Apology for the Designs of the New Houses of Parliament, marked Phil-Archimedes." After this he engaged on no new work. He had been elected A.R.A in 1823, and R.A. in 1826; and he was now (1839) chosen professor of architecture, in succession to Sir John Soane. He did not, however, live to deliver any lectures, dying on his next birthday, on 31st August, 1839. Besides the works already noticed, Mr. Wilkins was the author of a translation of the first four books of the Civil Architecture of Vitruvius, 4to, 1812; "Atheniensia, or remarks on the buildings and antiquities of Athens," 4to, 1816; and "Prolusiones Architectonicæ," 1837, of which only one part was published.—J. T—e.
* WILKINSON, James John Garth, the chief English expositor of Swedenborg, became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1834. He has translated and edited several of the principal works of Swedenborg; and of the preliminary discourses which he has at the same time supplied, Mr. Emerson—who calls him "a philosophic critic, with a co-equal vigour of understanding and imagination comparable only to Lord Bacon's"—goes the length of saying that they "throw all the contemporary philosophy of England into the shade; a sentence in which Emersonian humbug may be fairly said to have reached its climax. The list of Wilkinson's original works includes—"A Popular Sketch of Swedenborg's Philosophical Works," 1847; "Emanuel Swedenborg, a Biography," 1849; and "The Human Body and its Connection with Man, illustrated by the principal organs," 1851; second edition, 1860.—F. E.
* WILKINSON, Sir John Gardner, Knight, the eminent Egyptologist, is the son of the late Rev. John Wilkinson, and was born in October, 1797. Left an orphan early, he was sent to Harrow and Exeter college, Oxford. On leaving Oxford he gratified his love of travel, in which he had already indulged during long vacations, and made a tour in Italy, where he formed an intimacy with Sir William Gell. In Sir William's society he studied the Egyptological writings of Dr. Young, and by Sir William he was incited to an examination of the monuments of Egypt. In 1821 he went to Egypt, and remained there for twelve years. His first work, the "Materia Hieroglyphica," containing the Egyptian Pantheon and the succession of the Pharaohs, was printed at Malta in 1828, and was followed in 1833 by his "Topography of Thebes, and general view of Egypt." The first series of his great work, the "Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," appeared in 1837, and it was completed in 1841 by the publication of a second series in two volumes. In 1839 he was knighted for his contributions to so interesting a section of knowledge. He has since visited Egypt four times. In 1843 he returned home by way of the Illyrian coast of the Adriatic, and to this we owe his work, "Dalmatia and Montenegro," 1848. Among his contributions to the knowledge of ancient and modern Egypt may be mentioned his "Modern Egypt and Thebes," 1843; his "Handbook for Travellers in Egypt," published in Mr. Murray's series; his "Architecture of Ancient Egypt," 1850; his "Fragments of the Hieratic Papyrus at Turin," 1851; his "Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians," 1854, an abridgment of his larger work, &c. A promoter and juror of, as well as exhibitor at the Great Exhibition of 1851, he was attracted to a new branch of investigation, and published in 1858 his work "On Colour, and on the necessity for a general diffusion of taste among all classes." Sir Gardner Wilkinson has recently directed his attention to Celtic remains in Britain, and has contributed several papers on the subject to the Transactions of learned societies.—F E.
WILLAN, Robert, M.D., was born in 1757 at Hill, near Sedbergh, in Yorkshire. He was educated at Edinburgh, and graduated there in 1780. He at first settled at Darlington, but soon removed to London, where he was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians in 1785, and was elected physician to the Carey Street Dispensary. Dr. Willan's reputation is founded on his writings on skin diseases—a department of medicine which he rescued from the confusion and neglect in which he found it. He was moreover an accomplished scholar. He was elected F.S.A. in 1791, and F.R.S. in 1809. He died at Madeira, whither he had gone on account of his health, in April, 1812. His chief work was the "Description and Treatment of Cutaneous Diseases," 4to, London, 1808; he also wrote on vaccine inoculation, 4to, London, 1806. After his death a treatise by him on porrigo, and a volume of his miscellaneous medical works, were edited and published by Dr. Ashby Smith.—F. C. W.
