Hume passes on an oral tradition about John Milton and the playwright William Davenant : " It is not strange, that Milton received no encouragement after the restoration : It is more to be admired, that he escaped with his life " ( for eloquently justifying the regicide ) . " Many of the cavaliers blamed extremely that lenity towards him, which was so honourable in the king, and so advantageous to posterity.
32.
One of his officers, Lord Percy, remarked, " The general's great lenity and moderation serve only to make them [ the colonists ] more daring and insolent . " Gage himself wrote after the Powder Alarm, " If force is to be used at length, it must be a considerable one, and foreign troops must be hired, for to begin with small numbers will encourage resistance, and not terrify; and will in the end cost more blood and treasure . " Edmund Burke described Gage's conflicted relationship by saying in Parliament, " An Englishman is the unfittest person on Earth to argue another Englishman into slavery ."
33.
The court record recounts, " Nicholas Vpshall being formerly sentenced to perpetual Imprisonment, & obteyning a Reprivall, hath greatly abused their lenity, do therefore Order him to be Confined again to ye house of John Capen . " " Reprivall " [ i . e ., a " reprieve " ] still meant banishment, and his transfer to his brother-in-law John Capen's home stipulated that he may remain free, " provided he does not corrupt any with his pernicious opinions, " or does not teach " the diabolical doctrines and horrid tenets of the cursed sect of Quakers . " He died there in August 1666 and was buried in Copp's Hill Burying Ground.
