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 {| width="100%" style="font-size:smaller;line-height:100%" (a) mm. (b) mm. (c) mm. a : c
 * - valign="bottom" align="center"
 * Specimen number
 * Width at base
 * Width behind eyes
 * Length
 * Ratio
 * Condition
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/10
 * 9.2
 * 6.2
 * 6.7:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * M 848
 * 9.7
 * 8.6
 * 7.7
 * 7.9:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/25
 * 11.3
 * 8.3
 * 7.3:10
 * C and dis.
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/11
 * 11.8
 * 8.0
 * 6.8:10
 * C and dis.
 * - align="center"
 * M 836
 * 12.0 est.
 * 11.0 est.
 * 8.0 est.
 * 6.7:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * M 844
 * 12.5
 * 11.3
 * 7.8
 * 6.2:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * M 881
 * 13.0
 * 11.0
 * 7.5
 * 5.8:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * M 794
 * 13.0
 * 11.1
 * 9.6
 * 7.4:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/9
 * 13.2
 * 10.35
 * 7.8:10
 * C and und.
 * - align="center"
 * M 809
 * 13.4
 * 12.0
 * 11.6
 * 8.6:10
 * C and dis.
 * - align="center"
 * 12306¹
 * 13.5
 * 10.0
 * 7.4:10
 * C and und.
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/1
 * 14.0 est.
 * 10.0
 * 7.1:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * M 828
 * 14.5
 * 11.5
 * 11.5
 * 7.9:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * M 840
 * 14.5
 * 13.0 est.
 * 12.4
 * 8.5:10
 * C and dis.
 * - align="center"
 * M 849
 * 15.0
 * 12.5
 * 11.5
 * 7.7:10
 * C and und.
 * - align="center"
 * M 856
 * 15.0
 * 13.0
 * 11.5
 * 7.7:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * 12296²
 * 15.3
 * 9.8
 * 6.4:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * 2569
 * 15.6
 * 10.5
 * 6.7:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/13/29
 * 16.0
 * 11.5
 * 7.2:10
 * C and P. dis.
 * - align="center"
 * 12302³
 * 16.8
 * 15.4
 * 9.2:10
 * C and dis.
 * - align="center"
 * M 845
 * 17.0
 * 14.8
 * 11.8
 * 6.9:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/12
 * 17.0
 * 13.0
 * 7.6:10
 * C and und.
 * - align="center"
 * 12298⁴
 * 18.2
 * 15.6
 * 12.5
 * 6.9:10
 * C and dis.
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/28
 * 18.5
 * 13.8
 * 7.4:10
 * C and dis.
 * - align="center"
 * 12296⁵
 * 19.3
 * 16.5
 * 13.0
 * 6.7:10
 * C and und.
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/23
 * 19.6
 * 12.7
 * 6.5:10
 * C and dis.
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/3
 * 19.6
 * 12.7
 * 6.5:10
 * C
 * - align="center"
 * M 863
 * 20.0
 * 16.0
 * 13.5
 * 6.7:10
 * C and und.
 * - align="center"
 * M 839
 * 22.0 est.
 * 19.0 est.
 * 15.5
 * 7.0:10
 * C and und.
 * - align="center"
 * M 843
 * 22.0 est.
 * 17.4
 * 17.6
 * 8.0:10
 * C and und.
 * - align="center"
 * 5323
 * 22.0 est.
 * 13.0
 * 5.9:10
 * C and P. dis.
 * - align="center"
 * M 874
 * 23.5 est.
 * 21.7
 * 16.6
 * 7.1:10
 * C and und.
 * - align="center"
 * 12296⁶
 * 26.0
 * 16.2
 * 6.2:10
 * C and dis.
 * - align="center"
 * M 815
 * 29.5
 * 25.5
 * 23.4
 * 7.9:10
 * C and und.
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/27
 * 32.0
 * 28.5
 * 8.9:10
 * C and dis.
 * - align="center"
 * 12299⁷
 * 43.5
 * 31.0
 * 7.1:10
 * C
 * }
 * 29.5
 * 25.5
 * 23.4
 * 7.9:10
 * C and und.
 * - align="center"
 * 5323/27
 * 32.0
 * 28.5
 * 8.9:10
 * C and dis.
 * - align="center"
 * 12299⁷
 * 43.5
 * 31.0
 * 7.1:10
 * C
 * }
 * C
 * }

Specimens M 794–M 881 are in the Geological Museum, Princeton University; specimens 12296–12306 are in the Walker Museum, University of Chicago; specimens 5323/1–29 are in the Museum of Comparative Zoology; and specimen 2569 is in the Peabody Museum, Yale University.


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Wilson  Notes from Etchings from Works of R. Wilson; Cunningham's Lives, ed. Heaton; Edwards's Anecdotes; Smith's Nollekens and his Times; Redgraves' Century; Redgrave's Dict.; Leslie and Taylor's Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds; Heaton's Concise History of Painting, ed. Monkhouse; Catalogues of the Society of Artists, Royal Academy, and British Institution.]  WILSON, ROBERT, the elder (d. 1600), actor and playwright, was one of the players who joined the Earl of Leicester's company on its establishment in 1574. He at once gained a reputation as a comic actor almost equal to that of Richard Tarlton [q. v.] Gabriel Harvey wrote in 1579 to the poet Spenser, complaining that his friends were (figuratively speaking) thrusting him ‘on the stage to make tryall of his extemporall faculty and to play Wylson's or Tarleton's parte’ (, Works, ed. Grosart, i. 125). In 1583 Wilson was chosen to be one of twelve actors who were formed into the Queen Elizabeth's company. With the queen's company he was connected till 1588. Stow remarked that among the twelve players of the queen's original company the most efficient were the ‘two rare men’ Wilson and Tarlton. Stow credited Wilson (to whom he erroneously gave the christian name of Thomas) with a ‘quick, delicate, refined, extemporal wit’ (, Chronicle, ed. Howes, London, 1631, p. 698, sub anno 1583). After 1588 Wilson seems to have transferred his services to Lord Strange's company of actors, which subsequently passed to the patronage of the lord chamberlain, and was joined by Shakespeare. Wilson maintained his reputation for extemporising until the end of the century. In 1598 Francis Meres, after recalling the triumphs of Tarlton, who died in 1588, noted that his place had since been filled by ‘our witty Wilson, who for learning and extemporal wit in this faculty is without compare or compeer; as to his great and eternal commendations, he manifested in his challenge at the Swan, on the Bank Side.’ No other reference is known to Wilson's ‘challenge’ at the Swan Theatre. Meres also mentions ‘Wilson’ among ‘the best poets for comedy,’ but there he probably refers to a younger Robert Wilson (see below). Thomas Heywood, in his ‘Apologie for Actors,’ 1612, numbers the elder ‘Wilson’ among English players of distinction who flourished conspicuously ‘before his time.’

Wilson also made a reputation as a writer of plays. In 1580 Thomas Lodge replied in a ‘Defence of Poetry, Musick, and Stage Plays’ to Stephen Gosson's ‘Schoole of Abuse.’ Lodge incidentally charged Gosson with plagiarism in a lost play on the subject of ‘Catilines Conspiracy,’ and declared that he preferred to Gosson's effort ‘Wilson's shorte and sweete [drama on the identical topic], a peece surely worthy prayse, the practise of a good scholler’ (Hunterian Club edition, 1879, p. 43). No play by Wilson dealing with Catiline is extant, but on 21 Aug. 1598 the theatrical manager Philip Henslowe advanced to ‘Robert Wilson’ ten shillings on security of his play of ‘Catiline,’ which he was writing in conjunction with Henry Chettle (, Diary, p. 132). This piece, like its forerunners, is lost, but it was possibly a version of Wilson's earlier play, revised by the younger Robert, who regularly worked for Henslowe.

The four extant plays which may be assigned to the comic actor with some confidence are loosely constructed moralities in which personified vices and virtues play the leading parts. The characters are very numerous. There is hardly any plot. The metre employed is various, and includes ballad doggerel, short rhyming lines, rhyming heroics and blank verse, besides occasional passages in prose. The earliest of the extant pieces for which Wilson may be held responsible bears the title, ‘A right excellent and famous Comedy called the Three Ladies of London. Wherein is Notablie declared and set foorth, how by the meanes of Lucar, Loue and Conscience is so corrupted, that the one is married to Dissimulation, the other fraught with all abhomination. A Perfect Patterne for all Estates to looke into, and a worke right worthie to be marked. Written by R. W., as it hath been publiquely played. At London [by Roger Warde],’ 1584, black letter, 4to. A second edition, with some variations, followed in 1592. Of the 1584 edition copies are in the British Museum, the Bodleian, and the Pepysian (Magdalene College, Cambridge) libraries. Of the second edition a perfect copy is at Bridgwater House, and an imperfect copy at the British Museum. At the end of both impressions appear the words, ‘Finis Paul Bucke.’ Bucke was probably the copyist employed by the acting company which first produced the piece; he seems to have been himself an actor. ‘The Three Ladies’ of the play are Lucre, Love, and Conscience. Love and Conscience are perverted by the machinations of Lucre and Dissimulation. A few concrete personages appear with the allegorical abstractions. One episode deals with the effort of a Jewish creditor, Gerontus, to recover a debt from an Italian

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 the same dimensions as less compressed carapaces of A. mazonensis. This is in keeping with the overall narrow aspect of the entire opisthosoma of A. mansfieldi, in contrast to the robust construction of A. mazonensis. On the basis of the measurements of the carapaces above, my conclusions differ entirely from those advanced by Van Oyen (1956) in regard to these two species. Other morphological differences as stated on page 92 leave no doubt as to the validity of both species.

An examination of the ratios of both length/width-at-base and length/width-behind-eyes reveals that A. mansfieldi progressively becomes more narrow in the carapace with age as compared to A. mazonensis, whose ratios remain constant.

Van Oyen (1956, p. 38) states that his conclusions regarding the measurements of the eurypterids from the "Veine D" are based on the measurements of 130 carapaces. Of the length and width-at-base measurements of the carapace it is important to note that fully 107 (almost 86 per cent) of these carapaces should not have been measured, as they represented specimens that were either incomplete or obviously too distorted to permit a reasonable interpretation of the individual variation of the species represented by the prolific "Veine D" eurypterids. Van Oyen, therefore, presents an interpretation of the possible limits of distortion of 130 carapaces of the "Veine D" eurypterids rather than a criterion for the identification of the species based on actual individual variation. As a result, his so-called limits of variation lump together (1956, p. 59) nearly all of the North American species of the genus, giving a stratigraphic range from the Middle Pennsylvanian to the Middle Permian for a single species which he identifies as the Bohemian A. imhofi (Reuss). Nowhere is a highly specialized form such as an eurypterid known to encompass such a long range. Van Oyen completely disregards obvious morphological differences, as, for example, the under side of well-known forms such as A. mazonensis and A. mansfieldi, and both are included under A. imhofi. In order to reveal the fallacy of the conclusions advocated by Van Oyen, it might be permissible to compare the holotype of A. imhofi, which has a telson barely as long as the carapace, with an individual of A. mansfieldi of approximately the same size; the latter has a telson at least twice as long as the carapace. The latter also is obviously a much more highly spinous eurypterid, in contrast to the non-spinous character of A. imhofi. Nevertheless, Van Oyen groups both as the same species. Morphologically, I know of no two eurypterids that can be so different and


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Wilson, Mercatore. Many expressions in these scenes adumbrate the language of Shylock and Antonio in the ‘Merchant of Venice,’ and there can be no doubt that Shakespeare was familiar with Wilson's portrayal of the Jew Gerontus (, Life of Shakespeare). The clown of the piece is called Simplicity, and that rôle may have been undertaken by the author.

