W Y C 



the " Plain Dealer," gave orders for the payment of his 

 debts, and fettled upon him a penfion of 200/. a year. 



His circumftances were ftill embarraffed, and though by 

 his father's death he became a tenant of the eftate to which 

 he fucceeded, he was not emancipated from his difficulties. 

 Some time after he married a young woman, on whom he 

 fettled a jointure of 1500/., humouroudy ftipulating with her 

 that fhe fhould not take an old man for lier fecond hufband, 

 which condition, it is faid, (lie promifed faithfully to ob- 

 ferve. He died in 17 15, at the age of 75- 



Befides the two comedies already mentioned, he compofed 

 " The Gentleman Dancing-Mafter," and " The Country- 

 Wife." The laft and the Plain Dealer are faid to be the 

 moft noted. • His plays, though commended by lord Ro- 

 chefter, are flrongly marked with his own charafter, — " fome 

 wit and ftrength of delineation, with much coarfenefs and 

 licentioufncfs." He attacks vice, it is faid, with the feverity 

 of a cynic, and the language of a Hbertine. A volume of 

 poems publifhed in 1704 was fo unfuccefsful, that he applied 

 to Pope, who was a mere youth, to correft the verfification. 

 Dr. Johnfon remarks, that " when Pope was fufficiently 

 bold in his eriticifms, and liberal in his alterations, the 

 old fcribbler was angry to fee his pages defaced, and felt 

 more pain from the deteftion than content from the amend- 

 ment of his faults." The pofthumous works of Wycherley, 

 in profe and verfe, were publilhed by Theobald in 1728, 

 870., but they are utterly forgotten. Biog. Brit. John- 

 fou's Life of Pope. Gen. Biog. 



WYCK, John, was the fon of Thomas Wyck, a painter 

 of (hipping and views of towns, of no very great celebrity, 

 who was ill England in the time of Charles II. John was 

 born at Haerlcm about the year 1640, and diftinguilhed 

 himfelf as a painter of battles and fieges, and fometimes of 

 huntings and proceflions. He imitated the ftyle of Wouver- 

 mans and Vander Meulen, but never obtained their neatnefs 

 or fini(h, though his colour is oftentimes very agreeable. 

 His execution is better upon a fmall than a larger fcale. 

 He died at Mortlake in 1702. 



Wyck, in Geography, a part of the city of Maeftricht, 

 on the E. fide of the Meufe, ilrongly fortified. See Maes- 

 TRICHT. — Alfo, a fmall fea-port of RufTia, on the W. coail 

 of the ifland of Efel. 



Wyck op Zee, a town of Holland, near the fea ; 3 miles 

 W. of Beverwick. 



Wyck te Duerflede, a town of Holland, in the depart- 

 ment of Utrecht, fuppofed to be mentioned by Tacitus, by 

 the name of " Batavodurum," and faid to have been built 

 by Battus, prince of the Catti. It was granted, with its 

 territory, to Rixfride, the feventh bifliop of Utrecht, and 

 his fucceflbrs, for the zeal he had (hewn in converting the 

 infidels. Trithemius relates, that it was anciently three 

 leagues in circumference, and had 55 pari(h-churches, and 

 that it had been dellroyed by the Normans and Danes three 

 feveral times ; 13 miles S.E. of Utrecht. 



WYCLIFFE, a fmall village and parilh in the wapen- 

 take of Weft Culling, North Riding of York(hire, England, 

 is fituated two miles N.E. from Greta-bridge ; and in the 

 year 181 1 was returned as containing 26 houfes, and 140 

 inhabitants. 



