Retirement
When James I made peace with Spain in 1604, Vere retired from active service and spent the remainder of his days in country life in England, occupying himself with the compilation of his Commentaries of the Divers Pieces of Service that he had taken part in (which remained in manuscript form until 1657; reprinted in Arbers English Garner, 1883).
Vere spent a great deal of time visiting his friend, Sir Julius Caesar in Mitcham in Surrey, on the road from London to Nonsuch. Caesar was on his second marriage to Alice Dent and she had a daughter from a previous marriage - Elizabeth Dent. During these visits he quickly became enamoured with Elizabeth. They fell in love - which was rare in those times - and Caesar consented to a marriage. Since Elizabeth’s sister was also engaged, Caesar arranged a grand wedding for his stepdaughters on 26 October 1607. Vere received a dowry of £2,000 and settled property on her for life. She was 16 and he was 52. They were married for 22 months before his death but there is no record of any children.
Read more about this topic: Francis Vere
Famous quotes containing the word retirement:
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