Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/677

This page needs to be proofread.

WILSON pers, became almost as widely known as his own proper name. A complete edition, con- taining " Christopher in the Tent," contributed by Wilson to " Blackwood " in 1819, and which forms a prelude to the " Noctes," was published in New York by R. Shelton Mackenzie, with biographical notices and numerous notes (5 vols., 1857; revised ed., 1863). In 1841 he published an elaborate "Essay on the Genius and Character of Burns;" in 1842 "The Re- creations of Christopher North," comprising selections from his contributions to "Black- wood;" and between June, 1849, and Septem- ber, 1852, he wrote the series entitled "Dies Boreales, or Christopher under Canvas." In 1851 he was smitten with paralysis, and was obliged to resign his professorship. The crown soon after granted him a literary pension of 300. A bronze statue of Wilson, of heroic size, executed by Steel, has been erected in the Princess street gardens, Edinburgh. His works have been edited in 12 vols. by his son-in-law, Professor Ferrier ; and a memoir from family papers, with a selection from his correspon- dence, by his daughter, Mrs. Gordon (2 vols., Edinburgh, 1862). II. James, a Scottish natu- ralist, brother of the preceding, born in Paisley in 1795, died near Edinburgh, May 18, 1856. He wrote the articles on natural history for the seventh edition of the " Encyclopedia Bri- tannica," and revised and extended them for the eighth. He also published " A Voyage round the Coasts of Scotland and the Isles " (2 vols., 1842) and " Illustrations of Scripture by an Animal Painter." Dr. Hamilton of Lon- don published a memoir of him in 1859. WILSON, Richard, an English painter, born in Montgomeryshire in 1713 or 1714, died at Llanferras (now called Loggerheads from a painting by him on a tavern signboard there), Denbighshire, in 1782. For many years he painted portraits in London. In 1749 he went to Italy, and discovered a remarkable talent for landscape painting. Returning to London in 1755, he practised his art there for nearly 25 years. Most of his pictures were sold to the dealers for very small prices. Not a few were subsequently sold for 100 times as much as they brought him. Of some of his best works he made several repetitions with slight modi- fications. Many of them have been admirably engraved by Woollett, Sharpe, and others. He was one of the founders of the royal academy, and for several years its librarian. WILSON, Sir Robert Thomas, an English gen- eral, born in London in 1777, died there, May 9, 1849. He was the son of Benjamin Wilson, a painter and writer on electricity, and was educated at Westminster and Winchester. In 1793 he went to Flanders as a volunteer, and in 1794 obtained a commission in the 15th dra- goons. He served in Ireland during the rebel- lion of 1798, and subsequently in Holland, Bra- zil, and at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1808 he raised the Lusitanian legion in Portugal, and afterward commanded a Spanish brigade WILTSHIRE C53 under Wellington, and was in the battle of Ta- lavera From 1812 to 1814 he served as Brit- ish military commissioner at the headquarters of the Russian and of the allied armies. For his open disapproval of the course pursued to- ward Queen Caroline, he was dismissed from the army. From 1818 to 1831 he was a mem- ber of parliament. After the death of George IV. he was restored to his rank in the army in 1841 became a general, and from 1842 was governor and commander-in-chief of Gib- raltar. He translated Regnier's "Campaign in 1801 in the East and in Egypt," and wrote 'History of the British Expedition to Egypt" (1802). He also published "An Inquiry into the Present State of the Military Force of Britain " (1804) ; " Character and Composition of the Russian Army, and a Sketch of the Campaigns in Poland, 1806-'7" (1810); and " A Sketch of the Military and Political Power of Russia" (1817). His posthumous journals have been edited by his nephew the Rev. Her- bert Randolph (5 vols. 8vo, 1860-'63). WILSON, William Dexter, an American cler- gyman, born in Stoddard, N. H., Feb. 28, 1816. He studied in the theological depart- ment of Harvard university, and in 1842 was ordained to the ministry in the Protestant Episcopal church. He soon afterward pub- lished a small book on "The Constitution of the Christian Church" (enlarged and repub- lished under the title of "A Manual of Church Principles," Baltimore, 1846). In 1847 he ed- ited Bishop Mant's Hora Liturgies under the title "An Explanation of the Rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer" (revised ed., New York, 1864), and in 1848 published a "History of the Reformation in England." In 1848-'9 he wrote a series of essays under the title of "The Church Identified," which were after- ward collected in a volume (Utica, N. Y. ; en- larged ed., New York, 1850; last ed., 1859). In 1850 he was elected professor of history and moral and intellectual philosophy in Geneva college, N. Y. ; and in 1868 he became profes- sor of moral and mental philosophy in Cornell university. He has also published an "Ele- mentary Treatise on Logic " (12mo, New York, 1856) ; " Psychology, Comparative and Hu- man" (1871) ; "Text Book of Logic" (1872) ; and " Introduction to the Study of the Histo- ry of Philosophy " (1872). Besides many con- tributions to reviews, he has furnished a pa- per on " Local Climatology " to the report of the regents of the stats of New York for 1867, and one on "The Nature of Mathemat- ics and the Method of Treating them " to the " Proceedings of the University Convocation " for 1867. WILTSHIRE, or Wilts, a S. county of Eng- land, bordering on the counties of Gloucester, Berks, Southampton, Dorset, and Somerset; area, 1,343 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 257,202. It is almost quadrangular, and is divided by the Upper Avon and Kennet rivers and the canal which connects them into two nearly equal