Sacred writ our reason does exceed. Written language is a description of the audible signs by signs visible. Holder. The time, the place, the manner how to meet, Were all in punctual order plainly writ. Dryden. Cain was so fully convinced that every one had a right to destroy such a criminal, that he cries out, every one that findeth me shall slay me; so plain was it writ in the hearts of all mankind. Locke. His story, filled with so many surprising incidents, bears so close an analogy with what is delivered in holy writ, that it is capable of pleasing the most delicate reader, without giving offence to the most scrupulous. Addison's Spectator. There is not a more melancholy object in the learned world, than a man who has written himself down. WRITER, among the Scottish lawyers, is a title very generally given to all men of business and agents before the inferior courts, and all over the country, as well as to solicitors at law, and all, in general, who are called attorneys in England. WRITERS TO THE SIGNET, or CLERKS TO THE SIGNET, a very numerous and respectable society of gentlemen of the law in Scotland, who are chiefly employed in all civil and criminal trials before the courts of session and justiciary. See LAW. They are generally gentlemen of landed property. WRITHE, v. a. & v. n. Į Saxon pridan. To WRI'THLE, v. a. distort; deform with distortion; twist with violence; wrest: be twisted or convolved with agony: writhle is an obsolete verb active of the same signification. Her writhled skin, as rough as maple rind, So scabby was, that 'twould have loathed all womankind. Spenser. The reason which he yieldeth, sheweth the least part of his meaning to be that whereunto his words are writhed. Hooker. It cannot be this weak and writhed shrimp Should strike such terror in his enemies. Milton. Shakspeare. Henry VI. Then Satan first knew pain, And writhed him to and fro convolved. Her mouth she writhed, her forehead taught to frown, Her eyes to sparkle fires to love unknown. Dryden. Let each be broken on the rack; Then, with what life remains, impaled, and left To writhe at leisure round the bloody stake. Addison. WRITING, the art or act of signifying and conveying our ideas to others, by letters or characters visible to the eye. See ENGLISH LANGUAGE and LANGUAGE. In The most ancient remains of writing, which have been transmitted to us, are upon hard substances, such as stones and metals, which were used by the ancients for edicts and matters of public notoriety; the decalogue was written on two tables of stone; but this practice was not peculiar to the Jews, for it was used by most of the eastern nations, as well as by the Greeks and Romans. The laws penal, civil, and ceremonial, among the Greeks, were engraven on tables of brass which were called cyrbes. Wood was also used for writing on ir different countries. In the Sloanian library (No. 4852) are six specimens of Kusic writing, on boards about two feet in length, amd six inches in depth. The Chinese, before the invention of paper, wrote or engraved with an iron tool upon thin boards or on bamboo. Pliny says, that table books of wood were in use before the time of Homer. These table books were called by the Romans pugillares. The wood was cut into thin slices, and finely planed and polished. The writing was at first upon the bare wood, with an iron instrument, called a style. later times these tables were commonly coated with wax, and written upon with that instrument. The matter written upon the tables which were thus waxed over was easily effaced, and by smoothing the wax, new matter might be substituted in the place of what had been written before. The Greeks and Romans continued the use of waxed table books long after the use of papyrus, leaves, and skins, became common, because they were so convenient for correcting extemporary compositions. Table books of ivory are still used for memorandums, but they are commonly written upon with black lead pencils. The practice of writing on table books covered with wax was not entirely laid aside till the commencement of the fourteenth century. The bark of trees was also used for writing by the ancients, and is so still in several parts of Asia. The same thing may be said of the leaves of trees. The use of PARCHMENT, VELLUM, PAPYRUS, and PAPER, for writing is well known. See these articles. It is obvious that when men wrote, or rather engraved on hard substances, instruments of metal were necessary, such as the chisel and the stylus; but the latter was chiefly used for writing upon boards, waxed tablets, or on bark. When the ancients wrote on softer materials than wood or metal, other ins ruments were used for writing with, of which reds and canes seem to have been the first. Reeds and canes are still used as instruments for writing with by the Tartars, the Indians, the Persians, the Turks, and the Greeks. Pencils made of hair are used by the Chinese for their