right line to the objects, we can hear in the dark, immured, and by curve lines. Holder.

was.

The climate above thirty degrees, may pass for the Hesperides of our age, whatever or where-ever the other Temple. 'Tis not very probable that I should succeed in such a project, whereof I have not had the least hint from any of my predecessors, the poets. Dryden.

This delight they take in doing of mischief, whereby I mean the pleasure they take to put any thing in pain that is capable of it, is no other than a foreign and introduced disposition. Locke.

A point hath no dimensions, but only a whereness, and is next to nothing. Grew. Are not those found to be the greatest zealots who are most notoriously ignorant? whereas true zeal should always begin with true knowledge.

Sprat.

Those subterraneous waters were universal, as a dissolution of the exterior earth could not be made any where but it would fall into waters.

Burnet.

The prince could save from such a number of spoilers wherewithal to carry on his wars abroad.

Davenant.

Wherever he hath receded from the Mosaick account of the earth, he hath receded from nature and matter of fact. Woodward.

The frequency, warmth, and affection, wherewith they are proposed. Rogers. He cannot but love virtue, wherever it is. Atterbury. Ah! where was Eloise? Pope.

Whereas at first we had only three of these principles, their number is already swollen to five. Baker. There are times wherein a man ought to be cautious as well as innocent.

Swift. WHER'RY, n. s. Goth. veerie, is a light boat. A light boat used on rivers.

And in his oaken cup doth float
As safe as in a wherry.

Safe within my little wherry,
All their madness makes me merry.

WHET, v. a. & n. s.
WHETSTONE, n. s.
WHET'TER.

Drayton.

Swift.

Sax. hperran; Gothic huetia; Swedish huettia. To sharpen by attrition; to edge: hence to provoke; make angry: a whet is the act of sharpening; any thing that sharpens, as a dram the appetite, &c.: a whetstone is a stone for whetting whetter, he who whets.

They use their affection as a whetstone both to wit and memory.

Hooker.

He favoured the Christian merchants; and the more to whet him forwards, the bassa had cunningly insinuated into his acquaintance one Mulearabe. Knolles.

Fool, thou whett'st a knife to kill thyself. Shaks. I will whet on the king. Id. A whetstone is not an instrument to carve with, but it sharpens those that do. Shakspeare Illustrated.

The cause why onions, salt, and pepper, in baked meats, move appetite, is by vellication of those nerves; for motion whetteth.

Bacon.

Donne.

More.

Fairfax. Love and enmity are notable whetters and quickeners of the spirit of life in all animals. Unsophisticated vitriol, rubbed on the whetted blade of a knife, will not impart its colour.

Boyle.

Great contemporaries whet and cultivate each other. Dryden.

An iv'ry table is a certain whet; You would not think how heartily he'll eat. Id. Diligence is to the understanding as the whetstone to the razor; but the will is the hand that must apply the one to the other. South.

He assisted at four hundred bowls of punch, not to mention sips, drams, and whets. Spectator.

WHETH'ER, adv. & pron.. Sax. hpæðer. A particle expressing one part of a disjunctive question in opposition to the other; answered by or: which of the two?

Whether of them twain did the will of his father? Matthew xxi.

As they, so have we likewise a public form, how to serve God both morning and evening, whether sermons may be had or no. Hooker. Shakspeare.

Resolve whether you will or no. Perkin's three counsellors registered themselves sanctuary-men; and whether upon pardon obtained, or continuance within the privilege, they were not proceeded with.

Bacon.

South. Let them take whether they will: if they deduce all animals from single pairs, even to make the second of a pair is to write after a copy. Bentley.

The WHETSTONE, in the old system of mineralogy, was ranked as a genus of vitrescent stones, consisting of fragments of an indeterminate figure, subopaque, and granulated. There were several species, some consisting of rougher, and others of smoother, or even of altogether impalpable particles, and used not only for whet-stones, but also for mill-stones, and other such purposes. It was called cos by the Greeks. Another species was the cos turcica, or turkey-stone, a species of stones of the garnet kind, belonging to the siliceous class. It is of a dull white, and often of an unequal color, some parts appearing more compact than others. Its specific gravity is 2.598; it strikes fire with steel, and effervesces with acids. Mr. Kirwan found that 100 parts of it contained 25 of mild calcareous earth, and no iron. Cronstedt is of opinion that there are probably two sorts of stones known by this name, as that described by Wallerius neither gives fire with steel nor effervesces with acids. It is used as a whetstone; and those of the finest grain are the best hones for the most delicate cutting tools, razors, lancets, &c. See MINERALOGY, TURKOIS, and TURQUOISE.

In destructions by deluge, the remnant which hap to be reserved are ignorant.

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste.

Two fair twins,

Bacon.

Milton. Whichsoever of these he takes, and how often soever he doubles it, he finds that he is not one jot nearer the end of such addition than at first setting out. Locke. To which their want of judging abilities, add also their want of opportunity to apply to such consideration as may let them into the true goodness and evil of things, which are qualities which seldom display themselves to the first view. South. The puzzled strangers which is which enquire. Tickel. WHICHCOT (Benjamin), D. D., born in Shropshire in 1609, and educated at King's College, Cambridge, of which he became fellow, and at length provost, when he raised its funds to the most flourishing state by his economy. But in spite of his merits, having written Complimentary verses on Oliver Cromwell, he was, by order of Charles II., displaced from his provostship in 1661. But in 1662 he was chosen minister of St. Anne's Blackfriars. In 1668 he was made by the king vicar of St. Lawrence Jury, and preached for seven years before the court of aldermen at Guildhall. He died in 1668, and his funeral sermon was preached by archbishop Tillotson. The first volume of his Select Sermons was published by the earl of Shaftesbury in 1698; the three next by Dr. Jeffrey, and the fifth by Dr. S. Clarke.

