WEI 
602 WEI 
150,000/. a year. The military are reduced at present to 
1000 men. 
WEIMAR, the capital of the preceding grand duchy, is 
situated on the banks of the river Ilm; 50 miles west-south¬ 
west of Leipzic. In the early years of the present century, 
Weimar reckoned among its residents above 20 writers of 
note, at the head of whom were Schiller, Goethe, Herder, 
Wieland, and, for a time, Kotzebue. The public institutions 
of Weimar, if not numerous or extensive, are useful and well 
managed. 
WEINGARTEN, a town of Germany, in Baden; 18 
miles south-south-east of Spire, and 7 east-north-east of Carls- 
ruhe. Population 2700. 
WEINHEIM, a town of Germany, in Baden, and the 
Lower Palatinate, on the Weischnitz. It contains 4100 in¬ 
habitants ; 10 miles north of Heidelberg. 
WE1NITZ, a market town of Austrian Illyria, in Lower 
Carniola, on the river Culpa; 10 miles east-north-east of 
Gotschee. 
WEINMANNIA [so named in honour of Joh. Wilh. 
Weinmann, apothecary at Ratisbon, author of Phytan- 
thozo ; chnographia, 1735], in Botany, a genus of the class 
octandria, order digynia, natural order of saxifragse (Juss.) 
—Generic Character. Calyx, perianth four-leaved; leaflets 
ovate, patulous. Corolla: petals four, equal, bigger than 
the calyx. Stamina: filaments eight, erect, short. Anthers 
roundish. Pistil: germ roundish. Styles two, length of 
the stamens. Stigmas acute. Pericarp: capsule ovate, two- 
celled, two-beaked. Seeds about eight, roundish.— Essential 
Character. Calyx four-leaved. Corolla four-petalled. 
Capsule two-celled, two-beaked. 
1. Weinmannia glabra.—Leaves pinnate; leaflets ob- 
ovate, crenate, even. This is a small tree with opposite 
branches, the last of which are subpubescent. Flowers 
numerous, white, the same size as Tiniarella. Pedicels one- 
flowered, several from each point of the peduncle.—Native 
of Jamaica. 
2. Weinmannia hirta.—Leaves pinnate ; leaflets ovate, 
serrate-crenate, beneath and on the racemes hirsute.—Native 
of Jamaica, on the top of the blue mountains in the south¬ 
ern parts of the island; also in Montserrat. 
3. Weinmannia tomentosa.—Leaves pinnate ; leaflets 
ovate, quite entire, tomentose underneath; stipules caducous. 
This is a very branching leafy tree with a brownish bark.— 
Found in New Granada. 
4. Weinmannia trifoliata.—Leaves ternate; leaflets elliptic- 
lanceolate, serrate, very smooth ; panicles compound.—Na¬ 
tive of the Cape of Good Hope. 
5. Weinmannia racemosa.—Leaves simple, obovate-ellip- 
tic, obtuse, toothed; racemes smooth.—Native of New Zea¬ 
land. 
6. Weinmannia parviflora. — Leaves simple, oblong, 
acuminate, toothed ; racemes rough-haired, terminating, 
panicled.—Native of the island of Otaheite. 
WEIR, one of the smaller Orkney islands, containing 
about 65 inhabitants. It had formerly a church, which is 
now in ruins; 2 miles south of Rousa. 
WEIRD, adj. [from pypb, peapb, Sax. fate: the plural 
means the fates, who are called the weird sisters in Gawan 
Douglas’s Virgil. G. Chalmers.'] Skilled in witchcraft. 
The weird sisters hand-in-hand, 
Posters of the sea and land, 
Thus do go about, about. Shakspeare. 
WEISENAU, a town of Germany, in Hesse-Darmstadt. 
Population 900. 
WEISENHEIM AM SAND, a town of the Bavarian 
province of the Rhine, near Frankenthal. Population 1200. 
WEISSACH, a village of Germany in Wirtemberg. Po¬ 
pulation 1000. 
WEISSBACH, Upper, a village of Germany, in the 
principality of Schwartzburg-Rudolstadt. Population 1000. 
