756 
W Y C 
WYE 
situated on a small lake, nearly in the centre of Jutland. It 
is tolerably built, having been in some degree reconstructed, 
after a great fire in 1726. It has few manufactures; 120 
miles north of Sleswick. Population 2400. 
WYBUNBURY, or Wibbunbury, a parish of England, 
in Cheshire, near Nantwich. 
WYCHERLY (William), was born at Cleve, in Shrop¬ 
shire, about the year 1640; and in France, whither he went 
for his education, he conformed to the Roman Catholic reli¬ 
gion. Upon his return to England, a little while before the 
Restoration, he entered, without matriculation, as a gentle¬ 
man-commoner at Queen’s college, Oxford, and leaving it 
without a degree, took chambers in the Middle Temple. 
However, he abandoned the law, and addicted himself to the 
composition of comedies, the first of which was entitled 
“ Love in a Wood, or St. James’s Park,” which brought him 
into notice in 1672; so that he became a favourite of the 
duchess of Cleveland, and of Villiers, the duke of Bucking¬ 
ham. He was also honoured by the attention of the king, 
and by promises of future promotion. His majesty, how¬ 
ever, was displeased by his marriage with the countess of 
Drogheda, and the connection was unhappy. On occasion 
of her death, however, she settled her whole estate upon him, 
and his title being disputed, he was involved in law expenses 
and other incumbrances, which occasioned his being com¬ 
mitted to prison. Having remained in prison for seven years, 
he was liberated by king James II., who, delighted by seeing 
his comedy of the “ Plain Dealer,” gave orders for the pay¬ 
ment of his debts, and settled upon him a pension of 200/. 
a year. 
His circumstances were still embarrassed, and though by 
his father’s death he became a tenant of the estate to which 
he succeeded, he was not emancipated from his difficulties. 
Some time after he married a young woman, on whom he 
settled a jointure of 1500/., humourously stipulating with her 
that she should not take an old man for her second husband, 
which condition, it is said, she promised faithfully to observe. 
He died in 1715, at the age of 75. 
Besides the two comedies already mentioned, he composed 
“ The Gentleman Dancing-Blaster,” and “ The Country- 
Wife.” The last and the Plain Dealer are the most noted. 
His plays, though commended by lord Rochester, are strongly 
marked with his own character,—“ some wit and strength 
of delineation, with much coarseness and licentiousness.” 
He attacks vice, it is said, with the severity of a cynic, and 
the language of a libertine. A volume of poems published 
in 1704 was so unsuccessful, that he applied to Pope, who 
was a mere youth, to correct the versification; Dr. Johnson 
remarks, that “ when Pope was sufficiently bold in his criti¬ 
cisms, and liberal in his alterations, the old scribbler v'as 
angry to see his pages defaced, and felt more pain from the de¬ 
tection than content from the amendment of his faults.” The 
posthumous works of Wycherly, in prose and verse, were 
published by Theobald in 1728, 8vo., but they are utterly for¬ 
gotten.— Biog. Brit. Johnson s Life o f Pope. Gen. Biog. 
WYCK, a small town of the Netherlands, on the Maese, 
opposite to Maestricht, to which it is joined by abridge, and 
of which it is generally accounted a suburb. 
WYCK, a town of Denmark, in the island of Fohr, be¬ 
longing to Sleswick. Population 700. 
WYCLIFFE, a township of England, North Riding of 
Yorkshire ; 2 miles north-east of Greta Bridge. 
WYCOBIBE, Chipping or High, a borough and mar¬ 
ket town of England, in Buckinghamshire, situated on the 
banks of a small rivulet which falls into the Thames two 
miles below Marlow. It consists of several streets branching 
from the High-street, which is spacious and well built. The 
town-hall was erected at the expense of John, earl of Shel¬ 
burne, in 1757. It is a large brick building, supported on 
34 stone pillars, and finished in a neat and convenient man¬ 
ner. The church is a handsome structure of stone, built in 
the year 1273, and has a tower at the west end, 108 feet 
high, adorned with roses and portcullises; it was erected in 
1529; but its pinnacles and other ornaments were built by 
the above earl, about 1755. The interior is divided into a 
nave, aisles, and chancel. Over the communion-table is a 
large painting by Mortimer, presented to the church by Dr. 