In 1590 there was published in continuation of ‘The Three Ladies’ a piece entitled ‘The Pleasant and Stately Morall of the three Lordes and three Ladies of London. With the great Joy and Pompe, Solemnized at their Mariages, commically interlaced with much honest Mirth, for pleasure and recreation, among many Morall observations, and other important matters of due Regard. By R. W., London’ (printed by R. Jhones), 1590 (black letter, 4to, with an engraving on the title). The volume was licensed for the press on 31 July 1590. A copy is in the Malone Collection in the Bodleian Library. The prologue is spoken by the City of London; the same three ladies as in the preceding pieces are wooed by three series of gallants, entitled respectively Lords of London (Policy, Pomp, and Pleasure), Lords of Spain (Pride, Ambition, and Tyranny), and Lords of Lincoln (Desire, Delight, and Devotion). Simplicity again figures as the clown. A tribute is incidentally paid by the author to the merits of the actor Tarlton.

The ‘Three Ladies’ and the ‘Three Lords and Three Ladies’ were reprinted by Mr. J. P. Collier in a volume entitled ‘Five Old Plays’ issued by the Roxburghe Club in 1851. They reappeared in Dodsley's ‘Collection of Old English Plays’ (ed. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1874, vi. 244–502).

Wilson also wrote an interlude or morality which was licensed for the press to Cuthbert Burby on 7 June 1594, and was published in that year (being printed by John Danter) under the title of ‘The Coblers Prophesie. Written by Robert Wilson, gent.’ Most of the characters are allegorical, and include personifications of Contempt, Newfangledness, Folly, and the like, but many of the gods and goddesses of classical mythology also figure in the dramatis personæ. Copies of this rare quarto are in the libraries of the British Museum, the Bodleian, Bridgwater House, and the Pepysian Collection at Magdalene College, Cambridge. John Payne Collier described a copy in which a few lines had been supplied in manuscript by George Chapman (Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. ii. 422). A similar production, licensed for the press to Thomas Creede on 13 May 1594, and published anonymously next year under the title of ‘The Pedlers Prophesy,’ may on internal evidence be attributed to Wilson. Copies are in the British Museum and Bodleian libraries.

Mr. Fleay, for reasons that are not convincing, assigns to Wilson the play of ‘Fair Em, the Miller's Daughter of Manchester; with the love of William the Conqueror,’ of which the first known impression appeared in 1631. The piece was in existence before 1591, when it was denounced by Robert Greene, in his ‘Farewell to Folly,’ for reflecting on himself (cf., School of Shakspere, vol. ii.).

There is little doubt that Wilson the actor and playwright was identical with ‘Robert Wilson, yoman (a player),’ who was buried at St. Giles's, Cripplegate, on 20 Nov. 1600.

Another author:Robert Wilson (1579-1610) (1579–1610), one of the hack-writers regularly employed by the theatrical manager Henslowe from 1598 to 1600, was probably the comedian's son, and was baptised at St. Botolph's Church, Bishopsgate, on 22 Sept. 1579. The ‘Wilson’ mentioned by Meres among the ‘best’ writers of comedy of the day figures in Meres's list in close conjunction with Chettle, Hathaway, Munday, and others of Henslowe's hack-writers. The reference was doubtless suggested by the dramatic work done by the younger Wilson in Henslowe's service. Only one of the pieces in which Robert Wilson, Henslowe's drudge, had a hand survives, and that—‘The First Part of Sir John Oldcastle’—has no resemblance in style to the moral interludes that are assignable to the comic actor. The first and second parts of ‘Sir John Oldcastle’ were completed for Henslowe on 16 Oct. 1599 by Wilson in collaboration with Drayton, Hathaway, and Munday. It was suggested by the puritan protest raised against Shakespeare's plays of ‘Henry IV,’ in which the character Falstaff originally bore the appellation of Sir John Oldcastle. The first part—an historical drama—is alone extant. It was published in two editions by T[homas] P[avier] in 1600, and was impudently described on the title-page of one edition as the work of Shakespeare. ‘Catiline's Conspiracy,’ which Wilson and Chettle prepared for Henslowe in August 1599, may be based on the earlier effort by the elder Robert Wilson, of which Lodge makes mention. In many other productions the younger man's collaborators were Chettle, Dekker, and Drayton; but his contributions seem to have been the smallest of the four.


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 Lost pieces for which Robert Wilson and these three colleagues were paid by Henslowe were called ‘The first part of Godwin and his three sons’ (25 and 30 March 1598); ‘Piers of Exton’ (28 March 1598); ‘Black Batman of the North’ (22 May 1598); and the second part of ‘Godwin’ (May–June 1598). Wilson's collaborators in ‘Richard Cœur de Lion's Funeral’ were Chettle, Drayton, and Munday (June 1598); in the second part of ‘Black Batman,’ Chettle (June–July 1598); in the ‘Madman's Morris,’ in ‘Hannibal and Hermes, or one Worse Feared than Hurt,’ and in ‘Piers of Winchester,’ Dekker and Drayton (June–July 1598); in ‘Chance Medley,’ Dekker and Munday (19–24 Aug. 1598); and in ‘Owen Tudor,’ Drayton, Hathaway, and Munday (10 Jan. 1599–1600). On 8 Nov. 1599 Henslowe paid Wilson for a piece called ‘Henry Richmond,’ which he seems to have produced single-handed (cf., Dulwich Catalogue, p. 16). Wilson was usually in pecuniary distress. He owed Henslowe money in June 1598, and borrowed ten shillings of him on 1 Nov. 1599; a receipt for this loan in his autograph is extant at Dulwich (, Diary, ed. J. P. Collier, passim). He appears to have married Mary Eaton at St. Botolph's Church, Bishopsgate, on 24 June 1606, and to have died on 22 Oct. 1610, being buried in the church of St. Bartholomew the Less.

[Collier's Introduction to Five Old Plays (Roxburghe Club), 1851, reprinted in Dodsley's Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, pp. 3 seq.; Collier's Memoirs of the Principal Actors, p. xviii; Collier's History of Dramatic Poetry; Ward's English Dramatic Literature, 1898; Fleay's Chronicle of the English Drama; Lee's Life of Shakespeare.]

WILSON, ROBERT (1803–1882), engineer, was born in 1803 at Dunbar, Haddingtonshire, where his father, a fisherman, was drowned in 1810. When quite a child he became an expert sculler, and he conceived the idea of making a propeller to be fixed to the stern of vessels. After a meagre education, he removed from Dunbar on being apprenticed to a joiner. The problem of his propeller continued to occupy his attention, and in 1827 his model was brought by James Hunter under the notice of the Earl of Lauderdale, who, after satisfying himself as to the feasibility of the invention, promised to introduce it to the admiralty. In the following year a committee of the Highland Society proved the success of the plan, and granted Wilson 10l. on condition of receiving the model. In 1832 he was awarded a silver medal by the Scottish Society of Arts, and the invention was brought by them before the admiralty. It was discussed by the officials with scant courtesy, though they afterwards, in 1840, adopted the similar invention of Sir Francis Pettit Smith [q. v.] Wilson, after spending a few years in Edinburgh as an engineer, removed to Manchester, and in 1838 was manager of James Nasmyth's Bridgwater foundry at Patricroft, near that city. He had an important share in perfecting the steam-hammer invented by James Nasmyth [q. v.] Wilson's share in the tool was its self-acting motion, which was patented by Nasmyth in July 1843. The first hammer was in use at the Low Moor ironworks, near Bradford, Yorkshire, from August 1843 to 1853, when Wilson, who was then engineer of that establishment, added to it the ‘circular balanced valve.’ In 1856, on the retirement of Nasmyth, he left Low Moor and became managing partner of the firm of Nasmyth, Wilson, & Co. He afterwards constructed the great double-acting hammer at the Woolwich Royal Arsenal, this improved action being patented in 1861. In 1880 the war department made him a grant of 500l. for the use of his double-action screw-propeller as applied to the fish torpedo. The history of his first great invention is contained in a pamphlet which he published in 1860, and republished in 1880, entitled ‘The Screw Propeller: who invented it?’ Between 1842 and 1880 he took out twenty-four patents for valves, pistons, propellers, and hydraulic and other machinery. His first patent for an hydraulic packing-press was taken out in conjunction with Nasmyth in 1856, and he subsequently made many improvements in this successful machine.

He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1873, and was a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts. He died at Matlock, Derbyshire, on 28 July 1882, and was buried at St. Catherine's, Barton-on-Irwell, not far from his residence, Ellesmere House, Patricroft. He was twice married, and left four sons and four daughters.

He is to be distinguished from another Robert Wilson, inspector for the Manchester Steam Users' Association, and author of a ‘Treatise on Steam Boilers,’ 1873, and ‘Boiler and Factory Chimneys,’ 1877.

[Manchester Guardian, 1 Aug. 1882; Engineer, 4 Aug. 1882; Axon's Lancashire Gleanings, 1883, p. 297; Rowlandson's History of the Steam Hammer, Eccles, 1864; Chambers's Encyclopædia, 1892, ix. 706; Specifications of Patents; Manchester City News, 15 Jan. 1898.]


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 WILSON, ROBERT ARTHUR (1820?–1875), Irish humourist and poet, was born at Falcaragh, co. Donegal, where his father, Arthur Wilson, was a coastguardsman, about 1820. His mother, whose maiden name was Catherine Hunter, a native of Islandmagee, co. Antrim, contrived to give him a fairly good education at home before sending him to Raymunterdoney school. He became a teacher at Ballycastle, Antrim, after leaving school, but only for a short period. About 1840 he emigrated to America, where he remained some years, working as a journalist. On his return to Ireland he joined the staff of a paper in Enniskillen, whence he proceeded to Dublin to take up the position of sub-editor of the ‘Nation,’ under Charles Gavan Duffy. His knowledge of the tenant-right question was found particularly useful in his new employment. But his restlessness prevented him from remaining long in Dublin, and he went back to Enniskillen, editing there successively ‘The Impartial Reporter’ and ‘The Fermanagh Mail.’ In 1865 he went to Belfast, where he became the leading writer on the ‘Morning News.’ In a short time he was recognised as the most popular of Ulster writers. His ‘Letters to my Cousin in Ameriky,’ which appeared in the paper under the signature of ‘Barney Maglone,’ made the fortune of the paper, and were read with delight, not only in Ulster, but over the rest of Ireland. The circulation of the ‘Morning News’ was enormously increased, and for some years Wilson's clever prose satires on local celebrities and humorous lyrics proved the most popular literature in the north. To the ‘Ulster Weekly News’ and other journals, under the signatures of ‘Young Ireland,’ ‘Erin Oge,’ and ‘Jonathan Allman,’ he contributed racy poems in northern dialect, many of which are still familiar to Ulster men. His eccentricities and irregularities, however, prevented him from doing any enduring work, and his tendency to drink became more and more pronounced as he grew older, and finally led to his death. While on a visit to Dublin during the O'Connell centenary celebrations in 1875, he drank more than usual, and on 10 Aug. was found dead in his room. His body was removed to Belfast, and buried, in the presence of a vast number of people, in the Borough cemetery, where a monument has been erected to his memory by public subscription. Some of his poems are admirable—all are racy of Ulster. A small selection from them was published in Dublin and Belfast, 1894, under the title of ‘Reliques of Barney Maglone.’ The volume, which was edited by F. J. Bigger and J. S. Crone, contains a portrait and a biographical introduction by the present writer. The only work issued by Wilson himself was a humorous ‘Almeynack for all Ireland, an' whoever else wants it,’ London, 1871.

