[Wooden Horse], a gigantic horse of wood, within which Greek warriors were concealed, and which the Trojans were persuaded to admit into their city, to its ruin, on the pretext that it was an offering by the Greeks to Pallas, to atone for their abstraction of her image from the citadel.
[Woodstock], a small market-town on the Glyme, 8 m. NW. of Oxford, once a royal manor, near which is [Blenheim Park] (q. v.).
[Woolner, Thomas], English sculptor, born at Hadleigh, in Suffolk; sympathised with the Pre-Raphaelite movement; did a number of statues (one of Bacon for Oxford), busts of famous contemporaries—Carlyle, Darwin, Tennyson, &c.—and ideal works, such as Elaine, Ophelia, Guinevere, &c.; was a poet as well as a sculptor (1826-1892).
[Woolsack], the seat of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords, as Speaker of the House, being a large square cushion of wool covered with red cloth, without either back or arms.
[Woolston, Thomas], an eccentric semi-deistical writer, born at Northampton, who maintained a lifelong polemic against the literal truth of the Bible, and insisted that the miraculous element in it must be allegorically interpreted, with such obstinacy that he was in the end subjected to imprisonment as a blasphemer, from which he was never released, because he refused to recant (1669-1731).
[Woolwich] (40), a town in Kent, on the S. bank of the Thames, 9 m. below London; is the chief military arsenal in the country; contains a gun factory, ammunition factory, laboratory, &c., which employ 12,000 men, besides barracks for artillery, engineers, &c., covering an area 4 m. in circumference.
[Worcester] (42), the county town of Worcestershire, on the left bank of the Severn, 26 m. SE. of Birmingham; a very ancient place, and a handsome city, with a noble old Gothic cathedral; is famous for its blue porcelain ware and other industries, particularly glove-making; was the scene in 1651 of Cromwell's victory over the Royalists, which he called his "crowning mercy."
[Worcester] (118), the second city of Massachusetts, U.S., a place of busy industry, and with a flourishing trade.
[Worcester, Marquis of], inventor of the steam-engine, born probably in the Strand; early gave himself to mechanical studies; was an ardent Royalist; negotiated with the Irish Catholics on behalf of the king; was discovered and imprisoned on a charge of treason, but his release being procured by the king, he spent some time in exile; on his return he was again imprisoned and then released; wrote an account of inventions amounting to a hundred, "A Century of Inventions" as he called it, one of which he described as "an admirable and most forcible way of driving up water by fire" (1601-1667).
[Worcestershire], an agricultural and pastoral county in the valley of the Severn, the N. part of which is the Black Country, rich in coal and iron mines, with Dudley for capital, and the SW. occupied by the Malvern Hills, while the S. is famous for its orchards and hop-gardens; it has also extensive manufactures at Worcester, Kidderminster, Stourbridge, and Redditch.