Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/716

 692 WITHER WITHERSPOON reaches the height of 20 ft., bat is usually not over 10 ft. ; the alternate obovate or oval, wavy-toothed leaves have straight veins, giv- ing them the appearance of those of the hazel, are slightly downy, and are on very short petioles; the flowers, from buds formed during the summer, open just as the leaves are falling in October or November; they are in clusters of three or four upon a short stalk, with an involucre of three scales; the four-parted calyx is downy; the petals are four, long, narrow, and crumpled; there are four perfect stamens, and four imperfect and scale-like ; two styles surmount the downy ovary, which ripens into a downy, two-beaked, two-celled woody pod, each cell containing a large, hard, but edible seed ; the pods mature late in the following summer, and often not until flowering time; the pod, bursting elasti- oally, ejects the seeds with considerable force. The wood is white and close, and the bark and Witch Hazel (Hamamells Virginia*). leaves contain a large amount of tannin and have been used as astringents; the bark was employed by the Indians as an application to painful tumors, and a fluid extract is used by some practitioners as a local remedy to allay pain. From its unusual time of flowering, the witch hazel forms a conspicuous object in the autumn woods ; when the leaves have fallen it appears covered with bright yellow flowers; on account of this peculiarity, the shrub is cul- tivated in Europe. One other species grows in Japan ; the other species accredited to this country are mere varieties of H, Virginica. WITHER, George, an English poet, born at Bentworth, Hampshire, June 11, 1588, died in London, May 2, 1667. He studied at Oxford, and in 1613 entered himself at one of the inns of chancery. For his satire, "Abuses Stript and Whipt" (1613), he was thrown into prison, where he composed his poem " The Shepheard's Hunting," and his " Satyre to the King," which, it is said, procured his release. In 1632 he visited the Netherlands, where he published his lyrical version of the Psalms. In 1639 he served as captain of horse in the expedition of Charles I. against the Scottish Covenanters, and in the civil war raised a troop of horse at his own expense and joined the parliamentary forces. He was captured, and was near being hanged, but Sir John Denham procured his release. He was one of Cromwell's major gen- erals, and kept watch over the royalists of Sur- rey. From their sequestered estates he obtained a fortune, of which he was stripped at the res- toration. The convention parliament in New- gate soon after imprisoned him for publishing a seditious and libellous pamphlet entitled Vox Vulgi. Sir Egerton Brydges devoted consid- erable portions of the Jtextitttta, Centura Lit- teraria, and "British Bibliographer" to the republication of Wither's works, but no con- siderable collection of them has been made. The list of them in Bliss's edition of Wood's Fasti Oxoniemes fills 13 columns. A selection of his poems was published by J. M. Gutch in 1820 (3 vola. 12mo, Bristol), and new editions of his " Hymns and Songs of the Church " were issued at Oxford in 1846 and at London in 1856. WITHERSPOON, John, a signer of the Ameri- can Declaration of Independence, born in the parish of Tester, Haddingtonshire, Scotland, Feb. 5, 1722, died near Princeton, N. J., Sept. 15, 1794. He was educated at the university of Edinburgh, was licensed to preach in his 21st year, and in 1745 was ordained minister of the parish of Beith in the west of Scotland. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Falkirk, but was released after two weeks' confinement. In 1753 he published anonymously " Ecclesi- astical Characteristics, or the Arcana of Church Policy," followed by "A Serious Apology for the Characteristics," in which he avowed him- self the author of the work he defended. In 1756 he published an "Essay on Justification," and next year a " Serious Inquiry into the Na- ture and Effects of the Stage." In 1757 he was installed as pastor of the Low church in Paisley. In 1764 he published three volumes of "Essays on Important Subjects." Hebe- came president of the college or New Jersey in 1768, and also professor of divinity and pastor of the church in Princeton. In 1776 he was a member of the provincial congress of New Jersey, and of the continental congress at Philadelphia, where he was one of the most influential advocates of the declaration of in- dependence. He represented New Jersey in congress for six years, and drew up many of the important state papers of that period. He spent his last years on his farm about two miles from Princeton. For some time previous to his death he was totally blind. Editions of his entire works have been published in 4 vols. 8vo. (New York, 1800-'!) and 9 vols. 12mo (Edinburgh, 1804). A colossal statue of Dr. Witherspoon was unveiled in Fairmount park, Philadelphia, in May, 1876.