WAT 



attached to the manfion. — Beauties of England and Wales, 

 vol. xii. Oxfordfhire. By J. N. Brewer, 1813. 



WATO, a town of Sweden, on an ifland in the Baltic, 

 near the coaft of the' province of Upland ; 10 miles E.N.E. 

 of Nortelge. N. lat. 59° 54'. E. long. 18° 43'. 



WATOLMA, a town of Sweden, in the province of 

 Upland ; 10 miles N. of Upfal. 



WATRAP, a town of Hindooftan, in Madura; 33 

 miles S.W. of Madura. 



WATSCH, or Vatsche, a town of the dutchy of Car- 

 niola ; 16 miles S.E. of Stein. 



WATSNESS, a cape on the weft coaft of the idand of 

 Shetland. N. lat. 60° 19'. W. long. 2° 6'. 



WATSON, Robert, D.D., in Biography, a Scottifti 

 hiftorian, was born at St. Andrew's about the year 1730, 

 commenced his courfe of education for the minillry at the 

 fchool and univerfity of St. Andrew's, and with fingular 

 afllduity profecuted his ftudies at the univerfity of Glafgow, 

 and alfo in that of Edinburgh. He paid particular atten- 

 tion to grammar and eloquence, and with the advice of lord 

 Kaimes, delivered a courfe of leAures on thefe fubjefts, 

 which gained the approbation of Mr. Hume, and other men 

 of genius and learning. Having failed in his endeavours to 

 fupply a vacancy in one of the churches of St. Andrew's, 

 he was foon after made profeflbr of logic, and by a patent 

 from the crown, profeiTor of rhetoric and belles lettres. 

 In his leAures on logic and mctaphyfics, he deviated from the 

 old plan of fyllogifms, modes, and figures, and introduced 

 fubitantial improvement by furniftiing his pupils with an ana- 

 lyfis of the powers of the mind, and by leading them to in- 

 veftigate the various kinds of evidence, of knowledge or 

 truth. His hiftory of Philip H. advanced his reputation 

 during the period of his hfe ; and it was farther enhanced by 

 his hiftory of Philip HI., which was publifhed after his 

 death ; of which latter he only wrote the firft four books, 

 the other two being fupplied by Dr. William Thomfon, the 

 editor, at the defire of the guardians of his children. He 

 fucceeded Tulideph as principal of the univerfity by the 

 intereft of the earl of Kinnoul ; but his death, in 1780, 

 foon deprived him of this honour. By his wife, who was 

 daughter of Mr. Shaw, profeflbr of divinity in St. Mary's 

 college, St. Andrew's, he had five daughters, who furvived 

 him. Gen. Biog. 



Watson, Richard, an Englifti prelate, eminently dif- 

 tinguiftied by his talents, acquirements, and charafter, was 

 born at Haverfham, in Weftmoreland, in Auguit 1737. 

 He was the defcendant of an ancient family, deriving its re- 

 mote origin from Scotland, and occupying, for feveral ge- 

 nerations, a fmall eftate at Hardendile, near Shap, where 

 his father was born in the year 1672. In 1698 his father 

 was appointed head matter of Haverftiam-fchool, which he 

 condufted with great reputation for nearly forty years. 

 Among other pupils who enjoyed the benefit of his inftruc- 

 tion, we may mention Ephraim Chambers, the well-known 

 author of the Diftionary of Arts and Sciences (fee his ar- 

 ticle J, Mr. Prefton, afterwards bifhop of perns, in Ireland, 

 and the fubje£t of this memoir. To this fchool belonged 

 two exhibitions, (now of jo/. a year each,) one to Tri- 

 nity college, in Cambridge, and the other to Queen's col- 

 lege, Oxford ; the former of which was enjoyed by Mr. 

 Prellon, and afterwards by his fchool-fellow, Mr. Watfon. 

