[Footnote 590: In general the later the date of the case, the smaller the fine. With few exceptions fines of 25 shillings or less are after 1745; and most of those for 5 shillings or under are many years later. The "married couples" and the "wives" are only fined. Eight "single women" have the alternative of fine or stripes as follows: One (1734), £5 or 5 stripes; two (1755, 1770), £3 or 10 stripes; two (1746, 1756), 50 shillings or 10 stripes, the first being an "old offender;" one (1751), an "old offender," 40 shillings or 10 stripes; one (1758), 10 shillings or 10 stripes; one (1761), 5 shillings or 10 stripes. One woman (1747), whose child is a mulatto bastard, is given 20 stripes and sold into "service." In two similar cases (1759, 1772) 10 and 20 stripes respectively are deemed sufficient; while in another instance (1761) an "old offender" is sentenced to 20 lashes. In the later years, it will be noted, stripes decrease in money value. On the other hand, with the progress in humanism, they are probably lighter and therefore worth less.] There can be little doubt that in the eighteenth century, just as in the age preceding, the general cause of this ante-nuptial immorality--and probably also of some part of the similar misconduct of single persons whose engagements were not followed by wedlock--was the custom of solemn pre-contract which still survived. During the second quarter of the eighteenth century the penalties were relatively severe, though not so rigorous as during the period of the first charter; but the facts exhibited in Table VI show that the courts still treated pre-nuptial offenders more mercifully than those who were not married. To determine the special cause of the sudden rise in the number of confessions during the same period is a more difficult matter. It is not improbable that a suggestion of Charles Francis Adams, regarding another aspect of the problem, may give us a clue to its right solution. Already the practice of church confession of these offenses, in obedience to judicial decree, has been noticed; and independently of the courts, as a religious expiation, such acknowledgments were required by the authority of particular churches. In the eighteenth century, if not earlier, under the "seven months rule," the culpable parents were forced to humble TABLE VII FORNICATION CASES BEFORE THE GENERAL SESSIONS OF SUFFOLK COUNTY, MASS., SEPTEMBER, 1725, TO OCTOBER, 1732[591]