WILSON, Sir Robert Thomas, a son of an eminent painter, was born in London, in the year 1777. After receiving an excellent education, first at Westminster, and next at Winchester, he joined (1794) the army of the duke of York, in Flanders, as a volunteer, and before the end of three years, he became a captain. He was present in all the encounters which took place at that time, while the English remained on the continent. On the 24th of April, 1794, a few days after he received his first commission, he was one of eight officers, with a small detachment of dragoons, who, by a daring attack on a formidable division of the enemy, had the good fortune to prevent Francis, emperor of Germany, from being taken prisoner. For this service, the officers were first rewarded with a medal, and subsequently with the order of Maria Theresa. During the rebellion in Ireland, he served on the staff as aid-decamp to major-general St. John, and, in 1799, went to Holland, and bore a part in all the actions which took place there. In 1800, he succeeded to a majority in Hompesch's mounted riflemen; and in the following year, he was employed in Egypt, and was present at the different actions which took place in that country. (See Egypt, Campaign in.) In 1802, after having previously given to the press a translation of Regnier's State of Egypt, he published a Historical Account of the British Expedition to Egypt, with some Important Facts relative to General Bonaparte (4to.). In the compilation of this volume, he was assisted by his brother, and by Mr. Roworth, a printer, who having copied into it some exaggerated Turkish stories, which had been printed in an obscure pamphlet at Constantinople, the book so accorded with the party-prejudices of the day, that it obtained an unprecedented circulation, and, being honored with royal patronage, became an object of public complaint from the government of France. No satisfaction being obtained, the first consul caused the counter-report of colonel Sebastiani to be published, which led to complaints from the English government; and the controversy engendered so much illblood as to be one of the causes of the subsequent war. His next literary production came out in 1804, with the title of an Inquiry into the present State of the Military Force of the British Empire, with a View to its Reorganization, in which he expresses his decided reprobation of the practice of corporal punish

In

ment. Sir Robert Wilson has the merit of having been one of the first to call the attention of the public to that flagrant military abuse. After having held the situation of inspecting field-officer of yeomanry in the western counties, he was once more taken into active service, and assisted at the capture of the cape of Good Hope. In 1806, he accompanied lord Hutchinson to the continent, on a secret mission to Russia, and was present in all the battles fought by the allied armies, from the battle of Pultusk to that of Friedland. After the peace of Tilsit, he was received at Petersburg, by the emperor Alexander, with marks of distinguished favor. Of the contest between France and the allied powers, he, in 1811, published a narrative, with the title of an Account of the Campaigns in Poland in 1806 and 1807, with Remarks on the Character and Composition of the Russian Army (4to.). In 1808, he was despatched to Portugal, where he formed the royal Lusitanian legion, at the head of which he was engaged in various encounters. At the action of Banos, though his corps was eventually routed, he behaved with distinguished bravery. 1812, he was sent to Russia, as British military correspondent with the allied armies, and was in the principal actions which took place till the close of the war. At the battle of Lützen, he stormed the village of Gross Görschen, and remained master of it at the close of the day. After the peace, he visited Paris; and the part which he took in rescuing Lavalette from his persecutors is well known, and remembered to his honor. (See Lavalette.) He was censured in the general orders issued by the duke of York, but was applauded by the unanimous voice of the world. In 1817, sir Robert published a Sketch of the Military and Political Power of Russia. This brought upon him a calumnious attack from the Quarterly Review, to which he replied with spirit. Sir Robert Wilson next went to Colombia, for the purpose of serving under Bolivar, but soon after returned to England, and, at the general election in 1818, was elected one of the members for the borough of Southwark. In parliament, he voted for reform and retrenchment, and warmly espoused the cause of the injured queen Caroline. This was an inexpiable crime in the eyes of the government, and an opportunity was soon found, or rather made, to punish him. His exertions to prevent bloodshed, at the queen's funeral, having been

misrepresented, the sovereign exercised the unusual prerogative of dismissing him from the army; and he was thus deprived of several thousand pounds, which his commissions had cost him. A public subscription was entered into, which amounted to several thousands, to indemnify him for his losses. Having subsequently made a visit to Paris, he was ordered by the police to quit France within three days. On the declaration of war, by France, against Spain, in 1823, sir Robert, notwithstanding British subjects were prohibited taking part with either of the belligerents, hastened to the Peninsula to join the constitutional cause. He received a post in the army of the cortes, was wounded at Corunna, and, after having witnessed the downfall of his party (see Spain), fled to Lisbon, where, however, he was forbidden to land, and, retiring to Cadiz, remained there till the capture of the city by the French. In consequence of his efforts in favor of the constitutional or revolutionary cause in Spain, the kings of Portugal and Prussia, and the emperors of Russia and Austria, deprived him of the orders which they had bestowed on him for former services. In 1826, he was reëlected member of parliament by Southwark. Having opposed the passage of the reform bill, sir Robert Wilson was thrown out in the elections of April, 1831.

