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533 
superb dresses, or splendid cloaks. We have an account in Ry- 
mer’s Fcedera, (tom. ix. “ De Minstrielles propter Solatium Re¬ 
gis providendis,”) and in the “ Liber nigerDomus Regis,” of 
the establishment of the minstrels and waits, in the service of 
the court during the reign of Edward IV. The account of 
the allowances to the waits at this early period is curious. 
“ A wayte, that nightelye from Mychelmas to Shreve 
Thorsdaye pipethe the watche withen this courte fower 
tymes ; in the somere nyghtes iij tymes, and makethe 
bon gayte at every chambere-doare and offyce, as well for 
feare of pyckeres and pillers. He eateth in the halle with 
mynstrielles, and takethe lyverey at nighte a Ioffe, a galone 
of alle, and for somere nightes ij candles pich, a bushel of 
coles; and for wintere nightes half a loafe of bread, a galone 
of ale, iiij candles piche, a bushel of coles; daylye whilste 
he is presente in courte for his wages in cheque roale allowed 
iiij d. ob. or else iij d. by the discresshon of the steuarde and 
tressorere, and that, aftere his cominge and diseruinge ; also 
cloathinge with the houshold yeomen or mynstrielles lyke to 
the wages that he takethe; and he be syke he taketh twoe 
loves, ij messe of great meate, one gallon of ale. Also he 
partethe with the housholde of general gyfts, and hathe his 
beddinge carried by the comptrollers assygment; and under 
this yeoman to be a groome watere. Yf he can excuse the 
yeoman in his absence, then he takethe rewarde, clotheinge, 
meat, and all other things lyke to other grooms of houshold. 
Also this yeoman-waighte, at the makinge of knightes of the 
bathe, for his attendance upon them by nighte-tyme, in 
watchinge in the chappelle, hathe to his fee all the watchinge- 
clothing that the knight shall wear uppon him.” 
WAITSFIELD, a township of the United States, in 
Washington county, Vermont; 18 miles south-west of Mont¬ 
pelier. 
WAITZEN, or Vacs, a town of Hungary, beautifully 
situated on a bend of the Danube; 19 miles north of Pest, 
and 95 east ofPresburg. Population 5200. 
WAITZENKIRCHEN, a small town of Germany, in 
Upper Austria ; 19 miles west of Lintz. 
WAIVE, in Law, a woman that is put out of the pro¬ 
tection of the Law. See Outlawry. 
WAIWODE, or Waywode, the appellation that dis¬ 
tinguishes, in the Ottoman empire, the governor of a small 
province, or of a town. 
WAKATOMIKA, a river of the United States, in Ohio, 
which runs south-east, and joins the Muskingum ; 13 miles 
above Zanesville. 
WAKAYA, a river of North America, which falls into 
Lake Michigan from the west. 
WAKAYGAGH, or Fort, a river of the United States, 
in the North-w'est Territory, which runs into Lake Michigan. 
Lat. 42. 58. N. long. 87. 9. W. 
WAKE, a county of the United States, in the central part 
of North Carolina. Chief town, Raleigh. 
To WAKE, v n. \_wakan, Goth.; pacian, Sax.; wacckcn, 
Dutch.] To watch ; not to sleep. 
All night she watch’d, ne-once a-down would lay 
Her dainty limbs in her sad dreriment. 
But praying still did wake, and -waking did lament. 
Spenser. 
To be roused from sleep.—Each tree stirr’d appetite, 
whereat I -wak'd. Milton. —To cease to sleep. 
Come, thou powerful god. 
And thy leaden charming rod. 
Dipt in the Lethean lake, 
O’er his watchful temples shake, 
Lest he should sleep and never -wake. Denham. 
To be quick; to be alive. 
In the valley of Jehoshaphat, 
The judging god shall close the book of fate; 
And there the last assizes keep, 
For those who wake , and those who sleep. Dryden. 
