rienced the dutiful son, the amiable domestic character, whilst the world admired the accomplished officer. Within a few months she had lost her husband; she now lost his son, her only child. The populace of the village where she lived unanimously agreed to admit no illuminations or fireworks, or any other sign of rejoicing whatsoever near her house, lest they should seem, by an ill-timed triumph, to insult over her grief. There was a justness in this, and whoever knows the people knows that they made no small sacrifice on this occasion.' James Wolfe fell in his thirty-fourth year. His remains were interred at Greenwich. A monument was erected to his memory, in 1760, by the gentlemen of his native parish: a public monument in Westminster Abbey was voted by the House of Commons in 1759, and opened to the public in 1773: a marble statue was voted by the Assembly of Massachusetts. given in a 12mo volume entitled College Recollections,' published at London in the same year with Archdeacon Russell's work, but we believe some months before it. The Remains' (filling 368 pp.) consist principally of Fifteen Sermons, an appendix of miscellaneous thoughts and other fragments, and some juvenile poems, some letters, and other compositions inserted in the Memoir, which, including these, occupies nearly half the volume. Wolfe's literary reputation rests on his famous ode entitled The Burial of Sir John Moore,' which he composed in 1817, on reading Southey's prose narrative in the Edinburgh Annual Register, and which first appeared soon after with his initials, though without his knowledge, in the Newry Telegraph,' from which it was immediately copied into the London papers, and from them into those of Dublin. The poem, which in the pathos of a noble simplicity has rarely been surpassed, drew much attention WOLFE, REV. CHARLES, was born at Dublin, 14th from the first; but its authorship remained unknown, exDecember, 1791, and was the youngest son of Theobald cept to a small circle of Wolfe's friends or associates, until Wolfe, Esq. of Blackhall, in the county of Kildare (of the the question came to be publicly discussed in consequence same family with General Wolfe). The death of his father of a high encomium stated in Captain Medwin's 'Converwhile Charles was still a child occasioned the removal of sations of Byron' (published in 1824), to have been passed the family to England. After being at several schools he upon it by his lordship. The lines were attributed to vari was finally sent to Winchester college, where, under Mr. ous writers; and claimants to the honour of having proRichards, senr., he distinguished himself by his rapid pro- duced them have started up from time to time, some even gress in classical knowledge and especially by the talent he within the last three or four years; but none of these showed for Greek and Latin versification. In 1809 he en- attempts to defraud the true author of his rights have been tered the university of Dublin, where at the usual period he persisted in. There are some lines of Wolfe's written to obtained a scholarship, and became a most active college the popular Irish air Gramachree,' which in their kind tutor. Most of his poems, his biographer tells us, were are little inferior in merit to those on the burial of Moore. written within a very short period, during his abode in WOLFENBÜTTEL is one of the six circles of the duchy college. He took his degree of B.A. in 1814, and soon of Brunswick, comprising an area of about 230 square miles, after commenced the task of reading for a fellowship; but and 50,000 inhabitants. Wolfenbüttel, the capital, is situated although he is said to have evinced a decided genius for in 52° 9′ N. lat. and 10° 32′ E. long., in a low marshy spot mathematics, his habits of study were always impulsive on the banks of the river Ocker, which flows through the and desultory, and he soon flagged in this attempt. A dis- city. It was formerly well fortified, but the works having appointment in love which he met with at last determined fallen into decay are for the most part demolished, and are him, in 1817, to give it up altogether; the income of the converted into public walks. It is divided into three parts, scholarship would have enabled him to marry the lady to viz. the citadel, or formerly fortified part, and two suburbs, whom he was attached; but, unhappily,' says his biogra- containing altogether about 10,000 inhabitants. The town pher, the statute which rendered marriage incompatible is, on the whole, well built, and has broad, and for the most with that honourable station had been lately revived.' It part, straight streets, all well paved. Till 1764 it was the is stated however that this circumstance had no influence in residence of the dukes, in whose palace there was a manudetermining the choice of his profession; that the prevailing factory of tapestry and a theatre. Opposite the palace tendency of his mind had always been towards the minis- stands the fine building erected by Duke Augustus in 1723, try. Accordingly, he took holy orders in November, 1817, on the model of the Pantheon at Rome, containing on the and immediately entered upon the duties of the curacy of ground-floor the Ducal Riding-school, and above it the Ballyclog in the county of Tyrone, from which however in celebrated library, which was rendered still more famous the course of a few weeks he removed to the extensive by The Wolfenbüttel Fragments,' published