W H I 



deprived of the catechetical lefture, and at the fame time 

 he declined receiving the falary which the bifhop wilhed 

 to continue. His fituation at the Univerfity became very 

 precarious, and in Oftober 1710 he was expelled from it, 

 in conformity to a ftatute againft maintaining dodlrines 

 contrary to the eftablifhed rehgion. In the following year 

 he alfo loft his profefTorfliip ; and having no further em- 

 ployment at Cambridge, he removed to London, and pub- 

 lifhed an account of the proceedings againll him, and alfo 

 books in defence of his fentiments, which he retained with- 

 out regarding any worldly confiderations. His purpofes 

 were fixed, and he declared to two friends, who wifhed him 

 to pay fome attention to his prefent welfare, " you may as 

 well perfuade the fun to come down from the firmament, as 

 turn me from this my refolution." Hoadly and Clarke 

 remonftrated ; but all their pleas were unavailing. All his 

 future profpefts feemed now to depend on his knowledge 

 of mathematics, and accordingly in 1710 he pubhihed his 

 " Prxleftiones Phyficae-Mathematicae ; five Philofophia 

 Clarifllmi Newtoni Mathematica illuftrata." At this time 

 Addifon and Steele, and feveral other perfons, exerted 

 themfelves in procuring a fubfcription to liis aftronomical 

 leftures. But at the clofe of this year he publifhed the 

 " Hiftorical Preface" to a propofed work on Primitive 

 Chriftianity, which fubjefted him to the inquifitorial ani- 

 madverfion of the low^ houfe of convocation. Efcaping, 

 however, the apprehended confequences of their interference, 

 he perfilled in his courfe, and in 171 1 printed this work 

 which he had announced, and which had occafioned an alarm, 

 in 4 vols. 8vo. The convocation, not fufficiently informed 

 with regard to the extent of their power in cafes of herefy, 

 addreffed the queen in order to obtain the opinion of the 

 judges, who difagreed upon the fubjeft, and no further 

 meafures were purfued by this body. However, in 1713, 

 Whifton was profecuted in the fpiritual court ; and as he 

 did not appear to its citation, he was declared contuma- 

 cious. DifBculties occurring on the part of the lay-judges, 

 the bufinefs was deferred, and the profecution was termi- 

 nated by an aft of grace in 17 15. Whifton was at this 

 time a profefled member of the eftabhihed church, and 

 attended its worftiip, till at length he was refufed admifSon 

 to the facrament ; and therefore he opened an aflembly for 

 worftiip at his own houfe, and ufed a liturgy of his own 

 compofing. He alfo eftabUftied a weekly meeting for the 

 promotion of primitive Chriftianity, which fubfifted for two 

 years. Whilft he was thus occafionally engaged, he devoted 

 himfelf to mathematical and philofophical purfuits ; and in 

 concert with Mr. Ditton, who was his colleague in his lec- 

 tures, publifticd a projeft for difcovering the longitude at 

 fea. But as their fpeculations were of no ufe, it will be 

 fufiicient to obferve, that he pubhftied at laft a method of 

 afcertaining the longitude by obfervations of the eclipfes of 

 Jupiter's fatellites, with tables of fuch eclipfes for four 

 years from the year 1738. 



