Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/572

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WHITEFIELD.
484
WHITEHALL.

health was poor at this time and his power of preaching somewhat impaired. In October, 1765, he dedicated the Countess of Huntingdon's chapel at Bath, opened her college at Trevecca in August, 1768, and dedicated the chapel at Tunbridge Wells in July, 1769. Two or three months later he sailed for the seventh time for America. He went to Savannah, and preached much in Pennsylvania and New England. On September 29, 1770, after preaching for two hours at Exeter, N. H., he went to Newburyport, Mass., where he died the next morning. He is buried in the Church of Newburyport. Whitefield is said to have preached more than 18,000 sermons. His great power was due to his delivery rather than to the matter of his discourses, and his writings do not sustain the impression derived from the accounts of his preaching. He was not an organizer, and his congregations scattered as soon as he left them. Many of his converts united with the Methodists. A number of his sermons and journals were collected and published in six volumes, with a seventh volume of Memoirs by John Gillies (London, 1771-72). Of the many later biographies, that by Tyerman (London, 1876-77) is the most complete.

WHITEFISH. One of the many important fishes of the genus Coregonus, of the salmon family, of which about fifteen species inhabit the lakes and streams of Northern Europe, Asia, and America. They have an elongated, compressed body, with a conical head, projecting snout, and a small, toothless mouth. The scales are larger than in the other salmon, the caudal fin is deeply forked, and the dorsal fin is followed by an adipose dorsal. They are bluish olivaceous above, silvery on sides and below. The most familiar species is the common whitefish (Coregonus clupeiformis), which exists throughout the Great Lakes and adjacent waters, and is the most important fresh-water fish in America. The annual catch of whitefish in Canada and the United States is about 30,000,000 pounds, representing a value of $1,500,000. Whitefish reach a size of twenty pounds in rare cases, the average weight being about four pounds. They remain in deep water for the most part, but during the spawning season, which is in autumn, and at certain other times, for purposes which are not yet clear, they migrate to shallower water in great shoals. They live mainly on small crustaceans, mollusks, insects, and larvæ. A single fish will yield from 25,000 to 75,000 eggs, which are extensively propagated artificially by the United States Fish Commission.

The Rocky Mountain whitefish, or ‘mountain herring’ (Coregonus Williamsoni), is an excellent species numerous in clear streams from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast; it is a favorite of anglers, as it will take a fly. The broad whitefish or ‘muksun’ (Coregonus Kennicotti) is the best known of several Arctic species. The ‘humpback’ (Coregonus Nelsoni) is Alaskan. The ‘Sault’ whitefish (Coregonus Labradoricus) is a fine species numerous in all clear lakes and streams from Lake Winnipeg to Labrador and southward into the Adirondack and White Mountains, where it is known as the ‘whiting of Lake Winnipiseogee.’ The lakes from New England northeastward to Alaska contain a valuable species of dark color (Coregonus quadrilateralis) called ‘roundfish,’ ‘shadwaiter,’ ‘Menominee whitefish,’ ‘pilot-fish,’ etc. The ciscoes (q.v.) constitute another and closely related group (the genus Argyrosomus), containing several useful species, as the cisco, blackfin, tullibee, and others (qq.v.). The inconnu is another ‘whitefish,’ of the genus Stenodus.

Consult Jordan and Evermann, Fishes of North and Middle America (Washington, 1896). See Salmon; and Plate of Whitefish, etc.

WHITEFRIARS. A region in London near Fleet Street, where a monastery of the Carmelites, dating from the thirteenth century, formerly stood. Until the end of the seventeenth century it formed a place of sanctuary for debtors and criminals. See Alsatia.

WHITE GOAT. See Rocky Mountain White Goat.

WHITEHALL. A former palace in London, once the residence of Hubert de Burgh. In the middle of the thirteenth century it was the London residence of the archbishops of York, and was known as York Place. After the death of Wolsey it became Crown property, and was called Whitehall. Henry VIII. enlarged the palace and James I. planned to replace it after a fire in 1615 from designs by Inigo Jones, but only the banqueting hall was built, and is the only existing portion of the palace, the remainder having been destroyed by the fires of 1691 and 1697. The hall, a fine specimen of Palladian architecture, 111 feet in length and 55½ feet in breadth and height, has ceiling paintings by Rubens representing the apotheosis of James I. and scenes from the career of Charles I. Whitehall was the scene of Wolsey's disgrace, Henry VIII.'s death, the execution of Charles I., who was led to the scaffold from the banqueting hall, and the deaths of Cromwell and Charles II. The hall was converted by George I. into a royal chapel. The street leading from Trafalgar Square to Westminster, in which the palace stood, is known as Whitehall. It contains a number of public buildings, including the Horse Guards, Treasury, and new public offices.

WHITE′HALL. A village in Washington County, N. Y., 24 miles west by south of Rutland, Vt., at the head of Lake Champlain, on the Champlain Canal, and on the Delaware and Hudson Railroad (Map: New York, G 2). It has large lumber interests, and is engaged in the manufacture of silk. There are also railroad shops and several smaller industrial establishments. The government is vested in a president, chosen annually, and a board of trustees. The water-works are owned and operated by the municipality. Population, in 1890, 4434; in 1900, 4377. Whitehall was settled in 1761 by Major Philip Skene, at the head of about thirty families, and in November, 1763, it was incorporated by patent. On the approach of the Revolutionary War Skene became a Royalist, and in 1775 the Americans took possession of his property, at the same time that they seized Ticonderoga. An American garrison was stationed here from 1776 until the approach of Burgoyne's army, when the fort was blown up and the houses, mills, etc., were burned to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. At the close of the war the whole Skene property was sold to the highest bidder for £14 10s. In the War of 1812 the fort and blockhouse were