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jefty in his folitude and fufferings, rendered in verfe, fet to 

 mufic for three voices and an organ or theorbo." Folio, 

 1657. 



" Cheerful Aires or Ballads, firft compofed for one fingle 

 voice, and fince fet for three voices." Oxon. 1660. 



" Aires to a voice alone, to a theorbo or bafs viol ;" 

 thefe are printed in a colleAion entitled " Seled Aires and 

 Dialogues." Folio, 1653. 



" Divine Services and Anthems," the words pf which are 

 in Clifford's Colleftion. Lond. 1663. 



He alfo compofed mufic to feveral of the odes of 

 Horace, and to fome feleft paflages in Aufonius, Claudiaii, 

 Petronius Arbiter, and Statins ; thefe were never publilhed, 

 but are preferved in a manufcript volume ciirioufly bound in 

 blue Turkey leather, with filver clafps, which the doftor 

 prefented to the rmiverfity, with an injunftion that no perfon 

 fhould be permitted to perufe it till after his deceafe. It is 

 ftill among the archives of the Bodleian library. 



The compofitions of Dr. Wilfon will certainly not bear 

 a fevere fcrutiny either as to genius or knowledge. It is, 

 however, not eafy to account for the ignorance in counter- 

 point which is difcoverable in many lutenifts of thefe times ; 

 for having harmony under their fingers, as much as the per- 

 formers on keyed inftruments, it facihtates their ftudy, and 

 (hould render them deeper contrapuntifts than the genera- 

 lity of flute-players, whofe flimfy compofitions are pro- 

 verbial. 



On the furrender of the garrifon of the city of Oxford, 

 1646, Dr. Wilfon left the univerfity, and was received into 

 the family of fir William Walter, of Sarfden, in Oxford- 

 fhire ; but, in 1656, he was conftituted mufic-profeffor, and 

 had lodging affigned him in Bahol college, where, being af- 

 fifted by fome of the royalifts, he lived very comfortably, 

 exciting in the univerfity, according to A. Wood, fuch a 

 love of mufic, as in a great meafure accounts for that 

 flourifhing (late in which it has long fubfifted there, and for 

 thofe numerous private mufic-meetings, of which this writer, 

 in his own life, has given fuch an amufing relation. At the 

 Reftoration, Dr. Wilfon was appointed chamber-mufician to 

 Charles II. ; and, on the death of Henry Lawes, 1662, was 

 again received into the chapel-royal, when, quitting the uni- 

 verfity, he refided conftantly in London, till the time of his 

 deceafe, at near 78 years of age, in 1673. Burney. 



Wilson, in Geography, a town of 3outh Carolina ; 15 

 miles S.W. of Queenborough. — Alfo, a town of Scotland, 

 in the county of Lanerk, founded in the latter end of the 

 1 8th century, by MelTrs. Wilfon of London, to accommo- 

 date the workmen employed in an iron foundery there ; 5 



miles E. of Lanerk Alfo, a county of Weft Tenneffee, 



with 11,952 inhabitants, including 2297 flaves. 



WILSONIA, in Botany, received that appellatioo from 

 Mr. R. Brown, who commemorates by it the remarkable 

 zeal and perfeverance of Mr. John Wilfon, an inhabitant of 

 Kendal, Weftmoreland, author of a " Synopfis of Britifh 

 Plants in Mr. Ray's Methoa," publiihed at Newcaftle-upon- 

 Tyne in 1744. This work, however, is incomplete, the 



f'affes, trees, ftirubs, and all the cryptogamic tribe, except 

 ems, being omitted. The author, whom Dr. Pulteney 

 fuppofes to have died about the year 1750, is (aid to have 

 left thefe clafles finifhed in MS. ; but they were never pub- 

 Ulhed. His performance indeed is now altogether obfo- 

 lete, being chiefly tranllated from Ray and Tournefort ; 

 though with fome alterations of the fyllem of the former, 

 and much additional matter, refpefting the ftations of rare 

 plants ; all which evinces a confiderable portion of praftical 

 knowledge. Copioue medical information is interfperfed, 



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and a botanical diftionary is prefixed. But the botanift of 

