Anecdote of a famous Improvisatore.--West the subject of one of his finest effusions.--Anecdote of Cardinal Albani.--West introduced to Mengs.--Satisfactory result of West's first essay in Rome.--Consequence of the continual excitement which the Artist's feelings endured.--He goes to Florence for advice.--He accompanies Mr. Matthews in a tour.--Singular instance of liberality towards the Artist from several Gentlemen of Philadelphia. Chap. VIII. The result of the Artist's experiment to discover the methods by which Titian produced his splendid colouring.--He returns to Rome. --Reflections suggested by inspecting the Egyptian Obelisk. --Considerations of the Author on the same subject; an anecdote of a Mohawk Indian who became an Actor at New York.--Anecdote of a Scottish Fanatic who arrived in Rome to convert the Pope.--Sequel of the Adventure.--The Artist prepares to visit England.--Having completed his St. Jerome, after Corregio's famous picture, he is elected an Honorary Member of the Academy of Parma, and invited to Court.--He proceeds by the way of Genoa towards France.--Reflections on the Stale of Italy.--Adventure on reaching the French frontiers.--State of Taste in France. The Life and Studies of Benjamin West Chap. I. The Birth and Paternal Ancestry of Mr. West.--His Maternal Family.--His Father.--The Origin of the Abolition of Slavery by the Quakers.--The Progress of the Abolition.--The Education of the Negroes.--The Preaching of Edmund Peckover.--His Admonitory Prediction to the Father of West.--The first Indication of Benjamin's Genius.--State of Society in Pennsylvania.--The Indians give West the Primary Colours.--The Artist's first Pencils.--The Present of a Box of Colours and Engravings.--His first Painting. Benjamin West, the subject of the following Memoirs, was the youngest son of John West and Sarah Pearson, and was born near Springfield, in Chester County, in the State of Pennsylvania, on the 10th of October, 1738. The branch of the West family, to which he belongs, has been traced in an unbroken series to the Lord Delawarre, who distinguished himself in the great wars of King Edward the Third, and particularly at the battle of Cressy, under the immediate command of the Black Prince. In the reign of Richard the Second, the ancestors of Mr. West settled at Long Crandon in Buckinghamshire. About the year 1667 they embraced the tenets of the Quakers; and Colonel James West, the friend and companion in arms of the celebrated Hampden, is said to have been the first proselyte of the family. In 1699 they emigrated to America.