WIGAN-WIGTON, 



him in this innovation, which, strange to say, has 

 even yet not extended to the English judges, who, 

 as well as the counsellors, still appear in wigs ; 

 and what wigs ! Whoever has seen them will not 

 be likely to forget them. It was considered a bold 

 step in lord Brougham when he dared to appear 

 with a smaller wig than his predecessors in the 

 office of chancellor. A late English traveller (cap- 

 tain Basil Hall), among other melancholy instances 

 of the universal ascendancy of the democratic prin- 

 ciple in the United States, deplores the want of 

 wigs on the heads of the judges. How must he 

 have felt when the bishop of Carlisle appeared, in 



1830, in the house of lords without a wig, and the 

 bishop of Oxford followed his example. 



WIGAN ; a borough and market-town of Eng- 

 land, in the county of Lancaster, situated near the 

 small river Douglas, thirty miles south of Lancas- 

 ter. It is a paved town, and has long been so, 

 having obtained a patent for the purpose of having 

 it done, being dated in the 7th of Edward III. ; 

 it is described by Leland in his Itinerary, as " a 

 paved town as big as Warrington, but better 

 builded." Many of the houses are old and ill-built, 

 but two new streets have been recently formed, in 

 which the houses are better. It is supplied with 

 gas and water by joint stock companies, the act of 

 parliament for the gas company having been ob- 

 tained in 1823, and that for the water company in 

 1761. An act of parliament was obtained in 1720, 

 under the authority of which the Douglas was made 

 navigable to its junction with the Ribble. Ample 

 canal communication is supplied by means of the 

 Liverpool and Leeds canal, along which goods are 

 sent, not only to these two places, but also, by 

 means of their branches, to most parts of -England. 

 The principal manufactures are those of calico, 

 fustians, and other cotton goods, linens, checks, &c., 

 besides the spinning of cotton yarn to a great ex- 

 tent. There are also manufactories of edge-tools, 

 brazen articles, spades, and other agricultural im- 

 plements. In these many steam engines are em- 

 ployed. Coal is found to a considerable extent in 

 the vicinity, and is sent along the canal to Man- 

 chester and other places. It returns two members 

 to parliament. Population in 1821, 17,716; in 



1831, 20,774 ; in 1841, 25,517. 



WIGHT, ISLE OF; an island of England, on the 

 coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by a 

 channel vary ing in breadth from two to seven miles. 

 From the eastern to the western angle it measures 

 nearly twenty-four miles, and from the north- 

 ern to the southern about twelve. Its form is that 

 of an irregular ellipsis, and it has been compared to 

 the shape of a turbot. It contracts at its two ex- 

 tremities, and is very narrow towards the west. 

 The entire circumference is generally set down at 

 about sixty miles, and the island contains from 

 120,000 to 130,000 acres of land, of which a great 

 portion is very productive. The high downs are 

 excellent sheep-walks, and the farms are generally 

 so contrived as to unite pasture with arable land. 

 An old boast of the peasants is, that this beautiful 

 island yields seven times as much as its inhabitants 

 consume. At a very early time it exported a con- 

 siderable quantity of wool. Through the middle 

 of the island extends a range of high hills, affording 

 commanding views over every part of the isle, with 

 the ocean on the south side, and on the north the 

 beautiful coast of Hampshire. The general cha- 

 racteristics of the scenery by land are gracefulness 

 and fertility, the central range of downs, though at. 



some points bold, not attaining to sublimity. It 

 offers that blending pasture and pastoral life, with 

 arable land, farming, and gardening, which is al- 

 ways so agreeable to the eye and imagination. In 

 former times the isle was uncommonly rich in 

 forest scenery, and although some of the woods 

 have wholly disappeared to supply timber to the 

 dock-yards of Portsmouth, and others have been 

 much thinned, the country is still well sprinkled 

 with trees. The almost invariable recurrence of 

 fine woodland scenery, in connexion with glimpses 

 of the sea, is a peculiar feature of the Isle of 

 Wight. Water is not wanting. Besides the rivers 

 Yar and Medina, which flow right across the island 

 from south to north, and admit vessels with their 

 snow-white sails far inland, among trees and hills, 

 there are numerous streams and springs of less note 

 scattered over the country. The land around the 

 coast is in some parts very high, and frequented 

 by immense numbers of marine birds, as puffins, 

 razor-bills, will-cocks, gulls, cormorants, Cornish- 

 choughs, daws, starlings and wild pigeons, some 

 of which come, at stated times, to lay their eggs 

 and breed, while others remain there all the year. 

 The higher parts of the isle are composed of calca- 

 reous matter, of a chalky nature, incumbent on 

 schistus. The limestone is burned for manure. 

 Native alum is found in large quantities in Alum 

 bay : pipe-clay is likewise very plentiful in different 

 parts of the isle ; and chalybeate springs have been 

 found in different parts of the island. The trade 

 of the Isle of Wight is flourishing ; the harbour of 

 Cowes is particularly convenient for shipping and 

 unshipping merchandise. (See Coices). The na- 

 tural division of the island is very clearly marked ; 

 a centrical chain of hills and downs cuts it into 

 two nearly equal parts, the one being north and 

 the other south. The southern part, which is far- 

 ther from the Hampshire coast, and much the more 

 picturesque, bold, and secluded of the two, is com- 

 monly called the " back of the island." Another 

 natural division into east and west is formed by 

 the river Medina, which, rising at the foot of Sfi 

 Catherine's down, traverses the island, and falls 

 into the Solent Strait at Cowes. The country to 

 the east of the river, called East Medina, and that 

 on the other side, called West Medina, are nearly 

 equal in extent of territory. The whole of the 

 island is politically subdivided into thirty parishes, 

 fourteen of which are to the east of the river and 

 sixteen to the west. The entire population of the 

 Isle of Wight, as shown by the census of 1841, 

 was 42,550 persons. Previously to the passing of 

 the Reform Bill the isle returned six members to 

 parliament ; that is to say, two for the borough of 

 Newport, two for Yarmouth, and two for New- 

 town ; but since that great constitutional change, 

 the Isle of Wight, being detached from Hampshire 

 and becoming a county of itself, returns one mem- 

 ber as such, and only two borough members for 

 Newport, Yarmouth and Newtown being both dis- 

 franchised. Newport, which is now the capital, 

 though Carisbrook enjoyed that honour in for- 

 mer times, contains a population of 6,330 per- 

 sons, and is a place of considerable trade and 

 activity. 



WIGTON ; a small royal burgh of Scotland, in 

 Wigtonshire, pleasantly situated near the north 

 side of the Bladenoch water, at its junction with 

 the Cree or bay of Wigton, at the distance of 105 

 miles from Edinburgh, and fifty-eight from Dumfries. 

 Population of the burgh and parish in 1841, 2,562 



