017 



WESSELING, PETER. 



WEST, BENJAMIN. 



6 i3 



His principal productions are treatises and dissertations : 1, ' De 

 Oratione ;' 2, ' De Sacra Eucharistia ;' 3, ' De Purgatorio et Indul- 

 gentiis;' 4, 'De Dignitate et Potestate Ecolesiastica;' 5, 'Proposi- 

 tiones de Potestate Papa) et Ecclesise,' &c. He wrote also numerous 

 notes and additions to the works of the Abbot Rupert, and he used to 

 cnll this voluminous production ' Mare Magnum.' The editio priuceps 

 has the title ' Farrago Rerum Theologicarum,' Leipzig, 1522, reprinted 

 at Basel, 1523. Luther, who esteemed Wessel very highly, wrote a 

 preface to it. This edition is not complete. The first complete edition 

 was published at Groningen, 4 to, 1614; 2nd edition, Amsterdam, 

 4to, 1617. Some of Wessel's treatises are contained in the first volume 

 of Goldast, ' -Monarch ia Sacri Romani I ID peril.' 



WESSELING, PETER, one of the first scholars of the 18th cen- 

 tury, was born on tha 7th of January 1692, at Steiafurt, the capital 

 of the present principality of Bentheiin Steinfurt, in Prussian West- 

 phalia, where he received his first education. In 1712 he went to the 

 university of Leyden, where he studied the classical languages under 

 Perizonius, Gronovius, and Wesselius ; and in 1714 he went to the 

 university of Fraueker, in West Friesland, where he finished his 

 studies under Yitringa, Andala, and Bosius. His first intention was to 

 study divinity, but he soon devoted himself to philology. In 1717 he 

 was appointed conrector of the lyceum at Middleburg, with the title 

 of prorector; in 1719 he was appointed prelector or professor of 

 history and eloquence in the lyceum of Deventer; and in 1723 he 

 became professor of history and eloquence in Fraueker, which office 

 be held during eight years. In 1735 he was appointed professor of 

 Greek, and Roman and Greek antiquities, at Utrecht ; in 1746 the 

 chair of philosophy of law, or 'jus naturse," as it was then, and is 

 sometimes still called, as well as that of the public Roman and German 

 law, was conferred upon him, and he was created doctor of law. He 

 became director of the public library at Utrecht in 1750, or perhaps 

 as early as 1749. Hemsterhuys invited him to teach at Leyden, but 

 Wesseling preferred stopping at Utrecht. Wesseling was rector of the 

 university of Franeker, in 1733, and twice, in 1736 and in 1749, he was 

 chosen rector of the university of Utrecht. He died on the 9th of 

 November 1764. His reputation as a scholar and a sagacious critic 

 was great. Yet lie was little disposed to critical investigations, till 

 his friend and colleague at Franeker, Hemsterhuys, succeeded in per- 

 suading him, as Ruhnken states, that no learning, however extensive 

 and profound, would be of any use unless it were guided by criticism. 

 Wyttenbach calls Hemsterhuys, Valckenaer, and Wesseling, the trium- 

 viri of philology. 



The principal works of Wesseliug are: 1, An edition of Diodorus 

 Siculus, Amsterdam, 2 vols. foL, 1745-46. This edition contains the 

 prefaces of Henry Stephens and Rhodomann, and the Latin version of 

 Rhodomann, revised by Wesseling, who collected valuable materials, 

 such as the notes of Camusat, and of several other scholars : De la 

 Barre at Paris, Cocchi at Florence, and Assemani at Rome, had ex- 

 amined for Wesseliug the manuscripts in the libraries of those three 

 cities. The Bipont edition of Diodorus Siculus is little more than a 

 reprint of the edition of Wesseling, though it contains the notes of 

 Heyne and Eyring, who had access to two manuscripts at Vienna, 

 which were not used by Wesseling. 2, An edition of Herodotus, 

 Amsterdam, fol., 1763. Wesseling had collated the best manuscripts 

 of England, Paris, and Vienna, and several at Rome which were in the 

 possession of Passionei, or to which this learned cardinal had access. 

