WEN 



^i I. Purlh n. I. (Meoifpermum caroMnum ; Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 1468. Willd. Sp. PI. V. 4. 825. Ait. Hor:. Kew. v. 5. 

 ;;.04. M. folio hederaceo ; Dill. Elth. 223. t. 178. An- 

 drophylax fcandens ; " Wendl. Obf. 38. Hort. 3.1.16." 

 Cocculus carolinus ; De Cand. Syil. v. I. 524.) — Found 

 m hedges and woods, from Carolina to Florida, flowering 

 in June and July. Stem fhrubby. Floivers very fmall, 

 greenifh-white. Berries red. Purjh. Hardy in the gar- 

 dens of Europe, where M. De Candolle fays it is very fre- 

 quent, flowering in Auguit. Stem twining, with round 

 branches, ftriated and downy when young. Leaves alter- 

 nate, heart-fhaped, or broadly ovate, entire, tipped with a 

 fmall point, rarely three-lobed ; an inch and a half or two 

 inches long, with three or five radiating ribs ; downy be- 

 neath. Footjlalks round, downy, about an inch in length. 

 Flower-Jialks axillary ; thofe of the male flowers, (which 

 are generally, not always, diftinA from the female,) race- 

 mofe, fimple ; thofe of the female three-cleft. 



ProfelTor De Candolle has referred this plant to his genut 

 Cocculus, feparated from Menispermum, (fee that article,) 

 on account of the flowers being three-cKft, not four-cleft, to 

 nfe the Linnsan language ; and the ftamens only fix, inftead 

 of from fixteen to twenty. We cannot but hefitate to 

 adopt a genus fo circumllanced, and therefore (hall fay little 

 concerning the name, which its antiquity can hardly autho- 

 rize. We regret to perceive that our learned friend feems 

 inclined to make antiquity paramount to every other confi- 

 deration in nomenclature ; thus alTuming a principle fub- 

 verfive of all his own authority, which otherwife might be of 

 fufficient weight to render the molt important fervice to this 

 branch of botany. We hope he will foon perceive, that 

 fenfe and learning are as applicable to it as to any other 

 part of the fcience, and full as neceflary to preferve the 

 whole from ruin. 



If the name of Cocculus fhould bo difearded, though the 

 genus be retained, ftill that of IVemUandia can fcarcely take 

 its place ; there being feveral others, good or bad, certain 

 or uncertain, which have a prior claim on the fcore of anti- 

 quity. With thefe we will not here encumber our paper. 

 The reader may find them in De Candolle. 



WENDLING, in Geography, a town of Auftria ; 3 

 miles W. of Tauffkirchen. 



WENDLINGEN, a town of Wurtemberg, on the river 

 Lauter, near the Neckar ; 12 miles S.E. of Stuttgart. N. 

 lat. 48°38'. E. long. 9° 27'. 



WENDOVER, an ancient borough and market-town in 

 the hundred of Aylefbury, and county of Buckingham, 

 England, is fituated in Aylelbury Vale at the diftance of 

 24 miles S.E. by S. from the county-town, and 35 miles 

 N.W. by W. from London. It confifts principally of 

 brick houfes : the inhabitants derive their chief fupport 

 from lace-making ; but as a branch of the Grand Junction 

 Canal has been recently conveyed to the town, it will pro- 

 bably advance in importance. The earlieft charter for a 

 market at this place is dated in 1403. A fubfequent charter 

 of the year 1464 confirms the market, and grants two fairs, 

 which are ftill held. This borough fent members to parlia- 

 ment in the 28th of Edward I., and again in the ift and 2d 

 of Edward II. ; after which the privilege was difcontinucd 

 ior above three hundred years : when in the 21ft of James I. 

 Mr. Hakeville, a barrifter of Lincoln's-Inn, difcovered, by a 

 Icarch among the parliament writs in the tower, that mem- 

 bers had been formerly fent. A petition was accordingly 

 preferred for the reftoration of the ancient franchife ; and 

 though ftrenuoudy oppofed by the court, the commons 

 decided in favour of the borough. The right of eleftion is 

 vefted in all tlie houfekeepers not receiving alms. The 



WEN 



voters are not however more than 130, moll of whom 

 occupy the burgage houfes rent free. The celebrated 

 John Hampden reprefentcd this borough in five parliaments. 

