Chapter Winds to Winter's Tale of W by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Wine (Three-Men). (See under Three, p. 1104.)

Wingate (Master Jasper), the steward at Avenel Castle.—Sir W. Scott: The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).

Winged Horse (A), the standard and emblem of ancient Corinth, in consequence of the fountain of Pirenê, near that city, and Pegasus the winged horse of Apollo and the Muses.

Winged Lion (The), the heraldic device of the republic of Venice.

They’ll plant the winged lion in these halls.
   —R. Browning: The Return of the Druses, v.

Wingfield, a citizen of Perth, whose trade was feather-dressing.—Sir W. Scott: Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Wingfield (Ambrose), employed at Osbaldistone Hall.

Lancie Wingfield, one of the men employed at Osbaldistone Hall.—Sir W. Scott: Rob Roy (time, George I.).

Wing-the-Wind (Michael), a servant at Holyrood Palace, and the friend of Adam Woodcock.—Sir W. Scott: The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).

Winifrid (St.), patron saint of virgins; beheaded by Caradoc for refusing to marry him. The tears she shed became the fountain called “St. Winifrid’s Well,” the waters of which not only cure all sorts of diseases, but are so buoyant that nothing sinks to the bottom. St. Winifrid’s blood stained the gravel in the neighbourhood red, and her hair became moss. Drayton has given this legend in verse in his Polyolbion, x. (1612).

(The name is more generally spelt Winifred.)

Winkle (Nathaniel), M.P.C., a young cockney sportsman, considered by his companions to be a dead shot, a hunter, skater, etc. All these acquirements are, however, wholly imaginary. He marries Arabella Allen.—Dickens: The Pickwick Papers (1836).

M.P.C., that is, Member of the Pickwick Club.

Winkle (Rip van), a Dutch colonist of New York, who met a strange man in a ravine of the Kaatskill Mountains. Rip helped the stranger to carry a keg to a wild retreat among rocks, where he saw a host of strange personages playing skittles in mysterious silence. Rip took the first opportunity of tasting the keg, fell into a stupor, and slept for twenty years. On waking, he found that his wife was dead buried, his daughter married, his village remodelled, and America had become independent.— W. Irving: Sketch- Book (1820).

The tales of Epimenidês, of Peter Klaus, of the Sleeping Beauty, the Seven Sleepers, etc., are somewhat similar. (See Sleeper, p. 1015.)

Winklebred or Winklebrand (Louis), lieutenant of sir Maurice de Bracy a follower of prince John.—Sir W. Scott: Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

Winnie (Annie), an old sibyl, who makes her appearance at the death of Alice Gray.—Sir W. Scott: Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).

Winter, the head servant of general Witherington alias Richard Tresham.— Sir W. Scott: The Surgeon’s Daughter (time, George II.).

Winter. (See Seasons, p. 976.)