branch of knowledge. He not only founded several lectures at Oxford, but he erected the college of Christ church, and established a collegiate school in his native town.

The political conduct of Wolsey, and the events which led to his fate, have already been fully detailed in our article ENGLAND, Vol. VIII. p. 477. He died of dysentery in Leicester abbey on the 20th November 1530, in the 68th year of his age. A short time before be expired, he addressed the following words to Sir William Kingston, constable of the Tower, who had him in custody. "I have often kneeled before the king, sometimes three hours together, to persuade him from his will and appetite, but could not prevail: had 1 but served God as diligently as I have served the king, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs." See the lives of Wolsey by Cavendish, Fiddes, Galt, and an excellent one in the library of Useful Knowledge. WOLVERHAMPTON, a large town of England, in Staffordshire, is situated on a gentle declivity on the Birmingham canal. Although the streets are irregular, yet the town is well built, and contains many excellent houses, chiefly of brick. It has two churches, the Collegiate church of St. Peter's, and that of St. John's. The former is situated on a rising ground to the east of the town, and consists of a lofty naive, two aisles, and a chancel, with a fine Gothic embattled tower. The pulpit is of stone, and the church contains some good monuments, and a curious stone font. In the church yard is a round column twenty feet high, and covered with rude sculpture. The church of St. John is a neat wooden building, completed in 1776. Besides three chapels on the establishment, there are numerous meeting-houses for dissenters. The other public buildings are a free school, which is a handsome brick building, two charity schools for fifty boys and forty girls, an hospital for a priest and six old women, and a work house.

The manufactures of Wolverhampton consist principally of locks, keys, and other hardware articles. A great part of the ironmongery is made by the farmers in the vicinity, who have forges, where they work when they are not employed in agriculture. Both the men and women are regularly brought up to the business. The celebrated Antonio de Dominis, archbishop of Spalatro, and the discoverer of the cause of the rainbow, was made dean and first prebendary of Wolverhampton by James I. The population of the town, and a small part of the parish in 1821 was 3338 houses, 4208 families, 14,047 in trade, and total number of inhabitants 18,380.

WOOD ENGRAVING, &C. See ENGRAVING.

WOOD, county of Virginia, bounded N.E. by Tyler and Harrison counties, E. by Lewis, S.E. by Kenhawa county, S. W. by Mason, and by the Ohio river, which separates it from Meigo and Athens counties of Ohio on the W., and from Washington county of Ohio N. Length from S.W. to N.E. 36 miles, mean breadth 30 and area 1080; extending in Lat. from 38° 50' to 39° 22', and in Long. from 3° 52′ to 4° 10' W. from W. C. The far greater

The

WOODBRIDGE, a town of England in Suffolk, is situated on the navigable river Deben. principal streets, one of which is nearly a mile long, are clean, well paved, and contain many good houses. In the market-place is the ancient church, and beneath the court-house is the market-hall. The church is a handsome Gothic structure, built with black flints, and has a tower 180 feet high, which is a conspicuous sea mark. There are also meeting-houses for the Independents, Quakers, Methodists, and Baptists, besides a grammar school and two almshouses. From its situation on the Deben, Woodbridge enjoys an extensive coasting trade, and great quantities of corn, cheese and butter are shipped from its quay. About 44,000 quarters of grain, and 9220 sacks of flour were shipped to London in 1810. Population of the town and parish in 1821, 640 houses, 880 families, 556 in trade, &c. and total population 4060.

WOODFORD, county of Kentucky, bounded by Franklin N. W., Scott N. E., Lafayette E., Jessamine S.E. and Kentucky river, separating it from Mercer, S.W., and Anderson W. Length from S. to N. 22, mean breadth 7, and area 154 square miles; extending in Lat. from 38° 53' to 39° 11', and in Long. from 7° 36′ to 7° 50' W. from W. C. The declivity of this narrow county is westward, towards Kentucky river. The soil is generally excellent. Chief town, Versailles. By the post-office list of 1830, there were post-offices at Mortonsville, Rees's Cross-Roads and Versailles. Population 1820, 12,207, in 1830, 12,294. DARBY.