[O'Donoghue's Poets of Ireland; Belfast Morning News, 11–15 Aug. 1875; information from Mr. John Wilkinson, Falcaragh, co. Donegal.]  WILSON, ROBERT THOMAS (1777–1849), general and governor of Gibraltar, fourth child and third son of the portrait painter Benjamin Wilson [q. v.], was born in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London, on 17 Aug. 1777. He was educated at Westminster school, and also under Dr. Joseph Warton at Winchester. After the death of his father and mother, his elder sister, Frances, married early in 1793 Colonel Bosville of the Coldstream guards, who was killed on 15 Aug. 1793 at the battle of Lincelles; with her assistance Wilson joined the Duke of York in the following year at Courtray, furnished with a letter of recommendation from the king. He was at once enrolled as a cornet of the 15th light dragoons.

He took part in the storm and capture of Prémont on 17 April 1794 and the action of the 18th. On the 24th he was one of eight officers with the two squadrons of the 15th light dragoons who, with two squadrons of Leopold's hussars, mustering altogether under three hundred sabres, attacked and routed a very superior French force at Villiers-en-Couché. This action prevented the capture of the emperor Francis II, whom the French were endeavouring to intercept on his journey from Valenciennes to Catillon, and had already cut off by their patrols. The results of this magnificent charge, undertaken with the full knowledge of the danger incurred and of the object to be attained, were twelve hundred of the enemy killed and wounded, three pieces of cannon captured, and the withdrawal of all French posts from the Selle, with the consequent safety of the emperor. Wilson's horse was wounded under him. Four years later the emperor caused nine commemorative gold medals to be struck—the only impressions—one to be deposited in the imperial cabinet, and the others to be bestowed upon the eight British officers of the 15th light dragoons. George III gave permission for them to be worn ‘as an honorary badge of their bravery in the field’ (London Gazette, 9 June 1798). In 1800 the emperor conferred upon the same officers the cross of the order of Maria Theresa, which George III on 2 June 1801 permitted them to accept, with the rank of baron of the holy Roman empire and of knighthood attached.


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 Two days after the affair of Villiers-en-Couché, Wilson was engaged with his regiment in the action at Cateau (26 April). He also took part in the battle of Tournay, or the Marque, on 10 May; in the capture of Lannoy, Roubaix, and Mouveaux on the 17th; in the disastrous retreat on the 18th to Templeuve, when he commanded the rearguard, and when the light cavalry, according to an eye-witness, ‘performed wonders of valour’ (BROWN, Journal); at the battle of Pont à Chin on 22 May; and at the action of Duffel on 16 July. He greatly distinguished himself in September at Boxtel-on-the-Dommel, when, with Captain Calcraft and the patrol, he penetrated to the French headquarters, captured an aide-de-camp of General Vandamme and two gendarmes, mounted them on the general's horses, and, notwithstanding that a regiment of red hussars and a regiment of dragoons pursued for six miles by separate roads to cut him off, made good his retreat with the captives; and on the same evening falling in with a party of French infantry cut it to pieces. The British army having retreated into Germany, Wilson returned to England at the end of 1795, and joined the depôt at Croydon in February 1796.

He was promoted to be lieutenant, by purchase, on 31 Oct. 1794, and on 21 Sept. 1796 he purchased his troop. He married in 1797, and in May 1798 accompanied Major-general St. John to Ireland, and served as brigade-major on his staff, and afterwards as aide-de-camp during the rebellion of 1798. He rejoined his regiment in 1799, and accompanied it to the Helder; in this campaign the 15th light dragoons were greatly distinguished at Egmont-op-Zee on 2 Oct. Wilson also took part in the actions of 6 and 10 Oct., and returned with the regiment to England in November.

On 28 June 1800 he purchased a majority in Hompesch's mounted riflemen, then serving under Sir Ralph Abercromby in the Mediterranean, and in the autumn travelled across the continent to Vienna on a mission to Lord Minto, by whom he was sent to the Austrian army in Italy. Having communicated with General Bellegarde and Lord William Bentinck, he proceeded to join Abercromby. He landed at Aboukir Bay on 7 March 1801, and took part in the action of the 13th and in the battle of Alexandria on the 21st, when Abercromby fell and was succeeded by Major-general (afterwards Lord) Hutchinson; the latter employed Wilson on several missions. In July he entered Cairo with Hutchinson, was at the siege of Alexandria in August, and its capitulation on the 25th. Wilson left Egypt on 11 Sept. and returned to England by Malta and Toulon, arriving at the end of December. He was made a knight of the order of the Crescent of Turkey for his services in Egypt.

In 1802 Wilson published ‘The History of the British Expedition to Egypt’ (l.p. 4to), which went through several editions, was translated into French in 1803 from an octavo edition in two volumes published that year, and also appeared in an abridged form. The fourth edition in 1803 contained ‘A Sketch of the Present State of the Country and its Means of Defence,’ with a portrait of Sir Ralph Abercromby. Lord Nelson wrote a characteristic letter to Wilson, on receipt of a presentation copy, which is printed in Randolph's ‘Life of Nelson.’ The work derived especial popularity from the charges of cruelty which it brought against Buonaparte, both towards his prisoners at Jaffa and his own soldiers at Cairo. Of these charges the emperor complained to the British government, but, receiving no satisfaction, caused a counter report to be issued by Colonel Sebastiani. Wilson was appointed inspecting field-officer in Somerset and Devonshire under General Simcoe.

In 1804 Wilson published an ‘Inquiry into the Present State of the Military Force of the British Empire with a View to its Reorganization,’ 8vo, in which he made his first public protest against corporal punishment in the army, and was complimented by Sir Francis Burdett in a letter dated 13 Aug. 1804 for the service thus rendered to humanity.

Wilson purchased a lieutenant-colonelcy in the 19th light dragoons in this month, and on 7 March 1805 exchanged into the 20th light dragoons. He sailed with 230 of them in the expedition under Sir David Baird and Sir Home Popham on 27 Aug. from Cork harbour for the Cape of Good Hope, and after a voyage to Brazil, where he purchased horses for the cavalry, and a narrow escape from shipwreck, disembarked with General Beresford on 7 Jan. 1806 in Saldanha Bay, Cape of Good Hope, as an advanced guard. After the battle of Blaauwberg, which took place just before his arrival, Wilson was employed in command of the cavalry on outpost duty until the terms of the capitulation were settled, and in receiving arms, colours, guns, and horses at Simon's Bay until General Janssen and the Dutch troops were deported in February. In June he obtained leave of absence and returned to England in the Adamant, but was nearly lost at sea in passing from one ship to another of the fleet.


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 On 3 Nov. 1806 Wilson having been attached to the staff of Lord Hutchinson, then going on a special mission to the Prussian court, embarked with him at Yarmouth in the frigate Astræa, and was nearly wrecked in the Cattegat on the Anhalt shore, the guns having to be thrown overboard. He accompanied Lord Hutchinson and the king of Prussia to Memel in January 1807, and in February joined General Beningsen at the Russian headquarters of the army at Jarnova. He was present at the battle of Eylau on the 7th and 8th, and accompanied the headquarters to Heilsberg in March, and in April to Bartenstein, where on the 26th the emperor of Russia bestowed upon him the cross of St. George for his services at Eylau. Wilson took part in the campaign of June, was present at the action of the Passarge on the 5th, at the battle of Heilsberg on the 10th, and the battle of Friedland on the 14th, after which he retreated with the army to Tilsit.

On the conclusion of the peace of Tilsit he went to St. Petersburg, and thence to England with despatches, arriving on 19 Sept. On 2 Oct. he left England with a confidential communication from Canning to the emperor of Russia, arriving at St. Petersburg on the 20th. He left again on 8 Nov. with despatches from Lord Granville to Canning, containing intelligence which Wilson had himself been the first to procure, that the emperor of Russia was about to invade Swedish-Finland and declare war against England. Notwithstanding the fact that a Russian courier had preceded him by thirty-six hours (Wilson's passport having been expressly withheld to give the courier the advantage), Wilson pushed from Abo across the Gulf of Bothnia, in very bad weather, reached Stockholm before the courier, arranged that the courier should be delayed, sailed for England, landed in the Tees on the evening of the 29th, posted to London, and saw Canning in bed at four o'clock in the morning of 2 Dec. He was directed to keep quiet until Canning's orders to the naval authorities at Portsmouth had been executed; and on his return to breakfast with Canning the following morning he was complimented upon his activity, which had resulted in the seizure of the Russian frigate Sperknoi, with money to pay the Russian fleet, while a fast vessel had been despatched to Sir Sidney Smith to intercept the Russian fleet.

In 1808 Wilson was given the command of the loyal Lusitanian legion, a body raised out of Portuguese refugees in England under British officers, and in August went to Portugal as a brigadier-general in the Portuguese army. He was engaged in various encounters with the enemy in Castille and Estramadura during the retreat of the British to Coruña in 1808–9; and after the battle of Coruña on 16 Jan. 1809, acting in conjunction with the Spaniards beyond the Agueda, by a series of spirited and judicious movements, he kept open the communications with Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, and held the enemy in check. He had a good deal of desultory fighting, took part in the pursuit of Soult, and with the Lusitanian legion and three thousand Spaniards advanced to within nine miles of Madrid. After the battle of Talavera on 27 and 28 July Wilson found himself at Escalona, cut off by the enemy from Arzobispo; crossing the Tietar, he scrambled over the mountains, and with difficulty gained the pass of Baños on 8 Aug., as Ney's corps was approaching on its march from Placentia to the north. Wilson endeavoured to stay its advance, and defended the pass with spirit for some hours, but was eventually dislodged, and retreated to Castello Branco.

