Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3b.pdf/548

WAG and the prince showed him marked attention, but the public turned from him in dislike. In 1861 he revisited Paris, purposing to bring out there his "Tristan und Isolde." Through the interest of Prince Metternich, he obtained the emperor's command for the production of "Tannhäuser" at the Acadèmie; it was brought out with great magnificence, but, as Wagner declared, in consequence of a clique against him, it utterly failed. At the beginning of the year 1862, his sentence of banishment from Saxony was revoked; and his "Tristan," the excessive difficulties of which have caused its withdrawal from several theatres after numerous rehearsals, is now said to be in course of production in Vienna.—G. A. M.  * WAGNER,, a celebrated German sculptor, was born at Stuttgart in 1800. He was a pupil of Dannecker, and afterwards studied at Rome, where he produced his rilievo of "Bacchus and Ariadne." Returning to his native place he soon occupied a position only inferior to his master's, whose style he continued to imitate, but with a somewhat greater tendency to the romantic. He succeeded Dannecker as inspector of the royal collections. Characteristic examples of the several classes of his works are the statue of the "Magdalen," 1841, of which there is a cast in the Crystal Palace; the group of "Venus and Adonis," 1843; and the rilievo of Göthe and Schiller. He has also executed numerous busts which are much esteemed. He published a selection from the works of Dannecker, in twenty-five lithographic prints, 4to, Hamburg, 1841.—J. T—e.  WAHHAB,, a celebrated Mahometan reformer, was born at El-Hauta, a village five or six days' journey south of Deraiyeh, capital of the province of Nejd, at the beginning of the twelfth century of the Hegira, i.e., towards the end of the seventeenth century. He was educated in the schools of Basrah, and studied theology there. At Damascus he abode several years, and distinguished himself by his zeal in abolishing abuses, as well as by disputations on religion. But his views being looked upon as heretical, he was obliged to flee from persecution. He returned, however, to Arabia; but did not cease to preach, and to attack the vices of the Turks, so that he was in imminent danger. After wandering about he settled at Deraiyeh where the Sheikh Mohammed Ibn Saud reigned, in whom he found a willing and intelligent convert, and who also became his son-in-law. In order to spread the new doctrines, Ibn Saud freely employed the sword; and was successful enough to lay the foundations of a powerful empire in Arabia. The greater part of Nejd was conquered, over which Mohammed Ibn Saud reigned till his death in 1765. Abdu-l-Wahhab died June 14, 1787. His followers, called Wahhabis, have given much trouble to the Turkish government ever since. Wahhabism is a kind of Mahometan deism. Its founder rejected the claims of Mahomet as an inspired and divinely commissioned man. Neither did he admit the Koran to be divine. Hence he rejected revealed religion. Yet he aimed at bringing the luxurious Turks back to the pure precepts of the Koran, from which they had departed. The sect did good in reforming abuses and corruptions.—S. D.  WAHL,, Count of, a distinguished German general in the Thirty Years' war, was the son of a Thuringian gentleman, brought up in the protestant faith, which, however, he abjured, and took service in the army of the catholic league before the war commenced. Under Duke Maximilian of Bavaria he distinguished himself at the battle of Prague (where he lost an arm), at Lutter, and at the battle of Leipsic. Four years later he was engaged in subjecting the Upper Palatinate to the duke of Bavaria, and was named commandant-general of that province. On one occasion he was taken prisoner by the Swedes, but was rescued by his own soldiers. Among his achievements may be enumerated the taking of Bayreuth, Augsburg, Culmbach, Auerbach, Kemnath, Weyda, Alten, Werne, and Durrep. In 1639 he was sent to negotiate the basis of an agreement between the princes of Brunswick and the emperor, and in 1640 he was named a count of the empire, besides being munificently rewarded by the duke of Bavaria. He died in 1644.—F. M. W.  WAHLBERG, J. F., a Swedish explorer and naturalist, was born in 1812, and was killed by an elephant on the 6th March, 1856, on the border of a river about two hundred miles northeast of Lake Ngami, in Africa, probably the river Tamunakle of Livingstone. He was a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Stockholm, and made extensive travels in Southern Africa in 1843. He had a profound knowledge of zoology and botany, and made many discoveries in Africa.