When Moses fled from Egypt into the land of Midian, he “sat down by a well,” and the seven daughters of Jethro came there to draw water, one of whom, named Zipporah, became his wife.--Exod. ii. 15-21.
The Princess Nausicăa, daughter of Alcinŏos, king of the Phæacians, was with her maidens washing the household linen on the seashore when she first encountered Ulysses.--Homer, Odyssey, vi.
Well of English Undefiled. So Spenser calls Chaucer.
Dan Chaucer, well of English undefiled,
On Fame’s eternal bead-roll worthy to be filed.
Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. 2 (1596).
Well-Beloved (The), Charles IV. of France, Le Bien-Aimé (1368, 1380-1422).
Louis XV. of France, Le Bien-Aimé (1710, 1715-1774).
Well-Founded Doctor (The), Ægidius de Colonna; also called “The Most Profound Doctor” (Doctor Fundatissimus et Theologorum Princeps); sometimes surnamed “Romānus,” because he was born in the Campagna di Roma, but more generally “Colonna,” from a town in the Campagna (1247-1316).
Wellborn (Francis, usually called Frank), nephew of Sir Giles Overreach, and son of Sir John Wellborn, who “bore the whole sway” of Northamptonshire, kept a large estate, and was highly honored. Frank squandered away the property, and got greatly into debt, but induced Lady Allworth to give him her countenance out of gratitude and respect to his father. Sir Giles fancies that the rich dowager is about to marry his nephew, and, in order to bring about this desirable consummation, not only pays all his debts, but supplies him liberally with ready money. Being thus freed from debt, and having sown his wild oats, young Wellborn reforms, and Lord Lovell gives him a “company.”--Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1625).