on the exterior of his atelier; "A Martyr under Diocletian;" the

"Revolt of the Angels;" and many more. Some of his recent large works are painted according to a method invented by him, and which, in a pamphlet on the subject—"Peinture Mate: Procédé Nouveau," Brussels, 1859—he asserts to be easier of execution, superior in effect, and more permanent than any hitherto employed; but he "defers to another time" divulging the secret at' his process. M. Wiertz has also written an "Étude sur Mathieu van Brée;" and an "Éloge de Rubens," which was crowned by the Academy of Antwerp in 1840.—J. T—e. * WIGHT, Robert, a celebrated Scottish botanist, was born in the parish of Pencaitland, near Haddington, on the 6th July, 1796. After attending the high school of Edinburgh, he commenced, in 1813, the study of medicine in the shop of Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie, an apothecary in Edinburgh. The same autumn he entered the university of Edinburgh. In March, 1816, he obtained the diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons, and on the 1st August, 1818, he took the degree of M.D. He began the study of botany under Professor Graham in 1817, and continued it under Mr. John Stewart. On the 25th May, 1819, he sailed for Madras, and from the time of his arrival in India almost till he left it, he devoted nearly all his leisure to botanical pursuits; and in 1826, on the departure of the H.E.I. Company's naturalist for Madras to return home on sick certificate. Dr. Wight was appointed to officiate in his absence. He filled this office for two years, and in the course of that time formed the herbarium, afterwards distributed by Dr. Wallich, along with several other Indian collections, under the designation of "Herb. Wight." On quitting that office, Dr. Wight was appointed garrison surgeon of Negapatam, the duties of which being light allowed him to devote much of his time to botany; and here, with the aid of good collectors trained by himself, who were sent all over the country, but more especially to the alpine ranges traversing the southern provinces of the peninsula, he was enabled to form a large herbarium, adding considerably to the number of species formerly collected. In 1831 he took his furlough and returned home, bringing his collection with him. This herbarium, aided by a set of specimens which he was permitted to retain from the official collection, formed the basis of the "Prodromus Floræ Peninsulæ Indiæ Orientalis," the publication of which was commenced by him, in company with Dr. Walker Arnott. The first volume only of this work was completed when his furlough expired, and he had to return to India early in 1834. The volume was in great part written, and was entirely edited by Dr. Arnott. He also edited the smaller volume of contributions by Wight to the botany of India. On Dr. Wight's return to India great opportunities were presented for exploring previously unvisited tracts. Of these he availed himself, and made large collections which supplied materials for his large works, entitled "Icones Plantarum Indiæ Orientalis" and "Illustrations of Indian Botany." Both these works were commenced in 1835, and were continued more or less regularly up to 1853, when he left India. These valuable works were carried on under great disadvantages, entirely from his own resources, and at his own cost.—J. H. B. WIGNEROD, François Duplessis de Richelieu, nephew of Cardinal Richelieu on the mother's side, owed to the protection of his powerful uncle rapid promotion in the military career which he had adopted. He was made governor of the citadel of Havre, and in 1633 was dubbed a knight of the Holy Ghost. He commanded a corps in the campaign of Lorraine, and distinguished himself before La Mothe. Although not a seafaring man, he was made in 1635 commander of the galleys, according to the custom of the time, which permitted military men to command armaments that manœuvred only in the narrow seas. On the 1st of September, 1638, he obtained a victory over the Spaniards before Genoa. His life was brought to a premature close in Paris on 26th January, 1646. His only son, Armand Jean, was the father of Marshal Richelieu, so celebrated for his amours, his diplomatic successes, and the many adventures that filled his long life of ninety-two years, which terminated but a few months before the Revolution broke out.