WILLAUMEZ, Jean Baptiste Philibert, a French admiral of distinction, was born at Belle Isle, on the sea, the 7th of August, 1763. His father was a captain in the artillery, who placed his boy in the navy at the age of fourteen, without being able to procure him a commission. By close attention to his profession the youth advanced rapidly to the highest rank within his reach, being made first pilot on board the Amazone before he had completed his nineteenth year. He had already seen active service under the unfortunate navigator La Pérouse, and had taken part in more than one naval engagement during the American war. He had acquired a considerable reputation for able seamanship without being able to cross the barrier which divided the commissioned officers from the non-commissioned, when the Revolution "opened a career for talent." In 1791 he was appointed ensign on board the Patriote, which was sent in quest of La Pérouse. After passing some months in the Pacific the expedition touched at Java, where the officers and crew were amazed to learn that their king had been guillotined, a republic established, and war declared against England, Holland, and Spain. The captain and superior officers, zealous in their royalism, allied themselves to the Dutch at Java, who laid an embargo on the ships of the expedition. Willaumez and some others made their way to the Mauritius, where the gallant young officer broke the blockade established there by the English. He was sent home with despatches and in command of a brig, and from the grade of lieutenant, which he had obtained out at sea, he was promoted to be captain of the Pluto, and afterwards of the Regenerée, in which he sailed once more for the Indian seas, where he obtained more than one victory over the redoubtable British foe. His next important service was as commodore in the expedition to St. Domingo, where he protested against the cruelties committed by his countrymen upon the blacks. In the frigate Poursuivante he had the honour of beating off the English man-of-war Hercules, which assailed him near French Cape. This combat became the subject of one of the paintings ordered by the government of the day. Raised by Napoleon to the rank of rear-admiral, he commanded the light squadron near Brest, and was obliged to fight Admiral Cornwallis. After the battle of Trafalgar the Brest fleet was divided, and Willaumez was sent on a roving expedition to the Cape of Good Hope, having young Jerome Bonaparte under his command. Battered by storms and harassed by English cruisers, this squadron only reached home piecemeal, having lost one or two vessels on the American shores. His next expedition was for the relief of Rochefort, which, however, proved unsuccessful, as did also a cruise he made to the West Indies. He lived many years after the peace, and rendered a lasting service to the French navy by publishing a marine dictionary, now a text-book in the naval schools of France.—R. H.
WILLDENOW, Karl Ludwig, a distinguished German botanist, was born at Berlin in 1765, and died 12th July, 1812. He was the son of an apothecary, who instructed him in his profession, and sent him to Halle to study medicine. After taking the degree of M.D. in 1789, he returned to Berlin. He prosecuted botany with vigour, and published various works on the subject. In 1794 he was chosen a member of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, and in 1798 gave lectures on natural history in that city. In 1801 he was elected professor of botany to the Berlin Academy. He subsequently became director of the botanic gardens, which he enriched by large additions of exotic plants, of which he published a catalogue. His herbarium at the time of his death embraced twenty thousand species. He was also fond of zoology, and made collections of insects and birds. In 1804 Willdenow visited Austria and the north of Italy, and in 1811 he went to Paris at the request of Humboldt, to describe American plants. He spent eight months in Paris, and had an opportunity of examining the herbaria of that city. He returned to Berlin with a large collection of plants. He was a member of eighty learned societies, and received the decoration of the red eagle from the king of Prussia. The genus Willdenovia is named after him. Among his works may be enumerated the following—"Prodromus Floræ Berolinensis;" "Elemens de Botanique;" "Phytographia;" "Species Plantarum," in three volumes; "Historia Amaranthorum," &c.—J. H. B.
WILLE, Johann Georg, an eminent line engraver, was born at Bieberthal, near Königsberg, November 5, 1715. When very young he was placed with a painter, but his inclination was decidedly for engraving; and at the age of nineteen he made his way to Paris, which he never afterwards quitted. He was engaged as assistant at a low salary by Dallé, under whom he quickly
