WARSAW (465), formerly the capital of Poland, now of the province of Russian Poland; stands on the left bank of the Vistula, 700 m.  SW. of St. Petersburg; is almost in the heart of Europe, and in a position with many natural advantages; is about as large as Birmingham, and the third largest city in the Russian empire; it has a university with 75 professors and 1000 students, and has a large trade and numerous manufactures.

WARTBURG, an old grim castle overhanging EISENACH (q. v.), where Luther was confined by his friends when it was too hot for him outside, and where, not forgetful of what he owed his country, he kept translating the Bible into the German vernacular, and where they still show the oaken table at which he did it, and the oaken ink-holder which he threw at the devil’s head, as well as the ink-spot it left on the wall.

WARTON, THOMAS, English poet, born at Basingstoke; was professor of Poetry at Oxford, and Poet-Laureate; wrote a “History of English Poetry” of great merit, and a few poetic pieces in faint echo of others by Pope and Swift for most part (1728-1790).

WARWICK (11), the county town of Warwickshire, on the Avon, 21 m.  SE. of Birmingham; it dates from Saxon times, and possesses a great baronial castle, the residence of the earls of Warwick, erected in 1394 on an eminence by the river grandly overlooking the town; it is the seat of several industries, and has a considerable trade in agricultural produce.

WARWICK, RICHARD NEVILLE, EARL OF, eldest son of the Earl of Salisbury, THE KING-MAKER (q. v.); fought in the “Wars of the Roses,” and was in the end defeated by Edward IV. and slain (1428-1471).

WARWICKSHIRE (805), central county of England; is traversed by the Avon, a tributary of the Severn; the north portion, which was at one time covered by the forest of Arden, is now, from its mineral wealth, one of the busiest industrial centres of England; it contains the birthplace of Shakespeare; Birmingham is the largest town.

WASH, THE, an estuary of the E. coast of England, between the counties of Norfolk and Lincoln, too shallow for navigation.

WASHINGTON (278), capital of the United States, in the district of Columbia, on the left bank of the Potomac, 35 in.  SW. of Baltimore; was founded in 1791, and made the seat of the Government in 1800; it is regularly laid out, possesses a number of noble buildings, many of them of marble, the chief being the Capitol, an imposing structure, where the Senate and Congress sit; near it, 11/2 m. distant, is the White House, the residence of the President, standing in grounds beautifully laid out and adorned with fountains and shrubbery.

WASHINGTON (340), a NW.  State of the American Union, twice the size of Ireland; lies N. of Oregon; is traversed by the Cascade Mountains, the highest 8138 ft., and has a rugged surface of hill and valley, but is a great wheat-growing and grazing territory, covered on the W. by forests of pine and cedar; Olympia is the capital.  Washington is the name of hundreds of places in the States.