He did his best to crush out the vermin.
A statute of the early part of William and Mary's reign hit the association of child-buyers hard.

It was as the blow of a club to the Comprachicos, who were from that time pulverized.

By the terms of this statute those of the fellowship taken and duly convicted were to be branded with a red-hot iron, imprinting R.on the shoulder, signifying rogue; on the left hand T, signifying thief; and on the right hand M, signifying man-slayer.

The chiefs, "supposed to be rich, although beggars in appearance," were to be punished in the _collistrigium_--that is, the pillory--and branded on the forehead with a P, besides having their goods confiscated, and the trees in their woods rooted up.

Those who did not inform against the Comprachicos were to be punished by confiscation and imprisonment for life, as for the crime of misprision.
As for the women found among these men, they were to suffer the cucking-stool--this is a tumbrel, the name of which is composed of the French word _coquine_, and the German _stuhl_.