W R 1 



W R O 



whitenefs, and rub it upon the paper, and then write with 

 a filver bodkin, or the like. Boyle's Works abr. vol. i. 

 p. 114, 1 15. See Ink. 



The difcharging of ink out of parchment, paper, &c. is 

 commonly done by aqua fortis diluted fufficiently with 

 water, that it may not deftroy the paper. The like may be 

 done with oil, or fpirit of vitriol diluted. The juice of 

 lemons, or ftrong vinegar, will take ink out of linen more 

 fafely, as the mmeral acids are apt to deftroy the linen, 

 unleis great care be ufed in diluting them. 



We may write on iron with corrofive fublimate wetted 

 with common water : for this purpofe, the parts of metal 

 we would preferve untouched ftiould be covered with wax, 

 and that taken off in the proper places to make way for the 

 corroding fubftance. Boyle, ib. p. 528. 



The like may be praftifed by means of aqua fortis. 



Mr. Boyle mentions a method he had of copying a whole 

 page of writing at once. But we do not find his defcrip- 

 tion of it any where. Ib. p. 136. 



A machine has been lately invented and conftruded by 

 Meffrs. Watt and Co. of Birmingham ; by means of wliich 

 letters and other writings may be copied. For an account 

 of the ilrufture and ufe of this machine, we muft refer to 

 the direftions for copying with it, furnifhed by the inven- 

 tors ; obferving, however, that the date, at which a writing 

 will yield a copy, is extremely uncertain, from the weather, 

 as it is more or lefs drying, and from the ftate of the ink. 

 In general the purpofe will be anfwered to the end of 

 twenty-four hours, and fometimes of three or four days ; 

 but it is moft advifeable to copy letters as foon after they are 

 written as may prove convenient. See Copying. 



Mr. Boyle informs us of a method of imitating writing 

 on copper-plates. The copy to be engraved is to be wrote 

 with a peculiar kind of ink, and the coppff-plate being 

 moderately warmed is rubbed over with a white varnifli, 

 and fufFered to cool ; then the paper being gently moiftened, 

 that it may readily communicate its ink, the writing is ap- 

 plied to the prepared furface of the plate, and paffed through 

 a roUing-prefs ; by which means, the ink adhering to the 

 varnifh leaves the letters very confpicuous. And hence it 

 is eafy with a needle to trace the ftrokes through the varnifh 

 upon the plate, which being afterwards cleaned, the letters 

 are finifhed with the graver, and the work printed off in a 

 roUing-prefs, as common cuts. 



Mr. Boyle does not mention what the varnifh or ink, 

 ufed by the artificer from whom he received this method, 

 was ; but he tells us, that he himfelf ufed the purer fort of 

 virgin wax for a varnifh ; and for his ink he took fine 

 Frankfort black, carefully ground with water, till it ob- 

 tained the confiflence of common ink ; but no gum was 

 added, left it fhould hinder the ink from coming off. He 

 alfo obferves, that written charafters may be taken off with- 

 out the help of a prefs, by laying the moiftened paper 

 fraooth upon the varnifhed copper, and rubbing it on hard 

 with a convex piece of glafs. See Sympathetic Ink. 



In law, we fay, deeds, conveyances, &c. are to be in 

 writing. A will may either be in writing, or by word of 

 mouth. 



We alfo fay, lurltten laiv, lex /cripla, in oppofition to 

 common law, which is called lex non/cripta. We have alfo 

 •written and unwritten traditions, &c. 



Authentic writings of any contraft, fealed and delivered, 

 make the evidences thereof. 



La Vayer has a curious differtation on the proof of fafts 

 by comparifon of hand-writings, in which he endeavours 

 to fhew this method of proof to be very fufpicious and 

 fallacious. 10 



Writing, Gothic. See Gothic. 



Writing, Secret. See Cryptography, Stbganogra- 



PHY, SCYTALA, CiPHER, DECIPHERING, &C. 



Writing, Short. See Brachygraphy, Stenogra- 

 phy, and Tachygraphy. 



Writings, Stealing of. See Larceny. 



WRITTEN Evidence. See Evidence. 



Written Tradition. See Tradition. 



WRITZEN, in Geography, a town of the Middle Mark 

 of Brandenburg, on a branch of the Oder ; 1 8 miles N. W. 

 of Cuftrin. 



WRONG, in a Logical Senft. See Error, False- 

 hood, and Truth. 



Wrong, in a Legal Senfe, injury, tort. See Injury, 

 and Tort. 



Wrongs are divifible into two forts, vi%. private and 

 public. The former are an infringement or privation of the 

 private or civil rights belonging to individuals, confidered 

 as fuch ; and are frequently termed civil injuries. The latter 

 are a breach and violation of pubhc rights and dtities, which 

 affeft the whole community, confidered as fuch ; and are 

 diftinguifhed by the harfher appellation of crimes and mif- 

 demeanours. 



Wrong, Executor of his own. See Executor de fort 

 Tort. 



■ 'WRO'SG-Lands, in our Old Writers, feem to denote trees 

 that will never prove timber ; fuch as wrong the ground 

 they grow 'in. 



Wrongs, in Agriculture, a term applied to the crooked 

 arms or large boughs of trees, when the fagot-wood is 

 cut off from them. 



WROTHAM, in Geography, a market-town in the 

 upper half hundred of the fame name, in the lathe of 

 Aylesford, and county of Kent, England, is fituated near 

 the bafe of fame chalk-hills, at the diflance of 10 miles 

 W.N.W. from Maidftone, and 24 miles S.E. by E. from 

 London. The manor was granted by king Ethelflan, in 

 the year 964, to the priory of Chrift-church, Canterbury. 

 On the divifion of the pofTeffions of the monks by Lanfranc, 

 it was allotted to the archbifhops of Canterbury, who had a 

 palace and frequently refided here, till the time of archbifhop 

 Iflip, who pulled down the buildings for the fake of the 

 materials, which he applied to the completion of the palace 

 at Maidftone, which his predecelTor, John Ufford, had 

 begun. Archbifhop Cranmer refigned the manor to 

 Henry VIII., and it was granted by Edward VI. to fir 

 John Mafon, who difpofed of it to the Byngs, anceftors of 

 the lords Torrington, of whom it was purchafed by William 

 James, efq. of Ightham, whofe defcendants ftill pofTefs it. 

 Wrotham church, the only public edifice in the town, is 

 a fpacious well-built ftrufture, and confifts of a nave, aifles, 

 chancel, and tranfept, with an embattled tower at the weft 

 end ; the chancel is light and elegant. The fepulchral me- 

 morials are numerous ; among which are feveral curious 

 brafTes, recording the family of Peckham, who were reiident 

 in this parifh during feveral centuries. The Rayner family, 

 who refided at Wrotham-Place the whole of the 17th cen- 

 tury, have alfo monuments here. The reftory is efteemed 

 one of the beft livings in Kent. Of the ancient archiepif- 

 copal palace little now remains but a gateway, and a fub- 

 Ifantial ftone building which formed part of the offices. 

 The population return of the year 181 1 ilates the town to 

 contain 107 houfes, and 613 inhabitants. Here is an annual 

 fair, and a weekly market on Tuefday. The parifh is very 

 extenfive, comprehending the villages of Hale, Nepicar, 

 Plaxted, Winfield, and Roughway. In a park within the 

 limits of the parifh is a capital roanfion, once the feat of fir 



Harry 



