and last fault, the offenders to be banisched or put in Waird, for the space of zeir and day, at the Kingis will." Censors were ap pointed in market places and at public fairs with power to arrest " the swearers of sik abhominable aithes." And woe was to the magistrate who was found remiss or negli gent in executing the law. (Seventh Parlia ment, 24 Oct., 1 581, No. 103.) The king himself used, when occasion seemed to require, mighty and big oaths (Motley's John of Barneveld, ch. xi.). But consistency was not one of the jewels in the crown of this ex-Calvinist, crypto-Arminian, pseudo-Baptist, and avowed Puritan hater, as the author of the " Dutch Republic " dubs him (lb. ch. i.). James's favorite oath was "By my soul; " other renowned monarchs of England had their pet forms of imprecation : William the Conqueror swore, " By God's resurrection and His brightness; " William Rufus, " By Saint Luke's face; " Henry I., "By our Lord's death; " John, " By the feet of God; " and bluff old Hal, " By the mother of God." The Scottish House was satisfied with these pains and penalties until the days of the rollicking Charles II. came on. This monarch was anxious, as we can readily imagine, " to curb and suppress all sorts of sin and wickedness, and especially those abominable and much abounding sins of Drunkenness and all manner of Cursing and Swearing," so with his usual recklessness and extravagance he increased the penalties excessively; in fact, the transitory pleasure of mouthing only five oaths would, under this act, have cost a Minister of the Kirk his entire yearly stipend, however large it was. According to its terms each nobleman who should blaspheme, swear, or curse, was to be fined twenty pounds, Scots; each baron twenty merks; each gentleman, heri tor, or burgess, ten merks; each yeoman, forty shillings; each servant, twenty shil lings, toties quoties, each minister in the fifth part of his year's stipend. (Ch. ii., c. 19.)

In Scotland, it was a most serious matter for any son or daughter, unless " distracted," to curse either father or mother; for such a one was to be put to death without mercy, if above sixteen; if within that age and past the age of pupillarity, the punishment was at the arbitrament of the judge, according to their deservings, that others may hear and fear and not do the like. (Ch. ii., c. 20.) By the first code of Connecticut, published in 1650 (and a similar law was passed by the New Haven colony about the same time), such profanity by children was punished in the same manner by death, unless it was proved that the parents had been very unchristianly negligent in the education of such child or children, or had so provoked them by extreme and cruel correction or usage, that they had been urged or forced thereunto to preserve themselves from death or maiming. Of swearing, old Giles Jacob says, in his Law Dictionary, it is an offence against God and religion, and a sin of all others the most extravagant and unaccountable, as having no benefit or advantage attending it. "There are several good laws and statutes," saith he, "in England for punishing this crime. The 21 Jac. I., c. 20, enacts that if any person shall profanely swear or curse in the presence of a Justice of the Peace, he shall forfeit one shilling for every offence to the use of the poor, to be levied by distress; and for want of distress the offender to be set in the stocks." By 19 Geo. II., c. 21, the penalties on conviction are as follows : for every day-laborer, common soldier, sailor, or sea man, one shilling; for every person under the degree of a gentleman, two shillings; for every person of or above that degree, five shillings; a second offence, double; and every other offence, treble. If on conviction the offender does not pay his fine or give security, he is sent to the House of Correc tion for ten days, or being a common soldier or sailor, is set in the stocks. The poor get the penalties as under the Scotch laws. If