WILSON, John, professor of moral philosophy in the university of Edinburgh, was born at Paisley, in Scotland, in 1789. He inherited a considerable sum from his father, but soon lost it in a mercantile speculation. While quite young, he ran away from his home, and served at sea as a ship-boy; and he subsequently had serious intentions of penetrating to Timbuctoo, but was prevailed upon by his friends to give up so wild a project. He was educated at Magdalen college, Oxford, and, while there, obtained, in 1806, sir Roger Newdigate's prize for the best poem on a given theme. The subject of his poem was a recommendation of the study of ancient architecture, sculpture and painting. While at Oxford, Wilson was distinguished as an excellent Greek scholar, and a powerful pugilist. On quitting the university, he went to reside on his estate near the lake of Windermere, in Westmoreland. On the death of doctor Brown, the successor of Dugald Stewart in the university of Edinburgh, Wilson became the candidate to fill the vacant office. His election was violently opposed; but he finally succeeded in obtain

ing the chair. His bearing towards his pupils is most engaging; his lectures always talented and splendid, and not unfrequently adorned by bursts of impassioned eloquence. Wilson's principal prose works are Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life; Trials of Margaret Lynsday; the Foresters, &c. The titles of his chief poems are City of the Plague; the Isle of Palms; and An Evening in Furness Abbey. As a poet, he belongs to the lake school, and possesses considerable descriptive and imaginative powers. Professor Wilson is likewise understood to be the editor of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, an extremely clever, but virulent and scurrilous publication, the ability manifested in which is but a poor set-off for its fustian, prejudice, flippancy and malignity.

WINCHESTER; an ancient city of England, in Hampshire, near the river Itchin. It is about half a mile long, from east to west, and contains nine parish churches. It was known in the time of the Romans, who made it one of their military stations. During the reign of Egbert, it became the metropolis of the kingdom, but was soon rivalled by London. Its commerce was also obstructed by various accidents; and, in the reign of Henry VIII, it received a blow, in the dissolution of monasteries and the destruction of religious houses; after which, Winchester contained scarcely any thing more than a shadow of its former grandeur. In the reign of Charles I, the city and castle of Winchester, which remained faithful to that monarch, were compelled to surrender to Cromwell, who destroyed the works of the castle, together with the fortifications of the city. The cathedral of Winchester is one of most interesting buildings in England. The original structure, built by Saxon kings, is entirely destroyed. In the eleventh century, the cathedral was rebuilt by bishop Walkelin. The next improvement was undertaken by William de Edyngton, treasurer to Edward III, and was finished by bishop Wykeham in 1394: the eastern part was rebuilt at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The length of the cathedral is 556 feet. Next to the cathedral, in interest and antiquity, stands the college of St. Mary's, founded by Wykeham in 1387, as a nursery for his New College at Oxford. The foundation provides for a warden, ten fellows, seventy scholars, one master, three chaplains, besides many subordinate members. The buildings consist of two quadrangles, a cloister,

library, and a large modern school-room. The windows of the chapel are filled with stained glass; and over the altar is a picture (by Le Moine) of the Salutation. The tower, built in the fifteenth century, is remarkable for its symmetry. Over the school-room door is a bronze statue of Wykeham, cast by Cibber (1692). The ecclesiastical buildings in this city were formerly numerous, the churches and chapels alone amounting to upwards of ninety, and several having colleges and monasteries attached to them. Scarcely twelve of them now remain. Here are several meeting-houses for dissenters. Near the college are the ruins of the celebrated episcopal residence, called Wolvesey castle, destroyed by Cromwell, in 1646. Winchester castle, built by William the Conqueror, occupied the spot where the palace, erected by Charles II, now stands, and which, during the war, was converted into a barrack. The area of the castle was about 850 feet in length, north and south, and 250 in breadth. The chapel belonging to the castle has been converted into a county hall. At the east end is suspended the curiosity called Arthur's round table, which tradition has attributed to king Arthur. Near the cathedral is the Widow's college, founded by bishop Morley, for the relicts of deceased clergymen. The city contains two almshouses, and a great number of charitable bequests belong to it. In the town-hall are the city archives, the original Winchester bushel, given by king Edgar, with other measures, both for quantity and length, fixed as standards by succeeding princes, and various curious memorials of antiquity. At the west end of the town is an obelisk, having an inscription commemorative of the calamities occasioned by the plague, in 941, 1348 and 1668. Two members are sent to parliament. Winchester has very little trade. An ancient wool-combing manufactory still exists in it; and, of late years, the silk manufacture has been introduced. There is a navigable river or canal to Southampton. All the public business of Hampshire is, however, transacted here. Its cathedral and its college ensure to it the residence, also, of a considerable number of the superior clergy, with their families. Population, 9212; 11 miles N. N. E. from Southampton, and 63 S. W. from London. WINCHESTER BUSHEL; the English standard until 1826, when the imperial standard bushel was introduced. (See Measures.) The Winchester bushel is eighteen and a half inches wide and eight

