the emperor, and it is certain that his fall was brought about by the intrigues and lies of his personal enemies. The story of Wallenstein furnished Schiller with the subject of his splendid trilogy, "Wallenstein's Camp," "The Piccolomini," and "The Death of Wallenstein," well known through Coleridge's magnificent translations.

Walpole, Sir Robert, Prime Minister of England, (1676-1745.) His natural indolence would probably have overpowered and kept down his natural abilities, had he not been a third son, and seen the necessity of labor for his bread. He was educated as one intended for the Church, and used to say of himself afterward, that had he taken orders he should have been archbishop of Canterbury instead of prime-minister. But at the age of 22 he found himself, by the death of his brothers, heir to the family estate, with a double advantage- the inheritance of an elder, and the application of a younger son. He entered parliament in 1701. In 1708 he was appointed secretary of war; in 1709, treasurer of the navy. On the dissolution of the Whig ministry, he was dismissed from all his offices, expelled the house, and committed to the Tower, on the charge of breach of trust and notorious corruption. This was looked upon as a mere party proceeding, by a majority of the people, and, on the accession of George I., the Whigs being again in the ascendant, Walpole was made paymaster of the forces, and subsequently prime-minister. In consequence of disputes with his colleagues, however, he was induced to resign in 1717. His reputation as a financier drew all eyes toward him on the occurrence of the disasters arising from the bursting of the South-Sea bubble, and Walpole was again made premier. He then held office for more than twenty years, in spite of incessant attacks from political enemies of the most splendid talents. War, Seven Years. See Appendix, page 209.

War, Thirty Years. See Appendix, page 200.

Warwick, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, (1428-1471.) He was the eldest son of Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, and having, by his marriage with Anne, daughter of the earl of Warwick, become possessor of the immense estates of the Warwick family, was created earl of Warwick. His personal character and great abilities, his enormous wealth and lavish expenditure, and his extended and important family connections made him

at once the mightiest English noble of his time and the favorite of the people. The story of his life would be also that of the Wars of the Roses, in which he is the most prominent figure. A family alliance with Richard, duke of York, father of Edward IV., led him to take the side of the house of York, and his dashing courage at the battle of St. Albans, in 1455, when he led the van, chiefly decided the victory of the duke of York. He was then appointed to the important post of governor or captain of Calais, which, with a short interval, he held till his death. The war really broke out in 1459, when the Lancastrians were beaten at Bloreheath. But a few months later, victory returned to the side of Lancaster, and York had to seek a refuge in Ireland. The cause of York seemed now hopelessly lost. But, in 1460, Warwick landed with an army in Kent; was joined by large numbers, marched on London, and, on July 10th, defeated the Lancastrians at Northampton, and took Henry VI. prisoner. Queen Margaret escaped, and raised an army, with which she defeated the duke of York at Wakefield, in December, and the earl of Warwick at St. Albans, in February, 1461. But these victories were fruitless, for Warwick, joined by Edward, now duke of York, compelled the royal army to retire to the north, and occupied London, where Edward was at once proclaimed king. Warwick defeated the Lancastrians at Lowton, and was rewarded for that and other important services by various appointments and large grants of forfeited estates. But Warwick and his family did not long retain the favor of the king. Edward married, in 1464, Elizabeth Woodville, and jealousies naturally grew up between the Nevilles and her relations. Other causes probably contributed to the alienation, which was shown in 1467 by the king's depriving George Neville, archbishop of York, of the great seal, and in 1470 by the alliance of Warwick with Queen Margaret, and the marriage of her son, Prince Edward, to Anne Neville, younger daughter of the great earl. Warwick then invaded England with a fresh force, proclaimed and restored Henry VI., and, with the duke of Clarence, Edward's brother, entered London in triumph. The Nevilles were reinstated in their dignities and offices, and Warwick was appointed in addition lord high admiral. But once more the tide turned; Edward, landing in Yorkshire, in March, 1471, was joined by Clarence and the archbishop of York, and won the decisive victory of Barnet, April 14th, at which the king-maker and his brother, Lord Montague, were killed.

