interest was strong in the house. At length in the year 1807 the final abolition of the slave-trade became the law of the land. Wilberforce was greeted with applause on every side; but his own deepest emotion was that of humble thankfulness to the Giver of all good, who had enabled him to effect this great work with which his name has become indissolubly associated. The same spirit of practical religion which sustained him in his struggle against the slave-trade, guided him in dealing with other political questions. He voted against the war with France, in opposition to Pitt, and took part in different measures to secure the purity of elections. He represented York in six successive parliaments, and was returned five times without opposition. After the triumph of 1807, Lord Milton and Mr. Lascelles opposed him at the unexampled cost of £200,000. Wilberforce's friends expended £28,000, and won the election by a large majority. In 1812 he resigned his seat for the county of York, finding the cares of so large a constituency too much for his health. He represented the borough of Bramber until 1825, when he retired from parliamentary life, after a career of forty-six years, in which he obtained the profound respect and admiration of all parties, by his high-toned and conscientious character, and exercised an influence rarely possessed by an unofficial personage. But it was not only in the house of commons that Wilberforce exerted his powers for the benefit of mankind. The Bible Society, missionary enterprises in India and elsewhere, church-building, the education and improvement of the condition of the poor, by turns occupied his attention. "His real position," says Sir James Stephen, "was that of a minister of public charity, holding his office by popular acclamation." Wilberforce published, in 1797, a work on "Practical Christianity." This book has passed through fifty successive editions in England and America, and has been translated into the French, German, Italian, and Spanish languages. In 1797 Wilberforce married Barbara, daughter of J. Spooner, Esq. They had four sons and two daughters, on whose education he bestowed much care. He died in London in 1833, just as the bill for the total abolition of slavery was passing in parliament. He "thanked God that he had seen the day in which England was willing to give twenty millions sterling for the abolition of slavery." He was buried in Westminster abbey.—R. M.
WILD, Henry, a learned oriental scholar, was born in Norwich about 1684, and was educated at the grammar-school there. He was apprenticed to a tailor, and for fourteen years worked at this trade. Obliged by severe illness temporarily to relinquish it, he amused his convalescence by reading, and thereafter gave himself up to the study of the Hebrew language in his leisure hours. By the interest of Dean Prideaux of Norwich he was sent to Oxford, and was employed at the Bodleian library in making translations and extracts from oriental MSS. He was author of a translation from the Arabic, entitled Mahomet's Journey to Heaven.—F.
WILFORD, Franz, a German orientalist, was born of a highly respectable Hanoverian family about 1760. With the rank of lieutenant he accompanied in 1781 those Hanoverian troops which were sent out to the East Indies by the British government, and soon made himself known as one of the most active and most learned members of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, in the Transactions of which he published a number of essays and treatises. He was, however, obliged to retract all his combinations and results, as he had been shamefully deceived by the pundits. He died about 1823.—K. E.
