W I D 
652 
have derived most of his doctrines. We have a full and 
complete “ History of the Life and Sufferings, and various 
Writings of Wickliffe,” both printed and MS., published in 
8vo., at London, in the year 1720, by Mr. John Lewis; who 
also published, in 1731, “Wickliffe’s English Translation 
of the New Testament from the Latin Version, called the 
Vulgate.” This translation is enriched with a learned pre¬ 
face by the editor, in which he enlarges upon the life, 
actions, and sufferings of this eminent reformer.— Biog. 
Brit. Mosh. Eccl. Hist. Neal's Hist, of the Puritans. 
Gen. Biog. 
WI'CLIFFITE, s. One of the followers of the great reli¬ 
gious reformer Wicliffe.—If two persons were met travelling 
on the road, it was much if one of them was not a WicliJ/ite. 
Lewis. 
WICOMICO, a river of the United States, in Maryland, 
which rises in Delaware, and falls into the Chesapeak, south 
of thfi ]V&nticokG« 
WICOMICO’church, a post village of the United 
States, in Northumberland county, Virginia. 
WICQUEFORT (Abraham), was born at Amsterdam in 
1598, and having left his own country for France at an early 
age, he was nominated resident for the elector of Branden¬ 
burg at the French court, and held the office for thirty-two 
years. But being suspected by cardinal Mazarin of commu¬ 
nicating secrets to his correspondents in Holland with regard 
to the amours of Lewis XIV., he was ordered, in 1658, to 
leave the kingdom; but in the mean time he was arrested, 
and confined in the Bastille. At length, in 1659, he was 
released and dismissed. However, in three months the car¬ 
dinal recalled him, and settled on him a pension. On occa¬ 
sion of the war between France and Holland in 1672, he 
returned to his own country, and was protected by John de 
Witt, who employed him in writing a history of Holland to 
his own time. In 1676 he was arrested, and condemned to 
perpetual imprisonment, under an accusation of carrying on 
a secret correspondence with the enemies of the state ; and 
after having been confined for three years, he made his escape 
by the contrivance of one of his daughters. He then sought 
refuge at the court of Zell, from which he returned to Hol¬ 
land in 1681, where he lived without molestation, but with¬ 
out recovering the places of which he had been deprived. 
In the following year, 1682, he died. The work on account 
of which Wicquefort is best known, is entitled “ L’Ambas- 
sadeur et ses Fonctions,” first printed at the Hague in 2 vols. 
4to. 1681, and often reprinted. He holds in high estimation 
the privileges of the order to which he belonged, as we may 
infer from his censure of Cromwell’s spirited act of justice 
in executing the brother of the Portuguese ambassador for 
a murder: nevertheless he inculcates sound morality with 
regard to the conduct of diplomatists in the countries to 
which they are sent. His other works are, “ Memoires 
touchant les Ambassadeurs et les Ministres;” one volume of 
his “ History of the Dutch Republic,” which appeared in 
French at the Hague in 1719, fob; and translations into 
French of the accounts of different embassies, and also of 
voyages and travels.— Moreri. Gen. Biog. 
WIDAWA, a town of Poland; 43 miles southeast of 
Kalisch, with 900 inhabitants. 
WIDCOMBE, a parish of England, in Somersetshire; 1^ 
mile south-east of Bath. 
WIDDECOMBE IN THE MOOR, a parish of England, 
in Devonshire ; 5£ miles north-west of Ashburton. Popula¬ 
tion 1151. 
WIDDERN, a town of Germany, on the river Jaxt, with 
1000 inhabitants. 
WIDDIALL, a parish of England, in Hertfordshire; 6 
miles from Rovston. 
WIDDIN, ’ See Vi din., 
WIDDINGTON, a parish of England, in Essex ; 5 miles 
west-by-north ofThaxted.—2. A parish in the West Riding 
of Yoikshire; 8 miles south-east ot Aldborough. 
WI'DDY. See Withy. 
WIDE. adj. [pibe, Saxon ; wijd, Dutch.] Broad; ex¬ 
tended far each way. 
