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a concordate with the pope, and an archiepiscopal see erected in Freyburg, by which Wessenberg lost his place of vicar. He distinguished himself in the first chamber of the grand duchy of Baden. He is the author of an excellent history of popular schools in Germany (Die Elementarbildung des Volks, &c., Zürich, 1814), and several small ascetic works. He has also published two collections of his poems, and Christian Images, a Means of promoting the Christian Spirit (2 vols., Constance, 1826 --27), a work in which he considers the connexion of the fine arts with Christianity.

WESSEX, that is, WEST SAXONY; one of 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, Gilbert, an ingenious author, was the son of doctor West, editor of Pindar's works, and was born in the year 1706. He was sent to Oxford, and afterwards obtained a commission in a cavalry regiment. He did not, however, long remain in the service, retiring to Wickham, in Kent, where he devoted his time to literary pursuits and the enjoyment of the society of his friends. The patronage of Mr. Pitt obtained him, in 1751, the situation of clerk to the privy council, be having previously held a deputy's place nearly twenty years. The treasurership to Chelsea college was afterwards added through the same interest. On the death of an only son, in 1755, his grief induced a paralytic affection, which carried him off in the following year. His Observations on the Resurrection were printed in 1747. His other writings are a poem on the Institution of the Order of the Garter, and a translation of some of the Odes of Pindar.

WEST, Benjamin, was descended from a respectable English family, belonging to the denomination of Quakers, who had emigrated to America in 1667. His father, John West, was a merchant, settled at Springfield, in Pennsylvania, where Benjamin 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 eldest sister, it smiled, and, struck with its beauty, he sought some paper, and drew its portrait in red and black ink. The circumstances,

however, in which he was placed, afforded him little aid in the developement of his talents. There were neither professors, paintings nor prints among the primitive settlers of Pennsylvania. For some time, he pursued his favorite employment with red and yellow colors (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 labors 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 anger soon subsided on beholding his performance. Instead of copying servilely, as might have been expected, he had composed a picture from two of the engravings, telling a new story, and colored with a skill and effect which, in her eyes, were surprising. She kissed him with rapture, and procured his pardon from her husband and his teacher. Mr. Galt, in his life of West, says that, sixtyseven years afterwards, he had the gratification to see this piece in the same room with the sublime picture of Christ Rejected; on which occasion the painter declared to him, that there were inventive touches, in his first and juvenile essay, which, with all his subsequent knowledge and experience, he had not been able to surpass. By degrees, the report that a boy, remarkable for his talent for painting, lived at Springfield, began to extend until it reached the ears of Mr. Flower, a justice of Chester, who, having looked at his works, obtained leave from his parents to take him, for a few weeks, to his house. Whilst residing with this gentleman, he derived great advantage from the conversation of the governess of his daughters, a young English lady, well acquainted with art, and with the Greek and Latin poets, and who loved to point out to the young artist the most picturesque passages. During his residence there, he painted the portrait of the wife of a lawyer of the neighboring town of Lancaster, the sight of which made people come in crowds to sit to him for

their likenesses. He likewise executed a painting of the death of Socrates, for a gunsmith of Lancaster, who had a classical turn. On his return to Springfield, his future career became the subject of anxious consideration; and, finally, the matter was submitted, by his parents, to the wisdom of the society to which they belonged. A deliberation was accordingly held, the result of which was, that, though the Quakers refuse to recognise the utility of painting to mankind, they allowed the youth to follow the vocation for which he was so plainly destined. Soon afterwards, however, he took a step utterly at variance with the principles of the sect; but, strange as it may seem, he received neither admonition or remonstrance. This was to join the troops under general Forbes, who proceeded in search of the relics of the army of general Braddock. He was called home in a short time, by intelligence of the illness of his mother, and arrived only in time to receive the welcome of her eyes and her mute blessing. This was a severe blow, for he was devotedly attached to her. In his eighteenth year, he removed to Philadelphia, where he established himself as a portrait painter. His success was considerable; and, after painting the heads of all who desired it in that city, he repaired to New York, where his profits were, also, not insignificant. In 1760, by the kindness of some friends, he was enabled to proceed to Italy; and, July 10 of that year, he reached Rome. There he obtained access to some of the most distinguished personages, and first made himself known as an artist by a portrait of lord Grantham, which was attributed, for a time, to Mengs. After recovering from an illness of eleven months' duration, he visited the different cities of Italy for the purpose of inspecting the works of the great masters scattered through them. After his return to Rome, he painted a picture of Cimon and Iphigenia, and another of Angelica and Medora, which increased his reputation, and opened the way to those marks of academic approbation usually bestowed on fortunate artists. He was elected a member of the academies of Parma, Florence and Bologna, to the former of which he presented a copy of the St. Jerome of Correggio, of great excellence. In 1763, he went to London, intending to proceed to his native country; but, finding that there was a great probability of his success as a historical painter in that metropolis, he established himself there. His