WOODSTOCK, a burgh of England, in the county of Oxford, is situated on a brook running into the Isis, and consists of several irregular streets, the houses of which are well built. The church is a handsome structure, with a neat tower. The town-hall is a neat building. Near the church is a good grammar school, and near the entrance to the town from Oxford is a row of almshouses, endowed in 1793 by Caroline, Duchess of Marlborough. The manufactures of this place are articles in polished steel and gloves. The former were made from the old nails of horses' shoes, and take a remarkable polish. The manufacture of leather into gloves and other articles of dress is very flourishing. About 500 dozen pair of gloves are made weekly; and it is supposed that 100 men and 1500 women and girls are employed in the various branches of the manufacture. Woodstock returns two members to parliament. A description of Blenheim house, in the immediate vicinity of Woodstock, has been given in CIVIL ARCHITECTURE, Vol. VI. p. 500, and a representation of it in Plate

CLXXIX. Population of the burgh and parish in 1821, 246 houses, 318 families, 275 do. in trade, and total population 1455.

WOOL. See FRANCE, Index, and SHAWL GOAT. WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. See CLOTH MANU FACTURE; also ENGLAND, Vol. VIII. p. 572, where we have given a detailed history of the Woollen Manufactures, and FRANCE, Index.

WOOLWICH, a town of England, in Kent, is situated on the south bank of the Thames, and consists of several irregular streets, the houses of which are well built. The church dedicated to Mary Magdalene is a spacious brick building, with a plain square tower.

Woolwich is chiefly celebrated for its dock-yard, arsenal, laboratory, and military academy. The dock-yard extends about five furlongs along the river, and is about a furlong wide. It contains two dry docks, several slips, three mast ponds, a smith's shop, forges worked by steam for making anchors, a model loft, store houses, and sheds for timber. During the last war the number of artificers employed in the dock-yard was 2000, but it is now not much more than half that number.

The arsenal occupies nearly 60 acres, and contains different piles of brick building, the oldest of which are the foundry and the old military academy. In the foundry are three furnaces, the largest of which will melt about seventeen tons of metal at once, and a machine for boring cannon. (See BORING MACHINE.) In another building there are two boring machines and various workshops for finishing off the ordnance after they have been proved. The arsenal contains an immense store of cannon arranged in tiers of great length, with mortars, howitzers, carronades, and all the apparatus of the field and battering train, besides guncarriages and military wagons.

Near the foundry is the laboratory, where barbs, carcasses, grenades, &c. are charged, and rockets, cartridges, and fire-works made up for the army and navy. In the arsenal there has been erected a planing machine driven by a steam engine, of which we have given a description and drawings in our article PLANING MACHINE. The number of artificers employed in the arsenal is about 3000, exclusive of about 900 convicts.

The royal military academy has been already described in our article ACADEMY. The building, designed by Wyatt, is of the castellated form, and consists of a centre and two wings united by corridors. The centre is a quadrangle, with octagonal towers at the angles, and contains the academy rooms. The wings contain the apartments of the cadets and officers. The building, which is of brick, is 600 feet long. The hall is elegant. The whole building cost £150,000.

The artillery barracks is a very extensive building, having its principal front nearly 1200 feet long. It is composed of six ranges of brick buildings united by an ornamental centre of stone, and by other four lower buildings which occupy the spaces between each range. These latter buildings, as well as the ornamental centre, are built of stone, with doric colonnades. They contain a library and

reading-room, a chapel, a mess-room, and a guardroom. At a little distance is a new riding school built of brick, on the model of an ancient temple. It is about 150 feet long and 63 broad. Between the royal arsenal and the dock-yard is an extensive building about 400 yards long, including a ropework where cables of all dimensions are manufactured. The other buildings are an ordnance hospital, a veterinary hospital, barracks, and a handsome hospital for the fourth division of marines. The most conspicuous of the detached buildings is a pagoda 115 feet in diameter, which was brought to Woolwich from Carlton-House Gardens, where it was used as a banqueting room for the sovereigns after the battle of Waterloo. It is now used as a repository for models. The population of the town of Woolwich in 1821, was 2520 houses, 4293 families, 1652 ditto in trade, males 7606, females 9402, and total population 17,008.

WOOTZ. See STEEL.