by its libraparish of Donoughmore, where he officiated in the same rian, the learned G. E. Lessing, to whom a monument capacity. Here Wolfe devoted himself with activity and is erected. This library contains a great number of the zeal to his spiritual calling, and soon acquired in an extra- earliest impressions and 10.000 MSS. It seems that no ordinary degree the attachment of his parishioners of all good catalogue has been made, for some accounts say that denominations. But his exertions, and, still more perhaps it consists of 270,000 volumes, others of 200,000, while than his attention to the welfare of others, his neglect of others again reduce it to 110,000: among them there is a his own health and comfort, speedily began to wear him large collection of Bibles. The town has four churches, of down; a consumptive tendency in his constitution, of which that of St. Mary is remarkable for its size; an which some symptoms had appeared while he was at col- antient arsenal, now used as barracks; a large poor-house; lege, was confirmed; a hurried journey which he made to an orphan asylum; a good gymnasium; and several schools. Scotland in May, 1821, (in the course of which he spoke at The inhabitants have a considerable trade in yarn, and they a public meeting held in Edinburgh to receive a deputa- also manufacture linen, leather gloves, japanned wares, papertion from the Irish Tract Society,) brought his malady sud-hangings, silk, diaper, tobacco, liqueurs, and vitriol; there denly to a height; and immediately after his return home are likewise some tanneries and distilleries. Wolfenbüttel he was obliged to leave his parish and place himself under is the seat of several public offices, for the whole duchy, medical treatment at Dublin. There for a short time he of the consistory and of the supreme court of appeal for continued to preach occasionally with his usual energy; Waldeck, Lippe, and Brunswick. The pretty country but he gradually got worse; as winter approached it was seat Antoinettenruh, having fallen into decay, has been thought advisable that he should go to the south of France, pulled down. Near the town are the two villages Ober and but after being twice driven back to Holyhead he gave up Niederdahlum, where the beautiful ducal palace of Salzthe attempt, and fixed himself near Exeter; on the return dahlum formerly stood. It is now totally destroyed. The of summer he came back to Dublin; in August he made a fine gallery of paintings which it contained (sixty of the voyage to Bordeaux; in November, as a last remaining most valuable of which were carried away by the French hope, he removed to the shelter of the Cove of Cork; and in 1806, but restored, we presume, in 1815) has been here he expired on the morning of the 21st of February, removed to Brunswick, where it is deposited in the ar1823, in the commencement of his thirty-second year. senal, together with the museum of antiquities and other works of art. 6 His literary compositions were collected and published in 1825 by his friend the Rev. John A. Russell, M.A., archdeacon of Clogher, under the title of Remains of the late Rev. Charles Wolfe, A.B., Curate of Donoughmore, Diocese of Armagh.' From this small volume, which has been very popular (the edition before us, printed in 1838, is called the Seventh), the above facts have been taken. An interesting sketch of Wolfe's history is also (Brockhaus, Conversations Lexicon; Hassel, Handbuch der Geographie, vol. v.; Stein, Handbuch, by Hörschelmann; Cannabich, Lehrbuch: Stein, Lexicon.) WOLFF, JOHANN CHRISTIAN VON, a celebrated German mathematician and philosopher, was born at Breslau, January 24, 1679, and at an early age showed a taste for the acquisition of knowledge. His father, who was a · brewer, strongly encouraged in him this disposition; he lished at Jena. It happened also that Wolff, in one of his became his first preceptor, and, having instructed him in lectures, had spoken highly in favour of the moral precepts the Latin language, he sent him to the public school of of Confucius, which had then recently been made known to the town, in order that he might have the benefit of the the people of Europe through the researches of the Jesuit best masters which it afforded. The youth there studied missionaries in the East; and this approbation of the docdiligently the philosophy of the age, and he acquired trines of a heathen philosopher was considered as a crime, such a facility in the practice of disputing, that he is said though Wolff was so far from being aware of giving cause to have become the rival of his tutors; but before he was of offence, that, as he states in his letter to the minister at twenty years of age, having obtained information of the Berlin, he intended to publish the discourse at Rome with revolution which the writings of Descartes had begun to the consent of the Inquisition. The king of Prussia, being produce in the schools, he was actuated by a strong desire instigated by some of the military authorities, who repeto become acquainted with them. The result of his ap- sented that the sentiments of Wolff might become danplication to the Cartesian philosophy was a determination gerous to the state by holding out to the soldiers an excuse to cultivate mathematical science for the purpose of for desertion, suddenly deprived the professor of his ap founding on its principles a system of metaphysics. With pointment, and issued an order that he should