WAG 



WAG 



year 1 705. TIic moll dilliiiguilhcd of his writings arc, 

 " A DilR'rtalion on a fuppofed Fragment of Pctroniiis ;" 

 " Fafcituliis Opufculorunn. variorum Hiltoricorum et Phi- 

 lologiconim ;" " Tela ignea Satana;," 3 vols. 410. being 

 a colledtion, with a refutation, of fome of the principal 

 Jevvifh works againll Chriftianity ; " Differtatio de Mone- 

 lali veterum Romanorum ;" " Commentatio de Civitate 

 Norimburgenfi ;" and " Differtatio de Academiis." He 

 had a daughter, named Hehn-Stbllla, celebrated for her 

 knowledge of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages. 

 Moreri. 



Wagexseil, George Christopher, a harpfichord 

 matter and compofer at Vienna, a difciple of the learned 

 Fonchi, firft maeftro di capella to the emperor. Till 

 Emanuel Bach changed the ilyle of playing on keyed in- 

 ftruments throughout Germany, Wagenfeii's Compofitions 

 for the harpfichord were in favour throughout Europe, and 

 juilly admired for their fpirit and originality ; as he had 

 quitted the dry, laboured, and crowded ftyle of his prede- 

 ceflbrs, and given way to fancy, with no unfuccefbful at- 

 tempts at new effefts in his accompaniments. 



Wagenfeil was many years harpfichord mafter to the 

 archduchefs Maria Therefa, afterwards emprefs-queen, on 

 which account he enjoyed a penfion of 1500 florins a year. 

 Eut in 1772, when we faw and heard him at Vienna, he 

 had been confined to his room feveral year.i by a lamenefs, 

 which came on by degrees in a very uncommon manner. 

 The finews of his right thigh were contrafted, and the cir- 

 culation ftopt, fo that it was become incurably withered 

 and ufelefs. Befides this calamity, which conftantly con- 

 fined him to his couch, his left hand had been fo ill treated 

 by the gout, that he was hardly able to move two of his 

 fingers. However, at our urgent requeft, he had a harp- 

 fichord wheeled to him, and played feveral capricios, and 

 pieces of his own compofition, in a very fpirited and maf- 

 terly manner ; and though we could certainly believe that he 

 had been a much greater player, yet he had fufiicient fire 

 and fancy remaining to plcafe and entertain, though not to 

 furprife us very much- 

 He was at this time nominal mafter to the archduchefles, 

 for which he had a fmall penfion. Though utterly unable 

 to quit his room, he had fcholars who attended him there ; 

 and he continued to compofe for foreign countries, where his 

 fame was eftablifhed by his early compofitions. 



In a fecond vifit which we made this worthy and in- 

 genious man, he had with him a little girl, his fcholar, 

 about eleven or twelve years old, with whom he played 

 duets on two harpfichords, which had a very good efFeft. 

 The child's performance was very neat and fteady. There 

 was a young count with him at this time, another of his 

 fcholars, who had a very rapid finger, and executed fome 

 very difficult harpfichord leffons with great precifion. 



Wagenfeil, with all his corporeal complaints and infirmi- 

 ties, was allowed very extraordinary longevity ; as, ac- 

 cording to Gerber (Hift. and Biogr. Lexicon), he lived 

 till 1777, when he had arrived at his Qzd year. 



We never heard of more than three vocal compofitions by 

 this compofer, which were an oratorio, " Gioas Re di 

 Gruda," written by Metaftafio, and two cantatas for the 

 imperial court, by the fame author ; but for the harpfichord, 

 nine different works of his compofition were pubhfhed in 

 different capitals of Europe, fome with and fome without 

 accompaniments ; which, like their author, were allowed to 

 live longer than ufual. 



WAGER, Waging, in La-.v, vadari, fignifies the 

 giving of fecurity for the performance of any thing. 



