Power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring: for good thoughts
(though God accept them,) yet, towards men, are little better than good dreams,
except they be put in act: and that cannot be without power and place, as the
vantage and commanding ground.

Bacon.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. III.

PHILADELPHIA :

CAREY, LEA, AND CAREY, CHESNUT STREET.

SOLD IN NEW YORK, BY G. & c. CARVILL,-IN BOSTON, BY HILLIARD
GRAY, & CO., AND RICHARDSON & LORD.

1

DE VERE;

OR,

THE MAN OF INDEPENDENCE.

CHAPTER I.

EXILE.

And sighed my English breath in foreign clouds,
Eating the bitter bread of banishment;
Whilst you have fed upon my Signories,
Dispark'd my parks, and fell'd my forest woods,
Raz'd out my impress, leaving me no sign,
Save men's opinions and my living blood,
To show the world I am a gentleman.

SHAKSPEARE.

HAD the intercourse between France and England been as easy and as frequent in the time of Elizabeth as it is now, Shakspeare would probably have revelled in the description of an embarkation; and among the numerous touches we feed upon in his account of human life, we should possibly have to dwell upon the various emotions of that multitude of characters who hurry to the shores of their country in order to leave it. The boat of Charon itself could hardly exhibit a more motley picture of our wayward nature; it could hardly contain more fears or regrets, or hopes, tender or bitter recollections, or joyful expectations, curiosity, or moroseness, or avarice, or the spirit of intrigue, love, honour, or ambition, than the boat that wafts the restless Englishman to the opposite shore.

With this in view, we will not merely say a misanthrope, but a rational observer of mankind, would