WACE, HENRY, Principal of King’s College, London; has lectured ably on Christian apologetics, and written valuable works in defence of Christianity; b. 1836.

WADE, GEORGE, English general; commanded in Scotland during the rebellion of 1715, has the credit of the construction in 1725-35 of the military roads into the Highlands, to frustrate any further attempts at rebellion in the north (1668-1748).

WADMAN, WIDOW, a lady in “Tristram Shandy” who pays court to Uncle Toby.

WADY, an Arabic name for the channel of a stream which is flooded in rainy weather and at other seasons dry.

WAGNER, WILHELM RICHARD, the great musical composer, born at Leipzig; showed early a faculty for music, and began the enthusiastic study of it under Beethoven; in 1835 became conductor of the orchestra of the theatre of Magdeburg, and held the same post afterwards at Riga and Koenigsberg; his principal works were “Rienzi” (1840), “The Flying Dutchman” (1843), “Tannhaeuser” (1845), “Lohengrin” (1850), “Tristan and Isolde” (1859), “The Mastersingers of Nuernberg” (1859-60), and the “Ring of the Nibelungen,” the composition of which occupied 25 years; this last was performed in 1876 at Bayreuth in a theatre erected for the purpose in presence of the emperor of Germany and the principal musical artists of the world; “Parsifal” was his last work; his musical ideas were revolutionary, and it was some time before his works made their way in England (1813-1883).

WAGRAM, a village, 10 m.  NE. of Vienna, where Napoleon gained a great victory over the Austrians under the Archduke Charles, on July 5 and 6, 1809.

WAHABIS, a Mohammedan sect which arose among the Nedj tribe in Central Arabia, whose aims were puritanic and the restoration of Islamism to its primitive simplicity in creed, worship, and conduct; in creed they were substantially the same as the SUNNITES (q. v.).

WAIKATO, the largest river in New Zealand, in the North Island, the outlet of the waters of Lake Taupo, the largest lake; has a course of 170 m.

WAKEFIELD (37), a borough of Yorkshire, 9 m.  S. of Leeds; has large woollen and other manufactures.

WALCHEREN, an island in the province of Zeeland, in the delta formed by the Maas and Scheldt; was the destination of an unfortunate expedition sent to the help of the Austrians against Napoleon in Antwerp, in which 7000 of the army composing it died of marsh fever, from which 10,000 were sent home sick and the rest recalled.

WALDECK-PYRMONT (57), two high-lying territories in North Germany forming one principality and subject to imperial authority; consists of hill and valley.

WALDENSES, a Christian community founded in 1170 in the south of France, on the model of the primitive Church, by Peter Walden, a rich citizen of Lyons, and who were driven by persecution from country to country until they settled in Piedmont under the name of the VAUDOIS (q. v.), where they still exist.