WARTBURG. 3U5 WARWICK. gerkrieg of 1207, in which the most celebrated of German minstrels competed for suiiremacy. W'alther vou dcr Voyuhveide, Wolfram von Es- chenbacli, and Ilcinrich von Oftcnlingon par- tieipatcd in the musical tourney, and to llie first of these fell the prize. This leyend, dating from the early part of the thirteenth century, was blended in time with a West (ierman tradition regarding the contest between the pious Wolfram and the magician Klingsor aided In' the devil. The story in its modilicd form became the subject of an early ])oi'm which attained wide currency before the end of the thirteenth cenlurv. From this source Wagner, among others, drew part of his material for the libretto of Tannhaiiscr. On October 18, 1817, about 500 students of the vari- ous German universities assembled at the Wart- burg, at the instance of the .Jena Burschensehaft (q.v.) to celebrate the third centennial of the beginning of the Reformation and the anniversary of the battle of Leipzig (181.3). In reality the meeting was a protest on the part of the (Jerman youth against the policy of reaction which, after the Congress of Vienna, Metternicli forced upon Germany. The black, red, and gold colors of the Burschensehaft first appeared then. The works of Kotzebue and other champions of reactions were cast into the liames, and on the follow- ing day prejiarations were begun for extending the Burschenscliaft throughout Germany. The German governments, alarmed by the spirit of revolution evinced in the proceedings at the Wartburgfcut, entered upon a severe course of repression, placed the universities under police surveillance and prohibited membership in a Burschenscliaft. See Germa.ny. WARTHE, viir'te (Pol. Warta). A river of Germany iind Russian Poland, the largest tribu- tary of the Oder. It rises in the southwestern part of Russian Poland and Hows first in a northern direction and then west, entering Prus- sia at its junction with the Prosna (Map: Prus- sia, G 2). It traverses the Prussian Province of Posen in a generally western direction between low, marshy banks, and joins the Oder at Kiis- trin. Of its total length of over 540 miles. 265 miles are navigable. As the principal river of Posen the Wnrthe has a considerable traffic and is connected by canal with the Vistula. WART-HOG. A large bushranging wild pig of Africa, of which there are two species, Phacochccrus Aft-icaniis. of Eastern Africa, called 'halluf in Abyssinia, and Phncochcrriis .T^thiopi- cus of South Africa. Both have very long and broad heads with enormous tusks, and the face made ugly by pairs of great wart like prutuber- ances on each side of the nose, one pair just be- low the eyes. WARTON, wflr'ton. .TcsEPii ( 172-2-lSOO) . An English literary critic, born at Dunsfold, Surrey. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, took orders in 1744. and was curate at Basingstoke (1744-45), and subsequently at Chelsea. In 1744 he published a book of verse with the title Ode on Heading West's Pindar, and in 1746 a col- lection of Odes on Various l^nbjcets, in which he declared against the didactic school of poetry represented by Pope. In 175."! he published a four-volume edition of Vergil in Latin and Eng- lish, himself contributing translations of the Eclogues and Ocorgics, critical essays, annota- tions, and a Life of the poet. lie was rector of V inslailc in 1748-54, and of Tunwortli in 1754- 55, but failed of any imiiortant preferment in the Church, and in 1755 became second master of Wiiicliester School. In 1766 he was appointed headmaster of the school, which post' he resigned in 17!)^!. During his residence at Winchester he publislicd the two volumes (1757-1782) of his Essay on the (Jeniiis and Writings of Pope, his most important work. His edition of Pope's works (1707), which remained the best until the ap])earancc of that by Elwin and Court hope, ex- hibits, according to Mark Pattison, the two edi- torial privileges — silence where explanation is needed, diffuseness where it is superlluous. Yet the annotations have in themselves much literary interest. Warton became prebendary of London in 1782, in 1788 obtained a prebend in the Cathe- dral at Winchester, and received sueeessively the vicarage of Chorley (Hertfordshire), that of Wickliani (Hampshire) , the rectory of Easton, and soon after that of L'phani, both in Hampshire. WARTON, TiioM.s (1728-001. An English poet and critic, born January 0, 1728, at Basing- stoke. He was the younger brother of .Joseph W'arton (q.v.). From the tuition of his father he went to Trinity College, O.vford, graduating B.A. in 1747, and M.A. in 1750. He remained at the university all his life. In 1757 he was elected professor of poetry at Oxford — a position wdiich he held for ten years. In 17G7 he took the degree of B.D. To him fell two church liv- ings — kiddington in Oxfordshire (1771) and Hill Farrance in Somersetshire (1782). In 1785 he was appointed Camden professor of history at Oxford, and jioet laureate in succession to Wil- liam Whitehead. He died at Oxford, May 21, 1790. Warton began writing verse in boyhood. His poems, consisting of sonnets, odes, and descrip- tive lyrics, collected in 1777, reached a fourth edition in 1789. Written in imitation of Spenser and Jlilton, they are most interesting as links between the older English ])oetry and the re- markable poetic outburst beginning with Words- worth and Coleridge. Warton gained his repu- tation as a critic with Observations on the Fucrie Queene (1754; enlarged to 2 vols., 1762), a pioneer work in the revival of enthusiasm for magic and mystery. In 1774 appeared the first volume of his History of English Poetry. Two more volumes were adiied in 1778 and 1781. bringing the work down through the age of Elizabeth. A fourth volume, which was intended to carry the subject onward to Pope, was never written. In spite of many errors in fact and of generalizations proved incorrect by later investi- gations, the History of English Poetry still pos- sesses very great value, .ludged historically, it marks an epoch in English literary history. War- ton's last important undertaking was an edition of Poems upon Several Oecasions by John Milton (1785), which in the judjmient of David Masson is the best critical edition of Milton's early poems ever published. Warton's History of En(ilish Poetni was reedited with suppressions ami additions by W. C. Hazlitt (London, 1874).' The standard memoir is prefixed to the Poems, ed. by R. Mant (2 vols., Oxford, 1802). WARWICK, wor'ik. The county town of War^ ickshire, England, on the Avon, 21 miles
