Milton's smaller poems. A 4to. edition appeared in 1790, with corrections and additions. Until he reached his sixty-second year he continued to enjoy vigorous and uninterrupted health, but at that age he died in 1790. WARWICK, the county-town of Warwickshire, in Knightlow hundred, on the banks of the Avon, near the centre of the county, ninety-one miles northwest of London. In the vicinity of the market place are houses so large and well built as satisfactorily to prove the commercial respectability of the place. The town-hall is a handsome building of free-stone, supported by pillars, and the countyhall is a spacious and ornamental structure. The market-house is a substantial stone building; the county gaol is also an extensive and well-designed modern fabric, and the Bridewell is well adapted to its purposes. The different sects of Dissenters have places of worship in this town. Formerly it had six parish churches, but has now only two. St. Mary's is a noble Gothic structure; before the Reformation it was collegiate, but at the dissolution Henry VIII. gave it to the inhabitants as a place of worship. In the choir are several handsome brass monuments of the ancient earls of Warwick buried there, and one of the earl of Essex, the unfortunate favorite of queen Elizabeth. In the entrance of the middle aisle is a handsome marble font; on the south side is a beautiful chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The church of St. Nicholas has a lofty spire, the tower of which contains eight bells. In former times there were many religious houses in this town, but they were rather hospitals than convents, and but poorly endowed. Here are three charity-schools, an hospital for twelve decayed gentlemen, one also for eight poor women, and two others for decayed tradesmen. Over the Avon is an elegant stone bridge of one arch, erected at the expense of the earl of Warwick. On the northern bank of the river stands the castle, on the solid rock, 100 feet higher than the level of the Avon, but on the north side it is even with the town, and has a charming prospect from the terrace. Across the river, communicating with the castle, there was a stone bridge of twelve arches, and, by a stone-work dam, the water forms a cascade under the castle walls. It is supposed to have been originally built by Ethelfleda, queen of Mercia, in the tenth century. William the Conqueror, considering the castle to be of great importance, enlarged it, and put it into complete repair, giving it to the custody of Henry de Newbury, on whom he bestowed the earldom of Warwick. During the barons' wars it was nearly demolished by Gifford, governor of Kenilworth Castle, but it was soon afterwards rebuilt. In the reign of Richard II. Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, erected a tower at the north-east corner, the walls of which were ten feet thick. By James I. this castle was granted to sir Fulk Greville, who expended £20,000 in its reparation. In the reign of Charles II. Robert, earl of Brooke, embellished the whole building, and particularly fitted up the state apartments. It is at present one of the noblest castles remaining in England: the apartments are elegantly furnished, and adorned with many original paintings. At one end is a lofty tower with a beautiful small chapel. The town is incorporated under a mayor, recorder, twelve aldermen, and twenty-four common-councilmen. In 1811 it was handsomely paved, and is now lighted with gas. It sends two members to parliament, who are chosen by the inhabitants paying scot and lot. Warwick was nearly destroyed by fire in 1694, but, by the assistance of parliament and the generosity of the public, it was soon after rebuilt in the handsome manner in which it now appears. There is a mill on the river Avon, one mile and a half from the town, for spinning cotton yarn; and here are extensive manufactories for combing and spinning long wool, and other branches of the hosiery trade. The commercial prosperity of the town has been much increased by the canal. At Guy Cliff House is recorded to have stood an hermitage, to which the renowned Guy, earl of Warwick, retired after the many valorous exploits recorded of him in this part of the country. In the suburbs was a chantry erected to his memory by Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, in the reign of Henry VI., with a statue to his memory. This Guy is supposed to have flourished in the reign of Athelstan, and besides the many victories over dragons, wild boars, &c., is said to have decided the fate of the kingdom, in single combat, with an enormous giant that stood the champion of the Danes, at Mem Hill, near the walls of Winchester, where king Athelstan was besieged. Many curio sities are still shown in the castle as belonging to the hero. Here are annual horse-races, well attended. Market on Saturday. WARWICKSHIRE. This county at the time of the Roman invasion was occupied by two distinct tribes, whom the invaders denominated the Cornavii and the Wiccii, or Wigantes, or, according to Tacitus, the Jugantes. During the Heptarchy, Warwickshire