which will leave 80 feet of paved street for car riages. The rest of the streets are, in general, 110 feet wide, with a few only 90 feet, except North, South, and East Capitol Streets, which are 160 feet. The diagonal streets are named after the respective states composing the Union, while those running N. and 6. are, from the capitol eastward, named East First Street, East Second Street, &c. and those W. of it are, in the same manner, called West First Street, West Second Street, &c. Those running E. and W. are from the capitol northward named North A Street, North B Street, &c. and those S. of it are called South A Street, South B Street, &c. The squares, or divisions of the city, amount to 1150: the rectangular ones contain from three to six acres, and are divided into lots of from 40 to 80 feet in front, and their depth from 110 to 300, according to the size of the square. The irregular divisions produced by the diagonal streets are some of them small, but generally in valuable situations: their acute points are all to be cut off at 40 feet, so that no house will have an acute corner. All the houses must be of brick or stone. The area for the capitol (or house for the legislative bodies) is on the most beautiful eminence in the city, about a mile from the Eastern Branch, and not much more from the Potomac, commanding a full view of the city, as well as a considerable extent of the country round. The president's house is on a rising ground, not far from the Potomac, possessing a delightful water prospect, with a view of the capitol, and some other material parts of the city. Due S. from the president's house, and due W. from the capitol, run two great pleasure parks or malls, which intersect and terminate upon the banks of the Potomac, and are to be ornamented at the sides by a variety of elegant buildings, houses for foreign ministers, &c. Interspersed through the city, where the most material streets cross each other, are a variety of open areas, formed in various regular figures, which, in great cities, are extremely useful and ornamental. The best of these areas are to be appropriated to the different states composing the union; not only to bear their respective names, but as proper places to erect statues, obelisks, or columns, to the memory of their celebrated men. Upon a small eminence, where a line due W. from the capitol, and due S. from the president's house, would intersect, is to be erected an equestrian statue of general Washington, the first president of the United States. Proper places are marked out for other public buildings; as a marine hospital, with its gardens; a general exchange, and its public walks; a fort, magazines, and arsenal; a city hall, churches, colleges, market-houses, theatre, &c. The president of the United States, in locating the seat of the city, prevailed upon the proprietors of the soil to cede a certain portion of the lots of every situation, to be sold by his direction, and the proceeds to be applied solely to the public buildings. This grant will produce about 15,000 lots, and will be suflicient, not only to erect the public buildings, but to dig a canal, to conduct water through the city, and to pave and light the streets. The city being situate on the great post road, equidistant from the N. and S.extremities of the Union, and nearly so from the Atlantic ocean to the river Ohio, upon the best navigation, and in the midst of the richest commercial territory in America, is by far the most eligible situation for the residence of the congress. The Eastern Branch is one of the safest and most commodious harbours in America, being sufficiently deep for the largest ships for four miles above its junction with the Potomac; while the channel lies close along the edge of the city, and is abundantly capacious. The Potomac produces a communication by water between the city and the interior parts of Virginia and Maryland, by means of the Shannandoah, the South Branch, Opecan, Cape Capon, Patterson Creek, Conoochegue, and Monocasy, for upward of 200 miles, through one of the most healthy regions in America, producing tobacco of superior quality, hemp, maize, wheat, and other small grain, with fruits and vegetables in abundance. The lands upon the Potomac, above the city of Washington, all around it, and for sixty miles below, are high and dry, abounding with innumerable springs of excellent water, and well covered with timber-trees