A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature Part 50

WHATELEY, RICHARD (1787-1863).--Theologian and economist, _s._ of the Rev. Dr. Joseph W., _b._ in London, and _ed._ at a school in Bristol, and at Oxf., where he became a coll. tutor. Taking orders he became Rector of Halesworth, Suffolk. In 1822 he delivered his Bampton lectures on _The Use and Abuse of Party Feeling in Religion_. Three years later he was made Princ.i.p.al of St. Alban's Hall, in 1829 Prof. of Political Economy, and in 1831 Archbishop of Dublin. As head of a coll. and as a prelate W.

showed great energy and administrative ability. He was a vigorous, clear-headed personality, somewhat largely endowed with contempt for views with which he was not in sympathy, and with a vein of caustic humour, in the use of which he was not sparing. These qualities made him far from universally popular; but his honesty, fairness, and devotion to duty gained for him general respect. He had no sympathy with the Oxf.

movement, was strongly anti-Calvinistic, and somewhat Lat.i.tudinarian, so that he was exposed to a good deal of theological odium from opposite quarters. He was a voluminous writer, and among his best known works are his treatises on _Logic_ (1826) and _Rhetoric_ (1828), his _Historic Doubts relative to Napoleon Buonaparte_ (1819), intended as a _reductio ad absurdum_ of Hume's contention that no evidence is sufficient to prove a miracle, _Essays on some Peculiarities of the Christian Religion_ (1825), _Christian Evidences_ (1837), and ed. of Bacon's _Essays_ with valuable notes, and of Paley's _Evidences_.

WHETSTONE, GEORGE (1544?-1587?).--Dramatist, one of the early, roistering playwrights who frequented the Court of Elizabeth, later served as a soldier in the Low Countries, accompanied Sir Humphrey Gilbert's expedition to Newfoundland in 1578, and was at the Battle of Zutphen in 1586. He was a trenchant critic of the contemporary drama, contending for greater reality and rationality. His play, _Promos and Ca.s.sandra_, translated from Cinthio's _Hecatomithi_, was used by Shakespeare in _Measure for Measure_.

WHEWELL, WILLIAM (1794-1866).--Philosopher, theologian and mathematician, _s._ of a joiner at Lancaster, where he was _b._, _ed._ at Camb., where he had a brilliant career. He became Prof. of Mineralogy at Camb. 1828, of Moral Theology 1838, was Master of Trinity from 1841 until his death, and he held the office of Vice-Chancellor of the Univ. in 1843 and 1856.

W. was remarkable as the possessor of an encyclopaedic fund of knowledge, perhaps unprecedented, and he was the author of a number of works of great importance on a variety of subjects. Among the chief of these may be mentioned his Bridgewater Treatise on _Astronomy and General Physics considered with Reference to Natural Theology_ (1833), _History of the Inductive Sciences_ (1837), _The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences_ (1840), _Essay on Plurality of Worlds_ (anonymously), _Elements of Morality_ (1845), _History of Moral Philosophy in England_ (1852), and _Platonic Dialogues_. In addition to these he wrote innumerable articles, reviews, and scientific papers. It was as a co-ordinator of knowledge and the researches of others that W. excelled; he was little of an original observer or discoverer. He is described as a large, strong, erect man with a red face and a loud voice, and he was an overwhelming and somewhat arrogant talker.

WHICHCOTE, BENJAMIN (1609-1683).--Divine, belonged to a good Shrops.h.i.+re family, and was at Camb., where he became Provost of King's Coll., of which office he was deprived at the Restoration. He was of liberal views, and is reckoned among the Camb. Platonists, over whom he exercised great influence. His works consist of _Discourses_ and _Moral and Religious Aphorisms_. In 1668 he was presented to the living of St. Lawrence, Jewry, London, which he held until his death.

WHIPPLE, EDWIN PERCY (1819-1886).--Essayist and critic, _b._ in Ma.s.sachusetts, was a brilliant and discriminating critic. His works include _Character and Characteristic Men_, _Literature and Life_, _Success and its Conditions_, _Literature of the Age of Elizabeth_, _Literature and Politics_, etc.

