woo 



woo 



WONSDORF, a town of Prufiia, in Natangen ; 25 miles 

 S.E. of Konigfterg. 



WONSIEDEL. See Wunsiedel. 

 . WONTAMITTA, a town of Hindooftan, in Myfore ; 

 ^J miles E. of Chinna Balabarum. 



WOO-CHIN, a town of China, in the province of Kiang- 

 fi, near the lake Poyang, which is a place of confiderable 

 importance, as the great mart for exchanging commodities 

 between the north and fouth of China. The warelioufes are 

 fpacious and well fiHed, dwelling-houfes large and fubftan- 

 tial, temples richly decorated, and the (hops filled with arti- 

 cles of all kinds, including no inconfiderable proportion of 

 European goods. Here are feveral fmall bronze veffels of 

 ancient and modern workmanfhip, not unlike the Grecian 

 and Etrufcan. Near it is a temple dedicated to Wang-(hin- 

 choo, the god of longevity, furpafling moil others in riches 

 of carved-work and gilding. 



WOOD, William, F.L.S., in Biography, a Proteftant 

 diflenting minifter of diftinguiihed reputation for general 

 literature and fcience, character, and ufefulnefs, was born at 

 CoUingtree, a village near Northampton, on May 29, O.S. 

 1745. His father, though occupying a humble ilation, was 

 a perfon of approved integrity and piety, in conneftion with 

 the Chriltian fociety at Northampton, under the perfonal 

 care of the juftly-celebrated Dr. Doddridge, and paid par- 

 ticular attention to the rehgious inftruftion and moral con- 

 duft of his children. Mr. Wood, at an early age, manifefted 

 promifing talents, and having finiihed his fchool-education 

 under the late Dr. Addington of Market-Harborough, was 

 introduced, at the age of 16, with a view to the miniftry, 

 among Proteftant diflenters, which was the objeft of his 

 choice, to a dUFenting academy in London, condudlcd at 

 the time of his admiffion by Dr. David Jennings and Mr. 

 (afterwards Dr.) Morton Savage, and before the clofe of 

 his ftudies by Mr. Savage, Mr. A. Kippis, and Mr. A. Rees. 