 In the population return of the year iRii, Wendover is 

 ftated to contain 283 houfes, and 1481 inhabitants. The 

 parifti-church ftands a quarter of a mile from the town, but 

 contains nothing worthy of particular notice. Near the 

 town is a large refervoir of water, which covers about feventy 

 acres : it was made for the fupply of the canal. — Beauties 

 of England and Wales, vol. i. Buckinghamlhire ; by 

 J. Britton, and E. W. Brayley, 1801. Lyfons's Magna 

 Britannia, vol. i. Buckinghamihire, i8n6. 



WENFORD, a town of Sweden, in Weil Bothnia ; 25 

 miles N.W. of Umea. 



WENG, a town of the duchy of Stiria; 10 miles N.N.E. 

 of Rottenmann. 



WENGIA, a town of Sweden, in Weft; Gothland ; 32 

 miles E.N.E. of Gothenburg. 



WENHAM, a townlliip of Maffachufetts, in the county 

 of Eflex, containing 554 inhabitants ; 21 miles E.N.E. of 

 Bofton. 



WENHOFDORF, a town of Auftria ; 5 miles N.W. 

 of Schwannallatt. 



WENJAN, a town of Sweden, in Dalecarlia ; 44 miles 

 W.N.W. of Fahlun. 



WENIGZELL, a town of the duchy of Stiria; 11 miles 

 W.S.W. of Fridberg. 



WENINGS, a town of Germany, in the county of Ifen- 

 burg ; 4 miles N.W. of Birftein. 



WENLOCK, GuEAT, or Much, a borough and mar- 

 ket-town in the hundred of Wenlock, and county of Salop, 

 England, is fituated 14 miks S.E. from Shrewftjury, and 

 147 miles N.W. from London. It is but poorly built, and 

 confifts of only two ftreets, but contains an ancient corpora- 

 tion, and is faid to have fent members to parliament, by a 

 writ from Edward IV. in I478, when it fent one member; 

 but now, jointly with Brofeley and Little Wenlock, it re- 

 turns two. The free burgeffes, who are the electors, 

 amount to one hundred and ten. By a charter from 

 Charles I., the corporation confifts of a bailiff^, recorder, two 

 juftices of the peace, and twelve capital burgeftes. The 

 whole number of the inhabitants, by the population return of 

 the year 1 8 1 1 , is enumerated as 2079, occupying 494 houfes. 

 Four annual fairs are held here ; and a weekly market 

 on Mondays. In the reign of Richard II., Wenlock was as 

 famous for copper-mines, as it is now for quarries of lime- 

 ftonc. The parifti-church bears fome marks of Norman 

 architeflure. A large round arch feparates the nave from 

 the chancel : at the weft end is a fqiiare tower, with cir- 

 cular headed windows, from which rifes a flender fpire of 

 wood, covered with lead. The interior is well fitted up : on 

 the right of the altar are fome niches ; but there is no monu- 

 ment of fufficient antiquity or fculpture to attraft the notice 

 of the antiquary. Wenlock owes its celebrity principally 

 to the remains of an ancient abbey, which was fubfequently 

 converted to a priory for Clugniac monks. This houfe was 

 ' founded about the year 680, by St. Milburga, daughter of 

 Merward, and niece of Wulphere, king of Mercia : ftie pre- 

 fided as abbefs, and died about the year 716. The Danifti 

 ravagers are faid to have reduced this nunnery to a ftate of 

 utter defolation, in which it lay until Leofric was ap- 

 pointed to the earldom of Mercia. Soon after the year 

 1017, that earl, at the inftancc of his pious confort the 

 lady Godiva, reftored it ; but with fo Irale fuccefs, that, 

 according to Malmftjury, it was found an heap of ruins, by 

 Roger de Montgomerie, the firft Norman earl of Shrewfbury, 

 who rebuilt it in 1080, and filled it with monks from Clugni. 



It 