WHISTON, WILLIAM (1667-1752).--Theologian, and man of science, _b._ at Norton, Leicesters.h.i.+re, and _ed._ at Camb., where he succeeded Newton as Lucasian Prof. of Mathematics, was a prominent advocate of the Newtonian system, and wrote a _Theory of the Earth_ against the views of Thomas Burnet (_q.v._). He also wrote several theological works, _Primitive Christianity Revived_ and the _Primitive New Testament_. The Arian views promulgated in the former led to his expulsion from the Univ. His best known work was his translation of _Josephus_. He was a kindly and honest, but eccentric and impracticable man, and an insatiable controversialist.

WHITE, GILBERT (1720-1793).--Naturalist, _b._ at Selborne, Hants, and _ed._ along with the Wartons (_q.v._) at their father's school at Basingstoke, and thereafter at Oxf., entered the Church, and after holding various curacies settled, in 1755, at Selborne. He became the friend and correspondent of Pennant the naturalist (_q.v._), and other men of science, and _pub._ in the form of letters the work which has made him immortal, _The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne_ (1789).

He was never _m._, but was in love with the well-known bluestocking Hester Mulso, afterwards Mrs. Chapone, who rejected him. He had four brothers, all more or less addicted to the study of natural history.

WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806).--Poet, _s._ of a butcher at Nottingham.

At first a.s.sisting his _f._, next a stocking weaver, he was afterwards placed in the office of an attorney. Some contributions to a newspaper introduced him to the notice of Capel Lofft, a patron of promising youths, by whose help he brought out a vol. of poems, which fell into the hands of Southey, who wrote to him. Thereafter friends raised a fund to send him to Camb., where he gave brilliant promise. Overwork, however, undermined a const.i.tution originally delicate, and he _d._ at 21. Southey wrote a short memoir of him with some additional poems. His chief poem was the _Christiad_, a fragment. His best known production is the hymn, "Much in sorrow, oft in Woe."

WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841).--Poet, _s._ of a merchant, an Irish Roman Catholic resident at Seville, where he was _b._, became a priest, but lost his religious faith and came to England, where he conducted a Spanish newspaper having for its main object the fanning of the flame of Spanish patriotism against the French invasion, which was subsidised by the English Government. He again embraced Christianity, and entered the Church of England, but latterly became a Unitarian. He wrote, among other works, _Internal Evidences against Catholicism_ (1825), and _Second Travels of an Irish Gentleman in search of a Religion_, in answer to T.

Moore's work, _Travels, etc._ His most permanent contribution to literature, however, is his single sonnet on "Night", which Coleridge considered "the finest and most grandly conceived" in our language.

WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885).--Shakespearian scholar, _b._ in New York State, was long Chief of the Revenue Marine Bureau, and was one of the most acute students and critics of Shakespeare, of whose works he _pub._ two ed., the first in 1865, and the second (the Riverside) in 1883. He also wrote _Words and their Uses_, _Memoirs of Shakespeare_, _Studies in Shakespeare_, _The New Gospel of Peace_ (a satire), _The Fate of Mansfield Humphreys_ (novel), etc.

WHITEHEAD, CHARLES (1804-1862).--Poet, novelist, and dramatist; is specially remembered for three works, all of which met with popular favour: _The Solitary_ (1831), a poem, _The Autobiography of Jack Ketch_ (1834), a novel, and _The Cavalier_ (1836), a play in blank verse. He recommended d.i.c.kens for the writing of the letterpress for R. Seymour's drawings, which ultimately developed into _The Pickwick Papers_.

WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM (1715-1785).--Poet, _s._ of a baker at Camb., and _ed._ at Winchester School and Camb., became tutor in the family of the Earl of Jersey, and retained the favour of the family through life. In 1757 he succeeded Colley Cibber as Poet Laureate. He wrote plays of only moderate quality, including _The Roman Father_ and _Creusa_, tragedies, and _The School for Lovers_, a comedy; also poems, _The Enthusiast_ and _Variety_. His official productions as Laureate were severely attacked, which drew from him in reply _A Charge to the Poets_.

