[Footnote 314: The cases of Tewsh, 1805; and Mrs. Moffat, 1832: MACQUEEN, _op. cit._, 480, 482, 602-4, 658-60. These are discussed in _Law Review_, I, 371-74. Lord Chancellor Brougham opposed Mrs. Moffat's bill; but later he took the opposite and more liberal view: BROUGHAM, _Speeches_, III, 446.] [Footnote 315: "He said, confusion of progeny constitutes the essence of the crime; and therefore a woman who breaks her marriage vow is much more criminal than a man who does it. A man, to be sure, is criminal in the sight of God, but he does not do his wife any material injury if he does not insult her; if, for instance, he _steals privately_ to her chambermaid. Sir, a wife ought not greatly to resent this. I would not receive home a daughter who had run away from her husband on that account. A wife should study to retain her husband by more attention to please him."--BOSWELL, _Life of Johnson_, III, 46 (ed. 1835). Some recent writers, who ought to know better, indulge in similar sophistry; _cf._ NISBET, _Marriage and Heredity_, 18 ff.; AP RICHARD, _Marriage and Divorce_, 25, 34, 35.] [Footnote 316: BOSWELL, _Life of Johnson_, VII, 288. For discussion of Dr. Johnson's philosophy see JEAFFRESON, _Brides and Bridals_, I, 338, 339; II, 278-88; MACQUEEN, _op. cit._, 482, 483; _Law Review_, I, 369, 370.] The sphere of parliamentary divorce was greatly narrowed in still other ways. As a matter of fact, for the century and a half during which the practice prevailed perhaps not more than two hundred such separations were granted.[317] In the first place, the rules of evidence observed in the spiritual courts tended to thwart justice even in cases of the most cruel and scandalous wrongs. Two witnesses were invariably required; whereas in the lay tribunals one witness is accepted as sufficient when no more can be had.[318] On such testimony, for instance, damage may be awarded in the suit at law for adultery, when the same evidence is rejected as insufficient in the ecclesiastical action for separation. Yet it is precisely in cases of adultery that a "_penuria testium_ is most likely to occur. To require two witnesses of facts almost necessarily secret is, in most cases, to ensure a denyal of justice. Of this constant examples are to be found in the records of the ecclesiastical courts."[319] [Footnote 317: Sixty between 1715 and 1775; 14 between 1775 and 1780; 110 between 1800 and 1852: GEARY, _Marriage and Family Relations_, 18; MORGAN, _Marriage, Adultery, and Divorce_, II, 239, 240; _Report of Commission_ (divorce), 1852-53.]