When the British army went into winter quarters, Wilson returned home, and, as the Lusitanian legion was absorbed in the new organisation of the Portuguese army, offered himself to Lord Wellesley for special service on 6 May 1810. For his services in the Peninsula he was promoted on 25 July to be colonel in the army, and appointed aide-de-camp to the king, and in 1811 received the Portuguese medal, and was made a knight-commander of the Portuguese order of the Tower and Sword. In this year Wilson published, in quarto form, ‘Brief Remarks on the Character and Composition of the Russian Army; and a Sketch of the Campaign in Poland in 1806 and 1807.’ In the autumn of 1811 his offer of service was accepted, and on 26 March 1812 he was given the local rank of brigadier-general in the British army, and accompanied Sir Robert Liston [q. v.], the newly appointed ambassador to the Porte, to Constantinople, with instructions to assist in the conduct of negotiations for peace between Turkey and Russia (see Wilson's diary of the journey in Addit. MS. 30160). He arrived at Constantinople on 1 July, and on 27 July went on a mission from Liston to the grand vizier at Shumla, to the Russian admiral Tchichagoff, commanding the Danube army corps at Bucharest, and finally to the emperor of Russia at St. Petersburg. He reached the headquarters of the Russian army under Barclay de Tolly in time to take part in the battle of Smolensk on 16 Aug., arrived in St. Petersburg on the 27th, and had an audience with


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 the emperor on 4 Sept. Having satisfactorily completed all the affairs entrusted to him, and received the thanks of Liston and of Lord Cathcart, British ambassador at St. Petersburg, he proceeded on the 15th, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Baron Brinken, and by Lord Tyrconnel, to join the Russian army at Krasnoi Pakra, near Moscow, as British commissioner, with instructions to keep both Lord Cathcart and Liston informed of the progress of events.

Wilson took part in the successful attack on Murat at Winkowo on 18 Oct., in the battles of Malo-Jaroslawitz on the 24th, of Wiasma on 3 Nov., of Krasnoi on 17 Nov., and in all the affairs to the cessation of the pursuit of the French. He exchanged into the 22nd light dragoons on 10 Dec. 1812. Early in 1813 he marched across Poland to Kalish, and thence to Berlin, where he arrived on 31 March. On 8 April he proceeded by Dessau and Leipzig to Dresden. On 2 May he took a prominent part in the battle of Lützen, where, aided by Colonel Campbell, he rallied the Prussians, carried the village of Gros Gorschen, which he held until night, and subsequently drove the enemy back on Lützen. He further distinguished himself at the battle of Bautzen on 20 and 21 May, and at the action of Reichenbach on the 22nd. During a review of the troops near Jauer on the 27th the emperor of Russia decorated Wilson in front of the imperial guard with the cross of the third class or knight commander of the order of St. George, taking it from his own neck and making a most complimentary speech, in which he stated his desire to mark his esteem for Wilson's courage, zeal, talent, and fidelity throughout the war.

Wilson was promoted to be major-general on 4 June 1813. During the armistice he travelled about the country inspecting the fortresses. When Austria joined the alliance against Buonaparte and hostilities were resumed, Wilson was conspicuous in the attack upon Dresden on 26 Aug., when he took part in storming the grand redoubt, and was the first to mount the parapet, followed by Captain Charles. On this occasion he lost his cross of the order of Maria Theresa in the mélée, and the emperor of Austria presented him with another, which was sent to him with a complimentary letter from Count Metternich (dated Töplitz, 24 Sept. 1813). In the battle of 27 Aug. Wilson was with the emperor of Russia and General Moreau when the latter was mortally wounded. He was also present at the battles of Kulm and Kraupen on the 29th and 30th, and charged repeatedly with the Austrian cavalry on the 30th.

On 7 Sept. Wilson joined the Austrian army at Leitmeritz as British commissioner, having been transferred from the Russian army. On the 27th he received from the king of Prussia the grand cross of the order of the Red Eagle, of which order he had received the fourth class in the last war. He was with the staff of Marshal Prince Schwartzenberg, commanding the allied armies, at the battles of Leipzig on 16 and 18 Oct., and at the capture of the city on the 19th. Schwartzenberg wrote to Lord Aberdeen, the British ambassador, attributing the success at Leipzig on the 16th chiefly to Wilson's intelligence and able dispositions.

Shortly after the battles of Leipzig Lord Castlereagh appointed Lord Burghersh to be British commissioner with Schwartzenberg, and transferred Wilson to the Austrian army in Italy. Both the emperors and also the king of Prussia desired to retain Wilson with them. Metternich wrote to Aberdeen that he was commanded by the emperor to express his sense of Wilson's great services, and his wish that he should remain with the army, and Schwartzenberg told him that conspicuous as were Wilson's services in the field, they fell short of those he had rendered out of the field. Aberdeen wrote to Castlereagh (Despatch, 11 Nov. 1813): ‘From his intimate knowledge of the Russian and Prussian armies, and the great respect invariably shown him by the emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia, he is able to do a thousand things which no one else could do. He was the means of making up a difference between the king and Schwartzenberg which was of the utmost importance.’ Castlereagh was, however, firm; he deemed the applications of the foreign sovereigns an unwarrantable interference, and observed that if Wilson had the confidence of all other governments he lacked that of his own. Party politics alone account for the fact that, although loaded with distinctions by allied foreign sovereigns, he received none from his own. In November the emperor of Russia bestowed upon him the Moscow medal for the campaign of 1812.

On 22 Dec. 1813 Wilson went to Basle by Aberdeen's direction to join the allied commission, but on the 25th his instructions arrived from Castlereagh to join the Austrian army in Italy, and to report direct to him, keeping the British ambassador to Austria informed. Before leaving, the emperor of Russia presented him with the first class or grand cross of the order of St. Anne at Freiburg on 24 Dec., and the emperor of Austria promoted him to be knight commander of the order of Maria Theresa on


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 still be of the same genus. On the other hand, Van Oyen (1956, pp. 60, 61) recognizes species and subspecies which easily can be demonstrated to be growth stages ("E. stylus Hall") or caused by poor preservation ("E. derbiensis Woodward"). Other American species, such as Adelophthalmus(?) potens (Hall), he also lumps together under the Bohemian A. imhofi, although the former probably does not represent the same genus or even the same family as the Bohemian form. Considerable evidence indicates that A.? potens (Hall) should be referred to the Hibbertopteridae.

Of the "Veine D" eurypterid carapaces figured and measured by Van Oyen (1956) the following are considered sufficiently well-preserved and complete to use for biometric studies:

¹ Not measured although complete and mainly undistorted.

² Erroneously measured by Van Oyen (1956): according to his photograph (fig. 131) and drawing (fig. 125), the correct measurements are 28.5 mm. in width at base and 21.5 mm. in length.

³ Obviously compressed and widened.

It is not the purpose of this paper to evaluate the conclusions reached by Van Oyen except where they concern the interpretation of the eurypterid in question or concern the genus. It has been recognized that many of the species described are much alike, at


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 least dorsally, and that with more material several may be found to be conspecific, and certainly several must be delegated to sub-specific rank (Kjellesvig-Waering, 1948, p. 5). It should be noted, however, that the eurypterids identified by Van Oyen from the "Veine D" as A. imhofi (Reuss) differ as much from the holotype of A. imhofi as from A. mansfieldi. The species from the "Veine D," in my opinion, is Adelophthalmus cambieri (Pruvost).

Diagnosis.—Stylonuridae of medium size; carapace very elongated, with lateral eyes arcuate and placed anteriorly on the carapace. The greatest width of carapace occurs midway. Palpebral lobe attached to carapace by a narrow bridge on outer-posterior part of lobe. Marginal rim very narrow, simple, not ornamented. Ornamentation smooth. No other parts known.

Occurrence.—Middle Pennsylvanian of Illinois.

Type species.—Mazonipterus cyclophthalmus Kjellesvig-Waering.

Remarks.—This is an easily recognizable and very unusual genus. The remarkably long, inflated carapace ind the large disc-like, arcuate eyes, well forward of the center of the carapace, recall the Silurian genus Ctenopterus Clarke and Ruedemann, 1912, and indeed, may be the Pennsylvanian straggler of that line. We know of no closely related forms between the Middle Silurian and the Middle Pennsylvanian, however, that might give substance to that supposition. The two genera differ in many important structures. Mazonipterus has a longer, more inflated carapace; an unornamented marginal rim; highly arcuate eyes, which are covered by disc-like palpebral lobes that join the carapace at the outer posterior part of the eyes; and no surface ornamentation. Ctenopterus has a much shorter, converging carapace; an ornamented marginal rim; sub-reniform, lateral eyes located on mounds; and prominent scale-like ornamentation. The Silurian Stylonurus dolichopteroides Størmer also bears some resemblance, which, however, might be of more importance when more is known of each. The shape of the carapace, as well as the shape of the lateral eyes, will readily distinguish both.

Mazonipterus is a highly unusual form, not only with regard to morphology but because it is the first definite stylonurid to be found in the upper Carboniferous. Augusta and Přibyl (1951, pp. 2–4,


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 4 Jan. 1814. He joined Marshal Bellegarde at Vincenza on 12 Jan., accompanied him in the occupation of Verona early in February, and was present on the 8th at the battle of Valeggio, where he greatly distinguished himself and was nearly captured by the French. On the 10th he was present at the action on the right bank of the Mincio. On 28 March he went to Bologna, where he met Lord William Bentinck and Murat, with whom he commenced negotiations. The abdication of Buonaparte put an end to his mission, and in June he left Italy for Paris.

On 10 Jan. 1816 Wilson was instrumental, in conjunction with Michael Bruce and Captain John Hely-Hutchinson (afterwards third Earl of Donoughmore), in the escape from Paris of Count Lavalette, who, having been condemned to death, had escaped from prison by changing dress with his wife. Wilson passed the barriers in a cabriolet with Lavalette disguised as a British Officer, and conveyed him safely to Mons. He sent a narrative of the adventure to Earl Grey (reprinted in Gent. Mag. 1816), which was intercepted. He was arrested in Paris on 13 Jan. The three Englishmen were tried in Paris on 2 April and sentenced on the 24th to three months' imprisonment (see Annual Register, 1816). On 10 May a general order was issued by the Duke of York, commander-in-chief, expressing the prince regent's high displeasure at the conduct of Wilson and Hutchinson.

In 1817 Wilson published ‘A Sketch of the Military and Political Power of Russia,’ which went through several editions, and was severely attacked by the ‘Quarterly Review’ (vol. xix., September 1818). In 1818 Wilson was returned as member of parliament for Southwark, defeating Charles Barclay, the brewer, and on this occasion he replied to the attack of the ‘Quarterly Review’ in ‘A Letter to his Constituents in Refutation of a Charge for despatching a False Report of a Victory to the Commander-in-chief of the British Army in the Peninsula in 1809.’ In 1820 he was again returned for Southwark, defeating Sir Thomas Turton.

