461 



WADSTROEM, CABL BE11NS. 



WAGENSEIL, JOHN CHRISTOPHER. 



463 



ability, was boru at Waterford, in Ireland, October 16th, 1588. Having 

 been sent abroad in his fifteenth year to complete his education for 

 the ecclesiastical profession, he first spent six months at an Irish 

 seminary belonging to the Jesuits at Lisbon; and then, having joined 

 the order of the Franciscans in 1605, he continued his studies in their 

 convents at Liria, at Lisbon, and at Coimbra. On taking priest's orders 

 he went to Salamauca, and, after residing for some time in that univer- 

 sity, was made superintendent of the students and lecturer in divinity. 

 In these offices he acquitted himself so much to the satisfaction of the 

 Leads of his order, that, in 1618, when Anthony-a-Trejo, the vicar- 

 general of the Franciscans, was promoted to the bishopric of Carta- 

 gena, and was sent as legate from Philip III. of Spain to Pope Paul V. 

 for the settlement of the dispute which divided the Romish Church 

 about the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, he took Wadding 

 with him to Rome as chaplain to the embassy, an appointment of 

 distinction and influence, which was coveted by the most eminent 

 members of the order. Wadding did not spend his time in idleness 

 while holding this office : the result of his researches in the libraries 

 not only of Rome, but of Assisi, Perugia, Naples, and many other 

 cities, was the publication at Louvain, in 1624, of a history of the 

 embassy, in a folio volume, entitled ' Legatio Philippi III. et IV., 

 Hispaniae Reguro, ad Sanctissimos DD. Paulum V. et Gregorium XV. 

 et Urbanum VIII., pro definienda Controversia Conceptionis B. Marine 

 Virginia; per illustrissimum Anthonium-a-Trejo.' He had also, before 

 this great work appeared, written three pamphlets on the point in 

 controversy ; and although, after the bishop of Cartagena returned to 

 Spain, the whole weight of the negociation, made over nominally to 

 the Spanish ambassador, the duke of Albuquerque, rested upon his 

 shoulders, he found leisure to carry through the press, and to write a 

 learned introduction to, the great Hebrew Concordance of Marius de 

 Calasio, which accordingly appeared at Rome, iu 4 vols. folio, in 1621. 

 De Calasio had died at Rome after completing his manuscript, and 

 the funds for printing the work were obtained on the application of 

 Wadding from Paul V. and Benignus-a-Geuua, the general of the 

 Franciscans. A second and superior edition of this Concordance was 

 published at London, in 4 vols. folio, in 1747 and following years, 

 under the care of the Rev. William Romaine. Wadding also prepared 

 an edition of certain writings of St. Francis from manuscripts in the 

 libraries at Rome, which was brought out at Antwerp in 1623, under 

 the title of ' Sancti Francisci Libri Tres.' He spent the rest of his life 

 at Rome, where, in 1625, he founded the college of St. Isidore, for the 

 education of Irish students of the Franciscan order, and where he was 

 also instrumental in precuriug the establishment and endowment of 

 various other institutions for the advancement of theological learning. 

 From 1630 to 1634 he held the appointment of procurator for the 

 Franciscans at Rome ; and in 1645 he was appointed vice-commissary 

 of his order, but resigned that dignity in 1648. Of several other 

 works which he edited, the most important is a complete collection of 

 the writings of Duns Scotus, which appeared at Lyon in 12 vols. folio, 

 in 1639, now of great rarity. Of his original works the greatest is his 

 ' Annales Minorum, seu Historia Trium Ordinum a S. Francisco insti- 

 tutorum,' which was printed in 8 vols. folio, the first seven at Lyon, in 

 1647 and following years, the eighth at Rome in 1654. There is a 

 second and improved edition of this work, brought out under the care 

 of Joseph Maria Fouseca, in 19 vols. folio, at Rome, 1731-1744 ; and a 

 Supplement to this was published in one volume, folio, at Rome, in 

 1806, a posthumous work of a Franciscan named Joannes Hyacinthus 

 Sbaralea. Wadding also published at Rome, in 1 vol. folio, in 1650, a 

 valuable bibliographical history of the Franciscans, under the title of 

 ' Scriptores Ordinis Minorum.' To this a supplement was published, 

 at Salamauca, in 1 vol. 4to, in 1728, by Friar Joannes a Divo Antonio. 

 Wadding, after declining the offer of a cardinal's hat, died at Rome, 

 November 18tb, 1657. 



WADSTROEM, CARL BERNS, was born at Stockholm, in the year 

 174G. He entered the Swedish service as an engineer. His acquire- 

 ments in mineralogy and mechanics procured for him (1767-8) the 

 direction of the works at Trolhaetta on the Wener canal. In 1769 

 he was appointed superintendent of the copper-mines at Atvedaberg. 

 He was subsequently promoted to be chief director of the Royai 

 Assay and Refining Office, and enjoyed the confidence of the king. 



While thus steadily advancing in his professional career, Wadstroem 

 found leisure at intervals to visit many parts of Europe. He had con- 

 tracted a prejudice against commerce and commercial men; his 

 enthusiastic and imaginative turn of mind had adopted many of the 

 views of Raynal and Rousseau ; it is also alleged with what degree 

 of truth is uncertain that the tenets of Swedenborg had made some 

 impression upon Wadstroem. Be this as it may, he conceived, about 

 the beginning of 1787, the idea of a journey into the interior of 

 Africa. The botanist Sparrman and the mineralogist Arrhenius were 

 persuaded to accompany him ; and Gustavus III. advanced funds for 

 the expedition. M. de Stiiel, Swedish minister at Paris, entered 

 zealously into the project, and mainly through his instrumentality, a 

 free passage in a French ship from Havre to Senegal was obtained 

 for the three associates. They sailed in August 1787. After their 

 arrival at Senegal they made several excursions in the vicinity of 

 St. Louis, but finding the obstacles in the way of their advance into 

 the interior insurmountable, they repaired to the English settlement 

 at Sierra Leone, in hopes of finding there the means of their carrying 



their intentions into effect. Here again they were disappointed, and 

 they left the colony for England towards the close of 1 788. 



