650 
W I c 
W I c 
WICKHAM, Child’s, a parish of England, in Glou¬ 
cestershire; 5| miles west-by-south of Chipping Campden. 
WICKHAM, East, a parish of England, in Kent; 
miles west-by-north of Crayford. 
WICKHAM MARKET, a village and parish of Eng¬ 
land, in the county of Suffolk, situated on the river Devon. 
It was formerly a market town. It is now a thoroughfare on 
the road from Woodbridge to Yarmouth, and contains seve¬ 
ral good inns. Population 906. 
WICKHAM, St. Paul, a parish of England, in Essex; 
3 miles east-by-north of Castle Hedingham. 
WICKHAM SKEITH, a parish of England, in Suffolk; 
5 miles south-west of Eye. Population 516. 
WICKHAM, West, a parish of England, in Cambridge¬ 
shire; 5 miles north-east of Linton. 
WICKHAMFORD, a parish of England, in Worcester¬ 
shire ; 2 miles south-east of Evesham, 
WlCKHAMPTON, a parish of England, in Norfolk; 4 
miles south-south-east of Acle. 
WICKLEWOOD, a parish of England, in Norfolk; 3 
miles west-by-north of Wymondbam. Population 534. 
WICKLIFF1STS, or Wickliffites, a religious sect, who 
had their rise in England in the 14th century, and their 
name from their leader, John Wickliffe. 
Wickliffe, of whose opinions we give some account in his 
biographical article, (see Wicliff,) denied that bishops were 
of a different order from priests, and that by virtue of their 
office they had any power to do what priests have not; and 
that in the apostolic times the two orders subsisting in the 
church were those of priest and deacon. With regard to 
tithes, he observes, that we do not read in the Gospel where 
Christ paid tithes, or commanded any man so to do; and 
that if they were due by God’s commandment, there should 
be every where in Christendom one manner of tithing; and 
that those things which are due to priests should be given 
freely, without exaction or constraining. In opposition to 
the papal claims of supremacy and dominion, he maintained 
that the grants of emperors may be resumed; that St. Peter 
and his successors have no rights conferred upon them of 
civil or political dominion; that the persons of the clergy 
and the goods of the church are not exempted from the civil 
powers; and that bulls of absolution or excommunication are 
conditional and not absolute, and depend for their effects on 
the disposition and character of those to whom they pertain. 
WICKLOW, a county of Ireland, in the province of 
Leinster, bounded on the north by Dublin, on the east by 
the Irish sea, on the south by Wexford, and on the west by 
Kildare and Carlow; about 32 miles from north to south, 
and from 15 to 26 in breadth, from east to west. It contains 
58 parishes, about 11,550 houses, and 58,000 inhabitants. 
Great part of this county is mountainous, with a mixture of 
rocks and bogs, so as to be ill adapted for cultivation. It is 
well wooded, and some of the vallies are fertile. The rivers 
Liffey and Slaney, with some others, have their sources in 
this county. Only two members are returned to the imperial 
parliament by the county.—2. A seaport town of Ireland, in 
the county of that name, on a small harbour in the Irish sea. 
it is boldly situated on the declivity of a lofty mountain, 
commanding an extensive prospect of Brayhead, and all the 
intervening flat country lying in that direction. The Black 
Castle is a huge rock, rising perpendicularly from the sea, on 
whose platform a castle seems to have been constructed, as 
appears from the few remaining fragments of the ruins still 
existing. A channel deeply cut into the solid rock, over 
which the draw-bridge was thrown, is still visible, and like¬ 
wise steps chizeled down its side, to communicate with the 
sea. This was a borough town previous to the union, and 
sent two members to the Irish parliament; 41 miles north of 
Wexford, and 22 south of Dublin. Lat. 52. 59. N. long. 
6. 3. W. 
W1CKMERE, a parish of England, in Norfolk; 5 miles 
north-north-west of Aylesham. 
WICKTON, a parish of England, in Herefordshire; 4| 
miles south-east of Leominster. 
