his father, by playing readily, and in correct time a tune upon the barpsichord; with which instru ment his mother, almost from his birth, had ber accustomed to quiet and amuse him. It is a cun ous circumstance that he would never suffer her to play with one hand, but, even before he could speak, would place her other hand on the keys, t complete the harmony of the piece, by the addition of the bass. From the earliest moment of his per formances, he always added a true bass to every tune which he played. At the age of twelve o

him in playing the works of Corelli, Scarlatti, an Handel, to the study of which he had almost whoay confined himself for some years. He then visited London, and received instructions in composition from doctor Boyce; and under the inspection of that gentleman he published his first production, a Set of Six Concertos for the Organ or Harpsichord. He afterwards ranked among the first musical pro fessors of England

WESSELING, PETER, born at Steinfurt, 1692. an eminent critic, presided over the gymnasium of Middleburg, was afterwards a professor in the unversity of Franecker, and, at length, occupied the chair of eloquence at Utrecht. Besides of ber works, he published Observationum variarum Liri duo (Amst., 1727, 8vo.); Probabilium Liber singalaris (Franecker, 1731, 8vo.); Antonini Itinera rium (Amst., 1735, 4to.); Dissertatio Herodote: (Utrecht, 1758, 8vo.); and a valuable edition of Herodotus, with annotations (Amst., 1763, follo He died at Utrecht, in the year 1764.

quence of which a coldness grew up between them, and a lasting separation between the societies over which they presided. Nothing so much favoured the progress of Wesleyan Methodism, as the strict and orderly discipline established by the founder, commencing from the small division of classes, and ending in the annual conferences of the numerous preachers. The whole was very wisely calculated to bind the society to each other. The society, in its infant state, had to contend with much popular hatred, sometimes fomented by persons in the upper ranks of society. The followers of both White-thirteen, it was thought that no person could exer field and Wesley were, in the first instance, chiefly among the uneducated classes. In 1749, he married a widow of good fortune, which was, however, all settled upon herself; but the union was an unhappy one, and terminated in a final separation, in 1781. On the breaking out of the American disputes, he wrote a pamphlet on the side of government, entitled a Calm Address to the American Colonies, which produced a considerable effect among his own followers. When the contest terminated in separation, he took a step which appeared a renunciation of the principles of the Episcopal church, by ordaining preachers for America, by imposition of hands, and consecrating a bishop for the Methodist Episcopal church. By this step he offended many of the society, and especially his brother Charles; and it is asserted that he himself repented it, as likely to further that separation from the church, which, after his death, virtually took place. The approach of old age did not in the least abate the zeal and diligence of this extraor. dinary person, who was almost perpetually travelling, and whose religious services, setting aside his literary and controversial labours, were almost beyond calculation. Besides his numerous exhortations, he generally preached two sermons every day, and not unfrequently four or five, all which he was enabled to effect by very early rising and the strictest punctuality. His labours were continued to within a week of his death, which took place March 2, 1791, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. John Wesley had a countenance wherein | mildness and gravity were very pleasingly blended, and which, in old age, appeared extremely venerable. In manners, he was social, polite and conversible, without any gloom or austerity. In the pulpit, he was fluent, clear, and argumentative; often anusing, but never aiming at, or reaching, like Whitefield, the eloquence of passion. His style instances, however, in which he was placed, afforded writing was of a similar description, and he seldom appeared heated, even in controversy. The works of John Wesley, on various subjects of divinity, ecclesiastical history, sermons, biography, &c., amounted, even in 1774, to thirty-two volumes, octavo. In addition to the accounts of Wesley by Hampton, Whitehead, and Southey, there is a more recent life of him by Henry Moore.

WESLEY, CHARLES, younger brother of the above, was born at Epworth, Dec. 18, 1708, educated at Westminster school and Christ-church, Oxford, where he graduated master of arts in 1732, accompanied his brother to Georgia, and also became a preacher in the Methodist connexion, for which he wrote hymns, now sung in their chapels, Some of his sermons have been printed; and his poetical compositions exceeded those of his brother, from whom he differed on various points. His son, Charles, born in 1757, displayed, even in, infancy, an astonishing genius for music. At the age of two years and three quarters, be astonished

WESSEX, that is, WEST SAXONY; one of the most important of the kingdoms of the Saxon heptarchy in England, during the sixth, seventh, ar eighth centuries. Egbert; king of Wessex, founded the kingdom of England, by the union of the other kingdoms of the heptarchy. See Egbert and England

