694 
WIRTEMBERG. 
WIRBENTHAL, a small town of Austrian Silesia; 27 
miles north-west of Troppau. 
WIRDUM, a village of the Netherlands; 12 miles north 
of Groningen. Population 800. 
WIRE, s. \virer, French, to draw round. Skinner. 
Icel. wijr ; Sueth. wir, fila ex orichalco; ab antiquis. 
wirra, implicare. Sereniusi] Metal drawn into slender 
threads. 
Some roll a mighty stone, some laid along. 
And, bound with burning wires, on spokes of wheels are hung. 
Dryden. 
WIRE, one of the smaller Orkney islands, separated from 
Rousa by a strait, called Wire Sound, about three quarters 
of a mile in breadth. Lat. 58. 58. N. long. 2. 51. W. 
To WI'REDRAW, v. a. To spin into wire.—To draw 
out into length.—A fluid moving through a flexible canal, 
when small, by its friction will naturally lengthen, and wire¬ 
draw the sides of the canal, according to the direction of its 
axis. Arbuthnot. —To draw by art or violence.—I have 
been wrongfully accused, and my sense wiredrawn into blas¬ 
phemy. Dryden. 
WI'REDRAWER, s. One who spins wire.—Those who 
have need of unmixed silver, as gilders and wiredrawers, 
must, besides an equal weight of silver mixed with other 
metals, give an overplus to reward the refiner’s skill. Locke. 
WIRINGTON, or Witherington, a hamlet of England, 
in Northamptonshire; 3f miles north-north-west of Peter¬ 
borough. Population 387. 
WIRKSWORTH, a market town of England, in the 
county of Derby, situate in a valley surrounded by hills, in 
an inclosed country, and, unlike the more northerly parts of 
the county, where stone walls are used, chiefly encompassed 
with hedges. It is principally supported by working the 
lead mines; and, to stimulate to adventure, they have a cus¬ 
tom, that, within a limited time after the discovery of ore, 
the person finding it may demand the exclusive privilege of 
working it from the bar-master, if it is not in any garden, 
orchard, or highway. After a lapse of the stipulated time, 
the bar-master may dispose of it to any other person to make 
trial, so that no mine shall remain unwrought, if any person 
wishes to take it. They have a standard brass dish, made in 
the fourth year of Henry VII., from which the others are made, 
wherewith to measure the lead ore: and a moot-hall was built 
in 1773, where all mineral causes within the wapentake are 
tried. A court is also held at the hall twice a year; and the 
shambles are at the lower part of it. Mill-stones are dug near 
it, and veins of stibium or antimony are sometimes found. 
The church of St. Mary has six bells; a Gothic structure of the 
14th century, and the only parish church, though there are 
above 3000 inhabitants. Here is an hospital, endowed with 
20/. a year, for six poor men, by Anthony Gell, Esq. The 
town abounds with excellent water, both hard and soft: and 
there were formerly in the neighbourhood many medicinal 
springs, which have been lost by draining the mines. A 
large quantity of Roman coins was found here about 70 
years ago, mostly of the earlier emperors, in good preserva¬ 
tion. They have some manufactories for cotton and worsted 
breeches. They have an annual feast in the town, which is 
held for a week, and commences on Sunday after September 
8th, or nativity of the Virgin Mary, to whom the church is 
dedicated. From an eminence called Alport, a mile and a 
half south of the town, the Wrekin in Shropshire is visible, 
though at 50 miles distance. Here is an extensive circula¬ 
ting library. The county magistrates have jurisdiction here, 
who reside in and near the place. It has a weekly market 
on Tuesday, and four fairs, on February 18, May 12, Sep¬ 
tember 8, and October 4 ; 13 miles north-north-west of 
Derby, and 140 north-west-by-north of London. 
WIRRAN, one of the Grampians, in Scotland; 7 miles 
north of Brechin. 
WIRSWALL, a township of England, in Cheshire; 10 
miles south-west of Nantwich. 
