Dr. Delany there was nothing of criminality discoverable in the intercourse, he thought proper to suppress. About two years after this event, he was indebted to his patron, the Duke of Grafton, for a valuable promotion in the church, and resigned his fellowship for the Deanery of Derry, estimated at 1100l. per annum. The views and wishes of our author had for some time, however, been directed to an object which more than any other event in his life marks the great and disinterested benevolence of his heart. He had long cherished, and meditated upon, a scheme for converting the savage Americans to christianity, by a college erected in the Summer Islands, otherwise called the Isles of Bermuda; and now, seriously determined to carry the project into execution, he proposed to government, in the year 1725, to resign his newly-acquired preferment, and to appropriate the residue of his life to the instruction of American youth upon the very limited revenue of 100l. per annum. A plan so evidently the result of the best and purest intentions, Dr. Berkeley enforced with such peculiar eloquence and exalted enthusiasm, that few who heard him expatiate on its utility and moral tendency, went away unconvinced or uninterested in its success. There can be no greater proof, indeed, of the influence of his character and motives over those with whom he associated, than the fact that three junior fellows of Trinity-college, Dublin, the Rev. William Thompson, Jonathan Rogers, and James King, Masters of Arts, agreed to share his fate and fortunes, and to relinquish the most flattering hopes of preferment for a settlement in the islands of the Atlantic Ocean of forty pounds a year! The Doctor exhibited not only the most persevering industry in forwarding his scheme, but a consummate knowledge of the human mind, and its usual stimulus to action. Not resting, in his application to ministers, merely on the benefit to be derived to his fellow-creatures in a moral and religious point of view from the adoption of his design, he endeavoured to prove that it might in a pecuniary light be attended with considerable advantage to government. He laid before Administration an accurate estimate of the value of certain lands in the island of St. Christopher, which had been ceded to Great Britain at the peace of Utrecht, and by the sale of which he engaged to produce a much larger sum than what ministers had been taught to expect; requiring only in return, that a portion of the purchase money should be appropriated to the building of his college. This proposal he took care should, through the medium of a friend, be immediately conveyed to the royal ear and; George the First commanded Sir Robert Walpole to prepare a bill for the purpose, and to exert his interest in carrying it through the House. The minister, notwithstanding, was lukewarm in the business, and all that Berkeley could obtain from him by personal application was a solemn promise of neutrality. As soon, however, as he had obtained this, he applied to every member of the Commons, and representing it as a project favoured by the king, and not opposed by Sir Robert, the bill passed the House with only one dissenting voice. A charter was accordingly granted for the erection of a college, under the appellation of St. Paul's College in Bermuda, to consist of a president and nine fellows, who were under the obligation of maintaining and educating Indian scholars at the rate of ten pounds per annum for each; and, on May 11th, 1726, the House voted an address to his Majesty, praying, that out of the produce of the lands in St. Christopher's, he would be graciously pleased to make such grant as he thought proper for the use of the president and fellows of the College of St. Paul, in Bermuda. In consequence of this address, Sir Robert Walpole promised that 20,0007. should be applied, under the direction of Dr. Berkeley, for the completion of his plan; and, to render the undertaking as effective and prompt as possible, private subscriptions were immediately opened and filled to a considerable amount*. Every thing now presaged complete success to the favourite object of our author's hopes and wishes; and, in the fullness of his heart, and in the prospect of blessing countless generations of mankind, he poured forth the following beautiful and truly poetical effusion: The muse, disgusted at an age and clime In distant lands now waits a better time In happy climes, where from the genial sun In happy climes, the seat of innocence, Where nature guides, and virtue rules; There shall be sung another golden age, * Vide Biographia Britannica, vol. iii. Corrigenda prefixed. Not such as Europe breeds in her decay, Westward the course of empire takes its way: A fifth shall close the drama with the day: During the preparations for his departure, Dr. Berkeley entered into a marriage, on August 1, 1728, with Anne, the eldest daughter of John Forster, Esq. speaker of the Irish House of Commons. He permitted not this event, however, to interfere in any degree with the speedy accomplishment of his views in America; but about the middle of the September following, embarked with his lady, a Miss Hancock, and two gentlemen of fortune, for the western continent. Having reached Rhode Island, which lies nearest to Bermuda, he thought proper to reside upon it for some time, with the view of purchasing lands on the neighbouring continent for the support of his college, depending upon the promise of government, that the parliamentary grant should be transmitted as soon as he had chosen, and agreed for, the necessary quantity of ground. The money, however, was never paid; and, after two years fruitless solicitation, he had the morti |