750 
W R I 
W R I 
sists of a chancel, pentagonal in shape, nave, two collateral 
aisles, and a lofty quadrangular tower at the west end. The 
windows of the aisles have a flat pointed arch, and the 
mullions are ornamented at top with tracery; between which 
are buttresses, terminating in slender crocketted pinnacles. 
The windows of the chancel are narrower than those of the 
aisles, the arches rather approximating to the sharp pointed 
style, and the embattled parapet has diminishing crocketted 
pinnacles, corresponding with those of the aisles. The tower, 
elevated 135 feet, is a chef d'oeuvre of architectural display. 
The shape is quadrangular, with handsome set-off abutments, 
terminating in crocketted pinnacles, and the summit is 
crowned by four pierced lantern turrets, that rise 24 feet in 
height, above the open-worked balustrade, to each of which 
is attached a circular staircase. The three exposed sides are 
decorated with various embellishments. Statues of 30 saints, 
full in dimensions, placed in the niches of the buttresses, 
while they enrich the building, display the advanced pro¬ 
gress statuary had made at the close of the 15th century. 
The ceiling of the roof is peculiarly handsome; being com¬ 
posed of ribs in wainscot oak, imitative of the grained work 
in stone, of the antecedent period. The corbels, supporting 
the bearing timber, are carved; and grotesque heads, with 
various shields, exhibit the arms of some few among the 
number of those who, by their advice or pecuniary aid, pro¬ 
moted the erection of the edifice. At the west end of the 
nave is a grand receding pointed arch, nearly the height of 
the building, filled by a window once ornamented with 
elegantly painted glass, which is now so mutilated, as nearly to 
mar all attempts to ascertain the subject. They have attempted 
to compensate the loss by a few diminutive figures that decorate 
the upper compartments of the windows in the aisles. The 
altar-piece is peculiarly beautiful, and is ornamented with 
a fine painting of the Lord’s Supper, which is supposed to 
be by Rubens. There is also another picture by the same 
master, representing king David playing on the harp, to 
divert the melancholy of Saul, hung up in a massy frame, 
against the wall of the south aisle. The inside of the church 
is ornamented with a number of monuments, some of them 
exceedingly handsome. There are also several good monu¬ 
ments in the church-yard, a few of which with curious in¬ 
scriptions. In 1647 this church was made a prison by 
Cromwell, when his soldiers destroyed the organ. Near 
Wrexham are still some remains of the famous dyke thrown 
up by Ofi'a, king of Mercia, to prevent the incursions of the 
Welsh. Market on Thursday and Monday ; the former is 
the principal. 
Wrexham is noted for one of those annual fairs which 
used to be general throughout the kingdom. It is fre¬ 
quented not only by persons in the adjacent districts, but 
by traders from divers and far distant parts of the king¬ 
dom. The commodities brought by the Welsh, are flannels 
of all staple, and various linens, linsey-woolseys, coarse 
linens, horses, sheep, and black cattle. The remote dealers 
bring Irish linens, Yorkshire and other woollen cloths, with 
Manchester, Sheffield, and Birmingham goods, in all their 
varieties. Two squares, or areas, are fitted up with booths, 
and temporary shops, for the accommodation of sale; and 
at this public mart, which commences March 23d, and con¬ 
tinues for nine days inclusive, the sales are very extensive. 
There are two other fairs on the 6th June and 19th Septem¬ 
ber ; 16 miles from Ellesmere, and 188 north-west of London. 
Population 3006. 
WRIBBENHALL, a hamlet of England, in Worcester¬ 
shire, near Kidderminster. 
WRIDDLINGTON, a hamlet of England, in Dorsetshire, 
near Dorchester. 
WR1EZEN, a small town of the Prussian states, in the 
province of Brandenburg on the Oder; 37 miles east-by- 
north of Berlin, with 3200 inhabitants. 
To WRIG, v. a. [ppigan, Sax.] To move to and fro; 
to rub; to shake; to put into quick motion. 