WHITMAN, WALTER or WALT (1819-1892).--Poet, was _b._ at Huntingdon, Long Island, New York. His mother was of Dutch descent, and the farm on which he was _b._ had been in the possession of his father's family since the early settlement. His first education was received at Brooklyn, to which his _f._ had removed while W. was a young child. At 13 he was in a printing office, at 17 he was teaching and writing for the newspapers, and at 21 was editing one. The next dozen years were pa.s.sed in desultory work as a printer with occasional literary excursions, but apparently mainly in "loafing" and observing his fellow-creatures. It was not till 1855 that his first really characteristic work, _Leaves of Gra.s.s_, appeared. This first ed. contained only 12 poems. Notwithstanding its startling departures from conventionality both in form and substance it was well received by the leading literary reviews and, with certain reserves to be expected, it was welcomed by Emerson. It did not, however, achieve general acceptance, and was received with strong and not unnatural protest in many quarters. When a later ed. was called for Emerson unsuccessfully endeavoured to persuade the author to suppress the more objectionable parts. On the outbreak of the Civil War W. volunteered as a nurse for the wounded, and rendered much useful service. The results of his experiences and observations were given in verse in _Drum Taps_ and _The Wound Dresser_, and in prose in _Specimen Days_. From these scenes he was removed by his appointment to a Government clerks.h.i.+p, from which, however, he was soon dismissed on the ground of having written books of an immoral tendency. This action of the authorities led to a somewhat warm controversy, and after a short interval W. received another Government appointment, which he held until 1873, when he had a paralytic seizure, which rendered his retirement necessary. Other works besides those mentioned are _Two Rivulets_ and _Democratic Vistas_. In his later years he retired to Camden, New Jersey, where he _d._ W. is the most unconventional of writers. Revolt against all convention was in fact his self-proclaimed mission. In his versification he discards rhyme almost entirely, and metre as generally understood. And in his treatment of certain pa.s.sions and appet.i.tes, and of unadulterated human nature, he is at war with what he considered the conventions of an effeminate society, in which, however, he adopts a mode of utterance which many people consider equally objectionable, overlooking, as he does, the existence through all the processes of nature of a principle of reserve and concealment. Amid much that is prosaic and rhetorical, however, it remains true that there is real poetic insight and an intense and singularly fresh sense of nature in the best of his writings.

_Works_, 12 vols., with _Life_. _See_ Stedman's _Poets of America_.

Monographs by Symonds, Clarke, and Salter.

WHITNEY, WILLIAM DWIGHT (1827-1894).--Philologist, _b._ at Northampton, Ma.s.s., was Prof. of Sanskrit, etc., at Yale, and chief ed. of the _Century Dictionary_. Among his books are _Darwinism and Language_ and _The Life and Growth of Language_.

WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF (1807-1892).--Poet, was _b._ at Haverhill, Ma.s.sachusetts, of a Quaker family. In early life he worked on a farm. His later years were occupied partly in journalism, partly in farming, and he seems also to have done a good deal of local political work. He began to write verse at a very early age, and continued to do so until almost his latest days. He was always a champion of the anti-slavery cause, and by his writings both as journalist and poet, did much to stimulate national feeling in the direction of freedom. Among his poetical works are _Voices of Freedom_ (1836), _Songs of Labour_ (1851), _Home Ballads_ (1859), _In War Time_ (1863), _Snow Bound_ (1866), _The Tent on the Beach_ (1867), _Ballads of New England_ (1870), _The Pennsylvania Pilgrim_ (1874). W.

had true feeling and was animated by high ideals. Influenced in early life by the poems of Burns, he became a poet of nature, with which his early upbringing brought him into close and sympathetic contact; he was also a poet of faith and the ideal life and of liberty. He, however, lacked concentration and intensity, and his want of early education made him often loose in expression and faulty in form; and probably a comparatively small portion of what he wrote will live.

WHYTE-MELVILLE, GEORGE JOHN (1821-1878).--Novelist, _s._ of a country gentleman of Fife, _ed._ at Eton, entered the army, and saw service in the Crimea, retiring in 1859 as Major. Thereafter he devoted himself to field sports, in which he was an acknowledged authority, and to literature. He wrote a number of novels, mainly founded on sporting subjects, though a few were historical. They include _Kate Coventry_, _The Queen's Maries_, _The Gladiators_, and _Satanella_. He also wrote _Songs and Verses_ and _The True Cross_, a religious poem. He _d._ from an accident in the hunting-field.

