Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/442

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WATTERSON.
370
WATTS.


sively to General Forrest and General Polk, and in 1862-63 edited in Chattanooga the Rebel, the official newspaper of the State of Tennessee. In 18(34 he was again in military service as chief of scouts to General Joseph E.' Jolinston. Subse- quent to the war he edited the Republican Ban- ner of Nashville, and in 1867 became editor-in- chief of the Louisville Journal. With W. N. Haldeman he established the Courier-Journal, of which be became the editor. Under his direc- tion this newspaper came to occupy a foremost place in Southern joiirnalism. In 1876-77 he represented the Louisville district in Congress, in 187G was presiding officer of the National Democratic Convention at Saint Louis, and in various other national conventions was chairman of the Platform Committee. In 1896 he declared himself a Gold Democrat. In both his editorial and platform utterances he effectively repre- sented the policy of conciliation between North and South. His publications include Oddities of Southern Life and Character (1882).

WATTLE. See Acacia.

WATTLE - BIRD. An Australian honey- eater (Anthochcera carunculata) about the size of a magpie, grayish brown above, each feather striped, and bordered with white; the tail brown, long, wide, and graduated. It derives its name from a pendulous reddish wattle on each side of the throat, half an inch long. An allied species in Tasmania has the wattles an inch long. The 'wattle-crow' or 'kokako' of the Maories, of New Zealand, is a very different bird, nearly allied to the jays, with gray and brown plumage, and a black face. It sings well. There are two species, Callwas cinerea of the South Island, and CuUeeas ^yilsoni of the North Island. WATTRELOS, va'tr'lo'. A town of the De- partment of Nord, France, on the Belgian fron- tier, two miles northeast of Roubaix (q.v.), of which it is a suburb. Population, in 1901, 25.884.

WATTS, Alaeic Alexander (1797-1864). An English journalist and poet, born in London. After several private tutorshi])s, he turned journalist, becoming editor of the Leeds Intel- ligencer (1822-2.5) and the Manchester Courier (182.5-26), took part in establisliing the Stand- ard (1827). now one of the leading Con- servative newspapers of London, and founded the United Service Oaxlle (1833). In the mean- time, he had beOTn the Literary Souvenir (S'2i) , which was one of the most successful of the annu- als down to its suspension in 1838. During the next ten years he was engaged in starting several provincial newspapers in the Conservative in- terest. Though tlu>sc undertakings led to bank- ruptiy (18:50). lie had organized the snliseciuontly [lopular jilan of supplying sheets of general news printed in London to supplement the local news of country newspajiers. In 1856 lie projected and edited .1/cn of the Time, a iseful biograph- ical dictionary of contemporary men, which, under varying titles, was continued till 1901, when it was incorporated with Who's Who. As an agreeable poet, Watts enjoyed a wide reputa- tion for Poetical Sketches (1823; privately printed 1822), and Li/rics of the Heart (1850). The I)i-ath of the Firstborn is especially well known. In the Poetical Album (1828, second se- ries 1829), Watts collected some of the best poetry by contemporary w^-iters. Consult Alaric M'atts ; a Surrative of His Life, by his son, A. A. Watts (London, 1884).

WATTS, Geobge Frederick ( 1S17-1904) . An English painter and sculptor, the most prominent artist of the contemporary school. He was born in London, and while still a boy was admitted to the schools of the Royal Academy. He learned far more, liowever, from his study of the Elgin marbles in the British JIuseum, the influence of which may be seen in the classical outlines and ideal character of his figures. A prize obtained in 1842 in the competition for the decoration of the new Houses of Parliament enabled him to visit Italy in 1844. Although passing most of the following two years at Florence, he was chiefly inlhienced by the Venetians, especially Tintoretto, from whom he learned color. In 1846 he obtained another prize with his cartoon "Alfred Inciting the Saxons to Prevent the Landing of the Danes," now in the committee room of the Houses of Parliament, which also led to the commission for the fresco, Saint George and the Dragon," in the Hall of Poets. Watts lived a quiet, simple life devoted to his art. An early union with Ellen Terry, the actress, was dissolved, and in 1880 he married Miss Mary Fraser-Tytler, whom lie greatly assisted in her well-known art pottery works at Compton, Surrey. With a singularly disinterested spirit he devoted himself to the artistic interests of the nation. He gratuitously decorated the dining hall of Lincoln's Inn (one of the Inns of Court) with the fine fresco "Justice: a Hemi- cycle of Lawgivers." He built the first memorial wall at Saint Botolph's, in honor of those who had lost their lives in saving others, for which he received the Order of Merit upon its institu- tion by the King in 1902. Refusing to sell the best part of his work, with the intention of pre- senting it to the nation, he was enabled to see it form the nucleus of the "National Gallery of British Art," the best portraits going to the National Portrait Ciallery. An Academician in 1867, he twice refused a baronetcy; he took first class medals at Paris and Antwerp, and was elected to the French Institute in 1903. Watts's art is didactic in the extreme. Each of his canvases is a kind of sermon : but they are usually invested with a strong element of art. Although deficient in academic training, Watts's drawing is good in a large constructive sense, while at times his color is powerful and pure. His most interesting work is perhaps the sym- bolical pictures forming his message to the age — the danger of riches, the cruelty of greed, and, above all, the power of love and the fallacy of the fear of death. Among the most important of this group are Love and Life" (1885), which the artist said best jiortrayed his message to the age. and which the Woman's Christian Tem])eranee Union in vain endeavored to remove from the White House; "Love and Death" (1877-96); and "Love Triumphant" (1898). Other celebrated examples are "llojie" (1885), "Faith" (1890). "The Good Samaritan" (City Hall. Manchester), "Sir Galahad." "Psyche," "Orpheus and Eiirydice." There are modern portraitists of greater technical ability than atts. but in force of expression, in freedom and simplicity of technique he is unsurpassed, and will even bear comparison with Tintoretto.