WORCESTER, a borough of England and the capital of Worcestershire, is situated in a fine vale on the banks of the Severn, over which there is a handsome stone bridge of five arches, built in 1780. The principal streets are the Firegate street, the High street, the Broad street, and Bridge street, which are regular and beautiful, and contain many handsome houses. The cathedral is a fine specimen of the simple Gothic, and is remarkable for its height and extent, as well as for the lightness of its architecture. It is 514 feet long, 78 broad, 68 high, with an ornamented and elegantly embattled tower, which rises from the centre of the cross aisle to the height of 200 feet. The interior is distinguished by the regularity and beauty of its architecture, and by the numerous monuments which it contains. The choir is particularly fine, and the stalls elegantly carved. The east window over the altar, and the octagonal stone pulpit, with emblematic sculpture, deserve notice. The organ has a fine tone and excels all others in its trumpet stop. In going up to the altar the spectator is arrested by an altar tomb in the centre and near the east end, which is the tomb of King John, surmounted with his effigy, and bearing the almost effaced inscription of Johannes Rex Angliae. In 1797, the stone coffin was taken up, and the royal corpse found in it. On the south side of the altar is Prince Arthur's sepulchral chapel, one of the most elaborate parts of the cathedral. The cloisters now inhabited by the dignitaries of the cathedral are 125 feet long and 16 wide. On the south side of the cathedral is the college green, on the east side of which is a gate called Edgar's tower, having on the outer front statues of that king and his two queens. The bishop's palace stands on the banks of the Severn, in a commanding situation. Parts of the ditch of the ancient castle are yet to be traced.

There are seven parish churches within the walls, and two without. The most important are St. Michael's, St. Andrew's, and All-Saints. St. Andrew's is very beautiful and has a lofty spire. All-Saints church is a handsome modern edifice.

There are also meeting houses for catholics and other dissenters.

The guildhall, finished in 1723, is a handsome brick building with stone corners. The chief entrance, which is by semicircular steps, is adorned with rich composite columns, with statues of the two Charles' in niches, and one of Queen Anne. The county jail, enlarged in 1775, is on the Howard plan. It has two large court yards, and a centre house for the jailor. The city jail was once part of a house of Franciscan friars. The other buildings are the city bridewell, the infirmary, and various hospitals, alms-houses, and charity-schools, together with a Lancasterian school. The market place is a handsome building with a fine stone front, with excellent interior arrangements. The high market is a large quadrangle, having on three sides lofty ranges of large and regular warehouses. The theatre is a neat building.

The principal manufacture is that of gloves, which is carried on upon a great scale both for home consumption and exportation. The annual returns are estimated at £100,000, and the persons employed at 500 women, besides the men. The royal porcelain works carried on by Messrs. Flight, Barr, and Barr, have produced from British materials the most beautiful and highly finished specimens of the art, which completely equal if they do not surpass the best foreign productions. Population of the city of Worcester in 1821, 3037 houses, 3786 families, 3247 ditto in trade, and total number of inhabitants 17,023. See Chamber's History, &c. of Worcester, 1818, and the Beauties of England and Wales, vol. xv. part i. p. 46-162.

WORCESTER, county of Maryland, the extreme southeastern of that state, bounded by Accoma county of Virginia S., Somerset county in Maryland W., Sussex county in Delaware N., and by the Atlantic ocean E. Length from S. to N. 30 miles, mean width, including the islands, 25, but excluding the islands 20, the area with that of the islands about 700 square miles. Most maps extend this county, and of course the state of Maryland, to N. Lat. 58°; this is however a mistake, the real southern boundary is not along a curve of latitude, but is on the Atlantic ocean about 3 minutes, and on Pocomoke bay, upwards of 1 minute, N. of Lat. 38°. The northern boundary is on N. Lat. 38° 28', and the country lies between Long. 1° 24' and 1° 55' E. from W. C. The declivity is to the S. W., and drained in that direction by Pocomoke river, which is discharged into Chesapeake bay. The surface is level and soil sandy. Chief town, Snowhill. By the post-office list of 1831, there were post-offices at Berlin, Newark, Newtown, Poplartown, Saint Martin's, Sandy Hill and Snow Hill. Population in 1820, 17,421; in 1830, 18,271.