Queen Caroline (1768–1821) [q. v.], who had been friendly to Wilson and to whom his eldest son was equerry, died on 7 Aug. 1821. Wilson attended the funeral on the 14th, when an encounter took place between the household cavalry and the mob at Cumberland Gate, Hyde Park. Shots were fired, and Wilson interposed to prevent bloodshed. He was peremptorily dismissed from the army on 15 Sept. without any reason being assigned, or any opportunity of explanation afforded. Having purchased all but his first commission, he lost a large sum of money, and a subscription was raised to compensate him for the loss. On 13 Feb. 1822 in his place in parliament Wilson moved for papers, and in a long and able speech (see Hansard) vindicated his action, and called in question the prerogative of the crown to dismiss any officer without cause. The government, confining themselves to the questions of prerogative, easily defeated the motion. In 1823 Wilson went to Spain to take part in the war first in Galicia and then at Cadiz. He was again returned to parliament for Southwark in 1826, when the poll lasted six days, and he defeated Edward Polhill. He made a speech in the House of Commons on 12 Dec. on the policy of aiding Portugal when invaded by Spain, which was published separately. He was an active politician, and took a prominent part in the formation of the Canning ministry (see, Canning's Administration: Narrative of Formation, with Correspondence, &c., 1827, ed. Herbert Randolph, 1872, 8vo). He was again returned to parliament for Southwark in 1830. On the accession of William IV Wilson was reinstated in the army with the rank of lieutenant-general, to date from 27 May 1825 (London Gazette, 22 July 1830). The Reform Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 1 March 1831. Wilson regarded it as ‘the initiatory measure of a republican form of government,’ and in consequence, in spite of great pressure, refused to vote with the government and resigned his seat, losing for a time the colonelcy of a regiment and all opportunities of useful employment.

On 29 Dec. 1835 Wilson was appointed colonel of his old regiment, the 15th hussars. On 23 Nov. 1841 he was promoted to be general, and in 1842 he was appointed governor and commander-in-chief at Gibraltar. He had only recently returned home when he died suddenly on 9 May 1849 at Marshall Thompson's hotel, Oxford Street, London. He was buried on 15 May beside his wife in the north aisle near the western entrance of Westminster Abbey, and a fine memorial brass, next to the grave of John Hunter, marks the vault (for will cf., Westminster Abbey Register, p. 513).

Wilson married Jemima (1777–1823), daughter of Colonel William Belford of Harbledown, Kent, eldest son of General William Belford [q. v.] of the royal artillery. She was coheiress with her sister, Mrs. Christopher Carleton, of their uncle, Sir Adam Williamson [q. v.] Both Wilson


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 pl. 1, figs. 1, 2) recorded a leg from the marine Namurian of Czechoslovakia. They named this form Stylonurus? (Ctenopterus?) ostraviensis and indicated its possible affinities to Ctenopterus. It now might

be preferable to questionably refer the Czechoslovakian species to Mazonipterus. It must be admitted, however, that the incongruous Czechoslovakian form reveals distinct carcinosomatid traits, although very little, if anything, is known of this family after the Silurian. Nevertheless, the morphology of the leg of M.(?) ostraviensis recalls forms such as Echinognathus and Carcinosoma. The marine occurrence of the Czechoslovakian form is certainly more indicative of the Carcinosomatidae than the Stylonuridae, a family that occupied more brackish-water habitats (see Kjellesvig-Waering, 1961, pp. 793–794).

Holotype.—United States National Museum no. 41169 a and b.

Diagnosis.—Carapace elongated and campanulate; lateral eyes large, arcuate, with round palpebral lobes and located intramarginally, but forward on the carapace.

Description.—The holotype and only known specimen consists of part and counterpart of a rather well-preserved, nearly complete


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 and Miss Belford were wards of chancery and under age, and the marriage ceremony, with the consent of both families, took place on 8 July 1797 at Gretna Green and again on 10 March 1798 at St. George's, Hanover Square, London. They had a family of seven sons and six daughters. Of the latter, Jemima married, as his second wife, Admiral Sir Provo William Parry Wallis [q. v.]

There are several engraved portraits of Wilson; one by Ward, from a painting by Pickersgill, represents him in uniform with all his orders; another is by Cooper after Wivell. A miniature was painted by Cosway and engraved by William Holl, and is reproduced for the frontispiece of Randolph's ‘Life.’ He also figures in the well-known painting of the death of Abercromby.

The following are works by Wilson not mentioned above: 1. ‘An Account of the Campaign in 1801 between the French Army of the East and the English and Turkish Forces in Egypt,’ translated by Wilson from the French of General Regnier, with observations, London, 1802, 8vo. 2. ‘Narrative of Events during the Invasion of Russia by Napoleon Bonaparte and the Retreat of the French Army,’ 1812, edited by Wilson's nephew and son-in-law the Rev. Herbert Randolph, London, 1860, 8vo. The introduction gives a brief memoir of Wilson up to 1814; 2nd edit. the same year. 3. ‘Private Diary of Travels, Personal Services, and Public Events during Missions and Employment with the European Armies in the Campaigns of 1812, 1813, and 1814, from the Invasion of Russia to the Capture of Paris,’ edited by the same, London, 1861, 2 vols. 8vo. 4. ‘Life from Autobiographical Memoirs, Journals, Narratives, Correspondence,’ &c., edited by the same, London, 1863, 2 vols. 8vo. This work was never completed, and stops at the end of 1807.

[Besides the materials for a biography supplied by Wilson himself in his works, and in election and other pamphlets, see especially A Letter in reply to Wilson's Enquiry, 1804; Forgues's Guerre de Russie en 1812, 1861; Dupin's Procès des trois Anglais, 1816; Nightingale's Trial of Sir R. Wilson, &c., 1816; see also War Office Records; Despatches; Alison's History of Europe (frequent allusions); Alison's Lives of Lord Castlereagh and Sir Charles Stewart (frequent allusions); Quarterly Review, vols. v. xiii. xvi. xvii. and xix.; Gent. Mag. 1816, 1822, and 1849; Ann. Reg. 1816, 1822, 1830, 1849; Blackwood's Mag. vols. viii. xiv. xvi. xxi. xxii. and xxviii.; Hall's Atlantic Monthly, April 1865; Mayne's Narrative of the Campaigns of the Loyal Lusitanian Legion under Sir R. Wilson, &c., 1812, 8vo; Public Characters, 1806–7, vol. ix.; Burke's Celebrated Naval and Military Trials; Royal Military Calendar, 1820; Royal Military Chronicle, vols. iii. and v.; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. vols. viii. and ix. 5th ser. vols. i. ii. iii. and v.; Tait's Edinburgh Mag. 1849 (obituary notice); Lavalette's Memoires et Souvenirs; London Times, 10 May 1849; Cathcart's Commentaries on the War in Russia and Germany, 1812–13; Londonderry's Narrative of the War in Germany and France, 1813–14; Odleben's Campaign in Saxony, 1813, translated by Kempe; Phillippart's Northern Campaign, 1812–13; Porter's Campaign in Russia in 1812; Walsh's Campaign in Egypt, 1801; Anderson's Journal of the Expedition to Egypt, 1801; Gleig's Leipsic Campaign.]

WILSON, ROWLAND (1613–1650), parliamentarian, born in 1613, and descended from a family established at Gresegarth in the parish of Kendal, Westmorland, was son of Rowland Wilson (d. 16 May 1654) of Gresegarth and London, by Mary, daughter of John Tiffin of London (Visitation of London, 1633–5;, Obituary, p. 37). The elder Wilson was a wealthy merchant, elected sheriff in 1630, but excused on payment of a fine of 500l. (Remembrancia, p. 18). The younger Wilson was lieutenant-colonel of the orange regiment of the London trained bands, and commanded it in October 1643, joining the army of the Earl of Essex after the first battle of Newbury, and taking part in the occupation of Newport Pagnell. ‘This gentleman,’ says Whitelocke, ‘was the only son of his wealthy father, heir to a large estate of 2,000l. per annum in land, and partner with his father in a great personal estate employed in merchandise; yet in conscience he held himself obliged to undertake this journey, as persuaded that the honour and service of God, and the flourishing of the gospel of Christ and the true protestant religion, might in some measure be promoted by this service, and that his example in the city might be a means the more to persuade others not to decline it. Upon these grounds he cheerfully marched forth’ (, Memorials, 1853, i. 223;, List of Officers of the London Trained Bands).

Wilson was colonel of the orange regiment in 1646, and in June of that year he was elected member for Calne. Being an independent, he was left out of the committee of the militia for the city of London when that body was renewed in April 1647 (, ii. 136). On 28 Nov. 1648 Wilson, who was a member of the Vintners' Company, was elected alderman of Bridge Within (Remembrancia, p. 18n.) A month later he was nominated one of the commissioners for the trial of Charles I, but refused to act


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 material for the period down to Severus' death, that he had read everything of importance on the subject, and that twelve years was the time occupied in composing the work. The period of these labours may be roughly estimated as the years 200-222. The lexicographer Suidas attributes five other works to Dio; but it is practically certain that only one, or possibly two, of these shorter works can have been written by him. The Life of Arrian, who was a fellow-Bithynian as well as a fellow-historian, may actually have been the work of Dio. If he ever wrote an account of Hadrian's reign, it was doubtless incorporated in his large work, as was the case with his first two treatises; but it is strange that he should have made no mention of it.

The whole period of nearly a thousand years covered by his history falls into three main divisions according to his own statements. The first is the period of the republic, when political action rested with the senate and the people; the facts were public property, and even if distorted from personal motives by some writers, could readily be ascertained from others or from the public records. The second period extends from the establishment of the monarchy to the death of Marcus Aurelius. Under the emperors action was no longer taken openly, and such versions as were given to the public were naturally received with suspicion. Dio must now


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 (, ii. 495). Nevertheless he consented to take part in the proclamation of the act for the abolition of monarchy in London, and was elected a member of the council of state in February 1649, and again in February 1650 (Commons' Journals, vi. 141, 361;, Lives of the Regicides, ii. 333). In July 1649 he was elected sheriff of London, and the House of Commons in giving him leave to serve declared that they would regard it as ‘an acceptable service to the Commonwealth if he took the office’ (Commons' Journals, vi. 259).

Wilson died on 19 Feb. 1650, and was buried on 5 March (, Obituary, p. 28). ‘He was a gentleman of excellent parts and great piety, of a solid sober temper and judgment, and very honest and just in all his actions. He was beloved both in the house, city, and army’ (, iii. 158).

Wilson married, in January 1634, Mary, daughter of Bigley Carleton of London, grocer (, London Marriage Licences, col. 1484). In the contemporary notes appended to the ‘List of Officers of the London Trained Bands’ he is erroneously described as son-in-law to Alderman Wright. His widow became the third wife of [q. v.] (, Memoirs of Bulstrode Whitelocke, 1860, p. 284).

