is followed by ten or
twelve enactments of the same kind, copied verbatim from the books of
Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Blasphemy, sorcery, adultery, *r
and rape were punished with death; an outrage offered by a son to his
parents was to be expiated by the same penalty. The legislation of a
rude and half-civilized people was thus applied to an enlightened and
moral community. The consequence was that the punishment of death was
never more frequently prescribed by the statute, and never more rarely
enforced towards the guilty.

[Footnote p: Code of 1650, p. 28; Hartford, 1830.]

[Footnote q: See also in "Hutchinson's History," vol. i. pp. 435,
456, the analysis of the penal code adopted in 1648 by the Colony of
Massachusetts: this code is drawn up on the same principles as that of
Connecticut.]

[Footnote r: Adultery was also punished with death by the law of
Massachusetts: and Hutchinson, vol. i. p. 441, says that several persons
actually suffered for this crime. He quotes a curious anecdote on
this subject, which occurred in the year 1663. A married woman had had
criminal intercourse with a young man; her husband died, and she married
the lover. Several years had elapsed, when the public began to suspect
the previous intercourse of this couple: they were thrown into prison,
put upon trial, and very narrowly escaped capital punishment.]

The chief care of the legislators, in this body of penal laws, was the
maintenance of orderly conduct and good morals in the community: they
constantly invaded the domain of conscience, and there was scarcely a
sin which was not subject to magisterial censure. The reader is aware of
the rigor with which these laws punished rape and adultery; intercourse
between unmarried persons was likewise severely repressed. The judge was
empowered to inflict a pecuniary penalty, a whipping, or marriage *s on
the misdemeanants; and if the records of the old courts of New Haven may
be believed, prosecutions of this kind were not unfrequent. We find
a sentence bearing date the first of May, 1660, inflicting a fine and
reprimand on a young woman who was accused of using improper language,
and of allowing herself to be kissed. *t The Code of 1650 abounds in
preventive measures. It punishes idleness and drunkenness with severity.
*u Innkeepers are forbidden to furnish more than a certain quantity of
liquor to each consumer; and simple lying, whenever it may be injurious,
*v is checked by a fin