Socrates"--Choosing a profession--Dedicated to his work--A fighting
Quaker--Establishes himself in New York--Visits Europe--Arrival at Rome,
and reception there--Visit to the Apollo Belvidere--West's
criticism--Travels and labors on the continent--Visits England--His
reception there--Urged to stay--Decides to make England his home--Sends
for his bride--Marriage--"Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of
Germanicus"--Success of the picture--The king becomes his friend--The
most famous works of Benjamin West--"The Death of Wolfe"--Reception of
the picture by the public--West triumphs over the critics, and
inaugurates a new era of historical painting--Death of the king--West is
elected President of the National Academy--His resignation and
re-election--Closing years of a great career--Personal appearance--Leigh
Hunt's description of him--Death--Burial in St. Paul's Cathedral.


CHAPTER XXVIII.

JOHN ROGERS.

Birth--Early years--Begins life as a clerk in a dry goods
store--Artistic talent--Opposition of his parents--A change in his
plans--Becomes an engineer--Failure of his eyes--Voyage to Spain--Return
home--Becomes a machinist--Promoted--Learns to model in clay--Commences
his studies in art--A hard life, and a noble perseverance--A change for
the better--A sudden reverse--Out of work--Visits Europe to study his
art--Returns home in despair--Enters the service of the surveyor of the
city of Chicago--His first statuettes--Their success--A new field opened
to him--Visits New York, and learns the new method of casting
figures--Establishes himself in New York--His first studio--Immediate
popularity of his works--Description of them--Removes to a new