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WALPOLE. King's College, Cambridge. He was elected to Pailiaiiient fiom the family borough of Castle Kising in 1701, and from the more important con- stitiieni'y of King's L3'nn in 1702. 'I'hrough menibership in the council to Printe George of Denmark in 1705, and services as Secretary of War from 1708 to 1710. he won a high position in the Whig councils, only to fall with his party through the failure of the impeachment pro- ceedings against SaehevercU. A brilliant share in the opposition incurred for him the biltcr enmity of the Tories. Reelected to Parliament from King's Lynn in 171.3, the acces.sion of George I. in the following year secured bis return to ministerial favor. Serving at first as Privy Councilor and Paymaster-General of Ihe forces, on the impeachment, largely through his endeav- ors, of the Bolingbroke Jlinistry. he was in 171.5 made Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Lord of the Treasury. Disunion in the Cabinet during the year 1717 led to his resignation and the transfer of his energy to the opposition, in which he was a most determined enemy of the South Sea scheme. Restored to the paymaster- ship of the forces in 1720, the disastrous failure of the South Sea bubble was followed in 1721 by his elevation for the second time to the office of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. From this time until his retire- ment in 1742, the life of Walpole may be said to be the history of England. "But his long admin- istration is almost without a history," says Green ; "all legislative and political activity abruptly ceased with his entry into office." His policy throughout was peace abroad and sound finance at home. Frauds in the excise during 173.3, and the unpopular Gin Act of 173, weak- ened his hold on popular affection; and quarrels between the King and the Prince of Wales in 1737, together with the Spanish war, into which the IMinistry was forced in 1730, led to the over- throw- of Walpole in 1742. He resigned February 2d of that year and was created Earl of Orford. He died March 18, 1745. His name is chiefly re- membered in connection with his frank avowal of the necessity of Parliamentary corruption. "Personally he was free from corruption ; and he is perhaps" the first great English statesman who left office poorer than when he entered it. But he was certainly the first who made Parliamen- tary corruption a regular part of his system of government." In addition to the various Parliamentary rec- ords, source material of value may be found in the writings of Horace Walpole (q.v.). Consult: Memoirs of the Life and Administration of Sir Robert Walpole. Earl of Orford (London, 1738), the standard biography; Morley, Walpole (Twelve English Statesmen Series, ib., 1890). WALPOLE, Sir Spencer (1839—). An Eng- lish liistorian. He was born February 6, 1839, the eldest son of Spencer Horatio Walpole (1806- 1808). and grandson of the Prime Jlinister Spencer Perceval. He was educated at Eton, and held several minor governmental positions, but is known chiefly for his historical w^orks, which deal with modern English history. His Bistoni of England from 1815, which appeared in five' volumes from 1878 to 1886. is in some re- spects the best work that appeared on England in the nineteenth century. In 1898 Walpole was knighted. Other works by him are Life of the Uiijht Honorable Spencer I'erceval (1874); The Electorate and the Leyislaturc (1881); Foreign Ix'elations (1882); lirilish Fish Trade (1883); Eifc of Lord John Hussell (1891). WALPURGA, valpoor'ga, or WALPUB- GIS, Saint. . West Saxon maidi'U of rov.il birth, who followed her brothers Saint Wilibald and Saint Wunnil)ald, in the time of Saint Boni- face, from her native coimtry to Germany, to help them in extending Christianity. Wilibald es- tnldished the Bishopric of Kichstiitt al)Out 741, and Wunnibald the neighboring Convent of Hei- dcnheim about 74.5, th(! direction of which Wal- purga undertook after his death (al)out 7.50), as the first abbess, holding this position imtil her death, about 780. Her bones were transferred to Eichstatt, where a convent was erected in her hontu'. The veneration of Waljjurga became wiile spread. Throughout all (ieniiaiiy, and even in France, the Netherlands, and England, churches and chapels were dedicated to her, relics of her were shown, and festivals celel)rated in her honor. The feast of Walpurga falls proper- ly on Fcbrtiary 2oth: but as in some (icrman cal- endars it is assigned to May 1st, the name of Walpurga has become associated with some of the most noted popular .superstitions. May Ist had been one of the most sacred days of all pagan- ism. (See Beltane.) When the belief in witch- craft (q.v.) had come into vogue, the Walpurgis- night obtained a notoriois significance, inasmuch as during the night, l)etween April 30 and May 1, the witches were held to ride on broomsticks and goats to the old places of judgment and sacri- fice, in order to enjoy themselves there with their master the devil. Such witch-hills were tolerably numerous in Germany and the neighboring coun- tries. The best known, how-ever, was the highest point of the Harz, the Brocken .or Blocksberg, which has obtained a wide celebrity as the scene of the witches' Sabbath in Cioethe's Fav.st. The existing legends are not ancient, belonging to the pei'iod of the witch persecutions in the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries, but they doubt- less contain some measure of old belief. WALPURGISNACHT, v.'il-pnor'ges-niiGt. A choral symiihony, the score of which is by Men- delssohn' and the libretto by Goethe. It was first produced at Berlin during the winter of 1832-33, the composer himself directing the production.

WALRUS (Swed. hvalross, Dan. hvalros, walrus, whale-horse, from Swed., Dan. hval, Whale + Swed. hross, Dan. hros, horse). One of the largest animals of the seal tribe (Pinnipedia), the two species of which constitute the family Trichechidæ (formerly Rosmaridæ) and classified on anatomical grounds between the eared seals (otaries) and earless or 'common' seals, though having little external resemblance to either. The form is thick and clumsy (see Colored Plate of The New International Encyclopædia/Seal (mammal)), and a full-grown male will measure 12 feet in length and may exceed 2200 pounds in weight: but females are somewhat smaller. Young ones are rather thickly clothed with a faded brown fur, but as age advances this falls out, and old individuals are almost naked. The blunt muzzle is set with a thick mustache of bristles, which with the lips is very mobile. The ear is marked only by a fold of skin. The primary