The history of Sunday in England is a subject which merits careful consideration. The laws and customs of bygone times are both curious and interesting. The manner of observing Sunday is a subject which is fast coming to the front, and one which we must be prepared to discuss in a spirit of fairness. In our investigations we shall find that, prior to the period of the Puritans coming into power in England, the day did not rank higher than other festivals observed by the Church. Our Sunday laws commence with the Saxons, a rude race, who delighted in a wild life, in which war and bloodshed formed prominent features. Gluttony and drunkenness prevailed to a considerable extent. The laws and canons passed from the days of Ine, who commenced to reign in Wessex in the year 688, to the time of Edward the Confessor, who died in 1066, clearly show that the Saxon rulers did their utmost to prevent Sunday labour, and that firm measures were also taken to put a stop to marketing on that day. It appears, from the enactments of Ine, that if a lord commanded his slave to work on a Sunday, the slave became a freeman, and the lord was also fined thirty shillings. If, unknown to his lord, a slave worked, he was severely punished, or, in lieu of corporal punishment, he had to pay a fine. If a freeman was found guilty of Sunday labour, he had to forfeit his freedom, or pay a fine of sixty shillings. A priest was doubly liable. Alfred was King of Wessex from 871 to 901, and we learn from his laws that if a thief was caught stealing on Sunday, at Yule, at Easter, on Holy Thursday, or during Rogation days, the penalty was double the amount of fine inflicted during the Lenten fast. The laws of Edward, the elder, and Guthrum, made after the peace between the Danes and the English, 901 to 924, include some strict Sunday regulations. "If any one engage in Sunday marketing," says the statute, "let him forefit the chattel, and twelve ore (192 pence) among the Danes, and thirty shillings among the English." King Athelstan, about 924, passed a similar act to the preceding one, anent Sunday marketing. Several important ecclesiastical laws were made in the reign of Edgar, which commenced in 959 and ended 975. We find, according to his enactments, that Sunday was to be kept from noontide on Saturday until the dawn of Monday, on peril of a fine. The following are two of his canons: "And we enjoin you, that on feast days, heathen songs and devil's games be abstained from." "And we enjoin, that Sunday and folk-motes be abstained from." When Canute, King of Denmark, became King of England, he passed several laws similar to those of Edgar. He also directed that Sunday should commence at noon on Saturday and end at dawn on Monday. He strongly forbade marketing and worldly works on Sunday. A condemned man in this reign was not put to death on a Sunday, unless he commenced fighting or attempted to flee.