quit the this object in view he passed through a course of mathe- kingdom in two days. Wolff accordingly, November 3 matics at the University of Jena, and he afterwards went 1723, left Halle and went to reside at Cassel, where he was to Leipzig, where he resided during three or four years. kindly received by the landgrave, who conferred on him Here, in 1703, he began to deliver lectures; and in the the title of councillor, and appointed him professor of same year he published two tracts, one entitled 'De Rotis mathematics and philosophy at Marburg. Here he reDentatis,' and the other 'De Algorithmo Infinitesimali sided about eighteen years, and during that time he pab Differentiali.' The ability displayed in these dissertations lished his metaphysical works. The first and greatest of procured for Wolff the esteem and friendship of the learned these is entitled Philosophia Rationalis, sive Logica me men of his country; he became intimate with Tschirn-thodo scientificâ pertractata,' 4to., 1728. The others are hausen and Leibnitz, and by them he was encouraged in Psychologia Empirica, &c.,' 4to., 1728; Philosopha his views of giving to Germany a national philosophy which prima, sive Ontologia, &c.,' 4to., 1730; Cosmologia ge might replace that of Aristotle as then understood. He at neralis,' 4to., 1731; Psychologia Rationalis, 4to., 1734. first intended to enter the church as a profession, but he Theologia Naturalis,' 4to., 1737; Philosophia Practica was finally induced to seek an appointment in fulfilling the Universalis,' 4to., 1738-9; and Philosophia Moralis, sive duties of which he might continually advance his know- Ethica,' 4to., 1732. ledge of the sciences. He became therefore a candidate for a professor's chair, and in 1707 he was appointed to give instruction in pure and mixed mathematics in the University of Halle. It was while he held this post that he wrote his tract entitled 'De Methodo Mathematica,' and his Elementa Matheseos Universe,' of which last work an enlarged edition was published at Geneva between the years 1732 and 1741, in five volumes, 4to. The first volume contains the following subjects: Commentatio de Methodo Mathematica; Arithmetica; Geometria; Trigonometria plana et sphærica: the second, Mechanica cum Statica; Hydrostatica, &c. :' the third, Optica; Perspectiva atque Astronomia: the fourth, Geographia; Chronologia; Gnomonica; Pyrotechnia et Architectura: and the fifth, Commentatio de Præcipuis Scriptis Mathematicis, &c.' He also published at Leipzig and Frankfort, in 1728, Tabulae Sinuum atque Tangentium tam naturalium quam artificialium, una cum Logarithmis numerorum vulgarium, &c.' Being made a member of the Philosophical Society at Leipzig, he wrote several memoirs relating to mathematics and physics, which were inserted in the Acta Eruditorum,' and in 1710 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. 6 But the life of Wolff was almost wholly devoted to the study of metaphysical and moral philosophy; and between the years 1712 and 1723 he wrote his Thoughts on the Powers of the Human Mind; on the Deity and the Universe; on the Operations of Nature; on the Search after Happiness; and, as a sequel to the last, 'Thoughts on Society as a means of advancing Human Happiness.' These works were published separately in the German language, a medium till then unemployed in treating such subjects, but the circumstance produced the best effects by promoting in that country the study of philosophy. At a later period he published in the same language a Dictionary of Mathematics. While thus employed, and while his talents were procuring for him invitations to occupy the chairs of philosophy at Wittenberg, Leipzig, and St. Petersburg, a serious opposition to his person and writings began to manifest itself in the University of which he was so distinguished a member. This is supposed to have arisen from the intrigues of the theological professors, one of whom conceived a violent dislike to Wolff because the latter, who held the post of dean of the faculty of theology, declining to receive his son on the ground of incapacity, had appointed Thümmig, one of his own pupils, to be his assistant. In such circumstances subjects of accusation are not long wanting, and Wolff was charged with endeavouring to subvert the proofs of the existence of the Deity, and to disturb the religious belief of the students in the University, while his metaphysical principles were violently criticised by Stahler in a work which was pub Amidst these labours Wolff found time to write in de fence of his doctrines, and by degrees the violence of ha antagonists began to abate. Among them there were many who disapproved of the strong measures which had been adopted against him, and there were some who de sired his return in the hope of promoting a revival of me taphysical science in Prussia. Frederick the Great, whet he ascended the throne, appointed commissioners to examine Wolff's writings and inquire into the cause of his banishment, and the report being favourable, he was in 1733 invited back to Halle; the invitation was re peated six years afterwards, but it was not till 1741 that it was accepted. Wolff had been, in 1725, appointed a honorary professor of the Academy at St. Petersburg; in 1733 he was elected a member of the Académie des Sciences at Paris. On his return to Halle he was made privy-council, vice-chancellor, and professor of international law; the king afterwards made him