And in closing this review of old windmills there is no instance to which reference should be made of quite as much interest as the old mill at Newport, known to every American antiquary and which, some two or three generations ago, was ingeniously ascribed to the Norse in the period of 1100 or thereabouts. This theory, while highly picturesque, was unfortunate chiefly in never having anything except surmise to back it up. Not a jot nor tittle of record or physical remains could be developed to substantiate it, and it has long since been practically dropped by most students of American history. And when the following, that has in recent years been developed, is borne in mind, there seems no vestige of reason left in the Norse theory. There is no question as to the following facts in relation to the Newport mill, and I speak with confidence, having in person surveyed and thoroughly investigated both it and its English prototype, as described: [Illustration: Newport mill restored, vertical section.] In 1675 Governor Benedict Arnold (the grandfather of the traitor) was in charge of the then early colony of Rhode Island. Sixty years before he had been born in the Warwickshire section, England, in which the Peyto estate was perhaps the greatest and finest. On that estate there was completed the most elaborate windmill ever built. Inigo Jones, England’s great architect of that time, designed it, and it was unique in its open arch design, its finely chiselled stonework and unusual adornment. Young Arnold was a lad of 17 at that time, and the building of this beautiful and remarkable windmill, in 1632, was, with small [Illustration: Inigo Jones-Peyto mill of 1632. Chesterton, Warwickshire, England.] doubt, a marked episode in his life and knowledge. Forty odd years later, he, by the chance of fate, was the Governor of the Rhode Island Colony. With the destruction of a previous wood windmill of 1665, blown down in a great storm, it became his duty to provide another one for the use of the little colony. And there is small doubt, indeed, that in doing that he undertook to provide a mill that should be as nearly as possible a copy of the old mill at Chesterton, near Leamington--the best mill of which he knew. And so, without the measurements as to the general arrangement, size and design, from memory only, he there built, with the most limited facilities, a virtual replica of the Leamington-Peyto-Jones mill. In order to secure greater permanence and protection against Indian attacks the mill was built of stone instead of wood. [Illustration: Newport, R. I., mill as “restored” or probably constructed.]