WYCOMBE, High, or Chlpping-Wycombe, a large 

 market and borough town in the hundred of Defborough, 

 Buckinghamlhire, England, is fituated 34 miles S.S.E. from 

 the county town, and 29 miles W. by N. from London, on 

 the banks of a fmall river, which rifes at Weft Wycombe, 

 and, in its courfe through this parifh, turns feveral corn and 

 paper mills. A weekly market on Fridays has been held 

 from tirae immemorial, and is a great mart for corn and 



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other articles : here is alfo an annual fair. This borough 

 has fent members to parliament from the 28th year of 

 Edward I.: the right of eleftion is vefted in the mayor, 

 aldermen, baihfis, and burge(res ; and the number of voters 

 is about 180. Edmund Waller, the poet, was one of the 

 reprefentatives in 1635; fir Edmund Verney, king Charles's 

 ftandard-bearer, who fell at the battle of Edgehill, was 

 elefted to the parliaments of 1639 and 1640; and Thomas 

 Scott, the regicide, was a member during the proteftoratc 

 of Cromwell. The firft incorporation of the town appears 

 to have been in 1461 ; but the mayor and aldermen are 

 mentioned in a record of the reign of Edward III. : the 

 earlieft charter now extant bears date 1586. The corpora- 

 tion confifts of a mayor, twelve aldermen, a recorder, and 

 other officers ; formerly here was a high fteward, but t^e 

 ofBce was annulled by a charter of Charles II. ; yet fince 

 that time it has been held (by virtue of former charters) by 

 the earl of Bridgewater, lord-chancellor JefFeries, and the 

 marquis of Wharton. According to the population return 

 of the year 181 1, the town contained 494 houfes and 2490 

 inhabitants : the parifh is extenfive, and includes feveral ham- 

 lets, which make an addition of 2266 to the population, 

 and 449 to the number of houfes. The manor of Wycombe 

 having paffed through a variety of families, was fold, toge- 

 ther with the manors of Loakes and Windfors, or Chapel- 

 fee, by Thomas Archdale, efq. in 1 700 to Henry Petty, lord 

 Shelburne,'who bequeathed all his eftates to his nephew, John 

 Fitzmaurice, afterwards earl of Shelburne. His fon, who 

 in 1784 was created earl Wycombe and marquis of Lanf- 

 down, fold thefe manors by auftion, which were purchafed 

 by the prefent proprietor, lord Carrington. The manor- 

 houfe of Loakes, fituated near the town, was confiderably 

 enlarged and improved by lord Shelburne, and the marquis 

 of Lanfdown beftovved much expence in laying out the 

 gardens and pleafure-grounds. The houfe has been almoft 

 wholly rebuilt by the preient noble owner, from the defigns 

 of James Wyatt : it is now called Wycombe-abbey. The 

 parilh-church of High Wycombe is mentioned by Warton 

 as having been built in the reign of Henry II. : the prefent 

 fabric is of much later date, and the tower was built in 

 1522. Between the aifle and the chancel is an ancient oak 

 fcreen, which, by an infcription, appears to have been put 

 up in 1460, at the expence of the Redhead family. In the 

 chancel is a monument to Henry Petty, earl of Shelburne, 

 who died in 175 1. It was executed by Schecmakers, at 

 the expence of 2COo/., which was bequeathed by his lord- 

 (hip for that purpofe. In the fouth aifle is a very handfome 

 monument by Carlini, for Sophia, countefs of Shelburne, 

 (firft wife of the late marquis,) who died in 179 1, with a 

 female figure reclining on an urn. In the church are me- 

 morials of the famihes of Archdale, Lluiiyn, Shrimpton, 

 and Bradlhaw. William Bradfhaw, who died in 1614, ^^^s 

 103 years of age. In the church-yard is the tomb of 

 Robert Williams, the late fexton, who died in 1793, at the 

 age of 102. Two hofpitals for lepers were founded in this 

 town in the early part of the 13th century : one of them 

 was granted by queen Elizabeth to the corporation ; and 

 the lands are now applied to the maintenance of an hofpital 

 or alms-houfe for poor people, and a gramniar-fehool. 



Wycombe, IVefi, is a populous village and parifh in the 

 hundred of Defborough, fituated about two indes N.W. by 

 W. from High Wycombe, on the road to Oxford. It was 

 anciently called Haverindon. The manor was from a 

 remote period till the Reformation attached to the fee of 

 Winchefter : the prefent proprietor is fir John Dalhwood 

 King, who has a feat here, named Weft Wycombe-houfe, 

 which was built by fir Francis Dafhwood, but was much 



enlarged, 