rise was rapid. He was introduced to the king, George III, whom he ever found a steady friend and munificent patron, and by whom, on his first presentation, he was directed to paint the picture of the departure of Regulus from Rome. Lord Rockingham made him an offer of a permanent engagement, with a salary of £700 a year, to embellish, with historical paintings, his mansion in Yorkshire; but he preferred depending on the public. He continued to be the king's painter until the monarch became superannuated, executing numerous works on historical and religious subjects, besides a few portraits. On the death of sir Joshua Reynolds, he had been elected president of the royal academy, and took his place, March 24, 1792. He delivered an address on the occasion, which was much applauded. When George III was first seized with the mental malady which incapacitated him for the duties of government, West was engaged in executing various religious pictures for the chapel at Windsor: but when that event occurred, he was informed that his labors must be suspended until further orders. On the recovery of the king, he was directed to go on with the works; but, on the recurrence of his illness, he was again ordered to suspend them. The story of his dismissal from court was spread abroad, with many aggravations, by the malevolence of enemies whom his success had created; and injurious statements were circulated respecting the suns which he had received for his pictures. In consequence, he published an account of what he had obtained, which was no more than a just compensation for his labors. During the peace of Amiens, he went to Paris, for the purpose of beholding the splendid collection, which Napoleon had placed in the Louvre, of the masterpieces of art, and was treated, in that city, with the greatest distinction by the most prominent persons of the imperial court. Soon after his return to London, he retired from his seat as president of the royal academy, where he had to encounter an opposition strong in numbers and ability; but, in a short time, he was restored to it by an almost unanimous vote, there being but one dissenting voice. In his sixty-fifth year, he painted the celebrated picture of Christ healing the sick, for the Quakers of Philadelphia, to aid them in the erection of an hospital in that town. It was exhibited in London, where the rush to see it was very great, and the opinion of its excellence so high that he was offered 3000

guineas for it by the British institution. As he was far from being rich, 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 wellspring of original thought, the daring intrepidity of the man seemed but to grow and augment. Immense pictures, embracing 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. Domes tic sorrow mingled with professional disappointment. His wife, with whom he had lived for some sixty years in uninterrupted happiness, died Dec. 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 endeavored 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 four hundred pictures, mostly of a historical and religious nature, and left more than two hundred 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 judg ment. In all his works, the human form was exhibited in conformity to academic precepts; his figures were arranged with skill; the coloring 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 splendor, 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 canvass 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 informed 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 and joy, youth and age, all who love and all who hate, seem planet-struck. The Death of Wolfe, too, is natural and noble, and the Indian Chief, like the Oneida warrior of Campbell, 'a Stoic of the woods, a man without a tear,' was a happy thought. The Battle of La Hogue I have heard praised as the best historic picture of the British school, by one not likely to be mistaken, and who would not say what he did not feel. Many of his single figures, also, are of a high order. There is a natural grace in the looks of some of his women which few painters have ever excelled."-See Galt's Life and Studies of Benjamin West (London, 1816

and 1820); and Cunningham's Lives of Eminent British Painters.

WEST INDIA APRICOT. (See MammeeTree.)

WEST INDIES; the extensive archipelago which lies between North and South America, stretching from the coast of Florida, in the twenty-eighth degree, to the shores of Venezuela, in the tenth degree, of north latitude. It is divided by geographers into the Bahamas, composed of fourteen clusters of islands and 700 keys; the Great Antilles, comprising the four largest islands of the group, Cuba, Hayti, Porto Rico and Jamaica; the Lesser Antilles, stretching from Trinidad, in a westerly direction, along the northern coast of South America; and the Caribbee islands, stretching, like a great bow, from Tobago to Porto Rico, and subdivided into the three groups known under the name of the Virgin islands, the Leeward islands and the Windward islands. Each of the divisions above mentioned, and the most important individual islands, have been described separately. The whole archipelago, with the exception of some of the Bahamas, lies within the torrid zone. The name India was given to them by Columbus, who first discovered them, under the notion that they formed part of India, which was the object of his search. When the mistake was discovered, they retained the name, with the prefix West, to denote their geographical position. (See America, and Columbus.) The seasons, as in other tropical countries, are divided between the wet and the dry: the spring begins with May, when the foliage and grass become more verdant: the first periodical rains set in about the middle of the month, falling every day about noon, and creating a rapid and luxuriant vegetation. The thermometer at this season varies considerably, but its medium height is about 75°. After these rains have prevailed about a fortnight, the weather becomes dry and settled, and the tropical summer reigns in full glory. The heat at this time is tempered by sea breezes, the thermometer standing, on an average, at about 80°. The nights are now eminently beautiful: the moon is so brilliant that the smallest print is legible by her light; and, in her absence, her place is supplied by the brightness of the Milky Way, and the radiance of the planet Venus, which is such as to cast a shade. In the middle of August, the heat becomes excessive, and the refreshing sea breezes almost entirely intermit. This state of the atmosphere is succeeded by the au