Wasa, House of, in Sweden. Gustavus Wasa was the son of Eric Wasa,

duke of Grysholm, a descendant of the old royal family of Sweden. Having formed the project of delivering his country from the yoke of Denmark, he was seized and imprisoned by Christian I. But he escaped, and reached Dalecarlia; gradually roused the peasants against the foreign despot; took Upsala and other towns in 1521, and received the title of regent from the states. In 1523 he was proclaimed king, took Stockholm, and expelled Christian. He did not at first, however, accept the title of king, and was not crowned till 1528. In a national council, the following year, he procured the abolition of the Catholic religion in Sweden, and established Protestantism. In 1544 the kingdom was declared hereditary in his family. He was an able ruler, and exercised almost absolute authority; rendering very great services to his country, in its legislation, its manners, its education, and its commerce. At his death, in 1560, he left his country at peace, the treasury full, with a fine fleet, and the frontier towns fortified. His direct descendants ruled in Sweden until 1818, although it had become extinct in the male line, in 1632, by the death of Gustavus Adolphus. (See Genealogy, XIV.)

Washington, George, (1732-1799,) first President of the United States of America. He served his first campaign against the French, in 1754. During the contests which arose between the colonies and the parent state, Washington firmly opposed the right of taxation claimed by the latter. He was a member of the first congress in 1774, and in the following year was named commander-in-chief of the continental army. His first task was the reorganization of the army, the difficulty of which was seriously increased by the want of discipline, the unfriendliness of the officers, and the interference of the civil powers. The first important operation undertaken was the fortifying of Dorchester Heights, near Boston, in 1776, which led to the evacuation of the city by the British, who, however, soon gained possession of New York. In 1777 the battles of Brandywine and Germantown were fought, and the Americans were defeated in both. In 1778 an alliance was formed with the French, and Philadelphia was evacuated by the British. In 1781 a mutiny broke out in the American army, which was promptly quelled. In the autumn of that year a joint attack was made on Yorktown, then held by the

British under Lord Cornwallis, by the American and French armies. It was completely successful; Cornwallis being compelled to capitulate. The struggle was virtually at an end. In 1783 the British evacuated New York, peace was signed, and the independence of the States acknowledged. Washington resigned his commission, and received the warmest acknowledgment from congress of the great services he had rendered to his country. After several years of retirement-full, however, of activity, not for private ends alone-Washington was elected, in 1789, first President of the United States. To this high office he was re-elected in 1793, and was succeeded by John Adams in 1797. He took leave of the nation in a proclamation worthy of him, and died in December, 1799. He was tall and of noble and graceful bearing; a man of singular good sense (which it has been said was his genius) and of consummate prudence; above all, true, inflexibly just, and absolutely brave. He was a man of action, not of words, and his success was as perfect as his task was singular and difficult. No example is to be found of a purer, more unselfish devotion to the service of one's country than that furnished by the career of Washington. Webster, Daniel, (1782-1852,) one of the greatest statesmen and orators of the United States. After finishing his legal studies, he was admitted to practice in 1805; and in 1806 he settled at Boston. His professional fame increased rapidly; and soon he held the first rank both in the Massachusetts courts and in the supreme court of the United States. Many of his forensic arguments have been published, and have attracted much praise for the subtlety and closeness of reasoning and the great extent of legal learning which they display. But it is as a statesman that Daniel Webster won his chief celebrity. He took his seat in Congress in 1813, and from that time till his death he was prominently before the world as one of the mightiest leaders of the Whigs. When he was first elected to congress, war was raging between America and England, and Webster at once attracted attention by his fervent eloquence in urging his countrymen to attack England by sea, and also by the historical knowledge and full acquaintance with international law which he displayed in the debates respecting the communication between America and France as to the Berlin and Milan decrees. Probably his personal advantages did much to insure his success as an orator. His figure was commanding; his countenance was remark

