WHITEHALL WHITEHAVEN. 



B. A., and soon after was invited to London, to 

 officiate at the chapel of the Tower. He preached, 

 also, at various other places, and for some time 

 supplied a curacy at Dummer, in Hampshire. The 

 account sent him by the Wesleys of their progress in 

 Georgia, at length excited in him a desire to assist 

 in their pious labours ; and, embarking at the close 

 of 1737, he arrived at Savannah in the following 

 May, where he was received with great cordiality, 

 and acquired considerable influence. Observing 

 the deplorable want of education in the colony, he 

 projected an orphan-house, for which he determined 

 to raise contributions in England, where he arrived 

 in the beginning of 1739. Although discountenanced 

 by many of the clergy, bishop Benson did not scru- 

 ple to confer on him priest's orders; and, on re- 

 pairing to London, the churches in which he preach- 

 ed were incapable of holding the crowds who assem- 

 bled to hear him. He now adopted the design of 

 preaching in the open air, which he seems first to 

 have practised at Kingswood, near Bristol, among 

 the colliers. His ardent and emphatic mode of ad- 

 dress attracted several thousands of these people as 

 auditors, on whom his discourses produced a sur- 

 prising effect, and whose vicious manners and habits 

 he visibly improved. He afterwards preached in 

 the open air in Bristol, and in Moorfields, Kenning- 

 ton, and other places in the neighbourhood of Lon- 

 don, to vast assemblages of people, who came from 

 all parts to hear him. In August, 1739, he again 

 embarked for America, and made a tour through 

 several of the provinces, where he preached to im- 

 mense audiences, with an effect which is pourtray- 

 ed, in a very forcible manner, in the autobiography 

 of Benjamin Franklin. He arrived at Savannah in 

 January, 1740, where he laid the foundation of the 

 orphan-house, and, after making another extensive 

 tour, returned to England, where he arrived in the 

 March of the following year. During his absence, 

 his cause had been declining at home ; and the dif- 

 ferences between him and Wesley, on the doctrines 

 of election and reprobation, deprived him of many 

 followers. His circumstances were also embarras- 

 sed by his engagements for the orphan-house ; 

 but his zeal and intrepidity gradually overcame 

 all difficulties, and produced the two taberna- 

 cles in Moorfields and in Tottenham-court-road. 

 After visiting many parts of England, Scotland 

 and Wales, where he married in 1744, he again re- 

 turned to America, and remained there nearly four 

 years, not returning until July, 1748. He was soon 

 after introduced to the countess of Huntingdon, 

 who made him one of her chaplains. A visit to 

 Ireland, and two more voyages to America, fol- 

 lowed, and, for several years, his labours were un- 

 remitting. At length, on his seventh voyage to 

 America, he was carried off by an asthma, at New- 

 buryport, in New England, September 30, 1770, in 

 the fifty-sixth year of his age. The person of 

 Whitefield was tall and well-proportioned, and his 

 features good, with the exception of a cast in one 

 of his eyes. He possessed a high degree of natural 

 eloquence ; but his learning and literary talents 

 were mean, and he was a writer only for his own 

 followers. His works were published in 1771 (6 

 vols., 8vo.). 



WHITEHALL; a street in Westminster, con- 

 taining several public offices. Among these are the 

 Horse-Guards, an edifice so called in consequence 

 of being the station where that part of the troops 

 usually do duty; here is the office of the c.ommand- 

 er-in-chief of the army : the Treasury, a stone build- 



ing, near the Horse-Guards, facing the parade ; the 

 treasury-board is held in this building ; that part of 

 the Treasury which fronts Whitehall is a portion 

 of the old Whitehall palace, erected by cardinal 

 Wolsey ; but it has been considerably altered, both 

 in the reign of Charles II. and in 1816; the ad- 

 miralty office, a large pile, built on the site of Wal- 

 lingford house ; the front has two wings and a por- 

 tico, supported by four large stone pillars of the 

 Ionic order ; besides a hall and other public apart- 

 ments, here are spacious houses for seven commis- 

 sioners of the admiralty ; and on the top of the 

 building is a semaphore telegraph, by means of 

 which a correspondence is maintained with various 

 parts of the coast On the bank of the Thames 

 was a palace called Whitehall, built by Hubert de 

 Burgh, earl of Kent, before the middle of the thir- 

 teenth century. In 1530, it became the residence 

 of the court, but, in 1697, was destroyed by fire, 

 except the banqueting-house, added by James I. ac- 

 cording to a design of Inigo Jones, in 1619. This 

 is a magnificent structure of hewn stone. The 

 building chiefly consists of one room, of an oblong 

 form, forty feet high. The ceiling, representing 

 the apotheosis of James I., was painted by Rubens, 

 and has been retouched by Cipriani. It is adorned 

 with trophies taken from the French in the Spanish 

 campaign. 



WHITEHAVEN; a seaport of England, in 

 Cumberland, situated on a bay of the Irish sea, 

 forty miles south-west of Carlisle, 320 north-west 

 of London. It has a good artificial harbour, with 

 six piers; also six yards for ship-building. The 

 entrance of the harbour is defended by four bat- 

 teries, which formerly mounted in all 98 cannons, 

 including 12 forty-two pounders and 18 thirty-six 

 pounders. These batteries were extended, in 

 1788, owing to the great alarm occasioned by the 

 landing of Paul Jones, who attempted to burn the 

 town, on the 23d of April in that year. The prin- 

 cipal article of export from this port consists of 

 coal, besides which, alabaster, lime, freestone, and 

 grain, are exported in considerable quantities. In 

 return, Whitehaven receives different articles of 

 West Indian, Baltic, American, and Mediterranean 

 produce, in particular flax and linen from Ireland, 

 wine from Portugal, and fruit from the Levant. In 

 addition to its being the centre of a great carrying 

 trade, it is a place of considerable manufacturing 

 importance, the principal articles produced being 

 linen yarn and cloth, sail-cloth, cordage, anchors, 

 nails, checks, ginghams, earthenware, copperas, 

 colours, candles, and soap ; the two last named are 

 exported in considerable quantities to the West 

 Indian colonies. Coal, it is supposed, was first rais- 

 ed here by Sir John Lowther, about 160 years ago, 

 since which, the workings have increased rapidly, 

 and the mines now almost rival in extent those 

 of Sunderland and Newcastle ; in these the inha- 

 bitants are chiefly employed. The coal works are 

 near the sea ; and some are wrought even beneath 

 the town, in consequence of which eighteen houses 

 were destroyed in 1791, by the falling in of some 

 of the old works. Some of the pits are 960 feet 

 deep, and the working extends some miles be- 

 neath the sea. About 80,000 waggons of coals 

 are supposed to be raised annually, each waggon 

 weighing about forty-three cwt. By the reform 

 act of 1832, Whitehaven was constituted a bor- 

 ough, returning one member to parliament. The 

 population in 1831, including Preston Quarter, 

 which is a suburb, was 15,716; in 1841, 15,841. 



