W 1 L 



W I L 



Native- of woods about the mouth of the creek of the Ga- 

 libis in Guiana, bearing flowers, as well as fruit, in May. 

 The tru7iji is about three inches in diameter, fending off 

 long, knotty, trailing branches, which twine round the neigh- 

 bouring trees to their very fommits, from whence the ex- 

 tremities hang down, clothed with oppofite, oval, fmooth, 

 entire leaves, not unlike the foregoing, and about as large, 

 on fliort (lalks ; their rib, as well as lateral veins, are pro- 

 minent and reddiih. TYit: Jlower-Jialks are axillary, folitary, 

 wavy, alternately branched, refembling tendrils, terminating 

 in fevcral little tufts, or umbels, of yellow flowers, rather 

 fmaller than the firll fpecies. Fruil roundilh or obovate, 

 the fize and colour of a quince, of an agreeable fcent when 

 ripe, pulpy, yielding but a fmall quantity of milky juice if 

 cut, though all the other parts of the plant contain a great 

 quantity of the fame kind of glutinous milk as the pre- 

 ceding. Aublet does not mention any ufe to which this 

 fpecies, or its fruit, is applied. 



WILLUGHBY, Francis, in Biography, was born in 

 1635 of a good family in Lincolnlhire, and educated in 

 Trinity college, Cambridge, under the tuition and in habits 

 of friendly intercourfe with the excellent philofopher and 

 natural hillorian, John Ray. They were intimate affoeiatcs, 

 and made a foreign tour together in the years 1663 and 

 1664. To birds and fifhcs Willughby paid particular atten- 

 tion, and he formed a rich mufeum of animal and foflile pro- 

 duftions. In 1668 he married the daughter of fir Henry 

 Bernard, and his family refidence at Middleton, in War- 

 wickfhire, was the place of Ray's frequent refort, where 

 he and his hoft profecuted their philofophical experi- 

 ments and obfervations, the refult of which they com- 

 municated to the Royal Society, of which they were both 

 members. This inflruftive and pleafant intercourfe was, 

 however, prematurely interrupted by the death of Wil- 

 lughby in 1672, at the age of 37. His confidence 

 in Mr. Ray was manifefted by appointing him one of 

 his executors, and committing to him the charge of edu- 

 cating his two infant fons, bequeathing to him an annuity 

 for life as a compenfation. Ray afcribcs to him, without 

 any trace of adulation, fingular moral excellence and high 

 mental endowments. His pofthumous work, publifhed 

 under the infpeftion of Mr. Rav, was entitled " Francifci 

 Willughbeii Arm. Ornithologis Libri tres ; in quibus Aves 

 omnes hadlenus cognitae, in methodum iiaturis fuis conve- 

 nientem reduftse, accurate defcribuntur. Defcriptiones 

 iconibus elegantiflimis at vivarum avium fimillimis «ri incifis 

 illuftrantur. Totum Opus recognovit, digeflit, fupplevit 

 Johannes Rams," Lond. fol. This work was alfo tranflated 

 into Engliih bv Ray, and publifhed in 1671 with large ad- 

 ditions. Mr. Ray alfo collefted and arranged Willughby 's 

 papers on Ichthyology. He added the two firfl books, and 

 with the affiftance of the Royal Society publifhed them in 

 1686 under the following title: " Fran. Willughbeii Arm. 

 de Hiftoria Pifcium, Libr. q'latuor, julfu et fumptu Soc. 

 Regime Lond. editi. Totum Opus recognovit, coaptavit, 

 fupplevit librum etiam primum et fecuiidum integros adjecit 

 J. Rains." Oxon. fol. The papers of Willughby in the 

 Phil. Tranf. relate to vegetation, plants, and infeCls. The 

 coUeftion of Ray contains fome of his letters. Biog. Brit. 

 Pulteney's Sketches of Botany. 



WILLY, in Geography, a river of England, which runs 

 into the A^on, near Salifbury. 



WILLYKA, a town of Lithuania, in the palatinate of 

 Wilna ; 60 miles E. of Wilna. 



WILMANSTRAND. See Vilmakstrand. 

 WILMANTON, a town of New York; 50 miles N. 

 of New York. 



