Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/1032

 WIT

the Article Ductility.
 * The Method of 'drawing it, fee further ilhiftrited under

Stiver Wire is the fame with Gold Wire, except that the latter is gilt, or cover'd with Gold, and the other is not. See Silver.

There »re alio counterfeit Gold and Silver Wires: The firlt made of a Cylinder of Copper, filver'd over, then cover'd with Gold ; and the fecond of a like Cylinder of Copper filver'd over, and drawn thro' the Iron after the fame manner as Gold and Silver Wire.

Brafs Wire is drawn after the fame manner as the for- mer. Of this, there are divers Sizes fuited to the di- vers Kinds of Works. The fineft ia ufed for the Strings of Mnfical-Inttruments, as Spinets, Harpfichords, Manichotds, £S?c. See Chorp.

The Pinmakers likewife ufe vaff Quantities otWire of feveial Sizes, to maketheir tins of. See Ptn.

Iron W i r e, is call'd by the French Fil d' 'Archal ; the

Reafon of which, their Author* are not agreed about

That celebrated Etymologiil, M, Menage., derives it from flam £$ aurichalcum ; but others, more convetfant in the Commerce thereof, deduce it from one Richard Archal the fitft Inventor thereof.

There ate vatious Sizes of this Wire, from i of an Inch to ,*j of an Inch Diameter. The fmalleft Sizes are ufed to itring Mufical Instruments with^ll, particularly Harpfi- chords, Pfalteries, j£c. Vaft Quantitiesof Iron-Wire are

brought yearly from the Saltick ; partly fpent at home, and part exported to drawee, &c.

\V ire drawing— —For the fever al Manners of drawing Gold and Silver $ fee Drawing, Gold, Silver, Duc- tility, }£c.

'i tie full Iron that runs from the Stone, when melting, bcii g ihe foftelt, and tougheft, it prcferv'd to make Wire of. See Iron.

WISDOM, Safientia, ufually denotes a higher and more refined Knowledge of things, immediately prefented to the Mind, as it were by Intuition, without the afliftance of Dif- courung. See Knowledge, Discourse, Science, ££c.

In this Sonfe, Wifdotn may be faid to be a Faculty of the Mind, or at leaft a Modification and Habit thereof. Seo Faculty, Modification, Habit, &c.

Sometimes the Word is more immediately ufed in a Mo- ral Senie for what we call 'Prudence, or Discretion ; which confiils in the Soundnefs of the Judgment, and a Conduct an Uerable thereto. See Judgment.

The Schocl-Divines fomctimesrellrain it to the Knowledge of the more (ublime and remote Objects 5 as that of God, i$c. In which fenfe, Theology is properly faid to be IVifriom.

Tr.e Word in Latin, is Safientia, which literally ex- presses the Senfe of Tailing ; to which Wifdom is fuppofed

to hive fume Conformity The Sight, and other Senfe*

only reprefent to us the Surface ot things : Taffc goes deeper, penetrates into the Subflances 5 fo that what, e. gr. to the Feeling feem'd cold, to the Taflefhall be found hot : So H ifdom anfing from a deep Attention to our Ideas, goes further, and frequently judges otherwife than the common Apprehenfions of Men would reach to. See Understand- ing, Reason, i£c.

WIST A, a Quantity, or Meafure of Land among our Saxon Anceftors.

It was different in different Places In the Monajlicon,

it is faid to be half a Hide, or fixty Acres : In an old Chro- nicle of the Monattery of Battle, it is faid to be forty-eight Acres. See Hide, i$c.

WIT, a Faculty of the Mind, confifling, according to Mr. Locke, in the affembling, and putting together of thofe Ideas with Quicknefs and Variety, wherein can be found any Refemblance or Congruity ; thereby to make up plea- fant Picture, and agreeable Vifiont to the Phantafy. See Faculty and Imagination.

This Faculty, the fame great Author obferves, is juft the contrary of Judgment, which confifls in the feparating, carefully, from one another, fuch Ideas wherein can be found the leaft difference, thereby to avoid being milled by Simi- litude, and by Affinity to take one thing for another. See Judgment. ,

'Tis the Metaphor, and Allufton, wherein, for the mod part, lies the Entertainment and Pleafantry of Wit ; which ilrik'es fo livelily on the Fancy,and is therefore foacceptable to all People, becaufcits Beauty appears at firil Sight, and there is required no Labour of Thought to examine what

Truth or Reafon there is in it The Mind, without

lo iking any further, refts fatisfied with the Agreeablenefs of the Fiflure, and the Gaiety of the Imagination ; and it is a kind of Affront to go about to examine it by the fevereRules

of Truth, or Reafon. Whence it fhouldfeem, that Wit

confifls in fomething that is not perfectly conformable to 'em. Effay on Hum. Uhderft. L. I. c. 1 1.

Wit isalfo an Appellation given to Perfons poffefs'd of the Faculty call'd Wit, Fffrit.

[5??]

