probate jurisdiction was given to the two held at Ipswich and at Salem.
From the judgments entered here an appeal lay to the Court of Assistants,
and then to the General Court, which was the tribunal of last resort. The
clergy and gentry pertinaciously resisted the enactment of a series of
general statutes, upon which the people as steadily insisted, until at
length, in 1641, "The Body of Liberties" was approved by the legislature.
This compilation was the work of the Rev. Mr. Ward, pastor of Ipswich, and
contained a criminal code copied almost word for word from the Pentateuch,
but apart from matters touching religion, the legislation was such as
English colonists have always adopted. A major-general was elected who
commanded the militia, and in 1652 money was coined.

The social institutions, however, have a keener interest, for they reflect
that strong cast of thought which has stamped its imprint deep into the
character of so much of the American people. The seventeenth century was
aristocratic, and the inhabitants of the larger part of New England were
divided into three classes, the commonalty, the gentry, and the clergy.
Little need be said of the first, except that they were a brave and
determined race, as ready to fight as Cromwell's saints, who made Rupert's
troopers "as stubble to their swords;" that they were intelligent, and
would not brook injustice; and that they were resolute, and would not
endure oppression. All know that they were energetic and shrewd.

The gentry had the weight in the community that comes with wealth and
education, and they received the deference then paid to birth, for they
were for the most part the descendants of English country-gentlemen. As a
matter of course they monopolized the chief offices; and they were not
sentenced by the courts to degrading punishments, like whipping, for their
offences, as other criminals were. They even showed some wish at the
outset to create legal distinctions, such as a magistracy for life, and a