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WHITTINGTON

2082

WIGHT, ISLE OF

time he was editor of The Manufacturer at Boston, and for a year and a half edited George D. Prentice's paper, The New England Weekly Review, at Hartford. At Hartford he published his first volume of verses — Legends of New England (1831). Whittier was back in Haverhill, engaged in farming, when the antislavery movement began, into which he threw himself with the greatest enthusiasm. In 1833 he published a tract against slavery; he helped to found the American Antislavery Society at Philadelphia; and he became the poet of the movement, writing for it his Voices of Freedom in 1849 and his Ichabod. In 1838—9 he edited The Pennsylvania Freeman at Philadelphia, where his office was sacked and burned by a mob. Laus Deo was his last poem of freedom, written on hearing the bells ring for the passage of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. His chief works are Maud Mutter, Home Ballads, Miriam, National Lyrics, Poems of Nature, Among the Hills, In War Time and Ballads of New England. Among Whittier's larger poems are Snow-Bound (q. v.), The Bridal of Pennacook and The Tent on the Beach. He died on Sept. 7, 1892. Consult Stedman's Poets of America and H. A. Beers' American Literature.

Whit'tington, Sir Richard, was born at Pauntley, Gloucestershire, England, about 1356. According to the well-known story, his father died when Richard was ten, and he tramped to London, where he became a merchant's apprentice. At one time he started to run away from his master, but, while seated at the foot of Highgate Hill, seemed to hear in a chime of bells

Turn again, Whittington,

Thrice lord mayor of London town.

He did so; married his master's daughter, and became wealthy, his first stroke of business having been to send a cat to an eastern market; was lord mayor of London in 1397; and made loans to Henry IV and Henry V. Whittington died in 1423.

Wichita (wich'i-ta], Kas., county-seat of Sedgwick County, on Arkansas River, in the midst of a very fertile region. It has 60 miles of street-car lines; factories and packing-houses employing 1,500 workmen; and six railroads. There are good public schools, a high school, a medical college, Lewis Academy, Fairmount College and Wichita University. Its growth has been very rapid. It was settled in 1869 and incorporated in 1870; in 1880 the population was 4,911; in 1900 24,671; in 1910 52,450.

Wieland (volant), Christoph Martin, a German poet and novelist, was born at Oberholzheim, Swabia, Sept. 5, 1733. He was carefully taught by his father, a clergyman. In 1750 he went to the University of Tubingen, where he devoted himself a Jittlg to law an4 very much to literature,

and wrote his poem on The Nature of Things. After some years in Switzerland, where he supported himself by tutoring and wrote poems and plays, he settled in 1760 at Biberach as director of the Chancery. From 1769 to 1772 he was professor of philosophy at Erfurt, after which he made his home at Weimar. Here he tutored and also edited a monthly magazine, writing an immense number of poems and articles for it. His Oberon is held to be the best of his works. Wieland's romances were highly popular, and have not yet been surpassed in Germany. To him also belongs the merit of having first suggested to his countrymen that it might be worth while to study their own literature as well as that of France, England and Italy. He died at Weimar, Jan. 20, 1813.

Wiesbaden (ves-bdrden), a fashionable watering-place of Prussia, stands on the slopes of Mount Taunus, five miles north of Mainz and three miles from the Rhine. Its prosperity is due entirely to its hot springs, and it is filled with hotels, lodging-houses, villas, bath-houses and promenades for the benefit of its 60,000 yearly visitors. The main buildings are the palace, the Kursal, the five-towered Protestant church, the Roman Catholic church, the museum with a picture-gallery and a library of 75,000 volumes and the synagogue built in Moorish style. The chief spring is the Kochbrunnen, the waters of which are drunk, besides which there are 28 other springs used for bathing. These springs were known to the Romans, who fortified the place. Population 109,033.

Wigan (wig'an), a city of Lancashire, England, on Douglas River, 18 miles northwest of Manchester and northeast of Liverpool. It is joined by rail and canal with these cities and with London. The main buildings are All-Saints' Church, Albert Edward Infirmary and Dispensary, the arcade, public library and public baths. A park covering 27 acres was opened in 1878. The growth of the city is due largely to its coal-mines, which employ a large part of the people and furnish cheap fuel for its cotton and iron mills. Wigan was a Roman station and later a Danish town. Three battles were fought there during the Civil War of Charles I and the Commonwealth. Population, as extended, 82,434.

Wig'gin, Kate Douglas. See RIGGS, MRS.

Wight, Isle of, a small island in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by the narrow strait of the Solent and by Spithead. It is 23 miles long and 13 broad, and covers about 145 square miles. High chalk-downs cross the center of the island from east to west. Along the south coast is the Under-cliff, a district noted for its wild scenery an4 m|J4 c}iy»ate; where a large hospital