e
honor of knighthood, and the plain Kennebec boy became Sir
William Phips, and a member of the aristocracy of England.

Every one acknowledged that the discoverer owed his success
to merit, not to luck. He was evidently a man of the highest
capacity, and might, had he chosen, have filled high places
and gained great honors in England. But America was his
native land, and he was not to be kept from its shores.

He became such a favorite at court, that one day, when King
James was particularly gracious to him, and asked him what
favor he desired, he replied that he asked nothing for
himself, but hoped that the king would restore to his native
province its lost liberties, by returning the charter of
which it had been deprived.

"Anything but that!" exclaimed James, who had no idea of
restoring liberty to mother-land or colony.

He appointed Phips, however, high sheriff of New England,
and the adventurer returned home as a man of power and
station. On his way there he visited the silver-ship again,
and succeeded in adding something of value to his fortune.
Then, sailing to Boston, he rejoined his wife after a five
years' absence, and, to complete the realization of his
predictions, immediately began to build himself a "fair
brick house in Green Lane."

We have finished our story, which was to tell how the
sheep-boy of the Kennebec rose to be high sheriff of New
England, with the privilege of writing "Sir" before his
name. His after-life was little less memorable than the part
of it told, but we have no space left to tell it in.

King James was soon driven from the throne, and King William
took his place, but Sir William Phips retained his power and
influence. In 1690 he led an army against Port Royal in
Acadia, took it, and came back to receive the plaudits of
the Bostonians. He next attempted to conquer all Canada from
the French, attacked Quebec with a strong force, but was
repulsed, largely in consequence of a storm that scattered
his ships. The Bostonians had now no plaudits for him. The
expedition had cost New England about forty thousand pounds,
and there was not a penny in the treasury. The difficulty
was overcome by the issue of treasury-notes, an expedient
which was not adopted in England till five years afterwards.
Charles Montagu, the alleged inventor of exchequer bills
doubtless owed his idea to the sharp-witted Bostonians.

The beginning of 1692 found Sir William again in England,
whence he came