Bates of Little Missenden. It represents St. Paul converting 
the Druids to Christianity, and contains fifteen figures, with 
a little babe, and a dog, grouped with considerable skill. 
The organ was erected by Green in 1783, the expense being 
defrayed by subscription. In the chancel is a magnificent 
mural monument by Scheemakers, erected to the memory of 
Henry Petty, earl of Shelburne, at the charge of 2000/., be¬ 
queathed by him for that purpose. The effigy of the earl is 
lying on a cist of black marble, with a figure of Religion 
holding a book before him. On the right hand are Virtue 
and Learning, represented by female figures instructing a 
child; on the left, Charity and a Roman warrior. The ca¬ 
nopy is sustained by pillars of grey marble; at the top is an 
urn, with Prudence and Justice on the sides. Beneath the 
cist is a medallion of the great Sir William Petty, the earl’s 
father, and over it the family arms. In the south aisle is a 
beautiful monument, by Carlini, to the memory of Sophia, 
first wife to William, marquis of Lansdowne, who died in 
1771: the figures represent that lady reclining on an urn, 
with her two children. 
This borough was incorporated some time prior to the 
reign of Edward III.; and a memorandum in the old corpo¬ 
ration books mentions the first charter to have been granted 
by Henry III. The existing charters bear date the 28th of 
Elizabeth, the 5th of James, and the 15th of Charles II. 
The corporation consists of a mayor, recorder, twelve aider- 
men, and various inferior officers. The dignity of high 
steward was annulled by the charter of king Charles, but 
has occasionally been conferred since that period. The light 
of election for the borough is vested in the mayor, aldermen, 
bailiffs, and burgesses: the latter are chosen at the discretion 
of the mayor, aldermen, and bailiffs. The number at pre¬ 
sent is about 80, 60 of whom are compelled to be resident, 
by a bye-law made in 1794. The first return to parliament 
was in the 28th of Edward I., since which time.it has been 
represented without intermission. The prosperity of the 
town is, in a great measure, owing to the proximity of the 
Wycombe stream, which, in its course through the parish, 
gives motion to 15 corn and paper mills. The manufacture 
of the latter article is probably carried on to as great an ex¬ 
tent in this neighbourhood as in any part of England. The 
second source of its wealth is the expenditure of travellers, 
which, from this being the principal thoroughfare to Ox¬ 
ford, &c. amounts to a very considerable sum annually. 
Some of the inhabitants are supported by lace-making. The 
antiquities found in its neighbourhood, particularly a tesse- 
lated pavement, and various Roman coins, have induced a 
supposition that it was a Roman settlement; 31 miles south- 
south-east from Buckingham, and 29 west-by-north from 
London. Population 2490; houses 494. 
WYCOMBE, West, a village and parish of England, in 
Buckinghamshire. The village is seated under a steep emi¬ 
nence, partly covered with wood, whence the mausoleum, 
and the small tower of its beautiful but singular church, seem 
to emerge. The latter structure was rebuilt in the year 1763, 
by lord le Despencer; but the tower and chancel are parts 
of the ancient pile. The interior is extremely neat, as well 
as peculiar. The ceiling and communion-table are elegantly 
painted in Mosaic. The chancel is paved with marble, and 
embellished with a delineation of the Last Supper, depicted 
on the ceiling. The altar is of carved oak. The windows 
are glazed with stained glass, and are ornamented with small 
scriptural pieces; 2| miles north-west-by-west from High 
Wycombe. Population 1362. 
WYCOMING FALLS, on the Susquehanna, 2 miles 
above Wilkesbarre, in tire United States. 
WYE, a parish and town of England, in the county of 
Kent, situated near the river Stour, over which it has a 
bridge. The market has been long disused ; but it has two 
annual fairs, in Blay and November; 10 miles south-south- 
west of Canterbury. Population 1322. 
WYE, a river of South Wales, which issuing out of Plyn- 
limmon-Hill, in Cardiganshire, very near the source of the 
Severn, 
