stone table round which the ancient barbas used to sit, and a mission board, with an annual synod to which both the home and mission boards are subject. The total population of the Waldensian valleys (for they also contain Roman Catholics in no small number) amounts to about 20,000 all told. In 1900 there were 16 parishes, with 18 pasteurs and 22 temples, and also 2 Sunday schools (3017 children) and 194 day schools (with 4218 children); the full members (i.e. communicants) of the Waldensian faith amounted to 12,695. There were, besides, branches at Turin (1 temple, 2 pasteurs and 750 members), in other parts of Italy, including Sicily (46 temples and as many pasteurs, while the number of members was 5613, of day scholars 2704, and of Sunday school scholars 3707). It is also reckoned that in Uruguay and the Argentine Republic there are about 6000 Waldensians; of these 1253 were in 1900 full members, while the day scholars numbered 364 and the Sunday school children 670.
The literature on the subject of the Waldensian and other sects is copious. For their rise the most important authorities are to be found in Moneta, Adversus Catharos et Waldenses; D'Argentré, Cottectio judiciorum de novis erroribus; Alanus, Adversus haereticos; D'Achery, Spicilegia, vol. i.; Gretser, Opera, vol. x.; Limborch, Historia Inquisitionis, at the end of which is the Liber sententiarum of the Inquisition of Toulouse from 1307-1322. Of modern books may be mentioned Schmidt, Histoire des Cathares; Hahn, Geschichte der neumanichäischen Ketzer; Dieckhoff, Die Waldenser im Mittelalter; Preger, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Waldesier; Cantu, Gli Eretici in Italia; Comba, Storia della Riforma in Italia, and Histoire des Vaudois d'Italie; Tocco, L'Eresia nel media evo; Montet, Histoire littéraire des Vaudois; Lea, History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages. Amongst books dealing with the more modern history of the Vaudois specially are Léger, Histoire des églises vaudoises; Arnaud, Histoire de la rentrée des Vaudois; Perrin, Histoire des Vaudois; Monastier, Histoire de l'eglise vaudoise; Muston, L'Israel des Alpes; Gilly, Excursion to the Valleys of Piedmont, and Researches on the Waldensians; Todd, The Waldensian Manuscripts; Melia, Origin, Persecution and Doctrines of the Waldensians; Jules Chevalier, Mémoires sur les hérésies en Dauphiné avant le XVIe siècle, accompagnes de documents inédits sur les sorciers et les Vaudois (Valence, 1890); J. A. Chabrand, Vaudois et Protestants des Alpes: recherches historiques (Grenoble, 1886); H. Haupt, article in Von Sybel's Historische Zeitschrift (1889), pp. 39-68; W. A. B. Coolidge, articles in the Guardian for 18th August 1886 and 4th December 1889.
WALDERSEE, ALFRED, Count (1832–1904), Prussian general field marshal, came of a soldier family. Entering the Guard Artillery of the Prussian army in 1850, he soon attracted the favourable notice of his official superiors, and he made his first campaign (that of 1866) as aide-de-camp to General of Artillery Prince Charles of Prussia, with whom he was present at Königgratz. In the course of this campaign Count Waldersee was promoted major and placed on the general staff, and after the conclusion of peace he served on the staff of the X. Army Corps (newly formed from the conquered kingdom of Hanover). In January 1870 he became military attache at Paris and aide-de-camp to King William. In the Franco-German War Lieut.-Colonel Count Waldersee, on account of both his admitted military talents and his recent experience of the enemy's army, proved a most useful assistant to the “supreme War-Lord.” He was present at the great battles around Metz, in which he played more than an orderly officer's part, and in the war against the republic he was specially sent to the staff of the grand duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who was operating against Chanzy's army on the Loir. The grand duke was a good soldier, but not a brilliant strategist, and the fortunate outcome of the western campaign was largely due to his adviser. At the end of the war Waldersee received the First Class of the Iron Cross, and was entrusted with the exceedingly delicate and difficult post of German representative at Paris, in which his tact and courtesy were very marked. At the end of 1871 Waldersee took over the command of the 13th Uhlans at Hanover, and two years later he became chief of the staff of the Hanoverian army corps, in which he had served before 1870. In 1881 he became Moltke's principal assistant on the great general staff at Berlin, and for seven years was intimately connected with the great field marshal's work, so that, when Moltke retired in 1888, Waldersee's appointment to succeed him was a foregone conclusion. Three years later the chief of the general staff was sent to command the IX. Corps at Altona, an appointment which was interpreted as indicating that his close and intimate friendship with Bismarck had made him, at this time of the chancellor's dismissal, a persona non grata to the young emperor. In 1898, however, he was appointed inspector-general of the III. “Army Inspection” at Hanover, the order being accompanied by the most eulogistic expressions of the kaiser's goodwill. On the despatch of European troops to quell the Boxer insurrection in China in 1900, it was agreed that Count Waldersee should have the supreme command of the joint forces. The preparations for his departure from Germany caused a good deal of satirical comment on what was known as the “Waldersee Rummel” or “theatricals.” He arrived at the front, however, too late to direct his troops in the fighting before Peking. At the end of the war he returned to Europe. He resumed at Hanover his duties of inspector-general, which he performed almost to his death, which took place on the 5th of March 1904.
