 Historian Eugene Aubrey Stratton believes Bradford might well have approved of the measures taken by Prence.The measures enacted in Plymouth were generally ineffective at keeping the Quakers out, and there was some backlash against the magistrates.Humphrey Norton, arrested for returning after banishment, took Prence to task during his trial, calling him "a malicious man" and saying, "Thou art like a scolding woman, and thy clamorous tongue I regard no more than the dust under my feet."