_a_) Fine or stripes 22 £15 or 20 stripes 1 £5 or {20 " 1 {15 " 4 £3 or {20 " 1 {15 " 3 50s. or {15 " 3 {10 " 2 40s. or {15 " 2 {10 " 4 _b_) Stripes alone 21 40 (20 each in two places) 2 30 2 20 11 15 4 10 2 2. Single men, confession 13 _a_) Fine or stripes 5 £5 or 20 stripes 4 40s. or 15 stripes 1 _b_) Stripes alone 8 30 3 20 5 _c_) Putative fathers 17 while in no case is a single man or woman merely fined. On the other hand, out of twenty married couples punished for ante-nuptial misconduct, fifteen are given the choice of fines or stripes, three are merely fined; and in no instance is whipping alone the penalty decreed. Furthermore, the fines are on the average smaller in these cases than in others, although as regards both fines and stripes the sentences are sadly lacking in uniformity. The conclusion seems irresistible that, in harmony with popular sentiment, the courts, exercising the discretion granted by the statute, were inclined to deal more leniently with the faults of the betrothed than with those of less favored bachelors and spinsters. [Footnote 578: In addition the records of the court of assistants for the early period contain six cases, in each instance the husband alone being punished; two cases in 1635, one in 1637, one in 1639, two in 1640: _Mass. Col. Rec._, I, 163, 193, 269, 296, 297; and three cases where both husband and wife were fined, condemned to stand in the market place, or to confess on Lecture Day: _Rec. of the Court of Assistants, 1641-1643/44_, in WHITMORE, _Bib. Sketch_, xxxi, xxxiii, xxxvii.]