Pietas in patriam the life of His Excellency Sir William Phips, Knt. late Captain…

He therefore prevailed with Two or Three Gentlemen to join with him, in sending a Supply of Necessaries for Life, unto the Indians, until the General Assembly could come together to settle the Indian-Trade for the Advantage of the Public, that the Indians might not by Necessity be driven again, to become a French Propriety; although by this Action, as the Gentlemen themselves were great Losers in their Estates, thus He Himself declared unto the Members of the General Assembly, that he would upon Oath, give an Account unto them of all his own Gains, and count himself a Gainer, if in lieu of all, they would ⟨p. 86⟩give him one Beaver-Hat. The same Generosity also caused him to take many a tedious Voyage, accompanied sometimes with his Fidus Achates and very Dear Friend, Kinsman and Neighbour, Colonel John Philips, between Boston and Pemaquid; and this in the bitter Weeks of the New-English, which is almost a Russian Winter.

He therefore prevailed with Two or Three Gentlemen to join with him, in sending a Supply of Necessaries for Life, unto the Indians, until the General Assembly could come together to settle the Indian-Trade for the Advantage of the Publick, that the Indians might not by Necessity be driven again, to become a French Propriety; although by this Action, as the Gentlemen themselves were great Losers in their Estates, thus He Himself declared unto the Members of the General Assembly, that he would upon Oath, give an Account unto them of all his own Gains, and count himself a Gainer, if in lieu of all, they would ⟨p. 86⟩give him one Beaver-Hat. The same Generosity also caused him to take many a tedious Voyage, accompanied sometimes with his Fidus Achates and very Dear Friend, Kinsman and Neighbour, Colonel John Philips, between Boston and Pemmaquid; and this in the bitter Weeks of the New-English, which is almost a Russian Winter.

He was a sort of Confessor under such Torments of Cold, as once made the Martyrdom of Muria, and others commemorated in Orations of the Ancients; and the Snow and Ice which Pliny calls, The Punishment of Mountains, he cheerfully endured, without any other Profit unto himself, but only the Pleasure of thereby establishing and continuing unto the People the Liberty to Sleep quietly in their warm Nests at home, while he was thus concerned for them abroad. Non mihi sed Populo, the Motto of the Emperor Hadrian, was engraved on the Heart of Sir William: NOT FOR MY SELF, BUT FOR MY PEOPLE: Or that of Maximin, Quo major, hoc Laboriosior, the more Honourable, the more Laborious.