able even in repose, but when animated by the excitement of debate it "spake no less audibly than his words." His gestures were vehement, without being undignified; and his voice was unrivalled in power, in clearness, and in modulated variety of tone. On various occasions he was an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency. In 1841 he became secretary of state under President Harrison; and during this administration he settled with Lord Ashburton the great question of the "Boundary Line," which had more than once threatened to embroil England and the United States. In 1850, on the accession of President Fillmore, he again became secretary of state, in which office he remained till his death. In 1852 he again became a candidate for the presidency; and, to gain the favor of the Southern States, he abandoned the opinions he had long maintained on the question of slavery, though in this case his sacrifice of principle was in vain; and it is conjectured that disappointment hastened his end. Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, (1769-1852,) the famous British commander and statesman, the conqueror of Napoleon. He entered the army before he was 18, and gained his first laurels in India. His military genius was first fully established by the great battle of Assaye, (1803,) which broke forever the Mahratta power in India. The chief theatre of his glory, however, was Spain, whither he was sent in 1809 to assist the Spaniards against the French. On the 28th of July, 1809, he gained the great battle of Talavera, the first of a series of brilliant victories crowned by the decisive battle of Vittoria, which completed the expulsion of the French from the Peninsula. On the return of Napoleon from Elba, Wellington was appointed commander-in-chief of the allied forces. Fortune was once more with him, and he gained his crowning victory at Waterloo, (June 18th, 1815,) which changed the destinies of Europe, and hurled Napoleon from his throne to a prison and an early grave. It was not till some time after this that Wellington took any prominent part in the internal politics of Great Britain. In 1828 he was made prime-minister, in which position he lost his popularity by his violent opposition to the Reform Bill. He had to resign in 1830. He was not only hooted at in the streets, but even personally attacked. The popular demand having been complied with, the general excitement abated, and in 1834 he was again placed for a short time at the head of the administration. In 1841 he

became a member of Peel's cabinet, and supported that able statesman through all his plans of commercial reform. Meanwhile, years came on apace. Still "the Duke" appeared regularly in his place in the House of Lords, and took part in every discussion of importance. In his 88th year, hardly three months before his death, he delivered his last speech in parliament. It has been truly said that he knew no dotage.

Wesley, John, (1703-1791,) founder of Wesleyan Methodism. In 1730, while at Oxford University, he and his brother, with a few other students, formed themselves into a society for the purpose of mutual edification in religious exercises. So singular an association excited considerable notice, and among other nicknames bestowed upon the members, that of Methodists was applied to them. Wesley, with some others, chiefly Moravians, went to Georgia, in America, in 1735, with a view of converting the Indians. After a stay there of two years, he was compelled to leave the country in consequence of a love affair. He therefore returned to England. In the following year he commenced itinerant preaching, and gathered many followers. Wesley was indefatigable in his labors. His society, though consisting of many thousands, was well organized, and he preserved his influence over it to the last. In Wesley's countenance mildness and gravity were blended, and in old age he appeared extremely venerable; in manners he was social, polite, and conversible; in the pulpit he was fluent, clear, and argumentative.

Westphalia, Peace of, (1648 A. D.) The Thirty Years War was terminated by the peace of Westphalia, on the 24th of October, 1648, after negotiations which had lasted between four and five years. The objects of this peace may be divided into two heads: the settlement of the affairs of the empire, and the satisfaction of the two crowns of France and Sweden. With regard to Germany, a general amnesty was granted; and all princes and persons were restored to their rights, possessions, and dignities. But the most important article of the treaty was that by which the various princes and states of Germany were permitted to contract defensive alliances among themselves, or with foreigners, provided they were not against the emperor, or the public peace of the empire-conditions easily evaded. By this article, the federative system was consolidated, and everything was referred to the footing on which it stood in the year 1624, hence

