10 Laslett reports the following illegitimacy ratios (that is, bastards as a percent of baptisms) by English region in the period of American colonization:

Region

1581-1640

1661-1720

Eastern Counties

1.2

1.0

Southern Counties

2.1

1.4

Midland Counties

1.6

1.3

West and Northwest

3.6

1.4

Northern Counties

2.9

1.3

Source: Peter Laslett, “Long-term Trends in Bastardy in Britain,” in Family Life and Illicit Love in Earlier Generations (Cambridge, 1977), 137-42.

11 Ulrich, Good Wives, 99.