Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/595

* WIGGIN. 505 WIGHT. daufilitor of Robert N. Smith, a lawyer. She was early taken by her parents to Hollis, Maine; was educated at Al)l)ot Aeiidemy, Andovcr, Mass.; removed to California in 187, studied kinder- garten methods at Los Angeles under Knima ilarvedel, taught for a year in tlie Santa JJarbara College, and then organized at San Franciseo the first free kindergarten on the Paeific Coast, meet- ing with great success as a tea<'lier. In 18S8 she removed to New York City. She was married in I8S0 to Samuel Bradley Wiggin, a San J<'ran- ciseo lawyer, who died in 1889, and in 189.T she was married to George (.'. Kiggs. Among her publislied stories, several of which have been widely popular, are: The Slori/ of I'atsy { 1889) ; TiiHothij's Quest (1890) ; A Cathedral Courtship (1893)'; Polly Oliver's I'rohlem (1893); Mann Lisa (1896); Penelope's Progress (1898); Pene- lope's Experience in Ireland (1901) ; Diary of a Goose (Jirl (1902); and lieheeea of Sunnybrook Farm (1903). She also published: The liirds' Christmas Carol (1888) ; ^ine Lore Son<js and a Carol (1890); and, with her sister, Nora A. Smith, Froebel's Gifts (1895) ; Froebel's Oceupa- tions (189G) ; and Kindergarten Principles and Practice (189G). WIGGLESWORTH, wig'lz-werth, Michael ( ](i31-170o). A New England clergyman and poet, born in England. He was brought to Charlestawn at the age of seven, but was soon taken to New Haven. He graduated at Harvard (1651), served as tutot- there (1652-54), preach- ing occasionally in Charlestown, and afterwards in Maiden, where he was settled as pastor from 1657 till his death. In 1663 he went to Bermuda in search of health. During this time he studied medicine, and, having resumed preaching in 1686, practiced both professions thereafter. He is best known for his Day of Doom (1662), a poem on the Day of Judgment, according to the views current at his time. This poem was immensely popular for more than one hundred years in America, but is now regarded ehielly as a lit- erary curiosity. Wigglesworth wi-ote also God's Controversy with Xew England (1662; first published 1871 by the jMassachusetts Historical Society), and Meat Out of the Eater, or Medita- tions Concerning the Necessity, End, and Useful- ness of A/flietion to God's Children (1669), which was also very popular, ilinor poems were usually appended to the Day of Doom, and are in a modern edition (1807). Consult the Life by Jolin Ward Dean, with letters of Wig- glesworth and a catalogue of his library (1871). WIGHT, Isle of. An island in the English Channel, included in Hamp.shire, and separated from the inaiulaud of England by the Solent (q.v.) (ilap: England, E (5). It is 56 miles in circuit, and has an area of 145 square miles. Population, in 1901, 82,387. The soil of the northern half of the island is for the most part a stifl' clay, growing oats; of the southern, a red loam which jiroduces crops of barley. Red wheat is grown in other parts of the island. The chalk downs aflford admirable pasturage for sheep, cele- brated for the ]uireness of their wool. They fur- nish the London market with spring lamb. The chief exports are wool, corn, flour, cement stones (septaria), and white glass-house sand. Newport is the capital : the other towns are Ryde. Cowes, and Ventnor, all e.veeedingly popular summer re- sorts. Near Cowes is the royal domain of Os- borne, formerlj' a favorite residence of Queen Victoria, and after her death presented to the nation Ijy Kdward VI 1. Cowes is noted as the great English yachting centre. There is railway eonununicalion between Ryde and Ventnor, and between Cowes and Newport. The chief jihysieal feature of the island, to which it owes its "shape and nuich of its beauty, is an undulating range of chalk downs, extending from the Culver elilfs on the east to the Needles on the west, rising to its gr(!atest elevation in Mottiston Down, 661 feet above the sea. The river Medina, rising near the southern extremity of the island, Hows north through a gap in this range, expands into a tidal estuary below Newport, and flows into the Solent at Cowes. A second range of chalk downs, of greater elevation — Saint Boniface Downs, 783 feet, etc. — rises at the southern point of the isl- and, and expands into a broad promontory, the southern face of which forms the picturesque district known as the CnderclilT, or 'back of the island,' in which is situated Ventnor. The whole of this part of the island is sheltered from cold winds, and enjoys a well-merited reputation as a residence for invalids suffering from consump- tion or any other pulmonary disease. Its re- markable heaUhfulness is attested by the death- rale of the district, which is the lowest in the kingdom; while the mildness of its climate is borne witness to by the luxuriance of the myrtles and other exotics which live through the vinter without protection. The great variety of strata displayed within so small an area renders the Isle of Wight one of the best available localities for the geological student. In Alum Bay, at the western extremity of the island, the rapid succession of vertical layers of sands and clays of bright and varied hue produces a singular and beautiful effect. Isolated masses of chalk, which in consequence of their superior hardness have survived the ma- rine and atmospheric waste, form the well-known Needles, at the western opening of the Solent, and the picturesque rocks of Freshwater Bay. The cliffs of the Underclifr are of the upper green- sand or firestone, underlying the chalk. Below this comes the gault or blue marl. To the action of the land-springs upon this formation the land- slips to which the back of the island owes its beauty are due. The lower greensand succeeds the gault, occupying the greater part of the area between the north and soutli chalk downs. This presents a wall of cliff to the sea, diversified with many narrow picturesque gorges, locally known as chines. The fresh-water Wealden formation is the lowest visil)le in the island. Bones of the colossal iguanodon and other saurians are found in this formation. The antiquities include sepul- chral barrows on the downs, Saxon burial places in several localities, the remains of a Roman villa, with a tessellated pavement, at Carisbrooke, and the scanty remains of Quarr Abbey, near Ryde. Carisbrooke Castle is a fine ruin, occupy- ing a commanding position. The Isle of Wight is supposed to have been tlie tin mart of the Greek traders mentioned un- der the name of let is by Diodorus Sieulus. The Rouians knew it as Veeta or Veetis, which is the Latinized form of the native name. It was con- quered for the Romans by Vespasian in the reign of Claudius (a.d. 43) . Cerdic, the founder of the