Life of William Phips, Biography · Section 1 – Section 4
SECTION I.
IF ſuch a Renowned Chymiſt, as Quercetanus, with a whole Tribe of Labourers in the Fire, ſince that Learned Man, find it no eaſie thing to make the common part of Mankind believe, That they can take a Plant in it's more vigorous Conſiſtence, and after a due Maceration, Fermentation and Separation, extract the Salt of that Plant, which, as it were, in a Chaos, inviſibly reſerves the Form of the whole, with its vital Principle; and, that keeping the Salt in a Glaſs Hermetically ſealed, they can, by applying a Soft Fire to the Glaſs, make the Vegetable riſe by little and little, out of its Aſhes, to ſurprize the Spectators with a notable Illuſtration of that Reſurrection, in the Faith whereof the Jews returning from the Graves of their Friends, pluck up the Graſs from the Earth, uſing thoſe Words of the Scripture thereupon, Your Bones ſhall flouriſh like an Herb: 'Tis likely, that all the Obſervations of ſuch Writers, as the incomparable Borellus, will find it hard enough to produce our Belief, that the Eſſential Salts of Animals, may be ſo prepared and Preſerved that an Ingenious man, may have the whole Ark of Noah in his own Study, and raiſe the fine ſhape of an Animal out of it's Aſhes, at his pleaſure: and, that by the like Method, from the Eſſential Salts of Humane Duſt, a Philoſopher may, without any Criminal Necromancy, call up the Shape of any Dead Anceſtor from the Duſt whereinto his Body has bin Incinerated. The Reſurrection of the Dead, will be as Juſt, as Great an Article of our Creed, although the Relations of theſe Learned Men, ſhould paſs for Incredible Romances: But yet there is an Anticipation of that Bleſſed Reſurrection, carrying in it ſome Reſemblance of theſe Curioſities, which is performed, when we do in a Book, as in a Glaſs, reſerve the Hiſtory of our Departed Friends, and by bringing our Warm Affections unto ſuch an Hiſtory, we Revive, as it were out of their Aſhes, the True Shape of thoſe Friends, and bring to a freſh View, What was Memorable and Imitable in them. Now, in as much as Mortality has done its part upon a Conſiderable Perſon, with whom I had the Honour to be Well-acquainted, and a Perſon, as Memorable for the Wonderful Charges which befel him, as Imitable for his Vertues and Actions under thoſe Charges, I ſhall endeavour with the Chymiſtry of an Impartial Hiſtorian to raiſe my Friend ſo far out of his Aſhes as to ſhew him again unto the World, and if the Character of Heroick Vertue be for a Man to deſerve well of Markind, and be great in the Purpoſe and Succeſs of Eſſays, to do ſo, I may Venture to Promiſe my Reader ſuch Example of Heroick Vertue, in the Story whereto I Invite him, that he ſhall ſay, it would have bin little ſhort of a Vice in me, to have withheld it from him. Nor is it any Partiality for the Memory of my Deceaſed Friend or any other Siniſter Deſign whatſoever, that has Invited me to this Undertaking; but I have undertaken this Matter from a ſincere Deſire, that the Ever-Glorious Lord JESƲS CHRIST may have the Glory of his Power and Goodneſs, and of his Providence in what he did for ſuch a Perſon, and in what He diſpoſed and Aſſiſted that Perſon to Do for Him. Now, May He aſſiſt my writing, even He that prepared the Subject, whereof I am to write!
SECT. 2.