called the decretory or normal year. The independence of the Swiss cantous was recognized, and the empire tacitly abandoned the Netherlands, nor made any provision for the free navigation of the Rhine. France and Sweden, besides raising up a counterpoise to the power of the emperor in Germany itself, had succeeded in aggrandizing themselves at the expense of the empire. Sweden, indeed, in the course of a few years was to lose her acquisitions; but France had at last permanently seated herself on the Rhine; the House of Austria lost the preponderance it had enjoyed since the time of Charles V., which was now to be transferred to her rival, and during the ensuing period France became the leading European power-a post which she mainly owed to the genius and policy of Cardinal Richelieu. With the peace of Westphalia begins a new era in the policy and public law of Europe.

William I., the Conqueror, (1027-1087,) King of England, was the son of Robert, duke of Normandy, and succeeded to the duchy at the age of eight. On the death of Edward the Confessor, king of England, William made a formal claim to the crown, alleging a bequest in his favor by Edward, and a promise which he had extorted from Harold. His claim being denied, he at once prepared for an invasion of England; effected a landing at Pevensey, September 28th, 1066, while Harold was engaged in opposing the Norwegians in the north, and fortified a camp near Hastings. The decisive battle of Hastings was fought October 14th, 1066; Harold was defeated and slain, and the Norman conquest was commenced. William's rival, Edgar Atheling, was supported by some of the leading men for a short time, but they all made submission to William at Berkhampstead, and on the following Christmas-day he was crowned at Westminster. The first measures of the new king were conciliatory, but served merely as a show for a short time. The inevitable conflict was not long deferred. Early in 1067, William went to Normandy. Tidings of revolt recalled him, and he was occupied through most of his reign in the conquest of the country. Of the military events the most terribly memorable is his campaign in the north in 1069, when he mercilessly devastated the whole district beyond the Humber with fire and slaughter, so that from York to Durham not an inhabitated village remained, and the ground for more than sixty miles lay bare and uncultivated for more than half a century

afterward. The order established was that of death; famine and pestilence completing what the sword had begun. The settlement of the country was as cruel as the conquest. The English were dispossessed of their estates, and of all offices both in church and state; William assumed the feudal proprietorship of all the lands, and distributed them among his followers, carrying the feudal system out to its fullest development; garrisoned the chief towns, and built numerous fortresses; and converted many districts of the country into deer-parks and forests. The most extensive of these was the New Forest in Hampshire, formed in 1079. He ordered a complete survey of the land in 1085, the particulars of which were carefully recorded, and have come down to us in the "Domesday Book." The attempt was made to supersede the English by the NormanFrench language, which was for some time used in official documents. In his latter years, William was engaged in war with his own sons, and with the king of France; and in August, 1087, he burnt the town of Mantes. Injured by the stumbling of his horse among the burning ruins, he was carried to Rouen, and died in the abbey of St. Gervias, 9th of September. William the Silent, (1533-1584,) Prince of Orange, founder of the Dutch Republic. William possessed, in the county of Burgundy, the extensive estates of Chalons; and in Flanders, those by which the ancient house of Orange had been rewarded for its services to the dukes of Burgundy; at the same time he was royal stadtholder (for Philip II.) in the provinces of Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht. He appeared, in declaring himself on the side of the national rights, to hazard in every respect more than he could hope to gain; especially if we consider the irresolution, the dissensions, and the inconsiderable resources of the multitude, and the jealousy of their leaders. William was not one of those enthusiastic heroes who inflame a people for the establishment of independence; he possessed by no means an impassioned character, but, on the contrary, an unruffled tranquillity of mind, a cool understanding, and a native perception of right, which he maintained with great perseverance. As his only object was the public good, and as he sacrificed his own interests to those of Holland, he succeeded in uniting the different parties in pursuit of one object -independence. By his capacity and his virtues he acquired their confidence; and he was now equally inaccessible to the temptations and to the

