land,’ which appeared separately in 1778. 8. ‘Sermons on various Subjects, not already published … with the History of a Corporation of Servants, and other Tracts,’ Edinburgh, 1798, 12mo. He also published numerous single sermons, lectures, and essays. A collective edition of his works, with a memoir by his son-in-law, Samuel Stanhope Smith, was published in New York in four volumes in 1800 and 1801, and a second edition in Philadelphia in 1802. New editions were published at New York in 1802 in four volumes, and at Edinburgh in 1804–5, and in 1815 in nine volumes. His ‘Miscellaneous Works’ appeared at Philadelphia in 1803, his ‘Select Works’ at London in 1804 (2 vols. 8vo), and his ‘Essays, Lectures, and Sermons’ at Edinburgh in 1822 (6 vols. 12mo). Several of his sermons are included in David Austin's ‘American Preacher,’ Elizabeth Town, 1793–4, 4 vols. 8vo. Witherspoon edited the ‘Sermons’ of James Muir of Alexandria, United States of America, in 1787. To him is also doubtfully ascribed ‘A Letter from a Blacksmith to the Ministers and Elders of the Church of Scotland, in which the Manner of Public Worship there is pointed out, the Inconveniences and Defects considered, and Methods for removing them humbly proposed,’ London, 1759, 8vo; 5th ed. Edinburgh, 1826, 8vo; and with still less probability ‘A Series of Letters on Education by a Blacksmith, edited by Isaac James,’ Bristol, 1798, 8vo; Southampton, 1808, 12mo. Witherspoon was severely satirised by Jonathan Odell, the loyalist poet (see Loyalist Poetry of the Revolution, pp. 17–18).
[Sanderson's Biogr. of Signers of the Declaration of Independence, 1865, pp. 296–314; Tyler's Literary History of the American Revolution, New York, 1897, ii. 319–30; Sprague's Annals, iii. 288–300; Chambers's Biogr. Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen, 1855; Scott's Fasti Eccles. Scoticanæ, I. i. 364, II. i. 160, 203–5; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit.; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. xi. 25, 5th ser. viii. 16; Ann. Reg. 1780, i. 366; The Faithful Servant Rewarded, funeral sermon by John Rodgers, 1795; Halkett and Laing's Dict. of Anon. and Pseudon. Lit. 1885; Life of Witherspoon, prefixed to his Works, Edinburgh, 1804; New Statistical Account, II. ii. 159–60; Bromley's Cat. of Engr. Portraits, p. 372; Collections of Hist. Soc. of New Jersey, ii. 182, iii. 193–6, 198; The Princeton Book, 1879, pp. 45–47; Headley's Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution, 1864; Cochrane Corresp. (Maitland Club), p. 119.]
WITHMAN (d. 1047?), abbot of Ramsey, called also Leucander and Andrew, was a German by birth (Chron. Abb. Rames. p. 121, Rolls Ser.), one of those apparently whom Cnut gathered round him. Green, on what authority does not appear, places Withman among the royal chaplains who, under Cnut, were first organised for administrative purposes (Conquest of England, pp. 544–5). Withman was promoted in 1016 to the great abbacy of Ramsey (Chron. Abb. Rames. App. p. 340). He was a hard student and a man of stern character, whose discipline involved him in serious disputes with his monks. Against the latter he appealed to the diocesan, Ætheric; but the bishop, having visited the house, gave decision in favour of the monks, reminding the abbot of the breadth and tolerance of St. Benedict's great rule (ib. pp. 121–3). Withman thereupon set out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, whence he returned to find his successor in the abbacy appointed. The new abbot, Æthelstan, at once offered to resign, but Withman refused to allow him, and himself retired to a solitary spot near Ramsey, called Northeye. Here, with one companion and two servants, and supported by the abbey, he lived over twenty-six years, dying probably about 1047 (ib. pp. 125, 340). Withman is said to have enjoyed the friendship of Edward the Confessor, whom he persuaded to give certain lands to the abbey in 1047 (ib. pp. 160, 340). He wrote a life of the Persian bishop St. Ivo or St. Ives, whose remains were supposed to be buried at Ramsey. The original is apparently lost, but a revision by Goscelin [q. v.] is printed in the ‘Acta Sanctorum’ (ii. 288 seq.) and in Migne's ‘Patrologia’ (clv. p. 80). Bale also attributes to Withman a narrative of his journey to Jerusalem (Scriptt. Illustr. Brit. i. 151), of which, however, nothing further seems to be known.
[In addition to the chief authorities mentioned in the text, see Leland's Comment. de Scriptt. Brit. i. 166; Pits, De Illustr. Angl. Scriptt. p. 183; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 479; Dugdale's Monast. Angl. ii. 547; Wright's Biogr. Brit. Lit. i. 511–12; Freeman's Norman Conquest, ii. 79, 599.]
WITHRINGTON. [See Widdrington.]
WITTLESEY, WILLIAM (d. 1374), archbishop of Canterbury. [See Whittlesey.]
WIVELL, ABRAHAM (1786–1849), portrait-painter, was born on 9 July 1786 in the parish of St. Marylebone, London. He was the fourth child and only son of a tradesman who had left Launceston, Cornwall, a year previously, and died soon after his son's birth, leaving his widow very badly off. Young Wivell began to work for his living at the age of six as a farmer's boy. He returned to London two years later, and,