WEST, BENJAMIN, was descended from a respectable English family, belonging to the denom nation of Quakers, who had emigrated to America in 1667. His father, John West, was a merchart, settled at Springfield, in Pennsylvania, where B jamin was born, Oct. 10, 1738, being the tenth che In his seventh year, he gave the first indications of bis propensity for the pencil. As he was watching the sleeping infant of his elder sister, it smiled, and. struck with its beauty, he sought some paper, an drew its portrait in red and black ink. The circum

him little aid in the development of his talents There were neither professors, paintings, nor prints among the primitive settlers of Pennsylvania. For some time, he pursued his favourite employmer t with red and yellow colours, (which he learned to prepare from some Indians who had roamed t Springfield), and indigo, given to him by his mother, together with brushes made of the hair of a cat At length, a merchant named Pennington, who was his cousin, having seen his sketches, sent him a box of paints and pencils, with canvass prepared for th easel, and six engravings. The possession of this treasure almost prevented him from sleeping. H made all the necessary arrangements in the garret. where he commenced his labours with the dawa every morning, absenting himself entirely from school, until the inquiries of his master caused a search and discovery to be made. His mother found him in his studio; but her inclination to anger soon subsided on beholding his performance. Instead of copying servilely, as might have bee

expected, he had composed a picture from two of he presented a copy of the St Jerome of Corregthe engravings, telling a new story, and coloured gio, of great excellence. In 1763, he went to with a skill and effect which, in her eyes, were London, intending to proceed to his native counprising. She kissed him with rapture, and pro- try; but, finding that there was a great probared his pardon from her husband and his teacher. bility of his success as a historical painter in Mr Galt, in his life of West, says that, sixty-seven that metropolis, he established himself there. years afterwards, he had the gratification to see His rise was rapid. He was introduced to the king, piece in the same room with the sublime pic- George III., whom he ever found a steady friend re of Christ Rejected; on which occasion the and munificent patron, and by whom, on his first unter declared to him, that there were inventive presentation, he was directed to paint the picture tches, in his first and juvenile essay, which, with of the departure of Regulus from Rome. Lord his subsequent knowledge and experience, he Rockingham made him an offer of a permanent enhad not been able to surpass. By degrees, the re-gagement, with a salary of £700 a year, to embelort that a boy, remarkable for his talent for paint-lish, with historical paintings, his mansion in Yorktag, lived at Springfield, began to extend, until it shire; but be preferred depending on the public. rached the ears of Mr Flower, a justice of Ches- He continued to be the king's painter until the er, who, having looked at his works, obtained monarch became superannuated, executing numeare from his parents to take him, for a few weeks rous works on historical and religious subjects, beto his house. Whilst residing with this gentle-sides a few portraits. On the death of Sir Joshua , be derived great advantage from the conver- Reynolds, he had been elected president of the son of the governess of his daughters, a young royal academy, and took his place, March 24, 1792. English lady, well acquainted with art, and with He delivered an address on the occasion, which was the Greek and Latin poets, and who loved to point much applauded. When George III. was first od to the young artist the most picturesque pas- seized with the mental malady which incapacitated ges During his residence there, he painted the him for the duties of government, West was enportrait of the wife of a lawyer of the neighbouring gaged in executing various religious pictures for town of Lancaster, the sight of which made people the chapel at Windsor; but when that event ocme in crowds to sit to him for their likenesses. curred, he was informed that his labours must be He likewise executed a painting of the death of suspended until further orders. On the recovery Socrates, for a gunsmith of Lancaster, who had a of the king, he was directed to go on with the Cassical turn. On his return to Springfield, his works; but, on the recurrence of his illness, he future career became the subject of anxious consi- was again ordered to suspend them. The story of Geration; and, finally, the matter was submitted, by his dismissal from court was spread abroad, with his parents, to the wisdom of the society to which many aggravations, by the malevolence of enemies They belonged. A deliberation was accordingly whom his success had created; and injurious stateked, the result of which was, that, though the ments were circulated respecting the sums which Quakers refuse to recognise the utility of painting he had received for his pictures. In consequence, to mankind, they allowed the youth to follow the he published an account of what he had obtained, ocation for which he was so plainly destined. which was no more than a just compensation for Soon afterwards, however, he took a step utterly his labours. During the peace of Amiens, he went a variance with the principles of the sect; but, to Paris, for the purpose of beholding the splendid range as it may seem, he received neither admoni- collection, which Napoleon had placed in the Louvre, am or remonstrance. This was to join the troops of the masterpieces of art, and was treated, in that er general Forbes, who proceeded in search of city, with the greatest distinction by the most prothe relics of the army of general Braddock. He minent persons of the imperial court. Soon after was called home in a short time, by intelligence of his return to London, he retired from his seat as the illness of his mother, and arrived only in time president of the royal academy, where he had to ento receive the welcome of her eyes and her mute counter an opposition strong in numbers and ability; ssing. This was a severe blow, for he was de- but, in a short time, he was restored to it by an edly attached to her. In his eighteenth year, almost unanimous vote, there being but one dissentle removed to Philadelphia, where he established ing voice. In his sixty-fifth year, he painted the tself as a portrait painter. His success was celebrated picture of Christ healing the sick, for siderable; and, after painting the heads of all the Quakers of Philadelphia, to aid them in the o desired it in that city, he repaired to New erection of an hospital in that town. It was exTirk, where his profits, were, also, not insignifi- hibited in London, where the rush to see it was 2. In 1760, by the kindness of some friends, very great, and the opinion of its excellence so high tras enabled to proceed to Italy; and, July 10, that he was offered 3000 guineas for it by the Britat year, he reached Rome. There he obtain-tish institution. As he was far from being rich, ccess to some of the most distinguished personand first made himself known as an artist by ortrait of Lord Grantham, which was attributed, a time, to Mengs. After recovering from an of eleven months' duration, he visited the rent cities of Italy for the purpose of inspectthe works of the great masters scattered through After his return to Rome, he painted a picof Cimon and Iphigenia, and another of Anand Medora, which increased bis reputation, ned the way to those marks of academic bation usually bestowed on fortunate artists. selected a member of the academies of ParForence, and Bologna, to the former of which

