Chapter Wilberforce to Williams of W by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Wilberforce to Williams

Wilberforce, William (1759-1833).—Philanthropist and religious writer, son of a merchant, was born at Hull, educated at Cambridge, entered Parliament as member for his native town, became the intimate friend of Pitt, and was the leader of the crusade against the slave-trade and slavery His chief literary work was his Practical View of Christianity, which had remarkable popularity and influence, but he wrote continually and with effect on the religious and philanthropic objects to which he had devoted his life.

Wilcox, Carles (1794-1827).—Poet, born at Newport, N. H., was a Congregationalist minister. He wrote a poem, The Age of Benevolence, which was left unfinished, and which bears manifest traces of the influence of Cowper.

Wilde, Oscar Fingal O’Flaherty Wills (1856-1900).—Poet and dramatist, son of Sir William Wilde, the eminent surgeon, was born at Dublin, and educated there at Trinity College and at Oxford He was one of the founders of the modern cult of the æsthetic. Among his writings are Poems (1881), The Picture of Dorian Gray, a novel, and several plays, including Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of no Importance, and The Importance of being Earnest. He was convicted of a serious offence, and after his release from prison went abroad and died at Paris. Coll. editor of his works, 12 vols., 1909.

Wilkes, John (1727-1797).—Politician, son of a distiller in London, was educated at Leyden. Witty, resourceful, but unprincipled and profligate, he became from circumstances the representative and champion of important political principles, including that of free representation in Parliament. His writings have nothing of the brilliance and point of his social exhibitions, but his paper, The North Briton, and especially the famous “No. 45,” in which he charged George III. with uttering a falsehood in his speech from the throne, caused so much excitement, and led to such important results that they give him a place in literature. He also wrote a highly offensive Essay on Woman. Wilkes was expelled the House of Commons and outlawed, but such was the strength of the cause which he championed that, notwithstanding the worthlessness of his character, his right to sit in the House was ultimately admitted in 1774, and he continued to sit until 1790. He was also Lord Mayor of London.

Wilkie, William (1721-1772).—Poet, born in Linlithgowshire, son of a farmer, and educated at Edinburgh, he entered the Church, and became minister of Ratho, Midlothian, in 1756, and Professor of Natural Philosophy at St. Andrews in 1759. In 1757 he published the Epigoniad, dealing with the Epigoni, sons of the seven heroes who fought against Thebes. He also wrote Moral Fables in Verse.

Wilkins, John (1614-1672).—Mathematician and divine, son of a goldsmith in Oxford, but born at Daventry and educated at Oxford, entered the Church, held many preferments, and became Bishop of Chester. He married a sister of Oliver Cromwell, and being of an easy temper and somewhat accommodating principles, he passed through troublous times and many changes with a minimum of hardship. He was one of the band of learned men whom Charles II. incorporated as the Royal Society. Among his writings are The Discovery of a World in the Moon, Mathematical Magic, and An Essay towards…a Philosophical Language.

Wilkinson, Sir John Gardner (1797-1875).—Egyptologist, son of a Westmoreland clergyman, studied at Oxford In 1821 he went to Egypt, and remained there and in Nubia exploring, surveying, and studying the hieroglyphical inscriptions, on which he made himself one of the great authorities. He published two important works, of great literary as well as scholarly merit, Materia Hieroglyphica (1828) and Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (6 vols., 1837-41). He wrote various books of travel, and was knighted in 1839.

William of Malmesbury (flourished 12th cent.).—Historian, was an inmate of the great monastery at Malmesbury. His name is said to have been Somerset, and he was Norman by one parent and English by the other. The date of his birth is unknown, that of his death has sometimes been fixed as 1142 on the ground that his latest work stops abruptly in that year. His history, written in Latin, falls into two parts, Gesta Regum Anglorum (Acts of the Kings of the English), in five books, bringing the narrative down from the arrival of the Saxons to 1120, and Historia Novella (Modern History), carrying it on to