 In the year 1788, thefe two fcholars, being then bifhops, 

 teftified their regard for tlie place of their education by re- 

 pairing the fchool-houfc, and by affixing to it a Latin in- 

 fcription, exprefling their refpeft for the memory of its 

 pious founder, and of Mr. Watfon's father. To his mother 

 ,slfo Mr. Watfon pays a tribute of grateful and affeftioiiale 



WAT 



remembrance, defcribing her as a charitable and good wo- 

 man, to whom he was indebted for imbuing his young mind 

 with principles of religion, which never forfook him ; and 

 obferving more generally, that " the care of the mother pre- 

 cedes that of the fchool-mafter, and may llamp upon the 

 rafa tabula of the infant mind, charafters of virtue and reli- 

 gion which no time can efface." Soon after the death of his 

 father, in November 1753, Mr. Watfon was fent to the 

 Univerfity, and admitted a lizer of Trinity college, in 

 Cambridge, on the 3d of November, 1754. Apprized 

 that his patrimony, which was 300/., would be barely 

 fufiicient to defray the charges of his education, and having 

 no expeftations from any of his relations, he determined to 

 fabricate his own fortune, and applied with afiiduity and 

 ardour to his academic ftudies. Before he had been fii 

 months at college, a circumftance occurred vs-hich indicated 

 his talents for metaphyfical difquilition, and which contri- 

 buted in no fr.iall degree to his reputation in lliis department 

 ot fcience. As he attended the coUege-leftures, which 

 were then delivered to the under-graduates in the hall, im- 

 msdiately after morning-prayers, during term-time, he was 

 aflced by Mr. Brocket, the head Ictlurer, whether Clarke 

 had demoiillrated the abfurdity of an iniinite fucceffion of 

 changeable and dependent beings ? to which queftion he re- 

 plied non ; and being aiked his reafons for fo thinking, he 

 ftammeredout, as he My, in barbarous Latin, " that Clarke 

 had enquired into the origin of a feries, which, being from 

 the fuppofition eternal, could have no origin ; and into the 

 Jirjl term of a ferics, which, being from the fuppofition in- 

 Jinite, could have no firft." This circumftance was recol- 

 lefted four years afterwards, when he took his bachelor's 

 degree, and laid the foundation of iiis acquaintance with Dr. 

 Law, then mafter of Peterhoufe, and reckoned one of the 

 beft metaphyficians of his time ; from which he derived, as 

 he acknowledges, much knowledge and hberality of fenti- 

 ment in theology. Not fatisfied with his rank of fizer, he 

 afpired to a fcholarfhip, and fucceeded in obtaining it, on 

 the 2d of May, 1757, a year before the ufual time. Thus 

 advanced in rank, his expences increafed, but they were 

 more than counterbalanced by the advantage attending it. 

 Dr. Smith, who was then mafter of the college, took occa- 

 fion to nominate him to a particular fcholarfhip (lady Jer- 

 myn's) ; and at -the fame time recommended Saunderfon's 

 Fluxions, juft pubhfhed, and fome other mathematical books, 

 to his perufal ; thus, as he fays, " giving a fpur to my induf- 

 try, and wings to my ambition." At this time he had re- 

 fided in college two years and feven months, without leaving 

 it for a fingle day ; and during this period, he had acquired 

 fome knowledge of Hebrew, improved himfelf greatly in 

 Greek and Latin, made confiderable proficiency in mathe- 

 matics and natural philofophy, and ftudied with much at- 

 tention Locke's Works, King's book on tlie Origin of Evil, 

 Puffendorf's Treatife " De Officio Hominis et Civis," and 

 fome other books on fimilar fubjefts. Conceiving him- 

 felf entitled to fome degree of relaxation, he fet out, in 

 May, 1757, on a vifit to his elder and only brother at Ken- 

 dal, who was the firft curate of a new chapel ereded there, 

 and to the building of which he had liberally contributed. 

 This brother hved freely, fpent hig fortune, injured his con- 

 ftitution, and died when the fubjett of our memoir was 

 about the age of 33. With the afieSion of a brother and 

 fingular liberality, he paid his debts, to the amount of aknoft 

 his whole property. In the beginning of September he re- 

 turned to college, with a purpofe to make his alma mater the 

 mother of his fortunes. He was then only a " junior foph ;" 

 but fiich was his reputation, that he was fohcitcd to become 

 private tutor to Mr. Luther and Dr. Strachey. From the 



time 



