When these free states were colonies Unto the mother nation, And in Connecticut the good Old Blue Laws were in fashion. The following extracts from the laws ordained by the people of New Haven, previous to their incorporation with the Saybrook and Hartford colonies, afford an idea of the strange character of their prohibitions. As the substance only is given in the transcription, the language is necessarily modernized:— No quaker or dissenter from the established worship of the dominion shall be allowed to give a vote for the election of magistrates, or any officer. No food or lodging shall be afforded to a quaker, adamite, or other heretic. If any person turns quaker, he shall be banished, and not suffered to return, but upon pain of death. No priest shall abide in the dominion: he shall be banished, and suffer death on his return. Priests may be seized by any one without a warrant. No man to cross a river but with an authorized ferryman. No one shall run on the sabbath-day, or walk in his garden, or elsewhere, except reverently to and from meeting. No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair or shave, on the sabbath-day. No woman shall kiss her child on the sabbath or fasting-day. The sabbath shall begin at sunset on Saturday. To pick an ear of corn growing in a neighbor’s garden shall be deemed theft. A person accused of trespass in the night shall be judged guilty, unless he clear himself by oath. When it appears that an accused has confederates, and he refuses to discover them, he may be racked. No one shall buy or sell lands without permission of the selectmen. A drunkard shall have a master appointed by the selectmen, who are to debar him the liberty of buying and selling. Whoever publishes a lie to the prejudice of his neighbor, shall sit in the stocks or be whipped fifteen stripes. No minister shall keep a school. Men-stealers shall suffer death. Whoever wears clothes trimmed with gold, silver, or bone lace, above two shillings by the yard, shall be presented by the grand jurors, and the selectmen shall tax the offender at £300 estate. A debtor in prison, swearing he has no estate, shall be let out, and sold to make satisfaction. Whoever sets a fire in the woods, and it burns a house, shall suffer death; and persons suspected of this crime shall be imprisoned without benefit of bail. Whoever brings cards or dice into this dominion shall pay a fine of £5. No one shall read common-prayer, keep Christmas or saint-days, make minced pies, dance, play cards, or play on any instrument of music, except the drum, trumpet, and Jews-harp. No gospel minister shall join people in marriage; the magistrates only shall join in marriage, as they may do it with less scandal to Christ’s church. When parents refuse their children convenient marriages, the magistrate shall determine the point.