W E 2J 



This public walk is half a mile in length, and about thirty 

 feet in breadth. The bay, where the company bathe, makes 

 a femicirciilar fweep of nearly two miles, and is proteftcd 

 from winds by the furrounding- hills, which render the fea 

 perfeftly lecure. As foon as Weymouth became a place of 

 fashionable refort, the expediency of public amufements 

 was perceived ; and Mr. Sproule of Bath offered propofals 

 for erefting a fet of affembly-rooms, with an hotel, and 

 other neceflary appendages. The propofitions were acceded 

 to ; and about the year 1772, a building, 6co feet in length, 

 and 250 in width, was erefted on a vacant fpot adjoining 

 the town, at tlie expence of 6000/., which was defrayed by 

 fubfcriptions in {hares of 100/. each. The Royal AiTembly 

 Room is a lofty, hght, and fpacious building, in which 

 upwards of an hundred couples may dance with eafe and 

 pleafure. The theatre has been recently fitted up in a ftyle 

 of elegance that does equal credit to the manager and the 

 architedl. The boxes are capable of containing 300 fpec- 

 tators ; and the mode in which they are decorated is little in- 

 ferior to the London theatres. On the quay is a moll con- 

 venient hot falt-water bath. The bridge has been rebuilt in 

 the Chinefe ftyle. The church is a low ftrufture, occupy- 

 ing the fcite of an ancient chapel belonging to the church 

 at Radipole, of which parifh this was originally a part, but 

 in the reign of James I. was made a feparate jurifdiftion ; 

 within it is a fine altar-piece, reprefenting the Lall Supper, 

 for which fir James Thornhill, who executed and prefented 

 it to the town, is faid to have refufed 700/. Eaft of the 

 church are fome buildings that are connettcd with a Domi- 

 nican priory, founded here about the commencement of the 

 fifteenth century. Thefe are now parcelled out in tene- 

 ments ; and the chapel belonging to the priory is ufed as a 

 malt-houfe. The Quakers and Independants have each a 

 meeting-houfe here. The number of houfes in Weymouth, 

 as returned under the population aft of 181 1, was 447 ; of 

 inhabitants 1747. Markets are held on Tuefday and Friday; 

 and here are three annual fairs. 



Several fmall forts have at various periods been eredted 

 to defend the town and harbour. On a high chfF, about 

 a mile from the town, are the ruins of Sandisfoot caftle, a 

 fortrefs ereAed by Henry VIII. about the year 1539, 

 when he expetted the Papal fee to excite an invafion of 

 this country. Leland denominates it, " a right goodly and 

 warlyke caftle, having one open barbicane." Its form was 

 a parallelogram, the greateft length running from north to 

 fouth. The walls, which were moftly cafed with fquared 

 Portland ftone, were lofty and very ftrong : in fome places, 



the thicknefs was not lefs than feven yards Hutchin's 



Hiftory of Dorfetfhire, 3 vols. foHo. Beauties of England 

 and Wales, vol. iv. Dorfetfhire. By J. Britton, and E.W. 

 Brayley, 1804. 



Weymouth, a town of New Jerfey, in the county of 

 Glouceiler, containing 1029 inhabitants. 



Weymouth, or Wassagusset, a town of the ftate of 

 Maffachufetts, in the county of Norfolk, containing 1889 in- 

 habitants. This is faid to be one of the oldeft towns in the 

 ftate. It lies on the coaft, and has fome fmall veflels em- 

 ployed in fiihing. The cheefe made in its environs is much 

 cfteemed ; 5 miles S. of Bofton. 



Weymouth Bay, a bay on the N.E. coaft of New Hol- 

 land, to the N.W. of Cape Weymouth. 



WEYPERT, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Saatz; 

 25 miles N.W. of Saatz. N. lat. 50° 25'. E. long. 13°. 



WEYS, a river of Auftria, which runs into the Danube, 

 a little to the E. of Ips. 



