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Show 68 NEWPORT. RHODE ISLAND. ' Grenian temple, by no mea:ns inelegant. It is of the Doric order, and has a portico in front with four pillars, fu pporting a pediment ; but the whole is fpoilt by two fmall wings, which are annexed to it. The foundation of a very pretty building is laid for the ufe of the free-m~fons, to ferve alfo occafionally for an affembly-room; and there IS to be ereCted a market-houfe, upon a very elegant defign. The places of public worfhip, except the Jews fynagogue, are all of wood; and not one of them is worth looking at. They con fill: chiefly of a church, two prdbyterian meeting-houfes, one quakers ditto, three anabaptifi:s ditto, one M-oravian ditto, and the fynagogue above-mentioned. This building was defigned, as indeed were feveral of the others, by a Mr. Harrifon, an ingenious Engliih gentleman who lives here. It will be extren1ely e1egant within when completed: but the outfide is totally fpoilt by a fchool, which the Jews infil1ed on having annexed to it for the education of their children. Upon a fmall ifland, before the town, is part of a fine fortification, defigned to confifi: of a pentagon-fort, and an upper and lower battery. Only two of the curtains, and a ravelin, are yet finilhed; anJ it is doubted whether the whole ever will be. There are now mounted upon it about 26 cannon ; but the works, when complete, will require above I 50. At the entrance of the harbour there is likewife an exceeding good light-houfe. Thefe are the chief public buildings. About three miles from town is an indifferent wooden houfe, built by dean Berkley, when he was in thefe parts : the fituation is low, but commands a fine view of the ocean, and of fome wild rugged ro cks that are on the left hand of it. They relate here [! veral !1range fiories of the dean's wild and chimerical notions ; which, as they are charaCl:erii1ic of that extraordinary man, deferve to be taken notice of: one in parti-cular RHODE ISLAND'. tkular I mull: beg the reader's indulgence to allow me to repeat to him. The dean had formed the plan of building a town upon the rocks which I have juil: now taken notice of, and of cutting a road through a fandy beach which lies a little below it, in order that lhips might come up and be ihdtered in bad weather. lie was fo full of this projeCt, as one day to fay to one Smibert, a defigner, whom he had brought over with him from Europe, on the latter's aiking fome ludicrous quellion concerning the future importance of the place, " Truly, you " have very little forefight, for in fifty yearS time every foot " of land in this place will be as valuable as the land in C~eap" fide .'' The dean's houfe, norwithl1anding his prediction is at prefent nothing better than a farm-houfe, and his library is converted into the dairy: when he left America, he gave it to the college at New-haven in ConneCticut, who have let it to a farmer on a long leafe : his books he divided between this college and that in Mafiachufets. The dean is faid to have written in this place The Minute Philofopher. The province of Rhode Ifland is fituated between the 4Ill: and 42d degrees of north latitude; and about 72 or 73 degrees weft longitude ; in the mofi: healthy climate of North ·America. The winters are fevere, though not equally fo with thofe of the other provinces; but the fummers are delightfnl, efpecially in the ifland; the violent and exceilive heats which America is in general fubjett to, being allayed by the cool and temperate breezes that come from the fea. The foil is upon the whole tolerably good, though rather too !1ony; its natural produce is m~ize or Indian corn, with a variety of Quubs and trees. It produces in particular the button-tree; the fpruce-pine of the young twigs of which is made excellent beer; and the pfeudoacacia, or locufi:-tree; but none of thofe fine flowering trees, which are fuch an ornament to the woods in C.uolina and Vir- . |