WILMINGTON, a fea-port town of the Hate of Dela- 

 ware, on Brandy-wine Creek ; 22 miles S.W. of Philadel- 

 phia. N. lat. 39° 45'. W. long. 75° 34'._Alfo, a fea-port 

 town of North Carolina, with about 250 houfes, on a branch 

 of Cape Fear river. In January 1781, this town was taken 

 by the Britilh troops ; 76 miles S.S.W. of Newbern. N. 

 lat. 34° II'. W. long. 78° 5'.— Alfo, an iflaud near the 

 coafl of Georgia, at the mouth of the Savanna. N. lat. 

 32°. W. long. 81° 6'. — Alio, a pofl-towu of V. rmont, on 

 Deerfield river, in Windham county, with 1 193 inhabitants; 



10 miles E S.E. of Bennington Alfo, a town of Maffa- 



chufetts, in the county of Middlefex, with 716 inhabitants; 

 16 miles N. of Bofton. — Alfo, a town of New York; 53 

 miles N. of New York. 



WILMOT, John, in Biography, e^ivl o[ Rochefter, was 

 the fon of Henry, earl of Rocheller, an eminent loyalift in 

 the reign of Charles I., and was born in 1647, at Ditchley, 

 in Oxfordfhire. In 1659 he was entered at Wadham col- 

 lege, Oxford, and afterwards travelled into France and 

 Italy under a tutor, who is faidto have reclaimed him from 

 his early licentioufnefs ; but upon his return to the profligate 

 court of Charles II., in which he was a gentleman of the 

 bed- chamber, he relapftd into his former intemperance. In 

 1665 he went to fea, and, as it is faid, behaved with great 

 intrepidity in the attack of a caifle at Bergen, in Norway, 

 which character for courage he alfo maintained when he af- 

 terwards ferved under fir Edward Spragge. In fome of his 

 domeftic adventures, however, he forfeited this kind of re- 

 putation. Welcomed in all companies on account of his wit 

 and vivacity, he became habitually intemperate, infomuch 

 that, on a fubfequent review of his conduft, he acknow- 

 ledged that for five fuccefli-ve years he was never free from 

 the inflaming effefts of wine. His various adventures, in his 

 real, or in a difguifed charadler, have furniflied many anec- 

 dotes, that have been circulated in converfation, or in books 

 of mere amufement, but which are not worth recording in 

 graver publications. His wit furniflied in the focieties 

 which he frequented a kind of apology for his profanenefs 

 and licentioufnels ; and as for his poetical compofitions, they 

 were for the moft part lampoons or amatory effufions, the 

 titles of which would ftain the page of biographv. " In 

 all his works, ( fays Dr. Johnfon, meaning probably thofe 

 which can be read, ) there is fprightlincfs and vigour, and every 

 where may be found tokens of a mind which ftudy might 

 have carried to excellence." The juftice of Walpole's fen- 

 tence, in his " Catalogue of Noble Authors," will be ge- 

 nerally allowed : " Lord Rochefter's poems have much 

 more obfcenity than wit, more wit than poetry, more poetry 

 than politenefs.'.' His courfe of debauchery was of no 

 long duration ; for foon after the age of 30 he funk into 

 a ilate of debility and difeafe, which induced him to 

 ftudy phyfic, and this Ifudy permitted him to reflect on the 

 courfe of his pail life, the irremediable tffetfts of which he 

 learnt from experience. Towards the clofe of his fhort life, 

 he became acquainted with bifliop Burnet, who convinced 

 him of the truth both of natural and revealed religion, and 

 his mind was then imprefled to fuch a degree, that he is faid 

 to have became a fincere penitent. His life terminated in 

 July, 16S0, foon after he had commenced his 33d year. 

 He left a fon and two daughters. Biog. Brit. Johnfon. 

 Burnet. 



WiLiHOT, in Geography, a town of Nova Scotia, near 

 Ainiupolis. — Alfo, a town of New Hauipfliire, in the county 

 of Hdlfborough, with 298 inhabitants. 



WILNA, a city and capital of the duchy of Lithuania, 

 on the Wilia, founded in the year 1305. This city lies in 

 a moimtainouo country, on feveral little eminences. It is 



very 



