of rice=10 okas). Dram
(49·5 grains), 100=chequi, 4=oka
(2·8286 ℔); dram (49·5 grains), 180=rotl, 100=kintal or kantar (127·29 ℔).
United States.—Inch=1·000049 British inch, and other measures in proportion. Gallon=·83292 British gallon. Bushel=;·96946 British bushel. Weight, as Great Britain.
See Kelly's Universal Cambist; Doursther's Dictionnaire Universelle des Poids et Mesures; Woolhouse, Weights and Measures; recent Reports of Board of Trade and Standards Department.
As weights of grain are often needed we add pounds weight in cubic feet.
| Wheat, Usual. |
Pease, American. |
Indian Corn. |
Oats, Russian. |
Beans, Egyptian. |
Barley, English. |
Rice. | |||
| Loose....... | 49 | 50 | 44 | 28 | 46 | 39 | } | 56 | |
| Close........ | 53 | 12 | 54 | 47 | 33 | 50 | 44 |
See Report of Standards Department, 1884. (w. m. f. p.)
WEIMAR, the capital of the grand-duchy of SaxeWeimar-Eisenach, the largest of the Thuringian states, is situated in a pleasant valley on the lira, 50 miles south west of Leipsic and 136 miles south-west of Berlin. Containing no very imposing edifices, and plainly and irregularly built, the town presents at first a somewhat unpretending and even dull appearance; but there is an air of elegance in its quiet and clean streets, which recalls the fact that it is the residence of a grand-duke and his court, and it still retains an indescribable atmosphere of refinement, dating from its golden age, when it won the titles of "poets city" and "the German Athens."
Weimar has now no actual importance, though it will always remain a literary Mecca. It is a peaceful little German town, abounding in excellent educational, literary, artistic, and benevolent institutions; its society is cultured, though perhaps a little narrow; while the even tenour of its existence is undisturbed by any great commercial or manufacturing activity. The population in 1885 was 21,565; in 1782, six years after Goethe's arrival, it was about 7000; and in 1834, two years after his death, it was 10,638.
Plan of Weimar.
The reign of Goethe's friend and patron, the grand-duke Charles Augustus (1775-1828), represents accurately enough the golden age of Weimar; though even during the duke's minority, his mother, the duchess Amalia, had begun to make the little court a focus of light and leading in Germany. The most striking building in Weimar is the extensive palace, erected for Charles Augustus under the superintendence of Goethe 1789-1803, in place of one burned down in 1770. This building, with the associations of its erection, and its "poets' rooms," dedicated to Goethe, Schiller, Herder, and Wieland, epitomizes the characteristics of the town. The main interest of Weimar centres in these men and their more or less illustrious contemporaries; and, above all, Goethe, whose altar to the "genius hujus loci" still stands in the ducal park, is himself the genius of the place, just as Shakespeare is of Stratford-on-Avon, or Luther of Wittenberg. Goethe's residence from 1782 to 1832 (now opened as a "Goethe museum," with his collections and other reminiscences), the simple "garden-house" in the park, where he spent many summers, Schiller's humble abode, where he lived from 1802 till his death in 1805, and the grand-ducal burial vault, where the two poets rest side by side, are among the most frequented pilgrim resorts in Germany. Rietschel's bronze group of Goethe and Schiller (unveiled in 1857) stands appropriately in front of the theatre (much altered in 1868) which attained such distinction under their combined auspices. Not far off is the largo and clumsy parish church, built about 1400, of which Herder became pastor in 1776; close to the church is his statue, and his house is still the parsonage. Within the church are the tombs of Herder and of Duke Bernhard of Weimar, the hero of the Thirty Years War. The altar-piece—a Crucifixion—is said to be the masterpiece of Lucas Cranach, whose house is pointed out in the market-place. Wieland, who came to Weimar in 1772 as the duke's tutor, is also commemorated by a statue, and his house is indicated by a tablet. Among the other prominent buildings in Weimar are the library, containing 200,000 volumes and a valuable collection of portraits, busts, and literary and other curiosities; the museum, built in 1863-68 in the Renaissance style; the ancient church of St James, with the tombs of Lucas Cranach and Musæus; and the townhouse, built in 1841. Various points in the environs of Weimar are also interesting from their associations. Separated from the town by the park, laid out in the so-called English style by Goethe, is the chateau of Belvedere, built in 1724. To the north-east is Tiefurt, often the scene of al-fresco plays, in which the courtiers were the actors and the rocks and trees the scenery; and to the north-west is the chateau of Ettersburg, another favourite resort of Charles Augustus and his court.
The history of Weimar, apart from its brilliant record at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, is of comparatively little interest. The town is said to have existed in the 9th century, and in the 10th to have belonged to a collateral branch of the family of the counts of Orlamunde. About 1376 it fell to the landgraves of Thuringia, and in 1440 it passed to the electors of Saxony. In 1806 it was visited by Napoleon, whose half-formed intention of abolishing the duchy was only averted by the tact and address of the duchess Luise. The Muses have never left Weimar. Since 1860 it has been the seat of a good school of painting, repre sented by the landscape painters Preller, Kalckreuth, and Max Schmidt, and the historical painters Pauwels, Heumann, and Verlat. The frequent residence here also of the Abbe Liszt, from 1848 till his death in 1886, has preserved for Weimar quite an important place in the musical world.
WEISSENFELS, an industrial town in the province of Saxony, Prussia, is situated on the Saale, 1812 miles south west of Leipsic and 19 miles south of Halle. It contains three churches, a spacious market-place, and various educational and benevolent institutions. The former palace, called the Augustusburg, built in 1664-90, occupies a site on a sandstone eminence near the town; this spacious edifice is now used as a military school. Weissenfels manufactures machinery, sugar, pasteboard, paper, leather goods, pottery, and gold and silver wares. It contains also an iron-foundry, and carries on trade in timber and grain. In the neighbourhood are large deposits of sandstone and lignite. Weissenfels is a place of considerable antiquity, and from 1657 till 1746 it was the capital of the dukes of Saxe-Weissenfels, a branch of the electoral house of Saxony. The body of Gustavus Adolphus was embalmed at Weissenfels after the battle of Liitzen. The population of the town in 1885 was 21,766.
WEKA, or Weeka. See Ocydrome.
WELLESLEY, Richard Wesley (or Wellesley), Marquis of (1760-1842), eldest son of the first earl of Mornington, an Irish peer, and eldest brother of the duke of Wellington, was born June 20, 1760. He was sent to Eton, where he was distinguished as an excellent classical scholar, and to Christ Church, Oxford. By his father's death in 1781 he became earl of Mornington, taking his seat in the Irish House of Peers. In 1784 he entered the English House of Commons as member for Beeralston. Soon afterwards he was appointed a lord of the treasury by Pitt, with whom he rapidly grew in favour. In 1793 he became a member of the board of control over Indian affairs; and, although he was best known to the public by his speeches
