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WEA Oxford, and ordained at an early age. In 1429 he was made head master of Winchester school, where he became celebrated as a teacher. Being introduced to Henry VI. by Cardinal Bourchier, he was named by the king one of the original fellows of Eton college for three years, and in 1442 was promoted to the office of provost of Eton. Five years afterwards he was chosen to succeed Cardinal Bourchier in the see of Winchester, over which he presided thirty-nine years. He distinguished himself by his efforts to suppress Cade's rebellion, and held an interview with Jack Cade himself. In the wars of the Roses he took a decided part in favour of the Lancastrians. To the royal devotee the bishop's learning and piety were especially acceptable. In 1456 the great seal was intrusted to Waynflete, whose tenure of the judicial office is memorable for the trial of Bishop Pecock, charged with Lollardism. He presided also over the parliament which in 1460 attainted the duke of York and his adherents. In the battle of Northampton which soon followed, the latter were victorious; the king was taken prisoner, and Waynflete had to surrender the great seal. He submitted to Edward IV., who made him prelate to the order of the garter. The latter part of his life was devoted to the completion of the most enduring monument of his fame—the foundation of Magdalen college, Oxford. Here, in 1483, he gave a grand reception to King Richard III. Surviving to see the union of York and Lancaster in Henry VII. and his queen, Waynflete died in 1486, and was buried in Winchester cathedral.—R. H.  WEAVER or WEEVER,, a learned English antiquary, is said to have been born in Lancashire in 1576. He was educated at Queen's college, Cambridge; and subsequently turned his attention to the collection of antiquities, and to researches in connection with them. He was aided and encouraged by Sir Robert Cotton and Selden. His chief works are—"A Description of Ancient Monuments in this Realm, and of the dissolved Monasteries," a third edition of which was edited by the Rev. W. Tooke in 1766; a history of Christ, in verse; besides several MSS. in the library of the Society of Antiquarians.—F.  WEBB,, an English botanist, was born at Milford House, Surrey, in July, 1793, and died at Paris on 31st August, 1854. He studied at Dr. Moore's school at Harrow, and afterwards went to Christ church, Oxford, where he took a first class in 1815. Possessed of excellent talents, born to a good estate, and full of ardour in the pursuit of science, he attained a high rank both as a naturalist and an author. He was an excellent linguist, and he travelled much in order to increase his scientific knowledge. In 1821 he published a work on the physical condition of the Troad. He visited Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Spain, Portugal, the north of Africa, Madeira, and the Canary islands. In the last-mentioned islands he remained for two years, and, along with M. Berthelot, published a work entitled "Histoire Naturelle des Isles Canaries," in 3 vols. large 4to, with numerous maps and plates, and an atlas, "des cartes phytostatiques." The work contains a complete account of the civil and natural history of the Canaries, and is one of the most remarkable publications of the day. Among his other publications may be noticed the following—"Iter Hispaniense, or a synopsis of plants collected in the southern provinces of Spain and in Portugal;" "Observations on Tamarix gallica, on Hemicrambe, on Retama, on Ulicineæ;" "Otia Hispanica, or descriptions of rare Spanish plants;" "Spicilegia Gorgonea, or account of the Niger flora;" "Fragmenta Florulæ Æthiopico-Ægyptiacæ." He also contributed various articles to botanical journals. Hooker remarks, "We should do little justice to Mr. Webb's memory if we were to speak of him only as a scholar, historian, and botanist. He was no less distinguished by his gentlemanly bearing, the urbanity of his manners, and his great patronage of literature, but especially of botany. His fine museum and library were always accessible to the student and to the man of science; strangers were received with great hospitality, and he gave great encouragement to botanical collectors. He accumulated a valuable herbarium and library, which were bequeathed to the duke of Tuscany, and are now in the museum at Florence." The emperor of the French, Louis Napoleon, assigned to him the legion of honour, and her majesty. Queen Isabella II. of Spain, conferred on him the cross of the order of Charles III.—J. H. B.  