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* WIESNER. 504 WIGGIN. (1877) ; Das Bewegungsvermogen dcr Pflanzen (1881) ; Elemente der tcissenschaftlichen Botanik (1881-89 et seq. ) ; and Pflanzenphysiologische UitteiUmgen aus Buitenzorg (1894 et seq.). WIFE FOR A MONTH. A comedy by John Fletcher, produced before 1623, printed in 1647. The scene is Naples, whose Duke unsuccessfully tries to disgrace a lady by oflering her to any bidder for a month. WIFE-HATER BIBLE. See Bible, Curi- ous Editions of. WIF'FEN. Benjamin Barron (1794-1867). An English editor and biographer. He was a younger brother of Jeremiah Holmes WiflFen (q.v. ) and was born of Quaker parentage at VVoburn, Bedfordshire. Having become interested in Spanish literature, he visited Spain in 18.39, and again in 1842, and did much to rescue from oblivion the works of early Spanish reformers. With the assistance of Don Luis de Usoz y Rio he published the collection of Ohras Antiqiias de los Espanoles Reformados (20 vols., 1847-65). He also wrote the Life and Writings of Juan de Valdcs (1865) to accompan.y the English transla- tion of the works of Valdes by J. T. Betts, be- sides other biographical sketches. WIFFEN, Jerejiiaii Holmes (1792-1836). An English poet and translator. He was born of Quaker parentage at Woburn, Bedfordshire. He was for a time a schoolmaster, and he acquired a knowledge of the classics, Hebrew. French, Ital- ian, and later of Spanish and Welsh. In 1821 he was appointed librarian at Woburn Abbey to John Russell, sixth Duke of Bedford. Among his published works are: Aonian Hours (1819); Julia Apinula and Other Poems (1820) ; a trans- lation of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1824); and Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell (1833). WIG (abbreviation of periwig, peririg, peru- ique, etc., variants of peruke, from OF., Fr. perrnque, from Olt. perucea, It. perrucca, parru- ca, wig, from Olt. peluecare, pilueeare, pilluc- care, to pull out hairs, from Lat. pilus, hair). An arrangement of false hair for concealing bald- ness, or for the supposed adornment of the head. The custom of wearing wigs dates from remote antiquity. Wigs worn as early as B.C. 2000 have been found on EgTi'ptian muuunies and indications of the fashion .are seen on the Assyrian sculpture. From the East the fashion traveled to Greece and Rome. Xenophon mentions that Astyages wor<^ an immense wig. Several of the Roman emperors wore wigs. Roman ladies under the Empire wore large masses of golden red hair im- ported from (laul (see Haikuressing), a fashion which a council of the Church ended in 072. It is interesting to note that the Roman Catholic Church never sanctioned the fashion. However, in the sixteenth century false hair began to be exten- sively used by the ladies of luirope; Queen Eliza- beth is said to have had SO different coiffures of false hair. But this periwig was an imitation of the real hair or an addition to it. and not the distinctive feature of costume which it became after its adoption Iiy Louis XIII. to conceal his baldness. By means of the wig, the courtiers imi- tated the heavy flowing locks of Louis XIV., and then the fashion of wig-wearing became fully es- tablished in Europe. For more than a century no gentleman of fashion could appear without one. Such was the extravagance in this article of dress that as much as three guineas an ounce was paid in England for fine qualities of hair, and wigs were made at a cost of £140. It was only toward the end of the eighteenth century that the unnaturalness of this ornament appears to have been thought of, and it began to be super- seded by the queue with hair-powder (q.v.). Clergymen and military officers long clung to the style and it has not yet been discarded on the English bench. The full-bottomed wig is worn by the Speaker of the House of Commons. The wig of the judges has flaps formed of pre- cise curls hanging down in front and also re- sembles the wig of Queen Anne. The undress wig of the judges and that of barristers and ad- vocates are relics of the old tie wig, in which the lower part of the wig is tied. In Queen Anne's reign the fashion became most extreme in Eng- land. She patronized the full-bottomed wig, an immense headdress which parted into two bunches of ringlets, one on each breast, and floated down the back and shoulders. WIG'AN. A manufacturing town and Parlia- mentary borough, in Lancashire, England, on the Douglas, 151-2 miles south-southeast of Preston, and 18^^ miles northeast of Liverpool (Map: England, D 3). An ancient town, irregularly built, Wigan has made rapid architectural and municipal progress. The twice restored parish church of All Saints is a stately edifice, dating from the fourteenth century. There are fine modern public buildings. The municipality owns the gas and w'ater supplies and maintains a cemetery, park, markets, free library, baths, and schools for technical instruction. It has exten- sive collieries, and important iron and cotton in- dustries. Population, in 1891, 55,013: in 1901, 60,770. WIG'F ALL, Louis Trezev. t (1816-741. An American soldier and politician, born in Ed!;e- field District, S. C. He was educated at the College of South Carolina, but served as lieuten- ant of volunteers in the Seminole War before graduating. He studied law at the University of Virginia, and after admission to the bar re- moved to Marshall, Tex., in 1846. He served in the Lower House of the Texas Legislature in 1.849-50, and in the Senate in 1857-58 and 1859-60. He was elected to the t'nited States Senate, took his seat .January 4, ISliO. and became at once known as a deliant advocate of secession. He was expelled July 11, 1861, when he did not ap- pear at the extra session. Meanwhile, he had served as an aide to General Beauregard at the bombardment of Fort Sumter, and on April 13th made his way to the fort to counsel surrender, as further resistance was useless. He became colonel of the Second Infantry in the Confederate Army August 28th, and at the same time served as Representative in the Confederate Congress. He was promoted to brigadier-general in Oc- tober, 1861, but resigruHl Echruary 20. 1862, to take his seal in the Cnnfederate Senate, of which he remained a member vnitil the end of the war. Then he lived in Enghind for several years and on his return took up his residence in Balti- more. WIG'GIN, Kate Douolas (1857—). An American writer, born in Philadelphia, Pa.; the