Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/580

 560 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY WEST three years' standing may elect five trustees, and the rest are elected at large by the board itself. The board is divided into five classes, one of which retires annually. The powers of the corporation cover all matters of exter- nal or internal management. In the univer- sity there are three courses of four years each. The classical course is substantially the same as in other New England colleges. The Latin- scientific and scientific courses are designed especially for advanced culture in the sciences and in modern languages and literature. In all these courses, about half the work of the last two years consists of elective studies. Special and post-graduate courses are also pro- vided. The extensive laboratories of the col- lege are now used also for such chemical in- vestigations as belong appropriately to the state agricultural experiment station recently established here. A chemist paid by the state devotes himself to this work. Since 1872 the university courses have been open to both sexes. The whole number of alumni in 1875 was 1,107, of whom 174 have died. Accord- to the "Alumni Record" published in 1878, of 1,028 then graduated, 503 had been in the ministry, chiefly in the Methodist Episcopal church ; 271 became professional teachers, of whom 43 were presidents of colleges; and in the professions of law and medicine there were 269. In 1875-'6 the faculty consisted of the president, nine professors, three instrnctors, a curator of the museum, and two assistants in the scientific department. The number of students was 176, of whom 9 were females. WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, Ohio, an institution of learning at Delaware, Delaware co., Ohio. In 1842 the citizens of Delaware purchased the property known as the Sulphur Springs, a watering place of some note, and offered it to the Ohio and North Ohio conferences of the Methodist Episcopal church as a site for a col- lege. In 1843 a charter was granted with full university powers, and in 1844 a faculty was partially organized, and students were admit- ted into both the preparatory department and college classes. The college grounds are very beautiful, and contain more than 800 varieties of trees and shrubs. The institution has li- braries containing more than 18,000 volumes and extensive cabinets of natural history. The endowment fund is about $250,000. A large number of cheap scholarships have been sold, so that practically tuition is nearly free. A students' loan fund affords aid to indigent young men preparing for the ministry. In 1875-'6 there were 10 instructors and 200 preparatory and 163 collegiate students. The whole number of classical graduates is (1876) 623. The presidents have been as follows: the Rev. Edward Thomson, 1846-'60 ; the Rev. Frederick Merrick, 1860-'73; the Rev. Loren- zo D. McCabe (acting), 1873-'6 ; and the Rev. Charles II. Payne, inaugurated in June, 1878. WESSEL, John, also called Gansfort (Dutch, GOESEVORT), a theologian classed among the " reformers before the reformation," born in Groningen about 1420, died Oct. 4, 1489. He was successively a resident of Cologne, Lou- vain, Paris, and Heidelberg, engaged in study or teaching, finally living in retirement hi his native country. He regarded Christianity as something entirely spiritual. The Scriptures, in his view, are the living source of all true faith, and the church is based upon a compact. After his death some of his works were burned as heretical ; his Farrago Rerum Theologica- ritm was published with a preface by Luther (Wittenberg, 1522). The best edition of his works is by Lydius (Amsterdam, 1617). WESSEX (that is, West Saxony), a kingdom of the Saxon heptarchy in England during the 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries. It was founded about 500 by Cerdic, under whom it comprised the present counties of Southampton (including the Isle of Wight), Dorset, Wilts, and Berks. One of its sovereigns, Egbert, obtained an .acknowledgment of superiority from the other kingdoms about 827, and is usually called the first king of England. WEST, Ib-rijaniin. an Anglo- American paint- er, born of Quaker parents in Springfield, Pa., Oct. 10, 1738, died in London, March 11, 1820. He began to make colored drawings from na- ture in his seventh year, and in his ninth com- posed a picture which 67 years afterward he asserted contained touches never surpassed by him. He received elementary instructions in Philadelphia, and practised his art in that city and the neighboring towns, and afterward in New York, chiefly as a portrait painter. In 1760 he went to Italy, where his portrait of Lord Grantham, at first generally attributed to Raphael Mengs, attracted considerable atten- tion. He visited the chief Italian art capitals, and at Rome painted " Cimon and Iphigenia " and "Angelica and Medora," which were well received. In 1763 he went to London on his way to America, but was induced to take up his residence in that city, where in 1765 he married Elizabeth Shewell, a young American woman to whom he had been previously at- tached, and who joined him in England at his request. A successful picture representing Agrippina landing with the ashes of German- icus was the means of introducing him to George III., for whom he painted the "De- parture of Regulus," and who for nearly 40 years was his friend and patron. During a ca- reer of almost unvarying prosperity, he paint- ed or sketched about 400 pictures, many of which are of great size, besides leaving upward of 200 drawings at his death. One of his early pictures, the " Death of Wolfe," widely known through the fine engraving of Woollett, may be said to have created an era in the history of British art, from the fact that the figures were habited in the costume appropriate to their time and character. The experiment of substituting modern for classical costumes was considered hazardous, and Sir Joshua Reynolds and others endeavored to dissuade the painter