But the colonists went farther and prescribed the death penalty for disobedience to parents, following the precepts of the Mosaic law.[490] Furthermore, they attempted to regulate courtship by statute, in a way which, however wholesome, would scarcely be relished by the young men and maidens of our generation. Thus the general court of Plymouth prohibits "any motion of marriage to any man's daughter or mayde servant" without having "first obtayned leaue" of the parents or master under penalty of fine and corporal punishment in the discretion of the bench. But appeal is allowed to the magistrate, when the master "through any sinister end or couetous desire," witholds his consent.[491] The courts were not wholly without business growing out of this legislation, as appears from illustrations collected by Mr. Goodwin. "In 1652 Jonathan Coventry was indicted for 'making a motion of marriage' to Katherine Bradbury, servant to Mr. Bourne, of Marshfield, without the latter's consent.[492] Coventry left the Colony before arrest.... In 1648 Thomas Dunham was ordered to abstain from visiting or sending to Martha Knott, of Sandwich, from October 4 till the first Tuesday of December, that the Court may better learn of his pretended contract, unless the Governor, on the clearing of things, give him leave. A romantic case was that of Governor Thomas Prence against Arthur Howland, Jr., nephew of the Pilgrim.[493] The tolerant course of the elder Arthur Howland toward the Quakers had earned Prence's hearty ill-will; and when, in 1660, he found that Arthur, Jr., had wooed his daughter Elizabeth, he had the swain before the General Court, where he was fined £5 for making love without her father's permission. The couple remained constant, for in 1667 the irate Governor once more brought up young Arthur, who was again fined £5 because he had 'disorderly and unrighteously endeavored to obtain the affections of Mistress Elizabeth Prence,' and was put under bond of £50 to 'refrain and desist.' But Prence, like Canute, was unable to control the forces of Nature. This action was in July; but before the next spring the imperious Governor seemed to have been forced to capitulate, for Arthur and Elizabeth were united."[494] On the other hand, the right of a lover to appeal to the magistrate, in case his "motion" were hindered through "sinister end or couetous desire," was occasionally of practical value. In 1646, for instance, Richard Taylor complained to the general court of Plymouth that he was prevented from marrying Ruth Wheildon by her father Gabriel; but when before the court Gabriel yielded and promised no longer to oppose the marriage.[495] The records show that parents might be held accountable for "miscarriages" resulting from unreasonable opposition.[496]