Wititterly (Mr. Henry), an important gentleman, 38 years of age; of rather plebeian countenance, and with very light hair. He boasts everlastingly of his grand friends. To shake hands with a lord was a thing to talk of, but to entertain one was to be in the seventh heaven.
Mrs. Wititterly [Julia], wife of Mr. Wititterly, of Cadŏgan Place, Sloane Street, London; a faded lady living in a faded house. She calls her page Alphonse (2 syl.), “although he has the face and figure of Bill.” Mrs. Wititterly toadies the aristocracy, and, like her husband, boasts of her grand connections and friends.--C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby (1838). (See Tibbs).
Witling of Terror, Bertrand Barère; also called “The Anacreon of the Guillotine” (1755-1841).
Wittenbold, a Dutch commandant in the service of Charles II.--Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (time, Charles II.).
Witterington (Roger). (See Widdrington.)
Wittol (Sir Joseph), an ignorant, foolish simpleton, who says that Bully Buff “is as brave a fellow as Cannibal.”--Congreve, The Old Bachelor (1693).
Witwould (Sir Wilful), of Shropshire, half-brother of Anthony Witwould, and nephew of Lady Wishfort. A mixture of bashfulness and obstinacy, but when in his cups as loving as the monster in the Tempest. He is “a superannuated old bachelor,” who is willing to marry Millamant; but as the young lady prefers Edward Mirabell, he is equally willing to resign her to him. His favorite phrase is, “Wilful will do it.”
Anthony Witwould, half-brother to Sir Wilful. “He has good nature and does not want wit.” Having a good memory, he has a store of other folks’ wit, which he brings out in conversation with good effect.--W. Congreve, The Way of the World (1700).
Wives as they Were and Maids as they Are, a comedy by Mrs. Inchbald (1797). Lady Priory is the type of the former, and Miss Dorrillon of the latter. Lady Priory is discreet, domestic, and submissive to her husband; but Miss Dorrillon is gay, flighty, and fond of pleasure. Lady Priory, under false pretences, is allured from home by a Mr. Bronzely, a man of no principle and a rake; but her quiet, innocent conduct quite disarms him, and he takes her back to her husband, ashamed of himself, and resolves to amend. Miss Dorrillon is so involved in debt that she is arrested, but her father from the Indies pays her debts. She also repents, and becomes the wife of Sir George Evelyn.
Wives of Literary Men. According to popular rumor the following were unhappy in their wives:--Addison, Byron, Dickens, Dryden, Albert Dürer, Hooker, Ben Jonson, W. Lilly, Milton (first wife), Molière, More, Saadi, Scaliger, Shakespeare, Shelley, Socratês, Wycherly, etc. The following were happy in their choice:--Thomas Moore, Sir W. Scott, Wordsworth, William Howitt, Robert Browning, S. C. Hall, Disraeli, Gladstone, etc., in England, and in America a great majority of literary men:--Longfellow, Lowell, Emerson, Hawthorne, to name only a few.