WILFRID (Saint), a Saxon bishop, was born at Ripon about 634. After being educated in the monasteries of Lindisfarne and Canterbury, he set out for Rome, but was detained on the way by the archbishop of Lyon, who took a great liking to his person. At Rome he became intimate with Boniface, secretary to Pope Martin. Returning to Lyon he staid there three years, whence he came back to England, and was ordained priest by Agilberet, bishop of the Saxons in Wessex, at the request of King Alchfrid. In 664 Alchfrid nominated him bishop of Northumberland; but he was to go to Paris and receive consecration from the hands of the bishop there. He remained two years in France, and found his place occupied after he returned. He withdrew, therefore, into the monastery of Ripon for three years. In 669 Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, put him into the bishopric of York. When his diocese was dismembered by Egfrid, king of Northumbria, Wilfrid would not agree to the change, and set out to appeal to the pope in person. Contrary winds drove him upon the shore of Friesland, where he disembarked and remained for a time among the idolatrous inhabitants, converting numbers of them to Christianity. After establishing churches and pastors in Friesland, he went to Austrasia, where King Dagobert received him most honourably. At Rome he obtained letters from the pope ordering that he should be reinstated in his see. But Egfrid caused him to be thrown into prison, whence he was soon released, and went among the Saxons, who embraced Christianity as the effect of his preaching. After Egfrid had lost his life in battle, Wilfrid was I recalled to Northumberland, and restored to his diocese in 686. Five years after, he was obliged to fly because he was opposed to Alchfrid's project about Ripon, and withdrew into Mercia. His enemies procured his deposal from Brithwald, Theodore's successor in the see of Canterbury. The consequence was that he appealed again to the pope, who declared in his favour. But his reinstatement did not take place till 705, after Alchfrid's death. He died April 24, 709, and was buried in the church of Ripon. His remains were afterwards taken to Canterbury. The zeal of Wilfrid on behalf of the papal authority in Britain was very successful. He did, indeed, more than any other man to extend it in this country. He was ambitious, fond of splendour, a patron of ecclesiastical architecture, and an upholder of the ecclesiastical against the kingly power.—S. D.
WILKEN, Friedrich, a German historian and orientalist, was born at Ratzeburg, 23rd May, 1777. He studied at Göttingen, and in 1805 was appointed to the chair of history at Heidelberg, whence in 1817 he was translated to Berlin as professor, principal librarian, and historiographer to the king. In 1838 he became mentally afflicted, and died on 24th September, 1840. Among his writings his "History of the Crusades, from Oriental and Occidental sources," 7 vols., takes the highest rank. In his Persian Grammar and Anthology he followed Sylvestre de Sacy, of whom he was a most distinguished pupil.—K. E.
WILKES, John, was born in London on the 28th October, 1727. He was descended from an ancient Buckinghamshire family. His father, Israel Wilkes, was a wealthy distiller; his mother, Sarah Heaton, was the daughter of a gentleman of large fortune. Israel was exceedingly ostentatious, and used to travel in a coach drawn by six horses. His son received his early education at Hertford. He was sent with his preceptor, a dissenting minister called Leeson, to finish his studies at the university of Leyden. Wilkes gained a thorough acquaintance with Greek and Latin, and had naturally and by culture considerable facility of expression. On leaving Leyden he travelled through Belgium, Holland, and part of Germany. Having returned to England, he married in October, 1749, an heiress of the name of Mead. Wilkes was twenty-two, his wife thirty-two. He was licentious, and fond of gay company; she was a woman of pure mind and pure life, and happiest in retirement. Almost from the beginning their household was divided and miserable. The birth of a daughter on the 5th August, 1750, brought a little joy. Besides being dissolute, the habits of Wilkes were foolishly expensive, and he was continually giving grand entertainments to persons whose presence was distasteful to his wife. Just when his debts were beginning to accumulate he was seized by political ambition. In the election of 1754 he stood for Berwick. He was unsuccessful, but his expenses amounted to between £3000 and £4000. This fresh extravagance increased the bitter feelings of his wife towards him, and led to a legal separation. In 1757 Wilkes was elected member for Aylesbury, at a cost to him of £7000. His embarrassments drove him to dealings with the Jews, and then to a step as unmanly as it was unpardonable. He attempted to get possession of his wife's annuity, at first by wheedling, and then, this failing, by a process before the king's bench. The decision was given against him, and all communication between him and his wife from that moment ceased. The election of Wilkes for Aylesbury procured him patrons in the county of Buckingham. Of these the most active and generous was Earl Temple, lord-lieutenant of the county. By Lord Temple's influence Wilkes was appointed colonel of the Bucks militia. Previously to this he had applied for the post of British minister at Constantinople. The application was refused, and Wilkes ascribed the refusal to the interference of Lord Bute. Hence his fierce, almost brutal antipathy to that nobleman. Bute having been placed at the head of the ministry in May, 1762, was supported by a periodical called the Briton. Wilkes started a paper called the North Briton, which was the furious
