Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/594

Rh 558 I D W I E between them and General Holt near Aughrim, which was speedily decided in Holt s favour ; a second was fought at Arklow between them and General Needham with a similar result. Of the ancient cromlechs there are three of some interest, one near Enniskerry, another on the summit of Lugnaquilla, and a third, with a druidical circle, at Donoughmore. There are comparatively unimportant monastic remains at Rathdrum, Baltinglass, and Wicklow. The ruins in the vale of Glendalough, known as the &quot;seven churches,&quot; are, with the doubtful exception of Clonmacnoise, the most remark able ecclesiastical remains in Ireland. They owe their origin to St Kevin, who lived in the vale as a hermit, and is reputed to have died on 3d June 618. On the site of St Kevin s cell an extensive monastic establishment was founded, and around it a town sprang up, which was long famed as a seat of learning. The buildings which constitute the &quot; seven churches &quot; are the round tower, one of the finest in Ireland, 110 feet in height and 51 in circumference ; St Kevin s kitchen or church, of which the nave, 25 feet by 15, with a curious high-pitched roof and a round belfry (supposed to be the earliest example of a round belfry springing from the roof or gable), still remains; a structure within the cemetery called the cathedral, in a state of great dilapidation, but from its position and dimensions seemingly well entitled to its name ; the lady chapel, chiefly remarkable for its doorway of wrought granite, in a style of architecture allied to the Greek ; Trinity church, consisting of nave (29 feet 6 inches by 17 feet 6 inches), chancel (13 feet 6 inches by 9 feet), and a basement story, and presenting some of the finest characteristics of the ancient architecture of Ireland, including a very beautiful specimen of the square-headed doorway ; the monas tery, or St Saviour s abbey, with peculiar ornamental sculpture, and supposed to contain the tomb of St Kevin ; and the Refeart or ceme tery church. In the cemetery and all along the valley there are a large number of monuments and stone crosses of various size and style. The cave known as St Kevin s bed shows evidence of having been artificially constructed, but is probably only an enlarged natural cavity. Of the old fortalices or strongholds associated with the early wars those of special interest are Black Castle, near Wicklow, origin ally founded by the Norse invaders, but taken by the Irish in 1301, and afterwards rebuilt by William Fitz William ; the scattered re mains of Castle Kevin, the ancient stronghold of the O Tooles, by whom it was probably originally built in the 12th century ; and the ruins of the old castle of the Ormondes at Arklow, founded by Theobald Fitz Walter (died 1285), the scene of frequent conflicts up to the time of Cromwell, by whom it was demolished in 1649, and now containing within the interior of its ruined walls a constabu lary barrack. The fine mansion of Powerscourt occupies the site of an old fortalice founded by De la Poer, one of the knights who landed with Strongbow ; in the reign of Henry VIII. it was taken by the O Tooles arid O Brynes. (T. F. H.) WIDDIN&quot;, or WIDIN, a fortified town of Bulgaria, within 20 miles of the Servian frontier and about 130 miles south-east of Belgrade, in 44 N. lat. and 22 50 E. long. It occupies a strong position on the right bank of the Danube over against the Roumanian town of Kalafat, with which it is connected by a bridge of boats over a mile long. Owing to its low situation, the soil is marshy and the city is liable to inundation (six floods having occurred since 1839). Its population in 1888 amounted to 13,435, in cluding 6929 Bulgarians, 3387 Turks, and 1304 Jews. The citadel, always a formidable stronghold, has recently been strengthened and enlarged with a double line of ram parts reaching to the water s edge, while on the land side the approaches are naturally protected by the extensive marshy tracts formed here by a sharp bend of the Danube from the east to the south. The old town within these lines was formerly inhabited exclusively by Mohammedans, and still presents an Oriental aspect, with its mosques, minarets, and over 1700 stalls lining the bazaar or main thoroughfare of Plevna Ulica. There are a few local industries, such as the making of gold and silver filigree work, saddlery, beer, flour, and cutlery, besides a brisk riverine trade, mainly in the hands of the Jews