writing. Hairpencils have likewise been used for writing in Europe. Large capital letters were made with them from the time of the Roman emperors till the sixteenth century. After the invention of printing they were drawn by the illuminators. Quills of geese, swans, peacocks, crows, and other birds, have been used in these western parts for writing with, but how long is not easy to ascertain. St. Isidore of Seville, who lived about the middle of the seventh century, describes a pen made of a quill as used in his time. WRONG, n. s., adj., adv., &\ WRONG'ER, WRONGFUL, adj. WRONG FULLY, adv. WRONG'HEAD, adj. .WRONG, HEADED, WRONG LESSLY, adv. WRONG'LY. these meanings. [v.a. If he go wrong, she will give him over to his own ruin. Eccles. And know thou wrong'st me if thou think'st Who want, while through black life they along, Sense to be right, and passion to be wrong. I. Their hearts are constantly employed, perverte kept in a wrong state, by the indiscreet asta things as are lawful to be used. WROTH, adj. Sax. ppað; Danish, mél gry. Obsolete. The Lord said unto Cain, why art thou ry WROUGHT. Sax. progd. The pret. pass. of work. Effected; influenced; peri labored; agitated; gained. jewels. Moses and Eleazer took the gold, even al Name Take an heifer which hath not been re and which hath not drawn in the yoke. Dealer She hath wrought a good work upon me. M Had I thought the sight of my poor image Would thus have wrought you, for the stone s I'd not have shewed it." My dull brain was wrought With things forgot. Shak It had been no less a breach of peace to have any mine of his, than it is now a breach of pe take a town of his in Guian, and burn it. The spirit is wrought, To dare things high, set up an end my thought A ship by skilful steersman wrought. The Jews wanted not power and ability to have vinced the world of the falsehood of these miracles they never been wrought. Shoote Do not I know him, could his brutal mind Has made him busy to his own destruction, Dryden. This Artemisa, by her charms, And all her sex's cunning, wrought the king. WRYNECK, in ornithology. See JYNX. WULFENIA, in botany, a genus of plants in the class diandria, and order of monogyni ney have hermaphrodite flowers furnished with two stamina and one style, and regular corollæ. WURMBEA, a genus of plants in the class hexandria, and order of trigynia. They bear hermaphrodite flowers furnished with six stamina of equal length, and three styles. WURMSER (Dagobert Sigismund), count, field-marshal in the Austrian service, was born in Alsace in 1717, and served first in the French army, next in that of the emperor, where he rose rapidly. In 1793 he defeated the French republicans, drove them into Alsace, and took Haguenau, and other towns; but, fresh troops coming gainst him, he was defeated at Teischweiler. In 1794 he took Manheim. In 1796 he defeated the French in Italy twice, but was forced to retreat to Manheim, where he capitulated, November 2d, 1797. He died in December 1797, aged eighty. WURST. See WERST. WURZBURG, a city of Franconia, the capital formerly of a bishopric and grand duchy, now of the Bavarian circle of the Lower Maine, situated on the Maine. Nothing can be more pleasant than the environs. A tract of several thousand acres around the town is covered with vineyards, and the Maine is here a large and noble stream, dividing the town into two parts, of which the larger is on the right bank; they are joined by an elegant bridge. On the left bank is a hill, with a castle, formerly the episcopal residence, now a citadel. The town itself is surrounded with a mound and moat. There are public baths on the river, and an abundant supply of spring water. The town, however, is indifferently built. The public walks are on the open space, formerly the mound or rampart, or along a wide street leading to the bridge on the Maine. The palace belonged formerly to the bishop, afterwards to the archduke. It is of an oblong form, on the plan of Versailles, and of great extent. Next ranks the hospital, a large and regular structure. The cathedral is also large, but in an indifferent style of architecture. The churches are numerous, but none remarkable. The monasteries are reduced to three. The university of Wurzburg dates from 1403, and is one of the least defective of the Catholic seminaries in Germany. The population is nearly 20,000. 