inches deep, and contains 2150.42 cubic inches, while the imperial standard bushel contains 2218.40 cubic inches.-To convert Winchester bushels into imperial bushels, multiply the Winchester measure by 31, and divide by 32. The name of the old measure was derived from the circumstance that the standard measure was kept at Winchester. (q. v.)

WINCKEL, Theresa Emilia Henrietta, an artist at Dresden, born in 1784, celebrated for her copies of the productions of the best old masters, formed herself in the gallery of Dresden. (q. v.) In 1806, she visited Paris with her mother, to study the works of art accumulated there, and remained in that city two years and a half. David said that no one could equal her in copying Correggio. Her mother having lost her fortune, the daughter employed her talents for music and painting for their common support. Several of her paintings are used as altar pieces. Her letters from Paris have been published, and she has furnished contributions to periodicals, to Hasse's Pocket Encyclopædia, and to the Conversations-Lexicon.

WINCKELMANN, John Joachim. This scholar, who has done so much for the criticism and history of art, and the study of antiques, was born at Stendal, in Altmark, Dec. 9, 1717, and was the son of a shoemaker. Extreme poverty could not suppress his early-awakened love of study. The school-master of his native place soon became attached to him, and took him into his family. After having made considerable proficiency in Greek and Latin, he went, in 1735, to a gymnasium at Berlin, and thence on foot to Hamburg, in order to purchase some ancient classics, with money begged on the way. In 1738, he entered the university of Halle, where he lived for two years on a small stipend, and the contributions of others; but, as ancient literature and the belles-lettres interested him more than theology, he neglected the lectures, but assiduously frequented the libraries, and occupied himself with the ancients. After having been a private tutor and an usher for a number of years, during which he pursued his studies with indefatigable zeal, he applied, in 1748, to the minister, count von Bünau, of Nöthenitz, near Dresden, and offered his services as a librarian. The count had already a librarian, but expressed his willingness to appoint him secretary of the library, with a salary of eighty rix-dollars. He accepted the offer, and lived some years employed partly in his private studies, partly in labor

for the count. The proximity of Dresden, with its rich treasures of art, and the acquaintance of some artists, awakened in him a love of the arts. To visit Italy, the native country and the home of the arts, was now the great object of his wishes. At length, father Rauch, the confessor of the king of Poland, enabled him to live in Rome by a small pension. In 1744, he formally embraced the Catholic religion, and left the service of count Bunau; but, before going to Rome, he remained for a time in Dresden, devoted to the study of the arts. In the autumn of 1755, he set out for Rome with a pension from the king of 200 rix-dollars for two years. There he soon found friends and patrons, and had an audience of Benedict XIV, who received him graciously, and promised him his protection. Winckelmann now devoted himself to the study of the works of ancient and modern art. In the spring of 1758, he visited Naples, where he became acquainted with the most distinguished men, and obtained access to the antiquities of Portici, Herculaneum and Pompeii. After an absence of ten weeks, he returned to Rome. In September, 1758, at the repeated invitation of count Munzel Stosch, who had inherited from his uncle one of the richest and most beautiful cabinets of gems, he paid a visit to Florence, where he spent nine months in arranging and making a catalogue of that collection. This catalogue appeared at Florence, under the title Description des Pierres gravées du feu Baron de Stosch. About this time, he accepted the situation of librarian, and superintendent of antiquities to cardinal Albani, who gave him the use of his house, and a salary of 120 scudi. In the summer of 1760, he finished the Anmerkungen über die Baukunst der Alten, which was published two years after in Germany. In 1762, Winckelmann, in company with count Brühl, again visited Naples and its remarkable environs, and soon after gave the discoveries and observations made there to the public, in his Letter to Count Brühl respecting the Discoveries made at Herculaneum. Five years afterwards, he published his Monumenti antichi inediti, in the Italian language, and for the benefit of the Italians. In 1763, he published a small essay On the Perception of the Beautiful. In the same year, he was inade superintendent of all the antiquities in and about Rome, with a monthly salary of 12-15 scudi. In the beginning of 1764, appeared his principal work, Geschichte der Kunst. In the same spring,