tumnal rains, which become general in October, and pour down in cataracts. In the interval between August and October, the islands are visited by those tremendous hurricanes, which effect so much mischief. (See Hurricanes.) Towards the end of November, a change takes place: the weather becomes serene and pleasant, and northerly and north-easterly winds prevail, constituting the finest winter on the globe, from December to May. There are some exceptions to this general description, particularly in the large islands, which are often visited by refreshing land breezes from the interior highlands. (See the articles Cuba, Hayti, and Jamaica) The islands abound generally in all tropical productions, as sugar, cotton, coffee, indigo, pimento, cocoa, medicinal drugs, tobacco, maize, guava, plantain, cacao, &c.; oranges, lemons, limes, pomegranates, citrons, pine-apples, &c.; manioc, yams, potatoes, &c. The mountains contain great varieties of trees, adapted for cabinet-work, ship-building, and other purposes in the arts, such as cedars, mahogany, lignum-vitæ, iron-wood, the Indian fig-tree, the calabash-tree, &c. The indigenous quadrupeds are the agouti (a sort of intermediate species between the rabbit and the rat, the peccary or Mexican hog, the armadillo, the opossum, the raccoon, the musk-rat, the alco or American dog, and several of the smaller varieties of monkey. Most of these species are now extinct in these islands. The iguana, a species of lizard, and the mountain crab, are also found here. The birds are remarkable for the brilliancy and beauty of their plumage: among them are the parrot, in many varieties, the scarlet flamingo, and the glittering humming-bird, with a great number of waterfowl of dif ferent kinds. Of the serpent tribe there are many varieties; but few, if any, are venomous: the alligator, and the brilliant and changeable gobemouche, or fly-catcher, are among the lizards.-The West Indies were discovered by Columbus, in his first voyage, in 1492: their subsequent history will be found under the separate articles. (See, also, Buccaneers.) islands were inhabited, at the time of their discovery, by two distinct races of natives, the Caribs, occupying the Windward islands, and the Arrowauks, inhabiting Hayti, Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, and the Bahamas. The former were warlike and fierce; the latter mild and peaceful, and much more advanced in civilization. (See Caribbees.) The languages of these nations were different.-See Edwards's

The

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.-The West India islands are, with the exception of Hayti, still in the possession of European powers. (See Colony.-1. Spanish West Indies. Spain has not retained a foot of ground on the American continent. The sole remnants of her splendid colonial empire in the new world, are the island of Cuba, the largest and finest of the West India islands, Porto Rico, with several dependencies, and Passage, Serpent, and Bieque or Crab islands, among the Virgin islands. The Spanish part of St. Domingo now forms part of the Haytian republic, and the islands of Margaritta, with Blanquilla, Tortuga, &c., belong to the republic of Venezuela.-2. French West Indies. Previously to the insurrection of 1792, St. Domingo was the most valuable French colony in the West Indies; but that event resulted in the establishment of the independence of that island, under the name of Hayti. Having sold Louisiana to the U. States, and ceded other colonies to the Eng

lish, France now possesses only Guadaloupe and Martinique, with the small islands of Mariegalante and Descada, in the West Indies.-See Les Antilles Francaises, particulièrement Guadeloupe, by Boyer-Peyseleau (3 vols., Paris, 1823).—— 3. Danish West Indies. The Danes possess only the small islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, or Santa Cruz, and St. John, belonging to the Virgin islands.—4. Swedish West Indies. The Swedes possess only one colony, the small but fertile island of St. Bartholomew.-5. Dutch West Indies. To the kingdom of the Netherlands belong the islands of Curacoa, St. Eustatius, Saba, and part of St. Martin, with the smaller islands of Aruba, Aves and Banaire. Curaçoa, formerly important as an entrepot, has lost much of its trade since the South American revolution, as the goods intended for the continent are forwarded direct to their place of destination.-6. British West Indies. The following table shows the British West India islands, with the exports and imports, and population for 1829:

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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 below Albany. During the revolutionary war, this point was strongly fortified, and deemed one of the most important fortreases in America. The plain that forms the bank of the river is elevated 188 feet; and fort Putnam, a short distance in its

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