WILSON, THOMAS (1525?–1581), secretary of state and scholar, born about 1525, was son of Thomas Wilson of Strubby, Lincolnshire, by his wife Anne, daughter and heiress of Roger Cumberworth of Cumberworth in the same county (cf. Harl. MS. 6164, f. 42b). He was educated at Eton, whence in 1541 he was elected scholar of King's College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1545–6 and M.A. in 1549. Sir [q. v.] was elected provost of King's on 1 April 1548, and Wilson came under the influence of the revival of the study of Greek led by Cheke, Sir (1513–1577) [q. v.], and others, through whom he became intimate with Roger Ascham. His Lincolnshire neighbours Katherine Willoughby, duchess of Suffolk, Sir Edward Dymock, and Cecil also furthered his advance, and the Duchess of Suffolk appointed him tutor to her two sons, Henry and Charles Brandon (successively dukes of Suffolk), who divided their time between Cambridge and Holbeach's episcopal palace at Bugden (Addit. MS. 5815, f. 41). On their death Wilson collaborated with [q. v.], another Etonian, in producing ‘Vita et Obitus Duorum Fratrum Suffolciensium, Henrici et Caroli Brandoni … duabus epistolis explicata,’ London, 1551, 4to. Wilson wrote the dedication to Henry Grey, created Duke of Suffolk on 11 Oct. in that year, the first epistle, and several of the copies of verses at the end of the volume. It was published by [q. v.], who had helped Wilson at Cambridge, and suggested to him his treatise ‘The Rule of Reason, conteinynge the Arte of Logique set forth in Englishe …’ which was also published by Grafton in the same year (London, 8vo) and dedicated to Edward VI. The first edition is very rare, and the copy in the British Museum has manuscript notes by Sir Thomas Smith; a second edition appeared in 1552, a third in 1553, and others in 1567 and 1580; the third edition contains a passage from Nicholas Udall's ‘Ralph Roister Doister,’ which is reprinted in Wood's ‘Athenæ’ (ed. Bliss, i. 213–14). Wilson also wrote in 1552 a dedication to Warwick, the Duke of Northumberland's eldest son, of Haddon's ‘Exhortatio ad Literas.’

According to John Gough Nichols, Wilson's ‘Arte of Rhetorique’ was published at the same time as, and uniform with, the ‘Rule of Reason,’ but the earliest edition of which any copy is known to be extant is dated ‘mense Januarii 1553.’ It is entitled ‘The Arte of Rhetorique, for the use of all suche as are studious of eloquence, sette forthe in Englishe by Thomas Wilson,’ London, 4to; it bears no printer's name. Wilson describes it as being written when he was ‘having in my country this last summer a quiet time of vacation with Sir Edward Dymock.’ The copy of the first edition in the British Museum was given to [q. v.] by Dr. Johnson. A second edition appeared in 1562 (London, 4to; prologue dated 7 Dec. 1560), and subsequent editions in 1567, 1580, 1584, and 1585, all in quarto. Warton describes it as ‘the first system of criticism in our language,’ though in the common use of the word it is not criticism at all, but a system of rhetoric without much claim to originality, the rules being mainly drawn from Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian. Wilson, however, did good service by his denunciation of pedantry, ‘strange inkhorn terms,’ and the use of French and ‘Italianated’ idiom, which ‘counterfeited the kinges Englishe’ (, Lit. of Europe, ii. 193, 209;, Censura. Lit. i. 339, ii. 2). In this way Wilson may have stimulated the development of English prose, and it has been maintained that Shakespeare himself owes something, including


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 Rh PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

accepting the honour of re-election to this Chair, and, with that position, the duty of delivering an address, one feels the difficulty of saying anything into which novelty can enter. There is, however, some consolation in the thought that in folklore what is new is not true. For, in that matter, the ages of invention are behind us. But whatever else it lacks, I think that the annual address should have the aim of seeking to interpret, rather than to recapitulate, the materials which, from time to time, come before us. Such of these as have permanent value are accorded a place in our Journal so that he who runs may read and ponder thereon. Not dwelling upon the papers thus accessible, let me express pleasure at the increased space given to "Miscellanea" in the Journal. The publication of these is to be encouraged, because they show interest on the part of our fellow-members generally; they foster intercourse between those whom space divides, and they encourage the observation and record of facts which, seemingly unimportant, are, by publicity, brought into comparison with other facts, and thereby often related to some generic group.

The Report of the work done during the past year shows that, as becomes a Society still in its teens, ours is the activity of youth. One recurring paragraph reminds us that "there were strong men" before the Folk-Lore Society was founded, and it is with no light regret, and no merely formal tribute to their pioneer work, that, in reviewing the losses of the year, we have to include the names of Professor George Stephens, Dr. Robert Brown, MM. Ploix, Luzel, Dragomanov, and Fleury.

In surveying our series of annual Reports, it is well to remember that the work accomplished by the Society (of


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 content himself in the main with giving the published reports of events, although he proposes now and then to express his own opinion based on what he has heard and read. The third period is that of his own day; he now writes of events of which he had first-hand knowledge, and, as might be expected, introduces more of detail into this portion of his work. Incidentally he states that with the accession of Commodus his history makes a sheer descent from the golden to the iron age. There are traces of a division of the work into decads. Book XLI begins the Civil War, LI the monarchy (if we accept Dio's view, here stated, that the battle of Actium marked the beginning of the reign of Augustus ), and LXXI, apparently, the reign of Marcus Aurelius; while it is very probable that Book XI began the First Punic War, XXI the Third Punic War, and perhaps XXXI the First Mithridatic War.

Dio followed the annalistic order of treatment, so popular among the Romans, according to which all the events of a given year, in whatever part of the world they occurred, were grouped together. The eponymous consuls of each year are regularly named at the appropiate points in the text, and in addition there is prefixed to each book, even for the imperial age, a table of the consuls for the period covered.


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 hints for Dogberry's character, to a study of Wilson's book (, Shakespeare and his Time, i. 440–1, 472–4).

The ‘Arte of Rhetorique’ was dedicated to Northumberland's eldest son, John Dudley, earl of Warwick, and from this time Wilson became a staunch adherent of the Dudley family, his especial patron in later years being the Earl of Leicester. On Northumberland's fall he sought safety on the continent; in 1555 he was with Cheke at Padua, where on 21 Sept. 1556 he delivered, in St. Anthony's Church, an oration on the death of Edward Courtenay, earl of Devon, which is printed in Strype's ‘Memorials’ (vol. iii. App. p. lvii). Thence he seems to have proceeded to Rome before December 1557, when he was implicated in some intrigue at the papal court against Cardinal Pole (Cal. State Papers, For. 1553–8, pp. 345, 374, 380). On 17 March 1557–8 Philip and Mary wrote commanding him to return home and appear before the privy council before 15 June following (ib. Dom. 1547–80, p. 100). The English ambassador, Sir Edward Carne, delivered him this letter in April, but Wilson paid no attention; and it was possibly at Mary's instigation that he was arrested and charged before the inquisition with having written the books on logic and rhetoric, and with being a heretic. He is said to have been put to torture, and he owed his escape to a riot which broke out on the news of Paul IV's death on 18 Aug. 1559, when the mob, enraged at the severities of the inquisition, broke open the prisons and released suspected heretics (ib. For. 1558–9, No. 1287;, The Arte of Rhetorique, ed. 1562, pref.) He now took refuge at Ferrara, where he received his diploma as LL.D. on 29 Nov. 1559 (Hist. MSS. Comm. 5th Rep. App. p. 305); he was incorporated in this degree at Oxford on 6 Sept. 1566, and at Cambridge on 30 Aug. 1571 (Lansd. MS. 982, f. 2; Reg. Univ. Oxon. i. 264; Addit. MS. 5815, f. 41).

In 1560 Wilson returned to London, whence on 7 Dec. he dated the preface to the second edition of his ‘Arte of Rhetorique;’ he was admitted advocate in the court of arches by a commission from Archbishop Parker dated 28 Feb. 1560–1 (Lansd. MS. 982, f. 3); and Parker also seems to have appointed him dean of the college he founded at Stoke Clare, Suffolk (Addit. MS. 5815, f. 42). In January 1560–1 he spoke of being ‘summoned to serve abroad’ (Cal. State Papers, For. 1560–1, No. 930), but no trace of the nature of this mission has been found. In the same year he became master of St. Catherine's Hospital in the Tower, and also master of requests (, Court of Requests, 1897, pp. xlv, cvii, cix, cxx). In the former capacity he incurred some odium by taking down the choir of St. Catherine's, said by Stow to have been as large as that of St. Paul's, and apparently it was only Cecil's intervention that prevented his selling the franchises of the hospital. He was returned for Michael Borough in Cornwall to the parliament summoned to meet on 11 Jan. 1562–3 and dissolved on 2 Jan. 1566–7. In April 1564 he was commissioned with Dr. Valentine Dale [q. v.] to examine John Hales (d. 1571) [q. v.] about his book advocating the claims of Lady Catherine Grey to the succession (Hatfield MSS. vol. i. passim). On new year's day 1566–7 he presented to the queen an ‘Oratio de Clementia,’ now extant in the British Museum (Royal MS. 12 A. 1).

In 1563 Sir Thomas Chaloner had urged Wilson's appointment as ambassador to the court of Spain, but Wilson's first diplomatic employment of any note was his mission to Portugal in 1567; it dealt mainly with commercial matters, and Wilson's energies were largely devoted to furthering in Portugal the mercantile interests of his brother-in-law, Sir William Winter [q. v.] His commission was apparently dated 6 May 1567 (Cal. Clarendon Papers, i. 494), but it was October before he had his first interview at Lisbon (Cotton. MS. Nero B. i. 142). While there he entered into relations with Osorio da Fonseca, the well-known bishop of Silves, and on his return in 1568 Wilson brought with him the bishop's reply to Haddon (cf. Hist. MSS. Comm. 5th Rep. App. p. 363, and art. ). In July he addressed some Latin verses to Cecil on his recovery from illness. On 13 May 1569 he vainly requested to be again sent as agent to Portugal (Lansd. MS. xii., art. 3), and he generally acted as intermediary between Portuguese envoys in London and the English government. As a thoroughgoing adherent of Leicester he also participated in the earl's secret negotiations with the Spanish ambassador (Cal. Simancas Papers, 1569–78, pp. 61 sqq.)

In the intervals of these occupations and his duties as master of requests Wilson busied himself with his translation of ‘The Three Orations of Demosthenes, chiefe orator among the Grecians in favour of the Olynthians … with those his four Orations … against King Philip of Macedonie; most nedeful to be redde in these daungerous dayes of all them that loue their countries libertie and desire to take warning for their better


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Executive Order 13577

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to support private sector job creation and enhance economic growth by encouraging and supporting business investment in the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

{|style="margin: 0em 0em 0em 4.0em; text-align:left;"

 * }

, June 15, 2011. [FR Doc. 2011–15443 Filed 6–17–11; 8:45 am] Billing Code 3195–W1–P

title: Executive Order 13577


text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Alidade

title: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Alidade


text:
Author:Edward Dundas Butler

Works

 * Hungarian Poems and Fables for English Readers
 * (Literature (in part))

title: Author:Edward Dundas Butler


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 36 which record is made therein) represents only a small part of that which is due to its influence. For it has given impetus to the formation of other Societies, and to the study of folklore in manifold directions. Much of what is done even within the limits of the British Isles lies beyond our power to grapple with, or never comes within our ken. I refer to the material collected by the numerous local societies—Naturalist Field Clubs, Archaeological Societies of the several counties, and other kindred bodies—whose names do not always connote their wide range of inquiry. Large masses of provincial folklore lie hidden in the transactions of these societies, and how to reach and utilise this is a matter worth our special consideration. Among publications of the year, which we may regard as more or less foster-children of our Society, reference should be made to Miss Roalfe Cox's compendious, scholarly, and attractive Introduction to Folklore, and to Mr. Nutt's valuable and learned "Essay upon the Irish Vision of the Happy Otherworld" in Professor Kuno Meyer's Voyage of Bran, son of Febal. Of that essay only the first part has yet appeared, and perhaps the wider range of data for comparison which is promised in the second part may further enhance the value of what has been already published. But what we have is practically complete in itself, and Mr. Nutt's discussion of the relation of the Celtic idea of Elysium to that found in Christian, classic, and Oriental mythology—all within the so-called "Aryan" group—is pregnant with instruction; while the dependence of Christian conceptions upon those of classic Paganism is well indicated. In this connection I am glad to see that Mr. Nutt calls attention to an admirable paper on the Orphic origin of the legend of the "Descent into Hell" by Mr. Percy Gardner in the Contemporary Review of March last. I hope that in the near future we may have in our hands the second and concluding volume of Mrs. Gomme's Traditional Games of the British Isles, the general plan and execution of which


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Author:Emil Reich

{{author | firstname   = Emil | lastname    = Reich | last_initial = Re | description = Doc.Juris., F.R.Hist.S. ; &c. {{EB1911 contributor|{{small-caps|E. Re.*}}}}{ }}

Works

 * Hungarian Literature: An Historical & Critical Survey (1898)
 * History of Civilization
 * Select Documents Illustrating Mediæval and Modern History
 * Imperialism
 * Woman through the Ages
 * (Literature (in part))

title: Author:Emil Reich


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 When he comes to the empire, moreover, he is very careful to specify to a day the exact duration of each emperor's reign, and in certain other matters aims at equal exactness. Yet in spite of all his pains in this regard it would often be extremely difficult or impossible to extract a consistent chronology from his data. For it frequently happens that in his desire to trace the causes or results of a given series of events he is led to exceed the limits of a single year by a considerable margin; occasionally also this same motive is responsible for an inversion of the actual order of events.