—R. H. * WILBERFORCE, Samuel, D.D., bishop of Oxford, is the third son of William Wilberforce, the celebrated philanthropist, and was born at Broomfield house, Clapham, Surrey, on the 7th of September, 1805. Educated at Edgbaston and at Oriel college, Oxford, he closed his academic career by taking in 1826 a first class in classics, and a second in mathematics. Ordained in 1828, and to the curacy of Chickenden, in 1830 he was appointed rector of Brightston in the Isle of Wight; soon after rector of the large parish of Alverstoke, Hants; in 1839 archdeacon of Surrey, with a canonry in Winchester cathedral attached; in 1843 a chaplain to Prince Albert; in 1844 sub-almoner to the queen; in 1845 dean of Westminster, and in the same year bishop of Oxford, in right of his bishopric becoming at the same time chancellor of the order of the garter. In 1847 he was made lord high almoner to her majesty. In 1837 he had also been appointed a select preacher at Oxford, and in 1841 Bampton lecturer. The bishop of Oxford is an active leader of the high church party, a zealous advocate for the revival of synodical action, and has founded near his palace of Cuddesdon a college for the theological training of candidates for orders. Besides having published charges and several volumes of sermons, he co-operated with his elder brother Robert in the production of "The Life of William Wilberforce, by his sons," 1838, and he is the author of "Agathos and other Sunday Stories," with "The Rocky Island, and other Parables," 1834; and of a "History of the English Church in America," 1844, &c.—F. E. WILBERFORCE, William, a philanthropist and the political leader of the antislavery party in England, was the son of a merchant of Hull, and was born in 1759. At an early age he went to the grammar-school of his native town, then conducted by Dean Milner the church historian. In 1768 Wilberforce lost his father, and went to reside with his uncle in Surrey. From his aunt, who was a Methodist, he imbibed habits of devotion and obtained a knowledge of scripture, which were not forgotten when more expansive views enlarged his mental horizon. His mother removed him to the grammar-school at Pocklington, where he evinced a facility in composition, and a talent for elocution, which presaged the eloquence of the future politician. At the age of seventeen he went to Cambridge. Heir to a considerable property, he was not more studious than his gay companions at college, and distinguished himself as much by his hospitalities as by his classical achievements. Soon after leaving Cambridge his political career began. He was returned member for Hull at the age of twenty-one. He went to London, and became the familiar friend and companion of Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and other distinguished characters of the day. In 1784 he made a speech in the city of York, in opposition to the whig coalition ministry, and so won the hearts of his auditors that, at the next election, he was returned member for the county of York. Thus early placed in as proud a position as an English commoner can attain, with all its prospective advantages, possessed too of the friendship of Pitt, who for seventeen years governed the councils of his country, Wilberforce might have gratified his private and political ambition in any way he desired. But he chose the better part of devoting himself to the cause of the most oppressed people on the face of the earth; and by his manly persistence until the wrong was abolished, contributed more to the elevation of his country than if he had taken a place in the government of the day. His piety was of a real and vital character, and guided every thought and act of his life. He presents one of the noblest examples on record of a conscientious and thoroughly independent politician. When a school-boy at Pocklington he wrote a letter to one of the York papers condemning "the odious traffic in human flesh." In 1785 he expressed "the hope that at some time or other he should redress the wrongs of the wretched and degraded slaves in the West Indies;" but it was not till the year 1788 that he found an opportunity to begin that work which required an arduous struggle for twenty years to effect its object. Outside of the house of commons Granville Sharpe, Thomas Clarkson, and Zachary Macaulay were his coadjutors; and with their help and that of other honourable men and women, the moral sense of the country was gradually aroused. It needed all this pressure from without to overcome the powerful and self-interested majority which, year after year, threw out Mr. Wilberforce's antislave-trade motions. Several causes conspired to make the enterprise difficult. Pitt, though theoretically agreeing with his friend on the iniquity of the slave-trade, was by no means whole-hearted in the assistance he gave to the cause. Political considerations and compromises often overruled his better judgment. The French revolution had caused such a panic, that every reform was dreaded as the beginning of a similar state of things in England. Wilberforce's efforts were for many years a series of failures. It required all his influence and all his winning eloquence to obtain a hearing for his cause, for the West India