Chapter Westall to Whewell of W by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Westall to Whewell

Westall, William (1834-1903).—Novelist, was originally in business, but later betook himself to journalism, and also wrote a large number of novels, including The Old Factory, Strange Crimes, Her Ladyship’s Secret, etc., which, while healthy in tone and interesting, have no literary distinction.

Wharton, Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquis of (1648-1715).—Statesman and writer of “Lillibullero,” son of the 4th Baron Wharton, was one of the most profligate men of his age. He was a supporter of the Exclusion Bill, and consequently obnoxious to James II. His only contribution to literature was the doggerel ballad, “Lillibullero” (1688), which had so powerful a political effect that its author claimed to have sung a King out of three kingdoms. He was generally disliked and distrusted, but held for a short time, from 1708, the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, when he had Addison as his chief sec.

Whateley, Richard (1787-1863).—Theologian and economist, son of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Whateley, born in London, and ed. at a school in Bristol, and at Oxford, where he became a College 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 Principal of St. Alban’s Hall, in 1829 Professor of Political Economy, and in 1831 Archbishop of Dublin. As head of a College and as a prelate Whateley 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 Oxford movement, was strongly anti-Calvinistic, and somewhat Latitudinarian, 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 edition 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 Cassandra, translated from Cinthio’s Hecatomithi, was used by Shakespeare in Measure for Measure.

Whewell, William (1794-1866).—Philosopher, theologian and mathematician, son of a joiner at Lancaster, where he was b., ed. at Cambridge, where he had a brilliant career. He became Professor of Mineralogy at Cambridge 1828, of Moral Theology 1838, was Master of Trinity from 1841 until his death, and he held the office of Vice-Chancellor of the University in 1843 and 1856. Whewell was remarkable as the possessor of an encyclopædic 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 Whewell 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.