Definition of "witling"

I ne'r vvith VVits and VVitlings paſt my days, / To ſpread about the Itch of Verſe and Praiſe, / Nor like a Puppy daggled thro' the Tovvn, / To fetch and carry Sing-ſong up and dovvn; […]

1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], page 12, lines 218–221

"But the witlings of the bunch were those two swaggering there in the popular conception of western dress...."

1942, Maurine Whipple, The Giant Joshua

"...only a witling would call a man with my conceit a liar."

1955, Rex Stout, Immune to Murder