SO obſcure was the Original of that Memorable Perſon, whoſe Actions I am going to relate, that I muſt, in a way of Writing, like that of Plutarch, prepare my Reader for the Intended Relation, by firſt ſearching the Archives of Antiquity for a Parallel. Now, becauſe we will not Parallel him with Eumenes, who, though he were the Son of a poor Carrier, became a Governour of Mighty Provinces; Nor with Marius, whoſe mean Parentage did not hinder his becoming a Glorious Defender of his Country, and Seven Times the chief Magiſtrate of the chiefeſt City in the Univerſe: Nor with Iphicrates, who became a Succeſsful and Renwoned General of a Great People, though his Father were a Cobler: Nor with Diocleſian, the Son of a poor Scrivener: Nor with Bonoſus, the Son of a poor School-Maſter, who yet came to ſway the Scepter of the Roman Empire: Nor laſtly, will I compare him to the more late Example of the Celebrated Mazarini, who though no Gentleman by his Extraction, and one ſo ſorily Educated, that he might have wrote Man, before he could write at all; yet aſ…ended unto that Grandeur, in the Memory of many yet living, as to Umpire the moſt Important Affairs of Chriſtendom: We will decline looking any further in that Haemiſphere of the World, and make the Hue and Cry throughout the Regions of America, the New World, which He, that is becoming the ſubject of our Hiſtory, by his Nativity, belong'd unto. And in America, the firſt that meets me, is Franciſco Pizarro, who, though a Spurious Offspring, expoſed when a Babe, in a Church-Porch, at a ſorry Village of Navarre, and afterwards employ'd while he was a Boy, in keeping of Cattel, yet, at length, ſtealing into America, he ſo thrived upon his Adventures there, that upon ſome Diſcoveries, which with an handful of Men, he had in a Deſperate Expedition made of Peru, he obtain'd the King of Spain's Commiſſion for the Conqueſt of it, and at laſt, ſo incredibly enricht himſelf by the Conqueſt, that he was made the firſt Vice-Roy of Peru, and created Marqueſs of Anatilla.
To the Latter and Higheſt Part of that Story, if any thing hindred His Excellency Sir WILLIAM PHIPS from affording of a Parallel, it was not the want either of Deſign, or of Courage, or of Conduct in himſelf, but it was the Fate of a Praemature Mortality. For my Reader now being ſatisfied, That a Perſon's being Obſcure in his Original, is not always a Juſt Prejudice to an Expectation of Conſiderable Matters from him; I ſhall now inform him, That this our PHIPS was Born Feb. 2. A. Dom. 1650. at a deſpicable Plantation on the River of Kennebeck, and almoſt the furtheſt Village of the Eaſtern Settlement of New-England. And as the Father of that Man, which was as great a Bleſſing as England had in the Age of that Man, was a Smith, ſo a Gun-Smith, namely, James Phips, once of Briſtol, had the Honour of being the Father to him, whom we ſhall preſently ſee, made by the God of Heaven, as Great a Bleſſing to New-England, as that Country could have had, if they themſelves had pleaſed. His fruitful Mother, yet living, had no leſs than Twenty Six Children, whereof Twenty One were Sons; but aequivalent to them all was WILLIAM, one of the youngeſt, whom his Father dying, left young with his Mother, and with her he lived, keeping of Sheep in the Wilderneſs, until he was Eighteen Years Old; at which Time, he began to feel ſome further Diſpoſitions of Mind from that Providence of God which took him from the Sheepfolds, from following the Ewes great with young, and brought him to feed his People. Reader, Enquire no further who was his Father? Thou ſhalt anon ſee, that he was, as the Italians expreſs it. A Son to his own Labours!
SECT. 3.
