W I E 
W1DMER, a hamlet of England, in the parish of Great 
Marlow, Buckinghamshire. 
WIDMER-POOL, a parish of England, in Nottingham¬ 
shire; 9 miles south-south-east of Nottingham. 
WIDNESS, a township of England, in Lancashire; 16 
miles west-by-south of Warrington. 
WIDNEY, a hamlet of England, in the parish of Don- 
yatt, Somersetshire. 
WIDOW, s. [pibpa, Saxon; weduwe, Dutch; weddw, 
Welsh ; vidua, Lat.] A woman whose husband is dead. 
To take the widow. 
Exasperates, makes mad her sister Goneril. Skakspeare. 
To WIDOW, v. a. To deprive of a husband. 
In this city he 
Hath widow'd and unchilded many a one. 
Which to this hour bewail the injury. Skakspeare. 
To endow with a widow-right. 
For his possessions. 
Although by confiscation they are ours, 
We do instate and widow you withal. 
To buy you a better husband. Skakspeare. 
To strip of any thing good. 
The widow'd isle in mourning 
Dries up her tears. Dry den. 
WIDOWER, s. One who has lost his wife. 
The main consents are had, and here we’ll stay 
To see our widower 's second marriage-day. Skakspeare. 
WIDOWHOOD, s. The state of a widow. 
Cherish thy hasten’d widowhood with the gold 
Of matrimonial treason: so farewell. Milton. 
Estate settled on a widow. Not in use. 
For that dow’ry, I’ll assure her of 
Her widowhood, be it that she survives me. 
In all my lands. Skakspeare. 
WIDOWHU'NTER, s. One who courts widows for a 
jointure.—The widowhunters about town often afford them 
great diversion. Addison. 
WIDOWMA'KER, s. One who deprives women of their 
husbands. 
It grieves my soul 
That I must draw this metal from my side 
To be a widowmaker. Skakspeare. 
WIDOW-WAIL, s. A plant. Miller. 
WIDRINGTON, a hamlet of England, in Northumber¬ 
land; 8 miles north-east of Morpeth. Population 370. 
WIDTH, s. Breadth; wideness. A low word. 
Let thy vines in intervals be set, 
Indulge their width, and add a roomy space. 
That their extremest lines may scarce embrace. Dry den. 
WIDWORTHY, a parish of England, in Devonshire; 3| 
miles east-by-south of Honiton. 
WIE, a river of Brazil, in the province of Sergippe, which 
falls into the Lixmai. 
WIED, a small district, with the title of duchy, in the 
west of Germany, subject partly to Prussia, and partly to 
Nassau. It extends along the right bank of the Rhine, is 
traversed by the small river Wied, has an area of 170 square 
miles, and a population of 24,000, who are mostly Catholics. 
WIEDA, a village of Germany, in the Duchy of Bruns¬ 
wick, on a small river of the same name. Population 1200. 
WIEDENBRUCK, a town of Prussian Westphalia, on 
the Ems; 32 miles east-south-east of Osnabruck. Population 
1800. 
WIEDIKON, a village of Switzerland, west of the town 
of Zurich, on the river Sil. 
WIEGSTADTL, a town of Austrian Silesia; 28 miles 
north-east of Olmutz. Population 1300. 
WIEHE, a town of Prussian Saxony; 26 miles north-east 
of Erfurt. Population 1100. 
Vol. XXIV. No. 1663. 
WIE 653 
WIEHL, a village of Germany, in Baden. Population 
1100. 
WIELAND (Christopher Martin), was the son of a Pro¬ 
testant clergyman at Biberach, in Swabia, where he was born 
in September, 1733. Educated by his father, he began at the 
early age of thirteen to distinguish himself by his Latin and 
German poems; and he pursued his education at Magdeburg 
and at Erfurt. Upon his return home he became affection¬ 
ately attached to Sophia de Guterman, afterwards known by 
her works under the name of Mad. de la Roche. In the year 
1750 he studied jurisprudence at Tubingen; but his time 
was chiefly devoted to the writing of verses, so that, in 1752, 
he published a didactic poem in six cantos, entitled “ The 
Nature of Things;” “ Ante-Ovid, or the Art of Love;” and 
“ Moral Letters and Tales.” He also began an epic poem, 
on the subject of Arminius, the first five cantos of which he 
sent to the famous Swiss poet Bodmer; and he was thus led 
to visit Switzerland, and to cultivate a friendship with this 
celebrated poet, and to reside for some time in his house at 
Zurich. In this retired and tranquil situation, he applied 
with great diligence to the study of the belles lettres, and 
acquainted himself with the principal modern languages, 
such as English, French, and Italian, to which he afterwards 
added the Spanish and Portuguese. He also read Plato with 
great attention, and wrote several works, among which were 
the “ Trial of Abraham,” and “ Letters of the Dead.” After 
a residence of seven or eight years in Switzerland, he quitted 
the country', having formed his taste on the models of Euri¬ 
pides, Xenophon, and Shaftsbury, whose writings he had 
diligently studied; and in 1758 he published his “ Araspes 
and Panthea,” a work which manifests the ascendency which 
judgment and moral sentiment had acquired over his ima¬ 
gination. Upon his return in 1760 to his native city, he 
was appointed a director of the chancery, which office he 
held till the year 1769, reserving, however, some leisure 
moments for the composition of his philosophical romance, 
entitled “ Agathon,” and his beautiful didactic poem 
“ Musarion.” About this time he became intimately ac¬ 
quainted with Count Stadion, a nobleman who lived with 
splendour near Biberach, who had cultivated a taste for lite¬ 
rature, and who possessed an excellent library. Wieland 
married his favourite daughter Charlotte to a bookseller at 
Zurich, who was a son of the celebrated poet, Solomon 
Gesner. In 1797 he visited his children at Zurich, and re¬ 
sided with his family in a romantic situation on the border 
of the lake, where he was visited by the most eminent lite¬ 
rati of Switzerland. To the ex-monk Reinhold, who had 
escaped from Vienna, he was a generous patron, and gave 
to him one of his daughters in marriage. This monk was 
afterwards professor of philosophy at Kiel. He also sup¬ 
ported another monk, who had fled to him from a Cistertian 
monastery in Swabia, during his residence at Jena, where he 
studied philosophy. Wieland had married in 1765 a per¬ 
son of good family at Augsburg, of whom he expresses him¬ 
self in the highest terms of respect and affection, and by 
whom he had thirteen children; “ sound,” he says, “ in 
body and mind; with their mother, they form the happiness 
of my life.” In 1807 this venerable poet was elected a 
member of the floral order at Nuremberg; and in 1808, 
Buonaparte sent him the cross of the legion of honour. 
After the battle of Jena, he was protected by a special order 
of that conqueror. He died in January, 1813, in his 80th 
year. For the delineation of his talents and character by 
Kiittner and others, and an account of his works, which 
were very numerous, we must refer to his article in the 
General Biography, observing that his original works have 
been published in thirty-six large 4to. volumes, and six sup¬ 
plementary volumes. Leipsic, 1794—1802. 
To WIELD, v. a. [pealban, Saxon, to manage in the 
kandi] To use with full command, as a thing not too heavy 
for the holder. 
His looks are full of peaceful majesty. 
His head by nature fram’d to wear a crown, 
His hand to wield a sceptre, and himself 
Likely in time to bless a regal throne. Skakspeare. 
7B To 