 The writer of this ilietch can bear perfonal teltimony to his 

 exemplary conduft during the period of his continuance at 

 the academy, and to the diligence and fuccefs with which 

 he profecuted the various branches of literature and fcience 

 to which his attention was direAed. Few perfons ever left 

 a public feminary with fuperior qualifications for the exercife 

 of the profeflion to which he was devoted, and performed the 

 duties of it, in the progrefs of a long and honourable life, more 

 acceptably and more ufefully. It was then the cuflom, ad- 

 mitting of few exceptions^ to ordain miniilers when they 

 were elefted by particular congregations, and introduced 

 into the full difcharge of the paftoral office ; and fome, we 

 underftand, of the wifeft and beft of the Non-conformift 

 minifters have lamented the too general difcontinuance of 

 this decorous praftice, againft which it is thought by many 

 that no fufficient objeftion has been alleged. Ordination 

 among Proteftant diffenters is a public fervice, ufually con- 

 duced at the place where the minifter, who is ordained or 

 fet apart, is about to be fettled ; and confifts of a fermon 

 addrefled to the people, a charge delivered to the perfon 

 ordained, and prayers for a divine blefling on his future la- 

 bours, and for the edification and profperity of the Chriftian 

 fociety with which he is connefted. It has been fomctimes 

 accompanied with a confeffion of faith on the part of the 

 perfon who is thus fet apart ; but this part of the fervice, 

 having been mifunderftood, is frequently omitted, though in 

 cafes which allow of unrcftrifted hberty, and in which the 

 confeflion neither defcends into a variety of minute particu- 

 lare, nor contains any pledges that cmbaiTafs or reftrain future 

 free inquiry, it is thought to be unexceptionable. Ordina- 

 tion, however, among the perfons to whom we now refer, is 

 not conceived to impart any new qualifications or powers 



which the perfon ordained did not poflefs previoufly to this 

 fervice, or to conftitute him either a minifter in general, or 

 the paftor of any particular church. But to return from 

 this digreffion : Mr. Wood was publicly ordained, and the 

 occafion afforded an opportunity for many minifters of 

 acknowledged reputation among diflenters to bear their 

 united teftimony to his talents and charafter. He com- 

 menced his public fervices at Debenham in Suffolk, on the 

 6th of July 1766, with a fermon peculiarly appropriate to 

 the occafion, from Luke, ix, 26., and he fpent the remaining 

 part of this year, and a great part of the year 1767, in the 

 vicinity of London, where he occafionally officiated to the 

 fatisfadtion of thofe who attended, and gained the friendfhip 

 of fome of the moft eminent of the diffenting minifters of 

 that period. In September 1767, he fettled at Stamford, 

 in Lincolnfhire ; and removed from thence to Ipfwich in 

 November 1770, where he remained till the clofe of the year 

 1772. In 1773, having nearly completed his 27th year, 

 he was unanimoufly cholen to fucceed Dr. Prieftley at Mill- 

 hill chapel, Leeds, and in that conneftion he continued till 

 his death. About two years after his fettlement with this 

 congregation, he publifhed a fmall volume confifting of 

 twelve fermons on focial life, which entitled the author, in 

 the judgment of a contemporary critic, to the charafter of 

 a ufeful and elegant preacher. In 1780 he formed a ma- 

 trimonial conneftion with a daughter of Mr. George Oates, 

 of Low-hall, near Leeds, which lafted twenty-fix years, and 

 contributed in a high degree to his domeftic felicity. By 

 tills lady he had four children, of whom three furvived their 

 parents. 



Ardently devoted to the ftudies that were more immedi- 

 ately or more remotely connefted with his profeffion, and 

 attached by affeftionate gratitude as well as intereft to 

 the congregation in the fervice of which he was engaged, 

 and which claimed his moft affiduous and refpeftful atten- 

 tion, he commenced for the benefit of the young a courfe of 

 leftures, in the year 1785. Thefe were comprehenfive and 

 improving ; and though they were delivered once a fort- 

 night, they lafted feveral years. Our limits will not allow 

 us to avail ourfelves of the detail, furnifhed by his excellent 

 biographer, of the fubjefts which were difcuffed in this ex- 

 tenfive courfe of ufeful inftruAion. It vsrill be fufficient to 

 obferve, that they contributed no lefs to the information of 

 thofe who attended them than to the reputation of the lec- 

 turer, as well as to the mutual refpeft and efteeih which 

 were thus cemented between Mr. Wood and his congrega- 

 tion. The public would probably have derived inftruftion 

 from the perufal of them, if fome circumftances had not oc- 

 curred which rendered it neceffary for Mr. Wood to devote 

 a confiderable part of his time and attention to fubjefts of 

 a very different nature. Without abandoning the ftudies 

 connefted with his profeffion, he was led by the ftate of his 

 health, and by fome other confiderations, to the purfuit of 

 natural hiftory, and particularly of Enghfh botany ; but 

 whilft he was thus occupied, he rendered his inveftigations 

 fubfervient to the great objeA of his fife and miniftry, the 

 promotion of religion and virtue, as well as the perfonal 

 fatisfaftion and future happinefs of thofe with whom he was 

 connefted. His new purfuits were the means of intro- 

 ducing him to acquaintance and friendfhip with many emi- 

 nent perfons ; and more efpecially with Dr. (now fir James) 

 Smith, the juftly celebrated prefident of the Linnsan So- 

 ciety. To Mr. Wood the good opinion and friendly regard 

 of one, who commands the refped and efteem of all who 

 know him, by mental accompliftiments and moral qualities 

 of the moft excellent and engaging kind, muft haveaff"orded 

 a fatisfadion which, as we can tellify from perfonal know- 

 II ledge, 



