years provided that the child is brought up and educated according to the principles of the Church of England; but if the executor or guardian of the child has an pew of his or their own, then, on the death of the parent or parents of the said child, the said pew shall be hired out by the Vestry, and the profits thereof be to the use and benefit of the said Church till the orphan arrive to the age above said. And if the said orphan should not be educated in the principles of the Church of England, and that he or she should arrive to the above said age, and then doth not declare him or herself to be a member of the Church of England, and attend constantly on the services thereof, or if the said orphan or orphans before he, she or they arrive to the aforesaid of eighteen years, then, and in all such cases, the right and property of the said pew shall return to the said Church, and be disposed of as the Vestry shall see fit, for the benefit of the Church.

And also that no person, nor persons that has purchased any pew in the said Church, shall have the liberty to let or hire any part thereof to any other person or persons whatsoever, for their own benefit but for the benefit of the Church, and the money for which it shall be let shall be paid to the Church Wardens, for the use aforesaid, and that no person or persons having a pew, shall sell or exchange his or their property in the said pew, but by the liberty and consent of the Vestry.

22

October 18, 1719. George Wanton, son of Willian and Ruth Wanton, was baptized by Mr. Honyman.

October 25, 1719. Elizabeth and Abigail Wanton, daughters of George and Abigail Wanton, were baptized.

The following was the disposition of the pews in the Church in 1719.

23

"George Wanton, son of Governor William Wanton, born August 24, 1694. Married Abigail Ellery, daughter of Benjamin Ellery, December 15, 1715.

23 No plan or dimensions of the church have been preserved, but from the above it is evident that it was of very limited capacity. Allowing five persons to a pew, it afforded sittings for less than two hundred on

1. Set apart for use of the Gov- 17. Madam Gidley.

the lower floor, and that in a town with a population of 4640.* The gallery was probably confined to the west end of the building. The Governor's pew at that time was occupied by Governor Samuel Cranston. In the "Annals of King's Chapel," I., 377, there is this extract from the records of the church.

66

Boston, April 29th, 1728, voted: That the Governor's pew be new lined with China, that the Cushions and Chairs be covered with crimson damask, and the curtains to the windows be of the same damask.

24

"The Governor's pew remained a unique property of King's Chapel." The records of Trinity Church show this to be incorrect.

Sam Ganston to

Gov. Samuel Cranston was elected governor in March, 1698, and remained in office up to the

time of his death, April 26, 1727. He was the son of Governor John

*Census of 1730.

Cranston, elected 1678, and who also remained in office up to the time of his death, 1680.

"The death of Governor Cranston was no ordinary event in the history of the Colony. In the strength of his intellect, the courage and firmness of his administration, and the skill with which he conducted public affairs in every crisis, he resembled the early race of Rhode Islanders. Thirty times successively chosen to the highest office, he preserved his popularity amidst political convulsions that had swept away every other official in the Colony. He was the connecting link between two centuries of its history, and seemed, as it were, the bridge over which it passed in safety, from the long struggle with the royal governors of Massachusetts, to the peaceful possession of its chartered rights under the House of Hanover. The piratical period, the strife about the acts of trade, the desperate efforts of Bellomont and his successors, a long and exhausting foreign war, and two bitter boundary disputes, involving the largest portion of the Colony, one of which he lived to see favorably and finally settled, were some of the perplexing questions of his administration."-Arnold's History of Rhode Island.

29 Augustus Lucas was a French emigrant, who settled in Newport. His first wife died here in 1698. His second wife was Barsheba, daughter of Joseph Eliot, and granddaughter of Eliot the Indian apostle. Their daughter Barsheba married Augustus Johnston, who was later AttorneyGeneral of the Colony. After the death of Johnston she became the wife of Matthew Robinson, who was known as a man of erudition and a skilful lawyer.

the first of the name who came to America, was born in England in 1690. His grandson, Francis Brinley, educated

at Eaton College, came to Newport by the invitation of his grandfather, who made him his heir. He was admitted a freeman June 20, 1713. From Newport he removed to Boston, where, in 1723, he was a Warden in King's Chapel.

CHAPTER II.

1719-1731.

In the proceedings of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts there are these entries under date of 1720 to 1721.

"Mr. Honyman, missionary at Newport, Rhode Island, reported that he preached twice every Sunday, catechises twice a week, and administers sacrament every month, and has baptized in about two years seventy-three persons, of whom nineteen are adults.

The Rev. Mr Honyman, minister of Rhode Island in New England reports, 'That he had been lately to preach at Providence, a town in the Colony, to the greatest number of people he ever had together since he came to America; that no house being able to hold them, he was obliged to preach in the fields; that they are getting subscriptions for building a Church, and he doubts not there will be a considerable congregation."25a

May 14, 1721. James Cranston was married to Mary Ayrault.

25a At this time Mr. Honyman occasionally performed Divine service in the Narragansett Church, and administered the rite of baptism, and the Lord's Supper. Rev. Mr. Gay had been appointed missionary in this section, but did not remain long, and the Society in England, in compliance with the petition from the people in Narragansett for a missionary, sent them Rev. James McSparran in 1721, who entered upon his duties with zeal, and soon acquired great influence for good.

26 Mary Ayrault was the daughter of Daniel Ayrault, born at East Greenwich, February 16, 1704, and died in Newport, March 25, 1764. After the death of Cranston she married George Goulding, and survived him.

At a Vestry sitting in the Church, May 15, 1721, Nathaniel Newdigate and Adam Powell were elected Church Wardens; and Nathaniel Kay, Robert Gardner, Captain John Brown, Daniel Ayrault, and George Piggott, Vestrymen.

It was ordered that a letter then and there subscribed by the Minister, Church Wardens and Vestry, be sent home to the Society's Secretary [Society for the Propagation of the Gospel] for encouragement for a schoolmaster.28

At a Vestry sitting in the Church, March 22, 1722, Adam Powell and William Coddington were elected Church Wardens, and Henry Bull, Thomas Flower, George Wanton, Godfrey Malbone, John Freebody and Edward Neargrass, Vestrymen.

It was ordered that the Church Wardens have the pavement before the Church completed; they were also to see that leather cushions were provided for the altar. Further instructions embraced the putting of "a post and rail fence at the end of the lane

28 As early as 1710 the people of Newport gave attention to the education of their children by establishing a public school, and placing it under the Town Council; and a Latin school was opened in 1716. Portsmouth, "having considered how excellent an ornament learning is to mankind and the great necessity there is in building a public schoolhouse," appointed a committee to put up such a building and obtain a subscription to furnish it. Mr. Kay, one of the Vestry (and probably other members were of the same mind), took a lively interest in the subject of education, and when he died he made a liberal bequest to the Church to promote so good a cause.

30 Church street, from Thames street to Spring street, is defined on the John Mumford map of Newport, 1713; but for more than seventy years after that date it was known as Honyman's lane, and was so designated on deeds of conveyance. Rev. Mr. Honyman occupied the house on the south corner of Thames and Church streets, and his widow resided there after him. James Honyman, the son, owned real estate on the north side of Church street, which descended to his heirs. We may reasonably believe that Rev. Mr. Honyman bought a tract running through from