W A K 
■side of a hill, sloping gently southward to the Calder. The 
town is exceedingly well built. Most of the streets are regu¬ 
lar, handsome, and spacious ; and many of the houses, 
which are in general constructed of brick, are large, lofty, and 
elegant. The market-place is somewhat confined, but has 
been rendered much more convenient by the removal of the 
corn-market into Westgate, an adjacent street, which is very 
broad, and of a considerable length. The market-cross 
is an elegant structure, being an open colonnade of the Doric 
order, supporting a dome, with an ascent of an 
open circular pair of stairs, leading to a large room, 
which receives its light from a lantern at the top, and 
an which most of the business of the town is transacted. 
The parish church is a spacious and lofty Gothic structure, 
and the spire is considered the highest in Yorkshire. In this 
town is a free grammar school, founded and endowed by 
queen Elizabeth, but much improved by private benefac¬ 
tions. The school-house is a noble and spacious building, 
erected by the Savilles, ancestors of the earl of Mexborough. 
Here is also a charity school, founded for the instruction and 
clothing of poor boys and girls in Wakefield. The chari¬ 
table donations to this town, indeed, are very considerable, 
amounting, it is said, to not less than 2000/. per annum, and 
are under the direction of fourteen trustees, called governors. 
At the bottom of Westgate, the principal street in the town, 
is the house of correction for the whole Riding. This prison 
is a large and noble structure of stone, surrounded by an 
outer wall, and contains above 150 cells. It has under¬ 
gone lately considerable enlargement, for the purpose of 
separating the women from the men, and to class the 
prisoners according to their ages and crimes. The pri¬ 
soners manufacture great part of their own clothing, and also 
clothing for the pauper-lunatic asylum. At the south-east 
entrance into Wakefield is a handsome stone bridge over the 
Calder. 
The trade of this town is greatly promoted by the Calder 
navigation. This river was rendered navigable to Wakefield 
in the year 1698; and in 1763 its navigation was extended 
to Ealand, or Elland, near Halifax. Great quantities of 
coals are carried by water from Wakefield, as well as from 
Leeds, into the Ouse, and then up that river to York, or 
down the Humber to Hull, by which means extensive tracks 
of country are supplied with great quantities of that valuable 
fuel. The market is held on Friday; and a great deal of 
business is done, particularly in the sale of wool and grain. 
Wakefield being one of the greatest corn markets in Eng¬ 
land, contains immense corn warehouses, erected on the 
banks of the Calder, chiefly since 1800. Here are two an¬ 
nual fairs, each of which continues two days, viz., July 4th 
and 5th, and November 11th and 12th, for horses, horned 
cattle, pedlary ware, &c. The fortnight fairs, held every 
other Wednesday, are very much noted, and contribute to 
supply an extensive track to the westward, with butcher’s 
meat, being well attended by graziers and jobbers from Lin¬ 
colnshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, and Craven, and 
by butchers from Halifax, Huddersfield, Sheffield, and Man¬ 
chester; 9 miles south of Leeds, and 186 north of London. 
Population in 1811, 8593; in 1821, 10,764; the increase 
in ten years being 2171. 
WAKEFIELD, a post township of the United States, in 
Strafford county, New Hampshire; 42 miles north-north¬ 
west of Portsmouth. Population 1166. 
WAKEFIELD, Lower, a township of the United States, 
in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Population 1089. 
WAKEFIELD, Upper, a township of the United States, 
in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Population 1271. 
WAKEFUL, • adj. Not sleeping; vigilant. 
Dissembling sleep, but wakeful with the fright. 
The day takes off the pleasure of the night. Dryden. 
WAKEFULNESS, s. Want of sleep.—Other perfumes 
are fit to be used in burning agues, consumptions, and too 
much wakefulness. Bacon.— Forbearance of sleep. 
Broad open sight, eternal wakefulness, 
Withouten labour, or consuming pain. More. 
W A L 535 
WAKELY, a hamlet of England, in Hertfordshire; 2 
miles south-west of Buntingford. 
To WA'KEN, v. n. To watch; not to sleep. 
The eyes of heaven that nightly waken 
To view the wonders of the glorious Maker. 
Beaum. and FI. 
To cease from sleep; to be roused from sleep.- 
Early Turnus wakening with the light, 
All clad in armour, calls his troops to fight. Dryden. 
To WA'KEN, v. a. To rouse from sleep.—We make no 
longer stay; go, waken Eve. Milton. —To excite to ac¬ 
tion. 
When Homer’s and Tyrtaeus’ martial muse 
Waken'd the world, and sounded loud alarms. Roscommon. 
To produce; to excite. 
They introduce 
Their sacred song, and waken raptures high. Milton. 
WA'KENER, s. An exciter.—The Egyptians held salt 
as the wakener of carnality. Feltham. 
WAKENITZ, a river of Denmark, in the duchy of Lau- 
enburg, which flows out of the lake of Ratzeburg, and joins 
the Trave. 
WA'KER, s. One who watches. One who rouses from 
sleep.—Late watchers are no early wakers. B. Jonson. 
WAKERING, Great and Little, adjoining parishes 
of England, in the county of Essex; about 4 miles east-north¬ 
east of Southend. Population 849. 
WAKERLEY, a parish of England, in Northamptonshire, 
near the river Welland. 
WA'KEIIOBIN, s. [arum, Lat.] A plant. Miller. 
WAKING, s. Watch. Obsolete. —Aboute the fourth 
waking of the night. Wickliffe. —The period of continuing 
awake.—His sleeps and his wakings are so much the same, 
that he knows not how to distinguish them. Butler. 
WALACHIA, or Wallachja, an extensive province in 
the north of Turkey in Europe, situated between 44. 0. and 
45. 58. of north latitude. It is bordered on the north by a 
range of mountains, separating it from Transylvania and 
Moldavia; on the south by a boundary equally majestic, the 
Danube flowing from west to east, and dividing it from the 
interior of Turkey. Its form is oblong; its length, from 
west to east, about 250 miles; its medium breadth about 
160. Its area, not yet ascertained with accuracy, is com¬ 
puted at between 25,000 and 28,000 square miles, equal to 
the half of England and Wales, though the pQpulation is to 
ours in the ratio of only one-eighth. The chief towns are 
Bucharest, Tergovista, Braclow, and Giorgiev. 
The face of the country is considerably diversified. In 
the north it is mountainous, the Carpathian chain, that forms 
its frontier, sending forth a number of branches. The cen¬ 
tral and southern parts of the province are less uneven, con¬ 
sisting partly of valleys fertile and romantic, and partly of 
plains extensive and pleasant. Few countries are more in¬ 
debted to nature, or might carry cultivation to a greater 
length. At present, however, the unsettled state of its 
inhabitants, and its physical defects render its capabilities 
nugafory. 
The principal rivers are, first, the Danube, which being 
here in the lowest part of its course, rolls a great volume of 
water, and receives a number of tributary streams, both from 
the north and south. The former are in general the larger, 
viz., the Alt or Aluta, the Dumbowitza, the Jalomitza, and 
the Sereth. The climate of Walachia partakes much more 
of extremes than that of Britain, the cold of winter, though 
not of long duration, being severe, in consequence partly of 
the bleak regions to the east and north, partly of the neg¬ 
lected state of the surface of the country; while the summer 
heats are much greater than in Britain. The soil in the 
northern part of the province corresponds to the mountain¬ 
ous character of the country; but in the plains and valleys 
of the south, it is in general rich and fertile. Yet, even in 
these 
