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GEORGE BERKELEY'S INFLUENCE Before going to Harvard, in the 1790's, Washington Allston and William Ellery Channing attended school in Newport, Rhode Island. William Ellery, grandfather of William Ellery Channing and Richard Henry Dana Sr., was born in Newport in 1727. When William Ellery was two years old, Berkeley, while waiting for funds to start a college in Bermuda, came to Newport, Rhode Island and lived there for three years. Berkeley had brought with him the faculty and library for the college. John Smibert was to be the art teacher. Smibert painted this painting of Berkeley and his family with Berkeley shown standing on the right. Berkeley never did receive the funds needed to proceed with the college. When William Ellery was five years old, Berkeley sailed back to England. William Ellery belonged to the Philosophical Society in Newport, which was founded while George Berkeley lived in Newport. |