WEISSE (Christian-Felix), a German poet, was born in 
1726, at Annaberg, in Saxony, and educated, first at the 
Gymnasium of Altenburg, and afterwards at Leipsic. The 
objects to which his taste most powerfully inclined him were 
poetry and the drama; and he and his friend Lessing con- 1 
curred in translating for the stage from French and English 
works, and afterwards in furnishing original compositions 
He also contended with his friend in lyric poetry. Afte 
completing his course of education, he became private tuto 
in a family of distinction at Leipsic, pursuing his dramatic 
and poetical career, and gaining a great degree of popularity. 
He also edited the Bibliotheque of Belles Lettres, when Ni- 
cholai surrendered it. Although, in 1761, he obtained a 
place in the revenue at Leipsic, he prosecuted his employ¬ 
ment as a writer for the stage; and when he became the 
father of a family, he directed his attention to education, and 
published several pieces in this department: particularly in 
1772, a collection of short tales and moral maxims, which 
had a considerable circulation; and in 1775 he revived a 
weekly publication, which Adelung had discontinued, under 
the title of the “ Children’s Friend.” This work became 
afterwards a quarterly publication, and between the years 
1775 and 1782, passed through five editions. From this 
popular work Berquin derived the idea of his “ Ami des 
Enfans," and he was indebted to it for many of his materials. 
As Weisse’s children grew to maturity and settled in the 
world, he altered the plan of his work, and continued it 
under the form of Lettres; and Berquin also followed him 
in his “Ami des Adolescentes.” In 1790 the beautiful estate 
of Stotteritz near Leipsic, which Weisse inherited, placed 
his family in affluent circumstances, and furnished him with 
a pleasant residence. Towards the latter part of his life he 
contributed short fables and poetical tales to journals and 
periodical publications, which were well received, and at 
length closed his life with reputation, in December, 1804. 
His dramatic works, which were continued to five volumes, 
are said to have formed an epoch in the history of the Ger¬ 
man stage, and both his translations and original compositions 
were well received. Gen. Biog. 
WEISSENAU, a large village of Germany, in Hesse- 
Darmstadt, on the Rhine. 
WEISSENBERG, a town of Germany, in Saxony and 
Upper Lusatia, near Bautzen. 
WEISSENBOURG, a town of France, in Alsace, on the 
river Lauter; 14 miles south-by-west of Laudau. It has 
4100 inhabitants. 
WEISSENBURG, a walled town of Germany, in Bava¬ 
rian Franconia. It has some manufactures of jewellery, 
pins, and needles; 46 miles west of Ratisbon. Population 
3300. 
WEISSENBURG, Upper, or Felso Fejer Varmegye, 
a county of Transylvania, made up of several scattered tracts 
making in all an area of 640 square miles. 
WEISSENBURG, a township of the United States, in 
Lehigh county, Pennsylvania. Population 1046. 
WEISSENFELS, a town of Prussian Saxony, on the 
Saale; 20 miles west-south-west of Leipsic. Population 
nearly 4000.—2. A small town of Austrian Illyria, in 
Carniola ; 4 miles west-south-west of Tarvis. 
WEISSENHORN, a town of Germany, in Bavaria, on 
the river Roth ; 8 miles south east of Ulm. Population 
1200 . 
WEISSENSEE, a town of Prussian Saxony; 11 miles 
north of Erfurt Population 1700. 
WEISSENSEE, a lake of Austrian Illyria, in Carinthia, 
near the Drave. 
WEISSENSTADT, a town of Bavarian Franconia, on 
the Eger; 17 miles north-east of Bayreuth. Population 1000. 
WEISSENTHURN, a small town of the Prussian province 
of the Lower Rhine, situated on the Rhine, opposite to 
Neuwied. 
WEISSERITZ, a river of Germany, which rises in Bo¬ 
hemia, and joins the Elbe, near Dresden. 
WEISSIA [from Frid. Guil. Weiss, author of Plantae 
Cryptogamicae Florae Gottigensis], in Botany, a genus of 
moss. See Orthotrichum, vol. xvii. 
WEISSKIRCHEN, a town of Hungary, in what is called 
the military part of the Bannat ofl’emesvar; 58 miles south- 
bv-east of Temesvar. 
J WEISSKIRCHEN, 