he accepted the offer, but on condition that he
should be allowed to make a copy, with alterations,
for Philadelphia. He did so; and the work is still
exhibited in that city, where the profits arising from
it have enabled the committee of the hospital to
enlarge the building and receive more patients.
The success of this piece impressed him with the
belief that his genius appeared to most advantage
in pictures of large dimensions.
"As old age,"
says Allan Cunningham,
benumbed his faculties,
and began to freeze up the well-spring of original
thought, the daring intrepidity of the man seemed
but to grow and augment. Immense pictures, em-
bracing topics which would have alarmed loftier

spirits, came crowding thick on his fancy; and he was the only person who appeared insensible that such were too weighty for his handling." He painted several works of great size; but few were willing to be purchasers of pictures which occupied so much room. Domestic sorrow mingled with professional disappointment. His wife, with whom he had lived for some sixty years in uninterrupted happiness, died December 6, 1817. He did not survive her many years. Without any definite complaint, his mental faculties unimpaired, his cheerfulness uneclipsed, and with looks serene and benevolent, he expired March 11, 1820, in the ¦ eighty-second year of his age. He was buried beside Reynolds, Opie and Barry, in St Paul's cathedral.

West was in person above the middle size, of a fair complexion, and firmly and compactly built. He ever preserved a sedate sobriety of sentiment, and happy propriety of manners, the results of a devout domestic education. In disposition, he was mild, liberal, and generous. He seriously impaired his fortune by his kindness to young artists, whom he endeavoured to assist in every way. The advice which he gave them in his discourses from the president's chair was marked by good sense and affection. The following extract in relation to his paintings is from the biography of him, written by Allan Cunningham:-" As his life was long and laborious, his productions are very numerous. He painted and sketched upwards of 400 pictures, mostly of a historical and religious nature, and left more than 200 original drawings in his portfolio. His works were supposed, by himself, and for a time, by others, to be in the true spirit of the great masters; and he composed them with the serious ambition and hope of illustrating Scripture, and rendering gospel truth more impressive. No subject seemed to him too lofty for his pencil he considered himself worthy to follow the sublimest flights of the prophets, and dared to limn the effulgence of God's glory, and the terrors of the day of judgment. In all his works the human form was exhibited in conformity to academic precepts; his figures were arranged with skill; the colouring was varied and harmonious: the eye rested pleased on the performance; and the artist seemed, to the ordinary spectator, to have done his task like one of the highest of the sons of genius. But below all this splendour, there was little of the true vitality; there was a monotony, too, of human character; the groupings were unlike the happy and careless combinations of nature; and the figures seemed distributed over the canvas by line and measure, like trees in a plantation. He wanted fire and imagination to be the true restorer of that grand style which bewildered Barry, and was talked of by Reynolds. Most of his works, cold, formal, bloodless and passionless, may remind the spectator of the sublime vision of the valley of dry bones, when the flesh and skin had come upon the skeletons, and before the breath of God had adorned them with life and feeling. Though such is the general impression which the works of West make, it cannot be denied that many are distinguished by great excellence. In his Death on the Pale Horse, and more particularly in the sketch of that picture, he has more than approached the masters and princes of the calling. It is, indeed, irresistibly fearful to see the triumphant march of the terrific phantom, and the dissolution of all that earth is proud of, beneath his tread. War and peace, sorrow anal joy,

