generosity was duly felt, … To Colgan he transmitted a life of St. Patrick which he copied from an ancient manuscript at Biburg, in Bavaria; from St. Magnus's, at Katisbon, he sent him Ultan's Life of St. Brigid; and from Dilingen, as I have already observed, he sent him the text for the life of St, Columba. To his untiring generosity Fleming, also, was indebted for two contributions for his Collectanea of Columbanus's writings." Almost all that is known concerning Stephen White is contained in a paper read before the Royal Irish Academy by Dr. Reeves, in 1861. 233
Whitelaw, James, Rev., author and philanthropist, was born in the County of Leitrim, about 1749. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (where he took his degree of B.A, in 1771), and entered the Church. The living of St. James's, in the Liberties of Dublin, and afterwards the vicarage of St. Catherine's in the same locality, were conferred upon him. He laboured indefatigably among the poor, establishing schools, industrial institutions, and loan funds. In 1798 he undertook, and carried through, in the face of great difficulties, on account of political agitation, a census of the city of Dublin. He estimated the population within the city boundaries at 170,805, and the number of houses at 14,854. [The population within the same limits in 1871 was 267,717; the number of houses, 26,859,] For six years he was engaged chiefly on an enquiry into the condition of the endowed schools of Ireland, and was a prime agent in compiling the body of information upon which subsequent legislation regarding education in Ireland was based. He wrote a school-book entitled Parental Soliciticde. and compiled a system of physical geography. He was constant in his ministrations at Cork-street Fever Hospital, where on one day he administered the sacrament separately to six patients in the last stages of malignant fever. The result was that he caught the disease himself, and died, 4th February 1813, aged 64. His widow was granted a pension of £200 by the Government. Some years before his death, in conjunction with Mr. Warburton, Deputy-keeper of the Records in Dublin Castle, he projected a History of Dublin. Mr. Warburton furnished documents and the ancient history of the city; Mr. Whitelaw methodized the whole, and wrote the modern descriptive portion of the work. It was announced in the Gentleman's Magazine the month before his death, as preparing for publication. At his decease the first volume was finished. Mr, Warburton's death soon followed, and the work was completed, chiefly from Mr. Whitelaw's papers, by the Rev. Robert Walsh, in 1818, and given to the public as History of the City of Dublin, its Present Extent, Public Buildings, Schools, Institutions, etc., by the late J. Warburton, the late Rev. J. Whitelaw, and the Rev. Robert Walsh. [See Walsh, Rev. Robert.] It is illustrated with maps and plates, and, amongst other useful information, gives brief sketches of foreign artists who lived in Dublin, and of eminent citizens, many of them not of sufficient importance to warrant their being noticed in this Compendium. Though entirely wanting in the interest, scholarship, and minuteness of Mr. Gilbert's Streets of Dublin, the work is a standard authority in regard to the city and its history, 110† 146
Whiteside, James, Chief-Justice of the Queen's Bench in Ireland, was born at Delgany, County of Wicklow, 12th August 1804. His father was rector of the parish. He took his M.A, degree at Trinity College, Dublin, entered at the Middle Temple, and in 1830 was called to the Irish Bar, and rose into practice with singular rapidity, being especially fortunate in his defence of prisoners. In 1840 he published a work on the Law of Nisi Prius, which went through several editions. In 1842 he was called to the inner Bar, and two years afterwards his defence of O'Connell and his fellow-traversers in the state trials raised him to the first rank in his profession. Impaired health obliged him to spend two years in Italy, and we have the result in his Italy in the Nineteenth Century (1848), followed by the Vicissitudes of the Eternal City (1849). In 1848 he was counsel for Smith O'Brien and his associates when on their trial for high-treason at Clonmel. In 1851 Mr. Whiteside was returned to Parliament for Enniskillen,a seat he subsequently exchanged for the representation of Dublin University. He had always been a staunch Conservative, and soon became one of the props of that party in the Lower House, and shared in its successes, holding the office of Solicitor-General for Ireland during Lord Derby's first administration in 1852, and that of Attorney-General in his second administration in 1858-'9. During his parliamentary career he occupied an almost unique position at the Irish Bar, The acknowledged leader in the Nisi Prius Courts in Dublin, he appeared at assize times as a "special" counsel in almost every case of magnitude. He was one of the most strenuous opponents of the disestablishment of the Irish Church, and made several brilliant speeches in the House of Commons on the subject. He more