Chancellor of the University, and by the elector of Bavaria the dignity of a Baron of the Empire was conferred upon him. It is said however that Wolff had the mortification to perceive that his lectures were not well attended; either age had diminished h powers, or, as it is supposed, his numerous writings bein in the hands of all the German students, his oral instruc tions were no longer necessary. Being attacked by the gout in the stomach, he died, having borne his sufferings with fortitude and Christian piety, April 9, 1754, in the 76th year of his age. The merit of Wolff consisted in a correct and methodical arrangement of the subjects of philosophical science, rather than in discovery. He borrowed freely from his immediate predecessors, Descartes and Leibnitz, and even rom the writers of the Aristotelian school; and, having earnest desire to combine utility with truth, he endea voured to reduce the apparently heterogeneous elements under one system. That he completely succeeded in this difficult task it is too much to say; entertaining the pro ject of introducing in philosophical investigations the precise methods which are employed in mathematics, he appears to have overlooked the want of homogeneity in the elements of the former branch of science, which renders it impossible to arrive at conclusions by purely abstract reasonings. In stating a philosophical propos tion which perhaps is self-evident, he often exhibits a tedious demonstration in order that he may show its de pendence on some more general theorem which precedes it; and his developments are remarkable for their extraordinary prolixity. Wolff divides human knowledge into three parts, his torical, philosophical, and mathematical: in the first he includes everything relating to material as well as imma terial being, that is, whatever is cognizable by the senses or by internal conviction. The second he considers as comprehending the reasons of things; and he states its object to be the explanation of the reason that what is possible may be realized. His third division constitutes the knowledge of quantity. He divides psychology into two kinds, which are designated rational and empirical, and the former is distinguished from the latter as the science of things possible relatively to the soul only. He defines science in general, the facultyof demonstrating. He appears to have formed but an imperfect idea of the connection of the sciences, his taste leading him to seek the grounds of their connection only in their being deduced from first principles, which he conceived to exist in the human understanding; and his criterion of truth consisted in the thing predicated being in accordance with the idea of the subject. His dissertations on the employment of bypotheses, and on the deductions drawn from experience, are the developments of a few general maxims, very just but trite; and his views on the liberty of philosophizing are sound, though, at the time they were written, they appeared too bold. His metaphysical theory maintained its ground in Germany from the death of Leibnitz to the time when the school of Kant was formed. He is considered as the disciple and commentator of the former philosopher; and he admitted a sort of pre-established harmony from whence results the conformity of the operations of the soul with those of the body, but he differed from his master in considering that harmony not as a result of the will of the Deity, but of the changes which are continually in operation in the universe: the latter he considered as a piece of mechanism set in motion by its first cause. He demonstrates at length the existence of God, taking care at the same time to separate the idea of the Divine Being from that of the soul of the world; and he maintained the opinion that the Author of the universe being all-perfect must have necessarily created the best of all possible worlds. Asserting also the perfect freedom of man's will, he admits that this freedom is limited to the power of choosing what appears to be the best under existing circumstances. His general rule of morality is, that each man should, as much as depends on himself, do what may render his own condition and that of others as perfect as possible. While acknowledging that God is the source of all morality, he considers that man is in some respects a law to himself; that an action is good or bad in itself, independently of divine precepts, and that the conduct of man ought not to be influenced merely by the fear of punishment or the hope of reward. Natural law is, in his mind, identical with morality, and he makes both to depend on the obligation man is und er to advance constantly towards perfection. Wolff's political science is founded on the principle that everything should be done for the public benefit and the maintenance of public security: he considers a limited | monarchy as the most favourable for the attainment of these ends, though he admits that this is not without some inconveniences. He leaves to the prince the right of determining what is best for the public good, but he makes him subject to the laws of his country. He inquires into the causes of the wealth of nations, but his views on this subject are confined chiefly to the state of society in his own age, and want the generality which is consistent with the present state of this branch of science. His political works are, Jus Naturæ,' Francofurti et Lipsiæ, viii. tom. 4to., 1732; and Jus