WICLIF, or WYCLIF, JOHN (1320?-1384).--Theologian and translator of the Bible, _b._ near Richmond, Yorks.h.i.+re, studied at Balliol Coll., Oxf., of which he became in 1361 master, and taking orders, became Vicar of Fillingham, Lincolns.h.i.+re, when he resigned his masters.h.i.+p, and in 1361 Prebendary of Westbury. By this time he had written a treatise on logic, and had won some position as a man of learning. In 1372 he took the degree of Doctor of Theology, and became Canon of Lincoln, and in 1374 was sent to Bruges as one of a commission to treat with Papal delegates as to certain ecclesiastical matters in dispute, and in the same year he became Rector of Lutterworth, where he remained until his death. His liberal and patriotic views on the questions in dispute between England and the Pope gained for him the favour of John of Gaunt and Lord Percy, who accompanied him when, in 1377, he was summoned before the ecclesiastical authorities at St. Paul's. The Court was broken up by an inroad of the London mob, and no sentence was pa.s.sed upon him. Another trial at Lambeth in the next year was equally inconclusive. By this time W. had taken up a position definitely antagonistic to the Papal system.

He organised his inst.i.tution of poor preachers, and initiated his great enterprise of translating the Scriptures into English. His own share of the work was the Gospels, probably the whole of the New Testament and possibly part of the Old. The whole work was ed. by John Purvey, an Oxf.

friend, who had joined him at Lutterworth, the work being completed by 1400. In 1380 W. openly rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation, and was forbidden to teach at Oxf., where he had obtained great influence. In 1382 a Court was convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, which pa.s.sed sentence of condemnation upon his views. It says much for the position which he had attained, and for the power of his supporters, that he was permitted to depart from Oxf. and retire to Lutterworth, where, worn out by his labours and anxieties, he _d._ of a paralytic seizure on the last day of 1384. His enemies, baffled in their designs against him while living, consoled themselves by disinterring his bones in 1428 and throwing them into the river Swift, of which Thomas Fuller (_q.v._) has said, "Thus this brook has conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the Narrow Seas, they into the main ocean, and thus the ashes of Wicliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over." The works of W. were chiefly controversial or theological and, as literature, have no great importance, but his translation of the Bible had indirectly a great influence not only by tending to fix the language, but in a far greater degree by furthering the moral and intellectual emanc.i.p.ation on which true literature is essentially founded.

WILBERFORCE, WILLIAM (1759-1833).--Philanthropist and religious writer, _s._ of a merchant, was _b._ at Hull, _ed._ at Camb., entered Parliament as member for his native town, became the intimate friend of Pitt, and was the leader of the crusade against the slave-trade and slavery. His chief literary work was his _Practical View of Christianity_, which had remarkable popularity and influence, but he wrote continually and with effect on the religious and philanthropic objects to which he had devoted his life.

WILc.o.x, CARLES (1794-1827).--Poet, _b._ at Newport, N.H., was a Congregationalist minister. He wrote a poem, _The Age of Benevolence_, which was left unfinished, and which bears manifest traces of the influence of Cowper.

WILDE, OSCAR O'FLAHERTY (1856-1900).--Poet and dramatist, _s._ of Sir William W., the eminent surgeon, was _b._ at Dublin, and _ed._ there at Trinity Coll. and at Oxf. He was one of the founders of the modern cult of the aesthetic. Among his writings are _Poems_ (1881), _The Picture of Dorian Gray_, a novel, and several plays, including _Lady Windermere's Fan_, _A Woman of no Importance_, and _The Importance of being Earnest_.

He was convicted of a serious offence, and after his release from prison went abroad and _d._ at Paris. _Coll._ ed. of his works, 12 vols., 1909.

WILKES, JOHN (1727-1797).--Politician, _s._ of a distiller in London, was _ed._ at Leyden. Witty, resourceful, but unprincipled and profligate, he became from circ.u.mstances the representative and champion of important political principles, including that of free representation in Parliament. His writings have nothing of the brilliance and point of his social exhibitions, but his paper, _The North Briton_, and especially the famous "No. 45," in which he charged George III. with uttering a falsehood in his speech from the throne, caused so much excitement, and led to such important results that they give him a place in literature.