To be put in action ; to be excited,—Gentle airs to fan the 
earth now wak'd. Milton. 
Vol. XXIV. No. 1654, 
W A K 
To WAKE, ». a. [peccian, Sax.; wecken, Dutch.] To 
rouse from sleep.—They wak'd each other, and I stood and 
heard them. Shakspeare. —To excite; to put in motion, or 
action.—Prepare war, wake up the mighty men; let them 
come up. Joel. 
Thine, like Amphion's hand, had wak'd the stone, 
And from destruction called the rising town ; 
Nor could he burn so fast as thou could’st build. Prior. 
To bring to life again, as if from the sleep of death. 
To second life, 
Wak'd in the renovation of the just. Milton. 
\Wakna, Goth., to watch.] To watch or attend a corpse. 
—The waiting a dead body before interment, is called in 
Sued. “ washtuga.” Hence our phrase, to wake a corpse, 
and leik-wake; compounded of the two Goth, words leik, 
a dead body, and wakna, to watch. Callander. 
WA'KE, s. The feast of the dedication of the church, 
formerly kept by watching all night, [from wak, Sax. 
drinking. ] A country fair. 
Fill oven ful of flawnes, Ginnie passe not for sleepe, 
To-morrow thy father his wake- daie will keepe. Tusser. 
Vigils; state of forbearing sleep. 
By dimpled brook, and fountain brim, 
The wood-nymphs, deckt with daisies trim, 
Their merry wakes and pastimes keep: 
What hath night to do with sleep ? Milton. 
Act of waking from sleep.—Twixt sleep and wake. Old 
Song. —The track formed on the water by the course of a 
ship. 
The learned Mr. Whitaker, in his History of Manchester, 
hath given a particular account of the origin of wakes and 
fairs. He observes, that every church at its consecration 
received the name of some particular saint: this custom was 
practised among the Roman Britons, and continued among 
the Saxons; and in the council of Cealchythe, in 816, the 
name of the denominating saint was expressly required to be 
inscribed on the altars, and also on the walls of the church, 
or a tablet within it. The feast of this saint became of course 
the festival of the church. These Christian festivals, in the 
room of the primitive ayetira;, or love-feasts, were substituted 
for the idolatrous anniversaries of heathenism : accordingly at 
the first introduction of Christianity among the Jutes of Kent, 
pope Gregory the Great advised what had been previously 
done among the Britons, viz. Christian festivals, to be insti¬ 
tuted in the room of the idolatrous, and the suffering-day of 
the martyr whose relics were deposited in the church, or the 
day on which the building was actually dedicated, to be the 
established feast of the parish. Both were appointed and 
observed; and they were clearly distinguished at first among 
the Saxons, as appears from the laws of the Confessor, 
where the djes dedicationis, or dedicatio, is repeatedly dis¬ 
criminated from the propria festioitas sancti, or celebratio 
sancti. They remained equally distinct till the Reformation; 
the dedication-day in 1536 being ordered for the future to be 
kept on the first Sunday in October, and the festival of the 
patron saint to be celebrated no longer. The latter was, by 
way of pre-eminence, denominated the church’s holiday, or 
its peculiar festival; and while this remains in many parishes 
at present, the other is so utterly annihilated in all, that 
bishop Kennet, says Mr. Whitaker, knew nothing of its dis¬ 
tinct existence, and has attributed to the day of dedication 
what is true only concerning the saint’s day. Thus insti¬ 
tuted at first, the day of the tutelar saint was observed, most 
probably by the Britons, and certainly by the Saxons, with 
great devotion. And the evening before every saint’s day, 
in the Saxon-Jewish method of reckoning the hours, being 
an actual part of the day, and therefore like that appropri¬ 
ated to the duties of public religion, as they reckoned Sun¬ 
day from the first to commence at the sun-set of Saturday ; 
the evening preceding the church’s holiday would be ob¬ 
served with all the devotion of the festival. The people 
actually repaired to the church, and joined in the services of 