Gentium,' Halle, 1752. (Ludovici, Vita, fata et scripta, Ch. Wolffii, Leipzig; Biographie Universelle.) ing of tragic characters and youthful heroes, which he acted to perfection. His performance of Hamlet, the Marquis Posa, Max. Piccolomini, Weisslingen, Orestes, and Tasso, made such an impression in Germany, that to this day he is considered the standard by which other actors are measured. At a later period he occasionally also acted comic and humorous characters, in which he was much admired, though tragedy was at all times his peculiar field, in which he was unsurpassed. In 1816 he became a member of the royal theatre of Berlin. · He died at Weimar in 1828. During the latter years of his life he wrote several dramas, which were well received, and some of which are still favourite plays in Germany. Three of them, 'Caesario,' a comedy, Pflicht um Pflicht,' and Preciosa,' form the first volume of a collection which he published under the title Dramatische Spiele,' Berlin, 1823, but the collection was not continued, and his other plays appeared separately at different times. Preciosa' has become celebrated by being taken by C. M. von Weber as the text for one of his most popular operas. His other plays are 'Der Hund des Aubri,' a farce, (Berlin, 1822); Der Mann von fünfzig Jahren' (Berlin, 1830); Treue siegt in Liebesnetzen,' and 'Der Kammerdiener' (Berlin, 1832). (Gervinus, Neuere Geschichte der Poet. National-Literatur der Deutschen, ii., p. 559; Brockhaus, ConversationsLexicon.) WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH, a Minnesänger, who lived in the first part of the thirteenth century, was the best German poet of his time. He was probably born at a castle called Eschenbach, which seems to have been situated in the Upper Palatinate, and he was descended from a noble family. After having been made a knight, he led the life of a warlike troubadour, and the princes of the empire received him with equal satisfaction in their camp and at their court. He was present at the famous poetical festival on the Wartburg. Towards the end of his life he retired to his native country: he died in 1220. Wolfram von Eschenbach was a very fertile poet. Of his numerous productions the greater part however are Jost, but his principal poem has most luckily been preserved in MS. at St. Gallen and at some other places. This poem is entitled 'Parzival: the subject of it is partly taken from French and Provençal models-the holy Gral being the marvellous object which the hero of the poem, Parzival, pursues in a long course of adventures. He at last becomes king of the Gral, and thus enjoys the purest happiness and perfection which man can attain. There is an epical tendency in the poem, but it would be incorrect to call it an epic; full of deep thoughts on the destiny of man, on the mysterious nature of his soul, on his religious and moral duties, it belongs to a class of poems which are peculiar to German literature, and of which Göthe's 'Faust' may be considered as the most striking specimen. The Parzival' was written about 1205. It was first printed in 1477, fol., in an incorrect and mutilated edition, which was reprinted and somewhat corrected in the first volume of Sammlung Altdeutscher Gedichte,' by Müller, who collated the MS. of St. Gallen. The other extant works of Wolfram of Eschenbach are, 2, Titurel,' first printed in 1477, 4to., a fragment of an introductory poem to Parzival, and in Gervinus's opinion the finest specimen of antient German poetry, which must not be confounded with another poem, likewise called Titurel,' which was once incorrectly attributed to Wolfram; 3, Willehalm von Orangis' (William of Orange), in Manesse's collection of Minnesängers, where there are also several of the author's minor lyrical poems. An excellent critical edition of all the extant productions of Wolfram von Eschenbach was published by Lachmann, Berlin, 1833, 8vo., who has added a valuable introduction to the Life and Works of the author. Wolfram, according to contemporary writers, was a very learned man; his style is simple, clear, and elegant, and the difficulties which exist are rather due to the mystical tendency of the author and his transcendental ideas, than to a want of those qualities which constitute a great writer. (Gervinus, Geschichte der Poetischen National-Literatur der Deutschen, vol. i., p. 407-433.) WOLFRAM. [TUNGSTEN.] WOLGA. [VOLGA.] WOLFF, PIUS ALEXANDER, one of the most distinguished German actors of the present century, was born in 1782, at Augsburg. His parents designed him for one of the learned professions, but his own inclination, as well as his natural talents, led him to the stage. In 1804 he was one of the actors engaged at Weimar, the theatre of which place was then regarded as the model for all Germany, Schiller and Göthe were themselves actively engaged in conducting the theatre and training the actors. As Wolff was a man of much greater talent than the majority of actors, Göthe took especial trouble with him, trained him on sound artistic principles, and afterwards WOLGEMUTH, MICHAEL, a celebrated old German declared that Wolff had become an actor quite to his painter and engraver on copper and in wood, was born at mind. Wolff devoted himself especially to the perform-Nürnberg in 1434. He was the first German artist who P. C., No. 1744. VOL. XXVII.