130 miles N. N. W. of Munich, and seventy-five N. N. E. of Stutgard. WYATT (Sir Thomas), an accomplished gentleman, of an ancient family in Kent, educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, and at Oxford. Henry VIII. knighted him, and sent him on various embassies. He turned the Psalms into verse, and wrote several elegant sonnets, printed with those of E. Surry. He died in 1531. WYCHERLEY (William), an eminent English comic poet, was born about 1640. A little before the restoration of king Charles II. he became a gentleman commoner of Queen's College, Oxford, where he was reconciled by Dr. Barlow to the Protestant religion, which he had a little before abandoned in his travels. He afterwards entered himself in the Middle Temple, but soon quitted the study of the law for pursuits more agreeable to his own genius, as well as to the taste of the age. Upon writing his first play, entitled Love in a Wood, or St. James's Park, which was acted in 1672, he became acquainted with several of the celebrated wits both of the court and town, and likewise with the duchess of Cleveland. Some time after appeared his comedies, called The Gentleman Dancing Master, The Plain Dealer, and The Country Wife; all which were acted with applause. George duke of Buckingham had a very high esteem for him, and bestowed on him several advantageous posts. King Charles also showed him signal marks of favor; and once gave him a proof of his esteem, which, perhaps, never any sovereign prince before had given to a private gentleman. Mr. Wycherley, being ill of a fever at his lodgings in Bow Street, the king did him the honor of a visit. Finding him extremely weakened, he commanded him to take a journey to the south of France, and assured him at the same time that he would order him £500 to defray the charges of the journey. Mr. Wycherley accordingly went into France, and, having spent the winter there, returned to England, entirely restored to his former vigor. The king, shortly after his arrival, told him that he had a son, who, he was resolved, should be educated like the son of a king, and that he could not choose a more proper man for his governor than Mr. Wycherley; for which £1500 per annum should be settled upon him. Immediately after this offer he went to Tunbridge, where he suddenly became acquainted with and married the countess of Drogheda, without acquainting the king. By this step, which was looked upon as a contempt of his majesty's orders, he forfeited the royal favor. The countess of Drogheda settled her whole fortune upon him; but, his title being disputed after her death, he was so reduced by the expenses of the law, and other incumbrances, as to be unable to satisfy the impatience of his creditors, who threw him into prison; and the booksellor who printed his Plain Dealer, by which he got almost as much money as the other gained reputation, was so ungrateful as to refuse to lend him £20 in his extreme necessity. In that confinement he languished seven years; but at length king James, going to see the above play, was so charmed with it, that he gave immediate orders for the payment of his debts, and even granted him a pension of £200 per annum. But the prince's bountiful intentions were in a great measure defeated merely through Mr Wycherley's modesty; he being ashamed to tell the earl of Mulgrave, whom the king had sent to demand it, a true state of his debts. He labored under the weight of these difficulties till his father died, who left him £600 a year. But this estate was under limitations, he being only a tenant for life, and not being allowed to raise any money for the payment of his debts. However he took a method of doing it which few suspected to be his choice; and this was, making a jointure. He had often declared that he was resolved to die married, though he could not bear the thoughts of living in that state again. Accordingly, just at the eve of his death, he married a young gentlewoman with £1500 fortune, part of which he applied to the uses he wanted it for. Eleven days after the celebration of these nuptials, in December 1715, he died, and was interred in the vault of Covent Garden Church. Besides his plays above mentioned he published a volume of poems in folio. In 1728 his posthumous works in prose and verse were published by Mr. Theobald. WYCOMBE-CHIPPING, or High, a borough, market town, and parish, in Desborough hundred, Bucks, twenty-nine miles west by north of London. The town consists principally of one extensive street, with several small ones branching therefrom, on the south side of which runs a small river, which falls into the Thames, below Marlow. There are several paper and corn mills in the neighbourhood, which constitute the chief traffic of the place. Here is a town-hall, a free grammar-school, and a royal military college. The market on Friday is well supplied. WYKEMAN (William of). See WILLIAM. WYMONDHAM, a market town and parish in Forehoe hundred, nine miles south-west of Norwich, and 100 north-east by north of London; containing 895 houses and 4708 inhabitants, being in six divisions, called Downham, Market Street, Silfield, Suton, Town-green, and Wattlefield. Here was a priory of Benedictine monks, which in 1448 was erected into an abbey, the east part of the church of which was made parochial. Wymond ham has a free-school and a charity-school. This town suffered considerably by fire in 1615, when 300 houses were consumed; and in 1631 the plague carried off a great number of