WEZE, a river of France, which runs into the Meufe at 

 Liege. 



W H A 



WHALE, in AJronomy, one of the conftelhtions. See 

 Cetcs. 



AVhale, Cete, in the Linnaan fyftem of Zoology, the fe- 

 venth order m the clafs of mammalia. For the charaders 

 and diftribution of this order, fee Cete. 



For the difcriminating charaders of the genus of baUna, 

 or whale, and a general account of its fpecies, fee Ba- 



LJENA. 



The common whale, or baUna mypceliis of Linnaus, 

 with its variations, &c. is defcribed under the article Mys- 

 TicETus. Ariftotle is faid to have given it the name of 

 myjlicettis, uvpx.r{lo,, or bear Jed whale, from its having in its 

 mouth hairs inftead of teeth. 



In old time the whale feems never to have been taken on 

 our coafts, but when it was accidentally flung on (hore : it 

 was then deemed a royal fjl ; and the king and queen di- 

 vided the fpoil ; the king alTerting his right to the head, and 

 the queen to the tail. The reafon of this whimfical divifion, 

 as affigned by our ancient records, was to furnifli the queen's 

 wardrobe with whale-bone. 



The anatomy of the bones of the whale has been fo little 

 underftood, that there have been many very great errors in re- 

 gard to fuch of them as have been at times found foffile, or 

 buried in the earth among the teeth of elephants, and the re- 

 mains of teftaceous and other animals. The moft frequent and 

 moft ridiculous of all the wrong opinions about thefe, is their 

 having originally belonged to creatures of the human fpe- 

 cies ; yet many, even among the more inteUigent part of the 

 world, have taken them for the remains of giants. The 

 vertebra: of a whale have been miftaken for thofe of a giant, 

 and a part of its fins for a hand, and fo of the reft. While 

 the world, more ready to fpread the marvel, than to enquire 

 into the truth, have made computations of the height of the 

 man to whom bones of that fize muft have belonged, and 

 from their proportion in regard to thofe of the common hu- 

 man fize, have found the giant who poffefted them muft have 

 been 90 or 100 feet high; much lefs pains in comparative 

 anatomy would have taught them, that they never could 

 have belonged to any human body at all. Mem. Acad. Par. 

 1727. 



Whale, Beahed, Bottle-head, or Nebbe-haul, BaUna Rof- 

 traia, the fmall whale, with taper fnout, and adipofe back 

 fin, or with very long and acute beak or fnout. The head, 

 upper part of the back, fins, and tail, are of a dark or blue- 

 i(h-brown ; and the fides and abdomen are of a beautiful 

 white, with a flight tinge of pale rofe or flefli colour ; and 

 marked for more than half the length of the animal by nu- 

 merous longitudinal plaits or furrows : the eyes are Imall, 

 as is alfo the head, and the fnout is more elongated than in 

 any other fpecies, tapering gradually to the extremity, 

 which is flightly pointed ; the back fin is fmall, and fituated 

 at no great diftance from the tail ; the peftoral fins are fmall 

 and narrow, and the tail is divided into two longifh and 

 pointed lobes. This is of a more elegant form than thofe of 

 the larger fpecies. Thefe fifli fometimes, but rarely, grow 

 to the length of twenty-five feet ; they make little noife in 

 blowing, are very tame, come very near the fliips, and will 

 accompany them a great way. 



Whale, Fin-bach, BaUna Phyfalus of Linnveus, called 

 alfo fin-jljh. See Physalus. 



Whale, Pike- headed, BaUna Boops of Linnxus, is a fpe- 

 cies which takes its name from the fhape of its nofe, which 

 is n:irrower and fliarper-pointed than that of other whales. 

 The length of one taken on the coaft of Scotland, obferved 

 by fir Robert Sibbald, was forty-fix feet, and its greateft 

 circumference twenty ; but it fometimes exceeds this length. 

 From the Ikinuy flap at the root of the tongue, as well as 



from 