was part of the kingdom of Mercia, and the Saxons gave it the name of Weringscyre, which signifies a station of soldiers. Warwickshire is an inland county, situated near the centre of the kingdom, in a north-west direction from London. It is bounded on the north-east by Leicestershire; on the south-east by Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire; on the south and west by Gloucestershire; on the west by Worcestershire; and on the north and west by Staffordshire; and, according to Cary's map, lies between lat. 51° 57' 30′ and 52° 42′ N., and between long. 1° 7′ 30′′ and 1° 56′ 40′ W. from the observatory at Greenwich. The greatest length of the county is fiftyone miles and a quarter, from near Honey-hill in the north to Rollewright-stones in the south: and the greatest breadth from the eastern extremity of the county, about half a mile above the Northamptonroad, to the western extremity at Headley-cross, is thirty six miles. The county contains, by Cary's map, 597,477 acres, at the calculation of eighty chains statute measure to a mile; and is justly considered to be one of the most fertile and valuable counties in the kingdom. Although the city and county of Coventry is a distinct district from Warwickshire, yet, lying within the county of Warwick, it is proper to include them in this sketch. The city and county of Coventry lies in a north-east direction from Warwick, and is distant from it about ten miles and a quarter. It is bounded on every side by Warwickshire. The greatest length, from Bedworth to a point near Baggington, in a north-east and south-west direction, is seven miles and a half; and the greatest breadth, from Nettle-hill to Brownshill-green, in the direction of Karesley-green, in about an east and west direction, is seven miles and a quarter. The district contains in all about 18,161 acres. The county of Warwick is included in the midland circuit. It is divided into the four hundreds of Barlichway, Hemlingford, Kington, and Knightlow; the city and county of Coventry may be said to constitute a fifth hundred. It contains one city, thirteen market-towns, 200 entire parishes, and nine demi-parishes. The climate of this county is generally esteemed mild and healthy. The inhabitants seem to be stout and robust, and, excepting in cases where the nature of their employment is injurious to health, live to an advanced age. The most general winds are from the south-west, and are usually accompanied with rain; but not unfrequently the effects of an easterly variation are felt to the middle of May; and it scarcely need be remarked that vegetation must, in consequence, suffer severely. Warwickshire, upon the whole, however, is not to be considered as subject to any particular excess of damp or frost. The soil extending from Rollewright-stones, on the borders of Oxfordshire, to Long Compton, Barton-on-the-heath, Fourshire Stone, Woolford, Whichford, Weston, Cherington, Burmington, Brails-hill, and Barcheston, is mostly a strong clay loam on lime-stone. Thence to Barrow-hill, New St. Dennis, Idlicote, Whalcott, Halford, Pillerton-priors, Upper Eatington, Pillerton-Hersey, Butler's-Marston, Foss-Bridge, Combrook, Frix-Hall, and Compton Verney, is stronger clay on limestone rock; and so continues to near Walton House, and Warwick, and down to the east side of the Avon, by Barford, all the way to Charlcott and Wellesbourn-Hastings. From Walton to Kington, with little exception, the soil is a very strong cold clay and poor. Descending the hill to Kington, a vale of land appears to begin at the Brails-hill, and stretches along by Ox Hill, Herd Hill, Kington, Owlington, Froghall, Warmington, and Shotteswell, to Gaydon and Knightcote, by Southam, Stockton, Leamington-Hastings, across the Leame River, to near Draycote. The soil about Kington is a strong clay loam, and continues this quality to within a mile of Radway, where it alters to a rich clay loam, and so remains through Mr. Millar's Park at Radway, to nearly the bottom of the tower that is built at Ratley: there the soil changes to a brown and light clay loam on limestone rock, which runs along this height to the borders of Oxfordshire, for nearly a mile in breadth. On descending the height near Warmington, the soil alters to a very rich clay loam, the surface all in rich old grass, extending across to North End. Thence the soil changes to a blue clay on a dark blue lime-stone, which continues to a mile beyond Gaydon, where the soil again changes to a light-colored clay on a light-colored lime-stone rock, until a near approach to Harwoods House, where it changes to a red clay loam. Within a short distance, in the direction towards Warwick, you reach a sandy red loam, which extends to about four miles north of Coventry. The Knightlow hundred, supposed to contain 173,714 acres, extends from Guy's Cliff, in an easterly direction, to the borders of Northamptonshire, and in a north-easterly direction to the borders of Leicestershire. A great proportion of this district is in tillage. From the borders of this hundred next Warwick to