He also wrote a highly offensive _Essay on Woman_. W. was expelled from the House of Commons and outlawed, but such was the strength of the cause which he championed that, notwithstanding the worthlessness of his character, his right to sit in the House was ultimately admitted in 1774, and he continued to sit until 1790. He was also Lord Mayor of London.

WILKIE, WILLIAM (1721-1772).--Poet, _b._. in Linlithgows.h.i.+re, _s._ of a farmer, and _ed._ at Edin., he entered the Church, and became minister of Ratho, Midlothian, in 1756, and Prof. of Natural Philosophy at St.

Andrews in 1759. In 1757 he _pub._ the _Epigoniad_, dealing with the Epigoni, sons of the seven heroes who fought against Thebes. He also wrote _Moral Fables in Verse_.

WILKINS, JOHN (1614-1672).--Mathematician and divine, _s._ of a goldsmith in Oxf., but _b._ at Daventry and _ed._ at Oxf., entered the Church, held many preferments, and became Bishop of Chester. He _m._ a sister of Oliver Cromwell, and being of an easy temper and somewhat accommodating principles, he pa.s.sed through troublous times and many changes with a minimum of hards.h.i.+p. He was one of the band of learned men whom Charles II. incorporated as the Royal Society. Among his writings are _The Discovery of a World in the Moon_, _Mathematical Magic_, and _An Essay towards ... a Philosophical Language_.

WILKINSON, SIR JOHN GARDNER (1797-1875).--Egyptologist, _s._ of a Westmoreland clergyman, studied at Oxf. In 1821 he went to Egypt, and remained there and in Nubia exploring, surveying, and studying the hieroglyphical inscriptions, on which he made himself one of the great authorities. He _pub._ two important works, of great literary as well as scholarly merit, _Materia Hieroglyphica_ (1828) and _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians_ (6 vols., 1837-41). He wrote various books of travel, and was knighted in 1839.

WILLIAM of MALMESBURY (_fl._ 12th cent.).--Historian, was an inmate of the great monastery at Malmesbury. His name is said to have been Somerset, and he was Norman by one parent and English by the other. The date of his birth is unknown, that of his death has sometimes been fixed as 1142 on the ground that his latest work stops abruptly in that year.

His history, written in Latin, falls into two parts, _Gesta Regum Anglorum_ (Acts of the Kings of the English), in five books, bringing the narrative down from the arrival of the Saxons to 1120, and _Historia Novella_ (Modern History), carrying it on to 1142. The work is characterised by a love of truth, much more critical faculty in sifting evidence than was then common, and considerable attention to literary form. It is dedicated to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the champion of Queen Matilda. Other works by W. are _De Gestis Pontific.u.m Anglorum_, Lives of the English Bishops, and a history of the Monastery of Glas...o...b..ry.

WILLIAM of NEWBURGH, or NEWBURY (1136-1198?).--Historian, belonged to the monastery of Newburgh in Yorks.h.i.+re. His own name is said to have been Little. His work, _Historia Rerum Anglicarum_ (History of English affairs), is written in good Latin, and has some of the same qualities as that of William of Malmesbury (_q.v._). He rejects the legend of the Trojan descent of the early Britons, and animadverts severely on what he calls "the impudent and impertinent lies" of Geoffrey of Monmouth (_q.v._). His record of contemporary events is careful.

WILLIAMS, SIR CHARLES HANBURY (1708-1759).--Diplomatist and satirist, _s._ of John Hanbury, a Welsh ironmaster, a.s.sumed the name of Williams on succeeding to an estate, entered Parliament as a supporter of Walpole, held many diplomatic posts, and was a brilliant wit with a great contemporary reputation for lively and biting satires and lampoons.

WILLIS, BROWNE (1682-1760).--Antiquary, _ed._ at Westminster and Oxf., entered the Inner Temple 1700, sat in the House of Commons 1705-8. He wrote _History of the Counties, Cities, and Boroughs of England and Wales_ (1715), _Not.i.tia Parliamentaria_, etc.