 This edition contains the Latin version of Laurentiua Valla, and the 

 notes of Gale, Gronovius, Valckenaer, and of the editor : it was con- 

 sidered the best edition of Herodotus, till that of Schweighiiuser ap- 

 peared in 1816. 3, ' Dissertatio Herodotea,' 8vo, Utrecht, 1758, treats on 

 several passages which have been erroneously attributed to Herodotus, 

 and on several other subjects connected with Herodotus. 4, ' Veterum 

 Romauorum Itineraria,' Amsterdam, 4to, 1735, contains the Itinerary 

 of Antoninus, that of Jerusalem, aud the ' Synecdeuius ' of Hierocles, 

 which had previously been published by Bandurius, in his ' Imperium 

 Orientale.' This is a useful edition. 5, ' Observationum Variarum Libri 

 Duo,' Amsterdam, 8vo, 1727; 2nded., by Professor Frotscher, Leipzig, 

 8vo, 1832, contains various notes on Dion Cassius, Xiphilinus, Ammi- 

 anus Marcellinus, Euripides, Sophocles, Plato, and other Greek and 

 Roman writers. Besides several other valuable works, such as ' Liber de 

 Judseorum Archontibus,' ' Notse ad Samuelis Petiti Leges Atticae,' &c., 

 Wesseling wrote eight orations in classical Lathi, among which are the 

 following : ' Oratio de Origine Pontificiae Dominatiouis,' Franeker, fol., 

 1724 ; ' Oratio in Obitum celsissimae et regisc Principis Annae, Froderat. 

 Belgic. Gubernatricis,' Utrecht, fol., 1759 ; and nineteen ' Dissertations,' 

 among which are ' Dissertatio Historico-critica de S. Pauli ad insulam 

 Melitatn Naufragio ;' ' De Origine et Progressu Religionis Christiana; 

 in Veteri Persarum Regno ;' and ' Epistola ad H. S. Reimarum, qua 

 selects quaedam Dionis Cassii loca pajtim emendautur, partita illus- 

 trantur.' A complete list of the works and other productions of 

 Weaseling is contained in ' Elogium Wesselingii,' in Frotscher's edition 

 of Wesseling's ' Observationum Variarum Libri Duo.' Wyttenbach, 

 ' Vita Davidis Ruhnkenii,' p. 46 ; David Ruhnken, ' Elogium Tiberii 

 Hemsterhusii,' 2nd ed., 1789, p. 60, &c. Strodtmaun, 'Das Neue 

 Gelehrte Europa,' parts iv., ix., xx. : Wessf ling's 'Preface' to his 

 edition of Herodotus. 



WEST, BENJAMIN, president of the Royal Academy, and a dis- 

 tinguished historical painter, was born on October 10th, 1738, at 



Springfield in Pennsylvania, in the United States of North America : he 

 jvas the tenth child of John and Sarah West. John West was born and 

 educated in England, and was of the Quaker family of the Wests of 

 Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire, of whom was Colonel James West, 

 the friend of John Hampden. Benjamin's birth was brought on pre- 

 maturely by a vehement sermon preached in the fields near his 

 mother's residence by Edward Peckover ; the subject was the corrupt 

 state of the old world and its imminent destruction. Mrs. West was 

 carried home ill, and Benjamin was born after an illness of twelve 

 days. The peculiar circumstances of his birth gave rise to various 

 surmises and prophecies regarding the child's future destiny, and 

 those which promised his fviture greatness were credulously cherished 

 by his father. The first indication West gave of his talent was in his 

 seventh year, when set to watch the sleeping infant of his eldest sister. 

 He drew a sort of likeness of the child in red and black ink, a feat 

 which appeared so wonderful in the eyes of his parents, that they 

 recalled to mind the predictions of Peckover. When he was about 

 eight years old, a party of Indians paid a visit to Springfield, and 

 struck with the drawings young West had made of birds, fruits, aud 

 the like, they taught him to prepare the red and yellow colours with 

 which they stained their weapons; and these, together with the 

 indigo given him by his mother, with the aid of some hair-pencils 

 supplied from his mother's favourite's cat's back, enabled him to 

 make more satisfactory efforts than his pen-and-ink sketches had been. 