The question of the abolition of the slave-trade was anxiously dis- 

 cussed at the moment of their arrival. Wadstroem. had visited London 

 two years earlier, and contracted some acquaintances. As soon as it 

 was known that he and his companion Sparrmaun were just returned 

 from the coast of Africa, they were invited to give evidence, in the 

 first place, before the privy council, and afterwards before a com- 

 mittee of the House of Commons. Wadstroem now But himself for the 

 first time to study the slave question with earnestness and attention. 

 As might have been anticipated from his turn of mind, the inquiry 

 terminated in his becoming a zealous advocate of the views of Clark- 

 son, Granville Sharpe, and Wilberforce. In the course of the year 

 1789 he published a pamphlet intended to promote the views of the 

 slave-trade abolitionists, ' Observations on the Slave Trade, and a 

 Description of some part of the Coast of Guinea during a Voyage made 

 in 1787 and 1788, in company with Dr. A, Sparrman and Captain Arrhe- 

 nius.' From an advertisement at the end, we learn that the author 

 had already given to the world ' Two Views of the Coast of Guinea, 

 with separate Descriptions, embellished with four small prints ;' and 

 from an incidental remark in the body of the pamphlet we learn 

 that he contemplated publishing the whole of his voyage. This latter 

 undertaking was never realised. 



In his ' Observations on the Slave Trade,' the idea of establishing 

 colonies on the west coast of Africa as a means of civilising the natives 

 and ultimately destroying the slave-trade, appears to have been thrown 

 out for the first time. The hint was acted upon, and to it we are 

 indebted for the British settlement at Sierra Leone (on its present 

 footing), and for that on the island of Bulama. To the discussions 

 which arose in the course of realising the project we are in all 

 probability indebted for ' An Essay on Colonisation, particularly 

 applied to the Western Coast of Africa, with some free Thoughts on 

 Colonisation and Commerce; also brief Descriptions of the Colonies 

 already formed or contemplated in Africa, including thot-e of Sierra 

 Leone and Bulama.' The first part of this work appeared in 1794, 

 the second part early in 1795. The book is not without signs of 

 talent ; it bears ample traces of enthusiastic benevolence, but its 

 views are crude in the last degree. 



The devastation of Sierra Leone by a French squadron (1794) 

 appears to have supplied the inducement which carried Wadstroem to 

 Paris in 1795. He memorialised the Directory and the legislative 

 body in that year, urging an agreement between France and England 

 to recognise in future Sierra Leone, Bulama, and many similar settle- 

 ments that might be made in Africa as neutral territories. In 1796 

 Wadstroem. induced his old friend De Stiiel to strengthen his represen- 

 tations by a letter to Lacroix, the minister for foreign affairs. Their 

 united representations were fruitless. The accession of Talleyrand to 

 office, whose predilection for colonising was known, appears to have 

 stimulated Wadstroem to another effort. In 1798 he published a 

 brief sketch of the history of Sierra Leone and Bulama, appended to it 

 De Stacl's letter, and one from Afzelius, a Swedish naturalist, who had 

 been in Sierra Leone at the time the colony was attacked by the French; 

 and also an abstract of his own essay on colonisation, and dedicated the 

 whole to the minister. The only effect of this publication appears to 

 have been the exciting the Chief Consul's curiosity to see Wadstroem' a 

 essay. The interruption of all communication with England rendered 

 it impossible to procure his book from this country, and Wadstroem, 

 had the gratification (to him it was a gratification, for he admired 

 Bonaparte) of presenting to the French ruler the only copy in France. 

 Wadstroem did not long survive this incident; he died of a pulmonary 

 consumption in the spring of 1799. His only publications are the 

 works mentioned above. 



WAEL, or WAAL, CORNE'LIUS DE, a clever battle-painter, born 

 at Antwerp, in 1594. He was the son andj>upil of John de Wael, a good 

 figure-painter. Cornelius went with his brother Lucas, a landscape- 

 painter, to Genoa, with the intention of remaining only a short time 

 there, and then of visiting Rome to prosecute his studies. Some of his 

 pieces however being very much admired in Genoa, he was induced to 

 remain there, and he found employment for sixteen years. He 

 painted pictures of various descriptions, but he excelled chiefly in land 

 and sea fights, in which he always introduced a great many very 

 excellent figures of a small size. De Wael at last visited Rome, but 

 found the climate disagree with him, and he returned to Genoa after a 

 year. He was induced however to try a second visit ; and after return- 

 ing a second time to Genoa for a short period, he went a third time to 

 Rome, where, says Soprani, he died a few days after his arrival, in 

 1662. His best pieces, says Houbraken, were painted for Philip III. 

 of Spain, and for the Duke of Aarschot. Cornelius de Wael etched 

 many good plates after his own designs. 



LUCAS DE WAEL was born likewise at Antwerp, in 1591. After he 

 had received some instruction from his father, he studied with John 

 Breugel, and painted many pictures in his style. Lucas lived in Italy 

 with his brother, and painted in Genoa many excellent landscapes 

 both in fresco and in oiL Lucas returned to Antwerp about 1660; 

 when he died, Houbraken has not mentioned. Pilkington's 'Dictionary ' 

 (ed. 1829) gives 1676 as the date of his death. 



WAGENSEIL, JOHN CHRISTOPHER, a learned German, whoso 

 reputation however was much greater than his real merit. He was 