Leamington, Radford, Whitnesh, Tachbrook-Mallory, to the Fossway, Offchurch, Hunningham Hill, Wappenbury, Rig. ton, Woolston, Church Lawford, Essen Hill, New bold Revel, Newnham Padox, Wilby, Wibtoft, loam, and extends east by Coleshill, and west by town. It has become the resort of families of distinction; and the water having obtained the character of possessing all the qualities of that of Cheltenham, with superior effects, it is supposed by many that Leamington, having the advantage of good roads, and a finer country, will soon rival Cheltenham. On the north bank of the Avon River, in the Rugby division, and in the parish of King's Newnham, there is a considerable spring, which flows from beneath a limestone rock, where a bath is established. Warwickshire sends six members to parliament, viz., two for the county, two for Warwick, and two for the city of Coventry. Of the worthies of Warwickshire we can only particularise Edward Cave, the bookseller, who was born at Newton in 1691. He deserves particular notice for having been the projector and original proprietor of the Gentleman's Magazine, commenced in the year 1731.-Samuel Clarke, one of the two thousand ejected ministers, and author of several works, particularly Lives of Eminent persons, &c., was born at Woolston about the year 1599 and died in 1682. His son Samuel was the author of a Commentary on the Bible.-Michael Drayton, a poet of some note, but whose metre of twelve syllables is now antiquated and disregarded, was born at Hartshull in 1563. His principal work is the Poly-Olbion, by which title he designates England, the ancient name of Albion being by some derived from Olbion, a Greek word signifying happy--Poly-olbion very happy.-Sir Thomas Overbury, who fell a victim to the cruelty of that unprincipled nobleman, Carr, earl of Somerset, was born at Compton Scorfen in 1681. This unfortunate man's history is too long and too interesting for such an abridgement as we can afford. He was poisoned in the Tower, by the contrivance of Somerset and his wife, in the year 1613. He was an elegant scholar, and wrote several pieces in prose and verse. William Shakspeare, the immortal dramatist, born at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, and died in the year 1616.-Sir William Dugdale, the celebrated historian and antiquary, was born near Coleshill in 1605; and died in 1686. His principal works are the Monasticon Anglicanum, and The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated— William Somerville, author of The Chase, a poem, was born in the year 1692 and died in 1743.-Francis Willughby, an eminent naturalist, the intimate friend of Ray, was born in 1635. Died in 1672. Warwickshire is a great manufacturing county. The hardware of Birmingham, particularly the celebrated works of Messrs. Bolton and Watt, are known all over Europe; as are also the silk works of Coventry. Here also are manufactures of worsted and hosiery; also of various kinds of cotton goods. Nails, pins, and needles, are also made in this county. WA'RY, adj. Sax. pœn. Cautious; scrupulous: the adverb and noun substantive corresponding. The charge thereof unto a courteous sprite Spenser. Each warns a warier carriage in the thing, Lest blind presumption work their ruining. Daniel. To determine what are little things in religion, great wariness is to be used. Sprat's Sermons. It will concern a man to treat conscience awfully and warily, by still observing what it commands, but especially what it forbids. South's Sermons. Others grow wary in their praises of one, who sets too great a value on them, lest they should raise him too high in his own imagination. Addison's Spectator. I look upon it to be a most clear truth; and expressed it with more wariness and reserve than was necessary. WASH, v. a., v. n.,& n. s. Atterbury. Sax. parcan; Teut. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse Shakspeare. Richard III. Ïd. Try whether children may not have some wash to make their teeth better and stronger. Bacon's Nat. Hist. A polish of clearness, evenly and smoothly spread, not over thin and washy, but of a pretty solid consist ence. Wotton. Sins of irreligion must still be so accounted for, as to crave pardon, and be washed off by repentance. Taylor. On the washy ouze deep channels wore, L'Estrange. The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, To wash over a coarse or insignificant meaning, is to Swift. Here gallypots and viols placed, Id. Recollect the things you have heard, that they may not be washed all away from the mind by a torrent of other engagements. Watts. WASHING, in painting, is when a design, drawn with a pen or crayon, has some one color laid over it with a pencil, as Indian ink, bistre, or the like, to make it appear the more natural, by adding the shadow of prominences, apertures, &c., and by imitating the particular matters whereof the thing is supposed to consist. WASHINGTON (George), the founder of the freedom of the United States of America, and the first president of that congress which laid the foun dation of their union, was born on the 11th of Fe bruary, 