The bore his taile wrpgges 
Against the hye bench. Skelton. 
To WRI'GGLE, v. n. [ppigan, Saxon; ruggelen, 
Dutch.] To move to and fro with short motions. 
How wildly will ambition steer! 
A vermin wriggling in th’ usurper’s ear. Dri/den. 
To WRI'GGLE, v. a. To put in a quick reciprocating 
motion; to introduce by shifting motion. 
Ralpho was mounted now, and gotten 
O’erthwart his beast with active vaulting, 
Wriggling his body to recover 
His seat, and cast his right leg over. Hudibras. 
WRI'GGLE, adj. Pliant; flexible; moving to and fro. 
My ragged ronts all shiver and shake; 
They wont in the wind wagg their wriggle tails, 
Peark as a peacoke, but nought it avails. Spenser. 
WRIGGLETON, or Writhlington, a parish of Eng¬ 
land, in Somersetshire; 6J miles north-west of Frome. 
WRIGHT, s. [ppihta, pyphfca, Saxon. The third person 
of the indicative of pypean, one that worketh. Mr. H. 
Tooke. See To Work.] A workman; an artificer; a 
maker; a manufacturer. 
Nor place the neighbour Cyclops their delights, 
In brave vermillion prow deckt ships; nor wrights 
Useful and skillful. Chapman. 
WRIGHT (Edward), an English mathematician, flou¬ 
rished in the latter part of the 16th and beginning of the 
17th century. Of his private history little is known, ex¬ 
cept some few particulars that may be collected from the 
Latin memoirs of his life, preserved among the annals of 
Gonvile and Caius college in Cambridge. “ This year 
(1615) died, it is said, at London, Edward Wright, of Gar- 
veston in Norfolk, formerly a fellow of this college, much 
respected for the integrity and simplicity of his manners, 
and also famous for his skill in the mathematical sciences. 
He was the first undertaker of the difficult but useful work, 
by which a little river is brought from the town of Ware, in 
a new canal, to supply the city of London with water; but 
by the tricks of others he was prevented from completing it. 
Nor was he inferior to the most ingenious mechanic in the 
construction of instruments, either of brass or of any other 
matter. He, it is said, taught Iodocus Hondius the method 
of constructing his geographical charts, though Hondius 
concealed his name, that he might arrogate to himself the 
honour of the invention. Of this act of injustice, Wright 
complained in the Preface to his * Treatise of the Correction 
of Errors in the Art of Navigation,’ a work composed with 
excellent judgment, and after long experience, to the great 
advancement of naval affairs. For his improvement of this 
art he was appointed mathematical lecturer to the East In¬ 
dia Company ; and he read lectures, for which he was al¬ 
lowed a yearly salary of 50/. This office he discharged with 
great reputation, and much to the satisfaction of his hearers. 
He published, in English, a book on the doctrine of the 
sphere, and another concerning the construction of sun¬ 
dials. He also prefixed an ingenious preface to the learned 
Gilbert’s book on the load-stone. By these and other wri¬ 
tings he transmitted his fame to the latest posterity. It is 
added, whilst he was a fellow of this college, he was called 
forth to the public business of the nation by the queen, 
about the year 1593, or, according to other accounts, 1589. 
He was ordered to attend the earl of Cumberland in some 
maritime expeditions ; of one of which he gave a faithful ac¬ 
count, under the form of a journal or ephemeris, prefixing 
to it an elegant hydrographical chart of his own invention. 
His posthumous work, which was an English translation of 
the book of logarithms, then lately discovered by lord Na¬ 
pier, a friend of Mr. Wright, was published soon after his 
death by his son Samuel Wright, a scholar of the above- 
named college. Death prevented the execution of several 
other designs which he had formed. Of him it may be truly 
said, that he studied more to serve the public than himself; 
and though he was rich in fame and in the promises of the 
great, he died poor, to the scandal of an ungrateful age.” 
To the preceding extracts from the memoirs above cited, we 
• may 
