with whom he first attempted dramatic poetry. In 1762 he

was appointed to an office in the customs at Leipsic, which he honourably discharged till his death, on 16th December, 1804. Weisse enjoyed the highest esteem of his contemporaries, both as a man and a writer. Besides numerous dramatic compositions and lyrical poems, chiefly of the lighter and comic sort, he published the "Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften und freien Künste;" the "Kinderfreund," 24 vols.; the "Briefwechsel der Familie des Kinderfreundes," 12 vols.; and other works.—(See Autobiography, edited by his son Christ. Ernst Weisse and Frisch; Leipsic, 1806.)—K. E. WELCH, John, a famous Scottish minister, was son of a small proprietor in Nithsdale, and was born about 1570. He was first ordained at Selkirk, where his ministerial faithfulness exposed him to much opposition. He was translated to Ayr in 1590, and remained there till he was imprisoned and finally banished in 1616 for refusing to conform to the episcopal government which King James had set his heart on establishing. On getting to France the exile set himself to learn the tongue, and in fourteen weeks after his arrival was preaching in it. His abode in France extended over sixteen years, and he was pastor first at Nerac, and then at St. Jean d'Angely. He came back to England in 1622, but the king would not allow him to return to Scotland. He was labouring under a disease not unlike leprosy, and the physicians prescribed the enjoyment of his native air. The king refused this indulgence to the invalid. Mrs. Welch at length went herself to implore the royal clemency. His majesty asked, "Who is your father?" "John Knox," she replied. "Knox and Welch," cried the king, "the devil never made such a match as that!" "Right likely, sir," responded the lady, "for we never speired his advice." She urged her request—"Give him his native air." "Give him the devil," said the king. "Give that," she answered, "to your hungry courtiers." "Let him conform," at last muttered James. "I would rather," said the daughter of Knox, lifting her apron, "kep his head there." Welch soon after died, in the fifty-third year of his age. He published a "Dispute with Abbot Brown;" and his "Armageddon" is yet found in the collections of the curious.—His son Josiah was minister at Temple Patrick, in the north of Ireland, and was connected with the great revival there.—Josiah's son, John, was minister at Irongray, and was one of the most earnest and active of the persecuted covenanters. He preached for twenty years with a price of £500 upon his head, and yet died in his bed in London in 1681.—J. E. WELCKER, Friedrich Gottlieb, an eminent German humanist, was born at Grünberg, near Giessen, on 4th November, 1784. After completing his education at Giessen, he passed two years at Rome; and on his return (1809) obtained the chair of archæology and Greek literature at Giessen, whence in 1819 he was translated in the same capacity to Bonn. Here, besides his professorial duties, he also discharged those of principal librarian to the university. His numerous works have done excellent service to the cause of classical learning, and have firmly established their author's fame. We note—"Die Æschyleische Trilogie;" "Der Epische Cyclus;" "Die Griechischen Tragödien mit Rücksicht auf den Epischen Cyclus," 3 vols.; "Alte Denkmäler," 3 vols.; and "Kleine Schriften zur Griechischen Literaturgeschichte," 3 vols. Conjointly with Näke, and afterwards with Ritschl, he also edited the Rheinische Museum für Philologie, from 1834. Died in 1869.—K. E WELI-ED-DI'N, Ahmed Erdjek Ogli, a famous Turkish poet, was born about 1438. The son of a Bosnian noble who had embraced Islamism, Weli-ed-di'n by his talents and learning early won the favour of the sultan, Mahomet II., who made him governor to his son, and afterwards vizier. But having fallen into disgrace, he was imprisoned till an ode which he addressed to the sultan, bemoaning his misfortunes, procured his release and new honours. By Bajazet II., Weli-ed-di'n was made governor of Broussa He continued to cultivate poetry, and is said to have had always around him a circle of poets and learned men; but his debauchery and extortion disgusted the people. He died in 1495. The poetry of Weli-ed-di'n is highly esteemed by the Turks for its plaintive melody, richness of versification, and classic style. What are known as the "Cassides" and "Gazelles" are the most admired, and after them the odes composed by desire of Bajazet II.