WALDO, SAMUEL LOVETT (1783–1861), American artist, was born in Windham, Connecticut, on the 6th of April 1783. He had a studio in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1806 he went to London, where he painted portraits for some years with success. In 1809 he returned to New York, and was a conspicuous figure in the city's art life until his death there on the 16th of February 1861. He became an associate of the National Academy in 1847. Among his works are a series of portraits of the early mayors of New York, now in the New York City Hall, a portrait of Peter Remsen, in possession of the New York Historical Society, and two portraits of John Trumbull.
WALENSEE, also called the Lake of Walenstadt, a Swiss lake between the basins of the Rhine and the Linth (Limmat), lying S.E. of the Lake of Zürich. It is formed by the Seez river (descending from the Weisstannen glen), which once certainly sent its waters to the Rhine, but now enters the lake at its eastern end. Near its western end the Linth has been diverted through the Escher canal (completed in 1811) into the lake, from which it soon again issues in order, by means of the Linth canal (completed in 1816), to flow into the Lake of Zürich. The Walensee has an area of 9 sq. m., is about 9 m. in length, 1¼ m. wide and 495 ft. deep, while its surface is 1388 ft. above sea-level. It forms part of the Canton of St Gall, save 1¾ sq. m . towards its west end, which are in that of Glarus. It lies in a deep trench between two comparatively lofty ranges of mountains, so that its scenery is more gloomy than is usual with Swiss lakes. On the north shore there is but a single village of any size (Quinten), while above it rise the cliffs of the seven-peaked range of the Kurfürsten (7576 ft.), at the west end of which the village of Amden nestles in a hollow high above the lake. On the south side the hills rise less steeply from the shore (on which are Mühlehorn and Murg) towards the fine terrace of the Kerenzenberg, on which are the frequented summer resorts of Obstalden and Filzbach, backed on the south by the singularly imposing crags of the Mürtschenstock (8012 ft.). The small towns of Weesen and Walenstadt are situated respectively at the western and the eastern extremities of the lake, a railway along the south shore of which connects them with each other (11 m.). Since the construction of this line no steamers ply on the lake. (W. A. B. C.)
WALES (Cymru, Gwalia, Cambria), a Principality occupying the extreme middle-west of the southern part of the island of Great Britain, bounded E. by the English counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire; S. by the Bristol Channel; W. by St George's Channel; and N. by the Irish Sea. (For map see England, V.) Its area is 7467 sq. m. Its greatest length from N. to S. (from the Point of Air in Flint to Barry Island on the Glamorgan coast) is 136 m., while its breadth varies from 92 m. (from St Davids Head to the English border beyond Crickhowell) to 37 m. (the distance between Aberystwyth and the Shropshire boundary at Clun Forest). Its total circuit is about 540 m., of which 390 consist of coastline. The principal headlands are Great Ormes Head in Carnarvonshire; Braich-y-Pwll, the most westerly point of