and Bul garians. The fisheries in the Danube are of some import ance (20,000 annually). Widdin stands on the site of the Roman town of Bononia in Mcesia Superior, not to be confounded with the Pannonian Bononia, which stood higher up the Danube to the north of Sirmium. Its name figures conspicuously in the military annals of medieval and recent times ; and it is specially memorable for the overthrow of the Turks by the imperial forces in 1689 and for the crushing defeat of the hospoclar Michael Sustos by Pasvan Oglu in 1801. It was again the scene of stirring events during the Russo-Turkish wars of 1854-55 and 1877-78, and successfully resisted the assaults of the Servians in the Servo-Bulgarian War of 1886-87. WIDNES, a manufacturing town of Lancashire, Eng land, is situated on the Mersey, where it is joined by the Sankey Brook Navigation, and on the London and North- Western Railway, 13 miles south-east of Liverpool and 188 from London. Capacious private docks were constructed in 1866 and extended in 1884. The Mersey is crossed by a wrought-iron bridge, 1000 feet long and 95 in height, completed in 1868, and having two lines of railway and a footpath. The church of St Mary was erected in 1856, that of St Ambrose in 1880, and that of St Paul in 1884. Widnes is one of the principal seats of the alkali and soap manufacture, and has also grease-works for locomotives and waggons, copper- works, iron-foundries, oil and paint works, and sail-cloth manufactories. It is governed by a local board of fifteen members. Until comparatively recent years it was a small township, dependent chiefly on agri culture. In 1851 the population was under 2000, but by 1861 the numbers had more than trebled. In 1871 the population of the urban sanitary district (area 3339 acres) was 14,359, and 24,935 in 1881 ; in 1888 it was estimated to exceed 30,000. The barony of Widnes came from the Lacy family to the dukes of Lancaster and thence to the crown. In 1554-55 it was declared to be part of the duchy of Lancaster. WIELAND, CHRISTOPHER MARTIN (1733-1813), Ger man man of letters, was born on the 5th September 1733 at Oberholzheim, a Swabian village near Biberach, then an imperial city. He was carefully educated by his father, who was a clergyman at Oberholzheim ; and at a very early age he gave evidence of a strong literary impulse. In his fourteenth year he was sent to the school of Klosterbergen, near Magdeburg, where he attracted a good deal of atten tion, not only by his knowledge of the classics and of French and English literature, but by his power of lucid and grace ful expression. When he was about sixteen he left school and went to live with a relative at Erfurt, who undertook to prepare him for the university by reading with him the writings of the philosopher Wolff. Having spent a year and a half with this relative, he went for some time to Biberach, whither his father had been transferred from OberliQlzheim. At Biberach he met a young kinswoman, Sophie Gutermann, with whom he fell in love, and who exercised a powerful influence upon the development of his intellect and imagination. While talking with her, after they had heard his father preach a sermon on the text &quot;God is Love,&quot; he conceived the scheme of his first poem, Die Natur der Dinge. In 1750 he went to the university of Tiibingen, nominally for the purpose of studying law ; but in reality he devoted his attention wholly to literature. At Tubingen he wrote his poem on the Nature of Things, and in 1752 it was published anony mously. Here also he wrote Anti-Ovid, Lobgesang auf den Friihling, Moralische Briefe, and Moralische Erzahlungen. At home Wieland had been strictly brought up, and his home training had been confirmed at the Klosterbergen school, the head-master of which was a member of the straitest sect of the Pietists. In his early writings, there fore, Wieland appears as a youth of a deeply serious dis position, with an ardent enthusiasm for what he conceives to be the highest ideas of theology and ethics. Bodmer, the Swiss critic and poet, strongly attracted by this new literary force, cordially invited Wieland to visit him at Zurich. Wieland accepted the invitation, and lived for many months in Bodmer s house. In 1754 the two friends parted; for, although they had apparently the same aims and motives, they were in reality very unlike one another, and Bodmer was apt to play rather too osten tatiously the part of a guide and patron. Wieland con tinued to reside in Switzerland, remaining in Zurich about