[White Mountains], a range of mountains in Maine and New Hampshire, U.S., forming part of the Appalachian system; much frequented by tourists on account of the scenery, which has won for it the name of the "Switzerland of America"; Mount Washington, one of the hills, has a hotel on the summit approached by a railway.
[White Nile], one of the two streams forming the Nile, which flows out of the Albert Nyanza, and which unites with the Blue Nile from Abyssinia near Khartoum.
[White Sea], a large inlet of the Arctic Ocean, in the N. of Russia, which is entered by a long channel and branches inward into three bays; it is of little service for navigation, being blocked with ice all the year except in June, July, and August, and even when open encumbered with floating ice, and often enveloped in mists at the same time.
[Whiteboys], a secret Irish organisation that at the beginning of George III.'s reign asserted their grievances by perpetrating agrarian outrages; so called from the white smocks the members wore in their nightly raids.
[Whitefield, George], founder of Calvinistic Methodism, born at Gloucester; was an associate of [Wesley] (q. v.) at Oxford, and afterwards as preacher of Methodism both in this country and America, commanding crowded audiences wherever he went, and creating, in Scotland particularly, a deep religious awakening, but who separated from Wesley on the matter of election; died near Boston, U.S. (1714-1770).
[Whitehaven] (18), a seaport of Cumberland, 38 m. SW. of Carlisle, with coal and hematite iron mines in the neighbourhood; has blast-furnaces, iron-works, and manufactures of various kinds, with a considerable coasting traffic.
[Whitelocke, Bulstrode], a statesman of the Commonwealth, born in London; studied law at the Middle Temple: sat in the Long Parliament, and was moderate in his zeal for the popular side; at the Restoration his name was included in the Act of Oblivion, but he took no part afterwards in public affairs; left "Memorials" of historical value (1605-1675).
[Whitgift, John], archbishop of Canterbury, born at Great Grimsby; was educated at Cambridge, and became Fellow and Master of Pembroke College; escaped persecution under Queen Mary, and on the accession of Elizabeth was ordained a priest; after a succession of preferments, both as a theologian and an ecclesiastic, became archbishop in 1583; attended Queen Elizabeth on her deathbed, and crowned James I.; was an Anglican prelate to the backbone, and specially zealous against the Puritans; contemplated, with no small apprehension, the accession of James, "in terror of a Scotch mist coming down on him with this new Majesty from the land of Knox, or Nox, Chaos, and Company"; his last words were, with uplifted hands and eyes, a prayer for the Church, uttered in King James's hearing (1530-1604).
[Whithorn], a small town in Wigtownshire, 12 m. S. of Wigtown, celebrated as the spot where St. Ninian planted Christianity in Scotland, and founded a church to St. Martin in 397.
[Whitman, Walt], the poet of "Democracy," born in Long Island, U.S., of parents of mingled English and Dutch blood; was a large-minded, warm-hearted man, who led a restless life, and had more in him than he had training to unfold either in speech or act; a man eager, had he known how, to do service in the cause of his much-loved mankind; wrote "Leaves of Grass," "Drum-Taps," and "Two Rivulets" (1819-1892).