W A L 



tv;irwus Mother;" and about the fame time ho was concerned 

 in the tranfaftions that occurred between him and the unfor- 

 tunate Chattertoii. In 1791 the death of his nephew ele- 

 vated him to the rank and title of earl of Orford ; but this 

 circumftance requiring fome change in his fixed habits, 

 gave him rather uneafinefs than fatisfaftion. Towards tlie 

 clofe of his life he was much afflidted with a conftitntional 

 gout, by which he was much debilitated ; and yet he at- 

 tained to his 79th year, quietly expiring in March 1797. 

 His printed and MS. writings, of wliich an edition was pub- 

 lifhed in 1798 in 5 vols. 410., were bequeathed to Robert 

 Berry, efq. and his two daughters. A pollhumous work, 

 viz. " Letters from the Hon. Horace Walpole, Efq. to 

 George Montague, Efq. from the Year 1736 to 1770," royal 

 4to. has been piiblifhcd. 



Although Horace Walpole, as to the habits of his life, 

 was more inclined to perfonal enjoyment than to focial inter- 

 courfe, his difpofition was affeftionate, and he was occafion- 

 ally generous to his friends. Although he was not pro- 

 foundly learned, he encouraged literature and the arts by his 

 own writings, and by various domellic arrangements and 

 conveniences adapted to this purpofe. Nichols's Lit. Anecd. 

 Walpole's Works. Gen. Biog. 



Walpole, in Gecgraphy, a town of New Hampfhire, in 

 the county of Chefhire, on the Connefticut, contaming 894 

 inhabitants ; 76 miles N.W. of Bofton. — Alfo, a town of 

 the ftate of Maflachufctts, in the county of Norfolk, con- 

 taining 1098 inhabitants; zi miles S.W. of BoHon. 



WALPUSCH, a river of Poland, which runs into the 

 Narew, near Pultuflt. 



WALRABENSTEIN, a town of Germany, in the 

 principality of Naflau Weilburg ; 3 miles N. of Id- 

 rtein. 



WALKING, a town of the duchy of Wurzburg ; 

 4 miles N.W. of Mclrichftadt. 



WALRUS, in Zoology, the name by which fome au- 

 thors call the morfe, or fea-horfe, called alfo by others rof- 

 marus, a creature very different from the hippopotamus, or 

 river-horfe. See Mouse. 



WALSALL, in Geography, an ancient market-town in 

 the fouth divifion of the liundred of Offlow, in the county of 

 Stafford, England, is fituated on an eminence at the dillance 

 of 16 miles S.E. by S. from the county-town, and 126 

 miles S.W. from London. It is a place of remote antiquity, 

 and is regarded as the fecond town in the county. The 

 civil government is veiled in a mayor, recorder, twenty-four 

 aldermen, and a town-clerk : the mayor, late mayor, and 

 fenior aldermen, are in the commilfion of the peace, and 

 TCgularly hold qnartcr-feirions. According to the return of 

 the year 1811, the inhabitants of the toun amounted to 

 5541, occupying 1 1 50 hoiifes, which are diipofed in twelve 

 Ilrtets. The manufafture chiefly carried on hen: is that of 

 buckles, fpurs, ftirrups, and in general all forts of hard- 

 ware articles connetled with fadlery. A well-fupplled 

 market is held on Tnefdays ; and three fairs annually for 

 horfes, cattle, cheefe, and bacon. A remarkable cul'.oni, 

 mentioned by Dr. Plot, Hill prevails here : on the eve of 

 Epiphany, a gift of one penny is regularly dillributed to 

 every pcrfon refiding in the town, or ni the villages thcrilo 

 belonging ; not only to the fixed inliabitaiits, but to all 

 ilrangers who may happen to be there. This was an 

 ancient endowment of an inhabitant of the name of Moriey. 

 The church is a very ancient edifice, of a cruciform con- 

 Ilniition. At the fouth-wcll angle rifes a llrong, plain 

 tower, furmounted Ijy an 0(t\agonal fpire. The inttrior is 

 lofty and fpacious, and prefents a fingular appearance: each 

 iide of the chancel has feveii Halls, the feats of which are 

 ornamented with a great variety of grotefque figures carved 



6 



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in ballo-rehevo. Under this part of the church is an arcir 

 way of maffy workmanfhip, forming a common paffagc 

 through the eaflern divifion of the church-yard. Here are 

 alio fcveral places of worfhip appropriated to various clafTes 

 of diflenters : and a free grammar-fchool founded by queen 

 Elizabeth. 



