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W R E 
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ness of Britain, as a quarrel for war; and that of Naples as a 
wrench and mean for peace. Bacon. 
WRENINGHAM, a parish of England, in Norfolk ; 4 
miles south-east of Wymondham. Population 397. 
WRENTHAM, a parish of England, in Suffolk ; 5 miles 
north-by-west of South wold. Population 750. 
WRENTHAM, a post township of the United States, in 
Norfolk county, Massachusetts; 32 miles south-west of Boston. 
It is a considerable town, and contains an academy and a 
cotton manufactory. Great numbers of straw bonnets are 
made in this town. Population 2478. 
WRENTHORPE, a hamlet of England, in Yorkshire; 
parish of Wakefield. 
WRESCHEN, or Wreszno, a town of Prussian Po¬ 
land; 14 miles south-by-west of Gnesna, with 2100 in¬ 
habitants. 
WRESSEL, a township of England, in Yorkshire; 3| 
miles north-west of Howden. 
WRESSEN, a hamlet of England, in the parish of Ken- 
tisbeare, Devonshire. 
To WREST, v. a. [ppaeftan, Sax.] To twist by vio¬ 
lence ; to extort by writhing or force. 
To what wretched state reserv’d. 
Better end here unborn! Why is life giv’n, 
To be thus wrested from us ? Milton. 
To distort; to writhe; to force. 
My father’s purposes have been mistook, 
And some about him have too lavishly 
Wrested his meaning and authority. Shakspeare. 
To wind; to screw: applied to the tuning of instruments. 
Obsolete. Minshieu. 
The claricord hath a tunely kynde, 
As the wyre is wrested high and lowe. Skelton. 
WREST, s. Distortion; violence.'—-Whereas it is con¬ 
cluded, out of weak premises, that the retaining of divers 
things in the church of England, which other reformed 
churches have cast out, must needs argue that we do not well, 
unless we can shew that they have done ill: what needed 
this wrest, to draw out from us an accusation of foreign 
churches ? Hooker. —It is used in Spenser for an active or 
moving power; I suppose, from the force of a filter acting 
with his lance in his rest. 
Adown he kest it with so puissant wrest. 
That back again it did aloft rebound, 
And gave against his mother earth a groneful sound. Spenser. 
An instrument to tune.—The minstrel tempered a string or 
two with his wrest. Laneham. 
Antenor is such a wrest in their affairs, 
That their negociations all must slacken, 
Wanting his manage. Shakspeare. 
WRE'STER, s. One who wrests; one who uses a wrest. 
Any instrument mistunyd shall hurt a true song, 
Yet blame not the claricord the wrester doth wrong. Skelton. 
To WRE'STLE, v. n. To contend who shall throw the 
other down.-—If ever he goes alone again, I’ll never wrestle 
for prize more. Shakspeare.- —To struggle; to contend ; 
followed by with. 
I persuaded them, if they lov’d Benedick, 
To wish him wrestle with affection, 
And never to let Beatrice know of it. Shakspeare. 
To WRE'STLE, v. a. To overcome in wrestling. 
Life recover’d had the reine. 
And over -wrestled his strong enemy. - Spenser. 
WRE'STLER, s. One who wrestles; one who professes 
the athletick art. 
When the young wrestlers at their sport grew warm, 
Old Milo wept, to see his naked arm. Denham. 
One who contends in wrestling.-—Two wrestlers help to 
pull each other down. Dry den. 
WRESTLING WORTH, a parish of England, in Bed¬ 
fordshire; 5| miles east-north-east of Biggleswade. 
Vol. XXIV. No. 1670. 
WRETCH, s. [ppecca, ppaec, Sax. from ppican, Goth. 
wrikan, persequi, affligere, pun ire, vindicare, ulcisci, lsedere, 
perdere. Mr. H. Tooke.] A miserable mortal. 
She weeps, and says her Henry is depos’d ; 
He smiles, and says his Edward is install’d; 
That she, poor wretch, for grief can speak no more. 
Shakspeare. 
A worthless sorry creature. 
He now 
Has these poor men in question : never saw I 
Wretches so quake ; they kneel, they kiss the earth. 
Forswear themselves as often as they speak. Shakspeare. 
It is used by way of slight, or ironical pity, or contempt. 
When soon away the wasp doth go ; 
Poor wretch was never frighted so : 
He thought his wings were much too slow, 
O’erjoy’d they so were parted. Drayton. 
Then, if the spider find him fast beset. 
She issues forth, and runs along her loom : 
She joys to touch the captive in her net. 
And drags the little wretch in triumph home. Dryden. 
It is sometimes a word of tenderness, as we now say poor 
thing. —Excellent wretch. Shakspeare. 
WRETCHED, adj. Miserable ; unhappy. 
Why do’st thou drive me 
To range all o’er a waste and barren place. 
To find a friend ? The wretched have no friends. Dryden. 
Calamitous; afflictive.—Sorry; pitiful; paltry; worthless. 
—Forgive the many failings of those who, with their wretch¬ 
ed art, cannot arrive to those heights that you possess. Dry¬ 
den. —Despicable ; hatefully contemptible.—An adventure 
worthy to be remembered for the unused examples therein, 
as well of true natural goodness as of wretched ungrateful¬ 
ness. Sidney. 
WRETCHEDLY, adv. Miserably; unhappily.—-From 
these two wars, so wretchedly entered into, the duke’s ruin 
took its date. Clarendon. —Meanly; despicably.—When 
such little shuffling arts come once to be ripped up, and laid 
open, how poorly and wretchedly must that man sneak, who 
finds himself guilty and baffled too ? South. 
WRETCHEDNESS, s. Misery ; unhappiness; afflict¬ 
ed state. 
I love not to see wretchedness o’ercharg’d, 
And duty in his service perishing. Shakspeare. 
Pitifulness; despicableness. 
WRETCHLESS, adj. [This is written for reckless.] 
Careless; mindless; heedless.—If persons of so circumspect 
a piety have been thus overtaken, what security can there 
be for our wretchless oscitancy. Gov. of the Tongue. 
WRETCHLESSNESS, s. Carelessness —The devil drives 
them into desperation, or into wretchlessness of unclean 
living. Art. of Rel. 
WRETHAM, East and West, united parishes of Eng¬ 
land, in Norfolk; 6 miles north-east of Thetford. 
WRETTON, a parish of England, in Norfolk; one mile 
west of Stoke Ferry.—Also a hamlet in Cheshire. 
WREXHAM, a market town of Wales, in Denbighshire. 
Its situation is very fertile and pleasant, adjoining the royal 
vale of Cheshire. Its principal trade arises from its central 
situation, being a great thoroughfare. The streets, crossing 
each other reciprocally at right angles, are spacious, and the 
buildings in general good, particularly the High-street, 
where the weekly markets on Mondays and Thursdays are 
held ; at the upper end of which is a handsome structure, a 
public edifice of the Doric order, the upper apartment used 
as a municipal hall, and the piazza part below, as a kind of 
diurnal mart. The church -is an elegant structure, equal in 
point of beauty to some of the cathedrals in England; it 
was collegiate before the reign of Henry VII. when the 
present edifice was erected on the site of the old one, which 
was destroyed by fire. This beautiful edifice, which is 178 
feet long and 72 broad, and has a tower 185 feet high, con- 
8 C sists 
