48, note.]
The Vagabond Act was too well contrived for compassing such an end, to
have been an accident, and portions of it strongly suggest the hand of
Norton. It was passed in May, 1661, when it was becoming evident that
hanging must be abandoned, and its provisions can only be explained on the
supposition that it was the intention to make the infliction of death
discretionary with each magistrate. It provided that any foreign Quaker,
or any native upon a second conviction, might be ordered to receive an
unlimited number of stripes. It is important also to observe that the whip
was a two-handed implement, armed with lashes made of twisted and knotted
cord or catgut. [Footnote: _New England Judged_, ed. 1703, p. 357, note.]
There can be no doubt, moreover, that sundry of the judgments afterward
pronounced would have resulted fatally had the people permitted their
execution. During the autumn following its enactment this statute was
suspended, but it was revived in about ten months.
Endicott's death in 1665 marks the close of the second epoch, and ten
comparatively tranquil years followed. Bellingham's moderation may have
been in part due to the interference of the royal commissioners, but a
more potent reason was the popular disgust, which had become so strong
that the penal laws could not be enforced.
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