used to think, when I looked at the full length picture of Washington, after "Gabriel Stuart,"-afterwards called "The Lansdowne Portrait",-as engraved by Heath, that it was a slip by the engraver, but I have seen so many engravings since with the name Gabriel that I can well believe that Gilbert Stuart was quite sincere when he said, "Well, they intended to make an archangel of me, anyhow."

Here is Benjamin West as portrayed by Sir Thomas Lawrence, who was his successor in the office of the President of The Royal Academy. West is shown as lecturing on the properties of color. That accounts. for the rainbow introduced into the upper portion of the picture. And on the curtain is depicted "The Death of Ananias," one of West's most celebrated pictures.

Here is Benjamin West's portrait of himself. The countenance, I think, is more pleasing than that depicted by Sir Thomas. This was in 1793. He has introduced a bust of some classical character as an accessory to the picture, according to the fashion of the times, but I cannot but think that accessories detract from portraiture by distracting attention.

Here is a letter, the original of which is among one of the collections in the other hall. It was written to Copley, the artist, who was one year older than West, being born in 1727. Copley, as you know, went from Boston to England. His son went with him, and in course of time became Lord Chancellor Loughborough, one of the greatest lawyers England ever knew; very few even in England know that the great rival of Lord Brougham was a Boston boy. I show the letter as a specimen of West's handwriting.

Here are the Proposals, printed as a Broadside in 1773, by John Boydell, publisher of an illustrated edition of Shakespeare, for engraving two pictures by

VOL. XLV.-22

West, "The Death of General Wolfe" and "Penn's Treaty With the Indians."

I now show you Hall's engraving of the "Treaty With the Indians," the original painting is in the Reception Chamber of the State House. West has been severely criticized for not observing historical accuracies of dress. William Penn is shown in the garb of a strict Quaker, of portly figure, and a man of middle age. In point of fact, Penn at that time was but thirty-two years of age, with an athletic, energetic body, and could spring, dance and run with the Indians, as he frequently did; and who at the time of the Treaty was in court dress, with a sash.

He has also introduced, in the figure of the old man -the third one in the group to the right-his father; and has again introduced his half-brother into the picture. Of the Treaty, Voltaire declared it was the only treaty that had never been sworn to and never broken. I think, that regard for a full statement of the causes conducing to the peace of Pennsylvania in this Southeastern corner would impel a modern historian to add that besides Penn's Treaty it was a fact that before an Indian tomahawk could reach a Quaker scalp it would have to fly through fifty miles of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians.

Here are illustrations of the charming miniatures which West could paint. The first is of his wife and child. The second of his wife, child, and himself, is quite as charming as anything by Sir Thomas Lawrence. For these I am indebted to Miss Anne Hollingsworth Wharton.

This is an ambitious portrait of Arthur Middleton, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, of South Carolina, with his wife and child, painted by West. The original is in the possession of Dr. Henry Middleton Fisher, of this city.

I now show you the picture, in black and white, of

"Christ Healing the Sick." West wrote to Samuel Coates, of Philadelphia, in the year 1801, that he would paint a picture for the Pennsylvania Hospital. When it was exhibited in London it was so highly thought of that the British Institution bought the original for three thousand guineas, the highest price ever paid for a painting up to that time; West agreed to sell it only on condition that he could paint a replica. The replica was sent to Philadelphia. Here it is in colors. That picture was exhibited before presentation to the hospital, and brought contributions to the hospital sufficient to establish thirty beds in the Pennsylvania Hospital. I can remember a little building, but two stories in height, standing on the south side of Spruce Street, halfway between Eighth and Ninth, on the grounds of the hospital, in which this picture was said to have been exhibited. That building was one of the early homes of this Historical Society, before we came to the Patterson mansion at Thirteenth and Locust Streets, now converted into our present hall. Thus are we pleasingly associated with memories of West. The picture itself hangs to-day in the entrance hall to the middle building of the group which together form the Pennsylvania Hospital. Beneath the picture is a plaster cast of the hand of Benjamin West, and one of the original brushes that he used, displayed under glass. I thank you for the attention you have given me.

THE WASHINGTON PEDIGREE; CORRIGENDA AND

ADDENDA.

BY CHARLES H. BROWNING.

I.

THE MOTHER OF MR. LAWRENCE WASHINGTON, A GRANDFATHER OF GENERAL WASHINGTON.

There has never been a controversy as to who was the mother of Mr. Lawrence Washington, the eldest son of Colonel John Washington, of Washington parish, Westmoreland County, Virginia, and the grandfather of General George Washington. In fact, there has never been any doubt as to her name, and whose daughter she was. Ask any of the many "Colonial Dames" and "Colonial Warsmen," lineal descendants of Mr. Lawrence Washington, who she was, and these concerned will readily reply: "Ann Pope." To them there is no question about it, because they had used her father, Colonel Nathaniel Pope, of Virginia, as a "claim," either original or supplementary, with the consent of their Society's Genealogist.

But the fact is, the ladies and gentlemen of Washington blood are not descended from Colonel Pope, because his daughter Ann, tho a wife of Colonel John Washington, was not the mother of Colonel Washington's son and heir Lawrence, their ancestor, and I hope that herein I shall convince them, and the pedigree examiners, that they have erred in this item of the Washington genealogy, by telling how I know it. But I have to admit that the alleged "examiners" all over the Union, are, in a way, not to be blamed altogether for the mistake, because they naturally relied

upon the many printed Washington pedigrees and could have believed the writers of them had personally substantiated all their statements before publishing.

As will appear hereafter, young Captain John Washington, who had been living in Virginia, first in Northumberland Co., and next in Westmoreland Co., for several years, returned from a short visit to England, before April, 1655.

It may have been before going on this voyage, or immediately upon his return from his visit to Tring, a market town, in Hertfordshire, that he married his first wife, a young widow, with one child, and also a resident of Westmoreland, when he was about 24-26 years of age. The exact date and place of this wedding are still conjectural, but the lady's maiden name is certainly unknown at this writing, so far as I am aware. However, this latter item would only be nice to know, for it does not affect my story. The lady whom Captain (and he may have been a Major, as will be explained) John Washington married as his first wife (but not in the sense that he was going to accumulate wives), was Mrs. Ann Brett. She was the widow of Mr. Henry Brett, sometime a merchant of Plymouth, Devonshire, but at the time of his decease a land owner and resident of Westmoreland Co., Va., who died intestate, and Washington administered his estate, after he married Mrs. Brett, as appears from the following Court items.

Westmoreland Court Order Book, under date of 28 Sep., 1670, is a Statement of Account of Henry Brett's Estate, "exhibited by Lt. Col. John Washington, who married Ann, the relict of Mr. Henry Brett, late of ye county dec'd." A commission reported "We have examined ye whole Inventory & Debts of ye said Henry Brett, and Wee Doe find that Mrs. Ann Brett Washington hath paid beyond the Assatts," &c.

And ibid, under 31 May, 1671, find that Mrs. Ann (Brett) Washington's son, Samuel Brett, a merchant at