Chapter White Lies to Whittington of W by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

White Widow The Duchess of Tyrconnel, wife of Richard Talbot, Lord-deputy of Ireland under James II., created Duke of Tyrconnel a little before the king's abdication. After the death of Talbot, a female, supposed to be his duchess, supported herself for a few days by her needle. She wore a white mask, and dressed in white. ( Pennant: London, p. 147.)

White Witch (A). A cunning fellow; one knowing in white art in contradistinction to black art.

“Two or three years past there came to these parts one ... what the vulgar call a white witch, a cunning man, and such like.”- Sir W. Scott: Kenilworth, chap. ix.

White as Driven Snow (See Similes .)

White in the Eye It is said that the devil has no white in his eyes, and hence the French locution, “Celui qui n`a point de blanc en l'oeil. ” “Do you see any white in my eye?” is asked by one who means to insinuate he is no fool or no knave- that is, he is not like the devil with no white in the eye.

Whitebait Dinner The ministerial dinner that announces the near close of the parliamentary session. Sir Robert Preston, M.P. for Dover, first invited his friend George Rose (Secretary of the Treasury) and an elder brother of the Trinity House to dine with him at his fishing cottage on the banks of Dagenham Lake. This was at the close of the session. Rose on one occasion proposed that Mr. Pitt, their mutual friend, should be asked to join them; this was done, and Pitt promised to repeat his visit the year following, when other members swelled the party. This went on for several years, when Pitt suggested that the muster should be in future nearer town, and Greenwich was selected. Lord Camden next advised that each man should pay his quota. The dinner became an annual feast, and was until lately (1892) a matter of course. The time of meeting was Trinity Monday, or as near Trinity Monday as circumstances would allow, and therefore was near the close of the session.

Whiteboys A secret agrarian association organised in Ireland about the year 1759. So called because they wore white shirts in their nightly expeditions. In 1787 a new association appeared, the members of which called themselves “Right-boys.” The Whiteboys were originally called “Levellers,” from their throwing down fences and levelling enclosures. (See Levellers .)

Whitehall (London) obtained its name from the white and fresh appearance of the front, compared with the ancient buildings in York Place. (Brayley: Londoniana.) (See White House .)

Whitewashed Said of a person who has taken the benefit of the Insolvent Act. He went to prison covered with debts and soiled with “dirty ways:” he comes out with a clean bill to begin the contest of life afresh.

Whit-leather The skin of a horse cured and whitened for whip-thongs, hedging-gloves, and so on.

“Thy gerdill made of whitlether whange ...
is turned now to velvet.”
MS. Lansd., 241.

Whitsunday White Sunday. The seventh Sunday after Easter, to commemorate the “Descent of the Holy Ghost” on the day of Pentecost. In the Primitive Church the newly-baptised wore white from Easter to Pentecost, and were called albati (white-robed). The last of the Sundays, which was also the chief festival, was called emphatically Dominica in Albis (Sunday in White).
   Another etymology is Wit or Wisdom Sunday, the day when the Apostlec were filled with wisdom by the Holy Ghost.

“This day Wit-sonday is cald.
For wisdom and wit serene fald,
Was zonen to the Apostles as this day.”
Cambr. Univer. MSS., Dd. i. I, p. 234.

(Compare Witten-agemote.)

“We ought to kepe this our Witsonday bicause the law of God was then of the Holy Wyght on Ghost deliured gostly vnto vs.”- Taverner (1540).

“This day is called Wytsonday because the Holy Ghost brought wytte and wysdom into Christis disciples ... and filled them full of ghostly wytte.”- In die Pentecostis (printed by Wynken de Worde).

Whittington (See under Cat; alsoWittington .)
   Riley in his Munimenta Gildhalla Londenensis (p. xviii.) says achat was used at the time for “trading” (i.e. buying and selling), and that Whittington made his money by