econd son of Sir Malcolm Wallace of Elderslie; was early
seized with a desire to free his country from foreign oppressors, and ere
long began to figure as chief of a band of outlaws combined to defy the
authority of Edward I., who had declared himself Lord of Scotland, till
at length the sense of the oppression became wide-spread, and he was
appointed to lead in a general revolt, while many of the nobles held
aloof or succumbed to the usurper; he drove the English from one
stronghold after another, finishing with the battle of Stirling, and was
installed thereafter guardian of the kingdom; such a reverse was more
than the "proud usurper" could brook; he accordingly mustered a large
army, and at Falkirk literally crushed Wallace and his followers with an
overwhelming force, the craven nobles still standing aloof, one of them
in the end proving traitor, and handing Wallace over to the enemy, who
carried him off to London, and had him hanged, beheaded, and quartered.

WALLACE COLLECTION, a collection of works of art bequeathed to the
nation by Lady Wallace, and now being housed in Hertford House,
Manchester Square, London.

WALLENSTEIN, general of the Imperial army in the Thirty Years' War,
born in Bohemia, of a Protestant family, but on the death of his parents
was, in his childhood, adopted and educated by the Jesuits, and bred up
in the Catholic faith; bent on a military life, he served first in one
campaign and then another; rose in imperial favour, and became a prince
of the empire, but the jealousy of the nobles procured his disgrace, till
the success of Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years' War and the death
of Tully led to his recall, when he was placed at the head of the
imperial army as commander-in-chief; drove the Saxons out of Bohemia, and
marched against the Swedes, but was defeated, and fell again into
disfavour; was deprived of his command, charged with treason, and
afterwards murdered in the castle of Egra; he was a remarkable man, great
in war and great in statesmanship, but of unbounded ambition; is the
subject of a drama by Schiller, in three parts (1583-1634).

WALLER, EDMUND, poet, born in Hertfordshire to great wealth, and
educated at Eton and Cambridge; early gave evidence of his genius for
poetry, which, however, was limited in practice to the production of
merely occasional pieces; he was in great favour at court; was a member
of the Long Parliament; leant to the Royalist side, though he w