He formed a gallery of paintings, which the venerable Dr. Waterhouse remembers to have seen in his youthful days. In a letter to the Rev. Romeo Elton, he thus speaks: "Henry Collins was a wealthy merchant and man of taste-the Lorenzi de Medici, of Rhode Island; he caused a painting to be made of Parson Callender, as well as some other divines, as Hitchcox, Clap, and Dean Berkley, which I have often admired in the Collins' collection." The painting of Mr. Clap is now in the possession of the Congregational church in Spring street, and we would suggest to the First Baptist church of Newport, and of America, too, that they should take immediate measures to obtain the portrait of Mr. Callender, which has been taken from Newport and placed in the Historical Building in Providence, where it does not justly belong. Such things should never be permitted to exist, without obtaining redress.

Mr. Collins was at the head of every public improvement in Newport; as the extension of the Long Wharf, and the building of the Brick Market, or Granary, in the year 1763. The architect was Peter Harrison; it was built after the Ionic order. The upper story, for many years, was used for a theatre, before it was altered into a Town Hall.

"Whereas, the Proprietors of the Long Wharf, in Newport, aforesaid, have made a grant, on the twenty-fourth day of July, A. D. 1760, to the said town of Newport, of a lot of land, for erecting a Market House, &c., it is therefore voted, that Martin Howard and Josias Lydon, Esqrs., be a committee, and they are hereby confirmed to make and give a good deed of said lot, to the town of Newport, agreeable to said grant.

"And that the upper part be divided into stores for drygoods, and let out to the best advantage; and all the rents thereof, together with all the profits that shall arise on said. building, shall be lodged in the Town Treasury of said town of Newport, towards a stock for purchasing grain, for supplying a Public Granary forever. And that said building be erected agreeably to a plan to be agreed on by said Proprietors, to be estimated at twenty-four thousand pounds, old tenor, to be raised by the lottery now on foot.

"The lower part thereof for a Market House, and for no other use whatsoever, forever; (unless it shall be found convenient to appropriate some part of it for a watch-house.) A handsome

brick building, to be thirty-three feet in front, or in width, and about sixty-six feet in length."-From the Records of the Proprietor of the Long Wharf.

It is understood that there is a fine portrait of Mr. Collins still in being, which is said to be now in possession of some one of the family of the late Dr. Henry Flagg, of South Carolina. It ought to be placed in the Redwood Library. He was a member of the Seventh-Day Baptist church, and was one of the committee for erecting the house of worship.

Such were the merchants of Newport in the past.

1775. On the 15th of November, Charles Dudley, Esq., the king's Collector of the Customs for Rhode Island, fled for refuge on board a ship of war. He married the daughter of Robert Cranston, of Newport. He died in England, and his family returned to America. His son was the Hon. Charles Dudley, of Albany. Mr. Dudley owned, and occupied the seat, a short distance from Newport, called "Dudley Place," at present owned by the heirs of the late Governor Charles Collins. Edward Vanzant, Esq. is the present proprietor of this charming retreat; a gentleman of fine manners, who takes delight in rendering every attention to visitors. Mr. Dudley is said to have been a man of polished manners; his portrait, in the costume of a courtier, shews him off to great advantage,-it is in the possession of Mrs. Dudley, of Albany. In the weekly clubs then held in Newport, which embraced men of distinction, Mr. Dudley was usually one of the guests, and both amused and edified the company. At this memorable period, Newport was far in advance of the other towns and cities in the colonies, in the refined taste and the enlarged hospitality, which characterized the inhabitants. This arose from the nature of the education then enjoyed, for where the mind is suffered to vegetate without moral culture, the fruit borne will resemble the grapes of Sodom, or the fabled apples which grew on the margin of the lake Asphaltites. The education of far too many at the present day, having been so crude and indigested, that the lustre, which is shed on the pathway of the intellectual mind, is not visible.

A fine writer has remarked of Newport, that "there are few towns of any magnitude within our broad territory, in which so little change has been effected in half a century, as in Newport.

LOSS OF THE BRIG DOLPHIN.

93

Until the vast resources of the interior were developed, the beautiful island on which it stands, was a chosen retreat of the affluent planters of the South, from the heats and diseases of their burning climate. Here they resorted in crowds, to breathe the invigorating breezes of the sea. Subjects of the same government, the inhabitants of the Carolinas and of Jamaica met here in amity, to enjoy free interchange of thought and feeling.

At the interesting period of 1769, the island was never more inviting and lovely. Its swelling crests were still crowned with the wood of centuries: its little vales were covered with the living verdure of the north; and its unpretending, but neat and comfortable villas lay sheltered in groves, and embedded in flowers. The beauty and fertility of the place gained for it a name, which, probably, expressed far more than was, at that early day, properly understood. The inhabitants of the county styled their possessions the "Garden of America." Neither were their guests from the scorching plains of the South, reluctant to concede so imposing a title of distinction.

THE LOSS OF THE BRIG DOLPHIN.

As the commerce of Newport whitened every sea, it was to be expected that disasters would occasionally occur. But this event caused painful anguish to many hearts. This year, 1767, was memorable for a melancholy disaster, that took place on the night of the 26th of August, off Point Judith. The brig Dolphin, Capt. John Malborn, (son of Evan,) from Kingston, Jamaica, with a valuable cargo of rum and sugar, and a number of passengers belonging to a theatrical company, took fire, and the vessel and cargo were entirely consumed; five female passengers perished in the cabin. The officers and crew, with the rest of the passengers, escaped to the shore in boats.

The brig was a new vessel, of 210 tons, belonging to Messrs. E. & F. Malborn, merchants, of Newport. Among the pas