Though bundling could arise only in a comparatively rude state of society, it seems in itself to have been neither very vicious nor very immoral. Yet manifestly it was easily capable of abuse. Under dangerous conditions it might readily degenerate into coarseness and vice. Such conditions were not wanting throughout the colonial era. The general tone of sexual morality was not high. The laws and usages already presented, which in effect invited transgression on the part of engaged lovers, afforded a constant temptation.[575] Bundling thus has its chief moral significance as an adjunct of pre-contract which must be held responsible for a very large share of the sexual misconduct revealed in the judicial records. Before the general court of Plymouth the cases of "uncleanness" after contract and before marriage are very numerous. According to Goodwin, they averaged one a year; and this appears to be a conservative estimate. By actual count the records of that colony, for the twenty-eight years between 1633 and 1661, show at least twenty-four sentences for ante-nuptial offenses, chiefly after betrothal; while during the seventeen years following 1661 there are not less than forty-one such judgments. Members of some of the most illustrious families of New England were guilty of indiscretions in this regard.[576] In several of the early cases the husband was publicly whipped in view of the wife, who sat near in the stocks.[577] [Footnote 575: So also in Holland, it is interesting to note, bundling appears in connection with the practice of public betrothals as the cause of ante-nuptial transgressions. See Townshend's speech on the Hardwicke act in COBBETT-HANSARD, _Parliamentary Debates_, XV, 56-59.] [Footnote 576: "There was Peregrine White, the first-born child of the Colony and stepson of Governor Winslow; Thomas Cushman, Jr., son of the elder; James Cudworth, Jr., son of the future general and deputy-governor, and Jonathan, his brother; Samuel Arnold, Jr., son of the Marshfield pastor; Isaac Robinson, Jr., grandson of the great Leyden pastor; Thomas Delano; Nathaniel Church; and other scions of leading families."--GOODWIN, _Pilgrim Republic_, 600, who, thinks it a mistake to suppose that generation "below the present in general purity of life;" since the pre-contract was "a sort of semi-marriage" and "such cases were ferretted out and recorded" with "impartial diligence."] [Footnote 577: GOODWIN, _op. cit._, 600; _cf._ _New Hamp. Prov. Papers_, I, 386, 445. FREEMAN, _Hist. of Cape Cod_, I, 167, 168, gives the following forms of sentence: "A. F. for having a child born six weeks before the ordinary time of women after marriage, fined for uncleanness, and whipt, and his wife set in the stocks." "C. E., for abusing himself with his wife before marriage, sentenced to be whipt publicly at the post, she to stand by whilst the execution is performed. Done, and he fined five pounds for the trouble."]