WICKWA, a small lake of Canada, at the eastern ex¬ 
tremity of Lake St. John. 
WICKWARE, a market town of England, in the county 
of Gloucester, situated on two small streams, over one of 
which it has a handsome stone bridge. The church is a spa¬ 
cious building, having two ailes, with a lofty tower at the 
west end, ornamented with pinnacles. Here is a good free 
school, endowed by one Alexander Hosea, a native of the 
place. Wickware is a very ancient corporation, governed 
by a mayor and an indefinite number of aldermen. Of late 
years the town is much decayed, and at present is without 
any trade. A trifling market on Monday, and two annual 
fairs; 17 miles north-east of Bristol, and 111 west of Lon¬ 
don. Population 805. 
WICKWICK, a small hamlet of England, in Gloucester¬ 
shire, near Chipping Sodbury. 
WICLIFF, De Wyclif, or Wickliffe (John), the 
earliest reformer of religion from Popery, was born about the 
year 1324 in Yorkshire, hear the river Tees, in a parish 
whence he takeshis name. He was educated at Oxford, first as 
a commoner of Queen’s college, and then at Merton college, 
peculiarly celebrated at that period for its learned members. 
His industry and talents soon raised him to distinction; and 
he is said to have committed to memory the most abstruse 
parts of Aristotle, and to have excelled in his acquaintance 
with the subtleties of the school divinity. He was also emi¬ 
nently skilled in civil and canon law, and in the law of the 
land. But the study which led to his future fame was that 
of the Scriptures; to which he added a diligent perusal of 
the Latin fathers, and of the writings of the English divines, 
Robert Grosthead and Richard Fitz-Ralph. In his treatise 
“ Of the Last Age of the Church,” at the early period of the 
year 1356, he remonstrated against some Popish corruptions; 
and in 1360 he was active in opposing the encroachments of 
the Mendicant Friars, who interfered with the jurisdiction 
and statutes of the university, and took all opportunities of 
enticing the students from the colleges into their convents. In 
the following year, such was the credit he had acquired by 
his conduct and writings, he was appointed master of Baliol 
college, and was presented to a living in Lincolnshire. At 
this time he was held in such esteegj by archbishop Simon 
Islip, that in 1365 he constituted him warden of Canterbury 
college, which he had just founded; but on occasion of a 
dispute between the regular and secular priests, Wickliffe and 
the three secular fellows were rejected; and on an appeal to 
Rome, the sentence against Wickliffe was confirmed in 1370. 
His reputation in the university was not at all diminished by 
his exclusion. In 1372 he took the degree of D.D., and 
read lectures, which gained him such applause, that whatever 
he said was regarded as an oracle. The impostures of the 
monks were the objects to which his first attacks were par¬ 
ticularly directed; and the circumstances of the times fa¬ 
voured his design. The court of Rome was now enforcing 
by menaces its demands on king Edward III. of the homage 
and tribute to the see of Rome, which had been ingloriously 
stipulated by king John ; and the parliament had determined 
to support the king in his refusal. A monk appeared as an 
advocate on behalf of the claims of Rome; and Wickliffe’s 
reply caused him to be favourably regarded at court, and pro¬ 
cured for him the patronage of the king’sson, John of Gaunt, 
duke of Lancaster. In 1374 Wickliffe was joined in an 
embassy to Bruges, the object of which was to confer with the 
papal nuncios concerning the liberties of the English church, 
on which the usurpations of Rome had made unwarrantable 
encroachments. In the same year the king presented him to 
the valuable rectory of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire; and 
in the following year he was installed in a prebend of the 
collegiate church of Westbury, in Gloucestershire. Wick¬ 
liffe, by his foreign mission, had an opportunity of acquaint¬ 
ing himself with the corruption and tyranny of the court of 
Rome; and both his lectures and conversations were ampli¬ 
fied with invectives against the pope. Whilst he defended 
the authority of the crown and the privileges of the nobles 
against all ecclesiastical encroachments, lie censured vice and 
corruption 
