BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



513 



1764, when "he had lately embarked 

 for London." The Philadelphia certi- 

 tificate was at this time returned to 

 Goshen Meeting, and another requested 

 for him to London by his son William, 

 which was prepared by the meeting 

 and forwarded accordingly. It is not 

 known that he ever returned to tiiis 

 country. His wife Sarah was born on 

 the 8th of the 2d month, 1G97, in Mar- 

 pie township, and in membership with 

 Friends, which membership she pro- 

 bably retained during her life. 



West, Benj.vmin, the celebrated 

 painterwas born at Springfield, Chester, 

 now Delaware Countj-, on the 28ih of 

 September, 17.38. He was the son of 

 John and Sarah West, and the youngest 

 of a family of ten children. Many 

 details are given by Mr. Gait his biog- 

 rajjher, of the early performances of 

 Benjamin while quite a child, showing 

 the early development of his great 

 natural genius for painting. Some of 

 these are so improbable, and so many 

 of the assertions made by that author 

 are known to be inaccurate, that neither 

 will be repeated here. It is not doubted, 

 however that so great a genius as that 

 possessed by West was precocious in its 

 development. The only early paintings 

 of Benjamin West that the author has 

 been able to discover, are the likenesses 

 of two children now in the possession 

 of Mrs. Phebe Worthiugton of West 

 Chester. They were the children of 

 John and Elizabeth Morris, the mater- 

 nal grand parents of Mrs. Worthiug- 

 ton. These children were respectively 

 named, Jane and Robert Morris, and at 

 the time the paintings were executed, 

 the girl was five or six, and the boy 

 three or four years of age. Mrs. AVorth- 

 ington, from information received from 

 her mother, has no doubt that these 

 paintings were made about the year 

 1752, or when Benjamin was about 14 

 years of age. They exhibit consider- 

 able proficiency in the art, and the 

 picture of the boy is in a good state of 

 preservation. Dr. Jonathan Morris set- 

 tled at Newtown Square in 1751, and 

 observing the genius of young West, 

 became his patron, and purchased 

 materials to enable him to exercise the 

 art for which nature had so peculiarly 

 fitted him. Some of these materials 

 were doubtless used in painting the 

 likenesses mentioned, though I am in- 



I formed by Mrs. Wortington, that the 

 father of the children procured the 

 ! canvason which they were painted. Dr. 

 Morris subsequently employed the 

 ' young artist to paint a likeness of him- 

 ] self, which cannot now be found. Dr. 

 1 Morris and Anthony Wayne (after- 

 wards General Wayne) were the first 

 public patrons of Benjamin West. I 

 have it from good authority, that up to a 

 recentperiod amanuscript school-book 

 was in existence, in which young West, 

 I while at school at Newtown Square, 

 had made numerous pictures of various 

 animals &c., and there is a tradition 

 that these were made in the way of 

 compensation for assistance given him 

 in arithmetic, by another school boy 

 named Williamson, the owner of the 

 book ; the youthful artist not having 

 much taste for figures. 



Of course everything detailed by Mr. 

 Gait in respect to the action of the 

 Society of Friends on the question of 

 permitting young West to cultivate 

 j the faculties with which nature had 

 so liberally endowed him, is perfect 

 fiction. The records show no such 

 I action by the Society, and the fact that 

 I the artist was not a Friend would ex- 

 I elude them as such from exercising any 

 j care over him. Benjamin West's associa- 

 tion with Anthony Wayne led him into 

 military affairs, and while pursuing 

 ) his studies at Lancaster, he was made 

 ! Captain of a military company. His 

 brother Samuel was also a military 

 man, and yet no action was had by the 

 Society of Friends in respect to either 

 of them, though the practice of the 

 j military art in the eyes of the followers 

 of George Fox, was a much more seri- 

 I ous offence than that of the fine arts. 

 ! After pursuing bis studies for some 

 ' time in Philadelphia and elsewhere, 

 1 Benjamin West in 1759 at the age of 

 21 years sailed for Italy, the fountain 

 I head for the stud)- of his profession, 

 [ and in 1762, he took up his permanent 

 : residence in London. His subsequent 

 career as a painter is well known and 

 could not with propriety be noticed in 

 I this volume. The following interesting 

 1 account of his marriage, extracted from 

 a letter written in 1858 by Joseph K. 

 Swift M. D. of Easton, Pa., to Horatio 

 i G. Jones, Esq., Corresponding Secretary 

 of the Historical Society of Pennsylva- 

 ; nia, will close our notice of the great 

 I painter. 



