w o o 



1 h has much declined, on account of the cheapnefs of the 

 ( cutlery goods furnifhed by Birmingham and Sheffield. 

 I The glove-maiuifafture is of later date ; but has increafed 

 1 in the prefent day fo much, that from 300 to 400 pairs of 

 I gloves are made weekly in the town and the neighbouring 

 i villages, and thus afford employment for about 1400 women 

 i and girls, and 70 men. Old Woodftock, of which only 

 1 one manfion and a few irregular houfes remain, ftood in a 

 I ftieltered fituation on the little river Glyme, which fupplies 

 the magnificent piece of water in Blenheim-park. The 

 manor-houfe, or royal palace, on the N. bank of the deep 

 ! valley of the Glyme, within the bounds of the park, was the 

 refidence of Fair Rofamond, whofe romantic adventures are 

 deeply interwoven with the hiftory of Henry II. ; but the 

 building has long difappeared. In this palace, that king, in 

 1 164, received the homage of Malcolm, king of Scotland, 

 and Rice, prince of Wales. In 1275 Edward I. held a par- 

 liament at Woodftock, and there was born his fecond fon, 

 Edmund, as was alfo the renowned Black Prince. Wood, 

 ftock was inhabited occafionally by Richard II., and there 

 Henry III. narrowly efcaped atfaffination by a fanatic 

 prielt : an attempt was there alfo made by Morifco on the 

 life of Henry VIII. The old palace was afterwards em- 

 ployed as a prifon for Elizabeth, his daughter. In the time 

 of the civil wars it fuffered feverely from the parliament's 

 party ; and about a century ago the gate-houfe, the lad 

 fragment of t.ie edifice, was pulled down. But Woodftock 

 io moft worthy of note for having produced Chaucer, who 

 was born there about 1328. Thehoufe in which he after- 

 wards refided, while the court was in the palace, ftood at 

 the W. end of the town, near the ufual entrance into 

 Blenheim-park. Some relics of this building are ftill 

 pointed out. 



The great objcft of attraftion at Woodftock is the mag- 

 nificent palace of Blenheim, with the furrounding grounds, 

 water, and park. The honour and eftates of Woodftock, 

 long belonging to the crown, were in 1705 conveyed by 

 queen Anne, on the addrefs of the houfe of commons, to 

 the illuftrious John, duke of Marlborough, to preferve the 

 memory of his eminent fervices as a warrior and a ftates- 

 man ; particularly for the fignal viftory obtained by him, 

 and prince Eugene of Savoy, at Blenheim, in Germany, 

 over the French and Bavarians, on the 2d of Auguft 1 704. 

 The houfe was erefted by fir John Vanbrugh, at a con- 

 venient diftance from the S. brink of a deep dell, in which 

 ran the Glyme. The general diftribution of this fuperb 

 ftrufture confifts of a central mafs of building, inclofing 

 two fmall courts, and conneftcd by colonnaded wings to two 

 fpacious quadrangles, forming the grand court of entrance. 

 The centre is ornamented with a Corinthian portico, fur- 

 mounted by a pediment and military emblems. The wings 

 are crowned with towers ferving at once to contain the 

 chimneys, and to contribute to the pidturefque grandeur of 

 the edifice. The garden-front, extending from E. to W. 

 348 feet, is grand and magnificent. The interior of the 

 manfion contains many noble apartments, adorned with 

 paintings of eminent mafters ; particularly with a feries of 

 mythological pidures from the admirable pencil of Titian, 

 prefented to the firft duke of Marlborough by the king of 

 Sardinia, and with portraits of many eminent charafters by 

 the bell artifts. The library, occupying the whole of the 

 W. front, 183 feet long and nearly 32 wide, is a magnifi- 

 cent room, originally deftined to be a pifture-gallery, but 

 afterwards furniftied with the grand Sunderland coUeftion of 

 books, containing upwards of 17,000 volumes. At one end 

 is a marble ftatue of queen Anne by Ryft)rack. In the W. 

 wing is the chapel appropriately fitted up, and containing a 

 monument, by the fame fculptor, of the firft duke, his 

 Vol. XXXVIII. 