 A merchant of the name of Pennington and a cousin of the Weots saw 

 some of these attempts, and upon his return home he sent his young 

 cousin a box of colours with pencils, canvas, and six prints. Young 

 West from this time forsook school and almost shut himself up with 

 his presents in a garret, which he converted into his studio. He made 

 a picture from two of these prints, and Gait, West's biographer, saw 

 this early attempt in the same room with the great painting of Christ 

 rejected ; aud he relates that West told him that there were touches 

 in that first essay which he had never surpassed. 



In his ninth year West accompanied his friend Mr. Pennington to 

 Philadelphia, and that gentleman introduced him to a painter of the 

 name of Williams, who was delighted with the boy's efforts, gave him 

 two books to read, Du Fresnoy's and Richardson's, and invited Lim to 

 come and see his pictures whenever he pleased. From this time West 

 was determined to become a painter, and his parents were pleased 

 with his resolution. West's first patron was Mr. Wayne, who gave him 

 a dollar each for three poplar-boards upon which he had drawn some 

 figures ; and he was at the same time assisted by Dr. Morris, who 

 gave him some money to purchase prepared pannels with. His first 

 painting which attracted much notice was the portrait of Mrs. Ross, 

 of Lancaster, a neighbouring town. This led to many other portraits, 

 aud a gunsmith of the same place requested him to paint a picture of 

 the death of Socrates. West said he could paint faces and men 

 clothed, but he asked what he was to do with the slave who presented 

 the poison, who, he thought, should be naked. The gunsmith answered 

 his question by going to his shop, and returning with one of his 

 workmen, who was half naked, and offering him as a model. The 

 picture was painted, an.d attracted much attention. 



Upon his return to Springfield, when he was about sixteen years of 

 age, the propriety of his following professionally such a vain and 

 sensual occupation as that of a painter was canvassed by his Quaker 

 friends; but after they had satisfied themselves of the distinction 

 between the use and the abuse of the art, they agreed unanimously 

 that in his case they might suspend the strict operation of their 

 tenets : and his becoming a painter by profession was sanctioned by 

 the whole Quaker community of Springfield. Shortly after this 

 event, West served as a volunteer under Major Sir Peter Halket, and 

 went in search of the remains of the army which had been lost under 

 General Braddock. But from this service he was soon called home by 

 the illness of his mother, and he arrived just in time to see her die. 

 After this event, which he appears to have greatly felt, he left his 

 home, and established himself, then only in his eighteenth year, as a 

 portrait-painter at Philadelphia. He charged two guineas and a half 

 for a head, and five for a half-length. He painted at this time his 

 picture of the Trial of Susannah. From Philadelphia he went to New 

 York, and doubled his prices. Here he had an opportunity of going 

 to Rome, a journey he had long desired to make. He arrived at 

 Rome in July 1760, and was well received. When he was introduced, 

 by Lord Grantham, to the old Cardinal Albaui, who was blind, as 

 a young American who had come to Rome to study the arts, the 

 Cardinal asked whether he was black or white. 



West however soon attracted other attention than that of mere 

 curiosity. He painted a portrait of Lord Grantham, which was placed 

 in the gallery of Crespigue, where artists and amateurs used to meet. 

 The picture was almost universally supposed to be by Mengs, and all 

 were greatly surprised when they heard that it was painted by the 

 young American. Mengs himself is said to have told West that he 

 had no occasion to come to Rome to learn to paint; and he advised 

 him immediately to visit the principal cities of Italy, and examine the 

 various great works in them, and then to return to Rome and paint 

 some historical picture. An illness prevented West from putting this 

 plan into execution ; he was confined through a fever eleven months 

 at Leghorn. When he recovered, instead of being without means, he 

 found to his great astonishment that hia agent had orders to give him 



