WOLFENBUeTTEL (13), an old town in Brunswick, 7 m.  S. of Brunswick; contains an old building, now rebuilt, being a library of vast extent and rich in MSS.; has various manufactures.

WOLFF, JOHANN CHRISTIAN VON, German philosopher and mathematician, born at Breslau; was appointed professor at Halle in 1707, but was in 1723 not only removed from his chair, but banished from Prussia by Frederick William on account of his opinions, which, as fatalistic, were deemed socially demoralising, but was recalled by Frederick the Great on his accession, and afterwards promoted to the rank of baron of the empire; he was a disciple of Leibnitz, and the father of the philosophy that prevailed in Germany before the time of Kant; his merits as a philosopher were threefold:  he claimed for philosophy the entire field of knowledge, he paid special attention to method in philosophical speculation, and he first taught philosophy to express itself in German, or made German the philosophical language (1679-1754).

WOLLASTON, WILLIAM, ethical and theological writer, born near Stafford; wrote “Religion of Nature,” a rationalistic work written in an optimistic spirit (1659-1724).

WOLLASTON, WILLIAM HYDE, physicist and chemist, born in Norfolk, grandson of preceding; made extensive discoveries in chemistry and optics; invented the camera lucida and the goniometer.

WOLLSTONECRAFT, MARY.  See GODWIN.

WOLSELEY, GARNET JOSEPH, LORD, field-marshal, born in co.  Dublin, of a Staffordshire family; entered the army in 1852; served in the Burmese War of 1852-1853, in the Crimean War, where he was severely wounded, in the Chinese War of 1860, and afterwards in Canada; commanded in the Ashantee War in 1878, and received the thanks of Parliament, with a grant of L25,000, for “courage, energy, and perseverance” in the conduct of it, and after services in Natal, Egypt, and Ireland was made field-marshal in 1894, and commander-in-chief in 1895; b. 1833.

WOLSEY, THOMAS, cardinal, born at Ipswich, son of a well-to-do grazier and wool-merchant; educated at Magdalen College, Oxford; entered the Church early; gained the favour of Henry VII., and was promoted by him for his services to the deanery of Lincoln; this was the first of a series of preferments at the hands of royalty, which secured him one bishopric after another until his revenue accruing therefrom equalled that of the crown itself, which he spent partly in display of his rank and partly in acts of munificence; of his acts of munificence the founding of Christ Church College in the interest of learning was one, and the presentation of Hampton Court Palace, which he had built, to the king, was another; it was in the reign of Henry VIII. that he rose to power, and to him especially he owed his honours; it was for his services to him he obtained the chancellorship of the kingdom, and at his suit that he obtained the cardinal’s hat and other favours from the Pope; this, though