menaces of the court. He was neither dismayed by the sword of Alva nor deceived by the arts of Requesens, nor perplexed by the boldness or by the artifices of Don Juan of Austria. When Philip II. committed the task of reducing this country to obedience to Alexander Farnese, (see Parma,) William found means to frustrate both his power and his military talents. The prince at length succeeded, by means of the compact concluded at Utrecht, (1579,) in uniting seven provinces of opposite constitution and circumstances, in one republic. The constitution of the United Netherlands was simply that of a league for mutual defence against all enemies whatsoever, and as this is necessarily a lasting cause of union, so the confederacy was declared to be permanent. Before the new republic was securely settled, the prince of Orange fell by assassination, (1584.) Though born to great possessions, he left behind him nothing but debts, as he had endeavored to secure no other fortunes for his sons than such as they might acquire for themselves by their virtue and abilities. (See Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic.")

William III., (1650-1702,) King of England, was the son of William II., Prince of Orange, by his wife Mary, daughter of Charles I. (See Genealogy, I.) In 1672, during the serious peril of the republic from the aggressions of Louis XIV., he was installed in the office of stadtholder. Though only 22 years of age, he showed himself the worthy descendant of William the Silent, founder of the republic; and in two campaigns drove the French out of the Dutch territory. In 1677, William had married Mary, daughter of James, duke of York, afterward James II., and this alliance gave him far greater importance as head of the league subsequently formed against France, and as leader of the Protestants of Europe. When the arbitrary measures of James II. became intolerable to his subjects, the hopes of the friends of freedom naturally turned to William, and he accepted the call sent him to come and save their rights and liberties. He landed at Torbay, 5th November, 1688; arrived in London in December; and by the convention, assembled in January, 1689, the crown was offered to William and Mary, and was accepted by them. Resistance was made in Scotland, but ended with the defeat of Dundee at Killiecrankie; while a more serious conflict raged in Ireland, in which James II. and William personally took part, and which was closed by the victory of the latter at

the Boyne. The principal aim of the king thenceforth was to humble France, and he spent much of his time abroad, engaged as leader of the army of the confederates. In 1697 he was recognized (by the Peace of Ryswick) as king of England. Three years before he had lost his queen, a great personal sorrow, but the throne was secured to him by the provisions of the Bill of Rights. He was, however, very unpopular with his subjects, and hostile intrigues, conspiracies, and projects of assassination troubled his reign. Whigs, Tories, and Jacobites alike distrusted him. He continued to take an active part in the affairs of Europe, and especially in the negotiation of the famous Partition Treaties for the disposal of the dominions of the Spanish king. He was provoked to prepare a new war against France by the recognition by Louis XIV. of the son of James II. as king, but this project was set aside by his death. The reign of William III. forms one of the great epochs of the Constitutional History of England the Revolution; the main feature of which is the final recognition by law of those great principles of regulated liberty for which the statesmen and heroes of the Commonwealth had contended. The character of William has been both extravagantly lauded and passionately depreciated. His taciturn cold manner, his preference for his foreign friends, and the way in which he stood aloof from both the political parties, naturally excited prejudice and ill-will against him. But it is not possible to doubt his great intellectual and moral qualities, clear-sightedness, courage, decisiveness, and indomitable energy and persistency of purpose. One dark stain on his character is ineffaceable: he distinctly sanctioned the atrocious massacre of Glencoe, devised by the master of Stair. William III. died at Kensington Palace, in consequence of a fall from his horse, 8th of March, 1702, and was buried at Westminster Abbey.

Wordsworth, William, (1770-1850,) the English poet, who was born and lived the greater part of his life among the lakes in Cumberland and Westmoreland. Southey's subsequent retirement to the same beautiful country, and Coleridge's visits to his brother poets, originated the name of the "Lake School of Poetry" by which the opponents of their principle distinguished the three poets, whose names are so intimately connected. This principle was that the real or natural language of any and every mind, when simply in a state of excitement or passion, is necessarily poetical. We cannot say that