WORCESTER, great central county of Massachusetts, bounded by Chelshire county of New Hampshire N. W., Hillsborough county of New Hampshire N., Middlesex county of Massachusetts N.E. and E., Norfolk county of Massachusetts S. E., and Providence county of Rhode Island, and Windham of Connecticut N. This large county

crosses the state from N. Lat. 42° 1' to 42° 42′, and extends in Long. from 4° 44′ to 5° 30', E. from W. C. The length a little exceeds 47 miles, from south to north. The eastern and western outlines are very irregular, of consequence the mean breadth difficult to determine, but is about 35 miles, and the area about 1650 square miles.

Worcester county of Massachusetts, is a true table land traversed nearly along the middle, and from south to north, by a chain of real though not very elevated mountains. From this central chain Chickapee river flows south-westward, Miller's river north-west by west. The higher branch of Souhegan north, the north-eastern section, is drained to the north-east by the various branches of Nashua river. Blackstone or the higher constituents of Pawtucket, bears its waters south-eastward, towards Narragansett bay; and finally, from the south-western section flow the superior confluents of Quinebaug, or the north-eastern constituents of Thames river. The superior elevation of the central plateau is around the town of Worcester, the county seat. For relative elevation of this county with the Atlantic coast near Boston, and of Connecticut river at the mouth of Westfield river, see Table XV. page 270, art. U. S. in this volume.

Worcester exceeds Rhode Island in superficial extent, and in 1830, the former sustained 84,355 inhabitants, or a small fraction above 51 to the square mile. In 1831, this county contained 67 post-offices. Worcester, the seat of justice of this county, stands on the comparatively elevated table land from which issue the higher fountains of Blackstone river, and from which a navigable canal is in progress to unite with Narragansett bay at Providence. This is considered as amongst the finest inland towns of New England, and is especially remarkable for extensive business in printing books. It possesses numerous other manufactories, one or more learned societies, several places of public worship, and in 1830 a population of 4173. N. Lat. 42° 16', Long. 5° 12′ E. from W. C. Elevation of the cultivated land in the vicinity exceeding 550 feet above the Atlantic level. Distant 39 miles a little S. of W. from Boston, and 394 miles by post-road N. from W. C. DARBY.

WORCESTERSHIRE, an inland county of England, is bounded on the south by Gloucestershire, on the east by Warwickshire, on the west by Staf fordshire, on the north-west by Shropshire, and on the southwest by Herfordshire, which separate it from Wales.

It is about 30 miles long and 25 broad, and contains 729 square statute miles, and 466,560 English statute acres. It is the thirty-fourth county in point of size. Its rental is £516,203 and £46,901 of tithes, the annual value of a square mile being £772. It is divided into five hundreds, and contains one city, eleven market towns, about 400 villages and hamlets, and 152 parishes, including one bishopric and three burghs.

The general aspect of Worcestershire is that of a rich and beautiful plain, covered with gentle undulations, which disappear when seen from an

eminence. The elevated parts of the county are the Malvern hills, on the west, 1440 feet high, which, though only a sheep pasture, have yet a fine climate; the Bredon and Broadway hills on the south, about 900 feet high, and the Lickey range on the north, about 900 feet in height, all of which are bleak and inclement. Every part of the county is covered with verdure and cultivation, and the rich orchards and flourishing hop grounds form interesting objects.

The soil of the county is chiefly a rich loamy sand, with a small proportion of gravel in the central parts. Towards the east the soil is a light sand with some spots of clay, but the eastern district is generally a stony clay. Between Worcester and the vale of Evesham on the south-east, the soil is partly rich marle and partly strong clay, while in some spots the subsoil is limestone. In the beautiful vale of Evesham, watered by the Severn, the soil is a dark earth, and particularly deep. Limestone occurs farther south in the upper lands, and a rich loam in the lower ones. In the southwest, between the Severn and the Malvern hills, the soil is clay mixed with sand. No chalk or flint occurs. The vale of the Severn is said to contain 18,000 acres of deep rich sediment, deposited by the river and its tributary streams. The lands of the county were lately distributed thus:

About 43,500 acres are supposed to be sown with wheat, yielding from 20 to 32 bushels per acre. Barley and beans yield remarkable crops. Hops are extensively cultivated, and pear trees are so abundant as to yield perry as the beverage of the peasantry. There is no breed of cattle or sheep in the county. Lean flocks from the poorer districts are fattened on the fine pastures of the county.*

The principal rivers are the Severn and the Avon, described under ENGLAND, Vol. VIII. p. 502-513; and the canals have been described fully in our article NAVIGATION INLAND, Vol. XIV. p. 282.

