WHITEHEAD WHITING. 



41 



In addition to these there are about one thou- j (1762) ; Trip to Scotland, a farce (1771) ; a Charge 

 sand sailors belonging to vessels registered in this to the Poets, a satire ; Variety ; the Goat's Beard ; 



with several other miscellaneous poems. 



port. 



WHITEHEAD, GEORGE, an eminent early leader 

 among the Friends, was born at Semteyg, in West- 

 moreland, about 1636, and received his education 

 at the free school of Blencouwe, in Cumberland. 

 On leaving school, he was for some time engaged 

 in the instruction of youth ; but, as early as the 

 age of eighteen, his journal exhibits him travelling 

 in various parts of England, propagating his religious 

 principles. He endured, as might be expected from 

 the spirit of the times, much persecution, was im- 

 prisoned many times, and, in one instance, sentenced 

 to be whipped, which ignominy he calmly endured, 

 and proceeded to preach as before. After the re- 

 volution, he was serviceable to the society of Friends 

 by his active services during the time the toleration 

 bill was before parliament, and in making those re- 

 presentations which, led, in civil cases, to the ad- 

 mission of an affirmation in lieu of an oath, as well 

 as to other relief. This active, able and determined 

 character lived to a very advanced period, dying, in 

 great respect and esteem, in March, 1728, at the 

 age of eighty-six years. Besides various publica- 

 tions, chiefly controversial, he left behind him some 

 Memoirs of his Life, which were printed in 1725, 

 in 1 vol., 8vo. See Quakers. 



WHITEHEAD, PAUL, an English poet, was 

 born in London, in 1710, and was apprenticed to a 

 mercer in the city. In consequence of having joined 

 Fleet wood, manager of Drury lane theatre, in a 

 bond for 3000, he was confined several years in 

 prison. His first productions were three poems, 

 entitled the State Dunces (1733), Manners (1738), 

 and Honour, a satire. The second produced a pro- 

 secution of his bookseller, Dodsley. These circum- 

 stances drew on him a considerable share of public 

 notice. Having obtained the appointment of de- 

 puty-treasurer to the exchequer, he passed the re- 

 mainder of his days in retirement at Twickenham. 

 He died in 1774. Besides the writings already 

 enumerated, he was the author of a poem entitled 

 the Gymnasiad (printed in 1774). As an author, 

 he appears to have possessed more judgment than 

 genius ; and his works, though popular in their day 

 for their temporary allusion, are now little read. 

 As a man, his morals may be judged of by the fact 

 of his having been a member of the club at Med- 

 menham abbey, the sensual orgies of which were 

 exposed, in revenge, by Wilkes, when prosecuted 

 for his Essay on Woman. Whitehead, however, 

 in the decline of life, acted a benevolent, hospitable 

 and respectable part. A complete edition of his 

 works was first publistied by Kearsley, in 1777, 

 with a biographical memoir. 



WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM, an ingenious poet, 

 the son of a baker of Cambridge, was born in 1715. 

 At the age of fourteen, he was placed at Winches- 

 ter school, and obtained a foundation scholarship at 

 Clare hall, Cambridge, which led to a fellowship in 

 1742. About the same period, he produced two of 

 his earliest and best dramatic pieces, Creusa, and 

 the Roman Father. Three years after, he visited 

 Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the Low Coun- 

 tries, in quality of a travelling tutor, and, on his 

 return to England, obtained tho registrarship to the 

 order of the Bath. He was nominated poet lau- 

 reate, on the vacancy occasioned in that post by 

 the death of Cibber. His death took place in 1785. 

 In addition to the writings already spoken of, he 

 was the author of the School for Lovers, a comedy 



Mason 

 has written his life (1788). 



WHITELOCK, BULSTRODE, an eminent states- 

 man and lawyer, the son of Sir James Whitelock, a 

 justice of the king's bench, was born in London, in 

 1605, and received his education at St John's col- 

 lege, Oxford. He soon obtained eminence as a 

 lawyer, and was consulted by Hampden when un- 

 der prosecution for refusing to pay ship-money. In 

 1640, he was chosen M. P. for Marlow, in the long 

 parliament, in which he acted with Selden and the 

 more moderate anti-royalists ; but, though averse 

 to the commencement of hostilities, he accepted the 

 office of deputy-lieutenant for Oxfordshire and 

 Buckinghamshire and took the command of a com- 

 pany of cavalry, raised for the service of parliament. 

 In January, 1642 3, he was one of the commission- 

 ers appointed to treat with the king at Oxford, and, 

 in 1644, again interfered to promote a pacification. 

 He appeared as a lay-member of the Westminster 

 assembly for settling the form of church govern- 

 ment, when he opposed the divine right of the pres- 

 bytery. In February, 1648 9, he was nominated 

 one of the council of state, and was subsequently 

 sent, by Cromwell, on an embassay to the court of 

 Christina, queen of Sweden, with whom he con- 

 cluded a treaty. Returning home, he became a 

 commissioner of the great seal, which office he re- 

 signed, on the regulation and limitation of the court 

 of chancery, and was then appointed a commissioner 

 of the treasury. He was member for Buckingham- 

 shire, in Oliver's third parliament, and was called, 

 by the protector, to his house of peers. During 

 the government of Richard Cromwell, he acted as 

 one of the keepers of the great seal, and afterwards 

 opposed the designs of general Monk. At the re- 

 storation, he retired to his estate at Chilton, in 

 Wiltshire, where he passed the last years of his life, 

 and died in January, 1676. He was the author of 

 Memorials of the English Affairs, from the Begin- 

 ning of the Reign of Charles I. to the Restoration 

 (1682, folio, an improved edition of which appeared 

 in 1732) ; Memorials of the English Affairs from 

 the supposed expedition of Brute to this Island, to 

 the End of the Reign of James I. (1706, folio) ; 

 Notes upon the King's Writ for choosing Members 

 of Parliament, 13 Car. II., being Disquisitions on 

 the Government of England (1766, 2 vols., 4to.) ; 

 a Journal of the Swedish Embassy, in 1653 and 

 1654, from the Commonwealth of England, &c. 

 (1772, 2 vols., 4to.) ; and Whitelock's Labours, 

 remembered in the Annales of his Life, written for 

 the Use of his Children. 



WHITEWOOD. See Tulip-Tree. 



WHITING (gadus merlangus') ; a fish, belong- 

 ing to the cod family, very abundant along the 

 northern coasts of Europe. It makes its appearance 

 in vast shoals, keeping at the distance of from half 

 a mile to three miles from the shore, and is taken 

 by the line in great numbers. It is considered the 

 most delicate and most wholesome of all the species 

 of cod ; but it does not attain a large size, usually 

 not exceeding a foot in length. It resembles the 

 pollock in form, and belongs to the same division 

 of the genus, having three dorsal fins, and the lower 

 lip destitute of a beard. The head and back are 

 pale brown ; the lateral line white and crooked ; 

 the belly and sides silvery, the latter longitudinally 

 streaked with yellow. 



WHITING, CHALK, cleared of its grosser im- 



