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WIL

1361

WIL

the 20th January, 1807. His parents having removed to Boston

during his childhood, he received the rudiments of education in that city. In 1824 he entered Yale college, where he graduated in 1827. Before he came of age he begun a literary career as editor of periodicals, entitled the Legendary and the Token. He next commenced the American Monthly Magazine on his own account; and after about two years' proprietorship gave it up to the owner of the New York Mirror, which journal he subsequently furnished with letters from abroad. In 1831 he went to Paris, where Mr. Rives, the United States ambassador, made him an attaché of the legation. Availing himself of official opportunities, he travelled through France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, and at length reached England, where he married, and remained for two years. The letters descriptive of his travels, which he sent to the New York Mirror, were reprinted in a volume entitled "Pencillings by the Way." Written in a lively style, expressive generally of admiration of all that he saw, these letters nevertheless gave great offence to a powerful critic, who was stigmatized as a partisan. A severe article in the Quarterly, vol. liv., stung Mr. Willis to the quick. In 1837 he returned to his native land, where he exercised the calling of journalist and farmer, having bought an estate on the banks of the Susquehanna. In 1839 he revisited Europe, where he spent about four years writing and publishing numerous volumes. In the preface to his "Hurry-graphs," published in 1851, he characterizes his sketches as "copies from the kaleidoscope of the hour;" and adds, "the author long ago made up his mind that the unreal world was overworked; that the past and the future were overvalued; and that the immediate and present were as well worth the pains of authorship as what one can only imagine or take from hearsay." Mr Willis died in January, 1867.—R. H. WILLIS, Thomas, M.D., a distinguished physician and anatomist, was born at Great Bedwin in Wiltshire on the 27th of January, 1621, and was educated at Oxford. He was entered at Christ Church in 1636, proceeded A.B. in 1639, and A.M. in 1642. About this time he bore arms for the king. But he afterwards turned his attention to medicine, and took the degree of M.B. in 1646. He then began to practise, attended the weekly market at Abingdon, and took a house opposite Merton college, where he set apart a room for the performance of divine service according to the liturgy of the Church of England. In 1660 after the Restoration he was appointed Sedleian professor of natural philosophy, and in the same year was created doctor of medicine. He was one of the first fellows of the Royal Society, and was elected an honorary fellow of the College of Physicians in 1664. Two years after, on the invitation of Dr. Sheldon, archbishop of Canterbury, he came to London and resided in St. Martin's Lane. His success in practice was remarkable. "In a very short time," says Wood, "he became so noted and so infinitely resorted to for his practice, that never any physician before went before him, or got more money yearly than he." On being called to attend the children of the duke of York, afterwards James II., he gave an opinion as to the cause of their ill health which reflected on the previous life of the prince. This was not forgiven, and his services were not again required. He died at his house in St. Martin's Lane, 11th November, 1675, and was buried in Westminster abbey. His writings are—"Diatribæ duæ Medico-philosophicæ," Hags Comitis, 1659; "Cerebri Anatome," 8vo, London, 1664; "Pathologiæ Cerebri et Nervosi Generis Specimen," 4to, Oxon. 1667; "Affectionum quæ dicuntur Hystericæ et Hypochondriacæ Pathologia Spasmodica," 4to, London, 1670; "De Animâ Brutorum," 4to, Oxon. 1672; "Pharmaceutice Rationalis," Oxon. 1674. The best collected edition of his works is that by Professor Blasius, Amsterdam, 1682.—F. C. W. WILLISON, John, a popular Scottish divine, was born near Stirling in 1680. In 1703 he was ordained at Brechin, and in 1718 translated to Dundee, where he spent the remainder of his life. He went, along with Erskine and his coadjutors, to the very point of secession, but suddenly stopped, and afterwards wrote against them in his "Fair and Impartial Testimony." His labours were very abundant, especially in seasons of revival. He died on the 3rd of May, 1750. Besides works on the sanctification of the Lord's day, and several excellent catechisms—one of them being very popular as the "Mother's Catechism"—his best known treatise is "The Afflicted Man's Companion," which has often been reprinted, and on many a sickbed has verified its title.—(Practical Works, with Essay by Dr. Eadie.)