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 412 CONSOLATIONS OF SOLITUDE

annum, provided he would cease from opposing the government ; but Mr. Avery had been long dead, and the biographer had in vain sought a clew to the discovery of these papers.

when sent to silence him by means of bribes and threats. He added : " Tell Governor Gage it is the advice of Samuel Adams to him, no longer to insult the feelings of an exasperated people."
 * " My peace has long been made," &c. His answer to Colonel Fenton

'' " I wait thine answer," &c. Interview with Governor Hutchinson and council, when, after the Boston Massacre, the people demanded the re- moval of the regiments. " I observed his knees to tremble, I saw his face grow pale, and I enjoyed the sight." Letter to Warren ; see Bancroft's History of the United States, Vol. VI. Chap. 43.

^ " Thou soughtest in one will," &c. Samuel Adams was the originator of the plan for appointing committees of correspondence throughout the State, and from him R. H. Lee and James Warren derived their ideas on this subject. Teste S. A. Wells.

9 Morning of the 19th April, 1775.

'° " If of a thousand, all," &c. Several versions of this remark are recorded. He was the friend of universal liberty, and in different in- stances, becoming the master of female slaves by the death of relatives, he made them free, and allowed them the wages of white servants.

" " Because thou gav'st to flame," &c. He was unwilling to retain what might compromise others.

excitement which followed the tea act. Teste S. A. Wells.
 * ^ " Feast on her cast-up clams," &c. From a speech made during the

'^ " Thou didst add, be't understood," &c. The same expression also occurred in a letter to his daughter, which letter was afterwards lost.

'^"When men once strove to unloose," &c. This incident occurred during a public procession, and was at various times related by his daughter in the presence of her children.

'5 " Guilt only feared thy frown." He was of benignant aspect, of gracious manners, and was indulgent toward innocent foibles, being wont to remark that vice only is contemptible. He detested all cruelty, and, among other instances of his humanity, his daughter was accustomed to relate that an urgent letter from him saved on one occasion a British soldier from five hundred lashes.

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