874 



WALTHER WANDERING. 



fifty-three agents, and eighteen spies in foreign 

 courts. In 1581, he went on a second embassy to 

 France, to treat of a marriage between Elizabeth 

 und the duke of Anjou; and, in 1583, he was sent 

 to the court of James VI. of Scotland, whence he 

 is said to have brought back a higher opinion of 

 the abilities of the future sovereign of Britain than 

 the event justified. He acted a very important, 

 but by no means honourable part, in the detec- 

 tion of Babington's plot against the life of the 

 queen, in 1586, and in the subsequent proceedings 

 against Mary, queen of Scots. His death took 

 place in April, 1590, in the ninetieth year of his 

 age ; and his remains were interred privately, by 

 night, in St Paul's church, apprehensions being en- 

 tertained that his corpse might be arrested on ac- 

 count of his debts. An account of his negocia- 

 tions and his despatches from France appeared un- 

 der the title of the Complete Ambassador (1655, 

 folio ;) and a work called Arcana Aulica has been 

 ascribed to him, but its authenticity is question- 

 able. 



WALTHER OF THE VOGELWEIDE, one 

 of the most eminent old German lyric poets of the 

 class of Minnesingers, was descended from a noble, 

 but not wealthy family, whose castle, Vogelweide, 

 is supposed to have been situated in Upper Thur- 

 gau. Walther resided at the court of Frederic, 

 the eldest son of Leopold VI., duke of Austria 

 and Stiria. Frederic took the cross in 1195, de- 

 parted for Palestine in 1197, and died the ensuing 

 year on the crusade. Walther seems to have left 

 the court of Vienna immediately after the loss of 

 his royal patron. After the murder of Philip of 

 Suabia, in 1208, he set out on his wanderings. At 

 the court of Philip Augustus, king of France, he 

 seems to have met with a kind reception ; but he 

 remained longest at the splendid court of the land- 

 grave of Thuringia, who had always around him a 

 circle of poets, and instituted that celebrated poetic 

 contest, the war on the Wartburg J207,) in which 

 Walther took part. Walther shows himself, in 

 his political poems, a warm defender of the impe- 

 rial power and honour, against the encroachments of 

 the clergy and their head in Rome. Some time 

 after the arrival of Frederic II. in Germany, we find 

 Walther again at the court of Vienna, where he 

 was kindly treated by Leopold VII. After Leo- 

 pold's death, in 1230, Walther seems to have left 

 the court of Vienna, of the decline of which he 

 complains ; and of the further events of his life, we 

 only know that he was engaged in a crusade, pro- 

 bably the one undertaken by the emperor Frederic 

 II., to Palestine, in 1227. The year in which 

 Walther died is as uncertain as that of his birth ; 

 he must have lived, however, till after 1230. The 

 latter years of his life were devoted to a pious con- 

 templation of the world, of death, and eternity. 

 His poems, all of them lyric, may be found in the 

 manuscript collections of the Minnesingers. Lach- 

 mann has published them according to the original 

 text, (Berlin, 1827.) Akland has given an account 

 of the life and character of this poet under the title 

 Walther von der Vogelweide, &c. (Stuttgart, 1822.) 



WALTON, BEIAX ; a learned divine and critic, 

 born about 1600, and educated at Cambridge, where 

 he took the degree of master of arts, in 1623. Re- 

 moving to London, he obtained a rectory in 1626, 

 and, ten years after, was instituted to the rectory 

 of St Giles's in the fields. In 1639, he commenced 

 doctor of divinity. In the civil wars, he favoured 

 the royal cause, and was consequently obliged to 



take shelter at Oxford. There he formed the 

 scheme of a Polyglot Bible, to which he owes his 

 literary reputation. This work was completed and 

 published in six volumes, folio, in 1657, under the 

 following title. Biblia Sacra Polyglotta complec- 

 tentia (textus originales") Hebraicum, cum Pcnta- 

 teucho Samaritano, Chaldaicum, Gracum (version- 

 wnque antiquarum,) Samaritance, Greccee LXX. Jn- 

 terpp., Chaldaica, Syriactf, Arabics, jBthiopicte, 

 Persica, Vulg. Lot. quicquid comparari poterat : 

 cum Textuum et Versionum Orientalium Transla- 

 tionibus Latinis. Doctor Walton had several as- 

 sistants in his laborious undertaking, of whom the 

 principal was doctor Edmund Castell. On the re- 

 storation of Charles II., to whom he presented his 

 Bible, with a new dedication, (the original one to 

 Oliver Cromwell having been cancelled,) he was 

 made one of the royal chaplains; and, in 1660, he 

 was raised to the bishopric of Chester. His death 

 took place in London, 1661. 



WALTON, ISAAK, an ingenious and amusing 

 writer, was born at Stafford, in August, 1593. He 

 settled in London as a semster, or milliner and 

 linen-draper, and kept a shop in Fleet street. 

 About 1632, he married the sister of Bishop Ken, 

 and, in the beginning of the civil wars, he removed 

 from the metropolis. His death took place at 

 Winchester, in 1683. He was the editor of seve- 

 ral publications, and gained considerable celebrity 

 by a treatise entitled the Complete Angler, or the 

 Contemplative Man's Recreation, which has passed 

 through numerous editions ; and his Biographical 

 Memoirs of Bishop Sanderson, Hooker, Sir H. 

 Wotton, George Herbert, and doctor Donne, which 

 have attained an equal share of popularity. Though 

 possessed of much general information, Walton made 

 no pretensions to learning ; and the charm of his 

 writings depends on the air of verisimilitude and 

 unaffected benevolence which they exhibit. Some 

 short pieces of poetry are interspersed in his works, 

 which evince much taste and feeling. 



WALTZ, (German Walzer, literally roller') ; a 

 national German dance, common, however, among 

 other nations of the continent, as Spain, &c., and 

 of late introduced into England and the United 

 States. A waltz ought to be danced with much 

 grace and precision ; and the first note of each bar 



3 3 



(the music being always written in -- or ft time) 



should be distinct, and longer than the two others. 

 It is a mistake to suppose that the waltz music 

 is always gay. The waltz of the north of Ger- 

 many was grave and slow, whilst that of the south, 

 particularly Vienna, is gay, and may degenerate into 

 a bacchanalian swiftness, the quick, gay waltz is 

 the most common at present. Several waltz tunes 

 are now often united, to prevent monotony. One 

 of the most important rules for waltzing well, yet 

 often neglected by foreigners, is, that both the dan- 

 cers should stand parallel, and directly opposite 

 each other. 



WAMPUM, (from wampi or wompi, signifying in 

 the Massachussetts Indian language, white, the 

 colour of the shells most frequent in wampum belts) ; 

 shells, or strings of shells, used by the American 

 Indians, as money. These, when united, form a 

 broad belt, which is worn as an ornament or girdle. 

 It is sometimes called wampumpague, or wampeague, 

 or wampampeague, of which wampum seems to be a 

 contraction. 



WANDERING ; a technical term with German 

 mechanics, to denote their custom of travelling into 