Unfortunately the value of his history is greatly diminished for us as the result of his blind devotion to two theories governing historical writing in his day. On the one hand a sense of the dignity and true value of history demanded that mere details and personal anecdotes should give place to the larger aspects and significance of events. On the other hand the historian was never to forget that he was at the same time a rhetorician; if the bare facts were lacking in effectiveness, they could be adorned, modified, or variously combined in the interest of a more dramatic presentation. These two principles, as applied by Dio, have resulted all too frequently in a somewhat vague, impressionistic picture of events, in which precisely those data which the modern historian eagerly looks for are either largely wanting


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 auayle … After these Orations ended, Demosthenes lyfe is set foorth;’ it also contains a description of Athens and various panegyrics on Demosthenes. The translation had been begun at Padua in 1556 with Cheke, and Wilson seems to have resumed it in November 1569 (Lansd. MS. xiii. art. 15; Letters of Eminent Lit. Men, pp. 28–9), but the preface was not dated till 10 June 1570, in which year the book was published with a dedication to Cecil (London, 4to). The preface contains ‘a remarkable comparison of England with Athens in the time of Demosthenes,’ the part of Philip of Macedon being filled by Philip of Spain (, British Policy, 1894, i. 156); it is similar to the ‘Latin treatise on the Dangerous State of England,’ on which Wilson speaks of being engaged on 13 Aug. 1569 (Lansd. MS. xiii. art. 9), and which is now extant in the Record Office (State Papers, Dom. Eliz. cxxiii. 17), being dated 2 April 1578, and entitled ‘A Discourse touching the Kingdom's Perils with their Remedies.’ To this is to be attributed the curious story contributed probably by Dr. Johnson to the ‘Literary Magazine’ (1758, p. 151), to the effect that Wilson was employed by the government to translate Demosthenes with a view to rousing a national resistance to Spanish invasion (Addit. MS. 5815, f. 42). Apart from its political significance, Wilson's translation is notable as the earliest English version of Demosthenes, and attains a high level of scholarship; no second edition, however, appears to have been called for, though a Latin version by Nicholas Carr [q. v.], who died in 1568, was published in 1571. At the same time Wilson was engaged upon his ‘Discourse uppon usurye by waye of Dialogue and Oracions,’ which he dedicated to Leicester. The preface is dated 20 July 1569, but the book was not published until 1572 (London, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1584). It was one of the numerous sixteenth-century attacks upon interest based mainly on biblical texts which proved absolutely unavailing against the economic tendencies of the time, but it is of some value as illustrating various phases of contemporary opinion on the subject (, Econ. Hist. ii. 467–9); Jewel bestowed upon it his warm commendation, and on Jewel's death Wilson contributed a copy of verses to the collection published in his memory (London, 1573, 4to).

Less congenial work occupied Wilson during the autumn of 1571; on 7 Sept. he conveyed the Duke of Norfolk to the Tower, and for the next few weeks he did ‘nothing else but examine prisoners’ (Cal. Simancas MSS. 1568–79, p. 339). On the 15th he received a warrant to put two of Norfolk's servants to the rack (, Orig. Letters, ii. 261), and so engrossing was this occupation that he took up his residence, and wrote letters ‘from prison in the Bloody Tower’ (Cotton. MS. Calig. C. iii. f. 260; Hatfield MSS. i. 571 sqq.). He also conducted many of the examinations in connection with the Ridolfi plot, and in June 1572 was sent with Sir Ralph Sadler [q. v.] to Mary Queen of Scots ‘to expostulate with her by way of accusation’ (ib. ii. 19; instructions in Egerton MS. 2124, f. 4). He was returned for Lincoln city to the parliament that was summoned to meet on 8 May 1572 and was not dissolved till after his death, and on 8 July he was commissioned to provide for the better regulation of commerce (Lansd. MS. xiv. art. 21). In the summer of 1573 he had many conferences with the Portuguese ambassadors (Harl. MS. 6991, arts. 24, 26, and 27).

In the autumn of 1574 Wilson was sent on the first of his important embassies to the Netherlands; he left London on 7 Nov. ( Diary ap. Camden Soc. Misc. iv. 22; his instructions, abstracted in Cal. State Papers, For. 1572–4, No. 1587, are printed in full in Relations Politiques des Pays-Bas et d'Angleterre, vii. 349–52; there are others in Cotton. MS. Galba C. v. ff. 51–216, and Harl. MS. 6991). While at Brussels he is said to have instigated a plot for seizing Don John and handing him over to the insurgents (Cal. Simancas MSS. 1568–1579, pp. 543–4). He remained in the Low Countries until 27 March 1575, when he sailed from Dunkirk (Act P. C. 1571–5, p. 361). His second embassy to the Netherlands followed in the autumn of 1576; he left London on 25 Oct. (Camden Soc. Misc. iv. 28), and spent nearly nine months in Flanders, mainly at Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, or Ghent. His despatches are printed in ‘Relations Politiques’ (ix. 1–414; see also Cal. State Papers, For. 1575–77; Hatfield MSS. vol. ii. passim; Cotton. MS. Galba C. v. ff. 272–358; Harl. MSS. 36 art. 34, and 6992 arts. 36, 37; and Lansd. MSS. clv. art. 67). The ostensible purpose of his mission was to negotiate some modus vivendi between Don John, with whom he had various interviews (e.g. on 1 May 1577, Cotton. MS. Galba C. v. f. 306), and the Dutch insurgents; but he soon came to the conclusion that such schemes were impracticable, and urged a complete understanding between England and William of Orange (Hatfield MSS. ii. 150–4; cf., William the Silent, ii. 172–212). He also took part in the negotiations for a marriage between Elizabeth and


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 Anjou. He returned to England on 13 July 1577.

During his absence Wilson was on 23 April 1577 nominated a commissioner for a special visitation of Oxford University, but he was destined for more important work. In September the Spanish ambassador wrote that Leicester, with a view to furthering his project of marrying the queen, was bringing into the council all his adherents, of whom Wilson was one (Cal. Simancas MSS. 1568–1579, p. 546). Wilson does not, however, occur as a privy councillor until 12 Nov., when he was sworn secretary of state in succession to Sir Thomas Smith (Acts P. C. ed. Dasent, 1577–8, p. 85). From that date he was constant in attendance on the council, but he was somewhat overshadowed by the superior ability of his colleague in the secretariate, Sir [q. v.], and the nature of his political influence is not easy to distinguish, more particularly as he tempered his adherence to Leicester with a firm desire to stand well with Burghley. He was, however, the principal authority on Portuguese affairs, and was the main supporter of Don Antonio's ambassadors in London (Cal. Simancas MSS. 1580–6, p. 183). In 1580 he became one of Elizabeth's lay deans, being installed dean of Durham on 5 Feb. 1579–80, a preferment for which he was a candidate in 1563, when [q. v.] was appointed (, Fasti, iii. 299). [q. v.] protested against Wilson's election (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547–80, p. 644), and the nomination of a layman to the deanery was a rude assertion of the royal supremacy against those who had cavilled at Wilson's predecessor on the ground of his invalid ordination (cf. Add. MS. 23235, f. 5).

Wilson's last attendance at the council board was on 3 May 1581. He died at St. Catherine's Hospital on 16 June following, and was buried there on the 17th. He ordered in his will that he should be buried ‘without charge or pomp,’ and no trace of his monument, if there was one, remains. A portrait of Wilson, dated 1575 but repaired in 1777, representing him in a black cap and dark furred dress, belonged in 1866 to Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, bart. (Cat. First Loan Exhib. No. 214, where Wilson is erroneously styled ‘Sir Thomas’). Another, an old copy of an anonymous painting, was in 1879 transferred from the British Museum to the National Portrait Gallery, London. A copy of his will, dated 19 May 1581, is preserved at Hatfield (Cal. Hatfield MSS. ii. 391). He left his house at Edmonton to the overseers of his will, Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir William Winter, and Matthew Smith, to be sold to pay his debts; five hundred marks to his daughter Mary on her marriage or coming of age, and a like sum to his daughter Lucrece; his son Nicholas was to be sole executor. No successor was appointed to Wilson, Walsingham acting as sole secretary until Davison's selection on 30 Sept. 1586. His death was the occasion of various poetical laments (cf. Hist. MSS. Comm. 2nd Rep. App. p. 97, 4th Rep. App. pp. 252–4).

Wilson was twice married: first, to Jane, daughter of Sir [q. v.], and widow of John Pinchon of Writtle, Essex (, Northamptonshire, ii. 141). By her Wilson appears to have had no issue; and he married, secondly, Agnes, daughter of John Winter of Lydney, Gloucestershire, sister of Sir William Winter, the admiral, and widow of William Brooke (Visit. Gloucestershire, 1623, p. 274); of her three children, the only son, Nicholas, settled at Sheepwash, Lincolnshire (see pedigree in Coll. of Arms MS. C. 23); Mary married, first, Robert Burdett (d. 1603) of Bramcote, by whom she was mother of Sir Thomas Burdett, first baronet, ancestor of Sir [q. v.] and of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts; and, secondly, Sir Christopher Lowther of Lowther, Westmorland. She was buried in the choir of Penrith parish church (Lansd. MS. 982, f. 2). Wilson's second daughter, Lucrece, married Sir George Belgrave of Belgrave, Leicestershire.

