Chapter Wonder to Woodstock of W by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Wooden Walls, ships made of wood. When Xerxes invaded Greece, the Greeks sent to ask the Delphic oracle for advice, and received the following answer (B.C. 480):—

Pallas hath urged, and Zeus, the sire of all,
Hath safety promised in a wooden wall;
Seed-time and harvest, sires shall, weeping, tell
How thousands fought at Salamis and fell.
   —E.C.B.

Wooden Wedding, the fifth anniversary of a wedding. It used, in Germany, to be etiquette to present gifts made of wood to the lady on this occasion. The custom is not wholly abandoned even now. (See Wedding, p. 1200.)

Woodman (The), an opera by sir H. Bate Dudley (1771). (For the plot, see Wilford, p. 1214.)

Woodstal (Henry), in the guard of Richard Cœur de Lion.—Sir W. Scott: The Talisman (time, Richard I.).

Woodstock, a novel by sir W. Scott (1826). It was hastily put together, but is not unworthy of the name it bears (1826) (time, the Commonwealth).

The novel is concerned with the disguises and escapes of Charles II. during the Commonwealth; and ends with the death of Cromwell and the triumphant entry of the king into London.

It is called Woodstock from the Lee family, the head of which (sir Henry Lee) was head-ranger of Woodstock. His daughter Alice marries Everard a Cromwellite; and his servant Phœbe Mayflower marries Joceline Joliffe, under-keeper of Woodstock forest.

Amongst the subsidiary characters are Shakespeare, Milton, Ben Jonson, Davenant the poet, “Fair Rosamond,” prince Rupert, general Monk, Cromwell’s daughter, and many other persons of historic interest.