n expression and faulty in form; and probably a
comparatively small portion of what he wrote will live.

WHYTE-MELVILLE, GEORGE JOHN (1821-1878).--Novelist, _s._ of a country
gentleman of Fife, _ed._ at Eton, entered the army, and saw service in
the Crimea, retiring in 1859 as Major. Thereafter he devoted himself to
field sports, in which he was an acknowledged authority, and to
literature. He wrote a number of novels, mainly founded on sporting
subjects, though a few were historical. They include _Kate Coventry_,
_The Queen's Maries_, _The Gladiators_, and _Satanella_. He also wrote
_Songs and Verses_ and _The True Cross_, a religious poem. He _d._ from
an accident in the hunting-field.

WICLIF, or WYCLIF, JOHN (1320?-1384).--Theologian and translator of the
Bible, _b._ near Richmond, Yorkshire, studied at Balliol Coll., Oxf., of
which he became in 1361 master, and taking orders, became Vicar of
Fillingham, Lincolnshire, when he resigned his mastership, and in 1361
Prebendary of Westbury. By this time he had written a treatise on logic,
and had won some position as a man of learning. In 1372 he took the
degree of Doctor of Theology, and became Canon of Lincoln, and in 1374
was sent to Bruges as one of a commission to treat with Papal delegates
as to certain ecclesiastical matters in dispute, and in the same year he
became Rector of Lutterworth, where he remained until his death. His
liberal and patriotic views on the questions in dispute between England
and the Pope gained for him the favour of John of Gaunt and Lord Percy,
who accompanied him when, in 1377, he was summoned before the
ecclesiastical authorities at St. Paul's. The Court was broken up by an
inroad of the London mob, and no sentence was passed upon him. Another
trial at Lambeth in the next year was equally inconclusive. By this time
W. had taken up a position definitely antagonistic to the Papal system.
He organised his institution of poor preachers, and initiated his great
enterprise of translating the Scriptures into English. His own share of
the work was the Gospels, probably the whole of the New Testament and
possibly part of the Old. The whole work was ed. by John Purvey, an Oxf.
friend, who had joined him at Lutterworth, the work being completed by
1400. In 1380 W. openly rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation, and
was forbidden to teach at Oxf., where he had obtained great influence. In
1382 a Court was convened by the Archbishop of Canter