of various kinds. A few miles below the city, upon the banks of the Potomac, are inexhaustible mountain's of excellent freestone, of which the public edifices in the city are building. Above the city also, upon the banks of the river, are immense quantities of excellent coal, limestone, and marble, with blue slate of the best quality. The Tyber, which is the principal strearn that passes through the city, is to be collected in a grand reservoir near the capitol, whence it will be carried in pipes to different parts of the city; while its surplus water will fall down in cascades, through the public gardens W. of the capitol, into a canal. The plan of this city was formed by major L'Enfant; and the founding of it in such an eligible situa tion, upon such a liberal and elegant plan, will, by future generations, be considered as a high proof of the wisdom of the first president of the United States, while its name will keep fresh in mind the obligations they are under to that illustrious character. Since 1792, many workmen have been employed, and every exertion is making to complete the plan. In 1800, after the adjournment of congress, at their last session in Philadelphia, the public offices, records, and property were removed to this city; and here, on the 22d of November, the congress assembled for the first time. In 1804, a society of agriculture was incorporated here. Washington is 144 miles S.W. of Philadelphia, the late capital of the United States. Lon. 77. 0 W. Lat. 38. 57 N. WA'SHPOT. s. (wash and pot.) A vessel in which any thing is washed (Cowley). WASHY. a. (from wash.) 1. Watery; damp (Milton). 2. Weak; not solid (Wotton) WASP, in entomology. See VESPA. WASP (Tailed), in entomology. See SIREX. WA'SPISH. a. (from wasp.) Peevish; malignant; irritable; irascible (Stillingfleet). WA'SPISHLY. ad. Peevishly. WA'SPISHNESS. s. (from waspish.) Peevishness; irritability. WAISSAIL. s. (from parhol, your health, Saxon.) 1. A liquor made of apples, sugar, and ale, anciently much used by English good fellows. 2. A drunken bout (Shakspeare). 3. A merry song (Ainsworth). WA'SSAILER. s. (from wassail.) A toper; a drunkard (Milton). WAST. The second person To be. of was, from To WASTE. v. a. (apertan, Saxon; woesten, Dutch; guastare, Italian; vastare, Lat.) 1. To diminish (Temple). 2. To destroy wantonly and luxuriously; to squander (Hooker). 3. To destroy; to desolate (Dryden). 4. To wear out (Milton). 5. To spend; to consume (Milton). To WASTE. v. n. To dwindle; to be in a state of consumption (Dryden). WASTE. a. (from the verb.) 1. Destroyed; ruined (Prior). 2. Desolate; uncultivated (Abbot). 3. Superfluous; exuberant; lost for want of occupiers (Milton). 4. Worthless; that of which none but vile uses can be made: as, waste wood. 5. That of which no account is taken, or value found (Dryden). WASTE. S. (from the verb.) 1. Wanton or luxurious destruction; the act of squandering (Watts). 2. Consumption; loss (Ray). 3. Useless expence (Watts). 4. Desolate or uncultivated ground (Locke), 5. Ground, place, or space unoccupied (Waller). 6. Region ruined and deserted (Dryden). 7. Mischief; destruction (Shakspeare). 8. (A law term.) Destruction of wood or other products of land (Shadwell). WASTEFUL. a. (waste and full.) 1. Destructive; ruinous (Milton). 2. Wantonly or dissolutely consumptive (Bacon). 3. Lavish; prodigal; luxuriantly liberal (Addison). 4. Desolate; uncultivated; unoccupied (Spenser), WASTEFULLY. ad. (from wasteful.) With vain and dissolute consumption (Dryd.). WASTEFULNESS. s. (from wasteful.) Prodigality. WA'STENESS. s. (from waste.) Desolation; solitude (Spenser). WA'STER. s. (from waste.) One that consumes dissolutely and extravagantly; a squanderer; vain consumer (Ben Jonson). WAʼSTREL. ș. (from waste.) Common (Carew). WATCH. s. (pæcce, Saxon.) 1. Forbearance of sleep. 2. Attendance without sleep (Addison). 3. Attention; close observation (Shakspeare). 4. Guard; vigilant keep (Sp.). 5. Watchmen; men set to guard (Milton). 6. Place where a guard is, set (Shakspeare). 7. Post or office of a watchman (Shakspeare). 8. A period of the night (Dryden). 9. A pocket clock; a small clock moved by a spring (Hale). TO WATCH. v. n. (pacian, Saxon.) 1. Not to sleep; to wake (Shakspeare). 2. To keep guard (Milton).___ 3. To look with expectation (Psalms). 4. To be attentive; to be vigilant (Timothy). 5. To be cautiously observant (Taylor). 