1732, O. S., in the parish of Washington, Virginia. He was descended from an ancient family in Cheshire, of which a branch had been established in Virginia about the middle of the seventeenth century. The earl of Buchan assures us that this ancient English family was allied to those of Fairfax and Ferrers, and many others of the highest order, as abundantly appears from public records, and his mother's more immediately from that most ancient Saxon family of Fairfax, of Towcester in Northumberland, and of Walton and Gilley in Yorkshire, now represented by those of Fitzwilliam and Buchan, by which means the family of general Washington came to possess the lands of Mount Vernon, in Fairfax county in Virginia, which came in dower by a daughter of that house from whom he was descended.' His classical instruction was such as the private tutor of a Virginian country gentleman could at that period impart. But before he was twenty he was appointed major in the colonial militia, and he had very early occasion to display those political and military talents of which the exertions on a greater theatre have since made his name so famous throughout the world. In the disputes which arose between the French and English officers, on the subject of the boundaries of the English and French territories in America, major Washington was employed by the governor of Virginia in a negociation with the French governor of Fort du Quesne (now Pitsborough), who threatened the English frontiers with a body of French and their Indian allies. He succeeded in averting the invasion; but hostilities becoming inevitable, he was in the next year appointed lieutenant-colonel of a regiment raised by the colony for its own defence, to the command of which he soon after succeeded. The unfortunate expedition of Braddock followed in 1755. Colonel Washington served in that expedition only as a volunteer; but such was the general confidence in his talents that he may be said to have conducted the retreat. After having acted a distinguished part in a subsequent and more successful expedition to the Ohio, he was obliged, by ill health, in 1758, to resign his commission. The sixteen years which followed afford few materials for the biographer. Having married Mrs. Custis, a Virginian lady of amiable character and respectable connexions, he settled at his beautiful seat of Mount Vernon; where, with the exception of such attendance as was required by his duties as a magistrate and a member of the assembly, his time was occupied by his domestic enjoyments and the cultivation of his estate. At the commencement of the unfortunate differences between Britain and America, Mr. Washington was sent as a delegate from Virginia to the Congress which met at Philadelphia on the 26th of October, 1774. He was appointed to the command of the army which had assembled in the New England provinces, to hold in check the British army then encamped under general Gage at Boston, and he took upon himself the command of that army in July, 1775. To detail his operations in the years which followed would be to repeat the history of the American war. Within a very short period after the declaration of independence, the affairs of America were in a condition so desperate that perhaps nothing but the peculiar character of Washington's genius could have retrieved them. The issue of the contest is known. The magnanimity of Washington during the ravages of civil war, in which he acted so conspicuous a part, has been much and justly celebrated. The unfortunate case of major André can hardly be urged as an exception. His acting as a spy justified his punishment. The conclusion of the American war permitted Washington to return to those domestic scenes from which no views of ambition seem to have had the power to draw his affections. As a genuine proof of his patriotism he would receive no pay for eight years' service, but defrayed his expenses during the war, out of his private purse. But he was not allowed long to enjoy this privacy. To remedy the distress into which the country had been thrown by the war a convention of delegates was assembled at Philadelphia, which strengthened the bands of the federal union, and bestowed on congress those powers which were necessary for good government. Washington was the president; and in three years after he was elected president of the United States of America under the new constitution. During his chief magistracy the French revolution took place, which convulsed the whole political world, and which tried most severely his moderation and prudence. Washington, as a virtuous man, must have abhorred the crimes committed in France. But, as the first magistrate of the American commonwealth, he was bound only to consider how far the interest and safety of the people whom he governed were affected by the conduct of France. He saw that it was wise and necessary for America to preserve a good understanding and a beneficial intercourse with that great country, in whatever manner she was governed, as long as she abstained from committing injury against the United States. Guided