WEBSTER, DANIEL, American statesman and orator, born at New Hampshire; bred to the bar, and practised in the provincial courts; by-and-by went to Boston, which was ever after his home; entered Congress in 1813, where, by his commanding presence and his animated oratory, he soon made his mark; was secretary for foreign affairs under President Harrison, and negotiated the Ashburton Treaty in settlement of the “boundary-line” question between England and the States; was much admired by Emerson, and was, when he visited England, commended by him to the regard of Carlyle as a man to “hear speak,” as “with a cause he could strike a stroke like a smith”; Carlyle did not take to him; he was too political for his taste, though he recognised in him a “man—­never have seen,” he wrote Emerson, “so much silent Berserkir-rage in any other man” (1782-1852).

WEBSTER, JOHN, English dramatist of the 17th century; did a good deal as a dramatist in collaboration with others, but some four plays are exclusively his own work, the two best the “White Devil” and the “Duchess of Malfi.”

WEBSTER, NOAH, lexicographer, born at Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.; bred to law; tried journalism; devoted 20 years to his “Dictionary of the English Language” (1758-1843).

WEDGWOOD, JOSIAH, celebrated English potter, born at Burslem, son of a potter; in 1759 started a pottery on artistic lines in his native place; devoted himself first to the study of the material of his art and then to its ornamentation, in which latter he had at length the good fortune to enlist Flaxman as a designer, and so a ware known by his name became famous for both its substantial and artistic excellence far and wide over the country and beyond; he was a man of varied culture and of princely generosity, having by his art amassed a large fortune (1730-1793).

WEDNESBURY (69), a town in Staffordshire, 8 m.  NW. of Birmingham; iron-ware manufacture the chief industry; has an old church on the site of an old temple to Woden, whence the name, it is alleged.

WEDNESDAY, fourth day of the week, Woden’s Day, as Thursday is Thor’s.  It is called Midwoch, i. e.  Midweek, by the Germans.

WEEK, division of time of seven days, supposed to have been suggested by the interval between the quarters of the moon.

WEEPING PHILOSOPHER, a sobriquet given to HERACLITUS (q. v.) from a melancholy disposition ascribed to him, in contrast with DEMOCRITUS (q. v.), designated the laughing philosopher.

WEI-HAI-WEI, a city in a deep bay on the Shantung promontory, China, 40 m.  E. of Chefoo, and nearly opposite Port Arthur, which is situated on the northern side of the entrance to the Gulf of Pechili; was leased to Great Britain in 1898, along with the islands in the bay and a belt of land along the coast; its harbour is well sheltered, and accommodates a large number of vessels.

WEIMAR (24), capital of the grand-duchy of Saxe-Weimar, in a valley on the left bank of the Ilm, 13 m.  E. of Erfurt, and famous as for many years the residence of the great Goethe and the illustrious literary circle of which he was the centre, an association which constitutes the chief interest of the place.