W H 1 



liiaii, who goes before, and waits on the company, on oc- 

 ! cafions of public folemnities. 



I WHIG, in Rural Economy, a term provincially applied 

 to acidulated whey, which is fometimes mixed with butter- 

 milk and fwcet herbs, to give it a flavour, when it becomes a 

 , good cooling fummer beverage. 



WHIGS, a party or fadion in England, oppofite to 

 the Tories. 



The origin of the names of thefe two mighty faftions is 

 very obfciire. If fome little trivial circumftance or adven- 

 ture, which efcapes the knowledge of mankind, gives name 

 to a party, which afterwards becomes famous, pollerity la- 

 bours in vain to find the original of fuch a name : it fearches 

 ■ the fources, forms conjeftures, invents reafons, and fome- 

 times, indeed, meets the truth, but always without know- 

 ing it afTuredly. 



Thus, in France, the Calvinifts are called Huguenots ; 

 yet nobody was ever able certainly to aflign the caufe of 

 that appellation. 



Whig is a Scottiih, and, fome fay too, an Irifli word, lite- 

 rally fignifying luhey. Tory is another Irifh word, fignify- 

 ing a robber or highiuayman. 



Under the reign of king Charles II., while his brother, 

 then duke of York, was obliged to retire into Scotland, 

 there were two parties formed in that country. That of the 

 duke was ftrongeft, perfecuted the other, and frequently re- 

 duced them to fly into the mountains and woods ; where 

 tliofe unhappy fugitives had often no other fubfiftence for a 

 long time but cows' milk. Hence they called thefe their 

 adverfaries lories, q. d. robbers ; and the tories, upbraiding 

 them with their unhappinefs, from the milk on which they 

 lived, called them tvhigs. From Scotland, the two names 

 came over with the duke into England. 

 I Others give a different origin and etymology of the two 

 ;words, for which fee Tories. 



' Bifhop Burnet gives another etymology of the term whigs. 

 'The fouth-weft counties of Scotland, he fays, are fupphed 

 with corn from Leith ; and from a word ivhiggam, ufed by 

 'the carriers in driving their horfes, all that drove were called 

 ^luhlggamoors, and by contraftion ivhigs. 

 I He adds, that in the year 1648, after the news of the 

 !defeat of duke Hamilton, who was charged with being a 

 jconfederate with the malignants, or royal party, in Eng- 

 land, the minifters animated their people to rife, and march 

 to Edinburgh : who came up, marching each at the head of 

 'his parifli, with an unheard-of fury, praying and preaching 

 'all the way as they came. The marquis of Argyle and his 

 party came and headed them. This was called the luhlgga- 

 \moor's inroad ; and ever after, all that oppofed the court were 

 icontemptuoufly called -whigs : and from Scotland the term 

 'was brought into England. Burnet's Hift. of his Own 

 'Times, vol. i. p. 43. 



; For the dilUnguilhing principles and charafters of the 

 whigs, fee Tories. 



I WHIMBRAL. See Scolopax Guarauna, and Ph^« 

 [opus. 



I WHIMSEY, Water, a machine confiding of a refervoir, 

 jor bucket of water, employed for raifing another bucket, 

 j filled with coals or other materials, by means of a rope or 

 [chain, coiled round a cylinder or drum, or two drums of 

 different iizes. When the bucket of water in this machine 

 I has reached the bottom of the pit or well, a valve is opened 

 :by ilriking againft a pin, and lets out the water. In a ma- 

 chine of this kind, ufed in the duke of Bridgewater's coal- 

 I works, the water defcends thirty yards, and raifes a fmaller 

 : quantity of coals from a depth of fixty. In fuch cafes, fup- 

 jpofing the aftion to be fingle, and the ftream of water to 



VV H I 



be unemployed during the defcent of the refervoir, a con- 

 fiderable preponderance may be advantageoufly employed in 

 givmg velocity to the weights, provided that the machinery 

 be not liable to injury from their impulfe. 

 WHIN, in Botany. See Gorse. 



Whin, in Agriculture, a term fometimes apphed to furze • 

 which, when cut in the fap and bruifed in a proper way by 

 flails, or in other modes, makes an excellent green food in 

 winter for horfes, which eat and thrive on it well. It is 

 alfo ufeful in fome meafure to fheep-ftock, as well as to 

 bees. Its encroaches on land may be eafily and readily 

 prevented by proper means being taken for the purpofe. 

 See FuKZE. 



Win.\, in Gardening. See Ulex. 



WniN-v-y/Zi«, in Agriculture and Planting, the aflies pro- 

 duced in burning whins ; which have lately been found of 

 great benefit in planting young trees, as well as on land for 

 other purpofes, promoting their growth in a very high de- 

 gree. If the land to be planted be fuitable, they are ad- 

 vifed to be carefully fpread and ploughed in, if of quantity 

 fufficient, over the whole field, otherwife only on the wet or 

 colder fpots or parts of it. But if the ground be fuch that 

 it will not admit of ploughing, the alhes fliould be mixed up 

 with part of the bell furface mould, to keep them from 

 blowing abroad ; and in the procefs of pitting, a little of 

 this compoll fhould be intimately mixed with the mould of 

 each pit ; previoufly dillributing it in fmall heaps at con- 

 venient diltances for facihtating the operation : and this extra 

 trouble will be amply repaid by the progrefs the plants will 

 make in confequence. 



Whin-^.vc, in Agriculture, an iniirument employed for ex- 

 tirpating whins from land in many cafes. It is an imple- 

 ment that has one end like a common axe, with four inches 

 of face ; and the other like an adze, alfo with four inches of 

 face ; whereby the perfon ufing it, continuing in the fame 

 pofition by fimply turning it in the hand, can make cuts at 

 right angles with one another, as circumfl;ances may require. 

 The head of the tool may be about eight inches in length, 

 weighing from three to four pounds ; and the handle, of afhj 

 about four feet long. 



Whin, Petty, a name given to a fpecies of ononis, orreft- 

 harrow. 



Whin, Petty, in Gardening. See Genista. 



WHINCHAT, in Ornithology, the Englifli name of the 

 motacilla rubetra of Linnaeus. 



It is of the common fize of the water-wagtail. Its head, 

 neck, and back, are of a reddifh-brown, with regular rows 

 of black fpots. Over each eye is a narrow white ftroke, 

 and beneath that a broad bed of black, extending from the 

 bill to the hind part of the head ; the breaft is of a reddifti- 

 yellow ; the belly paler ; the quill-feathers are brown, 

 edged with a yellowilh-brown ; the upper part of the wing 

 is marked with two white fpots ; the lower part of the tail 

 is white, the two middle feathers excepted, which are 

 wholly black ; the upper part of the other is of the fame 

 colour. 



The colours are very uncertain in this bird, and it often 

 much refembles the ilone-chatter ; but may always, by an 

 accurate obferver, be dilUnguifhed from that bird by the 

 white fpots in its wings, by the whitenefs of the under part 

 of its tail, and the white lines on its head 



The colours of the female are much lefs agreeable than 

 thofe of the male ; in lieu of the white and black marks 

 on the cheeks is one broad pale brown one ; and the white 

 on the wings is in much lefs quantity than that of the 

 male. 



In the north of England, the whinchat is a bird of paf- 



fage; 



