On reaching England, he kept his pledge so well that,
after redeeming it, only sixteen thousand pounds was left as his
portion, which, however, was an ample fortune in the New England of
that day. He gained, too, what he valued almost as much, the honor of
knighthood. Tempting offers were made him of employment in the royal
service; but he had an ardent love for his own country, and thither he
presently returned.
Phips was a rude sailor, bluff, prompt, and choleric. He never gave
proof of intellectual capacity; and such of his success in life as he
did not owe to good luck was due probably to an energetic and
adventurous spirit, aided by a blunt frankness of address that pleased
the great, and commended him to their favor. Two years after the
expedition to Port Royal, the king, under the new charter, made him
governor of Massachusetts, a post for which, though totally unfit, he
had been recommended by the elder Mather, who, like his son Cotton,
expected to make use of him. He carried his old habits into his new
office, cudgelled Brinton, the collector of the port, and belabored
Captain Short of the royal navy with his cane. Far from trying to hide
the obscurity of his origin, he leaned to the opposite foible, and was
apt to boast of it, delighting to exhibit himself as a self-made man.
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