-3 U attained any degree of excellence in painting, and he has the additional honour of having been the master of Albert Dürer. Wolgemuth's wood-cuts are the oldest prints of that class in Germany of which the artist is known, and they are extremely scarce. Wolgemuth's paintings are likewise scarce; there are two in the Augustine church at Nürnberg, another in Our Lady's chapel, and a Last Judgment in the town-house of the same place; and one in the church of Schwabach for which he was paid, in 1507, 600 florins, for that period a very great sum: some years after this the celebrated Amberger charged the emperor Charles V. for his portrait only 35 florins. There is also a valuable work by him in the Imperial Gallery of Vienna, painted in 1511; another in the Louvre at Paris; and in the Pinakothek at Munich there are five pieces by Wolgemuth. He died in 1519, aged 85. The king of Bavaria possesses a portrait of Wolgemuth, painted in 1516, in his 82nd year, by his pupil Albert Dürer; this is inscribed upon the back of the picture. Wolgemuth's style has the defects of the works of art of his age, especially in design; his works however are carefully finished, exhibit much expression, and in the draperies are superior to the works of many of the eminent German painters who succeeded him. mitted to much inconvenience from poverty during his residence in the university. On leaving college he took the situation of assistant-master at Birmingham school, and shortly after he joined the school he obtained a lectureship in a chapel two miles out of Birmingham. After having filled the situation of assistant-master for about four years, he was appointed second master of the school, which bad three masters and two assistant-masters, and at the same time took priest's orders. This mastership was worth only 70l. a year. Out of his small income he was able to give assistance to two brothers who had got into difficulties. In the good offices which he did them at this time,' says the biographer who has been already quoted, he seems rather to have overacted his part, for he indulged his affection for them more than was consistent with a due regard to his own welfare, as he was then crcumstanced.' In August, 1688, the poor schoolmaster suddenly found himself in affluence by the death of a second cousin, the head of his own branch of the Wollaston family, Mr. Wallast on of Shenton, in Leicestershire, who greatly to his own surprise made him his heir. This gentleman had not long before his death lost his only son, and not choosing to give his estate to his daughters, proceeded to settle it on the uncle and father of the subject of this sketch. But a further acquaintance with his younger relative, and the high cha revoke this settlement and make another. His cousin of Shenton was used to employ persons privately, to observe our author's behaviour, who little suspected any such matter. And his behaviour was found to be such, that the stricter the observations were upon it, the more they turned to his advantage. In fine, Mr. Wollaston became s thoroughly satisfied of our author's merit, that he revoked the before-mentioned settlement and made a will in his favour. (Clarke's Life, p. xi.) Wolgemuth and Pleydenwurff cut in wood the illustrations of a curious and celebrated old work in folio, known as the 'Nürnberg Chronicle' of Hartmann Schedel, a phy-racter which he heard of him, led him before his death to sician. It was published first in Latin, in 1493, eight years after the death of its author, and was translated into German in the following year. The cuts consist of views of towns and portraits of eminent men. The Latin edition is the better; the title commences Liber Chronicorum per viam Epitomatis et Breviarii compilatus,' &c. There are several old prints and wood-cuts marked W, which have been attributed to Wolgemuth, but from their inferiority it is very doubtful whether he was the author of them two other old engravers, Wenceslaus and J. Walch, marked their prints with a W, but it is not known that Wolgemuth ever did. (Doppelmayer, Historische Nachricht, &c.; Fiorillo, Geschichte der Zeichnenden Künste, &c.) WOLKONSKOIT. Amorphous. Structure compact. Fracture imperfect, conchoidal. Hardness 2.5. Colour light emerald-green. Streak bluish-green and shining. Opaque. Nearly dull. Specific gravity 22. It is so extremely fragile that it readily falls to pieces on a slight blow. It is found at Perm in Russia. Analysis by Berthier Oxide of chromium Silica Water 34.0 27.2 7.2 23.2 98.8 WOLLASTON, WILLIAM, author of The Religion of Nature Delineated,' was born at Coton-Clanford in Staffordshire, on the 26th of March, 1659. He was descended from an old and considerable Staffordshire family, but belonged to a younger and a poor branch of it. When he was in the tenth year of his age, a Latin school was opened at Shenston in Staffordshire, where his father, a private gentleman of a small fortune, then resided; and Mr. Wollaston was immediately sent to the master of it for such instruction as he was capable to give him, and continued near two years under his care. Afterwards he was sent to Litchfield school, in which a great confusion soon after happened, and the magistrates of the city turned the master out of the schoolhouse. Many scholars followed the ejected master; and Mr. Wollaston amongst the rest. He remained with him till he quitted his school, which was about three years; and then, the schism being ended, he returned into the free-school, and continued there about a year. This was all the schooling Mr. Wollaston ever