANE, COUNTESS OF, daughter of Henry, Earl of Surrey, who was beheaded in 1547, was the wife of Charles, Earl of Westmorland, by whom she had four daughters. This lady made such progress in Latin and Greek, under the instruction of Fox, the martyrologist, that she might compete with the most learned men of the age. The latter part of her life was rendered very unhappy by her husband's conduct; for he was engaged in an insurrection, in 1569, and in consequence, his property was confiscated, and he himself sentenced to death, which he escaped by leaving the country, and remaining a long time in exile.

WESTON, ELIZABETH JANE, born about 1558. She left England very young, and settled at Prague, in Bohemia, where she passed the rest of her life. She was a woman of fine talents, which were highly cultivated; she was skilled in various languages, especially Latin, in which she wrote several works, both in prose and verse, highly esteemed by some of the most learned men of her time. They were published in 1606. She was married to John Leon, a gentleman belonging to the emperor's court, and was living in 1605, as appears by a letter written by her in that year. She was commended by Scaliger, and complimented by Nicholas May in a Latin epigram. She is ranked with Sir Thomas Moore, and the best Latin poets of the sixteenth century.

WHARTON, ANNE, COUNTESS OF, of Sir Henry Lee, of Oxfordshire; married Thomas, Earl of Wharton, and distinguished herself by her learning and poetical works. She died in 1685. One of her plays was entitled, "Love's Martyr, or Wit above Crowns." Many of her poems are printed in the collections of Dryden and Nichols. She had no children.

WHEATLEY, PHILLIS, brought from Africa, to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1761, when she was six years old, and sold in the slave-market, to Mrs. John Wheatley, wife of a merchant of that city. This lady, perceiving her natural abilities, had her carefully educated, and she acquired a thorough knowledge of the English and Latin languages. She wrote verses with great ease and fluency, frequently rising in the night to put down any thought that had occurred to her. In 1772, she accompanied a son of Mr. Wheatley to this country, for her health, and received a great deal of attention from the people in the higher ranks of life. Her poems were published in London, 1773, while she was in that city. She was then nineteen years of age. The volume was dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon; and in the preface are the names of the governor of Massachusetts, and several other eminent gentlemen, bearing testimony to their belief of her having been the genuine writer. Mr. Sparks, who gives these particulars in his "Life and Writings of George Washington," observes: "In whatever order of merit these poems may be ranked,