WAITS. 249 WAKE. Goth, waktin, AS. wacian, ic<eccan, Eiifj. imlch; connected with Lat. vigil, wakeful, watchful). A name which has, at successive periods of English history, heen given to dill'erent classes of musical watchmen. In the tinii> of Kilwanl IV. the waits appear to have formed a class distinct from licit li the watch and the minstrels. The waits were not confined to the Court ; there were musi- cal watchmen at an early period in many pro- vincial towns. In Exeter a regular company ex- isted in 1400. The word in the provinces was afterwards sometimes applied to the town musi- cians, who may have represented the old waits, but who had no duties to perform as watchmen. The name was also given to the town hancl, or to private nuisicians wlien employed as sercnaders.' At present, in London, the waits are musicians who play during the night or early in the morn- ing for two or tliree weeks before Christmas. WAITZ, vits, GEOne (1813-86). A German historian, horn at Flensburg, in Schleswig. He was educated in the scliools of his native town and at the universities of Kiel and Berlin. In 1842 he was called to the chair of history at Kiel, where he remained for five years. In 1840 he became professor Df history at Gi'ittingen. He re- mained there till 1875, when he was called to Berlin as chief editor of the Moniimenta Oer- mtiniw nistorica. He was actively engaged on this work till his death. Waitz was turned from the study of law iit the university by the influ- ence of Kanke, anc[ he is usually regarded as one of that historian's principal disciples. In his own field of mediseval history he was the fore- most German scholar of liis day. His important publications include: Jahrbiicher rfcs deutschen Reiclis unter Hciitrich I. (18.37); TIeber das Lebcn und die Lehre des Ulfila (1840) ; Liiheck itntcr Jiirffcn WiiJlemveber uiid die europiiische Pol i til- {1855-56) ; Grundz^qe der Politik (,(,2) ; and Deutsche Kaiser von Karl dem Grosscn bis Maximilian (1872), besides a great number of contributions to the Moiinmcnta. Consult: Stein- dorft', Bibliof/raphischc Vebcrsieht iiber Georg TFaiVc's Werke (Gottingen, 1886). WAITZ, TiiEODOR (1821-64). A German psy- chologist and anthropologist, born at Gotha. He studied at Leipzig and .Tena, and in 1848 was ap- pointed professor of philosophy in the University of Marburg. He atteni]ited to point out the weak- ness of the philoso])hy of Fichte, Sehelling, and Hegel, and made psychology the basis of all phi- losophy. He also studied anthropology and ethnology extensively. His works include an edition of Aristotle's Organon (1844-40); Juhr- Ivcli dcr Psi/choloqle als Natuncissenschaft (1849); Allgcmeine Piidagogik (18.52; 3d ed. 1883) ; and Die AiHhropologie dcr XaturuSlker (18.59-72; vols. v. and vi. edited by Gerland). WAITZEW, vl'tsen (Hung. Vdcz). A town of Hungary, at the base of the Waizenberg, on the left bank of the Danube, 22 miles north of Budapest (Map: Hungary, F 3). It is the seat of a bishop and has a fine cathedral. Population, in 1900, 16,808. WAIVER (from OF. weyrer, guever, to waive, refuse, surrender, resign, probably from Icel. veifa, to vibrate, waver). A voluntary aliandon- ment or renimciation of a known legal right. A contractual right can usually only be waived for a consideration, but where a person possessing a certain right acts inei|uitably to the detriment of the person against whom the right e.vists, he may be deemed to have waived it upon the prin- ciple of estoppel. The doctrine of waiver is, ])crhaps, most frequently applied to the reiiuncia- tion of statutory rights and privileges, such as: statutory and connnon law liens: the right to notice of protest and dishonor of commercial paper; also, conditions of forfeiture in contracts, as in insurance policies; and many technical ir- regularities in pleading and practice which are not necessarily fatal to the cause of action. Con- sult the authorities referred to under Contbact; E.STOI'I'EL. WAKAMATSU, wH'kii-miit'stm. A town in the Prefecture of ]ukushinia, .Tapan. situated in the northern part of the island of Hondo, 79 miles east-soutlicast of Niigata (Map: Japan, F 5). It was the castle town of the Prince of .izu, whose clan is noted for its gallant fighting on the side of the Sliogunate during the Rcvrdution of 1868. The castle, the last of the Sliogun's strongholds to yield, has been completely de- molished. The chief manufacture is lacquer ware. l'opulati(jn. in 1898, 29,200. WAKASHAN (wii'ka-shan) STOCK (Xootka tvakash, good). A well-marked Indian linguistic group occuijying the west coast of British Colum- bia from about 50 Vi" N. to Gardnev Channel, the west and northwest coast of Vancouver Isl- and, and a narrow strip of territory about Cape Flattery, Wash. The stock consists of a large number of small tribes, each speaking a sepa- rate dialect, all of which may be grouped into three languages, Hailtzuk (q.v.), Kwakiutl (q.v.), and Xootka (q.v.), the last including' the Makaw of Cajie Flattery. All the tribes of this stock are maritime in habit, daring sailors, fierce fighters, and strongly conservative. They build large communal houses of cedar planks, are organized upon the clan systeni, and have slavery and the pot latch (q.v.) as recognized institutions. The population of the various tribes in 1903 was about 5200: West Coast Agency, British Columbia (Nootka division), 2600; Kwawkewlth Agency, British Columbia (Kwakiutl division), 1300; Northwest Coast Agency, British Columbia, 'Oweekayo Nation' (Hailtzuk division), 900; Makaw, at Neah Bay Agenc}-, Washington, 410. WAKAYAMA, wa'ka-yii'ma. The capital of the Prefecture of Wakayama, in Japan, situated on the southern coast of the island of Hondo, 39 miles by rail southwest of Osaka (Map: .Japan, D 6) . It is the former castle town of the princes of Kishu, one of the 'three august families.' The castle rises on a wooded hill and is one of the most perfect examples of the old architecture of Japan. It dates from 1850. A short distance from Wakayama stands the temple of Kiimiidera, celebrated for its beautiful situation. Tradition gives the date of its founding as a.d. 770. The principal manufacture is cotton flannel. Popu- lation, in 1898, 03,667. WAKE (AS. icacii, watch, from tiytcian, wceccan, to watch). The English equivalent of the ecclesiastical vigil (q.v.). The saint's-day festivals are still kept in many English parishes under the name of 'country wakes.' A lyke-icake or liche-wake is a watching of a dead body all night by the friends and neighbors of the de-
