The Berkeley party spent the first few months of their stay in the town of Newport, whence the Dean made short excursions to what Mrs. Berkeley terms “the Continent,” meaning the mainland opposite. Toward the close of their first summer, James, Dalton and Smibert removed to Boston, and the Berkeley family to a farm in the interior of the island, which the Dean had purchased and on which he had built a house. The house still exists, and is still known by the name of Whitehall, given it by its loyal owner in remembrance of the ancient palace of the kings of England. [Illustration: GEORGE BERKELEY, DEAN OF DERRY.] The estate, which comprised less than a hundred acres, lies in a grassy valley to the south of Honeyman’s Hill, and about two miles back from what is now known as the “Second Beach.” It commands no “view” whatever. Dean Berkeley, when asked why he did not choose a site from which more could be seen, is said to have replied that “if a prospect were continually in view it would lose its charm.” His favorite walk was toward the sea, and he is supposed to have made an outdoor study of a rocky shelf, overhung by a cliff cornice, on the face of a hill-ridge fronting the beach, which shelf is still known as “Bishop Berkeley’s Rock.” Three years the peaceful life of Whitehall continued. Two children were born to the Bishop, one of whom died in infancy. The house was a place of meeting for all the missionaries of the island, as well as for the more thoughtful and cultivated of the Newport society. At last, in the winter of 1730, came the crisis of the Bermuda scheme. Land had been purchased, the grant of money half promised by the English Government was due. But the persuasive charm of the founder of the enterprise was no longer at hand to influence those who had the power to make or mar the project; and Sir Robert Walpole, with that sturdy indifference to pledge, or to other [Illustration: WHITEHALL, THE BERKELEY RESIDENCE, BUILT 1729.]