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cence, and the raeeknefs of men prepared to fuffer, but 

 pleaded in vain : — the bill paffed, and two out of the four, 

 who had thus advocated the rights of confcience, prefently 

 fell vi(EUms to the force by which confcience was deliberately 

 oppreffed, dying in a crowded unhealthy prifon, to which 

 they were dragged from their peaceable religious meetings. 

 Whitehead, who was imprifoned with them, furvived to be 

 liberated. 



In the year 1672, when Charles II. iffued his declaration 

 for fufpending the penal ftatutes againll non-conformifts. 

 Whitehead fohcited and obtained an order under the great 

 feal for the difcharge of about four hundred Quakers, 

 many of whom had been for years under clofe confinement. 

 He records, with expreflions of fatisfaftion, the circum- 

 llance that fome other diffenters alfo partook at this time of 

 the benefit of his exertions. On feveral other occafions he 

 was concerned in applications on the Quakers' behalf to 

 Charles II. and James II. And after the Revolution, when 

 the Toleration Bill was before parliament, he was parti- 

 cularly ferviceable to his friends in that matter ; as likewife 

 in taking a part in thofe reprefentations, which procured the 

 acceptance of their affirmation in lieu of an oath. A pro- 

 feffion of faith being propofed for infertion in the above 

 aft, in terms which to the Quakers would not have been 

 quite fatisfaftory. Whitehead and his coadjutors propofed 

 the following, as their own belief on the points to which it 

 relates, and which was adopted as a teft for the fociety ac- 

 cordingly, viz. " I profefs faith in God the Father, and 

 in Jefus Chrift his Eternal Son the true God, and in the 

 Holy Spirit, one God, blefled for evermore ; and do 

 acknowledge the holy fcriptures of the Old and New Tella- 

 ment to be given by divine infpiration." 



Whitehead hved the greater part of his time in or near 

 London, which accounts for his being one of thofe Quakers 

 ufually concerned in applications to the government. He 

 was well efteemed by his brethren, whom he continued to 

 edify by his miniftry and example to the end, dying, after a 

 (hort confinement, by infirmity, at the age of 86. Befides 

 feveral writings chiefly controverfial, heleft fome memoirs 

 of his life, which were printed in one volume, 8vo. in 

 1725. 



Whitehead, in Geography, an ifland in the Atlantic, 

 near the coaft of Maine. N. lat. 44° 43'. W. long. 

 67° 40'. — Alfo, a cape of Ireland, at the north-eall of the 

 bay of Carrickfergus, in the county of Antrim. 



WHITEHORN, a royal borough and market-town in 

 the diftrift of Machers, and (hire of Wigtown, Scotland, 

 is fituated on the weftern fide of the bay of Wigtown, at 

 the diftance of 1 16 miles S.S.W. from Edinburgh. It is a 

 place of great antiquity, having been the Roman ftation 

 Leucophibia, or Candida-Cafa of Bede, and the capital of 

 the Novantes, who poffefled all Galloway beyond the river 

 Dee ; and it was fo early the feat of rehgion, that, accord- 

 ing to Pinkerton, the bifhopric of Galloway, or Whitehorn, 

 is the oldell in Scotland. The cathedral, of which there 

 are now fcarcely any remains, was founded in the fourth 

 century by St. Ninian. A priory of the Premonftratenfian 

 order was alfo early founded here, and richly endowed by 

 Fergus, lord of Galloway. The borough now confifts 

 chiefly of one large well-built ftreet, extending from north 

 to fouth, interfered by feveral fmaller. A rivulet, over 

 which is a neat bridge, runs acrofs the main ftreet. Near 

 the centre of the town is a refpedtable hall for public meet- 

 ings, adorned with turrets and a fpire, and furnilhed with 

 a fet of bells. Whitehorn is governed by a provoft, two 

 baillies, and fifteen counfellors ; and unites with the bo- 

 roughs of New Galloway, Wigtown, and Stranraer, in 



fending a reprefeutative to the imperial parliament. A 

 weekly market is well fupplied. The tanning of leather 

 has been carried on feveral years to a confiderable extent," 

 and fome cotton manufaftures have been commenced. The 

 pariih of Whitehorn extends eight miles in length and four 

 in breadth, and occupies that extremity of the peninfula of 

 the fhire of Wigtown which is formed by the bays of Wig. 