WEBB,, an eminent English jurist and antiquarian, was born in 1700, and carried on business as an attorney in Lincoln's inn. In 1747 he published "Observations on the course of proceedings in the Admiralty Courts." He subsequently became M.P. for Haslemere and one of the solicitors of the treasury. Webb was engaged in the prosecution of Wilkes for a libel in the North Briton, and published a pamphlet respecting Wilkes' discharge from custody, as also a variety of others on different subjects. Some MSS. of the rolls of parliament which belonged to him are now in the British museum. He died in 1770.—F.  WEBBE,, a learned English prelate, was born at Bromham, Wiltshire, in 1581, and educated at Oxford. After various preferments he was consecrated bishop of Limerick in December, 1634. He was confined by the rebels in Limerick castle, and died there in the end of 1641. He was considered the best preacher at the court of Charles I. His chief works are—"The Practice of Quietness;" "Exposition of Principles of the Christian Religion;" "Protestant's Calendar;" and a translation of two of Terence's comedies.—F.  WEBBER,, R.A., was born in London in 1752. His father, a Swiss, settled in London as a monumental sculptor, sent him to Paris to learn painting. He returned to London in 1775, and commenced practice as a landscape-painter, but soon after received the appointment of draughtsman to the last expedition commanded by Captain Cook for the discovery of the north-west passage. He sailed in 1776, and returned to England in 1780, when he was employed to superintend the execution of the engravings made from his drawings. He afterwards pursued with success his calling as a landscape-painter, and engraved and published on his own account a series of views in aquatint of the principal places he had visited. His pictures are carefully drawn and finished, but exaggerated in colour. Webber was elected A.R.A. in 1785, and R.A. in 1791. He died May 29, 1793. Some of his water-colour drawings are in the South Kensington museum.—J. T—e.  WEBER,, the musician, was born at Eutin in Holstein, November 18, 1786; so at least it is stated on the tablet placed against the house where he was born, the uncovering of which was celebrated by a musical festival in Weber's honour, September 12, 1853, and the date is corroborated by the baptismal register. The 18th of December is, however, the date usually kept as Weber's birthday. He died of a consumption in London, June 5, 1826. Major Franz Anton von Weber, his father, was the younger brother of Dr. Fridolin Weber, the father of the four sisters of whom Josepha the eldest (first Madame Hofer, and afterwards Madame Meier) was the original Queen of Night in "Die Zauberflöte;" Aloysia, the second (Madame Lange), was the heroine of an early love passage of Mozart, and was one of the two singers for whom he wrote Der Schauspiel Director; Constance, the third, became the wife of Mozart; and Sophie, the youngest, was the anxious attendant of this great musician's deathbed. Thus, C. M. von Weber was the cousin of Madame Mozart. Edmond, a brother of Carl Maria, was born in 1782, and obtained some repute as a violinist, produced one opera, and published some instrumental music. The family's frequent change of residence during Carl's early years, was most unfavourable to his studies; and his own reserved disposition, which prompted him to shun his schoolmates, and devote himself to music in play-hours, was as prejudicial to his physical development. In the latter we may trace the germ of that melancholy which is said to have been habitual to him in afterlife; and in his irregular education we may find a cause for much that is unsatisfactory to the careful critic in his music. His first steady instruction in his art he received from an organist named Heuschkel at Hildburghausen, whither his father removed in 1796. He was next placed under the care of Michael Haydn at Saltzburg, who seems to have had little congeniality with the young student, and to have exercised little influence upon him accordingly. Weber published, however, his first work, Six Fugues for the Pianoforte, in 1798, while he was Haydn's pupil. Before the end of the same year the family removed to Munich, and there Weber studied singing under Valesi, and the pianoforte and composition under Kalcher. He was now indefatigable in his labours, and wrote an opera, "Die Macht der Liebe und des Weins," some masses, sonatas, and other pieces, which never came before the public. He always had an inclination for drawing, which was so strong that this art long divided his attention with music; and when, in 1799, Sennefelder published his discovery of lithography, Weber was greatly attracted by it, threw his whole energy for a time into its investigation, and devised some 