WRANGELWRECK. 



133 



works, contrived to keep him depressed and narrow 

 in his circumstances. Wouvermans could not help 

 feeling the neglect with which he was treated ; and 

 it affected him so strongly, that, a few hours before 

 he died, he ordered a box filled with his studies to 

 be burned ; saying, " I have been so badly rewarded 

 for all my labours, that I would prevent my son 

 from being allured, by those designs, to embrace so 

 miserable and uncertain a profession as mine." 

 Some authors, however, ascribe this sacrifice to 

 other motives, and say it proceeded from his dislike 

 to his brother Peter, being unwilling that he should 

 reap the product of his labours ; and some again al- 

 lege that he intended to compel his son to seek the 

 knowledge of nature from his own industry, and 

 not indolently depend on copying those designs. 

 Wouvermans etched one plate, representing a horse 

 standing, and tied to a tree. It is beautifully done, 

 butuncommonly scarce. He died in 1668. After 

 the death of Wouvermans, the value of his pictures 

 increased to an incredible degree ; they were uni- 

 versally coveted through every part of Europe, par- 

 ticularly by the dauphin of France and the elector 

 of Bavaria, who bought all that could be procured, 

 at very large prices. 



WRANGEL, CHARLES GUSTAVUS, count of, 

 Swedish field-marshal, a distinguished military com- 

 mander of the seventeenth century, was descended 

 from an old and illustrious Swedish family. His 

 father, Herman Wrung el, a Swedish counsellor of 

 state, and field-marshal, was governor of Livonia at 

 the time of his death, in 1644. The son, Charles 

 Gustavus, entered the military service at an early 

 age, and was brought up in the school of the cele- 

 brated Gustavus Adolphus. Under that prince he 

 served in Germany ; and, on the death of general 

 Bauer, in 1641, Wrangel, who then had the rank 

 of major-general, was one of those who commanded 

 the Swedish forces, under very difficult circum- 

 stances, until the arrival of the new commander-in- 

 chief, Torstenaon. Wrangel continued to serve 

 under that general, and accompanied him on his 

 daring march to Holstein (1643), to carry the war 

 into Denmark. (See Thirty Years' War.) After 

 the death of admiral Fleming, the command of the 

 Swedish fleet was confined to Wrangel, who was 

 at first obliged to yield to the numerical superiority 

 of the Danish naval force ; but being reinforced by 

 a Dutch squadron, he defeated the enemy off the 

 island of Femern. He then commanded a detached 

 corps in Holstein and Sleswick, until the peace of 

 Bromsebro (1645). In 1646, Torstenson having 

 resigned the command, Wrangel was associated with 

 Konigsmark in that trust, and, having formed a 

 junction with the French forces under Turenne, 

 their combined operations forced the elector of 

 Bavaria to accede to an armistice, at TJlm, in March, 

 1647. The elector having afterwards disavowed 

 this act, the allied forces defeated the combined 

 Austrian and Bavarian armies at Zusmarshuusen, 

 near Augsburg, May 17, 1648; and Wrangel occu- 

 pied Bavaria until the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, 

 put an end to hostilities. After the accession of 

 Charles Gustavus to the throne of Sweden, Wran- 

 gel accompanied his sovereign in the expedition 

 against Poland, and was present at the celebrated 

 three days' battle of Warsaw (July 1820, 1656). 

 In the course of this war, Denmark having entered 

 upon hostilities against Sweden (1657), Wrangel 

 laid siege to the fortress of Kronburg, which was 

 obliged to surrender after twenty-one days (Sep- 

 tember 6, 1658). He then took command of the 



Swedish fleet destined to attack Copenhagen ; but 

 the expedition proved unsuccessful, on account of 

 the arrival of a Dutch fleet to the assistance of the 

 Danes. The death of the king of Sweden put an 

 end to the war in 1660. In 1674, Louis XIV. 

 having declared war against the German empire, 

 Sweden engaged in the hostile operations on the 

 side of France, and Wrangel commanded an army 

 of 16,000 men, which invaded Brandenburg; but 

 the ill success of this expedition is probably to be 

 imputed to the sickness of the commander. The 

 great elector, Frederic William, at the head of 6000 

 cavalry, attacked the Swedish forces by surpiise, 

 and gained a complete victory at Fehrbellin, June 

 18, 1675. The Swedes were obliged to evacuate 

 Brandenburg, and even lost a part of Pomenmia. 

 Wrangel, who soon after retired from service on ac- 

 count of his infirmities, died the following year. 

 In 1645, he had been rewarded for his services with 

 the title of count. 



WRANGLER, SENIOR, in the university of 

 Cambridge ; the student who passes the best ex- 

 amination in the senate-house for the first degree 

 (that of bachelor) in arts. (See Cambridge.) They 

 who follow next in the same division, are respec- 

 tively termed second, third, fourth, &c., icranglers. 

 In a similar manner, they who compose the second 

 rank of honours are designated as first, second, 

 third, &c., optimi (best) ; those of the third order, 

 first, second, third, &c., junior optimi (second best) ; 

 and the remainder are termed /' 5rxx<w (the mob). 



WRAXALL, SIR NATHANIEL WILLIAM, born 

 in 1751, at Bristol, where his father and grandfather 

 were merchants, was educated in his native city. 

 and, in 1769, was sent to Bombay, in the service 

 of the East India company. He was there employ- 

 ed, in 1771, as judge advocate and paymaster of the 

 forces of that presidency. Next year he returned 

 to England, and then travelled on the continent, 

 visiting almost every country from Lapland to Lis- 

 bon. On his return, he sent to the press a Voyage 

 round the Baltic (1775). In 1777, he published 

 the History of the Kings of France, of the House 

 of Valois (2 vols., 8vo.), and History of the Reign 

 and Age of Henry III. and IV., Kings of France 

 (3 vols. quarto). In 1780, he was elected member 

 of parliament for the borough of Hindon, in 1784, 

 for Lugershall, and, in 1760, for Wallingford. His 

 Memoirs of the Courts of Berlin, Dresden, War- 

 saw, and Vienna, were given to the world in 1799. 

 While in parliament, he sometimes opposed Mr 

 Pitt, and at other times supported him. In 1813, 

 he was raised to the dignity of a baronet, and, in 

 1815, published his last work, under the title of 

 Historical Memoirs of His Own Time (2 vols., 

 8vo.). A story was introduced into this work re- 

 specting count Woronzow, the Russian ambassador, 

 the truth of which the count denied ; and, deeming 

 the publication to be libellous, he had recourse to a 

 criminal prosecution. It was tried in the court of 

 king's bench, and Sir Nathaniel was found guilty, 

 and sentenced to a fine and six months' imprison- 

 ment. He died in 1831. 



WREATH, in heraldry; a roll of fine linen or 

 silk (like that of a Turkish turban), consisting of 

 the colours borne in the escutcheon, placed in an 

 achievement between the helmet and the crest, and 

 immediately supporting the crest. 



WRECK, in navigation, is usually understood to 

 mean any ship or goods driven ashore, or found 

 floating at sea in a deserted or unmanageable condi- 

 tion ; but, in the legal sense of the word in Eng- 



