Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/539

Rh finding of the court-martial was set aside by the commanding general, and this action was subse- quently confirmed by the judge-advocate-general at Washington. He afterward served on the expe- dition to Roanoke river in December, 1864, and then before Richmond till its capture, and in 1865 superintended the operations of the Preedmen's bureau in Georgia. On 15 Jan., 1866, he was mus- tered out of service. Since the war Gen. Wild has been engaged in silver-mining.

WILD, Joseph, Canadian clergyman, b. in Sum- mit, Littleborough, Lancashire, England, 16 Nov., 1834. He entered the local ministry of the Primi- tive Methodists at the age of sixteen, became a travelling preacher, and at twenty-one emigrated to the United States. After travelling through the south and west as a preacher and lecturer, he was stationed as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1857 at Hamilton, Ont., re- maining one year. He then took a three-years' course in theology at the Biblical institute at Con- cord, N. H., returned to Canada, preached for a year at Goderich, and in 1863 was settled at Orono, Me., whence he was transferred two years later to Belleville, Ont., where he was pastor of the Methodist church and bursar and professor of Oriental languages in Albert university. Wes- leyan university of Ohio gave him the degree of D. D. in 1870. In 1872 he was called to Brook- lyn, N. Y., and, after remaining the allotted three years, being dissatisfied with the itinerant system, he accepted a call to the Union Congregational church in the same city. In 1881 he was installed as pastor of the Bond street Congregational church, Toronto, where he still officiates. He is popular as a preacher, has the largest regular congregation in Canada, and his sermons are printed in the " Canadian Advance," and circulated in Great Brit- ain and Australia, as well as in the Dominion. In 1888 he acted as chairman of the Congregational union of Ontario and Quebec. Dr. Wild is a large and stxccessful cultivator of fruits. He has pub- lished " The Lost Ten Tribes " (New York, 1878) ; "How and When the World Will End" (1879); " The Future of Israel and Judah " (London, 1879) ; "Talks for the Times" (Toronto, 1886); and " Songs of the Sanctuary " (1886). Editions of most of his works have been issued in the United States and England as well as in Canada.

WILDE, Richard Henry, scholar, b. in Dub- lin, Ireland, 24 Sept., 1789 ; d. in New Orleans, La., 10 Sept., 1847. His father, Richard Wilde, a Dub- lin merchant, came to the United States in 1797, and died in 1802. The Widow and son removed to Augusta, Ga., where he fitted himself for the bar and was admitted in 1809. He was elected at- torney-general of Georgia, and then chosen to congress as a Democrat, serving one term, in 1815-'17. He returned to the bar, but sat again in congress from 7 Feb. till 3 March, 1825, being elected to fill a vacancy, and, after a defeat for the next congress, was a member again from 1827 till 1835. His best speeches were those on internal improvements (Washington, 1828), in op- position to the Force bill and to the removal of the deposits from the U. S. bank, and those on the tariff and the currency. His opposition to President Jackson made him unpopular with his constituents, and he was defeated in 1834. where- upon he went to Europe and remained there till 1840, engaged in scholarly pursuits. He devoted himself specially to Italian literature, chiefly in Florence, and, obtaining access to valuable private libraries, discovered some forgotten documents bearing on the life and times of Dante, and also a portrait of the poet that had been painted on the wall of the chapel of Bargello by Giotto, but covered for many years with whitewash. He also made a study of the life of Torquato Tas- so, and became the f riendof many Italian literary men. After his re- turn to this coun- try he was a mem- ber of the Whig state convention at Milledgeville, Ga., in 1842, but took no further part in politics. He removed to New Orleans in 1843, and. on the organization of versity of Louisiana, became its professor of constitutional law,, which post he held till his death from yellow fever. Mr. Wilde's brother, James, who had been a sub- altern officer in the Seminole war, interested him in Florida, and he began to write an epic whose scene was laid in that state. This was never fin- ished, but a lyric that it contained, called " The Lament of the Captive," but now known by its first line, "My Life is like the Summer Rose," be- came widely popular. It was suggested by the story of Juan Ortez, the last survivor of the ill- fated, expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez. The verses appeared first in print about 1815 without Mr. Wilde's authorization, and were continually re- published. Soon afterward it was said in the " North American Review " that they were trans- lated from a Greek ode that purported to have been written by Alca?us. Scholars soon discovered that the latter was not genuine, and it was found that it was the work of Anthony Barclay, of Savannah, who had translated Mr. Wilde's song into Greek for his own amusement. The song was set to music by Charles Thibault. Mr. Barclay subse- quently wrote an " Authentic Account of Wilde's Alleged Plagiarism," which was published by the Georgia historical society (Savannah, 1871). The story of the poem in its entirety was first told in " Our Familiar Songs" by Helen Kendrick Johnson (New York, 1881). Mr. Wilde's only published work is "Conjectures and Researches concerning the Love, Madness, and Imprisonment of Torquato Tasso," the fruit of his studies in Italy, a scholarly work, which is also valuable for the poetical trans- lations from Tasso that it contains (2 vols., New York, 1842). He contributed an essay on " Pe- trarch " to the " Southern Review," and wrote poet- ry, original and translated, for the magazines. His translations from the Italian, Spanish, and French are graceful and correct. He left many manu- scripts, including an unfinished " Life of Dante " : a collection of translations of Italian lyrics, which he intended to publish with biographical sketches of the authors ; and a completed poem of several cantos, entitled " Hesperia," which was edited by his son and issued after his death (Boston, 1867).

WILDE, Samuel Sumner, jurist, b. in Taunton, Mass., 5 Feb., 1771 ; d. in Boston, Mass., 22 June, 1855. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1789, studied law in his native place, and was admitted to the bar in 1792. After practising till 1794 in Waldoborough, Me., and till 1799 at Warren, Me.,