The life and studies of Benjamin West, Esq., President of the Royal Academy of London, prior to his arrival in England / complied from materials furnished by himself ; by John Galt.

Inscription in ink on front flyleaf: In the year 1780 (pending our revolutionary war) Congress adopted a new system for the quarter master-generals' department. In August of that year, upon the resignation of General Green, Congress appointed me quarter master-general. By the new system, a deputy was the be appointed in every state in which it should be deemed necessary. I appointed Col. Samuel Miles my deputy for Pennsylvania. In the course of my acquaintance with him, he once mentioned Benjamin West, the subject of the following memoirs; and told ^me they they ^were school-fellows; and that he then noticed the ruling passion of West for paintng; it being his practice to fill up any vacant space in his writing book, with the picture of a bird, beast, or other natural object, drawn with his pen. T. Pickering. Jany. 16. 1819.