Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/504

* •WTENTWORTH. 428 WERGILD. and Prose Writers of New South Wales (Sydney, 181)6) ; and Rusden, History of Australia (Lon- don, 1SS3). WEN WANG, wun wang (B.C. 1231-1135). One of the most noted names in Cliinese history. It was posthumously conferred on Ch'ang, the Duke of Cliow, by his fourth son, the noted Chow Kung. He was "hereditary chieftain of a small principality in what is now the Province of Shensi, was commonly known as Si-Peli, 'Chief of the West,' and was honored by everybody, except the infamous tyrant Chow-sin (then on the throne of China), as a pattern of every princely virtue. Denounced to Chow-sin in 1144 by the Marquis Ch'ung as a menace to the dynasty, he was imprisoned for two years. Yielding at last to the entreaties of the people, Chow-sin re- leased him, and gave him a commission to make war on the frontier tribes. He died at the age of ninety-six. bequeathing his army to his son Fa, who, in 1123, overthrew Chow-sin and became the first ruler of the new dynasty of Chow (B.C. 1122-1246) under the title of Vu Wang, his younger brother, Chow-kung, becoming his wisest and most trusted counselor. WENZEL, ven'tsel. See Wenceslas. WEPT OF WISH-TON-WISH, The. An his- torical novel by .Tames Fenimore Cooper (1827), dealing with the war of King Philip. WERDATJ, ver'dou. A tov.n of the Kingdom of Sa.xony, Germany, on the river Pleisse, 40 miles south of Leipzig (Map: Germany, E 3). It has important industries, including manu- factures of woolen fabrics, chemicals, machinery, playing-cards, motors, wagons, and upholstery goo'ds. Population, in 1900', 10,352. WERDEN, ver'dcn. A town of Rhenish Prussia. Germany, on the Ruhr, 17 miles north- east of Diisseldorf. It has manufactures of cloth, linen, and silk. There are coal mines in the vicinity. Population, in 1900, 10,700. WERDER, ver'der, August, Count von (1808-87). A Prussian general, born at Schloss- berg. East Prussia. He entered the Prussian Army in 1825; took part in the campaign in the Caucasus in 1842-43: and as lieutenant- general commanded the Tliird Division at Git- schin and Sadowa in the Seven Weeks' War with Austria. In the Franco-Prussian War he led the army corps of Baden and Wiirttem- berg at the battle of Wiirth ; was then placed in command of a siege corps before Strassburg ; after the capitulation of that city was put in command of the new Fourteenth Army Corps, and defeated Garibaldi in the southeast of France. When Bourbaki, with about 150.000 men. threatened the communications of the (Gor- man army besieging Paris, Werdcr with a much smaller force delayed the French march by an attack at Villersexel on January 9, 1871. and then took up his famous defensive position south- west of Rclfort. Here on .Tanuary 15th. lOlh, and 17th he repulsed all the French assaults. -After the war closed he was given a grant of 200,000 1 balers, and a statue was erected in bis honor at (•"reiburg. In 1875 he received the lilack Kagle. and on his retirement in the same year was created Count. Consult: Conrady, Leben den (Jrafen August von Werder (Berlin, 1889); anil Varnhagen, Werdcr yegcn liourhaKi (Berlin, 1897). WEREWOLF. See Werwolf. WERFF, verf, Adriaen van der (1650- 1722). A Dutch painter, born at Kralingen. He was a pupil of Cornells Picolet and of Eglon van der Xeer. Befriended in 1696 by the Elector Palatine .John William, he received a com- mission for the lalter's portrait and for a picture to represent the judgment of Solomon, was ap- pointed Court painter, and was ennobled (1703). His minute biblical, mythological, and genre paintings with their porcelain-like finish there- upon were in great demand. The ilunich Pina- kothek possesses no less than thirty of them, including "Diana Discovering Callisto's Fall" and some sixteen scenes from the life of Christ. There is a smaller collection of twelve in the Dresden Gallery. Many others are to be found in tile principal Eui'opean galleries. A few mezzotint engravings have also been ascribed to Werff, and the Exchange at Rotterdam is said to have been from his design. WERGELAND, ver'ge-lant, He.vbik Arnold (1808 45). . Xorwegian poet, born in Chris- tiansand. He studied theology at Christiania, withdrew from the ministry in 1834, studied meilicine, was given a post in the State library in 1836 and made Keeper of the Archives in 1840. In poetry he used his great enthusiasm and genius as a prophet of national independence and manly individualism. His verse was at first erratic, exuberant in imagination, but lack- ing alike taste and knowledge. Of Wergeland's work up to 1831 Creation, Man. and Messiah (1830), a formless epic, is sufficiently char- acteristic. From 1831 to 1835 Wergeland's style proved more correct and his thought more ma- ture. By 1840 he had outgrown his audience and in becoming a great poet had sacrificed his po- litical hold on the masses as a liberal patriot. His dramas are negligible and his Const it utionul History of Norway ( 1841-43) is forgotten, but his Ivric narratives, Jan van Huysum's Flower-Piece ('1840), The Sa-aUow (1841). The Jew (18421, The Jeu-ess (1844). and The English Pilot ( 1844), are the best of their kind in Xorwegian. Wergeland's TForAs are in 9 volumes (Chris- tiania, 1852-57). There is a good selection in one volume (ib., 1859). Consult the biogra|ihies by Lassen (Christiania. 1867). Schwancnfliigel (Copenhagen. 1877), and Skavlan (Christiania, 1892). WERGILD, wer'gild. WEREGILD, or WERGELD (AS., compensation for a man.) . conipiisition by which, according to the cu-toni of the .Anglo-Saxons. Franks, and other Teu- tonic peoples, homicide and other heinous crimes against the person were expiated. There was an I'stablishcd. progressive rate of wergild, varying at diflerent tinu's and among different Teutonic p<'oples, from the wergild of the rrorl or peasant to that of the King. The sum paid to the rela- tives in case of homicide, also known as the nianiryrlh. seems to have been looked on as the equivalent of the dead man's value. But man- iryrth is usuallv distinguished from wergild. Thus for the killing of :innther man's slave A man-iryrlh had to be paid, but no wcrgihl proper. As the power of the eouninniitv or King in- creased, the exaction of retribution for the death of its members was considered to be the duty of the .State, as well as of the relatives, and the