6. To be insidiously attentive. TO WATCH. v. a. 1. To guard; to have in keep (Milton). 2. To observe in ambush (Walton). 3. To tend (Broome). 4. To observe, in order to detect or prevent. WATCH, in mechanics, is a small portable movement or machine for the measuring of time, having its notion regulated by a spiral spring. Watches, strictly taken, are all such movements as show the parts of time; as clocks are such as publish it by striking on a bell, &c. But, commonly, the name watch is appropriated to such as are carried in the pocket, and clock to the large movements, whether they strike or not. See CHRONOMETER, CLOCK, HOROLOGY, SCAPEMENT, &c. The several members of the watch part are, 1. The balance, consisting of the rim, which is its circular part; and the verge, which is its spindle, to which belong the two pallets, or levers, that play in the teeth of the crownwheel. 2. The potence, or pottance, which is the strong stud in pocket watches whereon the lower pivot of the verge plays, and in the middle of which one pivot of the balancewheel plays; the bottom of the potence is called the foot, the middle part the nose, and the upper part the shoulder. 3. The cock, which is the piece covering the balance. 4. The regulator, or pendulum spring, which is the small spring in new pocket watches, underneath the balance. 5. The pendulum, whose parts are the verge, pallets, cocks, and the bob. 6. The wheels, which are the crownwheel in pocket pieces, and swing-wheel in pendulums, serving to drive the balance or pendulum. 7. The contrate-wheel, which is that next the crown-wheel, &c. and whose teeth and hoop lie contrary to those of other wheels; whence the name. 8. The great, or first wheel, which is that the fusee, &c. immediately drives: after which are the second wheel, third wheel, &c. 9. Lastly, between the frame and dial-plate is the pinion of report, which is that fixed on the arbor of the great wheel, and serves to drive the dial-wheel as that serves to carry the hand. Plate 174 represents the parts of a watch the proper size: fig. 1 is a plan of the wheel work, the upper plate (fig. 2) being removed to expose them; fig. 2 is the upper plate, the cock, F, (fig. 5) being taken away to show the balance; fig. 3, the wheel work beneath the dial; fig. 4, a detached part; fig. 5, a general elevation of the whole, being supposed to be set out at length to show the whole at one view; fig. 6, the great wheel; fig. 7, the under side of the fusee; fig. 8, the main-spring, barrel, &c. The essential difference between a clock and a watch consists in two particulars: first, it is moved by a spring in lieu of a weight; and, secondly, its motion is governed by a balance instead of a pendulum. The balance is a small wheel, n, (fig. 2 and 5, Plate 174) fixed on an arbor, or axis, called the verge, and turning freely upon pivots at the ends of the arbor. To the axis of the balance the inner end of a very elastic spiral spring, o, called the pendulum spring, is fastened, and the outer end of the spiral is made fast to some fixture, r: in this state the balance will have a position of rest, which will be when the spiral spring is in that position which it would assume when detached from the balance, and perfectly at liberty: now, if the balance is turned round on its pivots by any external force in either direction, it will wind up or unwind the spiral spring, which will (when the external force is removed) return the balance to its state of rest; and as this is done with considerable velocity, the momentum the balance acquires by its motion will carry it beyond the point of rest on the other side; this again alters the spring, which returns the balance, throwing it beyond the point of rest; and in this manner the balance will vibrate until the friction of the pivots, and the resistance of the air, destroys the original impulse. All vibrations of such a balance which pass through equal spaces will be performed in equal times. This simple apparatus is all which is required for measuring time, the other mechanism of the watch being devoted to two objects: first, to give a small impulse to the balance at each vibration, to overcome the friction and resistance of the air, and cause the balance to describe equal arcs: and, secondly, to register the number of vibrations the baJance has made. chain upon it, the spring barrel will be turned round, and the outer end of the spring, A, being hooked to the barrel, will