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Rh originally educated as a naturalist, and saw much of the East Anglian gypsies, of whose superstitions and folk-lore he made careful study. Abandoning natural history for the law, he qualified as a solicitor and went to London, where he practised for some years, giving his spare time to his chosen pursuit of literature. He contributed regularly to the Examiner from 1874 and to the Athenaeum from 1875 until 1898, being for more than twenty years the principal critic of poetry in the latter journal. His article on "Poetry" in the ninth edition of the ''Ency. Brit''. (vol. xix., 18S5) was the principal expression of his views on the first principles of the subject, and did much to increase his reputation, which was maintained by other articles he wrote for the Encyclopaedia Britannica and for the chief periodicals and reviews. Mr Watts-Dunton had considerable influence as the friend of many of the leading men of letters of his time; he enjoyed the confidence of Tennyson, and contributed an appreciation of him to the authorized biography. He was in later years Rossetti's most intimate friend. He was the bosom friend of (q.v.), who shared his home for nearly thirty years before he died in 1909. The obituary notices and appreciations of the poets of the time, which he contributed to the Athenaeum and other periodicals, bore testimony to his sympathy, insight and critical acumen. It was not, however, until 1897 that he published a volume under his own name, this being his collection of poems called The Coming of Love, portions of which he had printed in periodicals from time to time. In the following year his prose romance Aylwin attained immediate success, and ran through many editions in the course of a few months. Both The Coming Of Love and Aylwin set forth, the one in poetry, the other in prose, the romantic and passionate associations of Romany life, and maintain the traditions of Borrow, whom Mr Watts-Dunton had known well in his own early days. Imaginative glamour and mysticism are their prominent characteristics, and the novel in particular has had its share in restoring the charms of pure romance to the favour of the general public. He edited George Borrow's Lavengro (1893) and Romany Rye (1900), in 1903 he published The Renascence of Wonder, a treatise on the romantic movement; and his Studies of Shakespeare appeared in 1910. But it was not only in his published work that Mr Watts-Dunton's influence on the literary life of his time was potent. His long and intimate association with Rossetti and Swinburne made him, no doubt, a unique figure in the world of letters; but his own grasp of metrical principle and of the historic perspective of the glories of English poetry made him, among the younger generation, the embodiment of a great tradition of literary criticism which could never cease to command respect. In 1905 he married. His life has been essentially one of devotion to letters, faithfully and disinterestedly followed.

WAUGH, BENJAMIN (1839–1905), English social reformer, was born at Settle, Yorkshire, on the 20th of February 1839. He passed the early years of his life in business, but in 1865 entered the congregational ministry. Settling at Greenwich he threw himself with ardour into the work of social reform, devoting himself especially to the cause of the children. He served on the London School Board from 1870 to 1876. In 1884 he was responsible for the establishment of the London society for the prevention of cruelty to children, which four years later was established on a national basis. He was elected its honorary secretary, and it was largely owing to information obtained by him that the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 was passed, while by his personal effort he secured the insertion of a clause giving magistrates power to take the evidence of children too young to understand the nature of an oath. In 1889 he saw the work accomplished by his society (of which he had been made director the same year) recognized by the passing of an act for the prevention of cruelty to children, the first stepping-stone to the act of 1908 (see ). In 1895 a charier of incorporation was conferred on the society, but in 1897 it was the object of a serious attack on its administration. An inquiry was demanded by Waugh, and the commission of inquiry, which included Lord Herschell and others, completely vindicated the society and its director. Waugh had given up pastoral work in 1887 to devote his whole time to the society, and he retained his post as director until 1905, when the state of his health compelled his retirement. He remained consulting director until his death at Westcliff, near Southend, Essex, on the 11th of March 1908. Waugh edited the Sunday Magazine from 1874 to 1896, but he had otherwise little leisure for literary work. His The Gaol Cradle, who rocks it? (1873) was a plea for the abolition of juvenile imprisonment.

WAUGH, EDWIN (1817–1890), known as "The Lancashire Poet," was born at Rochdale, on the 29th of January 1817, the son of a shoemaker. For several years he earned his living as a journeyman printer in various parts of the country. In 1855 he published his first book. Sketches of Lancashire Life and Localities, following this up with reprinted Poems and Songs (1859). His rendering of the Lancashire dialect was most happy, and his rude lyrics, full of humour and pathos, were great favourites with his countrymen. He died on the 30th of April 1890.

See Milner's Memoir in an edition of Waugh's selected works (1892–1893).

WAUKEGAN, a city and the county-seat of Lake county, Illinois, U.S.A., on the W. shore of Lake Michigan, about 36 m. N. of Chicago. Pop. (1890) 4915; (1900) 9426, of whom 2506 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 16,069. It is served by the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern (of which it is a terminus) and the Chicago & North Western railways, by an interurban electric line, and by lake steamers. In 1880 the United States government undertook the formation of an artificial harbour with a channel 13 ft. deep, and in 1902–1904 the depth was increased to 20 ft. The main portion of the city is situated about 100 ft. above the level of the lake. There are a number of parks and mineral springs, and along the lake front a fine driveway, Sheridan Road. The city is a residential suburb of Chicago. The principal buildings are the Federal building, the Court House, a Carnegie library, the Masonic Temple and McAlister Hospital. At the village of North Chicago (pop. in 1910, 3306), about 3 m. S. of Waukegan, there is a United States Naval Training Station. Waukegan is the commercial centre of an agricultural and dairying region, and has various manufactures. The total value of the factory product in 1905 was $3,961,513. Waukegan was settled about 1835, and until 1849 was known as Little Fort, which is supposed to be the English equivalent of the Indian name Waukegan. It became the county-seat of Lake county in 1841, was incorporated as a town in 1849, and first chartered as a city in 1859.

WAUKESHA, a city and the county-seat of Waukesha county, Wisconsin, U.S.A., about 19 m. W. of Milwaukee on the Little Fox river. Pop. (1S90) 6321; (1900) 7419, including 1408 foreign-born; (1905 state census) 6949; (1910) 8740. Waukesha is served by the Minneapolis, St Paul & Sault Ste Marie, the Chicago & North-Western and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul railways, and by interurban electric railways connecting it with Milwaukee, Oconomowoc and Madison. The medicinal mineral springs (Eethesda, White Rock, &c.) are widely known. Among the public buildings are the county court house and the public library. Waukesha is the seat of the State Industrial School for Boys (established as a house of refuge in 1860) and of Carroll College (Presbyterian, co-educational, 1846). Waukesha was first settled in 1834, was named Prairieville in 1839, was incorporated as a village under its present name (said to be a Pottawatomi word meaning " fox ") in 1852, and chartered as a city in 1896. In 1851 the first railway in the state was completed between Milwaukee and Waukesha, but the village remained only a farming community until the exploitation of the mineral springs was begun about 1868. About 15 m. S. of Waukesha, near Mukwonago (pop. in 1910, 615), in 1844–1851 there was an unsuccessful communistic agricultural settlement, the Utilitarian Association, composed largely of London mechanics led by Campbell Smith, a London bookbinder.

WAURIN (or ), JEHAN (or ) (d. c. 1474). French chronicler, belonged to a noble family of Artois, and was present at the battle of Agiocourt. Afterwards he fought for