by this just and simple principle, uninfluenced by the abhorrence of crimes which he felt, he received Mr. Genet the minister of the French republic. The history of the outrages which that minister committed, or instigated, or countenanced, against the American government must be fresh in the memory of all our readers. The conduct of Washington was a model of firm and dignified moderation. Insults were offered to his authority in official papers, in anonymous libels, by incendiary declaimers, and by tumultuous meetings. The law of nations was trampled under foot. His confidential ministers were seduced to betray him, and the deluded populace were so inflamed by the arts of their enemies, that they broke out into insurrection. No vexation, however galling, could disturb the tranquillity of his mind, or make him deviate from the policy which his situation prescribed. During the whole course of that arduous struggle, his personal character gave that strength to a new magistracy which in other countries arises from ancient habits of obedience and respect. The authority of his virtue was more efficacious for the preservation of America than the legal powers of his office. During this turbulent period he was re-elected to the office of the presidency of the United States, which he held from April, 1789, till September, 1796. Throughout the whole course of his second presidency the danger of America was great and imminent. The spirit of change, indeed, at that period shook all nations. But in other countries it had to encounter ancient and solidly established power; it had to tear up by the roots long habits of attachment in some nations for their government; of awe in others; of acquiescence and submission in all. But in America the government was new and weak. The people had scarcely time to recover from the feelings of a recent civil war. Washington employed the horror excited by the atrocities of the French revolution for the most honest and praiseworthy purposes; to preserve the internal quiet of his country; to assert the dignity, and to maintain the rights, of the commonwealth which he governed against foreign enemies. He avoided war without incurring the imputation of pusillanimity. He cherished the detestation of Americans for anarchy without weakening the spirit of liberty; and he maintained, and even consolidated, the authority of government without abridging the privileges of the people. The resignation of Washington, in 1790, was a measure of prudence as well as of patriotism. From his resignation till July 1798 he lived in retirement at Mount Vernon. At this latter period it was no longer possible to submit to the accumulated insults and injuries America was receiving from France, and the United States resolved to arm by land and sea. The command of the army was bestowed on general Washington. In this office he continued during the short period of his life which still remained. On Thursday the 12th of December, 1799, he was seized with an inflammation in his throat, which became considerably worse the next day, and of which, notwithstanding the efforts of his physicians, he died on Saturday the 14th of December, 1799, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. WASHINGTON, a county on the east side of Maine, bounded on the east by New Brunswick, on the south by the Atlantic, and on the west by Hancock and Penobscot counties. Chief towns, Machias and Eastport. WASHINGTON, a post town, the capital of Washington county, Pennsylvania, on the head branches of Chartier's Creek: twenty-five miles south-west of Pittsburg, twenty-five W. N. W. of Brownsville, and thirty-two E. N. E. of Wheeling. It is a flourishing town, and contains a court-house, a jail, two banks, two printing-offices, a college, a very large steam flour mill, various other public buildings and manufacturing establishments, and about 400 dwelling houses. It is situated in a fertile, well cultivated, but broken country. Washington College was established a few years later than the college at Canonsburg. It has a large stone edifice of three stories, for the accommodation of students. The library and philosophical apparatus are valuable. The officers are a president and two professors, one of languages and one of mathematics and natural philosophy. The number of students, in 1817, was about 100, a great part of whom were pursuing studies preparatory to the collegiate course. Commencement is held on the fourth Wednesday or Thursday in September, after which there is a vacation till the 1st of November. The course of collegiate education is completed here in three years. WASHINGTON, the metropolis of the United States, in the district of Columbia, is situated in long. 1° 52′ W. of Philadelphia, 77° 2′ W. of Greenwich, and 79° 22′ W. of Paris; lat. 38° 58' N. The city of Washington became the seat of the national government in 1800. It is built on the Maryland side of the Potomac, 295 miles by the course of the river and bay, from the Atlantic, on a point of land between the Eastern Brauch and the Potomac; and its site, as laid out, extends two or |