had.' (Clarke's Life of Wollaston, prefixed to his edition of the Religion of Nature, 8vo., 1750, p. v.) On the 18th of June, 1674, he was entered a pensioner at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he resided almost without interruption until the 29th of September, 1681, by which time he had taken his Master of Arts' degree and deacon's orders. He was disappointed in not obtaining a fellowship in his college, for which he had laboured with great diligence, and in the hope of obtaining which he had sub Wollaston now went to reside in London, and on the 26th of November, 1689, married a daughter of M. Nicholas Charlton, a citizen of London, who brought him another accession of fortune. He now devoted himse entirely to the enjoyment of domestic happiness and the pursuit of learning. He may most truly be said, observes his biographer, to have settled in London, for he very seldom went out of it. He took no delight in unnecessary journeys, and for above thirty years before his death had not been absent from his habitation in Charter House Square so much as one whole night.' (p. xiv.) His studies were pa cipally directed to the antient languages, and morals and theology, and embraced mathematics and natural philosophy, and the Arabic language. In 1690 he published a par phrase of a part of the Book of Ecclesiastes, and in 1763 he composed and printed, but only for private circulation. a small Latin grammar. The Religion of Nature Delneated' was published in 1724, but a very short time be fore his death. A number of other works, which he had written during his four-and-thirty years' studious residence in London, were committed by him to the flames a short time before his death. The following is a list of mantscripts which were found after his death, and which his biographer supposes escaped the same fate only by their being forgotton:-1, A Hebrew Grammar; 2, Tyrociti Arabica et Syriaca; 3, 'Specimen Vocabularii BibioHebraici, literis nostratibus quantum fert Linguarum Dis sonantia descripti;' 4, 'Formulæ quædam Gemarinæ, 3 De Generibus Pedum, Metrorum, Carminum, &c. apud Judæos, Græcos, et Latinos; 6, De Vocum Tonis Monitio ad Tyrones;' 7, 'Rudimenta ad Mathesin et Philosophiam spectantia; 8, Miscellanea Philologica; 9, Opinions of the Antient Philosophers; 10, lovcaixa, sive Regionis et Literaturæ Judaicæ Synopsis;' 11, A Col lection of some Antiquities and Particulars in the History of Mankind, tending to show that Men have not been here upon this Earth from Eternity,' &c.: 12, Some Passages relating to the History of Christ, collected out of the Pr mitive Fathers; 13, A Treatise relating to the Jews, of their Antiquities, Language, &c. Besides these there was a numerous collection of sermons found. From the tities it may be supposed that many of these manuscript works were composed to assist his own studies. it the more probable,' says Dr. Clarke, or indeed almost beyond doubt, that he would have destroyed these likewise if he had remembered them, is that several of those which remain undestroyed are only rudiments or rougher What renders WOL sketches of what he afterwards reconsidered and carried on much farther, and which soon after such revisal he nevertheless committed to the flames, as being still, in his opinion, short of that perfection to which he desired and had intended to bring them.' (p. xxiii.) Wollaston died on the 29th of October, 1724, in his sixty-sixth year. The immediate cause of his death was a fracture of the arm, which happened when he was in a bad state of health. His wife had died four years before. They had lived most happily together for thirty years, and she had borne him eleven children, of whom seven survived their father. He was buried by the side of his wife in the church of Great Finborough in Suffolk, where one of his estates lay, and where his eldest son afterwards resided. The Religion of Nature Delineated' is, as the name implies, an exposition of man's various moral duties and the principles of them, independently of revelation, and of so much as may be learnt without revelation of the divine government of the world. The chief peculiarity of Wollaston's system of morals is that he refers all duties to truth as their fundamental principle, defining truth to be the expression of things as they are, and extending the definition by the remark that a true proposition may be denied, or things may be denied to be what they are by deeds as well as by express words, or another proposition. As an instance, theft would be interpreted by Wollaston as a denial of the true owner's property in the goods stolen. On this somewhat fanciful foundation the whole range of human duties, with the exception of course of those arising out of revealed religion, is built up by Wollaston with great ingenuity and skill. The work is not complete: the author sets out with proposing to himself three questions to be answered:-1, Is there really any such thing as natural religion, properly and truly so called?' 