Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/484

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

 WEIGL,, (1766-1846). An Austrian composer, born at Eisenstadt, Hungary. He studied with Albrechtsberger and Salieri, and when but sixteen years of age wrote an opera, Die unnütze Vorsicht. His first opera produced, however, was Il pazzo per forza, which appeared in 1788 and was very successful. Encouraged by this, he brought out—between that year and 1825—thirty more operas, both Italian and German, besides a number of ballets. He also wrote two oratorios and many German and Italian cantatas. Upon the death of Salieri, in 1825, he received the position of second Court conductor and devoted his entire time to masses, offertories, and graduals. His opera Die Schweizer Familie, produced at Vienna in 1809, became popular.  WEI-HAI-WEI,. A port on the north coast of the promontory of Shan-tung, China, about 40 miles east of (q.v.), and about the same distance west of Yung-ching-hien, near the extreme end of the promontory (Map:, F 4). It is situated on a moderately large bay with a small island in its mouth which protects the harbor from all sides except one. It was fortified by the Chinese in 1883-85, was made a naval station, and an arsenal was established. In 1895 the Japanese captured it from the landward side. It was evacuated in 1898, and shortly thereafter leased by Great Britain to be held by her so long as Russia should hold Port Arthur, on the opposite coast. With the concession went a strip of land ten miles wide, lying east of 121° 40′ E., and covering an area of about 285 square miles. Population, about 125,000, all under British rule. Only Chinese and British war vessels may enter the harbor.  WEIL,, (1808-89). A German Semitic scholar. He was born at Sulzburg, Baden, studied at Heidelberg and Paris, and, after a five years' residence in the East, became connected with the library at Heidelberg. He was made professor of Oriental languages in the university in 1848. His more important publications include: Die poetische Litteratur der Araber (1837); the translation of the Thousand and One Nights (1837-41); Mohammed der Prophet (1843); Historisch-kritische Einleitung in den Koran (1844); Geschichte der Chalifen (1846-51); Geschichte des Abbassidenchalifats in Aegypten (1860-62); Das Leben Mohammeds nach Mohammed Ibn Ishak bearbeitet von Abd el Malik Ibn Hischam (1864); Geschichte der islamitischen Völker von Mohammed bis zur Zeit des Sultams Selim (1866).  WEIL, (1818—). A German-French classical scholar, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main. He studied at Bonn, Berlin, and Leipzig, and in 1847 was an associate professor at Strassburg, whence he was called two years later to Besançon. In 1870 he went to Paris as professor of Greek at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Ecole des Hautes-Etudes. Among his works are De l'ordre des mots dans les langues anciennes, comparées aux langues modernes (1844; 3d ed. 1879), his masterpiece; and editions of Æschylus, with a Latin commentary (2 vols., 1861-67; 2d ed. 1884); seven tragedies of Euripides, with a French commentary (1868; 2d ed. 1879); Les harangues de Démosthène (1873; 2d ed. 1881); Les plaidoyers politiques de Démosthène (1877-86); Etudes sur le drame antique (1897); and Etudes de littérature et de rhythmique grecques (1902).  WEIMAR,. The capital of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Germany, situated 50 miles west-southwest of Leipzig (Map:, D 3). The quaint old town lies in agreeable surroundings on the Ilm. The Stadtkirche, dating from 1488, rises in the middle of Weimar. It contains Cranach the Elder's valuable “Crucifixion,” in which are to be discerned the faces of Luther and Melanchthon.

On the east side of the town looms the grand ducal palace, an interesting edifice, begun in 1790, and constructed under Goethe's supervision. Near the palace is the modern building completed in 1896, and devoted to the preservation of the precious and extensive Goethe and Schiller archives. South of the palace is the fine library, with over 200,000 volumes and more than 8000 maps. Southwest of the palace, in the market place, rises the striking Gothic town hall, with the remarkable house of the two Cranachs close at hand. Not far distant is the Schiller house, owned by the municipality since 1847. In front of the Court theatre, which bears such high repute, is the great bronze Goethe-Schiller monument, by Rietschel. It was unveiled in 1857. Toward the southern part of the town is the famous Goethe home, where the poet lived. It is open to the public as the Goethe National Museum. In the cemetery on the southern edge of Weimar are buried Goethe and Schiller. To the east lies the beautiful park through which the Ilm flows. Weimar has among its many public and special schools a good art school, dating from 1800. With it are connected several names prominent in the German art world. The valuable new museum is housed in a striking yellow and red stone Renaissance structure. The finest of the contents is the cycle of frescoes by Preller on subjects from the Odyssey. There are also a natural history museum, with ethnological and antiquarian collections, the Liszt museum, a geographical institute, large orphanages, etc. Weimar has manufactures of iron, wood, straw, cloth, leather, and stoves, and is an important seat of the book trade. The population in 1900 was 28,509, nearly all Protestants. Weimar dates from the ninth century. It passed to the Ernestine line of Saxony about 1500. Owing to the enlightened patronage of Duke (q.v.), it is famous for literary associations pertaining to the classic epoch of German literature. Goethe resided here more than fifty years of his life; Schiller, Wieland, and Herder