Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/397

WESLEY 339 WEST came a fellow of Lincoln College, and lecturer and moderator in classics in 1726; and took priest's orders in 1728. He now gathered together a number of pupils and companions who met regu- larlj'^ for religious purposes, and by so doing acquired the name of Methodists. Among these companions were Hervey, Whitefield, and Law. In 1735 Wesley ac- cepted an invitation from General Ogle- thorpe to go to America to preach to the colonists of Georgia. After a stay of two years he returned to England (Feb- ruary, 1738), and in the following May an important event took place in his inner religious life, namely, his conver- sion. In June he paid a visit to Herrn- hut, the Moravian settlement, returning to England in September. Early in the following year (1739) he began open-air preaching, in which he was for a time associated with Whitefield. His first chapel was built in Bristol in 1739. JOHN WESLEY Having now the sole control of the re- ligious body which adhered to him, fie devoted his entire life without intermis- sion to the work of its organization, in j which he showed much practical skill " and admirable method. His labors as an itinerant preacher were incessant. He would ride from 40 to 60 miles in a daj^ He read or wrote during his journeys, and frequently preached four or five times a day. He held strongly to the principle of Episcopacy, and never for- mally separated from the Church of England. His collected works were pub- lished after his death in 32 volumes Svo. He contributed to the collection of hymns, the greater part of which were written by his brother Charles. He died in London, March 2, 1791. WESLEY, SAMUEL, SR., an English clergyman; born in Winterborne-Whit- church, England, in 1662. He was the father of Charles, John, and Simiiel, Jr. He wrote "Life of Christ : An Heroic Poem," Eupolis' Hymn to the Crea- tor," etc. He is best known by the two hymns to be found in Methodist hjTnn books, "Behold the Saviour of Mankind," and "O Thou who when I did Complain." He died in Epworth, April 25, 1735. WESLEYAN METHODISM, th© largest and most important British Methodist denomination, and the parent of some smaller religious bodies now in- dependent of its government. WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, a coedu- cational institution in Middletown, Conn. In 1830 the original buildings, North College and South College, which had been erected for a military academy, came into the possession of the New York and New England Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church; in 1831 a charter was obtained, and the uni- versity opened its doors and offered its services to aid in the training of stu- dents, who hitherto had been obliged to seek outside their Church the advantages of higher education. In 1872 the institu- tion was opened to women. It has com- modious buildings beautifully situated, a fine observatory, well-appointed labora- tories and cabinets, and a large modern gymnasium. It reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 53; students, 595; volumes in the li- brary, 114,000; president, William Ar- nold Shanklin, L. H. D., LL. D. WESSEX (West Saxons), one of the most important of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England during the 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries, and the early part of the 9th, and that in which the other kingdoms were ultimately merged in the reign of Egbert in 827. It in- cluded the present counties of Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wilts, Hants, Berks, and a part of Cornwall. WEST, BENJAMIN, an American painter; born in Springfield, Pa., Oct. 10, 1738, of Quaker parents. After sev- eral years of portrait painting in Lan- caster, Philadelphia, and New York City, he went to Rome, Italy, in 1760, and pro- ceeded to England in 1763. where he made his permanent residence. One of his earliest friends was Dr. Drummond, Archbishop of York, who introduced him to George III., by whose order he exe- cuted his picture of "The Departure of Regulus from Rome," and whose patron- age he enjoyed for about 40 years. On the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds, in 1792, West, who had been a member of the Royal Academy from its foundation, was elected president; which chair he enjoyed, with the exception of a short interval, till the close of his life. His