—J. H. B.  WAHLENBERG,, a distinguished Swedish botanist and physician, was born in the province of Wermland in Sweden in 1784, and died at Upsal on 7th April, 1851. He studied at Upsal, and took his degree of M.D. at that university. Having devoted his attention to natural history, he was appointed to travel in the provinces of Scandinavia. He made extensive researches in their geology and botany. At the expense of the university of Upsal he afterwards visited Hungary, Bohemia, the Carpathian mountains, Switzerland, and Germany. He became professor of medicine and botany at Upsal, and he was a member of the Academy of Sciences of Stockholm. Among his botanical works are the following—"Flora Lapponica," "Flora Carpatorum," "Flora Upsaliensis," "Flora Suecica," and "De Vegetatione Helvetiæ." He was for some time editor of the Svensk Botanik, and he contributed papers to the Transactions of the Stockholm Academy. He possessed a thorough knowledge of the plants of northern and central Europe, and his works were enhanced by his observations on the climate, physical geography, and geology of the countries he visited. He stands high as a geographical botanist.—J. H. B.  WAIRY,, valet of Napoleon I., born in 1778, was the son of an innkeeper at Peruwelz in Belgium, and as a boy was attached to the household of the Comte de Lure. In 1799 he entered the service of Prince Eugène Beauharnais; subsequently he was attached to the household of the Empress Josephine; and in 1800 he became valet-de-chambre to the first consul, whom he followed through his campaigns in Italy, Germany, and Russia, sleeping in his tent, and treated by him with the utmost familiarity. He never left the emperor until the 30th March, 1814, and he rejoined him at Fontainebleau the next day. On the 10th of April, the day before the abdication, Napoleon rewarded his faithful servant with a gift of one hundred thousand francs, a fatal gift, which for a time caused his honesty to be suspected. He refunded the money, but refused to accompany his master to Elba, in spite of his urgent request. He retired to Breteuil, where he died in 1845. The "Memoires de Constant" were written from recollections communicated by him to M. Villemarest, who was employed by the publisher.—F. M. W.  WAKE,, a learned English diplomatist and political writer, the son of the Rev. Arthur Wake, rector of Billing, Northamptonshire, &c., was born about 1575, and was educated at Oxford, where he was chosen public orator in 1604. He subsequently became private secretary to Sir Dudley Carleton, one of the secretaries of state, and was employed by James I., who conferred upon him the honour of knighthood, as ambassador to Venice, Savoy, and other courts. In 1625 he sat in parliament for Oxford university, and died in 1632 at Paris whilst engaged there in the service of Charles I. He was the author of "Rex Platonicus, sive de potentissimi principis Jacobi regis ad Acad. Oxon. adventu," 1605, of which there were several editions. This courtly work contains a passage which is said to have suggested to Shakspeare the plot of Macbeth. Wake was also author of a Funeral Oration translated by Fuller in his Abel Redivivus, and of another on Sir Thomas Bodley in Bates' Vitæ selectorum aliquot Vivorum; of a discourse on the thirteen cantons of Switzerland; and of two papers on Italy and Sweden, published under the general title of a "Threefold Help to Political Observations," besides various MSS. and letters in the Harleian collection.—F. <section end="548H" /> <section begin="548Zcontin" />WAKE,, a distinguished prelate, was born in 1657 at Blandford, Dorsetshire. In 1672 he entered Christ church, Oxford, took his degree of A.B. in 1676, and that of A.M. in 1679. Having been ordained, he accompanied Lord Preston's embassy to Paris, and there procured the collation of some MSS. of the New Testament for Bishop Fell. On his return he was elected preacher to Gray's inn, and his zeal against popery now began to display itself. In 1686 he published an "Exposition of the doctrines of the Church of England," a tractate written in answer to Bossuet's Exposition. This publication excited a good deal of controversy. After the Revolution he became a royal chaplain, deputy clerk of the closet, and a canon in his college at Oxford. In 1693 the rectory of St. James', Westminster, was conferred upon him. During this year he published an "English version of the genuine epistles of the Apostolic Fathers." The version is good, but he made no critical distinction among the epistles ascribed to Ignatius.—(See .) In 1697 he published "The state of the Church and Clergy of England considered." This work is directed against <section end="548Zcontin" />