 whom we are fpeaking is principally worthy of memory, for 

 that indefatigable love of fcience, which even the mofl: 

 humble fituation, and the moft limited circumftances, could 

 not counteraft. Whether he was employedin the manufafture 

 of knitted ilockings, formerly very extenfive in his native 

 town, or whether he made Ihoes, his biographers are not 

 agreed ; but he contrived to attain more knowledge, and 

 cultivation of mind, than perhaps a great majority of the 

 gentry around him. He muft have had a competent as- 

 quaintance with Latin, and he may rank as an Enghfii writer 

 among the moft refpedlable, upon fcientific fubjefts, in his 

 time. We cannot commend his prudence, if we compaf- 

 fionate his difficulties, when he would have fold his only 

 cow, the fupport of his wife and family, to buy a copy of 

 Morifon's work. But we may be allowed to regret that 

 his mental application did not tend to fo ample a pecuniary 

 reward, as that of the famous fir Richard Arkwright, who 

 repeatedly incurred the ceufure of many a prudent friend, 

 for negledl of bufinefs, while he was planning a fcheme of 

 unbounded profit for himfelf and family. We rejoice to 

 read that the book fo much defired, was prefented to 

 Wilfon by a benevolent lady, who lived near him, and who 

 by this aft has afforded a lafting teftimony to the worth of 

 his charafter. An honeft man may always hope for indul- 

 gence and affiftance, if he fmooths the path of hard duty 

 with a little mental excurfion, inftead of mere unprofitable 

 recreation or difGpation, whatever may be his fituation 

 in life. Many a cow has been fold in confequence of evil 

 propenfities ; few have been facrificed to procure food for 

 the mind. — Brown Prodr. Nov. Holl. v. i. 490. Clafs 

 and order, Pentandria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Convohuli, 

 Juff. Convolnyulaceis, Brown. 



EfT. Ch. Calyx pitcher-ftiaped, five-fided, five-toothed. 

 Corolla funnel-fhaped, of one petal ; imbricated in the bud. 

 Germen with two feeds. Style cloven. Stigmas capitate. 

 Capfule .... 



I. W. hum'tUs. Humble Wilfonia. Br. n. I. — Difco- 

 vered by Mr. Brown, in the fouth part of New Holland. 

 A httle, dwarf, (hrubby, proftrate, much branched, downy 

 plant. Leaves fmall, feflile, thickifh, imbricated in two 

 ranks. Flowers axillary, folitary, feffile, without bra8eas. 

 Mr. Brown remarks, that the natural affinity of this genUs 

 muft be uncertain while its fruit continues unknown. He 

 met with the plant after the Jloiuers were faded, before the 

 feed-vejfel was formed, nor is he certain whether the germen 

 confiited of one cell, or of two. He ranges Wilfonia next 

 after Crejfa, of whofe place in the natural fyftem Linnaeus 

 had formed no opinion, but which Juflieu well refers to hi^ 

 ConvolvuU, notwithftanding the folitaryy^i?;/. 



WILSONVILLE, in Geography, a town of Pennfyl- 

 vania ; 120 miles N. of Philadelphia. 



WILSTER, a town of the duchy of Holftein, on the 

 river of the fame name ; 8 miles N. of Glnckftadt. 



WILSUM, a town of Germany, in the county of Ben- 

 theim ; 11 miles W.N.W. of Nienhuus. 



WILTER, a town of the Tyrolefe, on the Inn ; 3 miles 

 above Infpruck. 



WILTON, an ancient market, borough, and county- 

 town of Wiltfhire, England, derives its name from the river 

 on which it was originally built. By old writers, it was 

 called Wile, or Wily-Vilodunum and Ellandimum; and ac- 

 cording to Baxter it was a chief feat of the Britifti prince, 

 Carvihus, and thence denominated Caer-Guilou. Henry of 

 Huntingdon fays, it afterwards became the capital of the 

 Weft-Saxon dominions ; but Leland and Dr. Milner con- 

 tend, 



