Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 1.djvu/98

Rh for leaving the kingdom, and married on the 1st of August, 1728, the daughter of John Foster, Esq., speaker of the Irish House of Commons; and he actually sailed in September following for Rhode Island, taking with him his wife, a single lady, and two gentlemen of fortune, and having a large sum of money, his own property, and a collection of books for the use of his intended college. Upon his arrival at Newport, in Rhode Island, he contracted for the purchase of lands on the adjacent continent, entertaining a full expectation, that the money, according to the original grant, would be immediately paid. His hopes were, however, disappointed; the minister had never heartily embraced the project, and probably deemed it chimerical and unlikely to be attended with any benefit. The money was accordingly turned into another channel. After a variety of excuses, Dr. Berkeley was at last informed, in a letter from Bishop Gibson, who at that time presided over the diocese of London, in which the whole of the West Indies is included, that having waited on Sir Robert Walpole, and made application for the money, he had received the following honest answer, " If you put this question to me as a minister," says Sir Robert, "I must and can assure you, that the money shall most undoubtedly be paid, as soon as suits with public convenience but if you ask me as a friend, whether Dean Berkeley should continue in America, expecting the payment of 10,000l., I advise him by all means to return to Europe, and to give up his present expectations." The scheme was therefore necessarily abandoned. During the time of his residence in America, when he was not employed as an itinerant preacher, which was impossible in winter, he preached every Sunday at Newport, where was the nearest episcopal church, and to that church he gave an organ. When the season, and his health permitted, he visited the neighbouring continent, and penetrated far into the interior, having his mind constantly bent on forwarding the benevolent views with which he had crossed the Atlantic.