—J. E. WILLMORE, James Tibbitts, a celebrated landscape engraver, was born at Handsworth, Staffordshire, on the 15th of September, 1800. He was articled to Mr. Radclyffe of Birmingham. In 1823 he came to London, and for three years was in the establishment of Mr. Charles Heath. As soon as he found an opportunity, he proved his rare qualifications for rendering in black and white the characteristics of contemporary English landscape. His style was entirely his own, and, without any claim to the beauty of line of the Italian engravers, or the firmness and vigour of Woollett, it served admirably to express brilliancy of local colour, atmospheric effects, &c. In copying Turner, Willmore was especially successful—the Llanthony, Mercury and Argus, the Old Temeraire, and Ancient Italy, are a few of the larger plates he engraved from this master; the Rivers of France are conspicuous among the smaller. Among the best of many plates from other painters are—Byron's Dream, after Eastlake; a Harvest Party in the Highlands, and Crossing the Bridge, after Landseer; the Rhine, and others, after Callcott; Against Wind and Tide, and others, after Stanfield; Creswick's Summer Time, &c. Mr. Willmore was elected associate engraver of the Royal Academy in 1843. During his later years, when ill health prevented his working with the graver, he painted a few pictures, as "Trout Fishing," "Eel Spearing," &c., which appeared at the Academy exhibitions, but they are not of much value. He died on the 12th of March, 1863.—J. T—e. WILLOCK or WILLOX, John, an early Scottish reformer, is supposed to have been a native of Ayrshire. Educated at the university of Glasgow, he entered one of the monastic orders in Ayr. As early as 1541 he had become protestant, and retired to England. He was imprisoned during the prosecutions for the six articles under King Henry VIII. , and after his release he became chaplain to the duke of Suffolk, father of Lady Jane Grey. On the accession of Mary he fled to the continent, and lived for a season at Embden in Friesland. His occasional visits to Scotland helped on the Reformation. In 1558 or 1559 he took up his residence in Ayr, and openly preached the reformed doctrines, holding disputes with noted defenders of the popish faith, such as the abbot of Crossraguel. The reforming clergy, by a breach of faith, were outlawed by the queen regent; but they, with the heads of the nation, met the more boldly at Edinburgh, and carried their point, having solemnly deposed the regent. The Reformation being established, Willock was in September, 1561, appointed superintendent of the West, and he was three times moderator of the general assembly. He seems ultimately to have gone to England.—J. E. WILLOT, Amedée, a French general of the time of the Revolution, whose fame is overshadowed by the more brilliant achievements of some of his contemporaries, was born in 1757 at St. Germain-en-Laye. He was of a good family, and being duly educated for the profession of arms, entered the legion of Maillebois as an officer. He first saw active service in Corsica in 1769. When the Revolution broke out he took the popular side, and in 1792 was a colonel in the army of the Eastern Pyrenees. His first affair with the Spaniards, near Ceres, was unfortunate. Being defeated, he was arrested by the commissaries of the convention, but subsequently restored to his command. In the following year he retrieved his character by gaining several important victories in Spain. He received the public approval of General Moncey, and was made a general of division. His next employment was under Hoche in La Vendée, where he seems to have shown a suspicious tenderness for the royalists. Still further was the anti-revolutionary weakness developed in him, on being appointed to command the military division of Marseilles. In the difficult task of repressing anarchists on the one hand, and reactionary royalists on the other, he exercised the most unflinching severity against the former party. Director Barras would have removed him, but Carnot supported him as the right man in the right place. His firmness was not to be shaken; and on receiving a complaint from General Bonaparte, one of whose officers had been arrested, Willot wrote—"I dont envy your lot; while you repulse foreign enemies, I render France as great a service in suppressing internal foes, and no consideration shall stop me from performing this sacred duty." In 1797 he was elected to the council of Five Hundred. From that time he became intimately connected with Pichegru, and a friend to the exiled Bourbons. He was involved in all the intrigues and manœuvres which culminated in the coup d'etat of the 18th Fructidor, by which Pichegru and his party were overthrown, and transported to the West Indies. Willot escaped with the

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