W R I 
may add, that Mr. Wright first discovered the true method 
of dividing the meridian line, according to which Merca¬ 
tor’s charts are constructed, and upon which his sailing 
is founded. An account of it was sent from Cambridge 
to Mr. Blondeville, who published it among his exercises 
in 1594; and in 1597 a demonstration of it was given 
by the Rev. Mr. William Barlowe, in his “ Navigator’s 
Supply.” In 1599 Mr. Wright published “ The Correc¬ 
tion of certain Errors in Navigation,” written many years 
before, and shewing the reason of his division of the me¬ 
ridian, the manner of constructing his table, and its uses 
in navigation, &c. &c. In 1610 he dedicated a second 
edition to his royal pupil, prince Henry, with farther im¬ 
provements, aud an excellent method for determining the 
magnitude of the earth. To his other works, comprehend¬ 
ing an account of his various discoveries, tables, and im¬ 
proved instruments for observation, we shall add his tract 
on navigation, entitled “ The Haven-finding Art.” It is 
said that he constructed, for the use of prince Henry, a large 
sphere with curious movements, serving by spring-work to 
exhibit the motions of the whole celestial sphere, the par¬ 
ticular systems of the sun and moon, their circular motions, 
places, and possibilities of eclipsing each other. This sphere 
was overlooked in the time of the civil wars, and found 
among dust and rubbish in 1646 by Sir Jonas Moore, who 
was at the expense of restoring it to its original state, and 
deposited it at his own house in the Tower, among other 
mathematical instruments. Preface to Robertson's Navi¬ 
gation. Hutton's Math. Diet. 
WRIGHT (Richard), was a native of Liverpool, and 
born about the year 1735. He was bred to the humble 
occupation of a house and ship painter, but exerted his 
talents in painting sea views, and obtained for his encourage¬ 
ment the premium offered in 1764 by the society for the 
encouragement of arts, &c.; and in 176G he gained another 
premium of fifty guineas, for a picture which had the greater 
credit of being most beautifully engraved by Woollett, and 
is known under the name of the “ Fishery.” He died about 
1775. 
WRIGHT (Joseph), one of our earliest painters of cele¬ 
brity in this age of restoration of the art. He was born at 
Derby in 1734, and thence obtained the name of Wright of 
Derby, to distinguish him from R. Wright mentioned above. 
He came to London to study with Hudson, but afterwards 
established himself at his native place, and had very consi¬ 
derable encouragement as a portrait-painter, though his style 
was dry and too minute. He gained much more reputation 
by painting scenes of fire and candle-light, and indeed 
stood unrivalled in that way till Loutherbourg subsequently 
appeared. His pictures of a forge and of a blacksmith’s 
shop, exhibited with the society of artists about the year 
1765, established his reputation. In 1773 he visited Rome, 
and Italy generally, and was absent two years. In 1782 
he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, but re¬ 
signed his diploma soon after, on Mr. Garvey’s being pre¬ 
ferred to him in an election for an academician ; though he 
continued occasionally to exhibit with the academy. He 
had great industry and professional skill, living very much 
apart from the world. This enabled him to produce many 
pictures 5 and in 1785 he made an exhibition of twenty-four 
pictures of his own painting at the great room under the 
Piazza, Covent-garden, one of which was a large work re¬ 
presenting the destruction of the floating batteries before 
Gibraltar. His style in all his works was peculiar to him¬ 
self, somewhat dry, yet not void of richness, and his draw¬ 
ing coldly correct. One peculiarity marks his pictures, and 
renders them easily distinguishable, especially those in which 
the illumination proceeds from the moon or fire. He pre¬ 
pared his cloths or grounds with rough surfaces, caused by 
sand sifted or strewed upon them; and then when he had 
painted his scene, he dragged his pallet-knife, covered with 
the colour of the light, across the picture, when the colour 
adhering to the projections on the surface, gave the glitter 
which characterizes that kind of illumination, and'he toned 
the parts to due relief by glazings. No one ever gave the 
W R l / 751 
exact tone of moon-light so completely as Wright of Derby. 
He died in 1797, aged 63. 
WRIGHTINGTON, a township of England, in Lan¬ 
cashire; 4 miles north-west of Wigan. Population 1268. 
WRIGHTSBOROUGH, a post village of the United 
States, in Columbia county, Georgia. 
WRIGHTSBURG, a township of the United States, in 
Ashtabula county, Ohio, on Lake Erie. 
WRIGHTSTOWN, a post township of the United States, 
in Bucks county, Pennsylvania; 5 miles from Newhaven. 
WRIGHTSVILLE, a post village of the United States, 
in York county, Pennsylvania, on the west side of the Sus¬ 
quehanna, opposite Columbia, with which it is connected by 
a bridge. 
WRINEHILL, a hamlet of England, in Staffordshire; 4 
miles from Newcastle-under-Lyne. 
To WRING, v. a. prefer, and part. pass, wringed and 
wrung, [ppmgan, Saxon.] To twist; to turn round with 
violence.—The priest shall wring off - his head, and burn it 
on the altar. Lev. —To force by contortion ; with a particle, 
as out. —He thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew 
out of it, a bowl full of water. Judg. —To squeeze ; to press. 
In sleep I heard him say, sweet Desdemona, 
Let us be wary, let us hide our loves J 
And then. Sir, would he gripe and wring my hand. 
Shakspeare. 
To writhe. 
The silly owner of the goods 
Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands. 
Shakspeare. 
To pinch.—The king began to find where his shoe did 
wring him, and that it was his depressing the house of York 
that did rankle and fester the affections of his people. Ba¬ 
con. —To force by violence ; to extort. 
I had rather coin my heart, 
And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring 
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash 
By any indirection. Shakspeare. 
To harass; to distress; to torture. 
He dives into the king’s soul, and there scatters 
Doubts, dangers, wringing of the conscience. 
Fear and despair, and all these for his marriage. Shakspeare. 
To distort; to turn to a wrong purpose.—To wring this 
sentence, to wrest thereby out of men’s hands the knowledge 
of God’s doctrine, is without all reason. Ascham. —To 
persecute with extortion.—The merchant-adventurers have 
been often wronged and wringed to the quick; but were 
never quick and lively in thanks to those by whose endea¬ 
vours they were freed. Hayward. 
To WRING, v. n. To writhe with anguish. 
’Tis all men’s office to speak patience 
To those that wring under the load of sorrow : 
But no man’s virtue nor sufficiency, 
To be so moral when he shall endure 
The like himself. Shakspeare. 
WRING, s. Action of anguish.—The sighs, and tears, 
and wrings of a disconsolate mourner. Bp. Hall. 
WRI'NGER, s. One who squeezes the water out of 
clothes.—One Mrs. Quickly is in the manner of his nurse, his 
laundress, his washer, and his wringer. Shakspeare. 
WRINGTON, a market town of England, in the county 
of Somerset, pleasantly stituated among the Mendip hills. 
The streets are irregularly built, and most of the houses 
thatched. The church is a stately building, 120 feet long 
and 52 wide. It consists of a nave, chancel, side aisles, and 
a porch, embattled at the top, and ornamented with a 
variety of handsome pinnacles. The tower, rising at the 
west end, is one of the finest in the kingdom: it is 140 
feet high to the top of the battlements, which are adorned 
with four turrets, one at each corner, and sixteen elegant 
Gothic pinnacles, 15 feet high. This church contains 
several neat monuments, both ancient and modern. Here 
is a free school, for six boys and as many girls. The 
remains 
