ribunals, the sins of incest,
adultery, and fornication had been multiplied, in consequence of the
impunity with which they might be committed; and, at the prayer of the
godly, they were made[a] criminal offences, cognizable by the criminal
courts, and punishable, the two first with death, the last with three
months' imprisonment.

[Footnote 1: "We intended," says Scot, "to have gone off with a good
savour, but we stayed to end the Dutch war. We might have brought them to
oneness with us. Their ambassadors did desire a coalition. This we might
have done in four or five months. We never bid fairer for being masters of
the whole world."--Burton's Diary, iii. 112.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1650. May 16.]

But it was predicted at the time, and experience verified the prediction,
that the severity of the punishment would defeat the purpose of the law. 2.
Scarcely a petition was presented, which did not, among other things, pray
for the reformation of the courts of justice; and the house, after several
long debates, acquiesced[a] in a measure, understood to be only the
forerunner of several others,[b] that the law books should be written, and
law proceedings be conducted in the English language.[1] 3. So enormous
were the charges of the commonwealth, arising from incessant war by sea or
land, that questions of finance continually engaged the attention of the
house. There were four principal sources of revenue; the customs, the
excise, the sale of fee-farm rents,[2] of the lands of the crown, and of
those belonging to the bishops, deans, and chapters, and the sequestration
and forfeiture of the estates of papists and delinquents. The ordinances
for the latter had been passed as early as the year 1643, and in the course
of the seven succeeding years, the harvest had been reaped and gathered.
Still some gleanings might remain; and in 1650, an act was passed[c] for
the better ordering and managing such estates; the former compositions
were subjected to examination; defects and concealments were detected;
and proportionate fines were in numerous cases exacted. In 1651, seventy
individuals, most of them of high rank, all of opulent fortunes, who
had imprudently displayed their attachment to the royal cause, were
condemned[d] to forfeit their property,

[Footnote 1: Journals, May 10, Nov. 22. Whitelock, 478-483.]

[Footnote 2: The clear annual income from the fee-farm rents amounted to
seventy-seven thousand pounds. In Jan. 1651, tw