persons. Many of the inhabitants are employed in weaving, and in the manufacture of small wooden ware. Market on Friday. WYNDHAM (Sir William), descended of an ancient family, was born about 1687, and succeeded young to the title and estate of his father. On his return from his travels he was chosen member for Somersetshire, in which station he served in the three last parliaments of queen Anne, and as long as he lived: after the change of the ministry in 1710 he was appointed secretary at war; and in 1713 was raised to be chancellor of the exchequer. Upon the breach between the earl of Oxford and lord Bolingbroke, he adhered to the latter. He was removed from his employment on the accession of George L., and falling under suspicion o the breaking out of the rebellion, in 1715, was ap prehended. He made his escape; a reward was published for apprehending him; he surrendered, was committed to the tower, but never brought to trial. After he regained his liberty he continued in oppposition to the several administrations unde: which he lived, and died in 1740. WYOMING, formerly a general name of a tract of country in Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna, with a fort, two miles above Wilkisbarre. In the year 1778 this fort was attacked by a party of British and Indians. The garrison were soon overpowered, and fell a prey to Indian barbarity; after a bloody military execution of a great part, the rest were shut up in the barracks, to which they set fire, and consumed the whole WYTHBURN. See LEATHES. WYTMAN (Matthew), a Dutch painter, born at Gorcum, 1650. His landscapes and conversations were done elegantly. He died in 1689. WYVERN, in heraldry, a chimerical animal, variously represented, with or without feet, legs, or wings. See HERALDRY X is a letter which, though found in Saxon words, begins no word in the English language. X is used, 1. as a letter; 2. as a numeral; and 3. as an abbreviation. I. As a letter, X is the twenty-second letter of our alphabet, and a double consonant. It was not used by the Hebrews or ancient Greeks; for, as it is a compound letter, the ancients, who used great simplicity in their writings, expressed it by its component letters c, or k. Neither have the Italians this letter, but express it by SS. X begins no word in our language but such as are of Greek original: and is in few others but what are of Latin derivation; as perplex, reflexion, defluxion, &c. We often express this sound by ingle letters, as cks, in backs, necks; by ks, in books, breaks; by cc, in access, accident; by et, in action, unction, &c. The English and French pronounce it like cs or ks; the Spaniards like e be fore a, viz. Alexandra, as if it were Alecandra. II. X. As a numeral it expressed ten, whence, in old Roman MSS., it is used for denarius; and as such seems to be made of two V's placed one over the other. When a dash is added over it, thus X, it significs 10,000. III. As an abbreviation X was long used by the learned throughout Europe, as an abbreviation for Christ, because the Greek capital X, the first letter of his name in Greek, is the same in form with our X. And, in analogy with this. Xtian was used as an abbreviation for Christian : and in both these abbreviations the cross form of this letter suited the Roman Catholic taste. XACCA (Erasmus), a learned Sicilian of the seventeenth century. He wrote a History of the Eruption of Mount Etna in 1669, in Italian; a Latin Poem on Fevers; and he translated Tasso's Jerusalem into Latin. XAINTES SANTOS, or All Saint's Islands, having been discovered on that holiday, by the Spaniards; three small islands of the West Indies, situated to the south-east of Guadaloupe. The most westerly of them is Terra de Bas, or the Low Island, and the most easterly Terra de Haut, or the High Island. They are about six miles distant from Guadaloupe, and fifteen from Mariegalante. Long. 61° 32′ W., lat. 15° 56 N XALAPA, a considerable town of Mexico, in the intendancy of Vera Cruz, formerly famous for the fair held on the arrival of the stated fleets from Europe; and, ever since the commerce was declared free, a considerable mart for European commodities. From the convent of St. Francis there is a magnificent view of the colossal summit of the Coffre and the Pic d'Orizaba, of the declivity of the Cordillera, of the river of L'Antigua, and even of the ocean. Whenever the north wind blows at Vera Cruz, the inhabitants of Xalapa are enveloped in a thick fog. The thermometer then descends to 63° and 66° of Fahrenheit, and during this period the sun and stars are frequently invisible for two or three weeks together. The land rises towards the interior by a gentle ascent, until it reaches an elevation of about 8000 feet, when it spreads out into extensive plains. Xalapa is situated about half way up this ascent, being 4264 feet above the level of the sea. It is estimated to contain 13,000 inhabitants, and is about fifty