2, If there is, what is it? and, 3, How may a man qualify himself, so as to be able to judge for himself, of the other religions professed in the world; to settle his own opinions in disputable matters; and then to enjoy tranquillity of mind, neither dist urbing others, nor being disturbed at what passes among them? Only the first two of these three questions are answered. Wollaston had begun to answer the third question, but had made little progress, when death overtook him. The work was very popular on its first publication; ten thousand copies of it, according to Dr. Clarke, having been sold in a very few years. The best edition is the seventh and last, to which is prefixed the biographical sketch, by Dr. Clarke, whence this account has been principally derived, and which was edited by him at the request, as he states in an advertisement, of Caroline, the wife of George II. WOLLASTON, WILLIAM HYDE, M.D., a distinguished cultivator of natural science, was born August 6th, 1766. He was the second son of the Rev. Francis Wollaston, of Chiselhurst in Kent, who from his own observations made an extensive catalogue of the northern circumpolar stars, which, with an account of the instruments employed and tables for the reductions, was published under the title of Fasciculus Astronomicus' in 1800. Having gone through the usual preparatory course of education, he was sent to Caius College, Cambridge, where he applied himself diligently to the studies immediately relating to the medical profession, for which he was intended, and where he took the degree of Doctor in Medicine in 1793: in the same year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, to whose Transactions,' during his life, he contributed many papers of the highest importance, and in 1806 he was chosen one of its secretaries. He was also appointed one of the vice-presidents of the Geological Society. Dr. Wollaston entered into practice as a physician, and for a time resided at Bury St. Edmunds: he afterwards removed to London, and it might have been supposed that in this city his talents would procure for him an extensive reputation; but either because his success was not equal to his expectations, or in consequence of the disappointment which he felt in not obtaining the post of physician to St. George's Hospital, Dr. Pemberton having been on this occasion preferred to him, he determined to quit the profession, and devote himself wholly to the pursuit of natural philosophy. The researches of men of science, however important they may have been to mankind by the improvements to 515 6 which they have led in arts and manufactures, have seldom In giving a biographical sketch of Dr. Wollaston, it will be proper to allude more particularly to some of the memoirs which he contributed to the Transactions' of the Royal Society: we cannot, we believe, more effectually perform this duty than by quoting what has been said of his varied labours by Mr. Brande and Dr. Thomson: the former remarks that the promulgation of the theory of definite proportions in this country is chiefly to be attributed to Dr. Wollaston, whose admirable suggestion of a synoptical scale of chemical equivalents was brought before the Royal Society in November, 1813. Many years previous to this he had established the important doctrine of multiple proportions, in a paper On Super-acid and Sub-acid Salts,' printed in the Philosophical Transactions? for the year 1808: he now showed the important practical applications of which this theory was susceptible, and by connecting the scale of equivalents with Gunter's sliding rule, has put into the hands of the chemist an instrument infinite in its uses, and equally essential to the student, the adept, and the manufacturer.' 'Dr. Wollaston's first contribution to the "Transactions On Gouty and Urinary Concretions,' in which he made of the Royal Society" was in June, 1797, being an essay known several new compounds connected with the production of those maladies, in addition to the uric combinations previously discovered by Scheele: these were,-phosphate the two forming the fusible calculus; oxalate of lime; of lime; ammonia-magnesian phosphate, a mixture of and more lately he added cystic oxide to the list of his previous discoveries. (Phil. Trans., 1810.) In 1804 and 1805 he made known palladium and rhodium, two new metals contained in the ore of platinum, and associated with osmium and iridium, discovered about the same time by Mr. Tennant. In 1809 he showed that the supposed viously discovered by Mr. Hatchett; and shortly before new metal tantalum was identical with columbium, prehis death he transmitted to the Royal Society the Bakerian lecture, in which he fully describes his ingenious method of rendering platinum malleable.' (Manual of Chemistry, p. 102.) In his 'History of Chemistry (vol. ii., p. 248) Dr. Thomson remarks:- Dr. Wollaston had a particular turn for contriving pieces of apparatus for scientific purposes. His reflective goniometer was a most valuable present to mineralogists, and it is by its means that crystallography recently exhibited. He contrived a very simple apparatus has acquired the great degree of perfection which it has for ascertaining the power of various bodies to refract light. His camera lucida furnished those who were ignorant of His periscopic glasses must have been found drawing with a convenient method of delineating natural objects. useful, for they sold rather extensively; and his sliding Dr. Wollaston's rule for chemical equivalents furnished a ready method for calculating the proportions of one substance necessary to decompose a given weight of another. knowledge was more varied and his taste less exclusive dish; but optics and chemistry are the two sciences for than any other philosopher of his time, except Mr. Caven3 U 2 To him we owe the first demonstration of the identity which we are under the greatest obligations to him.' |