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 Potomae, 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, maga zines, 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 stream 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'Eufant; and the founding of it in such an eligible situra. 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 (Stilling fleet). 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 of was, from To be.

To WASTE, v. a. (apertan, Saxon; woesten, Dutch; guastare, Ítalian; 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.). WA'STEFULNESS. 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).

WA'STREL. 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.). 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; aud, 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)

wheel begins to run down by the action of the main-spring, marking the vibrations by moving the hands GH; it is, however, stopped immediately by the next tooth at the top of the wheel meeting the upper pallet of the verge: the balance and pallet was at that time just beginning to return, and the top of the wheel moving in contrary direction to the bottom, the tooth presses against the pallet, and assists the balance to maintain the same arc in its vibration when the balance is about to return, the upper tooth of the wheel slips off the pallet, and the lower one catches on the lower pallet, and assists the balance as before: one of the pivots of the balance-wheel works in a small frame, y, called the pottance; the lower pivot of the verge works in the bottom of it also, and the upper pivot turns in a cock, F, screwed to the plate E, and covering the balance to defend it from injury.

The hands, GH, are moved by the central arbor which projects through the lower plate, E, (fig. 5) and receives a pinion of twelve teeth fixed on the end of a tube which fits tight upon the arbor, but will slip round easily to set the hands when the watch is wrong: the other end of the tube is square, and receives the minute hand, H, which points out the minutes on a circle of sixty upon the dial-plate M M; the pinion on the tube turns a wheel, L, of fortyeight (seen in plans in fig. 3) on whose arbor is a wheel of sixteen, turning another wheel, K, of forty-eight, the arbor of which is a tube fitting on the other tube, and has the hour hand, G, fixed upon it: by this arrangement the minute hand, H, turns round twelve times for one revolution of the hour hand, G.

As the time the balance takes to perform a vibration depends upon the arc it passes through, the least increase of force in the mainspring would alter the rate of the watch; there fore the fusee is cut into a spiral, diminishing from top to bottom, as the spring draws the chain with greater force when wound up than when it is more released. The chain acts upon a shorter lever when the spring is wound up, and upon a longer when it is down, so as to regulate the unequal action of the spring to a perfectly regular force upon the wheel work.

As it will most probably happen that a watch will not always keep the same time, it is necessary to have an adjustment that may cause it to move faster or slower: this can be done by two ways, either by increasing or diminishing the force of the main-spring, a, which increases or diminishes the arc the balance describes; or it may be done by strengthening or weakening the pendulum spring, oo, which will cause the balance to move quicker or slower. The first is done by turning the rachet wheel, b, (fig. 5 and 3) on the end of the arbor of the main-spring, thereby winding up or Jetting down the spring without turning the fusee; but as this is a very coarse adjustment, it is never used but by the maker, and recourse is had to the pendulum spring, o, (fig. 2) which is fixed to a stud, r, upon the plate E, by one end, and the verge of the balance by the other:

p is a small piece of metal, called the curb, hav ing a notch in it to receive the spring: the acting part of the spring is from p to the centre; and as the curb, p, is moveable, the acting length can be altered: the carb is cut into teeth, and turned by pinion, 9, (fig. 4) which represents the piece, sssss, detached from the plate E, and turned up the pinion, q, has a small dial, divided into thirty, fixed to its arbor on the upper side of the plate, ss, by which it can be set so as to regulate the watch to the utmost nicety: tttt (fig. 1) are four pillars by which the two plates, EE, of the watch are held together; and tttt(fig. 2) represent the heads of the same pillars coming through the upper plate, and small pins put through to keep the plate down. (BritishEnc.)

Mr. Elliot, of Clerkenwell, a few years ago, invented a very simple repeating watch, in which the motion is performed with compara tively few parts. Thus he is enabled to reduce the price of good repeaters so low as eight goineas, or to add the repeating work to another watch for three.

The method by which this repeater is so much simplified, is by the use of a single part, so contrived as to perform the operations of se veral this is, a flat ring, or centreless wheel, of nearly the same diameter as the watch, supported in its place, so as to admit of circular motion, by four grooved pulleys placed round its external circumference, in the same manner as the part in common clocks which denotes the moon's age. This part is put in motion by turning the pendant, whose extremity is formed into a small vertical wheel, which works in teeth cut on the external part of the flat ring for almost a third of its circumference. The lower part of the ring contains the pins, at right angles to its face, which lift the hammers for striking the hours and quarters; the internal part of the ring contains indentations of regularly increasing depths, which, receiving the tails of the levers, whose other extremities are pressed by their springs against the hour-snail and the quarter-snail, is by them prevented from moving beyond a certain degree proper for the time: after the pendant is turned, the ring is brought back to its first position, by a box-spring, round which a fine chain is coiled, whose extremity is connected with the inner part of the ring.

By turning the pendant to the left the hour is struck, and by turning it to the right the quarters are repeated; and the returning spring just mentioned is made to operate in both directions, by its chain passing between two little pulleys, which on either side convert the direction of the chain to the line of traction of the spring.

Hence, it is evident this single flat ring per forms all the following operations: 1. It receives the motion for striking the hour from the pendant.

- The same for striking the quarters. 3. It carries the pins, or teeth, which lift

the hour-hammer.

4. The same for the quarter-hammer.