Hamlet says in the great drama that bears his name: “Rashly, And praised be rashness for it, let us know Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, When our deep plots do pall; and that should teach us There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them how we will.” Suppose Master Sullivan had obeyed his mother’s wishes and remained in Ireland, or suppose Providence had not concealed him from his mother’s search after she repented of her rash act, and he had been found and induced to return to Ireland, what a difference there would have been in the management of affairs and the history of New Hampshire. Margery Browne was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1714; she died in Berwick, Me., in 1801. Nothing is known of her ancestry, but the name is essentially English, hence we may conclude that her parents, or their ancestors, crossed over from England and settled in Ireland. She came to this country in the same ship with Master Sullivan; she was nine years old and he was thirty-two; they never had met before boarding the ship. Why a girl of nine years should start on such a voyage alone is a mystery that will never be solved. Her parents may have started with her and died on the way, or she may have taken a freak and stowed herself away among the freight and kept concealed till the ship was well at sea. Whatever may have been the cause of departure, she had no money to pay her passage, so the captain had to sell her service at auction in Portsmouth to get his pay. The tradition is that she was so young and so small that nobody would bid for her services. At last Master Sullivan consented to raise the sum the captain wanted for her passage. It is said that he finally paid it in shingles, which he cut himself in the forest and carried to Portsmouth in a boat. It is not known where she spent the twelve years from 1723 to 1735, but probably in York, as a house girl on some farm. Master Sullivan does not appear to have taken any interest in her till a short time previous to their marriage, when he heard that the young men of York were falling in love with her and one had gone so far as to propose. He went over from Somersworth to York to see about it. He found a keen-witted, handsome and attractive young woman; the thought of the girl he had left in Ireland twelve years ago began to fade from his mind. She was equally impressed with his fine appearance; the result was she told the other young men they need not call any more. Master Sullivan and Margery Browne were married soon after.