 town and Luce. The foil is in general fertile, and the farms 

 well cultivated. Here are many extenfive plantations in a 

 flourifhing condition ; confiderable quarries of variegated 

 marble and ftrong flate ; and promifing appearances of lead 

 and copper mines, but none have as yet been worked. The 

 extent of fea-coaft is about nine miles. The ifle of White- 

 horn, included in the parifh, has a fafe harbour, and a vil- 

 lage containing 350 inhabitants. According to the return 

 of the year 1 8 1 1 , the population of the whole parilh was 

 1935. — Beauties of Scotland, vol. ii. Wigtownfhire. Car- 

 lifle's Topographical Diftionary of Scotland, vol. ii. 

 1813. 



Whitehorn, a fmall ifland of Scotland, near the fouth- 

 eaft coaft of the county of Wigtown. N. lat. 54° 46'. W. 

 long. 4° 27'. 



WHITEHURST, John, in Biography, was born at 

 Congleton, in Chelhire, in 17 13, and brought up to the 

 trade of his father, who was a watch-maker. At the age 

 of 21 years he vifited Dublin, in order to acquaint himfelf 

 with the conftruftion of a curious clock ; but being difap- 

 pointed, he engaged in bufinefs for himfelf at Derby, about 

 two or three years after his return, where he diilinguiftied 

 himfelf by a variety of ingenious pieces of mechanifm ; and 

 he thus eftabhftied a reputation, which caufed him to be 

 confulted by all perfons who wiftied to avail themfelves of 

 fuperior fkill in mechanics, pneumatics, and hydrauhcs. In 

 1 77 J he was appointed, without any folicitation on his own 

 part, ftamper of the money weights ; which office required 

 his removal to London, where he fpent the remainder of his 

 days, and where his houfe was the refort of fcientific men 

 of various defcriptions. In 1778 he pubhftied his " Inquiry 

 into the original State and Formation of the Earth," of 

 which an enlarged and improved edition appeared in 1786, 

 and a third in 1792. In May 1779 he was elefted a fellow 

 of the Royal Society. In 1783 he vifited Ireland, to ex- 

 amine the Giant's Caufeway, and the northern parts of the 

 ifland ; and the refult of his inquiries was annexed to his 

 work above-mentioned. In the courfe of his journey he 

 erefted an engine for raifing water from a well to the fummit 

 of a hill, in a bleaching-ground at TuUidoi, in the county 

 of Tyrone. It is worked by a current of water, and is of 

 very curious conftruAion. In 1787 he pubhftied " An 

 Attempt towards obtaining invariable Meafures of Length, 

 Capacity, and Weight, from the Menfuration of Time." 

 (See Standard.) Mr. Whitehurft, having been for fome 

 time fubjedt to the gout, was at length carried off by a 

 paroxyfm of it in the ftomach, in February 1788, in the 

 75th year of his age, at his houfe in Bolt-court, Fleet- 

 ftreet. As a man of fcience, he was much refpefted by all 

 who knew him ; but he was ftill more eftimable on account of 

 his moral quahties. In his drefs he was plain, temperate in 

 his diet, and in his general intercourfe with mankind eafy of 

 accefs, benevolent in his difpofition, and obhging in his 

 manners. His papers on Chimneys, Ventilation, and Gar- 

 den-ftoves, were coUefted and pubhfhed in 1794 by Dr. 

 Willan. His papers in the Philofophical TranfaAions, 

 printed afterwards in the coUeftion of his works in 1792, 

 were the following : viz. " Thermometrical Obfervations at 

 Derby," in vol. Ivii. ; " An Account of a Machine for 

 raifing Water at Oulton in Chefhire," vol. Ixv. ; and " Ex- 



periments 