His zeal in religious difcuffions and projefts remained 

 unabated; and, among other publications in 17 16 and 

 the two following years, appeared feveral pieces founded 

 on the fuppofed genuinenefs and authority of the apof- 

 tolical conftitutions. In 17 19 he publifhed a letter ad- 

 dreffed to Finch, earl of Nottingham, on the " Eter- 

 nity of the Son of God and his Holy Spirit," which 

 received an anfwer from his lordfhip, that induced the 

 clergy and univerfities to return him public thanks, and 

 which caufed Whifton's exclufion from the Royal Society, 

 wlicn he was propofed as a candidate in 1720. Sir Ifaac 

 Newton, it is faid, who was of a very timid temper, took 

 meafures for defeating his eleftion. As he was of opinion 



W H I 



that the Jews would be fpeedily reftored to their native land, 

 he procured models of the tabernacle of Mofes and the tern- 

 pie of Jerufalem, upon which he read public leftures. In 

 1 741 he undertook a furvey of the coafta of England, in 

 order to fix the longitude of places, and a chart to this pur- 

 pofe was publifhed in 1 745. It was in the year 1 747 that he 

 difcontinued his attendance on the fervice of the church of 

 England, and joined a Baptift church, in which conneftion he 

 continued. In 1 749 he publifhed two volumes of memoirs of 

 his own life, to which a third was added in 1 750. Having 

 attained to the 85th year of his age, he died at London in 

 1752, and was interred at Lyndon, where his daughter was 

 married, and where a handfome tomb was erefted in honour 

 of his memory. " Fancy," fays one of his biographers, 

 " predominating over judgment, a warm head and honeft 

 heart, enthufiaftic fervour, and difregard to common forms 

 and worldly confequences, were the leading features of his 

 charafter." He never hefitated in giving his opinion to all 

 perfons on all fubjefts, freely and without difcrimination. 

 Being once aflced, in the prefence of Addifon, Pope, Wal- 

 pole, Craggs, and others, " whether a fecretary of ftate 

 could be an honeft man confiftently with the duties of his 

 ftation ?" He gave his opinion that it would be of advan- 

 tage to fuch an officer to ("peak openly what he knew, and 

 declare his intentions without difguife. Mr. Craggs re- 

 plied, " It might anfwer for a fortnight, but no longer." 

 " Did you never, Mr. Secretary," returned Whifton, 

 " try it for a fortnight ?" When queen Caroline, who 

 honoured Whifton's integrity, and was fond of his converfa- 

 tion, defired him to acquaint her what was particularly 

 found fault with by cenfurers on her conduft ; he replied, 

 that her habit of talking at chapel was mentioned with dif- 

 approbation. She promifed amendment, and wifhed him 

 to point out any other faults. " When your majefty," 

 faid he, " has amended this, I will tell you of the next." 

 A catalogue is given of Whifton's writings, which are very- 

 numerous, at the clofe of his " Memoirs of Dr. Clarke." 

 He has alfo given a valuable " Englifh Tranflation of Jofe- 

 phus," with plans, notes, and illuftrations, to which are pre- 

 fixed eight differtations. Biog. Brit. Memoirsof his Own 

 Life. 



WHITAKER, John, B.D. a divine of the eftablifhed 

 church, was born at Manchefter, about the year 1735, and 

 educated at Oxford, where he became fellow of Corpus- 

 Chrifti college, taking the degree of M.A. in 1759, and of 

 B.D. in 1767. His firft work, -viz. " The Hiftory of 

 Manchefter," appeared in 1771, 4to., in which he takes 

 occafion to give a view of the ilate of the kingdom in 

 general. This work, abounding in literary refearch and 

 ingenious conjefture, gave reputation to the writer, and was 

 followed in the fame year by " The Genuine Hiftory of 

 the Britons afferted." However, it is faid that Mr. Whit- 

 aker's imagination in the progrefs of his years mifled his 

 judgment, of which he gave evidence in the fecond volume 

 of his " Hiftory of Manchefter," printed in 1775, though 

 he ftill maintained his charafter for deep and learned invef- 

 tigation. As a clergyman, he became morning-preacher of 

 Berkeley chapel, London, in 1773, from which fituation he 

 was foon after removed ; and he refented his removal with 

 the natural warmth of his temper. Such was his orthodoxy, 

 that he declined accepting a valuable living that was offered 

 to him by an Unitarian patron. In 1778 he fucceeded, as 

 fellow of his college, to the reftory of Rnan-Lanyhorne in 

 Cornwall, where his conteft about titlies was the occafion of 

 much uneafinefs to him. When mutual conciliation took 

 place between him and his parilhioners, he publifhed in 

 1783 a courfe of Sermons on Death, Judgment, Heaven, 

 3 C 2 smcj 



