NEWPORT (ante) is defended by fort Adams, 31 m. distant, the third strongest fortress in the United States. The state house fronting Washington square, through which Washington passed to meet Rochambeau, was built in 1749. The Jewish syna gogue on Touro street, built iu 1762, was the first in this country. Judah Touro, a son of one of its pastors, gave to the city Touro park, on which stunt's the " Round Tower" or " Old Stone Mill," a circular stone tower with round arches. A Norse origin has been ascribed to it, but Palfrey, in his History of _Yew England, has pretty conclusively shown that it was an old colonial wind-mill. Near the old mill is a statue of commodore M. C. Perry. Trinity church, on Church st., has an organ presented by Berkeley. On Clarke st. are the central Baptist church, founded in 1733, the armory of the Newport artillery company, formed in 1733, and the Vernon house, Rochambean's headquarters in 1780. Franklin's printing-press, imported in 1720, is still in the office of the Weekly Mercury, founded in 1758. The fashionable drive of Newport is Bellevue ave., a broad street 2 m. long. There is excellent surf bathing off the First beach;. the Second, or Sachuest beach, is a favorite riding-course. Old Newport, with many colonial mansions and narrow streets, is almost surrounded by the ne* town. Aside from the bathing, boating, and driving facilities of Newport, its chief attraction is its equable climate. The city is connected with Boston by the Old Colony and Newport railroad. and with
New York by the Shore line, 67 in. from Boston, 180 DI. from New York; pop. 15,693. The daily steamers of the Fall River line to New York touch here. Steamers run daily to Providence and Rocky Point. Newport harbor was visited by Verrazzani in the 16th c., and by several subsequent English explorers. It was settled in 1639 by a party of colo nists, adherents of Roger Williams, under William Coddington. Its relative importance a century ago was much greater than now. Its population in 1774 was 12,000, and' its commerce next to Boston, and much larger than that of NeW York. It was captured in 1770 by the British, who held it till 1779. The next year a French fleet having on board the count de Rocbambeau and 6,000 French soldiers, arrived at Newport. Presi dent Adams founded a naval station there, and the torpedo division of the U. S. naval service, with a school for the instruction of young oibcers in the torpedo service, is situated on Goat island. Among the historical names of Newport are dean Berkeley, who came to Newport in 1729 to founda university for the conversion of the Indians, built a house called "Whitehall," about 3 in. from the city, and returned to England in 1731, dividing his Newport estate between Harvard and Yale colleges; Drs. Samuel Hopkins and Ezra Stiles, the latter afterwards president of Yale; and William Ellery Charming, who was born 1780, in the Charming mansion, built 1720, on Thames street.