In ransacking old court records, newspapers, diaries and letters for the historic foundation of the books Ms. Earle wrote on colonial history, she found and noted much of interest which was not used or referred to in any of those books. An accumulation of notes on old-time laws, punishments and penalties evoked this volume. The subject is not a pleasant one, though it often has a humorous element; but a punishment that is obsolete gains an interest and dignity from antiquity and its history becomes endurable because it has a past only and no future. Contents: bilboes; ducking stool; stocks/ pillory; punishments of authors and books; whipping post; scarlet letter; branks and gags; public penance; military punishments; branding and maiming.