HIS Friends earneſtly ſolicited him to ſettle among them in a Plantation of the Eaſt; but he had an Unaccountable Impulſe upon his Mind, perſwading him, as he would privately hint unto ſome of them, That he was Born to Greater Matters. To come at thoſe Greater Matters, his firſt Contrivance was to bind himſelf an Apprentice unto a Ship-Carpenter for Four Years; in which Time, he became a Maſter of the Trade, that once in a Veſſel of more than Forty Thouſand Tuns, Repaired the Ruines of the Earth. He then betook himſelf an Hundred and Fifty Miles further a Field, even to Boſton, the chief Town of New-England; which being a Place of the moſt Buſineſs and Reſort in thoſe parts of the World; he expected there more commodiouſly to purſue the Spes Majorum & Meliorum, Hopes which had Inſpir'd him. At Boſton, where it was that he now learnt, firſt of all, to Read and Write; be followed his Trade for about a Year; and, by a laudable Deportment, ſo recommended himſelf, that he Married a Young Gentlewoman of Good Repute, who was the Widow of one Mr. John Hull, a well-bred Merchant, but the Daughter of one Captain Roger Spencer, a Perſon of good Faſhion, who having ſuffer'd much dammage in his Eſtate, by ſome unkind and unjuſt actions, which he bore with ſuch Patience, that for fear of thereby injuring the Publick, he would not ſeek ſatisfaction, Poſterity might afterwards ſee the reward of his patience, in what Providence hath now done for one of his own Poſterity. Within a little while after his Marriage, he Indented with ſeveral perſons in Boſton, to build them a Ship at Sheeps-coat River, two or three Leagues Eaſtward of Kennebeck; where having Lanched the Ship, he alſo provided a Lading of Lumber to bring with him, which would have been to the advantage of all concern'd. But juſt as the Ship was hardly finiſhed, the barbarous Indians on that River, broke forth into an Open and Cruel War upon the Engliſh; and the miſerable People, ſurpriſed by ſo ſudden a ſtorm of Bloud, had no Refuge from the Infidels, but the Ship now finiſhing in the Harbour. Whereupon, he left his intended Lading behind him, and inſtead thereof, carried with him, his Old Neighbours and their Families, free of all Charges to Boſton; So, the Firſt Action that he did, after he was his own Man, was to Save his Fathers Houſe, with the reſt of the Neighbourhood, from Ruine; but the Diſappointment which befel him from the Loſs of his other Lading, plunged his Affairs into greater Embaraſſments with ſuch as had employ'd him.
SECT. 4.
BUT he was hitherto, no more than beginning to make Scaffolds for further and higher Actions! He would frequently tell the Gentlewoman his Wife, That he ſhould yet be Captain of a King's Ship; That he ſhould come to have the Command of better Men than he was now accounted himſelf; And, That he ſhould be Owner of a Fair Brick-Houſe in the Green-Lane of North-Boſton; and, That it may be, this would not be all that the Providence of God would bring him to. She entertained theſe Paſſages with a ſufficient Incredulity; but he had ſo ſerious and poſitive an Expectation of them, that it is not caſie to ſay, what was the Original thereof. He was of an Enterprizing Genius, and naturally diſdained Littleneſs: But his Diſpoſition for Buſineſs was of the Dutch Mould, where, with a little ſhew of Wit, there is as much Wiſdom demonſtrated, as can be ſhewn by any Nation. His Talent lay not in the Airs, that ſerve chiefly for the pleaſant and ſudden Turns of Converſation; but, he might ſay, as Themiſtocles, Though he could not play upon a Fiddle, yet he knew how to make a little City become a Great One. He would prudently contrive a weighty Undertaking, and then patiently purſue it unto the End. He was of an Inclination, cutting rather like a Hatchet, than like a Razor; he would propoſe very Conſiderable Matters to himſelf, and then ſo cut through them, that no Difficulties could put by the Edge of his Reſolutions. Being thus of the True Temper, for doing of Great Things, he betakes himſelf to the Sea, the Right Scene for ſuch Things; and upon Advice of a Spaniſh Wreck about the Bahama's, he took a Voyage thither; but with little more ſucceſs, than what juſt ſerved him a little to furniſh him for a Voyage to England; whither he went in a Veſſel, not much unlike that, which the Dutchmen ſtamped on their Firſt Coin, with theſe Words about it, Incertum quo Fata ferant. Having firſt informed himſelf, that there was another Spaniſh Wreck, wherein was loſt a mighty Treaſure, hitherto undiſcovered, he had a ſtrong Impreſſion upon his Mind, that He muſt be the Diſcoverer; and he made ſuch Repreſentations of his Deſign at White-Hall, that by the Year 1683, he became the Captain of a King's Ship, and arrived at New-England, Commander of the Algier-Roſe, a Frigate of Eighteen Guns, and Ninety five Men.