Gait, West's biographer, saw the picture
in the state in which it had thus been left sixty-seven years afterward;
and the artist himself used to acknowledge that in none of his
subsequent efforts had he been able to excel some of the touches of
invention in this his first essay."
His next effort was a landscape, which comprehended a view of a river,
with vessels in the stream and cattle browsing on the banks. He could
not have been much over ten years of age at this time, and the picture,
though insignificant in itself, is remarkable as the work of a child. He
subsequently presented it to his friend, Mr. William Henry, of
Lancaster, whose family still retain possession of it. He visited
Philadelphia soon after, and received a few simple instructions in the
practical portion of his art, after which he went about through the
towns of the vicinity of his home, painting portraits of his friends. At
length he was sent for by Mrs. Ross, of Lancaster, a lady famed for her
great beauty, to paint the portraits of herself and her family--a great
honor for a lad of twelve.
It was in Lancaster, in the year 1750, that he made the acquaintance of
Mr.
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