WHIDAH, a county of Western Africa, and, till within the last half century, an independent kingdom; the most fertile and improved of any on the African coast. Its sea-shore indeed did not extend above nine or ten leagues, and its breadth inland was not quite so great; but being every where covered with towns and villages, and cultivated like a garden, it contained a considerable population, and some magnificent forests. These woods indeed became so many groves by the cultivated fields with which they were every where intersected, and in which were raised two or even three crops of rice, millet, maize, yams, and potatoes. The people in their manners exhibited nothing of the usual negro rudeness, but were mild, tame, and comparatively polished. Snake worship, however, one of the most degrading of superstitions, formed the leading feature of Whidan observance. The temple of the great snake formed the ornament of the capital, and was propitiated by lavish gifts, sometimes even by human sacrifices. Every town of any consequence had a similar temple on a smaller scale. Their mild and placable character, and their habits of industry, caused them to be much sought after as slaves. The English, Dutch, and Portuguese, established factories at Griwhee, or Whidah, which formed the principal sea-port, though the residence of the sovereign was at Xavier, or Sabi. This prosperous state of Whidah was entirely subverted in 1727 by the invasion of Guadja Trudo, the fierce and warlike sovereign of Dahomey, and the body of the nation was reduced to slavery. A considerable proportion of the Whidahs, however, escaped into the neighbouring country of Popo, whither their enemies were unable to pursue them, and in this retreat they have ever since retained their name and existence as a nation; but all their attempts have

been vain to regain possession of their original territory. WHIFF, n. s. WHIFFLE, V. n. WHIFFLER, n. s.

Sax.hpio; Welsh chwyth.

A blast; a puff of wind: to

Smove inconstantly, as with

the wind he who is so moved; an ancient officer of state.

Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide; But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword The unnerved father falls.

Shakspeare. Which, like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king, Seems to prepare his way.

Id.

Nothing is more familiar than for a whiffing fop, that has not one grain of the sense of a man of honour, to play the hero. L'Estrange.

Our fine young ladies retain in their service a great number of supernumerary and insignificant fellows, which they use like whifflers, and commonly call shoeing-horns. Spectator.

WHIG, n. s. Sax. hpcz. Whey; the WHIG'GISH, adj. name of a celebrated English WHIG'GISM, n. s. political party. See the extract from Burnet: the adjective and noun substantive correspond.

The marquis of Argyle and his party came and headed them, they being about six thousand. This was called the wiggamors' inroad; and, ever after that, all that opposed the court came in contempt to be called whigs and from Scotland the word was brought into England, where it is now one of our unhappy terms of disunion.

Burnet.

WHILE, n. s., adv., &-
WHILES, adv. [v. n.
WHILST,
WHIL'ERE,
WHIL'OM.

Sax. hpile; Irish huila. Time; space of time: while, adverb, whiles, and whilst, mean, during the time that; at the same time that: to while is to loiter : whilere, a little time or while ago: whilom, formerly; once.

Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God, for your professed subjection unto the gospel. 2 Corinthians, ix.

If my beauty be any thing, then let it obtain this much of you, that you will remain some while in this company, to ease your own travel, and our solitariness. Sidney.

Where now the studious lawyers have their bowers There whilom wont the templar knights abide, Till they decayed through pride.

Spenser.

A man of hell, that calls himself Despair.
That cursed wight from whom I 'scaped whilere,
Whiles I was protector,

Id.

Pity was all the fault that was in me. Shakspeare. Here lies Hobbinol, our shepherd whilere. Raleigh. We saw him feeding come,

And on his necke a burthen lugging home,

He found that marbles taught him percussion, and whirligigs the axis in peritrochio.

Arbuthnot and Pope. I have been watching what thoughts came up in the whirl of fancy that were worth communicating. Pope. From the brake the whirring pheasant springs, And mounts exulting on triumphant wings. They have ever been taught by their senses, that the sun, with all the planets and the fixed stars, are whirled round this little globe. Watts.

Id.

A WHIRLPOOL is an eddy, vortex, or gulf, where the water is continually turning round. Those in rivers are very common, from various accidents, and are usually very trivial, and of little consequence. In the sea they are more rare, but more dangerous. Sibbald has related the effects of a very remarkable marine whirlpool among the Orcades, which would prove very dangerous to strangers, though it is of no consequence to the people who are used to it. This is not fixed to any particular place, but appears in various parts of the limits of the sea among these islands. Wherever it appears, it is very furious; and boats, &c., would inevitably be drawn in and perish with it; but the people who navigate them are prepared for it, and always carry an empty vessel, a log of wood, or large bundle of straw, or some such thing, in the boat with them; as soon as they perceive the whirlpool, they toss this within its vortex, keeping themselves out; this substance, whatever it be, is immediately re

An easy means to prevent being one farthing the worse for the abatement of interest, is wearing a lawn whisk instead of a point de Venice. Child. Addison.

A painter added a pair of whiskers to the face.

If you break any china with the top of the whisk on the mantle-tree, gather up the fragments. Swift. WHISPER, v.n., v. a., & n. s. Į Sax. hpirpr, WHISPERER, n. s. breath; Belg. wisperen; Teut. wisper is a lisp. To speak with a low voice; to speak with suspicion or caution: to utter or address in a low voice; prompt: a low, soft speech or mode of utterance; he who whispers; he who back bites.

All that hate me whisper together against me.

Psalms. The court and city were full of whisperings, and expectation of some sudden change.

Sidney. Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak Whispers the o'erfraught heart, and bids it break. Shakspeare. The extension is more in tones than in speech; therefore the inward voice or whisper cannot, give a tone.

Bacon.