be turned round also; as the inner end is immoveable, by being fixed to the arbor, B, the spring will he coiled up into a closer spiral than it was when at liberty, and will consequently exert a re-action upon the chain, and by that means upon the fusee, which will be turned round thereby when the key is removed. To prevent too much chain being wound upon the fusee, and by that means breaking the chain, or overstraining the spring, a contrivance, called a guard, is added: it is a small lever, x, (fig. 1) moving on a stud fixed to the upper plate of the watch, and pressed downwards by a small spring, z: as the chain is wound upon the fusee, it rises in the spiral groove, and lifts up the lever, a, until it touches the upper plate; it is then in a position to intercept the edge of the spiral piece of metal seen on the top of the fusee, and thus stop it from being wound up any further. The power of the spring is transmitted to the balance by means of several cog wheels: the first, f, is upon the fusee; it is shown separated from the fusee in fig. 6, having a hole through the centre to receive the arbor of the fusee, and a projecting ring upon its surface; the under surface of the fusee is shown in fig. 7, having a circular groove cut in it to receive the corresponding ring upon the great wheel, fig. 6; the inner edge of the groove isent with teeth to form a rachet wheel; when the wheel and fusee are put together, & small click, g, (fig. 6) takes into the teeth of The first of these objects requires a power the rachet: as the fusce is turned by the key, which shall be in constant readiness to act to wind up the watch, this click slips over the upon the balance. This is accomplished by sloping sides of the teeth without turning the the re-action of a spiral steel spring, A, (fig. 8) great wheel; but when the fusce is turned the which, when at rest and liberty, assumes that other way by the chain, the click catches the position and size: it is coiled up closer, and teeth of the rachet wheel, and causes the cog put into a brass box, a, called the spring bar wheel to turn with the fusee; the great wheel, rel; a small hook which is at the outer end off, has forty-eight teeth, and turns a pinion of the spring being put through a hole in the side of the box, a small arbor, B, is put into the centre of the box, and the cover or lid of the box, D, is shut in the arbor has a hook projecting from it, which enters a hole in the inner end of the spring A; its pivots project through the barrel at each side, and enter holes in the two plates EE, (fig. 5) which forms the frame of the watch; the lower pivot passes through the plate, and has a small rachet wheel, b, (fig. 3 and 5) fixed upon it, a click entering the teeth thereof prevents the arbor turning round; a small steel chain is hooked to the spring-barrel, a, (fig. 1 and 5); at one end it passes round the barrel several times, then round the fusee, d, and is hooked to it by its end. The fusee, d, is a conical piece of brass, with a spiral groove eut thereon to receive the chain; it is mounted on pivots which turn in holes, in the two plates E E, and one of the pivots, e, projects a considerable distance, and is cut square. Now if a key applied to this square, and the fusee, d, by that means turned round so as to wind the twelve teeth on an arbor in the centre of the watch, which carries the minute hand: a wheel, h, of fifty-four teeth, called the centre wheel, is fixed upon this arbor, and turns a pinion on the same arbor with the third wheel, k, of forty-eight teeth, which turns the pinion of the contrate wheel, 1, of forty-eight teeth; the contrate wheel gives motion to a pinion of six teeth, and to the balance wheel, m, which has fifteen large teeth, which stop against two small pallets upon the arbor of the balance, or verge, r: these pallets are two small teeth, projecting from the verge at right angles to each other; one engages the upper side of the wheel, and the other takes the lower. By the action of the main-spring, a, the wheels are all turned, and the balance wheel, m, if there was no obstruction, would turn with great velocity until all the chain was wound off the fusee; but one of the pallets of the verge is always engaged with one of the teeth of the wheel, suppose one of the teeth on the lower side; now, by the balance turning round to make a vibration, the pallet allows the tooth to slip off, and the |