Chapter Western to Whist of W by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Whang, an avaricious Chinese miller, who, by great thrift, was pretty well off. But one day, being told that a neighbour had found a pot of money which he had dreamt of, he began to be dissatisfied with his slow gains and longed for a dream also. At length the dream came. He dreamt there was a huge pot of gold concealed under his mill, and set to work to find it. The first omen of success was a broken mug, then a house-tile, and at length, after much digging, he came to a stone so large that he could not lift it. He ran to tell his luck to his wife, and the two tugged at the stone; but as they removed it, down fell the mill in utter ruins. —Goldsmith: A Citizen of the World, lxx. (1759).

What Next? a farce by T. Dibdin. Colonel Clifford meets at Brighton two cousins, Sophia and Clarissa Touchwood, and falls in love with the latter, who is the sister of major Touchwood. He imagines that her Christian name is Sophia, and so is accepted by colonel Touchwood, Sophia’s father. Now, it so happens that major Touchwood is in love with his cousin Sophia, and looks on colonel Clifford as his rival. The major tries to outwit his supposed rival, but finds they are both in error—that it is Clarissa whom the colonel wishes to marry, and that Sophia is free to marry the major.

What will he do with it? a novel by lord Lytton (1858).

Wheel of Fortune (The), a comedy by R. Cumberland (1779).

(For the plot and tale, see Penruddock, p. 823.)

Where art thou, Beam of Light? (See LUMON, p. 640.)

Whetstone Cut by a Razor (A). Accius Navius, the augur, cut a whetstone with a razor in the presence of Tarquin the elder.

In short, ’twas his fate, unemployed or in place, sir,
To eat mutton cold, and cut blocks with a razor.
   —Goldsmith: Retaliation (“Burke” is referred to, 1774)

Whiffers (Mr.), a footman in the “swarry,” related in chap. xxxvii. of the Pickwick Papers by Dickens (1836).

Whiffle (Captain, a loathsome fop, “radiant in silk lace and diamond buckles.”—Smollett: Roderick Random (1748).

Whimple (Mrs.), in Great Expectations, a novel by Dickens (1861).

Whims (Queen), the monarch of Whimdom, or country of whims, fancies, and literary speculations. Her subjects were alchemists, astrologers, fortunetellers, rhymers, projectors, schoolmen, and so forth. The best way of reaching this empire is “to trust to the whirlwind and the current.” When Pantagruel’s ship ran aground, it was towed off by 7,000,000 drums quite easily. These drums are the vain imaginings of whimsyists. Whenever a person is perplexed at any knotty point of science or doctrine, some drum will serve for a nostrum to pull him through.—Rabelais: Pantagruel, v.18, etc. (1545).

Whimsey, a whimsical, kindhearted old man, father to Charlotte and “young” Whimsey.

As suspicious of everybody above him, as if he had been bred a rogue himself.—Act i. 1.

Charlotte Whimsey, the pretty daughter of old Whimsey; in love with Monford. —J. Cobb: The First Floor.

Whip with Six Lashes, the “Six Articles of Henry VIII. (1539).

Whipping Boy, a boy kept to be whipped when a prince deserved chastisement.

(1) BARNABY FITZPATRICK stood for Edward VI.