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* WHITBY. 478 WHITE. land, on both sides of the mouth of the Esk, where it enters the North Sea, 50 miles north- east of York (Map: England, F 2). The old town, ancientlj' called Streoneshalh, with its picturesque houses, rises in terraces on the cliff crowned by the noble ruins of the Benedictine abbey founded by Saint Hilda about 657. Here lived and died Cfednion (q.v.). In 807 the abbey was burned by the Danes, who renamed the town Whitby (White-town). In 1078 it was rebuilt by William de Percy as a monastery for men only. Hence the nuns of AVhitby described by Sir Walter Scott in Mar- mioH are a pure fiction. The magnificent ruins we now see belong of course to the second abbey, for the old buildings of wood and thatch must have been utterly destroyed. The new portion of the town is on the west cliff. A swivel bridge connects the two parts of the town, and admits vessels into the inner harbor. There are ship- building and repairing docks, rope and sailmak- ing works, an actie import and export trade, important herring fisheries, and a specialty is the manufactui'e of jet ornaments from a variety of petrified wood found in the vicinitv- Popu- lation, in 1S91. 1.3,075; in 1001, 11,748. Con- sult Robinson, Whithij and Its Ahhey (London, 1860), and see Wilfbid. WHITCHER, Fr. ces Miriam (Berry) (1811-52). An American humorist, born at Whitestown, N. Y. She contributed poems and sketches to the newspapers and won much celebrity for her Inunorous creation. "The Widow Bedott." She married the Rev. Benjamin W. Whitcher, of Elmira, N. Y., in 1847, and it is said that the claims of people who thought she had used them as models drove her and her hus- band from his charge. Her chief book, JVidoiv Bedott Pollers, was gathered from her writings in 1855, and a coarsely amusing play w-as after- wards made from it by D. R. Locke. WHITE, Andrew Dickson (1832—). An American educator, diplomat, and author, born at Homer. N. Y. He graduated at Yale in 1853; studied for some time in Paris; was attache to the United States Legation at Saint Petersburg during part of the Crimean War; studied in the Universit}' of Berlin: and in 1857 became pro- fessor of history and English literature in the L'niversity of Micliigan. Five years later bad health compelled him to go abroad, and while there he published in London A Word from the 'Sorthicest in reply to William H, Russell's American Diary. In the following year he was elected to the New York Senate, and was later reelected. In 18G7 he became president of Cor- nell University (q.v.). which he had helped to found, and occupied that position, together with the professorship of history, until 1885. In this year he resigned, and two years later endowed the new school, which in his honor was called the President White School of History and Politi- cal Science, with his historical library, consist- ing of about 30,000 volumes and 10,000 pam- phlets and manuscripts. The cost of this li- brary had been more than .$100,000, and in ad- dition he had already given the university about .$100,000 in money, 'in 1871 he was one of the conirnissioners sent to study the desirability of annexing Santo Domingo; in 1876 he was chair- man of the jury of public instruction at the Centennial E.xposition; in 1878 was honorary commissioner to the Paris Exposition, and re- ceived the officer's cross of the Legion of Honor; and from 1879 until 1881 was Minister to the German Empire. From 1892 until 1894 he was Minister to Russia; in 1896 he was appointed a. member of the commission to investigate the Venezuelan-Guiana boundary line; from 1897 until 1902 was Ambassador to Germany, and in 1899 was made chairman of the American dele- gation to the Hague Peace Conference. In ad- dition to the work mentioned he published Out- lines of a Course of Lectures on History ( 1861 ) ; tiyllaJjus of Lectures on Modern History (1876) ; The Warfare of Science (1876), very greatly en- larged as History of the Warfare of Science Ayainst Theology (1898); Paper Money In- flation in France (1870; several times repub- lished under various titles) ; and many articles, monographs, and lectures. In 1903 his reminis- cences of diplomatic life were published in the Century Magazine. ■ WHITE, Charles Abiathar (1820—). An American geologist, born at North Dighton, Mass. From 1806 to 1870 he was State Geologist of Iowa; from 1807 to 1873 professor of natural history in the University of Iowa, and from 1873 to 1875 held a similar chair in Bowdoin College. He was geologist and ^paleontologist of the United States Geographical Survey of the Rocky Mountain region in 1875-76, in 1876-79 was a member of the geological survey of the territories, and from 1878 to 1894 was in charge of the paleontological collection of the National Museum. In 1883-84 he was president of the Biological Society of Washington, was elected a vice-president of the .American .ssociation for the Advancement of Science in 1888, and trav- eled extensively in field work and explorations. His publications include 211 titles, catalogued (from 1800 to 1885) by J. B. Marcott (1885). WHITE, David (1862—). An American geologist, born at Palmyra, N. Y. He graduated at Cornell University in 1886 and became a mem- ber of the United States Geological Survey. He was also appointed honorary custodian of Paleozoic fossil plants in the Smithsonian In- stitution. His numerous papers on geological and ])aleontological subjects were published in Gov- ernment reports and scientific reviews. WHITE, Edward Douola.ss (184.5—). An . ierican jurist, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was born in La Fourche Parish, La.; was educated at Mount Saint Mary's College (Emmitsburg, ]il.). Georgetown College (Georgetown, D. C), and the Jesuit College at New Orleans; and served in the Confederate Army during part of the Civil War. In 1868 he was admitted to the Louisiana bar, and soon attiiined cnnsideralile prominence in his profession. He was ;i member of the State Senate from 1874 to 1878. was an associate jus- tice of the Supreme Court of Loiiisiana from 1878 to 1801, was then a Democratic member of the United States Senate for three years, anil in February. 1894, was appointed an associate jis- tice of the United States Supreme Court, WHITE, Edwin (1817-77). An American historical and genre painter, born at Soiith llad- ley, Mass. He began to paint portr;iits at a very early age, and studied in Paris under Pieot, and subsequently in Rome, Florence, and Diissel-