VV R 1 



W R I 



fide'rable encouragement as a portrait-painter, though his 

 ftyle was dry and too minute. He gained much more re- 

 putation by painting fcenes of fire and candle-light, and 

 indeed flood unrivalled in that way till Loutherbourg fubfe- 

 quently appeared. His piftiires of a forge and of a black- 

 fmith's fliop, exhibited with the fociety of artifts about the 

 year 1765, eftablifhed his reputation. In 1773 he vifited 

 Rome, and Italy generally, and was abfent two years. In 

 1782 he was elefted an aflbciate of the Royal Academy, but 

 refigned his diploma foon after, on Mr. Garvey's being pre- 

 ferred to him in an eleftion for an academician ; though he 

 continued occafionally to exhibit with the academy. He 

 had great induftry and profeflional fliiU, living very much 

 apart from the world. This enabled him to produce many 

 pictures, and in 1785 he made an exhibition of twenty-four 

 pidlures of his own painting at the great room under the 

 Piazza Covent-garden, one of which was a large work re- 

 prefenting the detlruftiou of the floating batteries before 

 Gibraltar. His ftyle in all his works was peculiar to him- 

 felf, fomewhat dry, yet not void of richncfs, and his draw- 

 ing coldly correft. One peculiarity marks his piftures, and 

 renders them eafily dillinguifhable, efpecially thofe in which 

 the illumination proceeds from the moon or fire. He pre- 

 pared his cloths or grounds with rough furfaces, caufed by 

 fand fifted or ftrewed upon them ; and then when he had 

 painted his fcene, he dragged his pallet-knife, covered with 

 the colour of the light, acrofs the pifture, when the colour 

 adhering to the projeftions on the furface, gave the glitter 

 which charafterizes that kind of illumination, and he toned 

 the parts to due relief by glazings. No one ever gave the 

 exaft tone of moon-hght fo completely as Wright of Derby. 

 He died in 1797, aged 63. 



Wright, Mifs, a vocal apprentice to Michael Arne, the 

 natural fon of Dr. Arne. She had a fweet, fpirited, and 

 aftive voice, but was fo young in mufic, that fhe learned 

 the parts which flie had to perform on the ftage, after (he 

 was too haltily engaged at Drury-lane, by her ear. The 

 firft part affigned to her in that theatre was Leonora, in 

 Bickerftaff's Padlock, in which the airs, as fet by Dibden, 

 were fo pleafing, and fo much on the Italian model, that 

 they eftablifli''d her in the favour of the town. But the air 

 " Say little foolifh fluttering thing" was never fung in fuch 

 a brilliant and captivating manner by any other finger. 



In 1766 flie appeared in the Cunning Man, Rouffeau's 

 Devin de Village, tranflated totldem fyllabh, and adapted to 

 his original mufic by the author of this article, in which 

 flie pleafed extremely. 



Soon after tiiif, the apprentice was exalted into the wife 

 of her mafter, the ferva padrona, and fung with great ap- 

 plaufe in Cymon, and feveral of his and other compofers' 

 compofitions that were performed at Drury-lane ; and, if 

 we remember right, in the fummer flie fung in Mary-le-bone 

 gardens. But the town was fo fond of hearing her, and 

 the produce of her talents fo alluring to her hufband, that 

 ihe may truly be faid to have fung lit-rfclf to death ; or, like 

 the fwans of old in the Po, to have died finging. The 

 truth is, that her ignorance of mufic made it neceflary for 

 her to fiiig at home, in rendering herfelf perfeft in her parts, 

 ten time.' more than flie did in public, which brought on a 

 pulmonary complaint, and prematurely put an end to her 

 exiftence in 1770, at the age of 22, to the grief of her 

 friends, and great regret of the public. 



Wright, in Geography, a town of Virginia ; 44 miles 

 W. of Richmond. 



Whight'j Tuavn, a towufliip of Pennfylvania, in the 

 county of Bucks, with 562 inhabitants ; 24 miles N. of 

 Eallon. 



WRIGHTIA, in Botany, is dedicated by Mr. Brown 

 to his much-refpefted friend William Wright, M.D. fellow 

 of the royal focieties of London and Edinburgh, and affo- 

 ciate of the Linnasan fociety, " whofe ardour in the purfuit 

 of botanical knowledge," fays Mr. Brown, " even while 

 engaged in extenfive medical praftice in the ifland of Ja- 

 maica, has long entitled him to this mark 0/ dillinftion." 

