Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/801

 WINCHELSEA, ANNE, COUNTESS OF, the daughter of Sir William Kingsmill, of Sidmonton, in the county of Southampton. She was maid of honour to the Duchess of York, second wife of James II., and married Heneage, Earl of Winchelsea, who afterwards succeeded to the hereditary title. She died August 6th, 1720, without leaving any children. Wordsworth speaks highly of her poem called "A Nocturnal Reverie." Another of her poems was addressed to "The Spleen." A collection of the countess's poems was printed in London, together with a tragedy, never acted, entitled "Aristomenes." Mr. Chambers remarks of her poetry, and it should not be forgotten that she was the first English-woman who attempted to ascend the Parnassian heights—"Her lines are smoothly versified, and possess a tone of calm and contemplative feeling."  WINCKEL, THERESA EMILIA HENRIETTA, born at Dresden, in 1784, and was celebrated for her copies of the old masters. She is said to have been unequalled in the copies she made of Correggio's works. She went to Paris, with her mother, in 1808, and spent her time while in that city in studying the works of art with which it abounds. Her letters from Paris have been published, and she also wrote many articles for periodicals. She began the study of the art of painting, at first, for her own gratification; but her mother losing her fortune, Henrietta supported them both by her own exertions.  WINTER, LUCRETIA WILHELMINA, ( maiden name was Van Merken,) was born in 1745, in Amsterdam, Holland. She was married to the poet Nicolaus Simon Winter, with whose writings a great deal of her poetry was published. She was a poetess of the Dutch school; all her verses bear the impress of labour, and the marks of a great deal of polishing. She wrote the two epics, "David," and "Gerraanicus," and a number of miscellaneous poems, published in 1793. She died in 1795, at Leyden, Holland.  WOFFINGTON, MARGARET, actress, celebrated for her beauty, elegance, and talent, was born at Dublin in 1718. She acted in the London and Dublin Theatres, and was very much admired. She was sprightly, good humoured, and charitable; and her society was sought by the gravest and most learned persons. She died in London, in 1760.  WOLF, ARNOLDINA, of Cassel, in Germany, was born in 1769. Her father was an officer in the Hessian government; but he died while she was quite young. When she was about eighteen, she was attacked by a very painful disease, which prevented her from sleeping for nearly twenty-six weeks. She alleviated her sufferings by repeating and composing poetry. The poems she composed while in this state were published in 1788. At length she fell into an apparent state of insensibility, in which she hardly seemed to live; but she 