The useful minerals of the county are coal, limestone, brick, clay, and excellent freestone. Fine coal is obtained in the N. W. about Mamble, and at Pensax there are coal mines, where it is used for the hop kilns. The veins, however, are little more than two feet thick, so that the county depends for its supply on the Staffordshire mines, the coals of which are brought down the Severn. At Dudley there is a vein 10 feet thick. vale of Evesham, the poor burn the bean stubble. There are mineral wells at Malvern, chalybeate springs at Kidderminster, and a dropping well on Barlisk common; but the most valuable are the salt springs of Droitwich, which have been fully

• See ENGLAND, Vol. VIII.

In the

described in our article ENGLAND, Vol. VIII. p. 570.

The principal manufactures are gloves, porcelain, glass, iron, iron nails, table linen, needles, tenter hooks, carpets, oil and oil cake, of which some account will be found in our description of the principal town of the county.

The chief towns are Worcester, Dudley, Kidderminster, Broomsgrove, Stourbridge, Stourport, Bewdley, Evesham, &c. all of which are described under separate articles, excepting Dudley, Evesham, and Droitwich. Dudley is an ancient, but a regularly built town, with two parish churches, containing some monuments, one at each end of the largest street. The manufactures consist of all varieties of hardware. The population of the town and parish in 1821 was 3637 families, 3410 in trade, and total population 18,211. Droitwich is chiefly inhabited by the labourers of the brine pits, and contains no buildings of importance. The manufactures consist of coarse linens and salt. The population of the burgh in 1821 was 2176 persons, 269 families being employed in trade. Evesham is finely situated on the river Avon, which is crossed with a stone bridge of seven arches. The streets are irregular and the houses ancient and not well built. Its two churches are ancient, and the bells hang in a detached tower. The only manufacture is one of knit stockings, the poor being chiefly occupied in gardening. The ivied walls of its once flourishing abbey still adorn the town. The population of the burgh in 1821 was 3487.

This county sends two members to parliament, two are returned by each of the burghs of Worcester, Droitwich and Evesham, and one from Bewdley.

Vestiges of Roman roads occur in the county, and various coins of the lower empire have been found near the large camp on Witchbury hill. An earthen pot full of coins was taken out of a pool on the side of that hill.

The population of Worcestershire, in 1821, was, houses 34,738, families 39,006, families engaged in agriculture 14,926, do. in trade 41,576; males 90,259, females, 94, 165. Total population 184,424. See Mill's Agricultural Survey of Worcestershire; Nashe's Survey, &c., and the Beauties of England and Wales, vol. xv. part 1. See also ENGLAND pas

sim.

WORKINGTON, a seaport town of England in the county of Cumberland, is situated near the south bank of the Derwent, about a mile from its embouchure. The new streets are neat and elegant, and contain some handsome houses, but the ancient ones are narrow and irregular. A neat square of 20 houses, containing the corn market, was built in the upper town. The church is a handsome building with a neat Gothic tower. The other buildings are a spacious workhouse, a neat assembly room, and a theatre, a Lancasterian school for 220 boys, and a female school for girls. On an eminence, near the east end of the town, stands Workington Hall, the seat of the Curwens. It

† See MINE, Vol. VIII.

forms an elegant quadrangle, and is surrounded with fine grounds and fields, brought into the highest state of cultivation by its late public spirited possessor. The Derwent is navigable for ships of 400 tons, and the harbour is safe and commodious. The quays have been enlarged, and there are now about 160 vessels belonging to the port, many of them from 100 to 300 tons. The exports are chiefly coals to Ireland and the Baltic, cannon and cast iron kettles. The imports are timber, bar iron, and flax. The manufactures are cordage, sailcloth, and the casting and forging of iron. There is an extensive salmon fishery on the Derwent belonging to Lord Lonsdale.