miles north-west of Vera Cruz, and eighty east of Mexico. XANTHICA, a festival observed by the Macedonians in the month Xanthicus, when a lustration was made of the army, by cutting a bitch in two parts, laying them separate, and marching the soldiers between them, after which they concluded with a mock fight. XANTHIPPUS, a brave Spartan general, who was sent with a body of Greeks to assist the Carthaginians in the first Punic war; which he did so effectually, by introducing proper discipline into their army, that they appointed him commander in chief, and he completely defeated the whole Roman army, taking the celebrated general Regulus himself prisoner; while the Carthaginians lost only 800 men. See CARTHAGE. It is said that they ungratefully drowned him by sending him home in a leaky ship. : XANTHIUM, in botany, a genus of plants of the class monœcia or pentandria, and arranged in the natural classification under the forty-ninth order, compositæ. The male flowers are composite, common calyx imbricated; corollæ monopetalous, tubular, quinquetid. Female calyx involucrum of two leaves, containing two flowers; no corolla; drupa dry, prickly; nucleus bilocular. There are five species, only one of which is a native of Britain, viz. X. strumaria, lesser burdock. The stem of this plant is a foot and a half high, thick, often spotted; leaves heart-shaped, lobed, on long footstalks. XANTHOXYLUM. See ZANTHOXYLUM. XANTHUS, a historian of Sardis, under Darius. XANTHUS, a Greek historian of Lydia. XANTHUS, a philosopher of Samos, called by others Iadmon, who purchased Esop, the fabulist for his wit, and afterwards gave him his liberty. See Æsop. XANTHUS, in fabulous history, one of the horses of Achilles, who, when chid with severity, spoke to his master, and told him he would soon be killed. Hom. II. 19. XANTHUS, king of Boeotia. See ATTICA. XANTHUS, in geography, a river of Troas. See SCAMANDER. XANTHUS, a river of Lycia, sacred to Apollo, running into the sea near Patara. Hom. Il. ô, 172. XANTHUS, a town of Lycia, on the above river, fifteen miles from the coast. It was besieged by Brutus, who wished to spare the Xanthians; but they were so zealous for their independence that they set fire to their city; and Brutus's troops, by their utmost exertions, could only get 150 of them saved. Appian 4. Plut. XANTICLES, one of the leaders of the 10,000 Greeks in their famous retreat out of Persia, after the battle of Cunaxa. XANTIPPE, the wife of Socrates, proverbially famous as a scold. But, while this foible is often repeated, her virtues are forgot. No wife ever showed more affectionate grief than she did at her husband's death. See SOCRATES. XANTIPPE, the celebrated Roman daughter, who preserved her father's life by suckling him in jail. See FILIAL PIETY. XANTIPPE, the daughter of Dorus, wife of Pleuron, and mother of Agenor, &c. XANTIPPUS, or XANTHIPPUS, a celebrated Athenian general and admiral, who defeated the Persian fleet at Mycale, in conjunction with Leotychides, king of Sparta; and was appointed along with Aristides to judge of Themistocles' secret proposal. See ATTICA, and MYCALE. He married Agariste, the niece of Clisthenes, who expelled the Pisistratida; by whom he had the celebrated Pericles. He also conquered the Thracians. A statue was erected to his honor in the citadel of Athens. XAVIER (St. Francis), the apostle of the Indies, was born at Xavier in 1506, and educated at Paris, where he formed an intimacy with Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. Seized with a similar zeal, he bound himself with some others to attempt to convert the heathens. In 1541 he embarked at Lisbon for Goa, and labored with great zeal in Japan and various parts of India. He was even preparing for a voyage to China, when he died at Goa in 1552. Pope Gregory XV. enrolled him among the saints in 1622. His works are, 1. Five Books of Epistles, Paris, 8vo., 1631. 2. A Catechism. 3. Opuscula. XAUXA, or Jauxa, a province of Peru, bounded north and north-east by the province of Tarma, east by the mountain of the Indians, south-east by the province of Huanta, south by that of Angaraes, south-west by that of Yauyos, and west by that of Guarochiri. It is twelve leagues long from north to south, and fifteen broad from east to west. This province is a ravine or valley of delightful temperature, although on the heights of either side of it a considerable degree of cold is felt. XAUXA, the capital of a district of the same name, situated near the river Xauxa. It has some woollen manufactures. XAUXA, a large and abundant river of Peru, which has its source in lake Chinchaicocha, in the province of Tarma. XEBEC, or ZEBEC, a small three-masted vessel, navigated in the Mediterranean Sea, and on the coasts of Spain, Portugal, and Barbary. XENAGORAS; 1. An ancient historian.-Dion. Hal. 2. A philosopher who measured the height of mount Olympus. XENARCHUS; 1. An ancient comic poet. 2. |