he made a third journey to Naples, the results of which he published in the Nachrichten von der neuesten Herculanischen Entdeckungen. In 1767, he published Notes to his History of Art. In April, 1768, he set out on a journey to Germany. He arrived at Vienna May 12, and was received with great honor by prince Kaunitz and others, and was presented, at Schönbrunn, to the empress Maria Theresa, who received him with distinction, and bestowed upon him presents of value; and, in the beginning of June, he departed for Trieste. There he was joined by an Italian, named Francesco Arcangeli, a villain, who had been, a short time before, condemned to death in Vienna, but had been pardoned, and banished from the country. His obsequiousness won the confidence of the unsuspecting Winckelmann, who thoughtlessly showed him his gold medals, and other articles of value. Arcangeli undertook the care of the affairs of the journey, while Winckelmann remained in the inn. June 8, as he sat writing at table, the Italian entered his chamber to announce his sudden departure, and to take leave. He asked to see once more the gold medals; and, while Winckelmann was kneeling before the box, about to take them out, the Italian threw a noose around his neck, and inflicted five mortal stabs in the belly of the unfortunate man, and then fled, without taking any thing. He was subsequently apprehended, and broken on the wheel. Winckelmann expired in a few hours, having made his will, in which be appointed cardinal Albani his sole heir. His manuscript of the second edition of the Geschichte der Kunst, which he carried about him, came into the possession of the imperial academy of fine arts at Vienna, which, in 1776, caused an edition to be published from it. The great merit of Winckelmann consists in his elucidation of the principles of art, and his exhibition of the works of art in their true character and connexion. His treatises, moreover, contain a great mass of historical illustrations. With the exception of the Monumenti inediti, the Description des Pierres gravées, and the various collections of letters, all his works may be found in the edition begun by Fernow, and finished by Meyer and Schulze (Dresden, 1808-17, 7 vols.)-See Göthe's excellent treatise Winckelmann und sein Jahrhundert. A supplement to the biographical and literary notices of Winckelmann has been published by Gurlitt (Hamburg, 1820).

WINCKELRIED. (See Winkelried.)

WIND; a sensible current in the atmosphere. The motions of the atmosphere are subject, in some degree, to the same laws as those of the denser fluids. If we remove a portion of water in a large reservoir, we see the surrounding water flow in to restore the equilibrium; and, if we impel in any direction a certain portion, an equal quantity moves in a contrary direction, from the same cause; or if a portion, being rarefied by heat, or condensed by cold, ascends in the one instance and descends in the other, a counter-current is the visible and natural result; and similar effects are found to follow the same causes in the atmospheric

fluid; thus no wind can blow without a counter or opposite current; nor can any wind arise without a previous derangement of the general equilibrium, the general causes of which may be stated as follows: 1. The ascent of the air over certain tracts heated by the sun; 2. evaporation, causing an actual increase in the volume of the atmosphere; 3. rain, snow, &c., causing an actual decrease in its volume, by the destruction of the vapor. In the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (vol. 51st), there is a table of the different velocities and forces of winds, drawn from a considerable number of facts and experiments, which give the following results:

Velocity of the Wind.

Miles per Hour.

Feet

per Second.

2.93

.020

4.4

.044

5.87

.079

7.33

.123

14.67

.492

22.

1.107

29.34

1.968

36.67

3.075

Currents thus produced may be permanent and general, extending over a large portion of the globe; periodical, as in the Indian ocean, or variable and occasional, or, at least, uncertain, as the winds in temperate climates. General or permanent winds blow always nearly in the same direction, and are called trade-winds. (q. v.) On the north of the equator, their direction is from the north-east (varying at times a point or two of the compass each way): on the south of the equator, they proceed from the south-east. The origin of them is this: The powerful beat of the torrid zone rarefies, or makes 18

VOL. XIII.

lighter, the air of that region: the air, in consequence of this rarefaction, rises, and, to supply its place, a colder atmosphere from each of the temperate zones moves towards the equator. But (as in the case of the polar currents in the ocean) these north and south winds pass from regions where the rotatory motion of the earth's surface is less to those where it is greater. Unable at once to acquire this new velocity, they are left behind, and, instead of being north and south winds, as they would be if the earth's surface did not turn round, they become north-east and south-east winds. The space included