WESLEY WE8T. 



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 up- 

 per ranks of society. The followers of both White- 

 field and Wesley were, in the first instance, chiefly 

 among the uneducated classes. In 1749, he mar- 

 ried a widow of good fortune, which was, however, 

 all settled upon herself; but the union was an un- 

 happy one, and terminated in a final separation, in 

 1781. On the breaking out of the American dis- 

 putes, he wrote a pamphlet on the side of govern- 

 ment, entitled a Calm Address to the American 

 Colonies, which produced a considerable effect 

 among his own followers. When the contest ter- 

 minated in separation, he took a step which ap- 

 peared a renunciation of the principles of the Epis- 

 copal 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 travel- 

 ling, and whose religious services, setting aside his 

 literary and controversial labours, were almost be- 

 yond calculation. Besides his numerous exhorta- 

 tions, 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 venera- 

 ble. In manners, he was social, polite and conver- 

 sible, without any gloom or austerity. In the pul- 

 pit, he was fluent, clear, and argumentative ; often 

 amusing, but never aiming at, or reaching, like 

 Whitefield, the eloquence of passion. His style in 

 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, edu- 

 cated at Westminster school and Christ-church, 

 Oxford, where he graduated master of arts in 1732, 

 accompanied his brother to Georgia, and also be- 

 came 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 bro- 

 ther, 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, he astonished 



his father, by playing readily, and in correct time, 

 a tune upon the harpsichord ; with which instru- 

 ment his mother, almost from his birth, had been 

 accustomed to quiet and amuse him. It is a curi- 

 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, to 

 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 or 

 thirteen, it was thought that no person could excel 

 him in playing the works of Corelli, Scarlatti, and 

 Handel, to the study of which he had almost wholly 

 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 uni- 

 versity of Franecker, and, at length, occupied the 

 chair of eloquence at Utrecht. Besides other 

 works, he published Observationum variorum Libn 

 duo (Amst., 1727, 8vo.) ; Probabilium Liber singu- 

 laris (Franecker, 1731, 8vo.) ; Antonini Itinera- 

 riwn (Amst., 1735, 4to.) ; Dissertatio Herodotea 

 (Utrecht, 1758, 8vo.) ; and a valuable edition of 

 Herodotus, with annotations (Amst., 1763, folio.) 

 He died at Utrecht, in the year 1764. 



WESSEX, that is, WEST SAXONY; one ol 

 the most important of the kingdoms of the Saxon 

 heptarchy in England, during the sixth, seventh, and 

 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 re- 

 spectable English family, belonging to the denomi- 

 nation of Quakers, who had emigrated to America 

 in 1667. His father, John West, was a merchant, 

 settled at Springfield, in Pennsylvania, where Ben- 

 jamin was born, Oct. 10, 1738, being the tenth child. 

 In his seventh year, he gave the first indications of his 

 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, and 

 drew its portrait in red and black ink. The circum- 

 stances, however, in which he was placed, afforded 

 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 employment 

 with red and yellow colours, (which he learned to 

 prepare from some Indians who had roamed to 

 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 the 

 easel, and six engravings. The possession of this 

 treasure almost prevented him from sleeping. He 

 made all the necessary arrangements in the garret, 

 where he commenced his labours with the dawn 

 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 an- 

 ger soon subsided on beholding his performance. 

 Instead of copying servilely, as might have been 