W I D 
He wand’ring long a wider circle made. 
And many-languag’d nations he survey’d. Pope. 
Broad to a certain degree: as, three inches wide. —Deviat¬ 
ing ; remote.—Many of the fathers were far wide from the 
understanding of this place. Ralegh. 
WIDE, adv. At a distance. In this sense wide seems to 
be sometimes an adverb.—The Chinese, a people whose way 
of thinking seems to lie as wide of ours in Europe as their 
country does. Temple. — With great extent. 
Of all these bounds enrich’d 
With plenteous rivers, and wide skirted meads. 
We make thee lady. Shakspeare. 
WIDE BAY, a bay on the east coast of New Holland, 
between Double Island point and Indian Head. 
WIDEHOPE, or Withup, a district of England, in the 
county of Cumberland, in Lorton parish; an extensive, 
mountainous, and woody tract, with several small hamlets, 
scattered about in different parts of it. 
WIDEKINDI, or Widichindi (John), a Swedish his¬ 
torian, was born in the province of Wesfmanland, about the 
year 1620, and studied at Upsal, where he delivered an ora¬ 
tion in 1654, on occasion of queen Christina’s accession to 
the throne; and by her recommendation he was appointed 
historiographer of the kingdom. In 1666 he proposed 
printing his “ History of Gustavus Adolphus,” and measures 
were taken for this purpose; but he died at Stockholm in 
1671, before the w’ork was executed. He possessed an ex¬ 
cellent library, and was much respected by king Charles 
Gustavus, who called him his philosopher. The most im¬ 
portant of his works, a catalogue of which is given in 
“ Schefferi Svecia Litterala,” is the “ History of the Rus¬ 
sian War,” written both in Latin and Swedish, 1672, 4to. 
Gen. Biog. 
WI'DELY, adv. With great extent each way.—Any that 
considers how immense the intervals of the chaos are, in pro¬ 
portion to the bulk of the atoms, will hardly induce himself 
to believe, that particles so widely disseminated could ever 
throng one another to a compact texture. Bentley. —Re¬ 
motely ; far,—Let him exercise the freedom of his reason, 
and his mind will be strengthened, and the light which the 
remote parts of truth will give to one another, will so assist 
his judgment, that he will seldom be widely out. Locke. 
To WIDEN, v. a. To make wide; to extend. 
So now the gates are ope; now prove good seconds; 
’Tis for the followers, fortune widens them, 
Not for the flyers. Shakspeare. 
To WI'DEN, v. n. To grow wide; to extend itself. 
With her the temple ev’ry moment grew, 
Upward the columns shoot, the roofs ascend. 
And arches widen, and long isles extend. Pope. 
WIDEN, a small town of Hungary, on the lake of Neu- 
siedel; 29 miles south-south-east of Vienna. 
WFDENESS, s. Breadth ; large extent each way. 
The rugged hair began to fall away; 
The sweetness of her eyes did only stay. 
Though not so large; her crooked horns decrease; 
The wideness of her jaws and nostrils cease. Dry den. 
Comparative breadth.—Within the same annual time, the 
centre of the earth is carried above fifty times as far round 
the orbis magnus, whose wideness we now assume to be 
20,000 terrestrial diameters. Bentley. 
WIDFORD, a parish of England, in the county of Glou¬ 
cester ; 2 miles east of Burford, in Oxfordshire. 
WIDFORD, a parish of England, in Essex; li mile 
south-west of Chelmsford.—2. A parish in Hertfordshire, on 
the little river Ash; 3| miles east-by-north of Ware. Po¬ 
pulation 427. 
Wl'DGEON, s. [Serenius notices the Icel. ugda, ygda, 
certain birds named in the Edda ] A water-fowl not unlike 
a wild duck, but not so large.—-Among the first sort we 
reckon creysers, curlews, and widgeon. Carew. 
WIDLEY, a parish of England, in Southamptonshire, 
near Fareham. 
W1DMER, 