WIRTEMBERG, a state in the south-west of Germany, 
which, since 1806, has borne the title of kingdom, although 
its population, after that of Saxony, is the least considerable 
of any royal state in Europe. It forms part of the old circle 
of Suabia, having Bavaria on the east, and the long narrow, 
territory of Baden on the west. It extends from Lat. 45. 36. 
to 49. 45. N. long. 8. 7. to 10. 30. E. Its oblong form, ex¬ 
tending, from north to south, is similar to that of the prin¬ 
cipality of Wales; and its area, about 8000 square miles, is 
not much greater; but its soil is far more fertile, and its 
population is at present not under 1,400,000. Its territo¬ 
rial division is into the four circles of the Jaxt, the Neckar, 
the Black Forest, and the Danube. These are farther divided 
into 12 small counties, each of which is subdivided into 
bailiwics. The foundation of this state was the old duchy 
of Wirlemberg, augmented since 1801, by various towns of 
the empire acquired, and abbeys, priories, and other eccle¬ 
siastical possessions secularised, in the present age. The 
towns of Wirtemberg are thinly scattered ; the principal are 
Stutgard, the capital, containing 22,000 inhabitants; Ulm, 
15,600; Tubingen, 5700; Hall, 5500; Ludwigsburg, 5500; 
Biberach, 4500; Kirchheim, 4100; Schomdorf, 3500; Calw, 
3400; Creilsheim, 3100. 
The great natural features of this country are two masses 
or ranges of mountains; one called the Black Forest, ex¬ 
tending along the western frontier, in a line nearly parallel 
to the course of the Rhine; the other, less known out of 
Germany, called the Alp, or Alb, an insulated range of rocky 
hills, destitute of wood, and, in some measure, of verdure, 
which begins near the small town of Rotweil, and traverses 
the kingdom in a north-east direction. On these lofty tracts, 
the climate is cold and bleak, but the rest of the country is 
covered with eminences or hills of moderate elevation, inter¬ 
sected by pleasant vallies which enjoy a climate fully as 
mild and steady as similar parallels of latitude in the north of 
France, viz. Champagne, Picardy, and Normandy. The two 
principal rivers are the Danube and Neckar. The other 
rivers are the Enz, the Muhr, the Kocker, the Jaxt, and the 
Tauber: the lake of Constance borders an angle of the 
southern extremity of the kingdom. 
This is, on the whole, one of the most fertile tracts in Ger¬ 
many, subject, however, to material discrimination, from its 
very different degrees of elevation, and consequently of ferti¬ 
lity. In the level districts of the north, corn of all kinds suc¬ 
ceeds extremely well; but the rugged surface of the Black 
Forest is fit only for the pasture of cattle; that of the Alb for 
sheep. Potatoes, hemp, and flax, are cultivated in various 
parts, particularly in the grounds of medium elevation. 
Fruits of various kinds abound throughout the country ; and 
complete woods of apple and pear trees are to be seen in 
different places. The climate has sufficient warmth for the 
cultivation of the grape ; and the native vines have been im¬ 
proved by the introduction of shoots from France, the north 
of Italy, Hungary, and even from islands in the Mediterra¬ 
nean. The best qualities of the Wirtemberg wine are known 
in England under the name of Neckar wine. The Black 
Forest produces abundance of pine and fir, of which con¬ 
siderable quantities are exported. The mineral products of 
the mountains are iron, silver, copper, coal, and porcelain ; 
but the quantity as yet extracted from the mines is small, 
except in the case of iron. The manufactures consist of linen 
and woollen; there are also iron-works, but on a small 
scale. 
The king of Wirtemberg is a member of the Germanic 
confederation, and holds the sixth place in the diet. The 
order of succession to the throne, the regulations in the event 
of a minority, and other fundamental provisions, were deter¬ 
mined by a royal ordinance of January 1, 1808 : but a much 
longer time, and more animated discussions, were necessary 
to define the relative power of the sovereign and his nobility. 
Matters remained in an unsettled state until 1819, when a 
mutual compromise took place, and a new constitution was 
agreed on, essentially free in its principles. The executive 
power is vested in the monarch, controuled by a representa¬ 
tive body. The titled classes are numerous, and still possess 
extensive privileges; those who had formerly local sove-. 
reignty, retaining a share of judicial power, which renders 
necessary 
