ol. lxvi. 262.

[9] Coxe's _Walpole_, i. 200; _Stuart Papers_, ii. 511, and also 446,
460.

[10] _Hist. MSS. Comm., Onslow MSS._ 515.

[11] Bolingbroke to Swift, June 24th, 1727. He adds, "to hanker after
a court is below either you or me."

[12] Sichel's _Bolingbroke_, ii. 267; _Stanhope_, ii. 163; _Hist.
MSS. Comm., Onslow MSS._ 516, 8th Rep. Pt. III. App. p. 3. This
remarkable incident is discredited by H. Walpole in _Letters_ (ed.
1903), iii. 269; but he was not always well informed concerning his
father's career.

BOLIVAR, SIMON (1783-1830), the hero of South American independence, was
born in the city of Caracas, Venezuela, on the 24th of July 1783. His
father was Juan Vicente Bolivar y Ponte, and his mother Maria Concepcion
Palacios y Sojo, both descended from noble families in Venezuela.
Bolivar was sent to Europe to prosecute his studies, and resided at
Madrid for several years. Having completed his education, he spent some
time in travelling, chiefly in the south of Europe, and visited Paris,
where he was an eye-witness of some of the last scenes of the
Revolution. Returning to Madrid, he married, in 1801, the daughter of
Don N. Toro, uncle of the marquis of Toro in Caracas, and embarked with
her for Venezuela, intending, it is said, to devote himself to the
improvement of his large estate. But the premature death of his young
wife, who fell a victim to yellow fever, drove him again to Europe.
Returning home in 1809 he passed through the United States, where, for
the first time, he had an opportunity of observing the working of free
institutions; and soon after his arrival in Venezuela he appears to have
identified himself with the cause of independence which had already
agitated the Spanish colonies for some years. Being one of the
promoters of the insurrection at Caracas in April 1810, he received a
colonel's commission from the revolutionary junta, and was associated
with Louis Lopez Mendez in a mission to the court of Great Britain.
Venezuela declared its independence on the 5th of July 1811, and in the
following year the war commenced in earnest by the advance of Monteverde
with the Spanish troops. Bolivar was entrusted with the command of the
important post of Puerto Cabello, but not being supported he had to
evacuate the place; and owing to the inaction of Miranda the Spaniards
recovered their hold over the country.

Like others of the revolutionists Bolivar