hat Pitt could not be bought by
any bribe of his (1677-1745).

WALPURGIS NIGHT, the eve of the 1st May, when the witches hold high
revel and offer sacrifices to the devil their chief, the scene of their
festival in Germany being the BROCKEN (q. v.). This annual
festival was in the popular belief conceded to them in recompense for the
loss they sustained when by St. Walpurga the Saxons were persuaded to
renounce paganism with its rites for Christianity.

WALSINGHAM, SIR FRANCIS, English statesman, born at Chiselhurst; was
ambassador at Paris, and was there during the St. Bartholomew massacre,
and was afterwards appointed one of Queen Elizabeth's Secretaries of
State; he was an insidious inquisitor, and had numerous spies in his pay,
whom he employed to ferret out evidence to her ruin against Mary, Queen
of Scots, and he had the audacity to sit as one of the Commissioners at
her trial (1536-1590).

WALSTON, ST., patron saint of husbandmen, of British birth; gave up
wealth for agriculture, and died at the plough; is represented with a
scythe in his hand and cattle near him.

WALTER, JOHN, London printer; the founder proper, though his father
was the projector, of the _Times_ newspaper, and forty years in the
management of it, under which it became the "leading journal" of the day,
a success due to his discernment and selection of the men with the
ability to conduct it and contribute to it (1773-1847).

WALTER THE PENNILESS, a famous mob leader, adjutant of Peter the
HERMIT (q. v.) in the first Crusade.

WALTON, IZAAK, the angler, born in Stafford; settled as a
linen-draper, first in Fleet Street and then in Chancery Lane, London;
married a lady, a grand-niece of Cranmer, and on her death a sister of
Bishop Ken, by whom he had several children; he associated with some of
the best clergymen of the Church of England, among the number Dr. Donne,
and was much beloved by them; on the death of his second wife he went to
Winchester and stayed with his friend Dr. Morley, the bishop; his
principal work was the "Complete Angler; or, the Contemplative Man's
Recreation," which was extended by his friend Charles Cotton, and is a
classic to this day; he wrote in addition Lives of Hooker, Dr. Donne,
Bishop Sanderson, Sir Henry Wotton, and George Herbert, all done, like
the "Angler," in a uniquely charming, simple style (1593-1683).

WANDERING JEW. See JEW, WANDERING.

WAPENSHAW, originally gatherings of the people