"blue laws", 1755

[Garson O'Toole]

The text does appear to be a dream vision of the future that looks
forward from the date of publication March 3, 1755 to a future in
1775. But the inspiration for the vision comes from "the Days of
Oliver Cromwell" according to the description preceding the fantasy:

I dreamed, that there had been a great Revolution in England; that
another Lord Protector had usurped the Throne; that all Laws and
Customs were entirely changed, and every Thing moddled and put upon
the same Footing as they were in the Days of Oliver Cromwell, whose
Laws were revived and re-printed; ...

The projected date and location of the news report mentioning "Blue
Laws" in the fantasy are May 12, 1775, Hartford, Connecticut:

Since the happy Revolution, and the Revival of our old Blue Laws, we
have the Pleasure to see the Lord's Work go on with Success; all
different Persuasions do now again pay our Ministers, which is said to
be a great Help to many of our Towns in the back Settlements."

(Typos are possible during retyping. I do not know if "moddled" is correct.)

Garson

On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 2:59 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "blue laws", 1755
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> As best I recall, the article is a projection of future events, not a reference to 1688.
>
> Fred
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Laurence Horn [laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 1:16 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "blue laws", 1755
>
> At 12:15 PM -0400 9/28/10, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>>Joel,
>>
>>In the Wikipedia entry you refer to "since the American Revolution,"
>>but in 1755 there had been no American Revolution.  The 1755 source
>>uses "Revolution" to refer to some imaginary British revolution, not
>>the real American Revolution of 1775.
>>
>>Fred Shapiro
>
> The "Glorious Revolution" of 1688, when Cromwell and the Puritans
> overthrew the monarchy?
>
> LH
>
>>
>>
>>________________________________________
>>From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>>Joel S. Berson [Berson at ATT.NET]
>>Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 11:25 AM
>>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>Subject: Re: "blue laws", 1755
>>
>>1)  I have modified the "History" section of the Wikipedia article
>>"Blue Law," adding the 1755 appearance and amending the overly
>>limited description of the early Puritan laws (they prohibited not
>>only business activities but also recreation).
>>
>>If someone  would tell me how to enter [[[Connecticut]]] so that the
>>word Connecticut ends up as a link enclosed in a single pair of
>>square brackets, I would be grateful!  At the moment I write this my
>>coding has put extraneous spaces surrounding it.
>>
>>2)  What is the best hunch today for to the origin of "blue
>>laws"?  Has anyone associated "blue laws" with blue, adj., "being
>>"dismayed, perturbed, discomfited; depressed, miserable,
>>low-spirited"?  As in one might find in a sentence suitable for The
>>25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: "I doubt not that I wore my
>>sadd-coloured cloaths for the Sabbath last Saturday ev'nin' because I
>>was so sad and blue thinking about our blue laws"?  ("Blue" in this
>>sense goes back to a1550, 1682, and 1783.)
>>
>>Joel
>>
>>At 9/24/2010 10:36 PM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>>>As far as I know, that 1755 citation is the earliest known.
>>
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