Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/750

 726 WORCESTER reading room and a library of 4,800 volumes, and maintains during the winter a course of lectures and an evening school of mechanical drawing. The Worcester lyceum and natural history society has a fine cabinet, and main- tains a course of lectures. The Worcester county horticultural society has a fine hall, and a library of 1,200 volumes, and holds annual exhibitions. Three daily and four weekly (one French) newspapers are published. There are 38 religious societies, viz. : 4 Baptist, 8 Congre- gational, 1 Disciples of Christ, 2 Episcopal, 1 Friends', 7 Methodist, 5 Roman Catholic, 1 Second Advent, 1 Swedenborgian, 2 Unitarian, and 1 Universalist. Worcester was permanent- ly settled in 1713, and incorporated as a town in 1722, and as a city in 1848. A settlement, called the " village of Quonsigamog," was be- gun here in 1676, but was broken up by Indians. WORCESTER, a city of England, capital of Worcestershire, on the left bank of the Severn, 102 m. W. N. W. of London ; pop. in 1871, 33,221. The houses are generally of brick; some of them are two or three centuries old. The cathedral is in the form of a double cross, with a central tower 193 ft. high. In 1872 there were 85 places of public worship, of which 20 belonged to the church of England. Porcelain, iron castings, leather, gloves, hair cloth, and lace are the principal manufactures. Worcester was founded by the ancient Britons, and the Romans afterward made it an impor- tant station. It was destroyed by the Danes, and rebuilt about 894, and again burned by Hardicanuto in 1041. After the Norman con- quest a castle was built upon a height overlook- ing the river, a part of which still remains. The town suffered much from the incursions of the Welsh ; and during the civil war, having espoused the cause of Charles I., it suffered severely from the soldiers of the parliament. On Sept. 3, 1051, the final battle, called by Cromwell "a crowning mercy," was fought here between the royalists under Charles II. and the parliamentarians under Cromwell, in which the former were utterly routed. WORCESTER, John Tlptoft, earl of, an English statesman, born at Everton, Cambridgeshire, early in the 15th ccmtury, beheaded in the tower of London, Oct. 15, 1470. He was edu- cated at Oxford, and in 1449 was appointed lord deputy of Ireland and created earl of Wor- cester. Under Edward IV. he was made con- stable of the tower and lord treasurer. He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and on his return presented many valuable manuscripts to the university of Oxford. During the tem- porary return to power of the Lancastrians in 1470 he was accused of cruelty in Ireland and Beheaded. He was a great collector of books. His literary productions comprise translations of Cicero's De Amicitia (printed by William Caxton) and of that portion of Caesar's " Com- mentaries " which relates to Britain. WORCESTER, Edward Somerset, second marquis of, an English inventor, born about 1601, died April 3, 1667. With his father, the first mar- quis, he zealously maintained the royal cause during the civil wars, and Raglan castle, the family seat, was one of the last places that held out against the parliamentary forces. He invented and constructed the first actual steam engine, a description of which is given in his " Century of the Names and Scantlings of such Inventions as at present I can call to mind to have Tried and Perfected" (1663; reprinted in Dircks's " Life, Times, and Scientific La- bours of the Second Marquis of Worcester," London, 1865). He described his invention also in " An Exact and True Definition of the most Stupendous Water-Commanding Engine, invented by the Right Honorable (and de-^ servedly to be praised and admired) Edward Somerset, Lord Marquis of Worcester." (See STEAM ENGINE, vol. xv., p. 839.) He was looked upon by his contemporaries as a vis- ionary speculator. WORCESTER, Joseph Emerson, an American lexicographer, born in Bedford, N. H., Aug. 24, 1784, died in Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 27, 1865. He graduated at Yale college in 1811, and for several years taught in Salem. While here, he prepared the greater part of his " Geo- graphical Dictionary, or Universal Gazetteer " (2 vols., Andover, 1817). His "Gazetteer of the United States" appeared in 1818. IK n - moved to Cambridge in 1819, and in the same year published " Elements of Geography, An- cient and Modern," in 1820 the "Epitome of Geography," in 1823 "Sketches of the Earth and its Inhabitants,*' and in 1826-'8 " Elements of History, Ancient and Modern," "Epitome of History," and "Outlines of Scripture Geog- raphy." In 1827 he published "Johnson's English Dictionary, as improved by Todd and abridged by Chalmers, with Walker's Pro- nouncing Dictionary combined." In 1828 he was employed to abridge Webster's "Ameri- can Dictionary," and in 1830 published his own "Comprehensive Pronouncing and Ex- planatory Dictionary." In 1830-'81 he visit- ed the universities of England and Scotland, and collected philological and lexicographical works. In 1846 appeared his " Universal and Critical Dictionary of the English Language," which was reprinted in London without his consent, with a title page altered so as to read " Webster's Critical and Pronouncing Diction- ary, &c., enlarged and revised by Worcester," and with a garbled preface. In 1855 he pub- lished a "Pronouncing, Explanatory, and Sy- nonymous Dictionary," and in 1860 his quarto " Dictionary of the English Language," in 1854 pages. He also published a "Pronouncing Spelling Book of the English Language " ( 1 857), and " Remarks on Longevity " (from the " Transactions of the American Academy of Sciences "), and edited the " American Alma- nac " from 1831 to 1843 inclusive. WORCESTER. I. Noah, an American clergy- man, born in Hollis, N. H., Nov. 25, 1758, died in Brighton, Mass., Oct. 81, 1837. Ho was a