 We heartily concur in this fentiment, and cannot but regret 

 that Dr. Swartz did not retain for this purpofe what he has 

 called Meriana. (See that article.) — Brown in Tr. of the 

 Wernerian Soc. v. 1. 73. Prodr. Nov. Holl. v. i. 467. 

 Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 2. 68. (Nerium; Ga=rtn. t. 117.) — 

 Clafs and order, Pentandrta Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Con- 

 torts, Linn. Apoancit, .Tufi. Brown. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, in five 

 fmall, rounded, bluntifli fegments, with five or ten internal 

 fcales at the outfide of the bafe of the corolla, permanent. 

 Cor. of one petal, falver-fhaped : tube cyhndrical, various 

 in length : limb in five oblong, fprcading, oblique fegments, 

 as long as the tube, or longer : mouth crowned with ten 

 divided fcales, fliorter than the limb. Stam. Filaments five, 

 thread-fliaped, fliort, inferted into the throat of the corolla ; 

 anthers arrow-fliaped, pointed, prominent, cohering by their 

 middle part to the ftigma. P'lft. Germens two, fuperior, 

 roundifti, cohering ; fl;yle one, thread-ftiaped, the length of 

 the tube, dilated at the apex ; ftigma contrafted. Per'tc. 

 Follicles two, almoft cylindrical, either diftinft or cohering, 

 pointed, ereft. Seeds numerous, inferted into the margins 

 of each follicle, oblong, imbricated downwards, crowned 

 at the lower extremity with filky hairs, direfted towards 

 the bafe of the feed-vefiel. 



Efl". Ch. Corolla oblique, falver-ftiaped ; mouth crowned 

 with ten divided fcales. Stamens prominent. Follicles two, 

 ereft. Seeds imbricated downward, hairy at the lower 

 extremity. 



A genus of upright flirubs, or fmall trees, natives of the 

 Eaft Indies, Ceylon, the Malay archipelago, or the tropical 

 part of New Holland. Their leaves are oppofite. Floiuers 

 white, corymbofe, nearly terminal. Albu7nen none. Embryo 

 white, turning rofe-coloured by immerfion in warm water ; 

 cotyledons involute longitudinally. Brown. 



i.Vf. antidyfenterka. Oval-leaved Wrightia. Br. n. I. 

 Ait. n. I. (Nerium antidyfentericum ; Lmn. Sp. PI. 306, 

 excluding Rheede's fynonym. Willd. Sp. PI. v. i. 1236. 

 N. n. 107; Linn. Zeyl. 45. N. indicum, fihquis anguftis, 

 eredlis, longis, geminis ; Burm. Zeyl. 167. t. 77.) — Leaves 

 oboTate-oblong, ftiort-pointed, fmooth. Corymbs moftly 

 terminal. Tube of the corolla fix times as long as tlie 

 calyx. Follicles diftinft. — Native of Ceylon. A hand- 

 fome ereft flirub, with numerous branches. Leaves on 

 ftiort ftalks, fpreading, two inches, or two and a half, 

 long. Tube as well as limb of the foivcrs each an inch in 

 length. Follicles thrice as long, a little fwelling upwards ; 

 their points converging. Brown. Burmann. 



2. W. zeylanica. Lanceolate-leaved Wrightia. Br. n. 2. 

 (Nerium zeylanicum ; Linn. Sp. PI. 306. Am. Acad. 

 V. 4. 309. Willd. Sp. PI. V. I. 1236. Apocynum arbo- 

 refcens, nerii flore minus ; Burm. Zeyl. 23. t. 12. f. 2.) 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate, blunt-pointed, fmooth. Corymbs 

 terminal. Tube of the corolla four or five times as long as 

 the calyx. Follicles diftinft.— Native of Ceylon. Our 

 fpecimen was given to Linnasus by Burmann. The branches 

 are long and ftraight, round, purplifli. Leaves fmaller than 

 the laft, about an inch and a half long, with more or lefs of 

 a linear blunt point. Flowers like the preceding, but, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Brown, the tube is fliorter in proportion. 



3. W. tinaoria. Dyer's Wrightia. Br. n. 3 — " Leaves 



J F 2 elliptic- 



