Wallis
JOHN, an English mathematician; born in Ashford, England, Nov. 23, 1616. Educated for the Church at Emanuel College, Cambridge, he took orders in 1640, and in 1663 obtained a living in London. He was one of the secretaries to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster; became Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford in 1649. Charles II., for services rendered to the royal cause, made him one of the royal chaplains, and in 1661 he was one of the revisers of the "Book of Common Prayer." He was one of the earliest and most useful members of the Royal Society, founded in 1663. He was the are author of many mathematical, theological, and controversial works and papers, the most important of which his "Arithmetic of the Infinities," and his "Mechanics." He died in Oxford, Oct. 28, 1703.
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Walpole
HORACE , EARL OF OXsha Sir Robert Walpole; born in London, Sept. 24, 1717; was educated at Eton, and which he traveled two years on the Con- King's College, Cambridge, on leaving tinent in company with Gray the poet. of Commons and sat for various consti- Returning in 1741 he entered the House tuencies up to 1768. He always took a lively but superficial interest in politics, inclining sentimentally to extreme opinions. In 1747 he purchased "Strawberry Hill," near London, where he erected a Gothic villa, laid out the grounds with minute ingenuity, and made it a principal business of his life to adorn and furnish it with objects of curiosity and antiquarian interest . His maintenance pointments. In 1757 he established a was provided for by some sinecure apprivate printing press at "Strawberry Hill," at which he printed not only his own works but those of others . In 1791 he succeeded his nephew in the peerage. He never took his seat in the House of Lords, and appears to have avoided using his title. The works of Horace Walpole are numerous; but his fame as a writer rests on his "Letters" and "Memoirs." The former are held to be unsurpassed HORACE WALPOLE in the English language, and both are highly interesting and valuable as a storehouse of the more evanescent traits of contemporary history. His romance, "The Castle of Otranto," is also well known. He died in London, March 2, 1797.
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Walpole (HUGH SEYMOUR a British author)
HUGH SEYMOUR, a British author, born in 1884, son of the Bishop of Edinburgh. He finished his education at Cambridge bridge University, and almost immediately tely took up literature as his life vocation, publishing his first novel, "The Wooden Horse," at the age of twenty-five. After the outbreak of the World War he went to Russia as a member of the Red Cross, where he incidentally gathered the material for the novel which gained him his first wide popularity among intellectual readers, "The Secret City" (1919), the city indicated in the title being Petrograd. He has also written, "Maradick at Forty" (1910); "The Prelude to the Adventure" (1912); "The Dark Forest" (1916); and "Jeremy" (1919).
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Walpole (II)
SIR ROBERT, EARL OF OXFORD, an English statesman; younger son Sir Robert Walpole; born in Houghton, England, Aug. 26, 1676; was educated at Eton, and at King's College, Cambridge; succeeded to the paternal estate in 1700, and entered Parliament as member for Castle Rising. In 1702 he was elected for King's Lynn, became an active member of the Whig party, and soon distinguished himself by his business capacity, and by his debates. In 1712 he was expelled from Parliament for breach of trust and corruption, and sent to the Tower, but was returned to his seat the following year. He was Secretary of War and leader in the House of Commons in 1708, paymaster of the forces in 1714 and 1720, and first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer in 1715, and again in 1721, and prime minister from 1715-1717 and from 1721-1742. During his long administration the Hanoverian succession, to which he was zealously attached, became firmly established, a result to which his prudence and political sagacity largely contributed. He relieved the weight of taxation by many improvements in the tariff. In 1724 he was made a Knight of the Bath, in 1726 a Knight of the Garter, and in 1742 was created Earl of Orford. As. able monograph on Walpole has been published by John Morley. He died in Houghton, England, March 18, 1745.
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Walpurga
WALBURGA, or WAL- PURGIS, a female saint; born in Eng land early in the 8th century, died 779. She was for many years a nun in a Dorsetshire convent. As a niece of St. Boniface, and sister of St. Willibald, first bishop of Eichstädt, Bavaria (741- 786), she was induced to proceed to Germany to found convents, and in 754 she V ود SIR ROBERT WALPOLE became abbess of Heidenheim, a convent within her brother's bishopric. She died at the latter place, but was buried at Eichstädt, and her shrine was visited by many pilgrims and was the scene of many miracles. Though her feast properly falls on Feb. 25, the eve of May 1, associated with some of the most popular of the witch superstitions of Germany, is called Walpurgis' Night. On that night witches were believed to ride through the air on broomsticks, etc., to some witch hill where they held a rendezvous with the devil. Such meetings were called the "Witches Sabbaths." The most famous witch hill was the highest part of the Hartz Mountains, called the Brocken or Brocksberg. The Beltane or Beltain festival was observed in Scotland and Ireland on the same date.
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Walsall
a town of Staffordshire, England; 8 miles N. N. W. of Birmingham. It is situated on a small affluent of the Tame and has numerous public buildings. The special manufactures are saddlers' ironmongery and all kinds of leather goods (saddles, harness etc.), the latter being largely exported. Walsall lies on the margin of the southern Staffordshire mineral field, and produces a great variety of hardware, small castings, gas tubes, chandeliers, iron bedsteads, silver and brass plating, etc. Coal and lime are wrought in the vicinity. Pop. about 95,000.
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