WOO 



duchefs, and their two fons, who died young. In the E- 

 quadrangle of offices is the theatre, originally a green-houfe, 

 calculated to accommodate 200 fpeftators. Near the E. 

 angle of the manfion an obfervatory was ereded by the late 

 duke of Marlborough, and provided with a complete 

 apparatus for aftronomical obfervations by Ramfden ; a 

 grand telefcope by Herfchel was prefented to the duke' by 

 his majefty, after his vifit to Blenheim in 1786. The ftate- 

 approach to the palace is by a ftraight avenue from the N. 

 extremity of the park, over the river, by a bridge of one 

 fpacious and two fmaller arches. Flowing in a deep dell, 

 the fmall ftream is made to afl'ume the appearance of a 

 naturally-winding river, expanding below the bridge into a 

 broad irregular lake ; thus, with the bridge, according with 

 the grandeur of the palace and the noble extent of the park. 

 A lofty column is erefted in the midft of the great avenue, 

 furmounted by a ftatue of the great duke, and charged on 

 the pedeftal with infcriptions ftating his fervices and re- 

 wards. In the N.W. part of the park of Blenheim, 

 veftiges may be traced of the ancient road, Akeman-ftreet. 

 Nearly two miles W. from the park is the village of Stones- 

 field, at which place was difcovered, in 171 1, a teflellated 

 pavement 35 feet by 20, reprefenting, among other figures, 

 a Bacchus, with his thyrfus and cup, mounted on a tyger. 

 In addition to this curious antique, in 1779 were difcovered, 

 near the fame fpot, the areas of a number of other apart- 

 ments paved in the fame manner ; and adjoining were the 

 remains of a bath with its hypocauft : Roman coins from 

 Vefpafian downwards were found on the fame fpot. A 

 plan and fome account of thefe remains have been publiftied 

 by Henry Hakewill, efq. architeft — Beauties of England 

 and Wales, Oxfordfliire, by J. N. Brewer, 8vo. 181 1. 

 The Blenheim Guide, by Dr. Mafon, i2mo. 181 7. 

 Havell's Views of Seats include two fine Engravings of 

 Blenheim Palace, and a critical Account of the Houfe, 

 Scenery, &c. folio, 18 18. 



Woodstock, a town of the ftate of Connefticut, in the 

 county of Windham, with 2654 inhabitants; 57 miles 

 S.W. of Bofton — Alfo, a town of North Carolina, on the 

 left bank of Pamlico river ; 22 miles N.N.E. of Newbern. 

 — Alfo, a poft-town of Virginia; 112 miles W. ofWaftiing- 

 ton. — Alfo, a poft-town of Vermont, in the county of 

 Windfor, with 2672 inhabitants ; 5 miles N.W. of Windfor. 

 — Alfo, a townftiip of New York ; 46 miles S. of Albany. 

 — Alfo, a poft-town of New Jerfey ; 26 miles S.S.W. of 

 Philadelphia. 



WOODVILLE, William, M.D. in Biography, was 

 born at Cockermouth, in the year 1752. Having received 

 a good claffical education in his native town, he was placed 

 with a refpectable apothecary, to whom he ferved a (hort 

 apprenticeftiip. He afterwards proceeded to Edinburgh, 

 where, after the ufual refidence, he obtained, in 1775', the 

 degree of M.D., having written and defended a very 

 ingenious thefis " De irritibilitate fibrarum motricium." 

 After pafling fome time on the continent, he returned and 

 fettled near his native place, where he praftifed his profeflion 

 five or fix years. Dr. Woodville then came to London, 

 and was foon appointed one of the phyficians to the Mid- 

 dlefex Difpenfary, the duties of which office he difcharged 

 in an exemplary manner. In 1790 he publiflied the firft 

 part, which was afterwards completed in four quarto 

 volumes, of a highly valuable work, intitled " Medical 

 Botany." In 1791 he was eledted phyfician to the Small- 

 pox Hofpital, in the room of the late Dr. Archer ; and it 

 may truly be faid, that no man ever devoted, more con- 

 fcientioufly or zealoufly, time and great talents, to the pro- 

 motion of an objeft, than did Dr. Woodville to improve- 

 ment in the medical treatment of the patients, as weU as in 

 4.1 the 



