"Apart from the opposition which he encountered from the West India interest, the fearful excesses of the French Uevolution and the rebellion of the slaves in St. Domin- go led many to associate the abolition of the slave-trade with the frantic schemes of the Jacobins. For seven years this cause alone retarded the -success of his endeav- ors. ]\leanwliile, though well titted morally for the labors he had undertaken, it is marvellous how his weakly con- stitution enabled him to bear up agaiust the bodily fa- tigues which he was forced to endure. In the spring of 1T8S, w'hen his labors were yet to come, his health ap- peared entirety to fail from an absolute decay of the di- gestive organs. The first physicians, after a consultation, declared to his family 'that he had not stamina to last a fortnight;' and, although he happily recovered from his illness, we find him exclaiming on New-year's-day, 1790, 'At thirty and a half I am in constitution sixty.' From his infancy he had sufiered much from weak eyes, aud his exertions were constantly interrupted or rendered pain- ful by this infirmity. Still, rising with new hopes and vigor from every disappoiument, he contidenily relied upon ultimate success. At length the hour of triumph was at hand. In January, 1S07, he published a biKjk against the slave-trade, at the very moment that question was aljout to be discussed in the House of Lords. The Aboliiion Dill passed the Lords, and its passage through the ( cimmons was one continued triumph to its author. Sir Samuel Romilly concluded an afl'ectiug speech in fa- vor .if the bill 'by contrasting the feelings of Napoleon, in all his greatness, with those of that honored individual who wolild this day lay his head upon his pillow and re- member that the slave-trade was no more;' when the whole House, we are told, burst forth in acclamations of applause, aud greeted Mr. Wilberforce with three cheers."
Durinjx this whole period he had been actively en- gaged in all the great (piestions of the times. He sac-* riliced friendship to the cause of trutli and humanity, and never suffered an ojiportunity to escape for doing good. His great task, however, was the agitation of ne- gro-emancipation, which he continued until his retire- ment in 1825. The emancipation act passed just before liis death. " Thank God," he exclaimed, " that I should have lived to witness a day in whicii England is will- ing to give twenty millions sterling for the abolition of jlavery!" He died at Cadogan Place, London, July 29, 1833, and was buried in Westminster Abbey with all the honors of a public funeral. His most important literary worlis are, Speech in (lie House of Commons on 4he A hoHlion of the Shtve-trcide (1789) : — Pi-actical View of the Prevailing Relifwus Systems of Professed Chris- tians in the Hif/he/ and Middle Classes in this Country Contrasted icith Real Christianity (1797) : — Apology for the Christian Sabbath (1799): — Letter on the Abolition of the Slave-trade, Addressed to the Freeholders and oilier Inliahitants of Yorkshire (1807) : — and others on ]diilanthropic and religious subjects. See [by his sons Robert Isaac and Samuel] The Life of William Wil- berforce (Loud. IS-SS, 5 vols. 8vo); id. The Correspond- ence of William Wilberforce (ibid. 1840, 2 vols.) ; Gur- ney, Familiar Sketch of Wilberforce (eod.); Chipchase, Character of William Wilberforce (1844); Collier, Memoir of Wil/iam Wilberforce (185.o); and Harford, Recollections of William Wilberforce, Esq., M.P., etc.
"Wilbrord (or Willibrod), St., commonly known as "The Apostle to the Frisians," was born in the Sax- on kingdom of Northumbria about A.D. G57. He was placed in Wilfred's monastery at Ripon while still a child, and adopted the monastic profession before he was twenty years old. He then visited Ireland, where lie spent thirteen years under the instruction of St. Eg-
bert and the monk Wigbert, two members of the Anglo- Irish Church, the latter of whom had preached Chris- tianity in Friciland for two years in vain. Having dcterniincd to undertake the work which bad liaiHed his preceptor, Wilbrord departed for Friesland in the year 090, taking with him eleven or twelve disciples. When they arrived at Utrecht, they were warmlj^ re- ceived by I'cpin the Big, who had just gained a victory over the Frisians. In G92 he visited Rome to gain the favor and influence of the pope, and in G9o made a sec- ond visit to the papal capital, and Avas made bi.shop of the Frisians with the ecclesiastical name of Clemens. He established his episcopal chair at Utrecht, where he built the Church of St. Saviour, and restored that of St. Martin. He visited the Danes and made many con- verts; then, proceeding by water, he came to the island called Fositisland (probably the present Heligoland), from the name of the idol worshipped there. Here his disregard of their superstitions aud of the objects by them held sacred subjected him to great opposition and a severe ordeal, in which, however, lie was successful in escaping puni.shment. His work was largely undone by the death of Pepin in 714, and the consequent restora- tion of the heathen monarch Radbod. 13ut Wilbrord enjoyed the patronage of Charles iMartel, whose suc- cesses re-established him in his episcopal authority and influence. He founded the monastery of Eptcrnach, near Treves, about 698, and there died and was buried in 738. His day in the calendar is the 7th of Novem- ber. See Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica,\, xi, xii; Ma- billon, Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti, lib. xviii; ^\"right, Biographia Britannica Litercu-ia (Anglo-Saxon Pe- riod), p. 250-262 ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s. v.