the persistence of an idea as old as the status of
woman as a mere chattel, and it is curious to note that in some phases
it survives even unto the present day.

There are recorded numerous instances of the enforcement of the law
which has been quoted. One Will Colefoxe, in 1647, was brought before
the court at Stratford and fined five pounds for "labouring to inveagle
the affection of Write his daughter;" and, among several other notable
instances, we find Arthur Hubbard in 1660 fined the same amount as
Colefoxe, the court this time being that of Plymouth, the complainant
Thomas Prence, the Governor of the colony, and the charge that of
"disorderly and unrighteously endeavoring to gain the affections of
Mistress Elizabeth Prence." It would seem that Master Hubbard was as
persistent as he was unrighteous, for after an interval of seven years
we find him again mulcted of the same amount for the same offense
regarding the same lady; but his patient waiting had its reward, as in a
few months he became the happy husband of Mistress Prence.

Yet the law did not exclusively care for the father and threaten the
suitor, for the latter, as we have seen, had recourse of law if he were
unjustly rejected by the master of a "mayde;" and it would seem that
this part of the statute was held to apply to the father as well, since
in 1661 Richard Taylor obtained judgment against the father of Ruth
Whieldon for interfering with the marriage of the young pair. Probably
the court issued something in the nature of a perpetual injunction; but
its task must have been most difficult in the case of another youth,
Ralph Parker by name, who, having been sent about his business by the
sire of his faire ladye, actually sued said sire for loss of time
incurred in courting. Nor were there lacking maids to aid their lovers
to avoid the penalty of the law. There is record of one Sarah Tuttle who
was, on May Day in the year 1660, and in the colony of New Haven, while
on an errand to a neighbor, Dame Murline, kissed by Jacob Murline in the
very presence of his mother and sisters. The chronicler,--doubtless with
shocked feelings but not without a suggestion of a smacking of lips as
well,--records that "they sat down together, his arm being about her and
her arm upon his shoulder or about his neck; and hee kissed her, and she
kissed him, or they kissed one another, continuing in this posture about
half an hour, as Maria and Susan testified." Which, when one