Wilson has generally been confused with one or more contemporaries of the same name; a confusion of him with Sir (1560?–1629) [q. v.] has led to his being frequently styled a knight. Other contemporaries were Thomas Wilson (d. 1586), a fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, who took refuge at Frankfurt during Mary's reign, was elected dean of Worcester in 1571, and died on 20 July 1586 (, Athenæ Cantabr. ii. 5–6); Thomas Wilson (d. 1615), canon of Windsor (see Lansd. MS. 983, f. 147); and (1563–1622) [q. v.]

[A mass of Wilson's correspondence remains in the Record Office, principally among the foreign state papers, and in the British Museum; the portions that have been printed or calendared are indicated in the text. See also Cat. Cotton., Harleian, Lansdowne, and Add. MSS.; Cal. State Papers, Dom., Foreign, and Spanish series; Acts of the Privy Council, ed. Dasent; Haynes and Murdin's Burghley State Papers; Cal. Hatfield MSS. vols. i. and ii.; Collins's Letters and Memorials of State; Digges's Compleat Ambassador, 1655; Kervyn de}} Letten-


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 Rh by what has appeared already—commands unqualified praise. Nor with interest less keen do many among us await the issue of the new volume in the Bibliotheque de Carabas, in which Mr. Jacob's erudition will apply itself to unravelling the strange story of the canonization of Gautama the Buddha as a saint of the Church of Rome: a story whose migrations across Asia Minor you will remember Mr. Conybeare tracked in the paper on "Barlaam and Josaphat," which was read by him at our November meeting.

Passing to other matters, I had regarded the discussion raised by Mr. Andrew Lang in his "Protest" against some remarks of mine on the Society for Psychical Research as closed. But one can hardly keep silence in view of the subsequent circumstances which have justified those remarks. Eusapia Paladino, who, according to Mr. Stead, "has been the unexpected instrument of driving conviction as to the reality of psychical manifestations by the invisible into the minds of many scientists," has been detected as a vulgar trickster. We cannot accuse Mr. Stead of being, in Yankee slang, "too previous," for I quote from Borderland of October last, whereas the exposure of Eusapia happened in August. You may remember that prominent members of the Society for Psychical Research were greatly exercised by the unqualified testimony of certain distinguished savants as to the genuineness of the woman's performances in Professor Richet's cottage on the Ile Roubant in the autumn of 1893. In his report to that Society, published in its Journal of November, 1894, Professor Oliver Lodge described how, while satisfied as to the efficacy of the precautions taken to secure the hands and feet of the woman, he was punched and pinched about the head and body; saw, so far as the dim light allowed, curtains move without being pulled; and heard accordions played when nobody touched them. In the Society's Journal of March last, Mr. Myers remarks


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 's Rel. Pol. des Pays-Bas et d'Angleterre, 1882–1891, vols. vi–x.; Wright's Queen Elizabeth and her Times; Nares's Life of Burghley, 3 vols.; Hume's Great Lord Burghley, 1898; Froude's Hist. of England; Cole's Athenæ (Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 5815, ff. 40–5); Fuller's Hist. of Cambridge, p. 75, and Worthies, ed. 1836; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib.; Ritson's Bibl. Anglo-Poetica; Strype's Works (General Index, 1827); Gough's General Index to Parker Soc. Publ.; Ducarel and Nichols's Hist. of St. Catherine's Hospital; Gent. Mag. 1835, i. 468–75; Ellis's Original Letters; Lodge's Illustrations, ii. 194–5; Lit. Remains of Edward VI (Roxburghe Club); Ascham's Epistolæ, pp. 425, 426; Gabriel Harvey's Works, ed. Grosart, i. 182, ii. 84; D'Ewes's Journals; Burgon's Life and Times of Gresham; Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. i. 434–7, 568; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Official Ret. Members of Parl.; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. vi. 243; Wilson's Works in Brit. Mus. Libr.]

WILSON, THOMAS (1563–1622), divine, born in the county of Durham in 1563, matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford, on 17 Nov. 1581, aged 18, graduated B.A. on 7 Feb. 1583–4, and was licensed M.A. on 7 July 1586 (, Indexes, ii. 102, iii. 119). He was elected chaplain of the college, apparently before he was ordained, on 24 April 1585. In July 1586 he was appointed rector of St. George the Martyr at Canterbury through the influence of (1553?–1616) [q. v.], provost of Queen's College and afterwards bishop of Carlisle, to whom Wilson also owed his college education (cf. the epistle dedicatory to the Christian Dictionarie). He remained at Canterbury for the rest of his life, preaching three or four sermons every week, and winning the affections of the puritan section of his people, although more than once complained of by others to Archbishop Abbot for nonconformity. He was acting as chaplain to Thomas, second lord Wotton, in 1611.

Wilson died at Canterbury in January 1621–2, and was buried in his own churchyard, outside the chancel, on the 25th. A funeral sermon was preached (London, 1622, 4to) by William Swift of St. Andrew's, Canterbury, great-grandfather of Dean Swift. His portrait, engraved by Cross, prefixed to the ‘Commentarie,’ shows him to be a lean, sharp-visaged man; he was married and left a large family.

Wilson's chief work was his ‘Christian Dictionarie’ (London, 1612, 4to), one of the earliest attempts made at a concordance of the Bible in English. Its usefulness was soon recognised, and it ran through many editions. The fourth was much enlarged by John Bagwell (n.d., London); the fifth appeared in 1647; the sixth (1655, fol.) was still further augmented by Andrew Symson. Over his ‘Commentarie’ on Romans, a work written in the form of a dialogue between Timotheus and Silas, Wilson spent seven years. It was reprinted in 1627 (fol.), and reached a third edition in 1653 (4to). In 1611 he published in octavo a volume containing (a) ‘Jacob's Ladder; or, a short Treatise laying forth the severall Degrees of Gods Eternall Purpose,’ (b) ‘A Dialogue about Jvstification by Faith,’ (c) ‘A Receit against Heresie,’ and two sermons. Besides some further sermons and other works apparently lost, he wrote ‘Saints by Calling; or, Called to be Saints,’ London, 1620, 4to.

WILSON, THOMAS (1560?–1629), keeper of the records and author, born probably about 1560, is described in the admission register of St. John's College, Cambridge, as ‘Norfolciensis,’ and is said to have been ‘nephew’ of Dr. (1525?–1581) [q. v.], Elizabeth's secretary of state (Cal. State Papers, Ireland, 1603–6, p. xx). No confirmation of this relationship has been traced, and the younger Wilson is not mentioned in the elder's will. Possibly he was the ‘Thomas Wilson of Willey, Hertfordshire, son and heir of Wilson of the same, gent.,’ who was admitted student of Gray's Inn on 11 Feb. 1594–5. He was educated apparently at Stamford grammar school, and matriculated from St. John's College, Cambridge, on 26 Nov. 1575. In 1583 he was elected on Burghley's nomination to a scholarship on the foundress's foundation at St. John's (Burghley in Lansd. MS. 77, f. 20; St. John's Coll. Register, per Mr. R. F. Scott). He graduated B.A. in 1583 from St. John's College, but migrated to Trinity Hall, whence he graduated M.A. in 1587. For fifteen years, according to his own account, he studied civil law at Cambridge. In 1594 he procured a letter from Burghley recommending his election as fellow of Trinity Hall. The recommendation was ineffectual, and Wilson betook himself to foreign travel.

In 1596, while sojourning in Italy and Germany, Wilson translated from the Spanish Gorge de Montemayor's ‘Diana,’ a romance, from which the story of ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’ was partly drawn (, Shakespeare, p. 53); it was dedicated to Shake-


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 38 that "it continues to be the serious and complete conviction of all of us, Lodge, Richet, Ochorowicz, and myself, that on no single occasion during the occurrence of an event recorded by us was a hand of Eusapia's free to execute any trick whatever."

Mr. Lang was so impressed by such evidence that he was "almost persuaded"; and although still seeking after a sign, said that it was not easy to see how believers or disbelievers could ever find a "positive test." The eager Spectator indulged in "high falutin'" talk on this triumph of psychical research, and admonished scientific men that at their peril did they stand aloof, or still insist that the thing " was a trick, a fraud, and nothing else." Well, since then, the Society has wisely given effect to Mr. Maskelyne's challenge to produce Eusapia and submit her to that "positive test" which Mr. Lang thought it hard to apply. She was brought to Mr. Myers's house at Cambridge, and—I quote the fit and homely phrase employed by Mr. Lang—"busted up." Her dodge was the common one of preventing her dupes from suspecting that one of her hands was doing duty for two^ and of getting the immediate sitters on either side of her to so place their feet that with the toe and heel of one of her feet she could make them believe that they each felt separate feet. By this dodge one hand and one foot were left free to work the oracle.

That an illiterate, but astute, Neapolitan conjurer should have thus befooled men of high intellectual capacity justifies my strictures on the incompetence of scientific specialists off their own beat to detect common trickery. And of course that incompetence is greater where there is a bias in favour of occult phenomena. Such people, as Mr. Maskelyne observes, "can be brought to believe anything that


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 Rh is sufficiently improbable." To which may be added what, in a lapse into veracity, that colossal old liar, Madame Blavatsky, is reported to have said:

A word or two as to the sequel. The befooled observers "all with one consent began to make excuse." But some muttered "e pur si muove." Mr. Myers, despite what has happened, sees no reason for "abandoning a quest which has already in other instances proved more fruitful than psychical researchers had ventured to hope." Professor Lodge is as uneasy as he deserves to be, but hints at "genuine phenomena in other cases." Professor Barrett sees in Eusapia's cheating "a dynamic force in human thought," whatever that may mean. Mr. Lang, in a halfbantering letter where one hears him whistling to keep up his courage, "frankly admits that, on the strength of Mr. Lodge's report, he did expect Eusapia to give the S. P. R, a better run for their money." However, we gather from subsequent remarks of his that he washes his hands of the whole sorry business. He is surprised that Dr. Hodgson, who was the first to predict Eusapia's method and to detect her tricks, should, "after exploding her, Madame Blavatsky,


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 40 and Eglinton, and other beguilers, believe in Mrs. Piper," and adds that "it really looks as if 'psychical research' does somehow damage and pervert the logical faculty of scientific minds." Surely the moral of the whole business is that all investigations into phenomena which may be regarded as abnormal should proceed on rigid scientific lines and in broad daylight. When the Society for Psychical Research adopts that method, it will prove itself an effective ally of the Folk-Lore Society.

I now gladly dismiss this subject that it may give place to some observations which are designed as supplemental to the main theme of my former address. The object of that, let me remind you, was to show that folklore—which was defined as the psychical side of anthropology—brings its weighty support to that theory of unity and continuity which involves the inclusion of man in the universal order. It is therefore contributory to the theory of Evolution in the widest significance of that term.

On the present, and, for myself, final occasion, I desire to apply this somewhat in detail, travelling along some definite line, which, so it seems to me, it will be more and more the special province of folklore to pursue.

Comparative anatomy has not more completely demonstrated the common descent of man and ape, and the consequent classification of man in the order Primates, than comparative anthropology has demonstrated his advance from the animal stage to civilisation. That work can never be undone. And one momentous effect of it is the disproof of traditional theories about man's paradisaical state, and his fall therefrom. Yet how slow is the perception of so complete a revolution in our ideas has illustration in the following paragraph, which occurs in a recent book on prehistoric archæology.