youth, and age, all who love and all who hate,
planet-struck. The Death of Wolfe, too, s
tural and noble, and the Indian Chief, like
Oneida warrior of Campbell, a Stole of the w
a man without a tear,' was a happy thought.
Battle of La Hogue I have heard praised as
best historic picture of the British school, b
not likely to be mistaken, and who would not
what he did not feel. Many of his single fz
also, are of a high order. There is a natural
in the looks of some of his women which few,
ers have ever excelled."-See Galt's Life
Studies of Benjamin West (London, 1816 and 1×3
and Cunningham's Lives of Eminent British I

ers.

WEST, GILBERT, an ingenious author, wef son of doctor West, editor of Pindar's works, was born in the year 1706. He was sent to Ox and afterwards obtained a commission in vi regiment. He did not, however, long rema n the service, retiring to Wickham, in Kent, w he devoted his time to literary pursuits and the joyment of the society of his friends. The pa age of Mr Pitt obtained him, in 1751, the si'...: of clerk to the privy council, he having presi held a deputy's place nearly twenty years, treasurership to Chelsea college was afterw added through the same interest. On the dex": an only son, in 1755, his grief induced a para affection, which carried him off in the follem year. His Observations on the Resurrection w printed in 1747. His other writings are a porz the Institution of the Order of the Garter, translation of some of the Odes of Pindar. WEST INDIA APRICOT. See ManTree.

WEST INDIES; the extensive arch p which lies between North and South Am stretching from the coast of Florida, in the tw eighth degree, to the shores of Venezuela, 1tenth degree, of north latitude. It is divided by graphers into the Bahamas, composed of fo: clusters of islands and 700 keys; the Great A comprising the four largest islands of the c Cuba, Hayti, Porto Rico and Jamaica; the Le Antilles, stretching from Trinidad, in a west direction, along the northern coast of South rica; and the Caribbee islands, stretching. great bow, from Tobago to Porto Rico, ar divided into the three groups known under the r. of the Virgin islands, the Leeward islands ar. Windward islands. Each of the divisions above a tioned, and the most important individual 24 have been described separately. The whole 2pelago, with the exception of some of the Bab a lies within the torrid zone. The name Ind. given to them by Columbus, who first dise them, under the notion that they formed p India, which was the object of his search. the mistake was discovered, they retained the with the prefix West, to denote their geogra. position. (See America, and Columbus) seasons, as in other tropical countries, are é· « between the wet and the dry; the spring t with May, when the foliage and grass become verdant: the first periodical rains set in abo.1middle of the month, falling every day about and creating a rapid and luxuriant vegetation thermometer at this season varies considerab its medium height is about 75°. After these have prevailed about a fortnight, the weathe comes dry and settled, and the tropical sum

WEST POINT; a village of New-York, and military post, on the west bank of the Hudson, where it passes through the Highlands, in the township of Cornwall, in Orange county, fifty-three miles, by water, above New-York, and one hundred The West Indies were discovered by Columbus, below Albany. During the revolutionary war, this his first voyage, in 1492: their subsequent his- point was strongly fortified, and deemed one of the tory will be found under the separate articles. most important fortresses in America. The plain See, also, Buccaneers.) The islands were inhab- that forms the bank of the river is elevated 188 red, at the time of their discovery, by two dis- feet; and fort Putnam, a short distance in its rear, tact races of natives, the Caribs, occupying the is 598 feet. Most of the former works are now in Windward islands, and the Arrowauks, inhabiting ruins. The military academy consists of the corps Hayti, Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, and the Bahamas. of engineers; of one professor and an assistant proThe former were warlike and fierce; the latter fessor of natural and experimental philosophy; one mild and peaceful, and much more advanced in civil-professor and an assistant professor of mathematics; sation. (See Caribbees.) The languages of these ations were different. See Edwards's History of the British West Indies (3 vols., 1807); T. Southey's History of the West Indies (3 vols., 1827); and the works of Humboldt.

sion of it, (see Poland), with the exception of Dantzic and Thorn, which fell into his hands in 1793. By the peace of Tilsit, a part of it was ceded to France, and one portion of the ceded territory was annexed to the duchy of Warsaw, Dantzic being erected into a free city; but, in 1815, it was restored to Prussia by the congress of Vi-made upon his life, but without success. This hosenna. It now constitutes a Prussian province, with a population of 792,207 souls, and is divided into the two governments of Dantzic and Marienwerder, with chief towns of the same