—J. T—e. WELLEKENS, Jan Baptista, a celebrated Dutch poet, was born at Aalst, on the 13th February, 1658. He was educated as a painter, and about 1676 went to Italy. But an attack of paralysis at Venice, in 1687, compelled him to abandon painting, and he returned to his native country and settled at Amsterdam. He suffered much from ill health, and verse was his solace. His poetry is chiefly idyllic; is mostly plaintive in tone, and is admired for its truth, tenderness, and simplicity. He published in 1711 a volume of Idylls in conjunction with his friend Vlaming; others appeared posthumously under the care of Vlaming in 1735. Wellekens also translated the Amintas of Tasso, 8vo, 1715. He died at Amsterdam, 14th May, 1726.—J. T—e. WELLESLEY, Richard Colley, Marquis Wellesley in the peerage of Ireland, the statesman, eldest brother of the great duke of Wellington, was born in 1760. Educated at Eton, he distinguished himself by his classical proficiency, and was a principal contributor to the Musæ Etonenses. He maintained his reputation for scholarship at Christ church, Oxford, whither he was sent in 1778. At Oxford he formed a life-long intimacy with Lord Grenville, by whom he was afterwards introduced to the favourable notice of Mr. Pitt. Becoming earl of Mornington by the death of his father in 1781, he honourably encumbered himself with his father's debts, and though quite a young man, is said to have affectionately cared for the education of his younger brothers. Lord Mornington at once took his seat in the Irish house of peers, with a view to a political career. From the earliest period he was, what he remained until their triumph, a vigorous advocate of the catholic claims. In 1784 he entered the English house of commons as member for the nomination borough of Beeralston in Devonshire, and was appointed a member of the Irish privy council in 1785, and in the following year a lord of the treasury. Strenuously supporting the policy of his chief, Mr. Pitt, on the regency question, he secured the favour of George III. In 1793 he was made a member of the English privy council; and from 1794, under Mr. Dundas, as an active member of the board of control, took part in the home administration of Indian affairs. In October, 1797, he was appointed as successor to Lord Teignmouth, governor-general of India, and created Baron Mornington in the peerage of the United Kingdom. At the Cape, on his way out, he became acquainted with the designs of Tippoo Saib (q.v.), and reached India prepared to baffle them. Soon after his arrival at Calcutta he received clear proofs of Tippoo's intrigues with the French, and acting promptly and vigorously, declared war against the formidable ruler of Mysore, which was entered by a British force in August, 1798. The Mysore campaign, in which the governor-general's younger brother, Arthur Wellesley, afterwards duke of Wellington, commanded the Nizam's contingent, was terminated in three months by the capture of Seringapatam. In 1799 he was created Marquis Wellesley in the peerage of Ireland. In 1803 he waged war with the Mahrattas, who were crushed by Sir Arthur Wellesley's victory at Assaye, and that of Lake at Laswaree. Nor was it by military successes alone that Lord Wellesley's Indian government was distinguished; he struggled to relax the strict commercial monopoly of the East India Company; or rather, in spite of the opposition of the company, to give effect to the relaxations provided for at the renewal of the charter in 1793. He was the first governor-general to see the necessity for the proper training of the civil servants of the company; and though the comprehensive plans which led him to establish for that purpose in 1800 the college of Fort William were thwarted by the directors, they were afterwards partly carried out at Haileybury. The Anglo-Indian metropolis owed much to his improvements, and the period of his rule has been called "the Augustan age of Calcutta." Of Lord Wellesley's general Indian policy, the chief aim was the formation of alliances with the most powerful of the native princes. Disciplined subsidiary forces were substituted, under the control of the governor-general, for their own turbulent levies. War, and the carrying out of this policy, made Lord Wellesley's Indian administration costly as well as brilliant, and the discontent of the directors was increased by his adherence to the principles of commercial freedom. The governor-general, on the other hand, found himself obstructed by the directors, and at last in 1805 the home government accepted his resignation. Re-entering English public life after his return, he was appointed in July, 1809, ambassador to the supreme central junta of Spain, and in December of the same year was made secretary for foreign affairs. He held the office until January, 1812, vigorously seconding during the period the efforts of his brother, the great captain, in the Peninsula,