on, the owner gave him two or three of them for that purpose, and he drew
figures and compositions on them with ink, chalk, and charcoal. Mr. Wayne,
a gentleman of the neighbourhood, having soon after occasion to call at
his father's, noticed the boards in the room, and was so much pleased with
the drawings, that he begged the young Artist to allow him to take two or
three of them home, which, as but little value was set on them, was
thought no great favour, either by the painter or his father. Next day Mr.
Wayne called again, and after complimenting Benjamin on his taste and
proficiency, gave him a dollar for each of the boards which he had taken
away, and was resolved to preserve. Doctor Jonathan Moris, another
neighbour, soon after, also made him a present of a few dollars to buy
materials to paint with. These were the first public patrons of the
Artist; and it is at his own request that their names are thus
particularly inserted.

About twelve months after the visit to Philadelphia, Mr. Flower, one of
the Justices of the county of Chester, who possessed some taste in
painting, requested Mr, West to allow Benjamin to spend a few weeks at his
house. A short time before, this gentleman had met with a severe domestic
misfortune in the loss of a wife, to whom he was much attached; and he
resolved to shew his respect to her memory by devoting his attention
exclusively to the improvement of his children: for this purpose he had
sent to England for a governess qualified to undertake the education of
his daughters, and he had the good fortune to obtain a lady eminently
fitted for the trust. She arrived a few days only before the young Artist,
and her natural discernment enabled her to appreciate that original bias
of mind which she had heard ascribed to him, and of which she soon
perceived the determination and the strength. Finding him unacquainted
with any other books than the Bible, and the works of Richardson and
Fresnoy, she frequently invited him to sit with her pupils, and, during