ns, many of them of wide fame and much cherished as
helps to devotion (1674-1748).

WATTS, THEODORE, critic, born at St. Ives, bosom friend of
Swinburne, who pronounces him "the first critic of our time--perhaps the
largest-minded and surest-sighted of any age"; his influence is great,
and it has been exercised chiefly through contributions to the
periodicals of the day; has assumed the surname of Dunton after his
mother; _b_. 1836.

WAUGH, EDWIN, a Lancashire poet, born at Rochdale, bred a
bookseller; wrote, among other productions, popular songs, full of
original native humour, the first of them "Come Whoam to thy Childer and
Me" (1817-1890).

WAYLAND, the smith, a Scandinavian Vulcan, of whom a number of
legends were current; figures in Scott's "Kenilworth."

WAZIRIS, a tribe of independent Afghans inhabiting the Suleiman
Mountains, on the W. frontier of the Punjab.

WEALTH, defined by Ruskin to be the possession of things in
themselves valuable, that is, of things available for the support of
life, or inherently possessed of life-giving power.

WEBER, KARL MARIA VON, German composer, born near Luebeck, of a famed
musical family; early gave proof of musical talent; studied at Vienna
under Abbe Vogler, and at Dresden became founder and director of the
German opera; his first great production was "Der Freischuetz," which
established his fame, and was succeeded by, among others, "Oberon," his
masterpiece, first produced in London, where, shortly after the event, he
died, broken in health; he wrote a number of pieces for the piano,
deservedly popular (1786-1826).

WEBER, WILHELM EDUARD, German physicist, born at Wittenberg;
professor at Goettingen; distinguished for his contributions to
electricity and magnetism, both scientific and practical (1801-1891).

WEBSTER, DANIEL, American statesman and orator, born at New
Hampshire; bred to the bar, and practised in the provincial courts;
by-and-by went to Boston, which was ever after his home; entered Congress
in 1813, where, by his commanding presence and his animated oratory, he
soon made his mark; was secretary for foreign affairs under President
Harrison, and negotiated the Ashburton Treaty in settlement of the
"boundary-line" question between England and the States; was much admired
by Emerson, and was, when he visited England, commended by him to the
regard of Carlyle as a man to "hear speak," as "_with a cause_ he could
strike a stroke like a s