Workington is distinguished by its extensive coaleries, belonging to Mr. Curwen, which we have described in our article CUMBERLAND, Vol. VII. p. 341. See also MINE, Vol. XIII. About 150 wagons, each containing three tons of coal, are shipped daily, and between 500 or 600 men are employed in the work. Population of the township in 1821, 1224 houses, 1751 families, 469 do. in trade, and 6439 inhabitants. The returns state that 439 sailors were absent.

WORLD is the assemblage of parts which compose the universe. See ASTRONOMY and META

PHYSICS.

WORSTED MANUFACTURE. See the references under WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE.

WREN, Sir CHRISTOPHER, a celebrated mathematician, natural philosopher and architect, was born at East Knoyle, in Wiltshire, on the 20th October 1632. His father, Dr. C. Wren, was rector of Knoyle, and dean of Windsor. At the age of thirteen, young Wren is said to have invented some new astronomical instrument, and to have dedicated an account of it to his father, in a Latin epistle. Owing to the delicacy of his health, he was educated by his father, and at the age of fourteen was sent to Wadham College, Oxford. At that early age his acquirements procured him the friendship of Bishop Walker, and Oughtred, in the preface to his Clavis Mathematica, mentions Wren as having acquired, at the age of sixteen, a knowledge of the mathematics and natural philosophy, which held out the promise of future dis tinction. One of the early inventions of our author was a kind of Penna Duplex, for which he took out a patent. He is said to have devoted his attention to the subject of vision through the microscope, and to have been assisted by Dr. Hooke in this inquiry. He soon after produced a theory of the planet Saturn, and an algebraic treatise on the Julian period. In 1653 he was elected a fellow of All-Souls College, and he soon afterwards went to London, where he devoted himself to the cultivation of the sciences. Wren is supposed to have about this time suggested that the variation in the height of the barometer was produced by the different weights of the superincumbent column of air, and the invention of the barometer even has been ascribed to him, but without any sufficient reason. While Mr. Wren was at Oxford he devoted himself to the study of anatomy, and at the age of fifteen, he was employed as demonstrating assistant

to Sir Charles Scarborough. He executed all the drawings for Dr. Willis's Treatise on the Brain, and he was the decided inventor of the celebrated physiological experiments, revived in our own times, of injecting various fluids into the veins of living animals.

In 1657, Wren was elected professor of astronomy in Gresham College, and his inaugural oration, which greatly extended his reputation, is published in Ward's Lives of the Gresham Professors. In 1650 he solved the celebrated problem of Pascal, which had been given as a challenge to English mathematicians, and he proposed another to the French mathematicians, which was never answered. In the year 1660, he invented a method for projecting Solar eclipses, and in the same year he established, along with ten other gentlemen, a weekly society, for the improvement of natural and experimental philosophy, which formed the foundation of the Royal Society. In 1661, after the restoration, he was elected Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, in the room of Dr. S. Ward, and in the same year he was made doctor of laws.

Among his various studies Dr. Wren had directed his attention to architecture, and such was his knowledge, that Charles II. sent for him from Oxford, to assist Sir John Denham, surveyorgeneral of public works.

On the 20th May 1663, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, by the first council, and he communicated to that learned body a vast variety of discoveries, inventions, and improvements, many of which were lost, and others secretly sent abroad and appropriated by foreigners. Many of these discoveries are enumerated by Dr. Sprott in his history of the Royal Society. The following brief enumeration will show the immense extent of his attainments, and the diligence with which he devoted himself to scientific inquiries.

1. A lunar globe, representing the surface of the moon, with its various mountains and cavities. It was contrived so as to show the lunar phases, and the shadows of the mountains, and edges of the cavities. A model of it was placed in the king's cabinet.

2. He wrote a history of the seasons as to temperature, weather, &c., and he contrived many meteorological instruments which registered their own indications, tracing out in lines the changes which took place in the observer's absence. instruments which he thus improved were barometers, thermometors, hygrometers, pluviometers, and anemometers.

The

3. He made additions to the doctrine of pendulums, and he showed that a natural standard for measure may be obtained from the common pendulum.

4. He made many improvements in the construction and use of astronomical instruments. He fitted and suspended quadrants, sextants, &c., in an improved manner. He made two telescopes open on a joint like a sector, to take distances to half minutes, &c. He made improvements on micrometer screws and reticula, for taking small distances, and apparent diameters of the planets, &c. to seconds, and he made variable repertures to fit