This parifli includes the foreign of Walfall, a diftrift com- 

 prehending the hamlets of Great Bloxwich, Little Blox- 

 wich, Caldmoor, Little London, and the Windmill. In 

 the year 181 1, the population of this dillrift was flatcd to 

 be 5648 ; the nuniber of houfes 1099 : making the in- 

 habitants of the whole parifh 11,199 '< '^''^ houfes 2249. 



About a mile and a half to the north of Walfall is RuJhaU- 



Hall, the feat and park of the Rev. W. Leigh Bcfcot- 



Hall is one mile from the town, and occupies the fcite of 

 the ancient baronial manfion of the Hillarys and Mountfords : 

 it is furrounded by a moat, over which is a pifturefque 

 bridge : the iron-gates, formerly flanding clofe to the houfe, 

 are now placed at a confiderable dillance, greatly improving 

 the approach. — Beauties of England and Wales, vol. xiii. 

 Staffordfhire. 



WALSCHIED, a town of France, in the departmeat 

 of the Meufe ; 6 miles S.E. of Sarburg. 



^^ ALSDORF, a town of Germany, in the principality 

 of Naflau; 3 miles N.E. of Idftein. — Alfo, a town of 

 Bavaria ; 4 miles W. of Bamberg. 



WALSEE, a town of Auflria, on the Danube ; 14 

 miles E. of Ens. 



WALSH, William, in Biography, was bom at Abberly 

 in Worceflerfliire in 1663, and having finifhed his education 

 as gentleman-commoner of Wadham college in Oxford, he 

 travelled abroad for further improvement, and after his re- 

 turn attracted notice as a man of letters and of fafhion. He 

 alfo affumed a political charsfter, and reprefented his native 

 county in parhamcnt, and diftinguifhed himfelf by aAively 

 promoting the Revolution. He is fuppofed to have died in 

 1709. Dryden, with whom he cultivated friendfhip, repaid 

 his attentions with that praifc which he was difpofed hbe- 

 rally to bellow on thofe whom lie wifhed to dillinguifh, de- 

 nominating him " the befl critic of our nation," and he 

 furnifhed a preface to his " Dialogue concerning Women." 

 Pope alfo acknowledges early obligations to him in the fol- 

 lowing terms: 



" And knowing Walfh would tell me I could write." 

 In his " Effay on Criticifm," he denominates him the 

 " Mufe's judge and friend," and with the ardour of youth, 

 gives him tlie credit of having " taught his early voice to 

 fing." It has been obferved, however, that Mr. Walfh's 

 rank in the fcale of literature fcarcely entitled him to the 

 high panegyric either of Dryden or of Pope ; for neither 

 his mifcellaneous poems, nor his profe pieces, of which one 

 was his " EfTay on Pafloral Poetry," juflify the very dif- 

 tinguifhed honour which they conferred upon him. Biog. 

 Brit. .lohiifon's I^ives of the Poets. Gen. Biog. 



Wai,.sm, John, opened a mufic-fhop in Catherinc-llrcct 

 ill till- Strand, 1710 ; and was the firlt in our country who 

 flainpt nuilie on pewter. He was fuccceded by his ion, 

 who was Handel's publillier ; the publilhcr of Corelli, and 

 ot the folos and concertos of Geminiaui. Indeed he and 

 Hule ill the city, fcemed for a long time to moiiopolize the 

 fale of iniific throughout the kingdom ; till .lohnfon of 

 Cheapfide, who attended all the great fairs in the kingdom, 

 and Breniner from Edinburgh, opened a fhop in the Strand, 

 and becanu' extcnfive pubhfheis, and formidable rivals to 

 Walili iiid his fucceflor and relation, Randal. 



Till Dutch, during the whole lad century, engraved or 

 flampt mufic on copper, fuperior to the natives of all other 

 countries. The only engraver iii that metal in our own 



country 