WIT

A French Author, who, in 1555 publiflied a Treatife of Wit, du bel Efprit, lays down tour CharaacrKticks thereof. -i. A Man, who, with an open Air, and eafy Mo- tions, affects thofe he converfes withal agreeably; and on any Subject that prefents itfelf, advances new Thoughts, and adorns them with a fprightly Turn ; is, all the World over, a Wit.

2. Another, who lefs folicirous about the Choice ar.o Deli- cacy of his Sentiments, knows how to make himfelfvaluccl by~- I know not what Elevation of Difcourfe 5 who draws a deal of Attention, and /hews a deal of Vivacity inhisSpeaking, and Rcadinefs in his Anfwcrs ; is likewife acknowledged a Wit.

3. A third, who takes lefs Care about thinking^ than about fpeaking well j who affects fine Words, tho' perl<:rps low and poor in Matter; who pleafes by an eafy Pronunciation, and a certain Tone of Voice, is placed in the fame Rank.

4- Another, whofe chief Aim is not to make himfclf efteem'd, fo much as to raife Mirth and Laughter: who jokes pertinently, rallies pleafantly, and finds fomething to amufe himfelf withall in every petty Subject; is likewife allow'd a Wit.

Yet, it may be obferv'd, that in all thefe Cafes, there is nothing of real Wit, as above dtfin'd ; but the whole is Ima- gination, or Memory at moil ; The whole is no more than Temperament may give.

A true H /Ymuft have a juft Faculty of Difcernment ; mufl have, at the fame time, both a deal of Energy and of Deli- cacy in his Sentiments ; his Imagination mult be noble, and withal happy and agreeable ; his Exprefficns polite and well turn'd : without any thing of Pardoe or Vanity in his Difcourfe, or his Carriage. 'Tis not at all effential to a Wit to be ever hunting after the Srillam ; {till fludyins; fine Thoughts, and affecting to fay nothing but what may itrike and furprize.

This is a Fault very frequent in Dramatic Perfons : The Dukeof Buckingham rallies it very jurUy.

What is that thing which me /heer Wit do call 7. '2?S when the Wit of fame great Writer pall So overflow 5 that is, be none at all: That even his Fools f peak Senfe —

Humour, fay our Critics, is the genuine Wit of Comedies. See Humour.

WITCHCRAFT; fee Sorcery and Magic.

There may, perhaps, be fome Foundation for what we

call Witchcraft We have infinite Inftances and Hiitories

to this purpofe ; which ir were not fair to fet afide, merely becaufethey are not reconcileablcto ourPhilofophy : Bur, as it happens, there feems to be fomething in Philofophy to countenance them.

All living things, we know, emit Effluvia, both by the

Breath and the Pores of the Skin All Bodies, therefore,

within the Sphere of their perfpiratory, or expiratory Efflu- via, will be affected by 'em ; and that, in this or that man- ner, according to the Quality of the Effluvia ; and in this or that degree, according to the Difpofition of the emictent and recipient Parts. See Effluvia.

Thus far is inconteftable ; nor need we produce Inftances of Animals exhaling fweet or {linking Smells ; of mentlru* ous Women's infecting a Looking-Glafs wiih a bloody Tar- ni/h; or the infectious Difeafes convey'd by Effluvia,^. in confirmation thereof.

Kow ? of all Parts of an Animal Body, the Eye, wc know, is the quickefi. - —It moves with the groatcfi Cele- rity, and in ail the Variety of Directions. Again, Its Coats and Humours are permeable as any ether part of the Body, (wirnefs the Rays of Light it fo copioufly receives.,) Tho Eye, therefore, no doubt emits its Effluvia like the o;her parts. Nay, it muft do fo. The fine Humours of the Eye muft be continually exhaling. The Heat of the pervading Rays mult rarefy and attenuate 'em : And that, with the fubrile Juice or Spirit of the neighbouring optic Nerve, fup- ply'd in great abundance by the vicinity of the Brain, muft make a fund of volatile Matter to be difpens'd, and, as it were, determined by the Eye.

Here, then, we have both the Dart and the Hand to fling it— -The one furnifVd with all the Force and Vehemence, and the other with all the Sharpnefs and Activity, one would require. No wonder their Effects are great !

Do but conceive the Eye as a Sling, capable of thefwifteft and intervfeft Motions and Vibrations : And, again, as com- municating with a Source of fuch Matter as the nervous Juice elaborated in the Brain ; a Matter Fo fubtile and pe- netrating, that it flies initantaneoufly thro* the folid CapiUa- mems of the Nerves, and fo active and forcible, that it di- flends and convulfes the Mufcles, and diilorts the Limbs, and alters the whole Habitude of the Body, giving Motion and Action to a Mafs of inert, inactive Matter. A Projectile of fuch a nature, flung by fuch an Engine as the Eye, muft have an Effect wherever it itrikes : And the Effect will bo limited and modified by the Circumfiances of Diflrance, the Impetus of the Eye, the Quality, Subtility, Acrimony, c£c,

of