Thus, to wage law, is to put in fecurity, that you will 



make law at the day affigned, i. e. take the benefit wliich 

 the law has allowed you. 



Our anceftors confidered, that there were many cafes in 

 which an innocent man, of good credit, might be overborne 

 by a multitude of falfe witneffes ; and, therefore, ellabli(hed 

 this fpecies of trial, by the oath of the defendant himfelf. 

 This method of trial is not only to be found in the codes of 

 almoft all the northern nations that broke in upon the Ro- 

 man empire, and eftabhfhed petty kingdoms upon its ruins, 

 but its original may be traced back as far as the Mofaical 

 law. Exod. xxii. 10. 



A manifeil refemblance may alfo be difcerned between 

 this fpecies of trial, and the canonical purgation of the Popifh 

 clergy, when accufed of any capital crime. Similar to this 

 is alfo the facramentum decifiouis of the civil law. But, 

 though a cuftom fomewhat like this prevailed formerly in 

 the city of London, yet in general the Englifh law does not 

 thus, like the civil, reduce the defendant, in cafe he is in 

 the wrong, to the dilemma of either confeffion or perjury. 



The manner of waging and making law is this. He that 

 has waged, or given fecurity, to make his law, brings with 

 him into court eleven of his neighbours ; a cuftom which is 

 particularly defcribed fo early as the league between Alfred 

 and Guthrun the Dane. The defendant then, ftanding at 

 the end of the bar, is admonifiied by the judges of the na- 

 ture and danger of a falfe oath ; and if he ftill perfifts, he is 

 to repeat this or the like oath : " Hear this, ye juftices, that 

 I do not owe unto Richard Jones the fum of ten pounds, nor 

 any penny thereof, in manner and form as the faid R. hath 

 declared againft me. So help me God." And thereupon 

 his eleven neighbours, or compurgators, fhall avow upon 

 their oaths, that they believe in their confciences that he 

 fays the truth ; fo that himfelf muft be fworn de Jidelitate, 

 and the eleven de credulhate. Some have maintained, that 

 fev^^erthan eleven compurgators will fuffice ; but fir Edward 

 Coke is pofitive, that there muft be this number ; and his 

 opinion is approved andfupported by judge Blackllone, who 

 obferves, that as wager of law is equivalent to a verdift in 

 the defendant's favour, it ought to be eftablifhed by the 

 fame or equal teftimony, namely, by the oath of twelve 

 men. 



In the old Swedifli or Gothic conftitulion, wager of law 

 was not only permitted, as it ftill is in criminal cafes, unlcfs 

 the faft be extremely clear againft the prifoner, but was 

 alfo abfolutely required in many civil cafes. But with us 

 in England, wager of law is never required ; and is then 

 only admitted, where an aftion is brought upon fuch matters 

 as may be fuppofed to be privately tranfafted between the 

 parties, and in which the defendant may be prefumed to 

 liave made fatisfaftioB without being able to prove it ; as in 

 aftions of debt upon fimple contraft, or for an amercement 

 in aftions of detinue and of account, where the debt may 

 have been paid, the goods reftored, or the account balanced, 

 without any evidence of either ; and not, when there is any 

 fpecialty, as a bond or deed to charge the defendant, but 

 when the debt groweth by word only. Nor doth it lie in 

 an aS^ion of debt, for arrears of an account, fettled by audi- 

 tors in a former aftion. By fuch wager of law, when ad- 

 mitted, the plaintiff is perpetually barred ; for the law, in 

 the fimplicity of ancient times, prefumed, that no one 

 would forfwear himfelf, for any worldly confideration. 

 Wager of law, however, lieth in a real aftion, where the 

 tenant alleges he was not legally fummoned to appear, as 

 well as in mere perfonal contraft?. A man outlawed, at- 

 tainted for f^lfe verdift, or for confpi/acy or perjury, or 

 otherwife become infamous, (hall not be permitted to wage 

 his law. Neither ftiall an infant under the age of twenty- 



